Open Challenges

Start with the problem.

Fab City Cape Town brings people, places and capabilities together around real local questions. Some come from our projects. Others might come from you.

Signal flow — how the network learns

01Network scale

Global Challenge

A real question surfaces from another city in the network.

Cities in the Fab City Network surface open problems — questions about food, materials, energy, mobility — and share them as signals across the network.

02Commons layer

Shared Knowledge

Experiments, prototypes, and learning flow into the commons.

Documented experiments, fabrication files, sensor data and field notes flow back into the commons. No solution is proprietary.

03Local translation

Cape Town Question

What does this challenge mean here, in Cape Town?

We translate the global signal into a local context — asking what the challenge looks like in Khayelitsha, the Winelands, or the CBD.

04Infrastructure layer

Local Capability

The people, places, tools, and materials already here.

ARC Franschhoek, UCT, community makerspaces, repair cafes, textile workers — the existing infrastructure of making and knowing.

05Action layer

Experiment

Try something small, document it, and see what happens.

Small, documented, repeatable. A prototype, a workshop, a sensor deployment, a repair event. The goal is learning, not perfection.

06Network scale

Learn + Share Back

Return what we learned to the network so others can build on it.

What we learn in Cape Town becomes a signal for Kumasi, Singapore, Valldaura. The loop closes. The network gets smarter.

01Network scale

Global Challenge

A real question surfaces from another city in the network.

Cities in the Fab City Network surface open problems — questions about food, materials, energy, mobility — and share them as signals across the network.

02Commons layer

Shared Knowledge

Experiments, prototypes, and learning flow into the commons.

Documented experiments, fabrication files, sensor data and field notes flow back into the commons. No solution is proprietary.

03Local translation

Cape Town Question

What does this challenge mean here, in Cape Town?

We translate the global signal into a local context — asking what the challenge looks like in Khayelitsha, the Winelands, or the CBD.

04Infrastructure layer

Local Capability

The people, places, tools, and materials already here.

ARC Franschhoek, UCT, community makerspaces, repair cafes, textile workers — the existing infrastructure of making and knowing.

05Action layer

Experiment

Try something small, document it, and see what happens.

Small, documented, repeatable. A prototype, a workshop, a sensor deployment, a repair event. The goal is learning, not perfection.

06Network scale

Learn + Share Back

Return what we learned to the network so others can build on it.

What we learn in Cape Town becomes a signal for Kumasi, Singapore, Valldaura. The loop closes. The network gets smarter.

Cape Town Open Questions

What could we change, together?

Fab City starts with real questions, not predetermined solutions.

Local Production

What could we make here that we currently bring in?

designfabricationlocal capability

Relevant capabilities

Menzies Design Lab UCT

Fashion Revolution South Africa

Africa Makerspaces

Repair

What if we repaired locally before replacing globally?

repairskillscircularity

Relevant capabilities

Repair Cafe Cape Town

make-a-thek

Public Libraries

Materials

Can what we already have become what we need next?

materialstextilesreuselocal production

Relevant capabilities

Fashion Revolution South Africa

ARC of Franschhoek

Menzies Design Lab UCT

Observation

What changes when we can see what a place is telling us?

sensingenvironmentopen data

Relevant capabilities

ARC of Franschhoek

Menzies Design Lab UCT

Seeed Studio

Public Infrastructure

What if a library was also somewhere to make, repair and share?

librarieslearningmakingcommunity

Relevant capabilities

Western Cape Public Libraries

make-a-thek

Repair Cafe Cape Town

From the Global Network

A local problem can travel.

Cape Town is starting in 2026, but we are not starting from zero. Across the Fab City network, communities have already turned local challenges into experiments, prototypes and shared knowledge.

Bali · Indonesia

Photo · Getty Images

Bali

Water + Regenerative Systems

The Fab Island Challenge in Bali brought together local communities to investigate water, food, waste and regenerative systems through open prototyping and shared knowledge.

water · place · regenerative systemsCape Town / Observation

Global Reference · Fab City Challenge

Explore original challenge ↗

Puebla · Mexico

Photo · Getty Images

Puebla

Climate + Agriculture

In Puebla, the Fab City Challenge explored how climate impacts on agriculture could be addressed through local and ancestral knowledge, open tools and community-led experimentation.

climate · agriculture · local knowledgeCape Town / Materials

Global Reference · Fab City Challenge

Explore original challenge ↗

Shenzhen · China

Photo · Getty Images

Shenzhen

Accessibility + Young Makers

Students in Shenzhen investigated real accessibility needs in their community and developed tangible prototypes, demonstrating how young makers can respond to local challenges.

research · young people · prototypeCape Town / Public Infrastructure

Global Reference · Fab City Challenge

Explore original challenge ↗

Java · Indonesia

Photo · Getty Images

Java

Local Materials + Natural Dye

Tarum in Action connected a locally occurring plant to natural blue dye, regenerative practice, traditional knowledge and local livelihoods — a precedent for Cape Town's own materials exploration.

local plant · natural dye · livelihoodsCape Town / Materials

Global Reference · Fab City Awards

Explore original challenge ↗

Your Challenge

What's Cape Town's next challenge?

You don't need to arrive with a solution. Bring us the problem and let's see what the network can do with it.

Bring us a challenge