Prof. Freek Persyn | NEWROPE Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation

Urban Spaces for More-than-human Communities: Collaborative Processes, Design Attitudes and Hybrid Practices

The presence of biodiversity in cities is associated with multiple benefits, from climate adaptation to social well-being. These aspects have been widely studied, but in public space design biodiversity is often treated in purely quantitative terms: how much green surface, how many trees, how many different species. This doctoral research project, carried out at Politecnico di Milano DAStU and ETH Zürich NEWROPE Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation, instead investigates the qualitative dimensions of biodiversity — how it influences the character of urban places, and how it becomes entangled with social and cultural life.

The dissertation focuses on a specific type of urban transformation: naturecultural places. These are sites that were often closed or abandoned for decades, now reactivated as collectively managed environments on publicly owned land. They differ from conventional public spaces administered by institutions, since their governance relies on self-organised groups who assume responsibility for maintenance, care, and programming. They are not only parks or gardens, nor solely cultural venues or ecological laboratories. They are hybrid spaces in which biodiversity, cultural production, and community practices are inseparably linked.

To investigate them, extensive first-person fieldwork was conducted in five European cases: Floating University (Berlin), De Ceuvel (Amsterdam), ASIAT Park (Vilvoorde), Krater (Ljubljana), and Stadionbrache Hardturm (Zurich). The research combined participation in everyday activities – such as gardening, maintenance, or events – with discussions and workshops involving practitioners, activists, and local communities. This approach revealed the rhythms, negotiations and hybrid practices through which these spaces are continuously transformed.

Conventional architectural vocabulary struggles to capture their evolving character. For this reason, the project begins from four familiar terms – Process, Space, Community, and Program – and reworks them into more open and relational notions: Dialogue, Habitat, Network, and Rituals. This shift makes it possible to describe the sites more accurately, while acknowledging the presence of non-human actors and the significance of ongoing collective practices.

The aim is not only to study these places but also to learn from them. By identifying transferable design strategies, the doctoral project aims to re-discuss the role of architectural design in shaping urban spaces where biodiversity and collective life reinforce one another.