CITYMAKERS

Was heisst eigentlich Stadtmachen “vor unserer eigenen Haustür”, im Kiez unseres Berliner-Büros in der Weißenseer Spitze? Unsere STADTMACHER-Kiezerkundung war ein voller Erfolg. 30 interessierte Mit-Erkundende, spannende Orte, Themen und Akteure, sowie ein mobiler STADTMACHER-Tee-Salon. Ein erster Prototyp für unsere geplanten CITYMAKERS-Walks ist entstanden!  Tragt Euch in den Newsletter ein, wenn Ihr Lust habt, an unseren weiteren STADTMACHER-Erkundungen teilzunehmen. In Kürze laufen wir weiter!

Im Rahmen des CITYMAKERS Weißensee-Mappings entdeckten wir die “Baufachfrauen”: An ihrem Sitz in der Lehderstraße in Berlin Weißensee bilden die sie in einer Werkstatt Tischlerinnen aus und betreuen von hier aus zahlreiche Projekte in ganz Berlin.

2015 zog Katja Hellkötter von Shanghai nach Weißensee. Dass das Empfinden, was einen Kiez lebenswert macht, auch sehr individuelle Bezugspunkte haben kann, die vor dem Film der persönlichen Erinnerung und Assoziationen zu ganz anderen Orten und Erlebtem entstehen, zeigt dieser Kiez-Artikel von Katja Hellkötter.

Wer hätte gedacht, dass Weißensee eine kleine Gruppe von Tiny House-Fans aufweist? Und dann auch noch im Schatten einer Kirchenruine auf einer Verkehrsinsel?

Auch wenn der Künstler Jonas Burgert eher aus der Not heraus nach Weißensee kam, so schätzt er doch heute die ausgewogene Mischung an Alteingesessenen, an spezialisierten Handwerkern und Produzenten sowie neuen Ideen, die hier noch Platz zum Wachsen haben.

Von Einbeck über Dortmund, Shanghai nach Berlin Weißensee. In seiner Weißenseer Kiezerkundung hat sich Jan Siefke fotografisch auf Identitätssuche des Kiezes begeben.

Meet Ping Kong, who is a trained urban planner with international working experience in the field of UNESCO World Heritage. She believes in city making as a participatory approach that serves as a knowledge reservoir to nurture innovation and collaboration towards a better living environment.

In 2002, architect and Feng Shui consultant Howard Choy and his wife Gyda Anders, also an architect, opened their office arqitektur in Weißensee, Berlin. In this interview, Howard Choy explains his understanding of Feng Shui and his attachment to the district Weißensee.

Get to know Edna Peza-Ramirez, who is specialized in the creation of safe public spaces through bottom-up solutions and human-scale approaches. For her, city making is defined by the degree in which cities tend to the safety of their most vulnerable users.

Meet Marlene Welzel, social entrepreneur and founder of the Vienna-based housing platform Wohnbuddy. For her, city making is about being innovative, about creating and providing solutions to the challenges you are identifying – and also about communicating, getting in touch with people from different organizations and gaining new insights.

Meet Sonja Broy, who is working at the intersection between urban architecture, city development, science, art, culture and journalism. Being a city maker for her means to interact and change arguments, visions and inspirations with all kinds of different people – and to shape the future of living areas and communities.

Daniel Zhang is an architect based in Changsha who studied architecture at Carnegie Mellon University in the US and continued a doctorate in India and Germany. He is also the founder of P8 Community in Changsha.

What are the topics and objects that catch your interest in the PLACE? Why? How are you interacting with the place? How are people using the place? CITYMAKERS China – Germany´s WU Yimeng and Katja Hellkötter co-created a booklet – Reading the Traces of a Place 读书地方的痕迹 – as a tool for an alternative spatial cognition.

In this podcast series, Kika Yang spoke with CITYMAKERS Lab participants about their personal motivations and background as city makers and invited them to brainstorm about the potentials of the CITYMAKERS platform.

Laura Bruns, co-founder of StadtStattStrand, speaks with Kika Yang about the project “Urbane Liga”, the importance of lobbying and building trust as well as their publications launched to empower citizens to ‘just do it’. This podcast is part of our series recorded at the CITYMAKERS Social Entrepreneurship Competence Lab.

In this podcast, Kika Yang talks to Erik Ackner, Country Manager at Startup Grind and former organiser of Startup Grind in Chengdu, about the innovation ecosystem in China. This podcast is part of the series recorded against the background of the CITYMAKERS Social Entrepreneurship Competence Lab.

With her broad experience within start-ups and social organisations, Jah Ying Chung identified a gap that she is now dedicating her time to fill: Her consultancy “The Good Growth Co” helps companies after their successful launching period to develop a consistent strategy for their development. This podcast is part of our series recorded at the CITYMAKERS Social Entrepreneurship Competence Lab.

Combining their backgrounds in stage design, architecture and movement-based expressive arts, Andrea Weigt & Cyrus Khazaheli offer an environment in which people can connect with nature and with themselves – and generate new ideas. They see themselves as a part of a movement towards a new model of community life in the countryside. This podcast is part of our series recorded at the CITYMAKERS Social Entrepreneurship Competence Lab.

Marlene Welzl shares with us what inspired her to create the concept of WOHNBUDDY, a matchmaking platform for elderly and young people to live together. This podcast is part of our series recorded at the CITYMAKERS Social Entrepreneurship Competence Lab.

Jonas Schorr talks with Kika Yang about his journey: From growing up in East Berlin to moving to West Germany and then step-by-step turning into a cosmopolitan social entrepreneur with his recently founded company, Urban Impact. This podcast is part of our series recorded at the CITYMAKERS Social Entrepreneurship Competence Lab.