The future of placemaking: Mapping the way forward for a better society

International Symposium, May 8th 2023, Museum of Architecture and Design, MAO, Rusjanov trg 7, Ljubljana

Placemaking refers to the inclusive process of creating and improving public spaces to promote health, happiness, and well-being for individuals and communities. Creating vibrant, accessible, and inclusive public spaces is crucial for building a sense of community and fostering social cohesion. Placemaking can help to create attractive, safe and welcoming spaces where people from diverse backgrounds can come together, interact, and build relationships. If properly designed, such places can also mitigate the challenges of contemporary societies, such as social alienation, mobility issues, impacts of climate change etc. Placemaking can also be an economic driver by attracting new visitors, supporting small businesses, and increasing property values.

This symposium aims to address various aspects of contemporary placemaking through the lectures of the invited speakers and by providing the podium for the exchange of thoughts and ideas on the ways forward for placemaking.

Due to the limited number of places at the venue please register at placemaking@uirs.si.

Alternatively, you can join online at (registration not needed in this case): LINK TO THE ONLINE EVENT.

We are looking forward to welcoming you!

Matej Nikšič, Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia; Neža Čebron Lipovec, University of Primorska; Tim Mavrič, Innorenew CoE; Zsuzsanna Varga, University of Glasgow; Pekka Tuominen, University of Helsinki

This symposium is organised as part of the COST Action CA18204 - Dynamics of placemaking and digitization in Europe´s cities (https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA18204/) training school METHODOLOGIES FOR RESEARCHING PLACE-MAKING PROCESSES IN CONTESTED HISTORIC SPACES” taking place in Ljubljana and Koper, Slovenia, from May 8 to May 12 2023, co-organised by the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, University of Primorska and Innorenew. Contact the above-mentioned e-address for more information on the programme of the symposium (May 8) and the workshop activities (May 9-12).

Programme

9:00 – 9:10 Introductions by representatives of COST CA18204 and local host

9:10 – 9:50 Janez Koželj: Pedestrianization, a catalyst for urban regeneration

9:50 – 10:30 Leandro Madrazo: A-Place - Linking places through networked artistic practices

10:30 – 11:00 Break

11:00 – 11:40 Neža Čebron Lipovec: Group memory-talk: a new ethnographic method in built heritage conservation between heritagisation and place-making

11:40 – 12:20 Zala Velkavrh: Urban Interventions

12:20 – 13:00 Branka Cvijetićanin: Pedestrian viewpoint or how space forms life narrative

13:00 – 13:30 Final discussion

Programme continues for COST Action CA18204 members and speakers, others can join upon a prior request sent to matej.niksic@uirs.si

13:30 – 14:30 Lunch at MAO

14:30 – 15:30 UNIVERSUM PLEČNIK: Between Workshop and Myth – guided tour of the MAO exhibition by Natalija Lapajne, co-curator 

15:30 – 17:00 Ljubljana bicycling tour guided by prof. Janez Koželj (the bicycles will be kindly provided by BicikeLJ)

SMOTIES Travelling Talks series Small Places, Great Ideas - Placemaking in Remote Communities

Public lectures in English on Monday April 17 2023 at 16:30, Urban planning institut of the Republic of Slovenia, Trnovski pristan 2, Ljubljana, followed by a social gathering

We are kindly inviting you to the lectures within the series of Traveling Talks, which are held in various European countries in the period 2020-2024 as part of the SMOTIES project. International project partnership deals with issues of co-creation of public spaces in small and remote places and the roles of the creative sector in these processes. More about the project at https://humancities.eu/smoties/. Everyone is welcome!

 

Public lectures in English on Monday April 17 2023 at 16:30, Urban planning institut of the Republic of Slovenia, Trnovski pristan 2, Ljubljana, followed by a social gathering

 

16:30    Nina Goršič, UIRS, Human Cities network: Introduction and project SMOTIES

16:40    Giulio Verdini, Westminster University: The Oasis of the future: climate adaptation as a strategy in rural Morocco

17:00    Urška Sešek, Smlednik:  The village garden of Smlednik

17:20    Valerija Pučko, Rodik:  The Mithycal park

17:40    Discussion, moderated by Matej Nikšič, UIRS

 

More about the programme

 

©Mitski park – photo by Jan Antonac, VSŠ Sežana

LET IT GROW, LET US PLAN, LET IT GROW – Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Resilient Smart Green and Blue Cities

18 - 20 September 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Urban planning institut of the Republic of Slovenia is a co-host of the 28th International Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development in the Information Society Let it grow, let us plan, let it grow Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Resilient Smart Green and Blue Cities. Call for papers is open until 15 April 2023. More about the conference.

New issue of Urbani izziv/Urban chalange journal scientific edition

volume 33, issue 2, December 2022

Before holidays, the new issue of the Urban Challenge was published, featuring six scientific articles and a book review.  You are kindly invited to read it (link) and submit your scientific contributions for the next issue. Wishing you a pleasant read! 

New issue of Urbani izziv/Urban chalange journal scientific edition

volume 33, issue 1, June 2022

In June, the new issue of the Urban Challenge was published, featuring five scientific articles and a  book review.

You are kindly invited to read it (link) and submit your scientific contributions for the next issue. Wishing you a pleasant read! 

Human Cities/Humana mesta/ - SMOTIES

Seminar, study visits, workshops, walk, Ljubljana and Medvode wider area, 29. 6. - 1. 7. 2022

We are inviting you to a number of events organised by Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia and the international network Human Cities - Smoties between June 29th and July 1st 2022 in Ljubljana and the wider area of Medvode.

WEDNESDAY June 29 2022:
Public Seminar: PUBLIC SPACES AND PARTICIPATORY DESIGN WITH
CREATIVE SECTOR – EXPLORING BEYOND THE URBAN

Venue: Ljubljana, Faculty of architecture, Plečnik Hall, Zoisova ulica 12, Ljubljana

Time	Topic	Speaker
13:00	Registration opens
14:00	Welcome	Matej Nikšič and Nina Goršič, Urban planning institute of the Republic of Slovenia, Smoties Ljubljana Matej Blenkuš, dean, Faculty of architecture of the University of Ljubljana
14:10	Keynote	Matthew Carmona, professor, University College London: Why do we need good urban design
14:45	Slovenian perspectives	Blanka Bartol, Ministry of the environment and spatial planning Petra Vertelj Nared, Urban institute of Ljubljana Anja Zorko, Centre for creativity
15:30	Q&A
15:45	Coffee break
16:00	Introduction to Smoties	Davide Fassi, Politecnico di Milano, Human Cities Smoties lead partner
16:15	EU Best practices review	Presentations of selected practice by Smoties partners: Anke Strittmatter, Austria: Dorfschmiede Gutenstein - "We make the world a village" Aljona Surzikova, Estonia: From waste to diamond. The story of Pram Museum Sara de Gouy, France: Yes. Frontage, minimum project to reveal vegetal Greece Mojca Senegačnik, Slovenia: Hiša na hribu / House on the hill – Introduction and future perspectives Iceland Paola Russo, Italy: A cielo aperto / Open air. The wisdom of time. Poland Portugal Josie King, United Kingdom: Cosmic Colliery, reaching for the stars in disused mine
17:20	Closing remarks

THURSDAY June 30 2022: VISITING SMALL PLACES IN MEDVODE MUNICIPALITY*

Venue: Fieldtrip and workshops, mainly by bus, some walking included

Time	Topic	Speaker
9:30	Bus departs from Ljubljana (departure location will be communicated by email to all registered attendees)
10:15	Short stop in Smlednik (The Village garden)	Urška Sešek
10:45	Bus departs from Smlednik
11:15	Welcome to Topol pri Medvodah Participatory workshop: The future of small places and their public spaces	Municipality of Medvode Local actors and residents moderated by Natalija Vrhunc
13:30	Lunch in Topol pri Medvodah
15:00	Getting-to-know Polhov Gradec Dolomites Appreciating the forest A mindful walk through the lush forests between Topol and Belo and reconsideration of the ways we live and form the community Bringing contemporary art and artists off the bitten tracks Art intervention at Pr'Lenart homestead	Zvonka Simčič, Mojca Senegačnik, Mojca Sfiligoj Vanja Ločniškar
18:00	Smoties exibition opening and performance
18:30	Meeting the locals and the culinary traditions of the remote place
20:00	Transportation back to Ljubljana starts (last ride by van at around 22:00)

* Obligatory registration

FRIDAY July 1 2022

Morning meeting place: Prešernov trg / Prešeren square, Ljubljana

Time	Topic	Speaker
9:00	Meeting Plečnik – Human-centered Urban Design UNESCO Nomination and Listing***	Tomaž Štoka, coordinator of working group nominating Plečnik's work at UNESCO, MAO
10:00	Technical meeting (Smoties partners only), end of session foreseen at 13:00 Venue: Plečnik House, Karunova ulica 4-6, Ljubljana
	When needed, in the afternoon the UIRS premises in Trnovski pristan 2 will be available for small group working sessions or individual meetings. *** Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik considerably changed the image of Ljubljana by his urban design and architectural interventions. His legacy has been recently listed as the UNESCO heritage due to the highly contextual and human-scale urbanistic approach (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1643/). We will spend the early morning learning what was important to Plečnik when creating public spaces.

For the additional programme you may among others consider:

• BIO 27 – Super Vernaculars, Museum of architecture and design (MAO): https://mao.si/en/bio-27-super-vernaculars/
• Street festival Ana Desetnica: https://www.anamonro.si/25-ana-desetnica/
• Imago Sloveniae https://imagosloveniae.net/en/festivali/summer-in-old-ljubljana-town/

Please contact the organisers for any further information (Urban Planning Institute of the
Republic of Slovenia, info@uirs.si):

• Matej Nikšič, matej.niksic@uirs.si , 00386 31 368 334
• Nina Goršič, nina.gorsic@uirs.si , 00386 31 677 433
• Gurvan Seite, gurvan.seite@gmail.com
• Laura Daviaud, laura.daviaud@gmail.com 

The up-to-date programme is accessible at UIRS web-page:

https://www.uirs.si/sl-si/Novice/ArtMID/419/ArticleID/255/Humana-mestaHuman-Cities-SMOTIES

More information on Smoties: https://humancities.eu/smoties/

New issue of Urbani izziv/Urban chalange journal scientific edition

Volume 32, issue 2, December 2021

Just before the holidays, the new issue of the Urban Challenge was published, featuring five scientific articles, a book review, and a research project presentation.

You are kindly invited to read it (link) and submit your scientific contributions for the next issue!

'Women on stage. Discovering the artistic female contribution to the Art Nouveau'

Online lecture series

From January 2022, the Réseau Art Nouveau Network online lecture series, 'Women on stage. Discovering the artistic female contribution to the Art Nouveau', will begin.

Each month, a researcher will give a lecture on one or more women who have left their mark on the Art Nouveau style in Europe.

The lectures are free, but registration is required in advance for each lecture by sending an email to info@artnouveau-net.eu.

You will receive a zoom link that will allow you to attend the lecture.

Find all the info here.

Changing streets in changing cities: Providing streets for all?

Urbani izziv, volume 32, supplement, December 2021

A special issue of Urbani izziv / Urban Challenge journal has been published addressing the role of streets and other public spaces in fast-changing cities. Six international author groups from Europe, the Middle East and South America address the themes of accessibility for all, informal forms of mobility, walkability of housing neighbourhoods, socio-spatial justice, urban renewal, environmental efficiency and sustainable development. A special issue was published in connection to the City Street 4 online conference hosted in by the Urban Institute of the Republic of Slovenia and the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Ljubljana September 2020 in Ljubljana in cooperation with the University of Notre Dame-Louaize in Beirut. Enjoy the reading following the free-access link.

Successful pilot workshop in Kranj

On August 24, 2021, a workshop was held in the pilot area of ​​the city of Kranj.

Many residents of the pilot area of ​​the Drulovka residential neighborhood responded to the invitation and attended the workshop. Participants shared their thoughts, aspects, exchanged challenges they see in the space, and made suggestions and wishes that they thought would improve their stay in the neighborhood.

The workshop was organized in three thematic groups. As part of the first thematic group of green and sports areas, participants talked about children's playgrounds, sports fields, gardens, footpaths, urban equipment, plantings, etc., as part of the thematic group safety, participants focused on traffic and fire safety in the neighborhood, talked about vandalism, waste, illegal construction.

As part of the third group of 'social events', participants thought about cultural and sports events, daycare, various forms of socializing, etc. The groups were very active, the participants took turns in all thematic groups and showed excellent participation.