Hello Edgeryders community
For almost two years i’m building on a cargo bike project called Vélo M2 that is described as follow:
‘The cargo bike is a great alternative for the car in congested cities; with our stackable modules we give sustainable initiatives endless possibilities. Vélo M² (pronounced Vélo em carree) is a multi modular capsule system fitting on cargo bikes. With our energy platform supplied by solar and pedal power you can have the electricity on location to power an open-air cinema, a mobile fablab and much more on top. We bring all these plans to an open source platform and community where anybody can contribute. Cargo Bikes can be used for more than only transport, with Vélo M2 we give the tools to rethink how we interact, move and use energy.’
Since May 2016 we were funded to do a project called Canal d’Accroche where we use the already designed modules (a cinema module, a mobile fablab and a hookmaking machine) to interact with people in a poor neighborhood and listen to what they need. We see the cargo bike simply as an easy conversation maker, we always have some germed seeds with us that we can put in a flower pot and hang with the hookmaker as a first contact.
In almost two months of weekly activities in the neighborhood we found a neglectec garden that we now opened to public and are going to try to put live in it through other organizations. We also learned that a lot of older men are gathering waiting to be picked up to do small jobs for minimum wage and we are making a coffee module so we can distribute coffee and engage easier in conversations. the final purpose is to bring some local kids between 16 and 20 to make with us in a fablab a new module they would want to use.
This is one way we are designing our cargo bike project but i’m having a lot of trouble building a solid community around or a businessplan that takes care of all our different purposes. At this moment these small grands give us the possibilities to work further on the energy platform and invest in good material. One of our goals is to creat sustainable energy modules that can fix any cargo bike so people would be more found to use them in the city. But because it is a nich we have difficulties to reach out. Another task we gave ourself is to repurpose lost public space through temporary use. Thus the cargo bike with our own energy gives us the easiness to go almost anywhere and do that, but behind it there is a difficulty of logistic, having a place where we can put the cargo bike and the modules opened 24/7 close to our working station (not open 24/7) is difficult in a city.
what i would love to discuss with all you from edgeryders is what do you think about the general project, what could be improved on the communication level and what ideas come to mind when you here about something like that. I thank you in advance!
Funding for social and cultural activities is notoriously hard to obtain, so maybe cross-fund these activities by selling your cargo bike modules? The following ideas come to mind right now:
But maybe it includes an inspiration somewhere.