Awards
Fab City Awards 2026

Fab City Awards 2026

Theme.

Fab City Awards 2026 highlighted initiatives under the theme ''Collective Action for regenerative urban futures''. The edition focused on initiatives that move beyond experimentation and demonstrate how collective action can shape real transitions in cities and regions.

Applicants.

51 projects from Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe

Awarded Projects

Overall Winner

Green Hydrogen Village

Green Hydrogen Village is a community-embedded energy initiative led by Fab Lab Bali in Desa Serangan, a small island community of fishing families, small businesses, and cultural practitioners navigating rising energy costs, unreliable infrastructure, and rapid environmental change. The project asks a different question than most energy transition pilots: not how do we deliver clean energy to a community, but how does an energy transition take root when it's built from the inside out? Treating the banjar — the traditional neighbourhood unit — as an innovation hub, the initiative develops low-cost hydrogen generation, waste-to-energy systems, and hydrogen-powered product applications adapted to coastal life. Alongside the technology, future skills workshops, cultural co-creation, and local champion networks build the social infrastructure for long-term adoption. Throughout, the work commits to legibility: ensuring the energy transition is something residents can see, touch, discuss, and own. Green Hydrogen Village is an experiment in regenerative systems emerging where technology, culture, and collective care intersect — a model for what energy transition looks like when it begins at the scale of a village.

LOCATION

Indonesia

YEAR

2026

Communities

Segregate to Regenerate-Roka

Segregate to Regenerate-ROKA is a community-led waste management initiative in Adyar, Chennai, working to solve one of India's hardest sustainability challenges: source segregation of household waste. Founded in 2019 by a group of environment-focused residents, the association began with door-to-door campaigns across 2,500 households in 2018 and reached 80% segregation compliance within a year — a rate well above the national average. The initiative has since evolved into a broader programme, with community composting introduced in 2023 under the We Segregate banner, and ongoing partnerships with neighbourhood schools and adjacent communities. Supported by Okapi Research & Advisory, the Urban Ocean consortium, the Resilient Cities Network, and the University of Georgia's New Materials Institute, ROKA has scaled grassroots behaviour change into a model now drawing attention from Chennai's municipal corporation. The project shows how local resident-led action can shift the foundations of city-scale waste systems.

LOCATION

India

YEAR

2026

Ecosystems

Sparkwise Initiative

SparkWise is a youth-led clean energy and circular economy project transforming waste into power across underserved communities in Nigeria. Operating in rural and peri-urban areas of Abia, Ogun, and Oyo States — including Oberete-Asa, Umudii, Umule, Odeda, and Ibadan — the initiative responds to the dual challenge of energy poverty and accumulating plastic and electronic waste. SparkWise trains students and local youth to convert discarded plastics and electronics into affordable solar lanterns and small appliances, delivering safe, low-cost lighting to households, students, and small businesses. The work runs through hands-on training, community engagement, and emerging tech hubs focused on repair, recycling, and solar assembly. To date, over 1,000 solar lanterns have been produced, reaching more than 10,000 people. By combining clean energy access with youth empowerment and waste-to-resource innovation, SparkWise builds the next generation of local climate innovators — and a scalable model for community-driven energy transition.

LOCATION

Nigeria

YEAR

2026

Technologies

Speaker Sculptures

The Speakers Sculpture is a public sound installation that turns electronic waste into civic infrastructure for free expression. Built from 300 to 500 recycled loudspeakers donated by local residents, recycling businesses, and thrift shops, the sculpture is site-specifically constructed — free-standing or integrated into local buildings and topographies, always in collaboration with cultural agencies or youth organisations. Its purpose is to function as a contemporary "Speakers' Corner": a place where neighbourhood residents, musicians, choral groups, and passersby can broadcast their voices into public space. Participants connect microphones, MP3 players, or instruments directly to the sculpture; phone in for three-minute live messages; relay songs via Bluetooth; or contribute through social media channels using the hashtag #speakerssculpture. Streaming video lets remote callers see and address the public in real time. The project transforms discarded technology into a participatory civic platform — a sculpture that listens as much as it speaks.