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Creating better cities together.
Wednesday September 23, 2026 4:15pm - 5:30pm CEST
This workshop explores how placemaking can support the co-creation of socially resilient and more-than-human friendly public spaces through inclusive, experimental, and nature-sensitive design processes.  
The session brings a multidisciplinary perspective to placemaking by focusing on the early stages of planning, design, and development of an experimental public space. It aims to highlight how public spaces can become platforms for testing new ideas, practices, and social innovations while strengthening relationships between communities and nature.  
A central focus of the workshop is the shift from purely human-centered planning toward more-than-human and nature-inclusive placemaking. Participants will explore how non-human species, particularly urban birds, can be recognized as living members of urban environments and legitimate stakeholders in participatory design processes. A biology expert from our team will contribute by introducing the ecological needs of birds and helping participants reflect on how biodiversity considerations can be integrated into placemaking practices.  
The workshop will be organized as an interactive co-production session using a design-thinking approach. Participants, including practitioners, city planners, students, administrative representatives, civil society actors, and experts, will work together to envision and outline a design and development program for a selected place. Through collaborative exercises, they will identify relevant stakeholders, map human and non-human needs, and explore how knowledge, responsibilities, and ideas can be shared among different actors.  
The session will begin with a World Café format, structured around thematic tables and table rotation. At each table, participants will work with facilitators to discuss key questions and document their ideas, impulses, and agreements on A3 posters. These posters will serve as visual records of the discussions and will support the presentation of outcomes in the next phase.  
This process will encourage participants to critically examine how power, interests, ecological needs, and social resilience can be integrated into participatory planning and design.
Speakers
avatar for Negin Amiri

Negin Amiri

PhD Candidate, TU Dortmund
Negin Amiri has been a PhD candidate in Spatial Planning at the Faculty of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund University, since early 2023. Her research focuses on urban design governance and the development of innovative planning strategies that foster civic engagement and support informal... Read More →
avatar for Prof. Dr. Toni Gossmann

Prof. Dr. Toni Gossmann

Professor for Computational Systems Biology and Principal Investigator at the Faculty of Bio- and Chemical Engineering at TU Dortmund University, TU Dortmund
Prof. Dr. Toni Gossmann is Professor of Computational Systems Biology at the Faculty of Bio- and Chemical Engineering, TU Dortmund University. His research group focuses on the evolutionary analysis of biological systems using population and molecular genetics approaches, with applications to key questions in e... Read More →
avatar for Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Othengrafen

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Othengrafen

Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the Faculty of Spatial Planning and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund University, TU Dortmund
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Othengrafen has been Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the Faculty of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund University, since April 2019. Prior to this, he served as Junior Professor of Spatial Planning and Spatial Research with a focus on Regional Governance at the Institute of Environmental... Read More →
avatar for Dr. Sahar Javaheri Tehrani

Dr. Sahar Javaheri Tehrani

Postdoctoral researcher, TU Dortmund
I am an evolutionary biologist interested in understanding the genomic and ecological processes that shape phenotypic diversity and adaptation in natural populations, particularly birds. My current research focuses on the great tit (Parus major) complex, using population genomics... Read More →
Wednesday September 23, 2026 4:15pm - 5:30pm CEST
Kathy Madden Room - Wroclaw Congress Center (RCTB) Wystawowa 1, 51-618 Wrocław, Poland

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