The experience of the traditional and digital production in the public space

Small and micro industries have always been present in our cities. The segregation of functions introduced in the planning discipline during the 1930s mainly involved the large companies, while the smaller businesses needed the dense urban environment to survive. This constellation of small productive activities has contributed significantly to our cities' variety of functions and activities, generating a lively city scene. Nowadays, we are witnessing a pivotal change in the manufacturing system as digital fabrication is pervading all the different productive sectors, increasing its impact on small industries, thus incrementing the possibilities for these companies to be in the heart of the city. Therefore, how will this new way of working and producing affect the relationship between the place of production and the public space?

This paper will focus on specific neighbourhoods of the city of Seoul to analyse the coexistence, in the small industry sector, of the traditional and the new digital fabrication systems in relationship to the neighbourhood. The expected evolution of this dynamic – particularly with cleaner industrial processes generated by digital fabrication – is a more mixed-used district and a livelier public space, incrementing the intangible heritage of the neighbourhood derived from the social interaction of its inhabitants.