Transitioning to a Fab City: A Governance Perspective

In this paper, the authors consider the implementation and design of a Fab City as an urban transformation model from the perspective of transition governance. The Fab City approach requires a high degree of cooperation and coordination between a variety of actors in the city system. Transition research provides insights into the nature of transformation processes, who is driving them and how, and, thus, makes analysis of these processes and practical recommendations for possible action. Using Hamburg as a case study, this paper discusses insights from transition governance research for the governance setting of a Fab City. For this purpose, the transition management model, an operational, action-oriented approach from the transformation literature, is presented, which offers clues as to how transformation processes can be promoted and co-designed.