Creating Maker-Friendly Cities

In an article in Slate, "What Beer Can Teach Us About Emerging Technologies," Dave Conz writes that many DIY activities can be illegal in some towns: "We need more sensible policy like the legalization of home brewing beer. It's unlikely that we'll be able to successfully shop and consume our way into the best future, but we can make it brighter by encouraging DIY."

I agree that governments, particularly local governments, need to do more to understand and adapt to what might be called DIY citizenship. Cities need to re-examine their industrial policy and zoning laws, redefining what light-industrial means and relaxing regulations that were meant for the industrial age when production was housed in factories. We need cities to become maker-friendly and welcome makerspaces, foster new maker businesses and support individuals who are now doing things that lawmakers of yesteryear didn't expect them to be doing for themselves. It's re-inventing what you can do in and around a city, even what you can do in your backyard and garage...