Don’t consume the city .. be part of it

Don’t consume the city .. be part of it is the motto of The Bottle the City Project. A simple but very interesting game that makes us reflect on the limited oportunities that we have to be part of the everyday construction of our cities. It is a response to the way in which cities constantely bomb us with the need to consume it, or even condition our use of it based on our purchase capacity.

“It’s easy to consume a city. Opportunities to absorb resources are everywhere. And you don’t need to know anyone, speak a local language or try very hard to find them …. however participation opportunities are out of reach” they argue.

The Bottle the City project’s “game” invites people to offset consumption activities (eat, spectate, buy) with participation ones (contribute, learn, exert effort, integrate, create). The game consists on comparing the amount of consumption activities vs. the participation ones while you are out in the city. Although not so many examples are given to what it means to participate in the construction of the city, (an answer to this can be the growing number of DIY urbanism initiatives that are popping up in many cities around the world) it is definitely a good exercise to reflect on the way we take part in the every day production or consumtion of our cities.

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