What we propose is a prototype for the inventive use of available space.
In our view, the current mechanisms of city making and management stifle the potential and possibilities for spontaneous appropriation and invention by all those who live or interact with these spaces on a daily basis. For both public and private urban planners, the city’s users are often simply an interface; they are seen as consumers or beneficiaries, but rarely as co-producers.
We are working to help bring about a shift in this attitude, to empower everyone to become a “local co-producer” of the day-to-day urban experience. This means making better use of our existing forms of cohabitation, of accepting to trust in the presence of others to create a natural relationship of reciprocity between everyone and everything.
From urban wastelands to vacant lots or those in transition, Yes We Camp is able to initiate a partnership protocol that allows for these available spaces to become, for a given period of time, places that encourage experimentation and invention in an attempt to respond to a broad range of ambitions: local production, welcoming the most vulnerable, creating a relationship with the living, the development of apprenticeships, artistic creation, collaborative projects and more.