The conference will feature a mix of keynote speeches, project presentations, organizational introductions, project exchanges, workshops, fishbowl discussions, and panel discussions with three core thematic areas:
🗳 Inclusion – Democracy & Belonging
🌍 Justice – Decolonization & Accountability
🌱 Futures – Digitalization & Sustainability

Below is a detailed overview of the program components.

KEYNOTES

Keynote Speaker: Gilda Sahebi - Journalist and Bestselling Author, Verbinden statt Spalten

Keynote Panel: Rashid Owoyele (Moderation)(Transekt Agency), Tatiana Bazzichelli (Disruption Network Lab), and Jeff Kwasi Klein (imagineers lab)

PROJECT PRESENTATIONS: Real Practical Experience from the Global to the Local – Projects That Reach Beyond Berlin

The project presentations showcase concrete case studies from practitioners who are actively shaping urban spaces through participatory and justice-oriented approaches. Speakers will openly share:

✨ what worked
✨ what failed
✨ what they learned along the way

Gain inspiration, practical methods that can be adapted to your context, and connect with others working on similar challenges.

Project Presentations: Bamenda Film School, Global Innovation Gathering, moveGLOBAL, Initiative Perspektivewechsel e.V., Berliner Entwicklungspolitischer Ratschlag

ORGANIZATION SLAM: Deomcratic Imagination Meets Practical Innovation

Inspired by poetry and science slams, the Organization Slam is a fast-paced format in which initiatives, collectives, and institutions present their work on democratic participation through dynamic five-minute pitches.

The focus is on:

✨ bold visions
✨ innovative approaches to complex challenges
✨ fresh perspectives on urban transformation

Slam-Organizations: Initiative Berlin Polyphon, Organismendemokratie, Bürokratiemonster, POLI SOCIAL, and Hallo Bundestag!

PROJECT MARKETPLACES: From Conversation to Collaboration

The project marketplaces provide a space to move from discussion to action, ensuring that you leave the conference not only inspired, but already engaged. During informal networking sessions, you can:

✨ expand your network of collaborators and allies
✨ find implementation partners for ongoing projects
✨ develop new funding ideas and cooperation opportunities
✨ connect with and join existing initiatives

Hosted by: Sarah Kohrt - Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung,  Anett Szabo - Stiftung Zukunft Berlin, Mohammad Jouni - Jugendliche ohne Grenzen

WORKSHOPS: Deepening Practice through Skills, Tools, and Co-Creation

Workshops provide structured spaces to move beyond inspiration and build concrete capacities for participatory transformation. Workshops are:

✨ spaces for learning new skills
✨ collaborative laboratories
✨ safe environments for experimentation
✨ opportunities to turn ideas into actionable next steps

Workshops by: deSta- Dekoloniale Stadtführung, Yeşil Çember, Feminist Spaces Collective, Prajna Kumaraswamy

FISHBOWL PANELS: Open Dialogues.

Rather than relying on fixed panels, participants are invited to enter and leave the discussion circle, contributing perspectives and lived experience. 

Zukünfts Panel: Anab Awale (Moderation)(der DGB KV Mitte), Noa Ha (Deutschen Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung), Kim Trau (Jugendnetzwerk Lamda e.V.), Van Bo Le Mentzel (Gemeinwohlbau / Tiny House Foundation)

Inklusion Panel: Emiko Gejic (Moderation)(Urbane Praxis e.V.), Judy Gummich, Estera Stan (Romani Phen), and Lise Bruche (Sozialhelden e.V.)

POLITICIANS PANEL: From Vision to Governance: Political Pathways for Inclusive Futures

This high-level panel brings together state-level policymakers from different political parties to engage directly with the questions, demands, and ideas emerging throughout the conference.

Against a backdrop of election campaigns, coalition-building, and multiple overlapping crises, the discussion will explore how participatory and globally just approaches to urban transformation can be translated into public policy, funding structures, and institutional change.

How could we perceive urban transformation when we turn our attention to those whose experiences and perspectives often remain largely invisible in public spaces?

The film installation by Mpower e.V. brings together experimental short films created as part of participatory film projects with girls* and young women*. Mpower works from an intersectional feminist perspective with participants who bring diverse lived experiences, including those shaped by migration, displacement, or experiences of racism.

Through image, language, and sound, the films offer poetic approaches to questions of belonging, identity, memory, and participation in society.

Amid workshops and discussions, the installation invites visitors to pause and engage with the conference’s themes on a sensory level. It views film not as an illustration of the debates, but as an independent form of reflection on the city, community, and shared futures.