Crowdfunding Urbanism

Crowdfunding is known as an effective way to support innovative ideas and intentions. Especially when it comes to independent music publishing and event management, as well as for product design, crafts and small scale projects crowdfunding is established as a working tool. To use crowdfunding in the urban planning procedure is by now a mainly untested, but promising field. It arises out of a desire to make the process of urban development more legible. The call for more transparency in decision-making and self-governance demand a new instrument for the public’s participation.

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The following article will answer some important questions about public property, financial system operations, potentials and problematic and will give a possible vision to use crowdfunding for urban planning in a realistic and successful way.

Basic Facts

"Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.”

Terms and Definitions

CROWD

means a large number of persons gathered together, a throng; a group of people united by a common characteristic, as age, interest, or vocations; a group of people attending a public function; an audience: The play drew a small but appreciative crowd; a large number of things positioned or considered together.

FUND

is a saved, collected or provided amount of money for a particular purpose; needed or available money to spend on something

PUBLIC SPACE

According to our research the definition of a public space is very flexible. Therefore we have listed a number of definitions:
„A public space may be a gathering spot or part of a neighborhood, downtown, special district, waterfront or other area within the public realm that helps promote social interaction and a sense of community. Possible examples may include such spaces as plazas, town squares, parks, marketplaces, public commons and malls, public greens, piers, special areas within convention centers or grounds, sites within public buildings, lobbies, concourses, or public spaces within private buildings.“

PLANNING LAW
The entity of regulations that focus on urban and regional planning, land use regulations, building planning and the legal effects of all these laws.

The building- und planning law situation in central Europe

The building industry is regulated by a number of laws. The developement of residential areas and the construction of buildings is regulated by the public administrative law. Those laws often set limits to the interests and designs of constructors and ground owners. The construction of a new building needs to be notified in order to be in accordance with the building laws. The individual building permit is the lowest in the hierarchy of construction regulations. According to our definitions, a urban crowdfunded project is a individual building project.

Who is responsible

Since the constitutional law in Austria does not regulate the construction and regional planning law, all the building regulations are beeing handled individually by the provinces and not the state itself.

Public and private building law

The building law can be devided into two sections: the public and the private building law.

The public building law contains all the regulations that focus on the use of the ground, what is built on the ground, whatever is removed or altered. These regulations aim to retain public interests.

The private building law contains all the regulations that focus on private property, neighbor laws, contracts, liabilities etc. The use of the ground is genereally a matter of the ground owner. He is able to do whatever he wants with his property as long as his interests are covered by the constitutional law (which of course includes the building and planning law) and don't interfere with public interests.

What needs to be notified, what doesn't

Certain buildings such as military facilities and energy producing structures are not included in the constitutional law. The construction of such facilities is possible without a permit.

Needs to be permissioned (a building permit is neccessary)

• new buildings and additional buildings
• demolition of buildings
• change of use of a building

Needs to be notified (the public autorities need to be informed and have to accept)

• additional buildings to annexe
• safety walls
• safety roofs

Mosaicas an example for a crowdfunded solar roof.

How can be built in public space

The decisions of a individual planner without any legal regulations would probably lead to a building and area developement which is not covered by public interests. Not only important rules/aims to retain the common good would be in jeopardy, but also the prevention of any dangers and other social matters need to be retained. The regulations in the building and planning law say that buildings/Therefore buildings

• can not be erected in unsuitable places
• need to have a low use of resources
• can not interfere with the overall appearance of a place

As a result it can be said, that the aim of the building and planning law is to enforce these regulations when it comes to a (individual) construction activity. The common good needs to be preserved and the building and area developement has to happend in the best way possible. The well known case of the Robocop statue in Detroit is a good example of how crowdfunded projects in shared spaces might lead to a conflict of interests

Who decides what can be built

The execution of the building and planning law regulataions are handled by various institutions. Austria as an example: The first instance in a municipality of Austria is the Mayor. The second instance would be the municipality council. In the city of Vienna the urban administration (Magistrat MA 37, also known as construction-police) is the first instance. The decision making and evaluation of certain interests of constructors, designers, ground owners, etc. by these institutions are limited by the discretion of the legislative organ. This means, that the building and planning authorities need to follow the existing laws in form and content.

Crowdsourcing in Public Spaces

Main article: Crowdsourcing Urbanism

Nowadays the concept of urban planners, developers and politicians turning to citizens to detect their individual needs, wishes and ideas regarding the revitalisation of specific areas is well known. One downside that occurs is that at some point it has also become a tool of handing the responsibility over to larger anonymous groups by outsourcing intricate decisions to public opinion polls. This ambivalent process has to be questioned to the point of spotting hidden pretences of the initiators of such surveys. Although these political driven urban renewal processes can be seen as part of the Crowdsourcing Urbanism movement there are distinctively smaller projects that are closer to the roots of everyday problems. In many cases those ventures bypass the abovementioned issues by having a direct citizen-led approach to crowdsourcing in urbanism in spotting, naming and changing facets of current controversial subjects. By the lack of monetary motives and indirect cash flows those projects have a faster and more straightforward method on altering the urban tissue. The source of motivation seems to be created by urgent needs of locals that in some cases try to improve their daily lives by making smaller modifications to the district they live in. There’re projects that blur the lines between vandalism, street art and legit urban upgrading and one of the biggest concerns can be seen in the ignoring of laws and regulations. At the edge of underground street art and self-proclaimed idealism this movement forms the basis of individuals and smaller groups that have the drive to actually contribute in their own way to their surroundings. Therefore the important issue of undemocratic decision making has to be addressed, because by having smaller groups imposing their very special ideas of reshaping the area by not including a vaster amount of people into the procedure can create the impression of autocratic tendencies and eventually cast a bad light onto those reformative notions.

Prospect

The connection between crowdfunding and urban development is getting stronger. The applicability of crowdfunding on urban space plays a minor role in the previous analysis of the topic. Crowdfunding Urbanism is not yet comprehensively considered. Crowdfunding is rather examined as a financing instrument in general or in relation to other subject areas (Kickstarter, journalism, etc.). Fundamentally, the question of transferability of crowdfunding projects on urban development, which usually differ in their complexity and their impact on typical Kickstarter projects. How should existing models of crowdfunding be adapted in order to be applied in city-based projects?

The urban researchers Dan Hill and Bryan Boyer are the pioneers in this field. In their book Brickstarter they present a new form of platform for crowdfunding urbanism. They believe it is necessary to realign communal decision-making on public space. Instead of state-institutionally organized citizen surveys, where rejection of projects is regularly expressed, the active organization, discussion and support of projects should be possible.

Scenarios

During the research work for the legal situation in Crowdfunding Urbanism many questions emerged. These questions are being illustrated with fictional scenarios which are inspired by actual events.


A

A public space in a city needs to be revaluated. The officials announce a competition where urban planners, architects, sociologists, etc. can contribute their plans for the reconstruction. The authorities choose the best designs, present them to the public and ask for feedback. The design which suits the common interest best is then beeing realised. A good example of how this scenario can go wrong is the revaluation of the Mariahilferstraße in Vienna. The outcome of the project was very confusing to the public and led to protests, which made the authorities overthink their decisions. Eventually a solution was found.


B

A private person has an idea to improve the situation in a shared space. The idea could be to build benches on a empty plaza or plant trees and bushes to revaluate the space and make it more accessible to the citizens. Since it's hard do execute such a project alone, the person gathers a few other people and they form a group. The group works on material to put on a urban crowdfunding platform in order to access a bigger crowd. The project is a huge success, people seem to love it and donate money. Eventually enough money is raised to realise the venture. Now the difficult part begins: The team has to present their ideas to the authorities in order to get permission to actually carry out their plans. These authorities consist either of a committee or a single person that can decide about the fate of the project. A statement by Bryan Boyer and Dan Hill of Brickstarter describe this situation pretty well: „Just because a project is funded does not mean that it has passed all of the permitting and regulatory hurdles that it may need to clear.“ Very questionable about this scenario is the fact, that the fate of a project which is backed by a huge number of people is pending on a single person, or a committee. A good example of this scenario is the famous case of the Robocop statue in Detroit. On his Twitter page former Mayor Dave Bing states that „There are no plans to erect a statue to Robocop. Thank you for the suggestion.“ The statement by Jocelyne Bourgon concludes this paragraph perfectly: „We are facing 21st century problems with the inflexible institutional silos of the 19th century.“


C

Officials realize that there is a problem with a shared space that needs to be solved in order to make it more attractive to the public. A city initiative is organised and the population is being asked for their feedback on how to solve the problem. Tools like Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding grow in importance and authorities need to learn to use them and start interacting with the public. This is the logical way of handling problems in a modern government. People should be asked about their opinion and then contribute to solve the issue. A good example for this scenario is the Luchtsingel bridge in Rotterdam. On their website they state: „In 2011 the Rotterdam City Council organised a city initiative, an administrative instrument for public participation to encourage reform. Inhabitants of Rotterdam were called to present projects for the revitalisation of the city. To enrich the quality of life in city projects. 4 million euros from the city initiative is a set aside for on project implementation.“


CONCLUSION

As long as the official institutions remain as inflexible as described in scenario b, people will have to use tools to bypass existing rules, restrictions and regulations. „Brickstarter is just such a tool: it is a Trojan horse that infiltrates the “dark matter” of bureaucracy, enacting change from the inside.“

Practical Experience

Stay Tuned

In terms of structure of crowdfunding platforms in urban context, not only the motivation of the funder is important, but the motivations of initiators are interesting also. In the Netherlands, architects are taking the initiative and coming up with new strategies to counteract the crisis in their work area. ZUS architects are using the new hype of crowdfunding and setting it in public space for their own ideas. A 350-meter long wooden bridge spans between two districts. One of these neighbourhoods is suffering from social exclusiveness. The intention is to solve the situation due to building a connecting bridge. The funding will be secured by the sale of wooden boards, in which the name of the respective benefactor is engraved. This project makes clear that interested citizens only have a financial part in it.

The project is sufficiently developed and advanced, so that it only needs to be financed. The state treasury is empty and as an alternative investor citizens can be used. It is important to choose a proper strategy, so that the interest in the project of the investor is still there and in further steps to move him to finance the project. Different incentive structures of crowdfunding platforms, make the platform-users investors. Understanding this motivation is important for the selection of the appropriate instrument and for the success of a crowdfunding campaign. The emotional connection between the investors and the project is also very important for the success. A well-organized crowdfunding campaign is working due to the traditional marketing model known as the AIDA principle. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. The sense of belonging in a community, the responsibility for one’s own environment and the social responsibility are guiding terms that connect public life and the space in which it takes place. Everyone feels automatically responsible for existing problems and social exclusion, as described in the example. To do so, seems easy. The purchase of a wooden board was already supported. The task of the home country, to protect, to help and to watch over the city, to manage the resources and to solve social problems, is now the task of the community and participating actors. Citizens are asked to pay up in a very gentle and playful manner. If the community already takes part in funding, the potential of a crowd is certainly even higher.

What about us

The Detroit example with the Robocop statue shows the importance of balance between global participation and local impact. It should be protected against dubious initiatives. The dubiousness is strengthened by the unilateral, favorable choice. Either one finds the project good and has the opportunity to invest in the project or one ignores it and hopes for the dogmatic decision of the Mayor, who cares for the face of the city and will stop the project.

Such thinking would contradict to the Laclaus and Mouffes discourse about post-Marxism hegemony theory. The public community is strengthened by conflicts and different opinions. The more conflict the more public - less consensus. If I disagree with the project, I would like to have a valve in order to express my displeasure. A certain number of "likes" and amount of collected money is regarded as a democratic decision. The public space is a platform in which a "dislike" should have space. A "dislike", which is not marked out of spite and bad temper, but shows a desire for an alternative solution. Furthermore, it is the worldwide participation and interest in issues related to the local context. We do not limit ourselves by our immediate, noticeable physical environment where our neighbors are already regarded as outsiders. Our environment is the world, and the border is widely extended. But does our mental perception relate to our physical world? Should an outsider from the Internet decide about our environment or should it be the neighbour? The “Stadtmacher” has an answer to this question and limits the possibility of starting an investment on local environment.

We can do it

One of the major goals of crowdfunding campaigns, besides the financal part of the project, is to build a network of supporters. Projects that are planned in urban areas bring along a large number of actors. There is a need for new communication methods between the actors of urban development. Crowdfunding platforms can contribute. It is known that the variety and diversity of urban development stakeholders is identified and the communication difficulty between the actors is highlighted. Even more surprising is the lack of tools that could help to organize an exchange between planning authorities, the private and the public. As a consequence, decision-making processes on the development of urban space are perceived as not open and difficult to read. A platform that allows communication between various stakeholders would clarify this kind of processes and make them open for interested people.

„Stadtmacher“ is a project of the Urbanista group that deals with the communication and mediation work between different actors. They are already one step ahead. „Stadtmacher“ has recognized that a large potential lies not only in funding by a crowd, but also in the crowd itself. The concept of crowdfunding should be seen as a form of crowdsourcing, in which the resources of the crowd can be used for ideas, feedback and possibility to generate solutions to specific problems. Cognitive force of a crowd would improve the development process of a project. Crowdfunding as a new instrument should be understood as a participation-based urban development.

The idea behind it is as follows: „Stadtmacher“ is a platform for civil projects in public space. Project ideas for your own city are submitted on this platform and go through several stages of development until the possible implementation of ideas. The special feature of this strategy is that no one is left alone with their own idea. Along with the „Stadtmacher-Team“ the ideas are developed and launched towards implementation - both through expert advice and by building a crowdfunding platform through which the first steps as well as the entire project can be financed. “Achieving success in five steps” is the promise of the „Stadtmacher“-Team. But if you take a detailed look, it gives the impression that the success of the project is not guaranteed. The euphoric initiative of citizens to participate actively in urban development is hampered by many bureaucratic barriers and official hurdles. Should the project fail because of the legislation?

Next Steps

„The new stage in crowdfunding is all about civilians directly funding and marketing public goods, making their own neighborhood, village and city more attractive.”

New York Times

After the initial investigation of the topic and more detailed analysis of many aspects, we discovered that it takes some more time and research to generate a working platform for crowdfunding in public space. An urban crowdfunding platform should be able to respond flexibly to the needs of the individual case and support the development and adaptation of crowdfunding instruments. In many German cities the popularity of Crowdfunding Urbanism rises and already notes first successes. Vienna, for example, promotes citizens to stand up for their own city and to shape it. Thus, crowdfunding is intended as crowdsourcing Urbanism and shows a new, perhaps pioneering side.

One of the sectors where we believe crowdfunding could play a positive role is in the local governmental sector. Municipalities have been, in the more recent decades, integrating participatory tools into their urban planning frameworks,these tools are being used to foster a more direct relationship between citizens and their urban environment. Crowdsourcing is a natural fit for these types of processes (Brabham, 2009), by using social media and other avenues municipalities can “call to action” a large number of interested citizens to participate in the design of ongoing municipal projects or even propose new ones such as the example of Stevenson square in Manchester. Most participatory budgets, where citizens propose their own projects, can only fund a small percentage of the proposed projects but by using crowdfunding the municipality could boost available funding and increase the amount of funded projects. Municipalities could also run their own crowdfunding platforms continuously instead of integrating them into seasonal budget actions. These platforms would increase the visibility of public participation in urban planning and could generate, besides funding, increased awareness and interest in the urban environment.

Literature

• Tayfun Belgin (Hrsg.): Christine und Irene Hohenbüchler – ... ansehen als ..., ... regarding as ... König u. a., Köln u. a. 2007, ISBN 978-3-9502333-0-8.
• Dorothee Messmer, Markus Landert (Hrsg.): Wilde Gärten. Christine und Irene Hohenbüchler. Niggli, Sulgen u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7212-0523-5.

References

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