Fab City Research Project
The Future of
Made in
Hamburg
The Future Is Taking Shape Here
Sustainable production in the city? Local and accessible to as many people as possible?
FAB CITY HAMBURG PLAYBOOK
What role do open workshops, circular material flows, and participatory innovation formats play? Answers to these questions are provided by the Fab City Hamburg Playbook, developed at Helmut Schmidt University by the Laboratory for Manufacturing Technology (LaFT) and the New Production Institute in collaboration with numerous partner institutions.
The Playbook shows what sustainable, digitally supported urban production can look like in practice. It brings together the key insights from four years of research and practical experience in Hamburg. You’ll learn about the role that open workshops, circular material flows, and collaborative innovation formats play in the city of tomorrow. The Playbook illustrates how local production, the circular economy, and digital manufacturing can work together. With examples from OpenLabs, open-source prototypes, and workshops, it invites you to discover new approaches and explore them further. As such, it’s not only a guide for experts but also an exciting introduction for anyone who wants to shape the city differently.
Would you like to discuss this or learn more about the approach taken in the Fab City research project? Then get in touch, and we’ll direct you to the right person!
Subproject 1
Products
Made in Hamburg
In the “Made in…Hamburg” subproject, Fab City Hamburg is exploring the potential and capacity for local manufacturing of products in Hamburg. In addition, the project promotes the use of repair services in Hamburg.
If local manufacturing and repair services are utilized more extensively, transportation distances can be reduced and expertise can remain in the local community. This is precisely why the potential, capacity, and possible applications in Hamburg are being examined.
We are building a database of manufacturing companies and products made in Hamburg.
This highlights what is already taking shape locally today—and how close Hamburg is to achieving the Fab City goal for 2054.
Fab Cities and Fab Regions aim to produce as many products as possible locally or regionally within a circular economy by 2054. Our assessment shows how far Hamburg is from achieving this goal and where the items we use every day come from today. Whether a product is considered to be manufactured in Hamburg is determined by the legal criteria for “Made in Germany.” This ensures that the data remains traceable and comparable.
We compile a database of companies and products. In addition, the entries are mapped to highlight local production within the city.
Both conventional products and open-source products are recorded, including design documentation and a bill of materials (BOM), if available. The documentation is based on parameters that could be included in a future digital product passport. Data collection will begin in four dtec application contexts: plastics, textiles, food, and equipment/machinery. The database will then be gradually expanded to include additional sectors.
In addition to taking stock of the current situation, we are examining opportunities and obstacles, as well as realistic timeframes for achieving the goal. We are also analyzing and documenting the level of vertical integration in the four industries as a continuation of the Fab City Index project (INTERFACER WP 3.3).
Subproject 2
Find Businesses in Hamburg More Easily with the "Repair Map"
We are developing an online map that systematically highlights repair shops and workshops in Hamburg. After all, repair becomes more important when products are meant to be used longer and more intensively.
For a local circular economy, it is not enough simply to build products well and manufacture them in a resource-efficient manner. The longer products are intended to be used, the more important maintenance and repair become.
In Hamburg, repair services worth over 5 billion euros are provided annually. Nevertheless, there is no easily accessible, systematic overview to help people find the right business—people often rely on recommendations. Following the example of Vienna and Berlin, an online map is being created that lists repair shops and workshops. It’s similar to Google Maps, but more systematic and as comprehensive as possible. We are compiling data on the repair capacities of Hamburg-based businesses—particularly small craft businesses—in cooperation with the Hamburg Chamber of Crafts. The data is collected in a database that enables mapping.
We are investigating how individuals, businesses, and organizations find information about repair options. We are analyzing the similarities and differences among repair requests and documenting them in the final report. Fab City Hamburg will continue to maintain, operate, and update the online repair map after the project ends. This will ensure that the resource remains usable in the long term.
