Growing Futures: It Starts with Place From local stories to systemic change: how can places drive Europe’s transformation?

Growing Futures: It Starts with Place explores how places, neighbourhoods, underused spaces and community-led initiatives can create wider change in cities and regions. Through examples and perspectives from design, research and policy, we discuss how local place-based innovation can influence systems, behaviours and European collaboration.

The panel explores how growing, literally and metaphorically, can help cultivate new futures for Europe.

Purpose :

• Explore how place-based innovation can contribute to broader system change
• Share examples from local projects, urban design and community initiatives (ShiftSweden, From the Basement to the Kitchen, Climate Quilt, Malmö egs)
• Discuss how change in specific places can influence wider systems and everyday life
• Connect place-based innovation to larger transitions in mobility, built environment, circularity and social inclusion
• Make system innovation tangible and relevant for a wider audience
• Connect local experimentation to European collaboration (e.g. NEB, DUT)

Panel participants:

• John Hultén, Programme Director, ShiftSweden
• Nina Vogel, Project Manager, From the Basement to the Kitchen (SLU)
• Finn Williams, City Architect, Malmö
• Diana Monsberger, CEO Blivande, Coordinator NEB Local Chapter Stockholm and Climate Quilts, DUT urban gardening project
• Moderator: Emma Shepherdson, ShiftSweden