This paper reflects on the experiences and understandings gained through a pre-study conducted as a part of a larger project. The focus is on the potentials for learning embedded in relational networks of formal and informal practices of circularity and sharing, in the specific case of the suburban area Hammarkullen in Gothenburg.
As a departure point, the project looks at Fixoteket in Hammarkullen, a local repair workshop and meeting place that is driven by a municipal housing company. It investigates the contextual relations and conditions that have enabled its becoming. It includes an analysis of documents and semi-structured interviews that combines an actor-network sensitivity with a historical narrative approach, mapping key events, local actors, and artefacts (objects/spaces/materials). Rooted in the need for local government to be more attuned to how circularity is understood and practised locally, the investigation emphasises knowledge and vocabularies used around sharing practices specific to, in this case, Hammarkullen. Local knowledge and vocabularies are seen as ways through which hidden or latent potentials might be revealed.
The insights gained from this mapping were then tested and co-examined with relevant local stakeholders in a workshop to expand them and trace potential futures for Fixoteket, collectively speculating about new collaborations between existing actors and ways in which they could learn from each other, as well as about events that could activate existing spaces and tools in new and imaginative ways. The results from the workshop form the basis for future research into the potential of how existing relational networks of sharing practices can challenge the mainstream idea of circularity towards a new circularity model that also encompasses informal or frugal practices.