Earlier this year, I got a message from Bernardo Scheinkman of Smart Cities America asking if I would attend this year’s Urban Future conference.
Once I found out it was in Łódź – a little less than 2 hours from where I currently live- I knew I had to make it.
I was happy to have Pedestrian Space become a partner of the event, and early on, also decided that I wanted to bring my daughter.
As a mother of two young children, with a partner who travels frequently for work, I often simply don’t make it to the many interesting conferences happening.
However, as time passed, I began to think, ‘What if I myself could help create more ‘youth-friendly’ conference environments?
I’m so interested and excited about the potential to help create kids’ parallel, as well as integrated programming at such events, welcoming ‘little urbanists’ to the scene to have fun and share expertise from their own frank and candid approaches.
I appreciate every single person who approached me to reflect on imagining bringing their kids to such an event and everyone who positively responded to and engaged with my daughter.
Who wants to create children-engaged programming as we discuss and plan our urban future? 💡💡💡
I know many in my networks have also probably created such programming – those live examples are always great to be inspired by!
Thanks to the Embassy of Denmark in Poland for their Lego table, which was so engaging – for all ages, but of course, clearly particularly for the young ones! See you by the LEGO table!
I am so glad I brought my daughter with me to the Urban Future conference in Łódź.
This was my very first Urban Future and I was most excited to relax, socialize and to also explore these ideas of having more kid-oriented play and programming at urban conferences.
I’m spotlighting the LEGO table here because it was 100% a hotspot for us. Thank you Embassy of Denmark in Poland for your ‘Danish living room space’ as well as for engaging my daughter so beautifully in relaxed LEGO play & thank you also to LEGO Education for your engagement!
My daughter’s official conference badge listed my NGO Pedestrian Space along with the subheading ‘Being a Kid’.
Thanks Urban Future for the space to play and look forward to ‘LITTLE URBANISTS’.
I also had the opportunity to present at the Urban Future ’25 conference.
I wanted to get a bit experimental and also do something reflective, connecting back to the pandemic in 2020.
So at the ‘Walk it off’ session, I started my talk with a small meditation.
I began by asking everyone to close their eyes and then guided them through a brief deep breathing exercise. I asked them to keep their eyes closed as we time-travelled a bit (not too far) back 5 years ago to the beginning of lockdowns all around the globe.
I asked them to go back there, allow themselves to relax, and feel what emotions and memories arise. To think back to the spaces of their homes, neighborhoods, and communities, and what (if anything) changed in their own relationship to neighborhood space.
When we ‘came back’ to the room and everyone opened their eyes, I asked them to turn to the person next to them and share what came up.
I recorded the scene below as the audience did just that.
Afterwards, we took some moments to hear from the audience some of their reflections. I really valued the energy and exchange of the audience during this moment and some of the sharing that came from it.
I then had a brief walkability presentation to move into, beginning with reflections on how Pedestrian Space was established during these early days of the pandemic.
I look forward to developing this concept into a full workshop experience, allowing more time for the meditation, for reflections afterward on what we experienced back then in terms of changed spatial behavior + urban insights and for exchange among audience and workshop participants.
Another highlight of having my daughter with me was having her join me in my talk! Just moments before my talk she had fallen asleep on my lap but woke in time to join me and share insights of her own!
It was also great at the conference to gain insight on the city from the speeches of Hanna Zdanowska and Adam Pustelnik on the development and revitalization of Łódź.
The last time I was in this city was February 2021, and I felt I observed changes even since then.
Additionally, what a treat to see the city spaces with nature in full bloom and streets lined with healthy trees.
I’m also a massive fan of beautifully preserved and adaptively reused industrial complexes of which Łódź is in no shortage of, including where the conference was held and many attendees stayed (Vienna House Łódź by) and the space of the Wednesday night dinner (OFF Piotrkowska Center).
I think one could spend days exploring the nooks and spaces of these and other adaptively reused industrial spaces in Łódź!
I’m also fascinated by the reference to and identity of Łódź as a ‘comeback city’. Indeed , very exciting from an economic standpoint, revitilazation of public spaces, quality of life in the city, city image and more themes.
I recently moved with my family to Radom – a fact which elicits such a fascinating range of responses from people here in Poland. Sharing that in Łódź was interesting as numerous people noted that Radom certainly is not currently a ‘comeback city’ but could be perceived as inhabiting a chapter that Łódź not to long ago was in.
As a person interested in great industrial built environment heritage (all the better if in beautiful red brick), ‘ordinary cities’ and revitalization, all these connections are very interesting.
A special shout-out to Cornelia Forsthuber-Aumayr as my original window to Urban Future as an organization. Great to finally meet and be introduced to Urban Future by way of this dynamically transforming Polish city!
Of course, as with many events of this type, all the experiences to learn, listen, and exchange during the talks and panels is incredible. However, some of the juiciest and most meaningful exchanges also happen in the ‘moments in between’, as conference goers chat over a coffee, by the Lego table, on a walk to dinner at the end of the day.
It was fantastic to meet some familiar faces as well as develop new acquaintances and to meet people with whom I have been connected online (primarily LinkedIn) for months or even years and meet for the first time!
Learn more about Urban Future here: https://urban-future.org/
