https://openspace-projekte.de/ueber/

The ongoing Open Space project series is a social design format in which design students at Fachhochschule Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts engage with places and develop projects that are created in interaction with the local residents. The projects highlight the problems, perspectives and opportunities that the location and its residents have, with the aim of creating positive impulses among the residents and getting them talking to each other. The focus is less on trying to solve problems and more on empowering third parties to take action themselves.

Problems in the villages can vary. They include, for example, vacancy, decay, unemployment as causes for a lack of prospects, xenophobia, moving away, negative views and difficulties for residents to identify with their place of residence. Our project series is not limited to specific locations.

However, we do enter into long-term collaborations with places over several years, if possible (as in Zeitz), because change processes in these places are set in motion through long-term interactions, which can be more sustainable and profound as a result.