Fab City at FAB26 Boston

What would it take for a city to produce most of what it consumes - food, energy, materials, knowledge - within its own territory, while staying connected to global knowledge flows?

Across 56 cities and territories, a transition is already underway. On July 30–31, Fab City brings that work to FAB26 Boston and invites you to be part of what comes next. Through a series of panel discussions and workshops, gather knowledge on regenerative systems, AI-enabled local production, circular economies, and alternative ways to live the future.

Fab City is a global initiative working with 56 cities and territories, a global learning ecosystem supporting cities and territories in their transition toward locally productive economies. Born from the Fab Lab movement and now operating as an independent network alongside the Fab Foundation, Fab City applies digital fabrication, open data, and distributed production to urban systems at scale.

At FAB26 Boston, Fab City opens its annual gathering to the wider Fab Lab community and the public. Over two days, city officials, lab directors, researchers, and practitioners from five continents will share work already underway — not concepts, but operating systems.

On July 30, Fab City curates the full day People and Planet, whose Symposium brings together some of the most compelling voices working at the intersection of technology, ecology, and community — Fab Lab directors retooling neighborhoods, mayors, researchers mapping bioregional flows, practitioners, innovators, thinkers from every background gathered to accelerate the transition toward a future more sustainable.

Beyond the Symposium, the day unfolds with hands-on workshops exploring AI-enabled local production, drone mapping, and distributed manufacturing. Cities from across the Fab City network will take the stage to pledge their commitment to producing locally what they consume by 2054 ; and the Fab City Awards will spotlight the initiatives already proving alternative paths — food, energy, materials, resilient local systems — projects from every continent building, restoring, and reimagining what cities can be.

On July 31st, Fab City invites you to join the Systems & Scaling Symposium. A session on territorial orchestration across scales — from villages to cities to bioregions — featuring MIT City Science Lab, Mechanism, and NoVo.