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1+1=3

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The goal of the process is to imagine the look and feel of places where people can meet, relax, and feel part of a community that extends beyond the borders of separated social bubbles.

Jasper’s project, 1+1=3 The City We’ll Live In, is a series of events that will take place in Heidelberg, Germany, hosted inside the Raumfänger – a translucent, mobile space, which can be blown up in a public space. The events mark the beginning of a journey, which sets out to work on a shared vision for the future of public spaces in Heidelberg. The goal of the process is to imagine the look and feel of places where people can meet, relax, and feel part of a community that extends beyond the borders of separated social bubbles.

Jasper’s Aspirations

Today’s cities are often divided into islands of uniform and like-minded groups with little connection to “others.” However, 1+1=3 is based on the belief that the whole is always bigger than the sum of its parts. City life is characterized by anonymity and countless silent clashes of differences, which mostly go unnoticed. We have gotten used to this and lost touch with the idea of living together.

Changing this means paying attention to the small–but potentially powerful–daily encounters we make commuting and walking in our neighborhoods. It requires public and non-exclusive places with capacity to responding to the needs and desires of different people and their ways of using space. A city for the people means a city where public spaces are designed architecturally in ways that are flexible and useful to its residents.

Project Development

City life is characterized by anonymity and countless silent clashes of differences, which mostly go unnoticed. We have gotten used to this and lost touch with the idea of living together.

1+1=3 will be a first step towards such a design of public spaces made by and for everyone. A group of 100 people will be carefully selected and invited to take part in the process. The selection of participants will be based on previously defined criteria, such as gender, age, occupation, religion, or race. Thus, the participants will be a diverse representation of the city. This delicate choice will be made possible through formal and personal connections of local non-governmental organizations, community workers, cultural institutions, and a network of social-justice activists.

During the events inside the Raumfänger, the participants will be guided through various conversational situations and workshop formats by a diverse team of cultural and social workers, city planners, psychologists, and community activists. The event seeks to produce concrete ideas for the redesign of the city’s public spaces. The ideas will be collected and translated into small scale interventions that can be realized in cities without major planning and large budgets. The 1+1=3 events will be both a unique experience of togetherness and diversity and a first step towards city life that transforms anonymous others into fellow human beings.

Updated December 2021.