Lake of change – Bangalore 2018

Abstract

For 500 years, the many tanks and lakes of Bangalore had ecologic, spritual, agricultural and social functions for the neighboring people and provided the background for the rapid growth of today’s third largest city in India. But within less than 50 years, the number of lakes in the city has decreased dramatically and the remaining water bodies often are in a poor condition and sometimes even an origin of danger and serious risks for public health.

„Lake of change“ is a cross-cultural happening and process of participatory development, that shall spread environmental awareness and action beyond its limits and improve the treatment of the city's water bodies. Through a long term open innovation process, the neglected water bodies can be transformed into creative, healthy public spaces and into productive lakes with local food production, social entrepreneurship and culture, sports or leisure facilities. "Lake of change" may become one of many spaces, where creativity is needed and sustainable projects are realized and valued. The potential is waiting to be discovered.

Since the urbanity has brought similar problems to cities all over the world, we aim to collect and share local solutions to global problems. Just as the global environmental problems require long-term solutions, the "Lake of change" comes to life amidst a long development.
We envision a world where humans take care of the environment they live in out of appreciation and understanding. Every person counts in this movement towards a sustainable future. This responsibility shall be realized and transformed into positive action and reaction.
Let us make it happen together!


Project parts and process

„Lake of change“ will be organized and performed bottom-up as a temporary joint venture within a co-creative collective of like minded partners. Based on our former projects and experiences in participatory project management, the initial process design is composed of the following parts:

Open-Island
Open-Island is a proven modular system for floating islands, made of upcycled and renewable materials. It was developed in Germany and India and released Open-Source in 2015. After several thematic variations in Goa, Ahmedabad, Varanasi and floats in Thailand and Germany, the Open-Island Bangalore will be built in the new hexagonal shape in stainless steel, bamboo and upcycled waste materials. It serves as a representative symbolof a collaborative transformation, functioning as a multifunctional floating platform usable for a variety of appropriate solutions and interdisciplinary innovations. The Open Island will be raising awareness on the problem of waste in the city and also addresses the value of nature in form of water and its importance to the people.

Eco Design Challenge
For this challenge we want to collect existing ecological designs from around the world and develop concepts for innovative land and water transformation. The format will be a crowd sourcing project without a competitive aspect, but rather with a communal achievement. The participants of the Eco-design-challenge shall develop human centered designs and concepts for neglected spaces correlating with the urban typologies in Bangalore. The elements shall create a valuable and innovative addition to their surrounding.

The results of the Eco-design challenge will be gathered and presented at the "Lake of Change Conference". All analytical material and the created work will be uploaded to a shared online platform in order to make the information available globally. After the conference selected designs will be adapted and constructed during the Maker Week at the "Lake of change" in southern Bangalore.

"Lake-of-Change"-Conference
The Lake of change conference will bring together a variety of change makers and government officials in the city of Bangalore to discuss the momentary state and future development of the public space on land and water in Bangalore. The difficulties and problems as well as the progress and possibilities will be portrayed in presentations, specific workshops, a display of the results of the eco-design challenge and a final discussion.

The conference will start off with presentations on interrelated subjects, such as the climatic state of Bangalore, the importance of its water, "Spotfixing" and the waste cycle in Bangalore. The results of the Eco-design-challenge will be presented and discussed . Each participant of the challenge will receive a certificate of participation and will be invited to take part in the practical construction of selected ideas during the Maker Week.

A second day of the conference would include workshops and an open discussion. The workshops wouldwiden the perspective of the participants and with the final open discussion the wheel of change shall be set into motion.

Maker Week
After the conference and collection of Eco-Design concepts, selected ideas will be realized as prototypes within the „Lake of change“-maker week. Besides the hands-on workshops at land and on the floating island, this week also gives space and opportunities for partnering organisations to present their goals, solutions and challenges towards a sustainable and fair future. Interdisciplinary feedback and cooperations speed up the development and combined networks, communities and target groups are a powerful impact accelerator for every participating partner.

This seven day program invites all citizens to take part in the creation of the "Lake of change" in Bangalore. The days will be used for eventful workshops, where volunteers will help construct elements of the design, plant trees and bring in new ideas. This seven day event shall form a community of caring indivuals, that learn to realise their impact and the possibilities at hand.

Lake-of-Change festival
The temporary „Lake of change“ project culminates in a final Festival on the Lake of change and its shores. This cultural happening embraces all related activities, prototypes and proposals and stages them in different, appropriate cultural forms: A cultural parade around the lake and site specific installations or performances, the eco-design exhibition and creative maker-workshops for families, project presentations, public picnics and last but not least the floating island as a stage and venue for dance, drama, music and a cinema at night...


Perspectives
When the initial project „Lake of change“ ends, the process continues on different levels, depending on the individual aims and efforts of the partnering organizations. 
- The modular floating island will be demounted and prepared for its use on another location in Bangalore or another Indian city as a traveling exhibition and happening. In case, that a viable operator concept and the needed permissions can be achieved in Bangalore, the Open-Island stays in town as a part of a social entrepreneurship.
- The outcomes of the Eco-Design collection and challenge will continuously be provided on an open exchange platform and an accompanying downloadable e-book. This repository of appropriate eco-designs and concepts will be very helpful and inspiring for future designers, makers and planners.
- Eventually, some designs can be realized immediately for continuous use within running long-term projects in Bangalore. In this case, the contributors will be included in the professional realization.
- All partners will benefit from the new experiences, contacts and network of this collaborative action. The evaluation of former projects has shown, that such participatory maker-challenges create a strong bonding amongst the partners, often leading to ongoing cooperations. (The European „makers4humanity“ collective f.e. also emerged from the Open-Island activities and now contributes its network and some technical parts for the „Lake of Change“).


envisioned Partners

- Open-Island (Positive Nett-Works) 
- Mansana Projects 
- SayTrees 
- TAICT 
- Jaaga 
- makers4humanity 
- Max Muller Bhavan BGL 
- SWMRT 
- the ugly indians TUI 
- youth for parivathan 
- Art Escape Goa 
- Design Intervention 
- makerspace Bangalore 
- the story of (Goa) 
- the daily dump (composting) 
- Eat Raja (no waste food)


ALTE VERSION!!!!!!

Lake of change – Bangalore 2018
(short description of the intended collaborative project in Nov./Dec.2018)


Abstract/ Philosophy/ Vision 

For 500 years, the many tanks and lakes of Bangalore had ecologic, spritual, agricultural and social functions for the neighbouring people and provided the background for the rapid growth of todays third largest city in India. But in recent times, the situation of the waterbodies has dramatically changed. Within less than 50 years, the number of lakes in the city has decreased from 51 to 17 and the remaining waterbodies often are in a poor condition and sometimes even an origin of danger and serious risks for public health.
„Lake of change“ is a cross-cultural happening and participatory process, that can change the perception and treatment of the city lakes and as a consequence improve their water quality and biodiversity. Through an open innovation process, the abandoned water bodies can be transformed into a creative, healthy public space and a productive lake with local food production, social entrepreneurships and culture, sports or leisure facilities.

The "Lake of change" is a space where a process of participatory development shall be set into motion with the potential to grow beyond the limits of the lake. A network of environmentally active groups and individuals in Bangalore shall be formed in order to unite their efforts towards a sustainable and fair future. The goal is to spread environmental awareness and actions by discussing the topics in a conference and communaly reconstructing a project site at a lake in the south of Bangalore.  The lake shall become a place where ideas can be developed, creativity is wanted and projects can be realized. Since the urbanity has brought similar problems to cities all over the world, we aim to collect and share local solutions to global problems, which might be helpful to others in the world. Just as the global environmental problems require long-term solutions,....  We envision a world where humans take care of the environment they live in out of appreciation and understanding. Every person counts in this movement towards a sustainable future. This responsibility shall be realised and transformed into positive action and reaction.

Project parts and process 
„Lake of change“ will be organized and performed bottom-up as a temporary joint venture within a cocreative collective of likeminded partners. Based on our former projects and experiences in participatory project management, the initial process design is composed of the following parts:

Open-Island
Open-Island is a proven modular system for floating islands, made of upcycled and renewable materials. It was developed in Germany and India and released Open-Source in 2015. After several thematic variations in Goa, Ahmedabad, Varanasi and floats in Thailand and Germany, the Open-Island Bangalore will be built in the new hexagonal shape in stainless steel, bamboo and upcycled waste materials.
It serves as an appealing symbol for collaborative transformation and the multifunctional floating platform for a variety of appropriate solutions and interdisciplinary innovations.
The Open Island shall function as a symbol of change, by raising awareness on the problem of waste in the city. It also addresses the value of nature in form of water and its importance to the people. 
                          
Eco Design Challenge
For this challenge we want to collect existing ecological designs from around the world and develop new concepts for land and water. The format will be a crowd sourcing project without a competative aspect, but rather with a communal archievement. Based on an analysis of a variety of public spaces in Bangalore, the participants of the Eco-design-challenge shall develop human centered designs and concepts for prototypes in dimensions correlating with the urban typologies found in Bangalore. The elements should be based on the wishes and needs of the citizens and should be useful, sustainable, effective and create a value.
The results of the Eco-design challenge will be gathered and presented at the "Lake of Change Conference". All analytical material and the created designs will be uploaded to a crowdsourcing platform and potentially in an e-book the information will stay available in the future. After the conference some created designs will be adapted and constructed during the Maker Week at the "Lake of change" in southern Bangalore. Others might find their way to various urban spaces of Bangalore.

"Lake-of-Change"-Conference
The Lake of change conference will bring together a variety of change makers and government officials in the city of Bangalore to discuss the momentary state and future development of the public space in Bangalore. The difficulties and problems as well as the progress and possibilities will be portrayed in presentations, specific workshops, a display of the results of the eco-design challenge and a final discussion. 
The conference will start off with presentations concerning a variety of specific subjects, such as the overall climatic state of Bangalore, the importance of land and water rejuvenation, "Spotfixing", urban gardening and the waste cycle in Bangalore. Then the results of the Eco-design-challenge will be presented. Each conference attendee will receive the chance to vote for his favourite concept and design and will be asked to explain its advantages and potential placement. Each participant of the challenge will receive a certificate of participation and will be invited to take part in the practical construction of some ideas during the Maker Week (see below).

Depending on the length of the conference, a second day with workshops and an Open discussion will be offered. The workshops shall bring the participants to a new understanding of the importance of their work and together with the final open discussion the wheel of change shall be set into motion.

Maker Week  
After the initial Conference and Collection of Eco-Design concepts, selected ideas will be realized as prototypes within the „Lake of change“-maker week. Beneath the hands-on workshops on location at land or on the floating island, this week also gives space and opportunities for partnering organisations to present their goals, solutions and challenges towards a sustainable and fair future. Interdisciplinary feedback and cooperations speed up the development and combined networks, communities and target groups are a powerful impact accelerator for every participating partner.

This seven day program invites all people to take part in the creation of the Open Space at the Lake of change in Bangalore. The days will be used for eventful workshops, where volunteers will help construct elements of the design, plant trees and bring in new ideas. A wide variety of events shall bring more volunteers to the area and invite them to be a part of the project with their effort, ideas and donations. Artists will be invited to show their work at the venue, which might be a colourful art collection, a musical performance or a dance show.  While the construction will be happening on the land, the Open Island will be used as a steady platform for a wide variety of functions. It might be used as a stage for a performance or with a couple of adjustments and a projection screen it can be a movie theatre in the evenings. During the day it might be transformed into a floating garden during the days of the Maker week.

Lake-of-Change festival
The temporary „Lake of change“ project culminates in a final Festival on the Lake of change and its shores. This cultural happening embraces all related activities, prototypes and proposals and stages them in different, appropriate cultural forms: A cultural parade around the lake and sitespecific installations or performances, the ecodesign exhibition and creative maker-workshops for families, project presentations, public picnics and last but not least the floating island as a stage and venue for dance, drama, music and a cinema at night...

                          
Perspectives 
When the intitial project „Lake of change“ ends, the process continues on different levels, depending on the individual aims and efforts of the partnering organisations. 
- The modular floating island will be demounted and prepared for its use on another location in Bangalore or another Indian city as a travelling exhibition and happening. In case, that a viable operator concept and the needed permissions can be achieved in Bangalore, the Open-Island stays in town as a part of a social entrepreneurship.
- The outcomes of the Eco-Design collection and challenge will continuously be provided on an open exchange platform and an accompaigning downloadable e-book. This repository of appropriate eco-designs and concepts will be very helpful and inspiring for future designers, makers and planners.
- Eventually, some designs can be realized immediately for continuous use within running long-term projects in Bangalore. In this case, the contributors will be included in the professional realization.
- All partners will benefit from the new experiences, contacts and network of this collaborative action. The evaluation of former projects has shown, that such participatory maker-challenges create a strong bonding amongst the partners, often leading to ongoing cooperations. (The European „makers4humanity“ collective f.e. also emerged from the Open-Island activities and now contributes its network and some technical parts for the „Lake of Change“).


envisioned Partners

- Open-Island (Positive Nett-Works) 
- Mansana Projects 
- SayTrees 
- TAICT 
- Jaaga 
- makers4humanity 
- Max Muller Bhavan BGL 
- SWMRT 
- the ugly indians TUI 
- youth for parivathan 
- Art Escape Goa 
- Design Intervention 
- makerspace Bangalore 
- the story of (Goa) 
- the daily dump (composting) 
- Eat Raja (no waste food)