About me
I am Dr. Felipe Schmidt Fonseca, an experienced Berlin-based Brazilian advocate for social-environmental innovation and free/open-source technologies turned researcher. I am the founder of Reuse City studio and a co-creator of semente, a toolkit for community projects; as well as the co-founder and lead articulator of the Tropixel network. I am an active member of organisations such as GIG and Circular Berlin, and a member of the Advisory Board of Silo's Caipira Tech Lab.
Between 2019 and 2022, I was a Marie Curie Early Stage Research Fellow (University of Dundee / Northumbria University / Mozilla Foundation). I have recently engaged in collaborations such as ID21, fonte.wiki, ALGO-BR, and CODE.
Bio
Background
Since the early 2000s, I co-founded and led diverse initiatives dedicated to critical thinking (and making) at the intersections between culture, science, technology, and society. Some examples are MetaReciclagem, CulturaDigital.BR, Bricolabs, Rede//Labs, Lixo Eletrônico, Ciência Aberta Ubatuba, UbaLab. I am also a co-founder and lead articulator of the Tropixel network. I was the user community manager and project manager of the Subutai Platform.
Portfolio
Here are some projects I was involved with. Check also a list of lectures and talks on diverse topics.
Academia
I have a PhD in Design from Northumbria University (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK). The title of my thesis successfully defended in September 2023 is "Generous cities – weaving commons-oriented systems for the reuse of excess materials in urban contexts". Before that, I got an [MA in Scientific and Cultural Dissemination from Labjor at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil, acquired with a dissertation about networked experimental labs.
Check also my academic profiles on ORCID, Academia.edu, and ResearchGate.
Work
Reuse City
In 2024, I founded Reuse City, a studio dedicated to applied research, service design and technology development in the fields of circular economy, right to repair, and zero waste policy.
Global Innovation Gathering
I am a member of GIG, an international network of makerspaces and innovation hubs. Since early 2025, I work with GIG as a researcher on critical and inclusive circularity.
Consulting and Freelancing
I have developed and advised on projects with diverse organisations. For example the University of Bristol, FTHub, GIG, Itaú Cultural, the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, UNDP, as well as numerous municipalities and nonprofits. I am also a member and mentor of the Distributed Design Platform.
Writing
Some recent highlights are texts about climate fatigue and meaningful work, open source in government, and the professional role of circular material valuers. A summary of my PhD research is available here and further documentation about it can be found in this research wiki.