Mifactori is a small Berlin-based design studio founded by Lars Zimmermann that works at the intersection of open source design, circular economy and bottom-up urbanism. The studio's City Hacking Programme explores how citizens can use open source principles to directly intervene in and improve urban space — treating the city as a system that can be 'hacked' through creative, low-cost, community-driven interventions.
The City Hacking concept draws on the broader open source urbanism movement, which applies the logic of free and open software to the built environment: making the information, systems and processes that shape cities accessible to everyone, enabling citizens to become active agents of urban change rather than passive consumers of top-down planning. Mifactori has compiled extensive collections of city hack ideas and approaches for the sustainable city, and has presented the concept at conferences and workshops.
Beyond city hacking, Mifactori's core practice is open circular design — creating products and systems that are both open source (freely shared, adapted and further developed by anyone) and circular (designed for disassembly, repair, reuse and material recovery). The studio produces design projects, publications and educational resources, and collaborates with partners in the circular economy and sustainability space.
Mifactori also runs the Open It Agency, which provides consulting on open source communication and business development. The studio maintains an active online presence sharing methods, theory and project documentation.
While Mifactori is a micro-enterprise rather than a large organisation, its City Hacking Programme is relevant to smart city practitioners as an example of citizen-led, low-tech approaches to urban innovation that complement technology-driven smart city strategies.