Summary

This study draws attention to the literature on ‘commons-based peer production, that signals away from industrial-scale, centralized production, and proposes a new organizational model wherein production results from collaborative networks of people who share their labour and knowledge to offer solutions to large scale as well as day to day problems (Benkler, 2008; 2002). Makerspaces and ‘making’ culture operate within this paradigm of open-source production and are heralded as a means to democratize knowledge and tools for coproduction by the people, generally in an informal urban setting (Martinez & Stager, 2013; Harron & Hughes, 2018). Makerspaces enable people to learn, create and innovate freely, hence promoting public engagement to offer top-down solutions to individual and community problems (Gershenfeld, 2010; Dougherty, 2016). Makerspaces are often used interchangeably with hackerspaces or fablabs. However, there exist key differences between these cultures of DIY and co-creating, which is defined by their socio-spatial contexts. The making culture has been situated in the informal sector, (low-tech) innovations literature in the context of India with the example of the practice of ‘Jugaad’ that signifies production under economic and resource constraints (Murray & Hand, 2015). Thus, the objective of this paper is to explore the makers movement in India in regards to its distinctions from the western conceptualization.