Democratic Landscape Transformation 2025 - Team 5

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Seminar process at a glance

Seminar process: Click to enlarge. We meet weekly online at 18 pm CET on Wednesday from April 2 to July 2, an additional meeting opportunity is weekly from 12 00 - 13 00 pm CET

Background of your team

Please present your team briefly. Which linguistic and cultural perspectives does each member bring in? Which disciplinary backgrounds are present in your team? Note: if you prefer to stay anonymous on this wiki, you can also use initials only or a nick name

• Muhammad Hamza, Background: Bachelors in Architecture and planning, Currently pursuing masters in Landscape architecture at IMLA. I am from Pakistan and my native language is Urdu, Whereas have fluency in English and Intermediate level in Deutsch. I love creating Urban landscapes which are coherent with the built up environment focusing on Landscape ecology and biodiversity along with recreational activities.
• Kazeline N. Benedicto 🇵🇭, Background: I am from Philippines and my native language is Filipino but I can speak and communicate in English. I am 3rd year Landscape Architecture student; love to speak and comment in design; a little bit shy type. Design is my favorite subject even though it's hard I enjoy it a lot especially when I can solved the problem in the specific area without giving burden or negative effects to its surroundings.
• Elizabeth Hawas, Background: Bachelor in Architecture and Art, highly interesting in pursuing a Master degree in Landscape. I am from Chile and currently living in NYC. I lived in Haiti for more than 3 years working in a non-governmental association with educational and touristic purposes. I aim to collaborate in projects which can transform urban areas, make them an essential part of the communities and their daily lives.
• Bijeta Dahal, 🇳🇵 Background: I am an Nepalese architect. I did my bachelors in Architecture in Nepal, and now I am pursuing my masters in Landscape architecture at IMLA, Germany. I speak Nepali (Native), English (Fluent), Spanish (Basic) and German (Beginner). Being an architect I always thought about the landscape and how it could change things around a normal building. Being able to experience about the nature, biodiversity with human integrated design.
• Atoosa Raisi, 🇮🇷. Background: Bachelor's in Architecture from Tehran Markaz University. Currently pursuing a master's in Landscape Architecture at IMLA in Germany. I am from Iran, and my native language is Persian. I am fluent in English and have an intermediate level of German. I am passionate about designing urban landscapes that are both ecologically sensitive and people-friendly, aiming to enhance biodiversity while creating inviting spaces for community interaction and recreation.
• Bina Thaulero, 🇮🇹. Background: Landscape architecture, ecological design, and spatial analysis. Languages & Culture: Italian (native), fluent in English and Spanish; blends experience in biodiversity assessment, forest and urban park design, and Mediterranean ecological sensibility with an interest in therapeutic garden strategies and collective mapping.
• Sumiyah Yusuf, 🇺🇸. Background: Information Science student with a strong interest in digital storytelling, user experience, and community-centered design. I bring experience in social media strategy, visual design, and collaborative group work from both academic and real-world projects. As a first-generation American with East African roots, I value diverse perspectives and care deeply about representation and accessibility in all spaces.

Your Landscape Democracy Manifestoes (Phase A)

Here you can add here the links to the manifestoes you have presented on April 23. Please make sure that the links are accessible. You can also add them directly here on the wiki, they need to be png or jpg format then.

• Muhammad Hamza, Land for people
• Kazeline N. Benedicto, Landscape Democracy Challenges
• Elizabeth Hawas, Reclaim and recover the urban site by returning it to local communities
• Bijeta Dahal Restoring the river to it original glory
• Atoosa Raisi, zayandehrud river
• Bina Thaulero, Everyone's spaces, Everyone's voices in Bullicante's Lake, Rome
• Sumiyah Yusuf, Community First, Always

Entering the Process: Activism, Community and Power (Phase B)

Global Landscape Democracy Role Models and Design Activism

• Due: May 14

At the beginning of phase B we ask you to identify people who are already active for democratic landscape transformation. These can be planners and designers, NGOs, collectives or activists, or people operating creatively at the interface of these categories. 'Design activism' is a possible overarching category. We created a list some time ago, but it has a very US/European focus, due to the history of our project. We really want to expand this and hope you can bring in new people and movements from around the globe.

On May 14, every team member introduces a landscape democracy activist/or design activist individual or group. Please add the people you introduced, you may also add the presentation material used with a downloadable link:

activists

Your Team's Landscape Democracy Challenge (Phase B)

• Due: May 21

Context and Location

Briefly describe here the context the landscape democracy challenge you selected on April 23, 2-3 sentences, you may add the link to the manifesto that already exists.

The project focuses on Parque Ciudadano Almagro, a 12-hectare civic space strategically located at the southern end of the Bulnes Axis in Santiago, directly linked to La Moneda Palace and embedded in a dense urban fabric of housing, commerce, heritage buildings, and institutional uses. Its landscape is marked by contrasts: vibrant cultural nodes like Teatro Cariola and Juegos Diana coexist with fragmented zones shaped by heavy traffic flows and urban decay, revealing both the park’s richness and vulnerability. With the arrival of Metro Line 3, new cultural extensions, and strong civic symbolism, the park holds high potential to be reactivated as a vital public space.

Parque Almagro main features

Landscape and Community Map

Present here a visual representation of the landscape and community context of the area. What are the main spatial features? Which actors can you identify and how are they related to the area? Which values exist and for whom? What is at risk and why? Try to generate creative/conceptual/synthetic representation.

Parque Ciudadano Almagro can be seen as a spatial fabric woven with civic, cultural, and topographic threads but fraying under urban pressure. Its 12 hectares offer immersive routes shaped by slopes, tree rhythms, and artistic nodes, transforming movement into experience. Anchored by landmarks like Teatro Cariola and cultural centers, it connects heritage and daily life. Yet, risks loom: fragmentation, low public use, speculative real estate, and the fading of collective memory. Multiple actors, such as municipality, local communities, artists, institutions, and developers, intersect here, each assigning different values: historical, civic, aesthetic, economic. The challenge lies in reconciling these values through design activating the park as a civic and democratic landscape. To succeed, it must embrace complexity while balancing identity and change, permanence and transformation, in an inclusive, evolving spatial narrative.

Power Map

Based on the landscape and community context depicted above: How is power distributed? Who and what has a lot of power? Who and what has no power? Who and what is strongly affected by the landscape democracy challenges? Who and what is less affected? Are these actors connected or disconnected? Any veto-players known? Try to generate creative/conceptual/synthetic representation

You can present your results in this gallery:

Your Team's Landscape Democracy Vision and Ideas (Phase C)

• Due: June 18

Collective Vision

If you were to redesign the power map of your area and start a process of democratic landscape transformation: Which long term-goal could keep the process going? What could be a collective vision that integrates the goals of your team? Give a name to your vision. Try to generate creative/conceptual/synthetic representation.

A prototype of the first step

How would you enter the process? Which prototype could activate it? How would you introduce the prototype to the community?

You can present your results in this gallery:

Cross-cutting activity: Readings, concepts and definitions (Phases A - D)

• Due: July 2, 2025

While working in your group, please start to express your personal understanding of the relation of landscape and democracy in the form of a concept map with linking words or any other diagrammatic representation. Please make your maps very visual and not just verbal. Think critically about why one map differs from another.

The final product is a shared concept map that integrates the various understandings present within your team.

About concept mapping

Before starting the exercise you can read this article by Joseph D. Novak & Alberto J. Cañas about Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them. This paper gives a good explanation of how concept maps are conceived and developed.

You can use any tool you like for producing your concept map. However, since the result needs to be submitted digitally we recommend the following open source software for producing your maps:

• Cmap Tools >>> you can also work with your group on the Cmap cloud doing a shared map
• VUE - The Visual Understanding Environment
• Use a shared whiteboard to develop your integrated concept map, such as MIRO or MURAL

How to present your concept maps

• Possible format: JPG (for wiki upload) or link to any other resource
• We give you below a draft image gallery where you can add pictures of your map (in JPG or PNG format)
• You can present your integrated understanding as one concept map or your present individual ones and the integrated one.
• add as many additional materials as you need

Overview of your concept maps (individual and integrated)

concept map by Bina Th

concept map by Atoosa Raisi

concept map by Bijeta Dahal

concept map kazeline

Please finish with a short reflection (Phase D)

Due: July 9, 2025

• What are the similarities and differences in your team regarding your understanding of what democratic landscape transformation is?

Within our team, we discovered both shared values and diverse interpretations of what democratic landscape transformation entails. A common understanding was that it is about inclusivity, participation, and equity in shaping landscapes—centering the voices of local communities, especially those who are often marginalized in traditional planning processes. However, we differed in the emphasis we placed on certain aspects. Some of us focused more on the procedural side—such as tools for co-design and participatory planning—while others highlighted the cultural and emotional dimensions of transformation, including storytelling and memory work. These differences enriched our discussions and allowed us to see democratic transformation not as a single method, but as a dynamic, multifaceted process.

• In how far did the seminar lectures and readings help you to clarify this?

The seminar lectures and readings were essential in deepening our understanding and broadening our perspectives. The academic frameworks helped us critically reflect on the power dynamics embedded in landscape-making, while the case studies illustrated how theory could be translated into practice. Concepts like power mapping, emotional cartography, and spatial justice moved from abstract ideas to tangible strategies through the seminar. The diversity of perspectives—from design professionals to grassroots activists—challenged us to rethink conventional roles and responsibilities in landscape transformation. Overall, the seminar created a space for critical dialogue and reflection that helped clarify both the potential and complexity of democratic approaches.

• What will you take home from this seminar?

From this seminar, I take home, first and foremost, a powerful set of practical tools such as methods for co-design, storytelling, power mapping, and emotional cartography that allow us to craft site and people-specific spaces of listening, care, and shared imagination. I’ve learned how to read landscapes through what is said, and silences, gestures, forgotten layers of meaning. Most of all, I return with a deep sense of hope and renewed energy, having witnessed how many passionate, generous and talented people (designers, students, citizens) are actively committed to creating inclusive and meaningful places and ready to engage in the hard, joyful work of positive change. This shared purpose is inspiring and life-fuel for the journey ahead. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!