Proximity-based urban planning models as the inter-face between governments and makers, designers, and citizens towards distributed economies

Standard urban planning models are nowadays being redefined with a renewed focus on reducing mobility times: proximity, walkability, self-sufficiency. Reconfiguring how cities, their flows, and services are organized also requires designers and citizens, with a potential role for the Maker Movement and Distributed Economies. We focus here on how urban creative communities and maker laboratories could become public empowerment services by, for and with citizens within proximity of urban planning models. We propose a framework for such Proximity-based Making and Community Services based on 1) defining them as connecting makers, designers, citizens, and maker laboratories, 2) via digital technologies network into Distributed Economies, 3) interacting with Governments through the interface of proximity-based urban models, governances, and policies. The framework has a descriptive model and an assessment indicator based on people, organizations, and policies for a) understanding current urban making, b) planning new services or c) developing new policies for them.