Prototypes as a tool for dialogue and change

Ruedi Baur worked with the design research institute Civic City from 2011 to 2013, as part of an artist residency initiated by MP2013 (the European Capital of Culture programme in Marseille and Provence) at the Cité des Arts de la Rue street art centre in Marseille’s Aygalades district. The project brought together the members of Civic City and civic design students and researchers from HEAD in Geneva, as well as local residents in Aygalades and at the Cité des Arts de la Rue. The residency sought to analyse the democratic value of prototyping and the role of the designer as an intermediary source of proposals between users and the institutions responsible for developing and managing community space. 

The findings of the research and experiments were presented incrementally at the 2012 and 2013 Heritage Days via in situ tours and an exhibition, as part of the MP2013 programme.