Ideal Spaces Working Group

Haydn Price is an award-winning broadcast journalist, film maker, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts whose investigative work explores how physical, legal, and economic forces change communities. Haydn examines what happens when citizens lose control over their environments and spatial identity. For four decades, he has covered stories that chart social and cultural evolution. Starting his ca...

Chantal Keyvork, Master in Architektur, ist Gründerin des Architekturforum. Münster und Initiatorin von Great Good Place , einer Plattform für urbane Interventionen, Dritte Räume und Community Building. Sie beschäftigt sich mit der Schnittstelle von Architektur, Stadt und Gesellschaft. Im Mittelpunkt ihrer Arbeit steht die Frage, wie Räume für Menschen entstehen können und wie in diesem Zusammenha...

Providing Opportunities for the Younger Generation Norman Abdul Halim Dato Norman Abdul Halim is a multi-award-winning producer and entrepreneur with over three decades of leadership in the creative industry, championing education, skills development and opportunities for future generations through Yayasan KRU (KRU Foundation). Yayasan KRU (KRU Foundation) empowers Malaysian future generations thr...

Irit Katz is Professor of Architecture and Politics at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Christ's College, and a Leverhulme Research Fellow (2025-26). Her academic work focuses on built environments shaped in extreme conditions, including spaces of displacement, conflict, and environmental changes, in historic and contemporary contexts. Her research has won numerous recognitions including...

Die heutige Wohnraumsituation ist von zentraler Bedeutung für Raum und Gemeinschaft, dem Leitthema unserer Stiftung. In unserem Podcast mit dem Baden-Badener Betriebswirt Karl-Werner Farkhou, geschäftsführendem Gesellschafter von zwei Firmen zur Hausverwaltung, wurden neben Fragen der Wohnraumsituation auch Aspekte zur Lösung dieser Problematik behandelt. Vor dem Hintergrund des Gemeinwohls stande...

In this podcast with Miriam Samir Rincón, it is about the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Chinampas system in Mexico City. The Chinampas belong to UNESCO Cultural Heritage and are a unique blend of ecological and cultural sustainability from Aztec times onwards. Now, this unique life space is endangered by urban sprawl, corrupted policies, pollution, and tourism.  Miriam, holding a pr...

As a participating citizen, Natasha reflects on how the movement began, where it stands today, and what it reveals about the aspirations and frustrations of India’s youth. This conversation starts with the hope to open up space for more voices and perspectives in the future podcasts on youth-led political action, dissent, and the ongoing struggle to reclaim a democratic India. Natasha Sharma is an...

Anna de Jong is a professor in the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow. Anna’s research focuses on tourism governance in regional areas, guided by wider concerns of resident inequalities, accessibilities, capacities and participation.  Ideal Spaces spoke with Anna about the impacts of tourism on cities in rural areas in Scotland and Gotland/Sweden, and in touri...

We had an interview with Mustafa Sherif, urban planner and architect, about the situation of communities in recent urban contexts. According to Mustafa’s professional experience, next to the use of architecture as the “hardware” of community building, it needs the “software” of social organization, the “orgware” for bringing people together to make a change. According to Mustafa, this makes the di...

This saying from Eileen Muriel Tasca can be seen as an epitome for the podcast we made with her. Eileen is active in the international film business, member of the  International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (International Emmy® Awards), and president of two cultural initiatives, the CRÉARTS Rome and the Associazione Caput New Mundi, Rome. Through CRÉARTS Rome and Associazione Caput N...

In concluding our series about the younger generation, we had a podcast with Ieva Bykova. 19-year-old Ieva, an aspiring singer and event manager, shared her thoughts on social media, the future, and communication among young people.

In our series about art and community, we had a podcast with Dr. Jessie Croteau, Director of Communications of the College Ecological Design Collective (EDC), Baltimore/USA. Jessie is also a post doctoral fellow at Haverford College, after receiving her PhD in political Science from Johns Hopkins University, and received several awards. EDC is a space for collaboration among artists, designers, re...

Art as a Motor of Change  Jessica Croteau, The Ecological Design Collective In our series about art and community, we had a podcast with Dr. Jessie Croteau, Director of Communications of the College Ecological Design Collective (EDC), Baltimore/USA. Jessie is also a post doctoral fellow at Haverford College, after receiving her PhD in political Science from Johns Hopkins University, and received s...

In our podcast with Francesco Procacci, a problem of increasing importance for city cohesion has been addressed: the compound settlement for a gated community, and its effects on overall city cohesion and sociability. Francesco is an Italian urban designer, planner, and independent researcher whose work explores the relationship between cities, public life, ecology, and social structures. He has a...

We made a podcast with Liga Andersone, a Latvian producer, founder and CEO of Light Lab Ltd./Riga. Light Lab is a motion capture and animation studio specializing in visual storytelling, performance capture and digital production for film, games and TV. We spoke about how to bring interest in communal affairs back to the younger generation via animated work; about identity questions of the younger...

In our podcast with Ethan Kent, we spoke about community building and placemaking in the framework of the overall socioeconomic situation today. Ethan is executive director of the U.S. organization PlacemakingX, active in building up a global placemaking movement. We spoke about the central role of places for community building, since places can be seen as a nucleus for transformative approaches....

In a podcast with Ron Cox, we spoke about the possibilities of building up concrete communities, and how to keep them resilient and stable. Ron Cox has over 40 years of professional experience as a leader, facilitator, consultant, and coach. Amongst other activities, he has been the CEO of a large U.S. company (the Kincaid Group) leading a transformational turnaround, and led large projects in bot...

In a look together with Martin Savransky, new informal or “unruly” ways of liveability are addressed. Martin Safransky is a philosopher and social theorist currently serving as Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for Language, Literature and Anthropology (CSIC), the biggest public research institution in Spain, where he leads the Liveable Futures Project. He is author and co-author of s...

In a podcast with Natasha Sharma from Mumbai/India and Dee Moxon from Bristol/ UK, the role of art as a catalysator for building communities was addressed. Natasha Sharma is co-founder, creative director and curator of the Govandi Arts Festival in Mumbai. Dee Moxon is one of the directors of the Lamplighter Arts CIC in Bristol, making The Church Road Lantern Parade.  Both Govandi and the Lantern P...

Ideal Spaces had an interview with Jonathan Kennedy, former member of the British Council, on the role of art in building communities. Two communities were examined, located in two different regions and cultures, India and England. Critical success factors for building up and sustaining communities were examined, and how to build them from scratch under unfavourable starting conditions.

The interview revisits a timeless question that has taken on renewed urgency: the idea of the ideal city. Far from being obsolete, the concept remains a vital source of inspiration—especially in the context of building a more sustainable and humane urban future. Drawing on historical models of planned cities, the conversation situates these ideas within a contemporary Canadian context. Two project...

In our series about the younger generation, we had an interview with the young Ukrainian artist and music producer Syfromfaraway who also makes his own albums. We asked Sy about his view on society and its important trends according to his view, on the younger generation and their relations to social media, and how he conceives the recent situation in its total. We also asked him about his fears i...

Interview with Dr. Andy Harrod, human geographer with a therapeutic background and head of the research group for health and wellbeing. Andy speaks about community/individual today, the influence of nature for individual wellbeing and identity, and about  the positive effects of nature-related activities for communities. In these regards, the relations between the city, community and the individua...

Interview with Ana Schluth, student of architecture, about the life of younger Americans in times of increasing economic pressure, compared to their parents’ generation; about the shift from online life to real life; about the city wanted and the need for a human-scaled city. 

In our series about the younger generation, Ideal Spaces interviewed Sarah Haeflinger, student of architecture and urban design at the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. In the context of the Ideal Spaces workshop on Identity, Place, and Citizenship, Sarah speaks about her generation, how a humane city should look like, together with the need for a human scale and green areas, and wha...