Uti Willy
Uti Willy is a direct action strategy for more exciting and tailor made street furniture, devised in February 2000.
Street furniture facilitates the use of public space. Yet it also plays a vital role in a city’s look and even identity. Unfortunately, local residents are not empowered to choose the furniture for their own area. Instead, multi-national corporation decide what cities from Hammerfest to Tarifa and even beyond should look like – preferably all the same, as that helps mass production. Uti Willy was developed for people who want their area to stand out from the crowd. It wants to give everybody the means to use their right to shape their own local environment.
Uti Willy provides a catalogue of easy to do, low (or even no) cost intervention. It does not provide material or equipment, but explains what to do and what is required to obtain a specific result. The catalogue has not been published yet, but interventions have been made. An area was given new signage with hubcaps as carriers; a multi-step method was developed to remove a tile from the pavement and replace it with a micro-garden; and with a piece of wood and two ropes children’s swings were made.
Uti Willy is an ongoing project, to which occasionally new items are added. The catalogue Uti Willy is waiting to be published.
Ongoing projects:
L-Atlas
Precare
Generalized Empowerment
Krax
Micronomics
Cartografie
Bouillot
Publications:
Bunker Souple Repertorium 1998 & 2000: available at Citymine(d) offices.
Generalized Empowerment. Uneven Development and Urban Interventions, 2006. Download here.
MapRAC. Plannen voor het RijksAdministratief Centrum. La Cité Administrative de l'Etat en cartes & en question, 2004: available at Citymine(d) offices.
Micronomics scanning: DVD online soon.
Networkbook for Urban P/Arts. 42 initiatives capturing London's Public Space, 2004: available at Citymin(e)d offices.
Towards. Cartes Subjectives d'interventions Urbaines à Bruxelles // Subjectieve Kaarten van Stedelijke Internventies in Brussel: available at Citymine(d) offices.