RealUrbanGreen at the 3rd Conference on Participatory Design: From Debate to Action
On 5 December 2025, the RealUrbanGreen project took part in an important moment of exchange dedicated to Participatory Design, contributing to the broader debate on how collaborative approaches can support urban regeneration, green infrastructure, and climate resilience.
During the event, RealUrbanGreen was presented as a concrete example of a participatory and data-driven approachapplied to urban green spaces. The discussion highlighted the active role of citizens, public institutions, researchers, and local stakeholders in the co-design of inclusive, sustainable, and nature-based solutions, capable of responding to environmental and social challenges in urban contexts.
A key focus of the exchange was the value of co-design tools, citizen science methodologies, and collaborative governance models in strengthening urban policies, improving the quality and accessibility of green spaces, and increasing cities’ capacity to adapt to climate change.
This discussion anticipates and connects directly with the themes of the 3rd Conference on Participatory Design, confirming the importance of international cooperation, interdisciplinary dialogue, and shared learning pathways in addressing contemporary urban challenges.
From discussion to practice: the RealUrbanGreen workshop
Building on these reflections, RealUrbanGreen will host the workshop “A Climate-Resilient Campus? Let’s Design with Nature!” on Friday, 5 December, from 13:00 to 15:00, at the Multipurpose Hall of the Agricultural University of Athens.
The workshop is centred on the Nature-based Solutions Design Game, a cooperative role-playing and design activity in which participants take on different perspectives — including students, academics, local residents, and even non-human actors such as a bird or a campus cat — to collaboratively redesign a university campus using Nature-based Solutions (NbS).
The game invites participants to select green interventions, negotiate priorities, manage limited resources, and co-create spaces that work for both people and more-than-humans, fostering awareness of the complexity and potential of participatory design processes.
The workshop is part of the RealUrbanGreen project, funded under the Interreg Euro-MED Programme, and developed within the framework of the Open Landscape Academy. Participation is open to students, faculty, staff, and local community members.
Organisation and speakers
The workshop is organised by Participatory Lab and Commonspace Co-op, in collaboration with KÆNA, and supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
Contributions and presentations will be provided by:
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Sonja Hörster, Professor, University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf – Communication and Participation in Landscape Architecture
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Angeliki Paraskevopoulou, Associate Professor, Agricultural University of Athens – Laboratory of Floriculture & Landscape Architecture
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Francesco Filippi, MUSOL Foundation
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Eleni Mougiakou, Commonspace Co-op – RealUrbanGreen Coordinator
Learn more
👉 RealUrbanGreen project: https://realurbangreen.interreg-euro-med.eu
👉 3rd Conference on Participatory Design – full programme: https://www.participatorylab.org/participatory-lab
3rd Conference on Participatory Design: From Debate to Action
