Place-Led Development Deep Dive | Wesoła District in Kraków, Poland
2026-01-29 17:00 - 18:00 (Europe/Amsterdam)
Join us for our next Place-Led Development Deep Dive focused on the Wesoła District in Kraków, Poland, a strategic revitalization project that combines heritage with “Radical Imagination”.

About Wesoła: Wesoła was known for centuries as Kraków’s medical hub, housing the University Hospital. Since the city purchased the 9-hectare site in 2019, it has evolved into a “process, not just a project”. Managed by the Krakow Festival Office (KBF), the redevelopment focuses on a participatory process involving residents, NGOs, and cultural institutions to foster a shared sense of community.

Our Speaker: We are honored to welcome Agata Bisping, Futures Strategist at KBF Trends Observatory for Culture. Agata uses “Futures Thinking” and “Research By Design” to build social innovation and civic engagement. She will share how they are designing the user experience and long-term strategy for this unique district.

This online event will be co-hosted by Francesca Spigarolo, Valentina Zaro (Fondazione Housing Sociale) and Kristen Zupancic (Plot Twist Placemaking). It is an initiative by the Place-Led Development Working Group, supported by Placemaking Europe.

Don’t miss this chance to get inspired by one of Europe’s shining examples of Place-Led Development.

See you on the 29th of January!

Place-Led Development Deep Dive - Turning Vacancies into Vibrant Places with Coopolis Berlin
2026-03-19 17:00 - 18:00
Join us for the next Place-Led Development Deep Dive, an online webinar exploring innovative approaches to long-term area development.

This edition will spotlight Coopolis, a Berlin-based planning office for cooperative urban development. Coopolis is known for its hands-on work connecting property owners with local entrepreneurs and creative initiatives, helping transform vacant ground-floor spaces into vibrant neighbourhood assets. In Berlin’s Neukölln district, their approach enabled 150 new small businesses to open in just three years, turning empty storefronts into a lively mix of cafés, workshops, galleries, and community venues.

Our guest speaker, Stefanie Raab, is an architect and CEO of Coopolis. For over 20 years, she has supported cultural and creative industries, helping to build networks and opportunities for creative entrepreneurs.

The conversation will be co-hosted by Francesca Spigarolo and Valentina Zaro (Fondazione Housing Sociale) together with Kristen Zupancic (Plot Twist Placemaking). The event is part of the Place-Led Development Working Group, supported by Placemaking Europe.

Don’t miss this chance to get inspired by one of Europe’s most compelling examples of place-led development, turning vacant spaces into opportunities for local entrepreneurship and neighbourhood regeneration, as featured in The City at Eye Level.

Date: 19 March 2026Time: 17:00–18:00 CETWhere: Google Meets LinkRSVP: https://forms.gle/LD9HXrGLjNpKN3AP6

Open Open Call Webinar for Placemaking Week Europe 2026 - Wrocław
2026-04-10 13:00 - 13:45
Join our upcoming webinar to learn how to navigate the Open Call for session proposals. We’ll explain the process, share practical guidance, and answer your questions.

This is an opportunity to contribute to one of Europe’s leading placemaking gatherings and help shape the dialogue around public space, community, and urban transformation.

Open Call Webinar for Placemaking Week Europe 2026 – Wrocław

📆 Friday 10.4.2026, 13:00 – 13:45 CET

🔗 https://meet.google.com/xap-qygx-pdt

You will find out more details on:– How does the Open Call process work, what are the steps and the timeline.– What happens after final submission of your session.– Q&A session regarding the open call and selection process directly on the call.

Utopian Hours
2026-05-28 00:00 - 2026-05-29 23:59
The Rotterdam edition marks a significant milestone for Stratosferica, the Turin-based social enterprise behind the festival. It’s the first major European edition of the festival, following the American debut of Utopian Hours in Miami in 2023.

The choice of Rotterdam reflects a long-standing dialogue between the festival and the city. Known internationally for its experimental architecture and forward-looking approach to climate and urban innovation, Rotterdam offers a natural setting for Utopian Hours’ multidisciplinary and inspirational format.

Utopian Hours celebrates Ten Years in Rotterdam

Festival founders Luca Ballarini and Giacomo Biraghi comment:

“Utopian Hours has always celebrated cities and urban innovation through an accessible and open-minded approach. Rotterdam’s experimental spirit makes it the ideal place to expand the festival and engage a broader international audience.”

The Rotterdam edition is organised with the support of the City of Rotterdam, Rotterdam Partners, Droom en Daad, and a network of cultural organisations across the city. The partnership with the City of Rotterdam builds on a roundtable on urban climate resilience held during Utopian Hours 2025, which helped lay the groundwork for bringing the festival to the Netherlands. Over the years, many Dutch voices have already taken to the festival stage, including Winy Maas (MVRDV), Kristian Koreman (ZUS), Caroline Bos (UNStudio) and Dirk van Peijpe (De Urbanisten).

Melany van Twuijver, Strategic Advisor for Architectural Policy at the City of Rotterdam, adds:

“Turin and Rotterdam share much as forward- thinking cities working on urban renewal in a practical and systemic way. Rotterdam is proud to host Utopian Hours in May 2026 — a collaboration that brings international inspiration and new partnerships to the city, serving as a catalyst for projects that move not only Rotterdam, but all participants, forward.”

For the Ten Years Edition, the festival brings together some of the most influential voices in international city-making, figures who have inspired audiences at previous editions and continue to shape the future of urban culture and design. Confirmed keynote speakers include Liam Young, Matt Grunbaum (Field Operations), Baharash Bagherian (URB) and Sarah Castle (IF_DO), and Robert Stephens (Urbs Indis) who will present projects and perspectives shaping the future of urban culture and design.

Utopian Hours will be hosted in the iconic Modernist landmark Groot Handelsgebouw (GHG) opposite Rotterdam Centraal Station. Over two days the programme will include keynote lectures, curated roundtables, panels, city tours, film and documentary screenings alongside The Urbanites’ Fair, dedicated to independent editorial projects and third- sector organisations exploring contemporary placemaking.

The themed roundtables, co-curated by Stratosferica and the City of Rotterdam, will explore key challenges shaping the future of cities, including:

Green Water City

Gender-Inclusive Public Space

Carbon City

Third Spaces

Just Green

The full programme, including masterclasses, and additional speakers, will be announced in the coming weeks.

The festival will also renew its collaboration with Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (AFFR) and Rotterdam Rooftop Days, and host an Exclusive Opening Reception at the spectacular Fenix Museum.

PCUK Field Trip: Budapest
2026-06-04 00:00 - 2026-06-05 23:59
Our friends at Place Collective UK are hosting an overseas field trip to Budapest! Join their two-day programme to experience the dramatic urban landscape shaped by the division of Buda and Pest, and explore how grassroots initiatives influence urban life.

Hosted by local authorities and civic groups, the visit will examine how the city navigates heritage, regeneration, and the evolving relationship between culture, community, and development.

Expect conversations, walks, and informal exchanges with practitioners and local voices, offering fresh perspectives to take home.More info and registration: https://www.placemaking.org.uk/joinus

URBAN DIALOGUE: FINDING YOUR PLACE IN THE CITY - A networking evening on belonging
2026-06-04 19:00 - 21:30 | Dox Cafe, Antoine Platekade 9, Rotterdam, Netherlands
This event is organised by students from the Leisure & Events Management program at BUas (Breda University of Applied Sciences), supported by Placemaking Europe as part of the Inclusive City project.Join us for an interactive networking evening at Café Dox exploring the theme of belonging in the city. The evening brings together professionals, students, and creatives from fields including architecture, urban planning & design, community building, and placemaking in Rotterdam.

Through interactive networking sessions and a co-creative workshop, we create an inspiring setting to connect, share ideas, and explore what it means to truly belong in the city.The event is held in English and welcomes a diverse audience of over 100 visitors. The first 100 registrations receive a free welcome drink, along with typical dutch snacks ‘bittergarnituur’.Don’t miss it! One lucky guest will win a free ticket to Placemaking Week Europe 2026 in Wrocław, Poland!

SIGN UP FOR THE EVENT HERE

THURSDAY, 4TH JUNE 2026Walk-in: 19.00hStart event: 19:30h

CAFÉ DOXAntoine Platekade 93072 ME Rotterdam

City at Eyelevel & Placemaking Training & Field Trip
2026-06-08 09:00 - 2026-06-10 17:30
Join us in June for the City at Eye Level & Placemaking Training, and learn about a human-scale centred approach to urban development, places for people, co-creation with communities, social life, and great public spaces.

The three-day training takes place in Berlin, June 8-10, 2026. To fully benefit from the in-person sessions, participants are required to complete over 10 online training videos at their own pace before attending. These videos are essential to make the most of the in-person experience.

The training is meant for professionals in urban planning, urban development, urban regeneration, public space, street management, co-creation and community building; planners, designers, developers, civic leaders, municipalities, project managers, community builders, BID managers.

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Placemakers, urbanists, sociologists, community builders, experts working with local councils and municipalities on co-creating the city, developers of human scaled areas: come and join our next international three day City at Eye Level and Placemaking Training and Field Trip in Berlin! We organise these three days in collaboration with Placemaking Germany, Placemaking Europe, PlacemakingX and Creative Bureaucracy Festival on 8-9-10 June:

* we will visit and learn all about the 100% Tempelhofer Feld, the organisation guarding the incredible open and democratic space of the former airport, now the largest public space of Europe

* during the three days, we will be hosted by and learn from the inspiring cooperative area development for social impact and creativity, the VOLLGUT eG Areal, a leading Berling example of place-led development (area development with place and community at its fundament)

* we will meet up and learn what is happening in the local placemaking scene, exchanging an evening with the network of Placemaking Germany, of whom Milagros Hurtig and Christian Grauvogel also co-host our training

* discuss the cooperative approach of filling up vacant spaces for local startups in Neukölln and the approach for the future of the nighttime economy under pressure in Berlin with Stefanie Raab of ADO // Coopolis Planungsbüro für kooperative Stadtentwicklung

* get access to no less than 14 videos prior to the three days, learn about the latest theoretical insights and best practices in the morning, and apply these in the afternoon outside in public space in Berlin, learning about practical tools by doing with our always inspiring group of participants

* be hosted by and learn from Charlot Schans, expert in STIPO and director of Placemaking Europe; Dimitra Zouni, leader in STIPO Greece, and Hans Karssenberg, partner at STIPO and board member of Placemaking Europe and PlacemakingX

* if you like, stay a day longer and enjoy the always inspiring Creative Bureaucracy Festival with Charles Landry in the Festsaal Kreuzberg on 11 June.

In the past 10 years, we have had the joy of organising 130 trainings for 4,500 professionals, aiming to help more people to work on social quality, co-creating with communities, combining short term action with long term impact for human scale, public spaces, placemaking and a great city at eye level. We are always inspired by the groups of participants and have embraced them into the networks across Europe and globally. It is one of the ways we hope to contribute to impact on better, humane, inclusive, social, co-created, mixed and green cities.

The training will be held in English.

Placemaking Week Europe 2026 - Wrocław edition!
2026-09-22 00:00 - 2026-09-25 23:59
Save the Date!

Placemaking Week Europe is created in the spirit of collaboration and inspiration. It has proven to be a vital platform to share best practices, foster meaningful collaborations across borders, and experience the host city’s places and initiatives firsthand. We provide a friendly environment surrounded by brilliant minds.

This year, we are travelling to Wrocław to connect 700+ urbanists, placemakers, and community leaders around this year’s themes: building belonging, co-creation, city laboratories, and resilience. Through talks, workshops, and hands-on experiments, we’ll shape public spaces that care, connect, and inspire.

Wrocław, the vibrant capital of Lower Silesia, is a city of 100 bridges where history meets youthful creativity. Known as the “Polish Venice,” its islands, riverside boulevards, and charming architecture blend with a lively university and cultural scene, making it a dynamic and welcoming city for community-driven urban life.

Find out more and stay up to date with the latest festival news here
