The Unlimited Cities tool relies on two databases that make in-situ collage possible.
- The first is a community library bringing together elements collected through dozens of international projects. It allows each new project to select ready-to-use elements and add only those that are still missing.
- The second is the project database, managed by administrators who identify the need for new elements.
These elements come from both top-down and bottom-up processes.
In the Multigination research project, this project-specific database draws on a double source:
- Top-down: some elements stem from research hypotheses, such as the objects related to the marketplace showroom. Others were identified as potentially useful by the city's living lab, design teams and consortium members, including large pedestrian bridges and concert venues.
- Bottom-up: other elements emerged from the two contributory workshops held in September 2025 and April 2026. In summary, they relate to water and biodiversity, active mobility and social inclusion. For further information, see the open-access reports from the contributory workshops, which include raw data, analysis methods and initial results.
What will happen in the coming weeks: digital mediation
- Thanks to this database specific to the Multigination research project, the consortium has developed initial proposals for the six viewpoints worked on and validated during the contributory workshops (two proposals per viewpoint).
- The mediators, living lab members, ZHAW students and volunteers met during the contributory workshops will reach out to people living and working in the Grüze district. These people become contributors, invited to transform the proposals—hybridising them or building on what already exists—to imagine the future of the neighbourhood, and to comment on their collages to provide further explanations alongside the visuals.
Later in the autumn: inauguration and first collective restitution event
- Fortunately, the timeline for the neighbourhood's restructuring works and the rollout of the Multigination process are perfectly aligned. The large bridge reserved for active mobility will be inaugurated in September, with several thousand visitors expected. They will have the opportunity to discover the hundreds of in-situ collages along with their analyses.
- This event will also mark the potential launch of crowdsourcing initiatives and the presentation of elements from the marketplace showroom by companies innovating for urban transition.
