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Teenagers create public spaces: India, Mexico, Poland, Egypt
Wednesday September 23, 2026 2:30pm - 3:45pm CEST
Space Room - Czasoprzestrzeń / SpaceTime
Our workshop explores how teenagers experience public spaces across four geographical contexts represented by our team’s place of origin. Drawing on practices from India, Poland, Mexico, and Egypt, the session combines inspiration from real stories with hands-on tools.
The core of the workshop is a collaborative empathy mapping, followed by design prototyping. Embodying teenage personas from 4 regions, participants will work in groups to explore the needs, emotions, and barriers young people face in public spaces. 
Participants will reflect on the contextual differences as well as similarities in how belongingness among teenagers is experienced through intersecting lenses of play - these could be accessibility design, designing for low-income settlements or addressing gender disparities of play. 
The workshop begins with mapping participants’ own teenage experiences of play and public space across cultures. This sets the stage for short presentations from practitioners working with youth across different socio-cultural contexts. The end-goal is not to “solve” issues, but more to “distil” and “understand” what issues to solve.
Participants will leave with 1) practical tools (empathy mapping, personas, prototyping methods), 2) emerging perspectives on youth inclusion in placemaking across countries, and 3) Intercultural appreciation of the role of thoughtful design in the lives of adolescents.
Speakers
avatar for Maciej Zacher

Maciej Zacher

Urbanist, Municipality of Skawina | Placemaking Poland
Placemaker, urbanist, and city lover. For nearly a decade, he has been turning Skawina from livable to lovable, working as a municipal urbanist and mobility planner. With a background in architecture, academia, and NGOs, he is a practitioner of participatory design who focuses on... Read More →
avatar for Dhanya Rajagopal

Dhanya Rajagopal

Leader, Placemaking India
I am a public space advocate and founder of the independent urban strategy and design practice, The Thinking Cauldron. With 12+ years of experience in delivering purpose-driven urban projects that span intersecting disciplines, systems, stakeholders and sectors. I specialize in cultural... Read More →
avatar for Luciana Renner

Luciana Renner

Director, Fundación Placemaking Mexico
Luciana Renner is the Directora Ejecutiva (Executive Director) of Fundación Placemaking México. Since February 2024, she has led both internal and external processes of the organization, working to create and strengthen strategic alliances with public and private sector organizations. Her goal is to improve the integral well-being of public spaces and foster the growth of... Read More →
avatar for Prajna Kumaraswamy

Prajna Kumaraswamy

Urban designer, Architect, Multidisciplinary Practitioner and Artist, Makers for Humanity
Prajna Kumaraswamy is from Mysuru, India, currently based in Germany. Her work operates at the intersection of design, practice-action-research, ecology, culture, and public space, exploring how participatory and creative methods can foster more inclusive, resilient, and meaningful... Read More →
avatar for Magdalena Kubecka

Magdalena Kubecka

Vice President, On-site Foundation
Magdalena works as an urban researcher, a placemaker and an educator. She runs "On-site Foundation" which supports neighbourhoods, residents associations, local governments and entrepreneurs in improving urban public spaces in Polish cities. She is an initiator of social projects for... Read More →
Wednesday September 23, 2026 2:30pm - 3:45pm CEST
Space Room - Czasoprzestrzeń / SpaceTime Tramwajowa 1-3, 51-621 Wrocław, Poland
  Building Belonging, workshop
  • global Y

Attendees (10)


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