Lately there is a real boom in DIY and Make community initiatives. From the highly popular Maker Fairs to smaller and more localised groups of people sharing a “constructive” hobby.
Here is a Dutch initiative that I’d love to see coming to Barcelona. The Repair Café.
The concept teams up very nicely with the recycle movement that is gaining weight everywhere and combines that with people that are, either through hobby or through profession, skilled in repairing certain items and are keen to meet each other and help each other out.
Barcelona already has quite a recycle movement getting on with Makerspaces and Hackerspaces like: http://www.mob-barcelona.com/ or http://riereta.org/wp/ but these places usually require paying a monthly fee and a more fixed amount of time you have to dedicate to it.
Also the furniture waste disposal system in Barcelona has a high recycle percentage (on a specific day in the week, you can put old furniture you want to get rid of on the street. This is later in the evening picked up by the waste disposal department. Most of it however gets picked up by people before that, who will either fix it up for their home or sell it), making the city a great basis for such an initiative.
The added value of the repair cafe is obviously the “cafe element“. This is the part that binds people together and gets the people from the neighbourhood involved in the projects and things people are working with. This also is something that is done a lot in Barcelona with its Neighbourhood “Casal de barrio” houses.
Also the fact that a public place, a bar or a cafe is used, takes away any hurdle paying for something might mean for a lot of people.
Something to think about? After all…
Have Fun!
