As a sociologist and urbanist, Miriam brings together grounded perspectives from urban

sociology with hands-on experience in building networks, fostering cooperation, and

developing new partnerships.

From Berlin to Brussels, she has worked with civil society initiatives (e.g. the Berlin-wide

network Urbane Praxis), public administrations such as City of Freiburg, cultural institutions

including the Berliner Stiftung Stadtmuseum, and non-profit organisations like the German

Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development.

Across Miriam's work, her focus has long been on questions of urban development,

approached through marginalised perspectives, ethnographic practices, and a strong

commitment to everyday urbanism and social justice. What guides her is an attentiveness

to what cities reveal when you look closely and listen carefully.

She likes to follow traces, stories, and contradictions rather than ready-made answers. It is therefore no coincidence that her favourite places in the city are found in small encounters

and conversations that emerge almost by themselves: on New Year’s night in the middle of a large housing estate, in the stairwell when the heating breaks down, or at the tailor’s shop that has quietly been part of the neighbourhood for over thirty years.

Josef is an urbanist with a background in economics. By living and working in Athens,

Brussels, Palermo, Vienna and Zurich Josef has built a vast network of urban practitioners –

a continuous source of personal inspiration and of insider recommendations for the best

views in town. His professional work centers around fostering socially just and ecological

urban planning, in particular promoting models of non-profit housing and ecological building

practices.

In line with his engagement with a wide range of urban actors from various sectors –

grassroot (Verein Stadionbrache), non-profit (Are We Europe), cooperative

(Baugenossenschaft mehr als wohnen), research (ICRE8), association (Swiss society of

engineers and architects) – Josef has developed a sense for the complexities of urban

planning processes. He sees sharing knowledge and learning from each other as a means to navigate the obstacles encountered in the field. One of his primary goals is to create

spaces of reciprocal exchange – whether during assembly meetings, participatory planning

process or dinner parties with friends – to foster real societal transformations for the

common good.

Jan is an agogue and urbanist. Building on his background in Agogical Sciences and Urban

Studies, he aims to politicise, democratise and collectivise the making of cities.

On the one hand, Jan loves ‘playing in the mud’ of city making. He researches, designs and

guides emancipatory urban transitions in the spheres of affordable housing, civic

infrastructure and porous public spaces.

On the other hand, Jan is passionate about discovering and collectively learning from

international cases to inspire emancipatory modes of city making. He co-founded and

curated Stadsform, a cultural center for dialogues on urban questions and guided multiple

tours for city administrations, eldermen, universities and civic organisations in Brussels,

Vienna, Milan, Zurich, Ghent, Antwerp and Leuven that inspired policy and investment

transitions in housing systems and socio-cultural practices.

Jan received the Flemish-Dutch Young Urban Planner Award (2020) and co-authored the

book ‘Soft Power: 10 years of Bouwmeester Maître Architecte in Brussels’ (2025). During

visits and residencies, Jan gathered inspiration in Marseille, Tbilisi, Zurich, Basel, Paris,

Caïro, Mexico City, New York City, Rio De Janeiro, São Paolo. He loves finding moments of

togetherness in collectively heating up on dancefloors and cooling down in urban rivers