Since this week, all project partners have it in writing: the funding approval for the project FAB Region Bergisches Städtedreieck has been granted. This allows work to begin on projects that aim to implement sustainable circular economy in the region in exemplary, creative, and collaborative ways. The globally already applied Fab City approach is to be implemented.

What is planned?

The focus is on developing pilot projects in which strategies and practices for sustainable and circular economy are implemented and tested. Initial approaches and projects already exist in the Städtedreieck area. These will be qualified and expanded through the new project framework of FAB Region Bergisches Städtedreieck, contributing to the idea of a co-creative circular economy region.

The Fab City Idea

The global Fab City initiative stands for decentralized and sustainable production in the neighborhood. Cities such as Barcelona, Paris, Boston, and Mexico City belong to more than 50 cities and regions worldwide that have committed to the Fab City approach. In Germany, so far only Hamburg and Augsburg have joined. Now, the Bergisches Städtedreieck is to become the first German region to join.

What does this mean for the Städtedreieck? The project

• connects a network of local innovation hubs

• develops learning formats at these hubs that enable companies and citizens to produce sustainably in the region

• brings together regional companies with citizens and science to reveal potentials for sustainable transformation and to develop strategies for implementation

• involves regional politics to establish the transformation in the long term

• creates the necessary structures to become an official member of the global Fab City network. With this membership and its projects, the Bergisches Städtedreieck will become visible on the global Fab City network map.

The Project Partners

A group of actors from civil society, science, and the public sector collaborate in this project:

Gut Einern in Wuppertal is a model site for social and ecological sustainability. On an old estate, for example, a vertical farm, a permaculture farm, and innovatively designed energy and resource cycle systems are being created. Educational formats and neighborhood development are also being shaped here.

In Remscheid, the Gründerschmiede leads the way. With its variety of innovative startup ideas and expertise in advising founders, it stands for innovation strength. The association has made a significant contribution to the city’s startup culture and has long been committed to regional development.

In the Gläserne Werkstatt, the innovative repurposing of an old department store in the heart of Solingen, regional products are traded, produced, and presented. Here, people can experiment in open workshops. The Gläserne Werkstatt is both a future workshop and a meeting place for people committed to a good and sustainable life. The latter two projects were developed within the framework of “Urban Production” and can be further qualified in this way.

Together with these innovation hubs, the project is carried by Bergische Struktur- und Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft mbH, the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), the Institute for Work and Technology, the Start-up Center of Bergische Universität Wuppertal, and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.

Funding

The project “FAB.Region Bergisches Städtedreieck – Transformation towards a co-creative circular economy region” is funded for three years with resources from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Contact

Nils Kreft, Communication Coordinator, nils.kreft@cscp.org
Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production gGmbH (CSCP)
Hagenauer Str. 30, 42107 Wuppertal

Or

Anette Kolkau, Communications, kolkau@bergische-gesellschaft.de, +49 212 88 16 06 67
Bergische Struktur- und Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft mbH
Stöcken 19, 42651 Solingen

Further Information

English website of the Fab City Initiative: https://fab.city/
Websites of the innovation hubs:
Gut Einern: https://www.gut-einern.org/
Gründerschmiede: https://gruenderschmiede.org/
Gläserne Werkstatt: https://www.glaeserne-werkstatt-solingen.de