
Urbanistica Podcast - Cities for People
A podcast about how we plan and design cities for people. Tune in and join listeners from 140 countries.
I am Mustafa Sherif, an Urbanist and Studio Manager based in Sweden. In this podcast, I talk to people working in urban planning and design about projects, processes, methods, handbooks, challenges, leadership, and their passions in life. It's not only about the projects but also about the people behind them.
In collaboration with AFRY (Urban Planning and Design Section in Stockholm)
Latest episodes

Oct 20, 2024 • 24min
477. Introducing Lifestyle Placemaking in Canada - Marcello Cabezas
Marcello Cabezas (Placemaker/Experience Architect, The Fifth Group, Canada)
During Placemaking week Marcello presented cases from Canada. Short BIO about his presentation:
This was a 30-minute presentation that highlighted exciting, award-winning lifestyle placemaking projects and destinations that have changed the game in Canada. They successfully achieved community engagement and business development goals simultaneously. The key insight was that there is a massive human desire for multiple experiences in one place. The examples highlighted delivered thoughtful and exciting amenities, programming, and experiences in all aspects of lifestyle, including food & beverage, art, culture, festivals, play, shopping, making, sports, learning, discovering, and watching. These projects inspired longer and repeat visits by guests, leading to historic commercial growth. The goal was to inspire attendees of the presentation to take away key learnings to apply to their current and future projects.
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 19, 2024 • 23min
476. Voices from the South - Placemaking Latin America
Betty Chemier - ReURBE – Panamá - https://www.reurbe.org/
@reurbe_
Milagros Hurtig - Urbanismo Vivo – Argentina
www.urbanismovivo.com.ar
@urbanismo_vivo @milihurtg
Ma. Elena Rodríguez - PLURAL / Asilvestrar – Ecuador www.ciudadesmasverdes.com
Adriana Sansão Fontes - LabIT-PROURB – Brasil
About their panel in the placemaking week:
The panel will present different perspectives on the actions of the Placemaking Latin America Network, established in 2017, which brings together more than 300 professionals, activists, and academics, and has already held 6 international meetings. The panel focuses on the views of different stakeholders regarding the possibilities of small-scale transformation of the Latin American reality, a continent marked by enormous social contrasts where citizen urbanism is a powerful tool for altering the status quo. In this context, the particularities of placemaking in Latin America are highlighted in relation to the Global North. Citizen urbanism will be discussed by different voices - academia, civil society organizations, government, international organizations - from different countries - Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama - a plurality of contexts that, however, reveal common challenges and weaknesses. Challenged by great inequalities and scarce resources, citizen urbanism emerges as a tool for local transformation, within the reach of the communities themselves. A small-scale action, carried out in collaboration with citizens in less favored contexts, has the potential to go far beyond "space activation”. From the South, we come to open the conversation about the political potential of citizen urbanism, exploring from different cases what is the capacity for social, environmental, economic, and cultural transformation.
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 18, 2024 • 26min
475. How can hotels be part of making cities for people - Nina Eschenröder
Nina Eschenröder (Hospitality Professional )
Nina is an accomplished hotelier with 15 years of experience in hotel management in international hotel chains. She holds degrees from the Hotel Management School Maastricht and Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, bringing a strong expertise in business development. Her work is centered on rethinking, redefining, and managing spaces within the hospitality industry, with a focus on addressing emerging needs, fostering social interaction, and facilitating dialogue among diverse stakeholders. She advocates for cross-industry exchange, which is essential for the future of the hotel industry in a rapidly evolving landscape.
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 17, 2024 • 19min
474. Build a relationship with a place - Thieu Besselink
Dr. Thieu Besselink, PhD, Founder of the Academy of Place and the Townmaking Institute, ass. prof. at Utrecht University
Thieu Besselink is an urbanist, philosopher and educator. He learned to love the complexities of place during his research with prof. Richard Sennett at the LSE Cities Program and went on to establish two organisations that aim to learn from and develop places as living wholes. The Academy of Place initiates regenerative development processes at landscape scale, and the Townmaking Institute is an R&D institute for urban commons and Societal Asset Development. As an educator Thieu leads the Regenerative Cities Program at Utrecht University where he developed place-based pedagogies to learn and develop with place.
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 16, 2024 • 24min
473. Placemaking Asia - Jia-Ping Lee
Jia-Ping is the founding Chairperson of PLACEMAKING Malaysia, under the auspices of the Malaysian Institute of Planners and a member of the Board of Advisors for PlacemakingX. With her current role as co-chair at PLACEMAKING Malaysia and her position as a director of POLLIN8, a place consultancy, she actively shapes, drives, and grows the placemaking movement in Malaysia and the region.
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 15, 2024 • 30min
472. Game Plans for Neighbourhood Co-Creation - Julia Barashkov and Mihal Ronko
Julia Barashkov(a) (PhD Candidate at Delft University of Technology) and Mihal Ronko (Practising architect at Schaffer Architects)
About their workshop during Placemaking week:
Our workshop, “Common Ground: Game Plans for Neighbourhood Co-Creation,” brought together an incredible group of urbanists, designers, researchers, and community leaders and focused on self-coordinated formations of stakeholder consortiums and decentralised governance of shared resources through a hands-on role-playing game.
Our workshop was structured as a two-phase interactive role-playing game where participants assumed different roles within urban ecosystems. The task was to collaboratively define a project space, negotiate value and costs, and arrive at shared solutions for multi-use common. Throughout the process, participants tackled real-world challenges, such as shared resources and balancing competing priorities.
Our joint work is: The Common Catalogue
https://common-catalogue.myportfolio.com/work
https://www.instagram.com/commoncatalogue
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 14, 2024 • 34min
671. Discovering the City with Our Senses - Tímea Szőke and Elena Enrica Giunta
Tímea Szőke (PhD Fellow at UIC Barcelona) and Elena Enrica Giunta (Design director at Studio Shift; Adjunct professor at School of Design - Politecnico di Milano and Libera Università di Bolzano)
BIO about their workshop:
City Flows - Discovering the City with our Senses. This participatory walkshop is designed to explore the connection between the city and the water. Through walking, observing and engaging with other placemakers, we look and map the presence and traces how water forms part of the city.The first half of our walkshop, will take the participants to a playground of public space. Through a ‘Walk&Sense’ session we will explore the surrounding environment by using our senses. This experiential exercise will emphasise how we perceive, sense, frame and construct the places we inhabit.The session will conclude with a joint reflection and analogue data visualisation exercise. This will allow participants to share their experiences and insights, showcasing the traces, marks, and narratives related to water that define our cityscape in the public space itself.The walkshop will be conducted by the members of the Bosch Alumni Network’s Placemaking Impact Field.
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 13, 2024 • 23min
470. Urban tourism and its impact on cities and their local users - Ko Koens
Ko Koens has been involved in sustainable tourism for over twenty years. His work focuses on understanding the impact of urban tourism and designing it in ways that maximize benefits for all. Over the years, he has authored over 30 academic publications and is one of the authors of the UNWTO report on overtourism. Currently, he leads the "Expertise Network Sustainable Urban Tourism." However, he finds the most value in collaborating with practitioners to drive positive change. To this end, he operates "Urban Leisure and Tourism Labs" in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where they actively engage in Regenerative Placemaking activities to enhance the quality of place for both residents and visitors.
Links from Ko Koens (all open access):
https://www.ensut.eu/projects/urban-tourism-a-call-to-action/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212571X24000416
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517724001304
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 12, 2024 • 28min
469. The 1.5-minute Place - Kristen Zupancic and Josef Conning
Josef Conning (Urbanist and strategist, Sweden) and
Kristen Zupancic (Founder, Plot Twist Placemaking, Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands)
Kristen and Josef facilitated a session where they promoted the concept of the "1.5-minute place", and in the workshop participants created dynamic and vibrant places based on that concept. Bringing the core principles of the 15-minute city down to a much smaller scale, the basic idea behind the 1.5-minute place is about mixing different functionalities in the same place. When places offer multiple functionalities and facilitate several experiences, they tend to be more relevant to a more diverse group of people, attract people throughout different times of the day, and increase the bandwidth of the emotional connections people form to them.
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.

Oct 11, 2024 • 19min
468. Translating children and youngsters' stories in public spaces- Koos Fransen
Koos Fransen (Founder of STR.AAT, Ghent, Flemish Region, Belgium)
Koos is currently employed as project leader for Projectbureau Ruimte (city of Ghent), specifically working on transdisciplinary, complex spatial projects. He is also the founder of STR.AAT (www.str-aat.be) - an urban think tank on storytelling, public space and co-creation, where he works on the projects (1) 'Straatart' (in collaboration with Alice Martha) - translating children and youngsters' stories in street art, (2) 'Comment ça vaas' - pass-me-on vases, (3) 'Van wie is de straat?' (in collaboration with Laura Zuallaert) - a documentary on urban street life in Ghent, in the past and present, and (4) 'De verhalenkaravaan' - linking (street) stories by children and elderly to construct a collection of immaterial heritage. Past work experience as a PhD in transport modeling and accessibility analysis at UGent, specifically focusing on the relationship between travel behavior, accessibility and spatial planning, and post-doctoral researcher at VUB and UGent. He is now a guest professor in sustainable mobility transitions at the Mobility and Spatial Planning research group at UGent.
In collaboration with Placemaking Week Europe, 2024, Rotterdam. Read more https://pwe2024.sched.com/
_____
Let's connect and talk further about this episode Mustafa Sherif Linkedin.
Visit Mustafasherif.com for collaborations
Follow Urbanistica on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & Youtube channel.