Who I am

I am an urban researcher, consultant, and author focusing on facilitating the development of inclusive, co-produced cities. My projects span a diverse range of topics, including urban commons, cultural and creative industries, intermediate and adaptive reuse of vacant buildings, participation of underrepresented groups, and the political, symbolic, and normative aspects of architecture and urban planning.

My work concentrates on the intersection between social research, public policy, and citizen empowerment in cities with the goal of creating better urban policy through actionable research, goal-oriented analysis, and more diverse stakeholder engagement.

What I do

In my work, I focus on facilitating the development of inclusive, co-created cities. But what does that mean exactly?

Facilitating: Through a diverse range of tasks, I work to make the process of co-creation easier for all involved. This can take the form of creating a baseline of information so that everyone’s on the same page going into discussions, designing and structuring workshops to promote cooperation, or presenting best practices from elsewhere to inspire new ideas locally. This work frequently crosses sectoral, disciplinary, and cultural boundaries; I am responsible for “translating” between different worlds, promoting the learning of and cooperation between diverse stakeholders, and capturing the added value of cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration. I am proud to work with a wide range of urban actors, including city administrations, publicly-owned subsidiaries, foundations, associations, cooperatives, NGOs and citizen groups.

Development: Whether we’re talking about change, growth, or restructuring, development always presents an opportunity to reinvent old ways of doing things and break through structures which have become entrenched. My work focuses on making the most out of these moments of change and developing innovative solutions to challenging situations.

Inclusive: Increasing diversity in participatory methods and urban processes is a core part of what I do. Understanding who is already participating and non-included group’s barriers to participation is an important first step to being able to increase diversity. I design interventions which directly take these conditions into account in order to improve the activation and inclusion of underrepresented or structurally disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, I conduct policy analysis which examines structural barriers to inclusion and equity in cities.

Co-created: Finally, my work sees citizens and civil society as active partners in the city-building process and works to engage citizens and civil society in a wider sense through creative, innovative, empowering, and fun participatory formats. I also advise cities on how their existing policies can be adjusted to promote citizen engagement, co-creation and urban commons.

My work includes project development and management for a variety of funding schemes, for example EU (H2020, Erasmus+ KA2, URBACT), German federal (BMBF, BBSR), state, municipal, and foundation-funded projects, as well as commissioned expertise on the topics mentioned above. In 2017, I was validated by the EU program URBACT as an expert for integrated urban renewal, arts and culture, and the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities.

You can read more about my work by following the links in the menu above or get in touch over social or via email by following the links/mail address below.