RogLab Creative Hub is a shared community space in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The original plans in 2012 envisaged it as a way of involving a wide range of stakeholders in the revitalisation of the former Rog factory in the city centre. With input from 6000+ early users and 450 + diverse stakeholders who have helped shape its vision and programme, RogLab model has now been scaled into a new public institution for the 21st century, focusing on sustainable development.
Second Chance
Programme: Interreg Central Europw
Duration: 2010 - 2013
Lead partner: City of Nüremberg
Role in the Project: Partner
secondchanceproject.si
FabLabNet
Programme: Interreg Central Europe
Duration: 2016 – 2019
Lead partner: Muse – Museo Delle Scienze
Role in the Project: Partner
Ref. no.: CE283
fablabnet.net
After phasing out much of Ljubljana’s industrial activity, the city wanted to find a new use for one of its most iconic buildings, the former Rog factory, while preserving the city's industrial tradition. It conducted a study to identify the best route forward in the new era of decentralised, digital industrial production, and to guide its revitalisation plans. The plan was to develop a new organisational model that would bring together a range of sectors in the creative industries in a shared fabrication space, where they could share knowledge and ideas and thereby create innovative products.
In 2012 a small-scale pilot version was conceived: the RogLab creative hub mainly focuses on the fabrication, applied arts, design and architecture as part of the city's systematic use of development projects to empower creatives from different disciplines. In its 30m² container unit RogLab soon took on a life of its own and became a multidisciplinary hub for production, innovation and education.
RogLab supports users of all ages, professions, nationalities, social backgrounds and genders. To date, 70% of them have been women. With its strong focus on contemporary challenges – digitalisation, sustainability, ageing, climate change, disability, etc. – RogLab encourages creative professionals and members of the public to turn their attention to urgent societal issues and serve the wider community.
A challenging participatory approach, often involving conflicting interests, has been at the heart of the project from the start. By actively involving citizens in a hands-on development process, the project has made a major contribution to community involvement in city planning. In 2018 RogLab won the Eurocities Innovation Award for outstanding achievements which improve the quality of life. On the basis of this field work, the City of Ljubljana continuously revised the plans and started to implement them in summer 2021.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
RogLab actively promotes the values of the Sustainable Development Goals:
Quality education for all (SDG 4):
- Free/accessible programmes for all ages
- 165+ workshops (children/adults) (2013-21)
- 13 intergenerational workshops (2013-21)
- 53 presentations (2013-21)
Gender equality (SDG 5):
- Dedicated women-only/women-led programmes; 70% of female users,
- 50% of female staff
- GraFEM: women's graffiti/street art programme
Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8):
- Building on industrial heritage and new technologies to restore manufacturing
- 30 prototypes created (2013-20)
Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure (SDG9):
- Making digital fabrication technologies accessible to all
Reducing inequalities (SDG 10):
- Mobile lab to reduce the technological gap between rural and urban areas
Sustainable cities & communities (SDG 11):
- Open Calls to tackle urban challenges, e.g.:
- 2015: Design Disability (design for users with physical disabilities)
- 2019: Active Ageing (highlighting the needs of the elderly)
- A supportive environment for the creation of innovative projects for sustainable and socially responsible development
Responsible Consumption & Production (SDG 11):
- Open Calls promote socially and environmentally responsible projects: recycling, reuse & repair; sustainable fashion; ecological mobility
- Public courses on the development of circular materials e.g. fruit composite materials
Climate action (SDG 13):
- Awareness-raising and support for designers re. circular economy, recycling and environmental protection
Partnerships for the goals (SDG 17):
- 40+ partners for the RogLab programme
- International Open Calls target less developed countries
- Ongoing international networking
- International financial support (European Regional Development Fund, Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, European Cultural Foundation)
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
RogLab is based in a stylised white container designed by the Slovene architect, Jure Kotnik. Small pavilions like ours are often used to introduce larger urban development projects since they communicate something of both the project and the future of the location. In accordance with the plug and play principle, ISO containers are often used for this, since they are easy to move and quick to install. The container form also communicates the transitory nature of the built environment and encourages the public to see the city as a constant work in progress at a time of rapid social, environmental, economic and technological change. Unlike many similar pavilions, RogLab does not communicate its plans (the makeover of the almost 9000m2 former Rog factory) by means of models, sketches and presentations, but instead addresses the public and future users by providing content in the form of a creative manufacturing laboratory.
The RogLab container is located on the banks of the Ljubljanica River, next to the former Rog factory, and consists of two ISO containers with an additional cube on top, reminiscent of the T-shape in Tetris. Its modularity communicates the idea that RogLab will adapt to the needs of its users. One side of the container is almost entirely glazed and can be closed completely. The unit is at ground level, next to a footpath, and has a big window facing the street, inviting passers-by to come in. At first, it was wholly white, like a white box turned inside out, encouraging people to co-create it. It has long been covered in graffiti of various kinds, but in 2020 we went one step further and officially dedicated the external surfaces to graffiti and street art. RogLab now also runs the GraFEM programme, which aims to empower female graffiti and street artists and promote women’s graffiti and street-art culture. Our first invited artist was Nez Pez, whose art has made the RogLab container blend into its environment even more than before.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
The formal participatory process started with the EU Second Chance development project, whose pivotal contribution has been its methodological approach to culturally developing and revitalising degraded industrial areas. The project connected diverse stakeholders (educational, research, cultural institutions and businesses) including grassroots stakeholders (designers, artists, temporary users of the former factory premises, neighbours and NGOs). The participatory process results opted for the development of a diversified space with shared manufacturing workshops and jointly used spaces in which individual creators, businesses, NGOs as well as educational and research institutions could make use of the common infrastructure coupled with appropriate support programmes.
The RogLab pilot was designed to test the outcomes of these processes on a small scale: the programmes and a participatory management model that can be used for the new multipurpose hub named the Rog Centre in the once renovated factory.
More than 6000 users and 450 stakeholder organisations have been involved in the development process in the last decade, whether through research, focus groups, or the testing of prototype programmes. Throughout this process, there have been changes in the structure of stakeholders and their relationships to the project (e.g. first generation of temporary users have been actively involved in Roglab’s activities, while their successors were untrusting towards the City’s development policies however a constructive agreement couldn’t be reached despite many mediation attempts).
In 2019, the City of Ljubljana re-submitted the redesigned and tested plans for the Rog centre to the stakeholders, who after a revision approved them. After the renovation, which will be finished by 2023, the revitalised building of the former Rog factory will offer almost 9.000 m2 of space for public programmes, developed in the RogLab hub through a long-term participatory process.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary
Sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion are extremely interconnected in RogLab. The participatory development method by which we have included various stakeholders and users in the earliest stages of the development project is a guarantee for the project’s sustainability since our services and programmes are responding directly to the needs of the users. On the other hand, we could ensure the inclusion of diverse groups of users, regardless of their social or national background, gender or generation by locating our project into a simple container architecture on the street level. By not being aesthetically or culturally codified RogLab proved itself to be a welcoming meeting point to most diverse users who are otherwise often culturally segregated in culturally codified spaces - e.g. art gallery, museum, fablab, art school, engineering school, hobby shop, … By involving different types of creative people from hobbyists to professional designers and by providing programmes and space where they can meet we are also providing the conditions where our users can learn about different aesthetics within hands-on situations - e.g. creative workshops, trainings, courses. In this sense, we are slowly but surely creating awareness about sustainable materials, aesthetics and inclusivity amongst our diverse users.
The Covid Crisis has confronted us with many underlying problems of our society. One of the most visible ones is reflected in the phenomenon of a big distrust of public institutions. The look at the number of people protesting against Covid restrictions in the streets of Ljubljana made us think of how much our institutions have sadly failed them. At the same time, those numbers confirmed our long-lasting efforts to create more inclusive cultural institutions that would embrace people from different classes, generations, sexual orientations, national, religious and professional backgrounds. Therefore the core of the development of the new Rog Centre was a participatory development process based on RogLab - a small culturally non-codified space and non-finished prototype accessible to the participation of diverse citizens. As well as proposing and co-producing the programmes, our partners and users give feedback and advice on our development plans for the new Rog Centre. This has many benefits for partners and the creative community in general: better exchange of information, more efficient use of capacities and resources, a strong sense of ownership, and better services for the public. We continuously and transparently involve stakeholders, partners and users in our development plans. We use participatory methods and involve members of the public in hands-on prototyping processes in the RogLab model, revitalising an important piece of industrial cultural heritage, building a value-driven community and the new institution in the process. At every step of the development project, we involve several groups of stakeholders testing the solutions to different aspects of the future Rog Centre before the implementation: e.g. integration of migrants and refugees, development of participatory budget and management models, co-creating green public spaces surrounding the Rog Centre, implementing user-friendly facilities, closing the gap between highbrow and lowbrow culture,...
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.
The transition to a free-market economy in the 1990s led to the collapse of Slovenian factories. The industrial activity started to rebuild in the form of SMEs, but they often lacked basic resources. According to a recent analysis by the Institute for Economic Research in Ljubljana, 7% of employees and 10.5% of businesses in Slovenia work in the cultural and creative industries. The RogLab initiative provides SMEs in the manufacturing and creative industries with shared infrastructure and knowledge, and a professional network.
RogLab directly included 700 individual users per year (70% women, 50% students, 25% children, 4% elderly, 1% disabled people). At its final stage, it has 70 regular annual members. The Rog Centre is expected to directly affect 60,000 people per year by 2027 (based on a 2019 financial analysis by the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana).
Stakeholders, residents: participated in the EU development project between 2010 and 2013 and the stakeholders’ workshop to approve the Rog Centre Utilisation Concept in 2019
Partners (educational and cultural institutions, fab labs, SMEs, schools, NGOs): developing and testing RogLab programmes and services, providing feedback on Rog Centre development plans, development of the Rog Centre financial model (2019), communicating with diverse target groups about RogLab and the Rog Centre
Users (creatives, SMEs, manufacturers, students): using and testing RogLab programmes and services, providing feedback on proposed Rog Centre public services
Disabled people: co-designed the user-centred project, Design (Dis)Ability 2014-16
Elderly: co-designed the user-centred project, Active Ageing 2019
Women: co-designing the female-led RogLab programmes
Education professionals: co-designing the educational programmes
For medium-sized towns such as Ljubljana living in a globalised world often means suffering negative effects such as delocalisation of production, climate change, losing of local cultural specifics, adopting generic solutions to diverse societal challenges… With RogLab we have developed diverse local methods not just to tackle global challenges but also to benefit from global networks in search of solutions to those challenges.
- Civic participation - we have developed an award-winning RogLab prototype and participatory methods that can serve as a blueprint for the development of public institutions elsewhere.
- Ageing and product design - we have tackled this challenge in cooperation with 35 labs from 27 countries and developed 5 user-centred prototypes.
- Disability and fashion - 15 designers and mentors for 8 different countries developed 7 user-centred prototypes.
- Gender and technologies - we have developed an inclusive and safe environment for women who wish to use new technologies for the development of their projects.
- Gender and public space - we are promoting female ownership of the public space by promoting female participation in mostly male-dominated fields - such as Graffiti Arts.
- Bringing production back to the cities - we have developed a new public institution - the Rog Centre Creative Hub promoting and enabling an accessible, inclusive and creative use of diverse fabrication technologies.
- Migrations and the refugee crisis - we are cooperating with local NGOs in the field of migrations in order to make our programmes accessible to migrant and refugee populations.
- Climate change - we have developed local participation methods involving citizens in order to make the green public spaces surrounding the new Rog centre welcoming to animals, plants and humans.
The RogLab method of developing a new public facility is unique in Slovenia and almost certainly also in Europe as a whole. This is the first time in almost a decade that such a major public investment in a cultural institution has involved this level of participation in the planning process. RogLab is acting as the pilot for the future Rog Centre, while also leading its own independent life as a creative hub.
Since 2010, over 6000 users and stakeholders have been involved in the development process, whether through research, focus groups, or the testing of prototype programmes. Using the data generated by this involvement, the City of Ljubljana continuously revised its vision and design for the project. In 2019, these revised plans were re-submitted to stakeholders, who reviewed and added to them before finally approving them. The revitalised building of the former Rog factory will from 2023 when the renovation will be finished offer almost 9.000 m2 of space for content and programmes, developed in the RogLab hub through a long-term participatory process.
The pandemic has exposed a great many social and environmental injustices and strengthened our conviction that, in the longer term, these can only be eliminated through systematic investment in just living conditions for all and environmentally sustainable solutions.
Innovation in RogLab is being sustained by a flexible management model on the basis of a public-private-civil partnership that requires constant dialogue; by a professional culture that encourages open communication with staff and partners and tolerates failure; by listening to and implementing stakeholders’ suggestions and thus creating a sense of ownership; by reducing bureaucratic obstacles and thereby giving as much public access to RogLab services as possible; and by creating an interdisciplinary space with shared infrastructure and knowledge.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.
The RogLab participatory development process has been long and complex. Since the start of the process almost eleven years ago, rapid economic, technological and societal changes have caused us to rethink our initial goals. Over the course of the project we have learned a number of lessons:
1) For sustainable development, the path is as important as the goal.
2) The creation of resilient public institutions and effective services requires us to remain attentive to changing public needs.
3) The development process can generate unforeseen ideas, partnerships and projects, to the benefit of all the stakeholders.
4) Small-scale prototyping helps avoid major mistakes or financial losses.
5) Ideas that challenge conventional approaches often generate innovative and timely solutions for the public.
6) A living prototype is an excellent communication tool for development projects.
7) Roglab and its development method plainly showed that complex revitalization projects require more than a bottom-up approach. The horizon of this type of planning is essentially limited by the interests of specific groups and individuals and intrinsically involves excluding those with different interests. Nor is exclusively top-down planning sufficient, since it lacks practical experience and doesn’t provide information about future users’ actual needs.
The RogLab development method mainly consists of rapid prototyping and early involvement of users - an approach that was borrowed from product design and successfully transferred to the field of cultural development. It involves participant observation in the process and data gathering via semi-structured interviews, focus groups and analysis of users’ experience. The method was proven successful since the research results based on the 30 m2 big prototype RogLab are currently being implemented on the 8.500 m surface of the Rog Centre Creative Hub. In our opinion, the method could be transferred to medium-sized (European) cities.
@Center Rog, 2021
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