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@urbana_lab

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💥 Feminist 💥 Inclusive 💥 Participatory Urban Planning

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🏙️ Cities are experienced differently at different ages. Yet young people’s perspectives are still often missing from #urbanplanning.

At #URBANA, we see young people as active participants in the city, with experiences and knowledge that can challenge how we understand and shape urban space.

Planning with youth means creating space to listen, explore, question, imagine and co-create. 💬

This is something we are continuing to explore through our involvement in the @y_planproject , where learning happens through engagement with real urban contexts and participatory practice.

📚 The #YPLAN curriculum brings together 10 interdisciplinary modules that explore urban planning, participatory planning, sustainable mobility, tactical urbanism and more.

Explore the curriculum through the link in our bio. 🔗

💭 What might we see differently if we looked at our cities through young eyes? by @urbana_lab

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10 days ago

What can happen when young people are given the space to explore, question and shape a neighbourhood? 🏙️

Last week, young people from Cyprus, Greece, Serbia and Belgium came together in Nicosia 🇨🇾 for the @y_planproject #YouthCamp.

Over 5️⃣ days, the #AgioiOmologites neighbourhood became a place of learning-by-doing: walking, observing, discussing, questioning assumptions about cities, meeting local communities and co-creating ideas for public space.

For #URBANA, one of the highlights was the exploratory walk, a method at the heart of our work. Across different cities and contexts, we use walks to slow down, observe our surroundings and bring different experiences of the city into conversation.🚶‍♀️In Nicosia, we explored the neighbourhood in four groups, bringing together women with different relationships to Agioi Omologites. We shared stories and observations and looked closely at questions of safety, and how women, femininities and queer people experience public space.💭

And then we moved from observation to ideas.💡The following days were about co-creating possible interventions for the neighbourhood and for the LAOU LAOU festival: from a temporary weaving activity inviting people to “weave their neighbourhood”, to activities with children, installations and other creative ways of activating public space.

On the final day, the ideas met #LAOULAOU. 🎨 Now in its third year, the festival brings the neighbourhood together, with streets transformed into spaces for art, workshops, installations, screenings, bazaars and collective activity. Residents, local groups, organisations and volunteers all played a part. 💜

What stayed with us was not one single intervention, but the process itself: exploring, listening, reflecting, imagining, making, activating. 🌱

This is at the heart of #YPLAN: creating opportunities for young people to engage with real urban contexts and develop the tools and experience to take part in shaping the places they live.

A big thank you to all participants & the @opu_collective team for creating such a meaningful space for learning, exchange and community participation.✨ taken in Nicosia, Cyprus by @urbana_lab

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17 days ago

🏠 What if we started with the spaces we already have?

A few days ago, we travelled to #Mechelen, Belgium, for the kick-off meeting of RE-HOME, a new European @lifeprogramme project, exploring how vacant and underused buildings and spaces can be reused for more affordable, sustainable and inclusive housing.

Over 2️⃣ days, the 18 partners came together around the 4️⃣ pilot cities: #Chalandri 🇬🇷, #Mechelen 🇧🇪, #LaRochelle 🇫🇷 and #Hrastnik 🇸🇮, and started exploring the questions and approaches that will guide the work ahead.

🔎 What do we actually mean by “vacant” and “underused”?
The answer varies across contexts. Different cities use different definitions, criteria, data and legal frameworks. RE-HOME will explore these differences by combining quantitative data with social and qualitative knowledge, community mapping, participatory processes and creative practices that explore vacancy, memory and how existing spaces can be brought back to life.

Because reuse potential is not only about mapping empty spaces. It is also about how neighbourhoods remember these places, experience them today and imagine their future.🤸‍♂️🏠

URBANA will bring its experience in participatory processes, community engagement and social research to explore local needs and reuse potential. In Chalandri, we’ll work with the municipality and local actors, focusing on vacant spaces and buildings connected to the city’s refugee heritage.

RE-HOME also builds on our ongoing engagement with housing and alternative ways of living together. We’re happy to continue our research and work in this field and to contribute our perspective, tools and experience to the search for fairer and more sustainable approaches to housing. 🌱

Thank you to the whole REHOME consortium for a great start! We’re very excited to be part of this journey! ✨ taken in Mechelen, Belgium by @urbana_lab

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25 days ago

🚶‍♀️ Open call | Exploratory Walk in Agioi Omologites, Nicosia
What makes a neighbourhood feel welcoming?
Where do we feel comfortable, and where do we feel less at ease? What do we notice when we experience the neighbourhood from our own perspective?

As part of the @y_planproject YouthCamp and #LAOULAOU, @urbana_lab and @opu_collective are inviting women who live in or know the Agioi Omologites neighbourhood to join us for an exploratory walk through the area. 💜

We’ll walk, observe and share our experiences of the neighbourhood and its public spaces.

📅 Thursday, 17 September
🕠 17:30–19:30
📍 Meeting point: OPU House, Nikitara 7, Nicosia

Come walk with us and bring your perspective. 💬 taken in Nicosia, Cyprus by @urbana_lab

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a month ago

Over the past few months, URBANA Open Space has grown into something more than a series of workshops! ✨
It became a space to slow down, meet new people, exchange knowledge, create together, and imagine how we want to live in our cities. 💛

What started as an invitation to share an idea, a practice or a “superpower” brought together people from different backgrounds around a simple belief: everyone has something valuable to contribute on how we want to live more collectively in our cities!

Together, we learned how to take care of our bicycles, gave clothes a second life through collective mending and swapping, explored clay as a tool for imagining possible futures, and opened conversations around cooperative housing and more collective ways of urban living!

Along the way, new connections, conversations and forms of collaboration emerged, creating a growing community built on curiosity, care and mutual learning. 🌿

Thank you to everyone who facilitated, participated, shared stories, asked questions and helped shape this first chapter of URBANA Open Space. Thank you for making this space what it has become. ✨

We are excited for what comes next. If you have an idea, a practice or an experience you’d like to share through Open Space, we’d love to hear from you. You can submit your proposal anytime through the link in our bio. 💛

The next Open Space activities will be scheduled for after the summer!

@bordacoop @lamoradacoop @careterra_greece @katerina.pistola @feetinroom @lydiamonfort3 @ceramicfutures taken in Chalandri, Attiki, Greece by @urbana_lab

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3 months ago

It’s been a while since our last #RockTheBlock update... and a lot has happened! 🌱

Over the past few months, our team has been facilitating a series of open neighbourhood workshops in #Egaleo, bringing together residents, local stakeholders and representatives of the @dimos_egaleo_official to collectively imagine more inclusive, caring and connected neighbourhoods.

The journey started with listening: mapping local needs, dreams, concerns and the unique “superpowers” that residents already bring to their community. Through dialogue and collaboration, these conversations evolved into 3️⃣ neighbourhood working groups:

🌿 Community Gardening, transforming underused spaces into places for growing food, sharing knowledge and building community.
🍲 Neighbourhood Food Network, bringing neighbours together to cook, share meals and reduce food waste through collective action.
🐈 Stray Cats Care, strengthening existing neighbourhood care networks through mapping, collaboration and the development of local support structures.

The workshops created space for residents and institutions to meet, exchange perspectives and explore new ways of working together. Building these collaborations takes patience, openness and persistence, but participants showed how trust and collective care can grow when people keep showing up for one another.

As one participant shared: “I want to be a little more active… to connect with the place and the people, so I can be a part of the neighbourhood and live a better life.” 💚

We’re taking a short summer break before returning in September to support these groups as they turn ideas into action.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated, shared their stories and helped shape this process. 🙏

➡️ This is only the beginning. Stay tuned for the next chapter of @rocktheblock.gr ! taken in Aigáleo, Greece by @urbana_lab

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3 months ago

🌿 What does it take to create cities where both humans and non-humans can thrive?

Over 3️⃣ inspiring days in Helsinki 🇫🇮, we joined the @greenincities Consortium Meeting alongside partners and cities from across Europe to exchange experiences, share progress, and learn from each other’s local pilots.

From exploring the Malmi pilot area and Helsinki’s ambitious approach to biodiversity, community engagement, and more-than-human urban planning, to workshops on impact assessment, innovation, and co-creation, the meeting explored how urban regreening and renaturing can create healthier, more inclusive environments for both human and non-human life.

💬 A key theme throughout the discussions was the need to connect environmental goals with social impact: how can nature-based solutions also strengthen communities, support wellbeing, and create more inclusive public spaces?

✨ We were especially excited to share our recent work with teenage girls in Athens, supporting them to reimagine and reclaim public space and urban nature through participatory processes, and to reflect on our research on co-caring design strategies around human and non-human coexistence in urban green spaces (informed by the experiences of women and girls). Another highlight was seeing Follower cities adapt participatory tools and approaches that #URBANA has developed and shared throughout the project to their own contexts and priorities.

And beyond the workshops?⛴️ Ferry rides, island visits, architectural inspiration, a Finnish sauna, and countless conversations about the future of our cities. 🌱

A big thank you to the City of @helsinki @forumviriumhelsinki, and all #GreenInCities partners for the warm hospitality and inspiring exchanges.

We look forward to continuing this collective journey towards cities that are greener, fairer, and more caring for all forms of life. 💚 by @urbana_lab

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4 months ago

📣 Νέα θέση εργασίας στην URBANA!

Αν αγαπάς την πρακτική έρευνα, πιστεύεις ότι οι πόλεις μπορούν να αλλάξουν μέσα από τη συμμετοχή και τη φροντίδα και θέλεις να συμβάλεις σε πραγματικές αλλαγές στις γειτονιές, σε θέλουμε μαζί μας!

Nέες θέση εργασίας: Αρχιτεκτόνισσα/ας - Project Facilitator

📌 Τι θα κάνεις (ενδεικτικά):
Θα στηρίζεις ευρωπαϊκά ερευνητικά έργα, θα σχεδιάζεις και θα υλοποιείς δράσεις και εργαστήρια στο πεδίο, θα συμβάλλεις σε παραδοτέα και αναφορές, θα επικοινωνείς με συνεργάτιδες και συνεργάτες, θα δημιουργείς οπτικό υλικό και θα εκπροσωπείς την ομάδα σε δημόσιο διάλογο.

✨ Αναζητούμε άτομα με:
Σπουδές σε αρχιτεκτονική, αστικό σχεδιασμό ή συναφή πεδία, τουλάχιστον 3ετή εργασιακή εμπειρία, καλή γνώση εργαλείων σχεδιασμού (Adobe, GIS κ.ά.) και διάθεση για συνεργασία και μάθηση.

👉 Δες την αναλυτική περιγραφή στο link in bio και στείλε μας το βιογραφικό σου, σύντομο γράμμα εκδήλωσης ενδιαφέροντος και portfolio στο apply@urbana.gr έως τις 30/6/2026!

#JobOpening #JobOpportunity #WeAreHiring #OpenPosition by @urbana_lab

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4 months ago

🏘️ URBANA Open Space | Let’s talk about cooperative housing

The URBANA Open Space series continues, creating opportunities to meet, share practices, and learn together. ✨

This time, we’re opening up a conversation around cooperative housing and collective ways of living.

On Friday, June 19, we’ll be hosting Laia and María, members of the cooperative housing communities @bordacoop and @lamoradacoop in Barcelona, which we had the opportunity to visit during URBANA’s recent study visit to Catalonia.

Drawing from their experiences, we’ll explore:
🏘️ how these initiatives came into being
🤝 how collective living and decision-making are organized
🌱 the challenges and opportunities that emerge in everyday life
💬 what it’s like to live in a cooperative housing community

The discussion is open to anyone interested in cooperative housing, co-living communities, and alternative ways of living and organizing everyday life.

Through this exchange of experiences, we’ll have the opportunity to learn from real-life examples of collective housing and reflect together on how we want to live, relate to one another, and shape everyday life in the cities of today and tomorrow.

🙏 A warm thank you to Laia and María for sharing their time, experiences, and stories from the communities they are part of.

📍 Where: URBANA Open Space (30 Chaimanta St., Chalandri - Athens)
📅 When: Friday, June 19
🕕 Time: 18:00–20:00

📩 Register through the link in our bio.
Due to limited capacity, places are limited, so we encourage you to sign up early. We look forward to meeting you! ✨ taken in Chalandri by @urbana_lab

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4 months ago

And just like that, 8 workshops later, the park began to feel a little different 💚

Over the past months, together with teenage girls from the 3rd General High School of Galatsi, we co-designed and built a series of movable structures for Profitis Ilias Park in Rizoupoli as part of @greenincities .

💭 It started with conversations about girls’ experiences in parks.

📸 Then came mapping, photography, collages, models, experiments, and construction workshops.

🪑 And slowly, the ideas became real: 4️⃣movable seating elements + 1️⃣mobile trolley designed for gathering, resting, hanging out, and being together in public space.

♻️ Using reused materials from the school storage rooms, the girls painted, drilled, assembled, tested, moved, reconfigured, documented, and transformed ideas into actual structures.

🛠️ Along the way, they learned how to use tools, experimented with construction techniques, collaborated, and gradually took more and more initiative throughout the process.

The final celebration at the park brought together residents, families, teachers, project partners, passersby, the girls from the workshops and their friends. The installations were used, explored, and reactivated the space in new ways, turning the park into a place of gathering and interaction. 🌿

And maybe the most beautiful part: seeing the girls proudly recognising themselves, and their work, in the space. Because parks belong to girls too. ✨

Special thanks to @rokani_ for sharing tools, knowledge, and hands-on guidance that encouraged the girls to experiment more confidently with materials and construction practices.

🔜 We’re currently preparing a booklet documenting the whole process, workshops, stories, and outcomes of the project.
Stay tuned! 💚 by @urbana_lab

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5 months ago

🏺 URBANA Open Space | Ceramic Futures

Το πρόγραμμα του URBANA Open Space συνεχίζεται δυναμικά, με νέες δράσεις, εργαστήρια και συναντήσεις να διαδέχονται η μία την άλλη ✨

Η επόμενη δράση του κύκλου είναι ένα τριμερές εργαστήριο οραματισμού με πηλό γύρω από το μέλλον, την/τον εαυτή/ό και την πόλη.

Μέσα από διαισθητικές και συλλογικές διαδικασίες δημιουργίας, θα πειραματιστούμε με τον πηλό ως εργαλείο σκέψης, έκφρασης και φαντασίας.

Κατά τη διάρκεια των εργαστηρίων θα:
🏺 δημιουργήσουμε πήλινα ειδώλια και προσωπικά σύμβολα
✍️ δουλέψουμε με χαράξεις, μορφές και πήλινες μακέτες
🌀 εξερευνήσουμε συλλογικές πρακτικές οραματισμού γύρω από το μέλλον και την πόλη

Το εργαστήριο συνδυάζει προσωπικό αναστοχασμό, συλλογική δημιουργία και πειραματισμό μέσα από απτές και δημιουργικές διαδικασίες.

Δεν απαιτείται προηγούμενη γνώση κεραμικής. Μόνο διάθεση να πειραματιστείς και να δημιουργήσεις!

📍 Πού: URBANA Open Space (Χαϊμαντά 30, Χαλάνδρι)
📅 Πότε:
• Τρίτη 26/5
• Τρίτη 2/6
• Πέμπτη 18/6
🕕 Ώρα: 18:00–20:00
🤝 Συμμετοχή: Δωρεάν

Το εργαστήριο υλοποιείται στο πλαίσιο του @ceramicfutures , ενός ερευνητικού και συμμετοχικού εγχειρήματος μεταξύ Αθήνας και Άμστερνταμ, που διερευνά συλλογικούς και βιωματικούς τρόπους σκέψης γύρω από το μέλλον, την πόλη και την υλικότητα του πηλού, συνδέοντας την κεραμική πρακτική με διαδικασίες έρευνας και οραματισμού. Μέσα από αυτή τη διαδικασία, ο πηλός λειτουργεί ως εργαλείο σκέψης, φαντασίας και δημιουργίας γύρω από ζητήματα χώρου, οικολογίας και συλλογικής ζωής.

📩 Δήλωσε συμμετοχή στο link στο bio. Λόγω περιορισμένης χωρητικότητας, οι διαθέσιμες θέσεις είναι συγκεκριμένες, οπότε φρόντισε να δηλώσεις συμμετοχή εγκαίρως. Σε περιμένουμε! ✨ taken in Chalandri by @urbana_lab

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5 months ago

👕 URBANA Open Space | Feet-in Room

Το URBANA Open Space συνεχίζει τον κύκλο δράσεών του, δημιουργώντας χώρο για να συναντηθούμε, να μοιραστούμε πρακτικές και να μάθουμε μαζί. ✨

Συνεχίζουμε με ένα συμμετοχικό εργαστήριο γύρω από τα ρούχα, την επανάχρηση και τη συλλογική δημιουργία, από το @feetinroom και τη @lydiamonfort3 .

Τι γίνεται με τα ρούχα που δεν φοράμε πια; Η βασική δράση του εργαστηρίου είναι το μοίρασμα και η ανταλλαγή ρούχων, ως μια ανοιχτή αλληλέγγυα διαδικασία επαναχρησιμοποίησης και σύνδεσης.

👉 Φέρνουμε μαζί μας 1–5 κομμάτια σε καλή κατάσταση για ανταλλαγή ή και κάτι φθαρμένο για να το μεταμορφώσουμε μαζί με την ομάδα. ♻️
Έτσι, ανοίγει ο χώρος της δημιουργικής επιδιόρθωσης και θα ασχοληθούμε με:
✂ visible mending & μικρές μετατροπές
🧵 πειραματισμούς με υφάσματα
🪡 μοίρασμα γνώσης και βασικών τεχνικών ραψίματος
Πρόκειται για μια ανοιχτή διαδικασία όπου τα ρούχα αποκτούν ξανά νόημα και μαζί τους κι εμείς. 🌿

Δεν χρειάζεται προηγούμενη εμπειρία, μόνο διάθεση να δοκιμάσεις, να μοιραστείς και να δημιουργήσεις!

📍 Πού: URBANA Open Space (Χαϊμαντά 30, Χαλάνδρι)
📅 Πότε: Σάββατο 23/5
🕕 Ώρα: 16:00–18:00

Το εργαστήριο υλοποιείται από το @feetinroom , ένα εγχείρημα που ξεκίνησε το 2020 από τη Λυδία Πάτρα ως πείραμα στον δημόσιο χώρο και εξελίχθηκε σε μια ερευνητική και συμμετοχική πρακτική γύρω από τον ρουχισμό. Σήμερα συνεχίζει να εξελίσσεται ως ένα ανοιχτό, διαρκώς μετασχηματιζόμενο εγχείρημα.

📩 Δήλωσε συμμετοχή στο link στο bio. Λόγω περιορισμένης χωρητικότητας, οι διαθέσιμες θέσεις είναι συγκεκριμένες, οπότε φρόντισε να δηλώσεις συμμετοχή εγκαίρως. Σε περιμένουμε!✨ taken in Chalandri by @urbana_lab

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5 months ago