Between September 1–18, 2020, 45 people from the CITYMAKERS community responded to the invitation to form a virtual circle, a chain of CITYMAKERS voices. What a kaleidoscope of competences on the virtual stage, ranging from high-profile academics to hands-on urban farmers, from art curators and activists to municipal intrapreneurs!
Meet Katja, the “mastermind” behind the CITYMAKERS network, who loves designing models of creative interaction that have both thematic depth and a human touch.
Meet Yimeng Wu, communication designer and founder of Studio Wu 無, who is the artistic soul behind CITYMAKERS’ visual identity. Yimeng Wu likes to discover the different historical and social layers of a city through artistic discovery. She strongly believes in the importance of making our cities more green and more resilient with regard to climate change.
CITYMAKERS- Freund Shi Ming – freier Journalist – begleitet das STADTMACHER Netzwerk seit seiner Gründung vor 5 Jahren. In einem Gespräch mit Katja Hellkötter spricht Shi Ming über aktuelle Tendenzen der Stadtentwicklung in China und den deutsch- chinesischen Urbanisierungsaustausch.
Meet Dr. Eva Sternfeld, who has observed the tremendous transformation of Chinese cities for over 40 years, since spending her first study trip in China in 1979. She thinks that not just city planners and architects decide the fate of a city, but that the socio-economic development, the cultural and political impact as well as the environmental factors all play their role in creating livable cities. Bringing them together is the real challenge.
Get to know Hao Dong, architect, partner and co-founder of CROSSBOUNDARIES, pioneering in the field of architecture for the future of education. In the frame of the CITYMAKERS accelerator Hao Dong and his partner Binke Lenhardt participated with their project CROSSBOUNDARIES Kids, creating design thinking learning programs for children to become better city makers in the future.
Get to know Binke Lenhardt, partner and co-founder of CROSSBOUNDARIES, pioneering in the field of architecture for the future of education. In the frame of the CITYMAKERS Future for Living incubator project Binke researched the topic of co-housing and produced a study with co-housing projects in China and Germany , she also participated the project CROSSBOUNDARIES Kids, together with her partner DONG Hao, creating design thinking learning programs for children to become better city makers in the future.
ZHANG Rubing and WANG Keyao are Architects and have worked for China Architecture and Design Group (CADG). In 2012, they founded their own company Zhijian Workshop which not only focusses on renovation research of old and industrial buildings but also undertakes design and art projects in the same field.
Dr. Ines Eben v. Racknitz is associate professor of Chinese history at Nanjing University. She has studied sinology, history, and literature in Germany, China and the United States. Her interest is in late Qing Chinese history, imperial culture, entangled Western and Chinese history, and also in the colonial history of treaty ports like Hankou.
Meet Song Qun, CITYMAKERS expert, endeavouring to preserve the city’s cultural memory by focusing on ordinary citizens, their everyday lives and their world of experience.
Meet Dr. Eduard Kögel, who is shaping and supporting our CITYMAKERS network with his broad knowledge concerning architecture and urban development in a global context. He is an expert in the analyses of urban structures and lectures regularly at the Berlin Institute of Technology.
Get to know Kika Yang, who supports CITYMAKERS as a curator and editor, making use of a variety of formats such as offline exhibitions, videos and podcasts. Kika Yang believes that because democracy is being reshaped due to the information revolution, we can now – more than ever before – take direct action into shaping the places we like to live in.
Let us introduce Maja Linnemann, who is supporting our CITYMAKERS platform as an author and editor. She is convinced of the value of an edible, walkable city in order to create liveable spaces.
Get to know Oliver May-Beckmann, who supports CITYMAKERS as a project partner by contributing his extensive expertise on social entrepreneurship. City making for him means actively shaping the ecosystem we are living in and improving the daily life of ourself, our peers and the community.
Meet Miriam Theobald, co-founder of DŌNGXii, who supports CITYMAKERS with the design of virtual touch points. Miriam believes that everyone is an actor who actively or passively shapes the DNA of a space when it becomes a place.
Get to know Yilan Zeng, designer, living in Berlin. Yilan studied Architecture in Beijing and has a special connection to bamboo. She came in touch with the CITYMAKERS platform through the Virtual Walk project 2020, in which she participated with her video “Wonderland Berlin”.
Get to know Sebastian Schlecht, who is supporting our CITYMAKERS platform as the regional representative of CITYMAKERS- Ruhr. He strongly believes in the power of connecting people and natural solutions to make our cities more resilient, just and future-proof to mitigate the strong impact of climate change.
Meet Annette Erpenstein, who is supporting CITYMAKERS with her broad expertise on all things urban. She believes that taking an active role in the co-creation of our cities – and not leaving it to the developers and investors – is the foundation of city making.
Get to know Zhen Zhang, who is a researcher in architecture/building culture and contributes to CITYMAKERS as freelance editor. Her understanding of city making includes a constant focus on specific local conditions whilst keeping in mind bigger contexts.
Meet Jana Brokate, who is supporting our CITYMAKERS platform as digital content manager. She strongly believes in a people-centric and inclusive approach as a foundation for creating liveable cities.