Exploring the Placemaking Week in Strasbourg

Lecturer Andrew Shaw presented the UL&P curriculum, together with partners from international institutions in Canada, UK & Ecuador, inciting much interest in collaborations from the educators and industry partners in the audience. 

Lecturers Fereshteh Adi Saatlo & Merel Rietveld broadened BUas’ network of placemaking experts from the Netherlands and abroad, deepening our connection with the current opportunities in the fields of place-led community development, sustainability and the co-creation of cities. 

'This week was truly unforgettable' 
The highlight of the trip was bringing students along to experience this with us. We were able to bring a cohort from the 2nd year class of UL&P, who quickly and naturally became part of the Placemaking Europe community. As word of their participation got around, they quickly found themselves the centre of attention. It was also great to reconnect with Meike van Dinther, ‘alumna’ of UL&P, who was part of the organisation of the Placemaking Week festival. 

In the words of the students: 

After only four weeks of experience in the specialisation, this week was truly unforgettable. It was the best introduction to the specialisation. – Juul Damen 

New connections, good conversations, exploring the beautiful city of Strasbourg, interesting workshops every day, and not to forget good vibes with like-minded people, who again showed me the beauty and importance of placemaking! – Ika van Hemert 

In this week I attended a variety of workshops and lectures from experienced placemakers. The one that stood out to me was the lecture from Jan Kattein and Adam Roigart about rewilding in the cities. Besides being experts in their field they were very humble and nice people. – Rian Sulaiman 

Even though I am still new to the field, I felt incredibly welcome and am thrilled to join this diverse community of placemakers. I can't wait for next year's edition in our own country! – Lola Isbouts 

Cross-over  
It was especially nice this year to join lecturers Tomas Mahu & Thomas Oorschot from the Academy for Built Environment and Logistics in representing BUas. We will strengthen our BUas+ connections in the coming year.  

We look forward to next year’s edition in Rotterdam and hope to further cement our involvement with the global placemaking community.