01
CO-llective // 23 June, 16-18.00h
Literature Salon ‘Collaborative and transnational feminist histories’

// Book presentation ‘Women in Scandinavian Landscape Architecture’ by Svava Riesto, Copenhagen University, and Meike Schalk, KTH Stockholm
// Discussion moderated by Lisa Diedrich of ÉLAN

// Programme
16.00h Welcome by Lisa Diedrich, ÉLAN
16.15h Book presentation by Svava Riesto and Meike Schalk
16.45h Q&A and discussion with students of TU Berlin and the WIA audience

Svava Riesto, Henriette Steiner (eds.), Women in Scandinavian Landscape Architecture – building collaborative and transnational feminist histories. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2025
// Women were active in landscape architecture in Scandinavia throughout the twentieth century, yet little is known about their contribution. This volume therefore asks: where are the women in Scandinavian landscape architecture? It thus presents new knowledge about women’s contributions to the shaping of modern cities and landscapes in the Scandinavian welfare states. With chapters by some of the most respected architectural and landscape architectural historians, as well as up-and-coming scholars and practice-based artistic researchers, the book makes three major contributions. First, it asks the previously neglected question of women’s contributions to twentieth-century landscape architecture in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Second, it does so from a transnational perspective, bringing together researchers from Scandinavia and Finland. Third, it documents how collaborative formats for knowledge creation can generate new insights and fruitful links between researchers and research materials. The book brings to light new knowledge and new forms of architectural historical work on the contributions of many women landscape architects who designed open spaces.

02
TRANS-disciplinary // 24 June, 16-18.00h
Panel Discussion ‘Entanglement of research and practice as a feminist approach’

// Project presentations by Nina Vogel, SLU Urban Futures Malmö, and by Carolin Mees, Parsons School of Design und Pratt Institute New York
// Respondent statements by Andrea Kahn, designCONTENT New York, and Xenia Kokoula, GruppeF Berlin
// Discussion moderated by Lisa Diedrich and Anna Neuhaus of ÉLAN

// Programme
16.00h Welcome by Lisa Diedrich and Anna Neuhaus, ÉLAN
16.15h Project presentations

• Nina Vogel, ‘From Basement to Kitchen – growing visions for the future of the Swedish Million Programme areas’
• Carolin Mees, ‘Urban Space+ – strategies between architecture and open space planning’

16.45h Responding statements

• Andrea Kahn, ‘Overlooking, a look at how we look at site’
• Xenia Kokoula, ‘Opening up body space’

17.15h Q&A and discussion with students of TU Berlin and the WIA audience

Nina Vogel et al., ‘From Basement to Kitchen – growing visions for the future of the Swedish Million Programme areas’, a transdisciplinary research project supported by the Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova through ShiftSweden
// There are a lot of unused basement premises in Sweden, for example in the 1960s high-rise urban development called Million Programme. At the same time, there is the need to develop new ways of producing food to contribute to self-sufficiency and preparedness. ‘From Basement to Kitchen’ is a pilot initiative where residents will be invited to learn how to grow food indoors, such as micro greens, lettuce, mushrooms and vegetables like pak choi. Cultivating those is a skill that residents can take home and continue to do in their basement, thus collectively contribute to a ‘social preparedness’ in their neighbourhood. As part of the project, residents in the area will visualise how the shared living environment can be developed. Both in terms of how vacant basement rooms can be used, but also the areas between the buildings.

Carolin Mees et al., ‘Urban Space+ – strategies between architecture and open space planning’, international case study research supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
// Communal open spaces are anchor points in cities and a possible response to the consequences of urbanisation and climate change, as well as to social and cultural differences. In a transdisciplinary approach, this research project investigates the role of add-ons in urban open spaces: specific components for the production of food, water, energy and materials, as well as economic and social resources. It asks to what extent these added components can make urban spaces more resilient and sustainable by responding to the needs and preferences of the neighbourhood and establishing links with the surrounding urban space. From this panorama of add-ons on micro and macro levels, strategies for collaborative, multi-coded urban spaces emerge at the interface of architecture and open space planning.

Andrea Kahn, ‘Overlooking: A Look at How We Look at Site’, in McCorquodale, D. (ed.), Desiring Practices—Architecture, Gender and the Interdisciplinary, London, Black Dog Publishing, 1996
Andrea Kahn offers a critical, feminist rethinking of site analysis in architecture and urban design. She challenges dominant, often masculinist traditions that treat site as a neutral, objective ground, arguing instead that site is a constructed, interpretive space shaped by power, perspective, and cultural context. Kahn’s use of the term “overlooking” draws attention to both the act of viewing from a privileged position and the tendency to neglect or marginalize certain aspects of place—particularly those associated with the everyday, the embodied, and the relational. Her feminist stance foregrounds the politics of perception, urging designers to adopt more inclusive, reflective, and situated ways of seeing and engaging with site.

Xenia Kokoula, ‘Opening up Bodyspace: Perspectives from Posthuman and Feminist Theory’, in Footprint #21 Trans-Bodies /Queering Spaces, TU Delft, 2017
// Xenia Kokoula critiques traditional architectural notions of space and the body as static and separate entities. Drawing from posthuman and feminist theories, she advocates for a reconceptualization of bodies and spaces as dynamic, permeable, and interrelated. Kokoula emphasizes that bodies are not isolated but are entangled with their environments, challenging the Cartesian dualism that separates mind and body, subject and object. She proposes that architectural and design practices should move beyond anthropocentric and gendered frameworks to embrace more inclusive, fluid understandings of corporeality and spatiality. By integrating insights from thinkers like Donna Haraway and Karen Barad, Kokoula calls for design approaches that acknowledge the complex, affective, and political dimensions of embodied experience in space.

03
INTER-national // 26 June 2025, 16-20.00h
Round table ‘Propelled by women: playscapes, commons, and planetary health’
Performance ‘DUCTO URBANO‘

// Statements by Flavio Janches, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Paola Alfaro d’Alençon, UAS Frankfurt/PUC Santiago de Chile, Laura Kemmer, Martius Chair DAAD, USP Sao Paulo
// Discussion moderated by Lisa Diedrich and Alejandro Orduz Trujillo of ÉLAN
// Performance with the DUCTO URBANO transformer, directed by Victoria Cuadrado and Javier Deyheralde, Ensayos Urbanos en el Campo Expandido, Carolina De Vega, Buenos Aires-Berlin, and ÉLAN students of TU Berlin

// Programme
16.00h Welcome by Lisa Diedrich and Alejandro Orduz Trujillo, ÉLAN
16.15h Round table statements

• Flavio Janches, ‘Playscapes – co-design for socio-spatial change in Amsterdam and Buenos Aires’
• Paola Alfaro d’Alençon, ‚Commons – co-producing spaces for living in Berlin and Santiago de Chile’
• Laura Kemmer, ‘Planetary health – multi-species co-habitation in Berlin and Sao Paulo’

17.00h Discussion with students of TU Berlin and the audience
18.00h Urban Rehearsal with the DUCTO URBANO, by Victoria Cuadrado, Javier Deyheralde, Carolina De Vega and students of TU Berlin and the WIA audience

Flavio Janches, ‘‘Playscapes – co-design for socio-spatial change in Amsterdam and Buenos Aires’
// Flavio Janches explores how participatory design can transform marginalized urban areas through child-centred public spaces. Focusing on informal settlements in Buenos Aires and underutilized neighbourhoods in Amsterdam, Janches introduces “playscapes” as hybrid spaces that blend play, infrastructure, and community identity. These interventions are co-created with local residents, especially children, to foster social inclusion and spatial integration. By addressing both physical and symbolic barriers, the projects aim to counteract urban fragmentation and social stigma. Janches emphasizes the importance of design as a tool for empowerment, demonstrating how small-scale, context-sensitive interventions can catalyse broader socio-spatial change in cities facing inequality and segregation.

Paola Alfaro d’Alençon, ‚Commons – co-producing spaces for living in Berlin and Santiago de Chile’
// In her comparative research on co-production practices, Paola Alfaro d’Alençon examines how collaborative urban development fosters inclusive, commons-based spaces. Drawing on Elinor Ostrom’s framework of the commons, she analyses how diverse actors—state institutions, civil society, and private entities—co-create urban environments through participatory processes. The study highlights that co-production often emerges in contested urban areas, addressing governance gaps and promoting social inclusion. By focusing on negotiation dynamics, actor networks, and the material outcomes of collaborative projects, Alfaro d’Alençon underscores the transformative potential of co-produced urban spaces in challenging existing power structures and enabling new forms of collective governance.

Laura Kemmer, ‘Planetary health – multi-species co-habitation in Berlin and São Paulo’
// In her work on planetary health and multispecies cohabitation, Laura Kemmer investigates how urban environments can foster healthier relationships between humans, animals, plants, and ecosystems. Through transdisciplinary collaborations, such as the „Designing with the Planet“ initiative, she explores practices of care and repair in urban settings, emphasizing the interconnectedness of human and environmental health. Kemmer’s research highlights the importance of recognizing and integrating diverse species and ecological processes into urban planning and design, advocating for inclusive approaches that address social and environmental injustices. By examining case studies in both cities, she demonstrates how participatory and context-sensitive strategies can promote resilience and well-being in urban communities.

04
PRO-mising // 27 June 2025, 16-18.00h
Landscape Salon ‘Meet the women of Landscape Architecture Europe’

// Presentation of the latest edition of the Landscape Architecture Europe (LAE) book series by Lisa Diedrich, LAE editor-in-chief, and Daphne de Bruijn, managing editor and graphic designer
// Round table statements by Almut Jirku, landscape critic and author Berlin, Marina Cervera, LAE board member and International Biennial of Landscape Architecture Barcelona, Dominika Tihanyi, LAE jury member and Uyrani Studio Budapest, Steffi Schüppel, IFLA World, BDLA Germany and Studio Cattaneo Schüppel Dresden
// Discussion moderated by Lisa Diedrich of ÉLAN

// Exhibition ’20 years of European entanglement – German projects 2003-2023 selected for LAE #1-7’, by ÉLAN students of TU Berlin
// Book table with Harry Harsema, publisher Blauwdruk Ede/Netherlands, and Thomas Haas, BDLA Germany

// Programme
16.00h Welcome by Lisa Diedrich, ÉLAN
16.15h Book presentation LAE #7
⦁Lisa Diedrich, ‘Shaping concepts and discourses for European landscape architecture’
⦁ Daphne de Bruijn, ‘Composing and making a book for European landscape audiences’
16.45h Round table statements
⦁ Almut Jirku, ‘Why we need landscape architectural critique’
⦁ Marina Cervera, ‘How to lend landscape architecture a voice and a forum’
⦁ Dominika Tihanyi, ‘What it means to do activist work through and for professional practice’
⦁ Steffi Schüppel, ‚How independent media and professional bodies can empower the profession’
17.15h Discussion with students of TU Berlin, representatives of BDLA Germany, and the WIA audience

Diedrich et al. (eds.), Full of Life. Landscape Architecture Europe #7. Ede: Blauwdruk, 2025
// Women landscape architects have played important roles in the making of Landscape Architecture Europe, a book series promoting the critical collective review of contemporary projects of European landscape architecture, created a quarter century ago. They have been serving as editors, jurors, designers, authors, critics. The seventh edition of the book presents 42 projects, built or drawn, permanent or temporary, selected by a jury of practising landscape architects from submissions throughout Europe. An editorial team of landscape scholars and journalists has contextualised them within contemporary discourse, identifying two main concerns: how to design for diversity in the promise of tolerance, and how to work with surprise and uncertainty to create transitory beauties. Convinced that landscape architecture is an activity in support of life and its inherent beauty, this event gathers some of the women makers of LAE who assert that the shaping of space makes a difference in the construction of social, environmental and economic realities, that its aesthetics can convey concern, critique, commitment, collaboration and change, and that women play an important role, often multi-tasking between professional, academic, creative jobs and editorial engagement.

For more information, check:

https://feldfuenf.berlin/en/veranstaltungen/women-in-architecture-2025-feminist-elan/

https://wia-festival.de/event/feminist-elan-designing-landscapes-in-the-anthropocene/