Emerging Economies¶

Miro Board¶

In here you can see all the seminars and work we did:

Circular Economies and Value Flow¶

This week’s seminar focused on circular economies and value flows, led by Marion Real, a systemic design expert at Fablab Barcelona. We explored co-creation processes for transitioning towards circular economies and cosmopolitan localism. Marion’s work intersects productive cities and material and textile research, engaging with projects like Siscode, Remix el Barrio, Score, Shemakes and Reservist.

While I found the seminar engaging, I struggled to see its relevance to my thesis. The emphasis was on developing circular economies and working with various materials, which feels quite complex to integrate into a project centered on AI. Although AI does have significant material implications, particularly concerning internet usage and energy consumption, I find it challenging to navigate the flows of resources and products in the context of local economies.

Ultimately, while I appreciated the discussion, I realized that my focus is not currently on circular economies. My priority lies in investigating and understanding this tool —AI— that is still largely unknown. Once I feel more confident in my grasp of AI, I’ll be better equipped to explore how to make it more sustainable and circular.

Distributed Economies and Massive Collaboration¶

I missed this class, but I was able to read through the presentation. I already had some background in distributed design, especially after our talk with Jessica. However, I think it was important to refresh my memory with this information. After reflecting on it, I see how this concept could relate to my thesis, particularly when it comes to creating an open-source network, sharing data, and allowing others to access my project without privatizing it.

Exercise¶

At the moment, I don’t have a physical project yet, so I tried to follow the exercise Jessica suggested, but it’s been a bit challenging. I want to take that into account moving forward. Right now, my project is very open-source, but that’s because it’s still in the idea stage, and I haven’t selected a specific software to use. My goal is to choose a software that is accessible to everyone and doesn’t require a paid subscription, but I’m still figuring that out.

I would love to document my work on GitHub, but since I’m just starting out, I’m currently mapping out my thesis in a Figma file. As for the materials and tools, I’m using whatever is available in Fablab or on my computer, along with any online resources, though I am paying for ChatGPT.

Since my project is still undefined, there’s no production process yet, and I can’t provide further details at this stage. The project is inspired by guidelines for repair, reuse, and recycling, considering that the AI tool I’m developing could eventually help people fix things. It’s meant to be a prototyping tool, adaptable for various purposes.

Could it be more transparent? Once the project is more developed, I plan to share it and try to apply it in different communities. Right now, it doesn’t have a political or cultural impact, but I hope to make it useful for society without disrupting existing jobs. The aim is to promote creativity and fabrication, not to replace existing work or replace human processes for AI.

In Activity 2, I feel that my topic is quite complex, especially since I’m not a programmer and I’m essentially competing against multiple businesses working on similar ideas. Currently, AI is still in its conceptual phase in terms of prototyping and design. However, I believe that in the future, my tool will be easy to use and valuable for communities.

This course hasn’t provided me with much new information, but it has sparked my interest in how my idea could potentially become a product of social innovation. Currently, my project is primarily focused on research, and I’m uncertain if I’ll have the opportunity to develop an innovation project by the end of the Master’s program. I didn’t expect to gain significant insights on social entrepreneurship from this course; rather, I was hoping to learn how to create a resourceful business model centered on a socially innovative project, especially with our newfound understanding of distributed economies.

What I really want to grasp is how to build a specific type of business that prioritizes social good while also being financially sustainable. In my previous job, I worked with businesses that embodied this model—they were incredible but largely local and community-based. My concern is that sometimes we get too caught up in the business side of things and lose sight of the community focus in pursuit of profit. This often leads businesses to expand unnecessarily, diluting their social mission in favor of becoming more resourceful.

Achieving a balance between a meaningful social business that truly benefits communities while also being profitable is challenging. This session has helped refresh my understanding of these dynamics. I believe that such businesses can exist, but sustaining them requires deep interaction with communities, which is a delicate balance to strike.

In my thesis and project, I’m unsure how to apply all of this knowledge since I’m still in the research phase. My goal is to create something with a social impact—technology that people can freely use to do good. However, I’m unsure how to monetize it. I envision an open-source business model, but I need to clarify the significance of what I’m doing to figure out how to turn it into a viable business.

This course served as an introduction to regenerative economies and social sustainability. Milena explained what FabLab is, distributed design, and how communities are central to projects. However, I feel like there’s still a lot more to explore in these areas, and this course was more foundational. I would have loved to see more real-world examples of projects that apply these principles of community and sustainability in regenerative economies.

That said, the course did help me find contact information for different communities and provided valuable resources to dive deeper into. After MDEF01 and our visits to places Milena mentioned, I found this course to be quite introductory. Nonetheless, it was still useful, especially in reinforcing the importance of FabLabs, the different types of economies that exist, and the core idea of doughnut economics. The course really emphasized how economies should function more circularly and regenerate, allowing communities to thrive in local spaces while ensuring the well-being of both people and the planet.

Ecological Interactions and the Economies of Nature¶

This class was very meaningful and interesting because it provided a solid overview of sustainability and agricultural projects and their economies. While it didn’t dive too deep into the specifics of economic systems and their financial viability, it was fascinating to learn about how small community projects can be developed in different regions and how they can help communities by creating products that can potentially be sold.

I really enjoyed the class and the examples shared, but I do think it could have explored the economic systems in more depth. What stood out to me the most was the idea that economies should be designed for humans, meaning we need to shift our focus from endless growth to more sustainable development. I also loved the emphasis on how these projects rely heavily on data, which ties into my thesis. The key takeaway for me was that while data is valuable, the real change comes when we transform that data into wisdom—by reflecting on it, creating meaningful insights, and using those insights through practice to make a real impact.