T-Factor
Journey
Our orchestration is a collective journey into discovery of perceptions and meanings, co-design and prototyping of temporary uses, and iteration through learning by doing and by making.
Throughout the journey, seven thematic Labs – our T-Labs – are the triggers for innovative temporary uses that can transform the trajectories of urban regeneration towards higher ambitions of quality of life, inclusion and regenerative spaces.
Orchestrating
Strategies, Operations & Relations
The T Factor approach supports participation and collaboration in transformative meanwhile projects; fostering mutual trust and value between people to cultivate productive relationships and networks, developing and building capacity amongst participating organisations and individuals to make processes of transformation more inclusive and accessible, and breaking institutional silos, to align agendas and combine resources towards collective action, experimentation and impact.
and Inquiring
and Ideating
Action research
and Evaluation
The
T-Labs
In T-Factor, the Transformation Labs (T-Labs) propel meanwhile uses that are able to transform the trajectories of urban regeneration towards higher ambitions of sustainability, inclusivity and prosperity.
Spanning multiple thematics – arts, culture & creativity, industry 4.0, circular and collaborative economy, climate change, social innovation and inclusion, and more – the T-Labs embody the living knowledge that supports exploration and delivery of multiple place-based missions of innovation in the meanwhile of urban regeneration.
Arts, Culture & Creativity
Urban Production & Digitisation
This lab addresses meanwhile uses as the opportunity to create radically new urban economies driven by sustainability, innovation and social innovation, and cross-sectoral collaboration. The Lab combines the potential of Industry 4.0 with the innovative perspectives of young start-ups and the maker movement as a way to design meanwhile uses and activities as opportunities for new enterprise, upskilling and reskilling, digital literacy and novel collaborations across public and private actors.
Citizens-led Smartness
The Lab explores alternative ‘smart city’ notions grounded on data sovereignty for citizens and community-owned solutions. The lab envisions meanwhile uses as a sandbox to redefine the role of technology in the urban environment, providing alternative models rooted in localised digital value chains where value is generated and distributed locally, and citizens have a high degree of awareness and agency. We call our approach “digital placemaking” because we leverage technology in building the sense of place.
Urban design for sociality and wellbeing
This Lab envisions public open spaces as drivers for a more inclusive urban development and as platforms to promote public debate and social interaction. It explores the potential of participatory landscape design within large and complex masterplans for establishing a green and social infrastructure to ensure its liveability and maintenance from early implementation. Core topics of the lab include preventative health and wellbeing, accessibility, mixed uses, nature based solutions, climate resilience and adaptation.
Circular and Collaborative economy
The Lab explores circular and collaborative economy practices in meanwhile uses with the aim of raising awareness of the environmental and technological challenges in achieving a sustainable and inclusive society. Specifically, the Lab supports the development of meanwhile uses that follow the principles of the circular economy and the experimentation and uptake of collaborative economies at neighbourhood level.
Social Innovation and Social Inclusion
This lab explores how meanwhile uses can be shaped as a supporting infrastructure for social business and collaborative initiatives that address local challenges. Core issues are the creation of new job opportunities and the inclusion of vulnerable groups and groups at risk of exclusion. The lab offers a frame that can be adapted for specific municipal and local constellations, and which is based on lab development practices and experiences and worldwide case studies.
Megacities and Climate Change
The Lab envisions climate action in cities as the driving force for highest quality, inclusive and thriving urban regeneration that fundamentally respects our planetary boundaries. We apply a combination of systems thinking, strategic design and learning to support the definition and delivery of holistic portfolios of ‘meanwhile experiments’ toward long term impact. We address all the different constituents of urban systems – policies and regulations, capital deployment, governance, business models, data and tech, culture – in an attempt to support integrated and highly connected strategies of temporary uses.