The Fab City Full Stack: A Multiscalar Framework for Distributed Production Strategies in Cities and Regions

Fab Labs have been democratizing access to digital fabrication and building a global research and innovation network over the last two decades. However, they still face the challenge of creating an impact beyond individual realization through learning new technical skills and small-scale projects. The Fab City Global Initiative complements Fab Labs in this respect and expands the purpose to transforming society. It brings technology available in Fab Labs to cities and rural areas, connecting distributed networks of hyper-local, productive ecosystems. By adopting the Fab City challenge, cities and regions can radically transform how production and consumption occur within their bioregions. The Fab City Global Initiative is a facilitator of an action plan for cities and their bioregions to re-localize the production of energy, food and products, and develop infrastructure to keep atoms moving at the local level and bits traveling globally. This article introduces the Fab City Full Stack, a framework intending to make the mission of Fab City operative. It also describes how the Full Stack assists cities and regions to interpret the Fab City challenge and guides them to implement it in a multiscalar and ecosystemic approach.