In the days of June 26th-30th we were very happy to join the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland- a premier global conference on sustainable urbanization established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies.

After two years of working remotely, we were very excited to reconnect with placemakers and citychangers from around the world and participate in this international exchange of ideas, experiences and insights.

We started the forum with the premiere of the film "Cookbook for Cities" about Mexican street markets at Urban Cinema, followed by presentations of different regional placemaking networks. The session included:

• Guillermo Bernal from Placemaking México
• Ethan Kent from PlacemakingX
• Emily SIlveman from The Urban Clinic, Israel
• Ayanda Roji from Johannesburg City Parks, South Africa
• Prathima Manohar from PlaceXplore, India
• and our Marta Popiolek, Placemaking Europe

It was an honour to be able to present our projects, including the Toolbox, the AfterCovid.City Charter and the findings from the first months of exchange and joint reflection under the Cities Network, as well as the main goals for the coming year and plans for Placemaking Week Europe in Pontevedra, at such a significant conference.

After attending many sessions, workshops and gatherings at WUF, we return inspired and hopeful for future projects and collaborations to create more resilient, accessible, inclusive and healthy cities.