Supported Projects
Fab City Plymouth
Working together to become the UK's first Fab City.
A member of staff chats to visitors in Fab Lab Plymouth at the Fab City Event in 2021.
<p dir="ltr">In 2019, Arts University Plymouth, Plymouth City Council, University of Plymouth, Real Ideas and Plymouth Culture worked jointly on a commitment towards becoming the UK’s first <a href="https://fabcityplymouth.co.uk/">Fab City</a> within a <a href="https://fab.city/">global network of Fab Cities</a>. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Together, the Plymouth based partner organisations agreed to commit efforts and resources to achieve the 2054 challenge for cities to produce all the energy, food and products they consume, and to deploy spiral economy strategies for the relocalisation of production, and the technological empowerment of citizens.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Since 2021, the Fab City commitment has progressed in Plymouth via an open forum of interested parties, stakeholders, communities and citizens. Arts University Plymouth has been actively involved in this forum, as well as leading on Fab City public events and supporting the development of Fab City Plymouth as a CIC.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Fab City movement grew out of the international Fab Lab network. Arts University Plymouth’s Fab Lab, <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/research/supported-projects/fab-lab-plymouth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fab Lab Plymouth</a>, is an important part of the University and contributes to the Fab City agenda by supporting individuals and SMEs to develop their digital fabrication skills, distributed design processes and to design and prototype products.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Developing innovative approaches to sustainability and environmental renewal, developing responsible practices, and supporting local production are ingrained within our Innovation and Knowledge Exchange work. Recent projects include our <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/research/supported-projects/smart-citizens-programme-scp">Smart Citizens Programme</a> and Sustainable Design Initiatives, <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/research/supported-projects/big-data-and-environmental-futures-impact-lab" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Environmental Futures and Big Data Impact Lab</a>, and the <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/research/supported-projects/green-minds">Green Minds Project</a>. Projects as part of our Knowledge Exchange portfolio have been used to instigate a full cycle of natural dye processes and influence practices, to address issues associated with dye pollution, and to connect our creatives with other practitioners within the Fab City network. We continue to deliver on our commitment to Fab City and Fab City Plymouth by placing it at the very heart of the projects, partnerships, and Knowledge Exchange activity that we design and deliver at Arts University Plymouth.<br /></p>
“It is vital that artists and makers of all types see themselves as net contributors to the ways in which we collectively address the ecological and economic challenges of our time [...] As founders of Plymouth’s first Fab Lab and home to a community of creative practitioners and cultural innovators, we are committed to building relationships that strengthen our specialism in digital fabrication, sustainable design, citizen engagement, and our creative curriculum.”
Prof. Stephanie Owens, Dean of Arts, Design and Media