Earlier last week, I delivered a remote workshop for students in a Landscape Planning and Regional Development program at Mendel University in Brno.
I definitely always prefer to do workshops, talks, and presentations in person, but of course appreciate these remote opportunities we have now.
I also really enjoy working with university students of different disciplines for these 15-minute city workshops, which are often preceded by them taking part in an online survey that gauges their awareness of the topic as well as how they view their current city.
This group of students was interesting as it was an international program, with young adults from Spain, Greece, Belgium, Finland and Sweden. A number of them came from small towns or rural and remote settings.
After learning about the basics of the 15-minute city concept, most of them (including the teacher, a local) reflected that, indeed, neighborhoods in Brno fit this description. For a number of them, living and studying in Brno was their first time experiencing this type of walkable, cyclable urbanism, also with access to quality public transportation.
Due to the fact that they were students in a landscape planning program, we talked quite a bit about issues of parks, greenery, green belts, irrigation, water use, and urban heat. I was curious to hear their reflections of how they felt the discipline they were studying for could help contribute to issues of urban and regional resilience.
Speaking of heat, I snapped the photo here of the empty classroom while they were on break. The workshop was two hours long, so a break at the halfway point was needed, especially because it was very warm that day and in the classroom, and they needed thermal relief.
More on our 15-minute city-related coverage and work here
-Annika, Founder at Pedestrian Space