Designing Inclusive Urban Futures: Participatory Design for Climate-Resilient Cities

This course introduces participatory design as a practical and powerful methodology for making urban projects more sustainable, inclusive and accepted by communities. Aimed at VET teachers in architecture and related fields, NGO professionals, university educators and municipal staff, the course shows how to embed co-creation into educational programmes, urban strategies and public interventions. Through cases, tools and hands-on workshops, participants learn how to engage citizens, map needs, run co-design sessions and translate them into real urban solutions. Participatory design not only improves technical and spatial outcomes — it builds legitimacy, prevents conflicts, strengthens trust and cultivates future professionals who design with people, not for them. The course enables participants to transfer these methods into their job reality to produce better, more resilient urban futures.

Course objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

1. Explain the principles and added value of participatory design in the context of urban planning, VET education, civic projects and climate resilience.
2. Differentiate participatory design from generic “public participation” and identify when and how it should be applied.
3. Facilitate multi-stakeholder engagement processes involving citizens, students, NGOs, public institutions and professional actors.
4. Use practical tools and methods (e.g. mapping, scenario building, co-creation workshops, prototyping, consultation loops, evaluation frameworks) to guide inclusive urban design processes.
5. Integrate participatory design into professional practice (in architecture studios, municipalities, NGOs, VET and higher education programmes) to improve the quality, acceptance and sustainability of outcomes.
6. Design a transfer plan for implementing participatory design in a concrete project or institution after the course.
7. Evaluate the impact of participatory design processes on learning, community engagement and urban/environmental outcomes.

Methodology & assessment

The course is based on experiential and collaborative learning, mirroring the logic of participatory design itself. Participants will learn through:

Guided action-planning for application after the course

Interactive input sessions introducing concepts, case studies and frameworks

Hands-on workshops using real tools for mapping, co-creation and stakeholder engagement

Small-group labs working on authentic urban or institutional challenges

Field-based or scenario-based exercises simulating real participatory processes

Peer dialogue & reflective practice to consolidate transfer to own context

This approach ensures that participants not only understand the methodology but practise it and adapt it to their roles (NGO, VET, municipal, academic, architectural).

Assessment is formative and competence-based, focused on integration and transfer:

• Participation in workshops and collaborative activities (process engagement)
• Group prototype or co-design mini-project presented at the end of the course
• Individual action plan outlining how participatory design will be implemented in the participant’s institution or professional context
• Reflective summary documenting key insights and personal learning outcomes

No summative exams are used; assessment validates the ability to apply participatory design in practice rather than recall theory.

Materials, digital tools & other learning resources

Materials

• Stakeholder mapping templates, canvases and cards
• Workshop kits (post-its, markers, layout sheets, personas, scenario cards)
• Case study briefs and exemplary participatory processes from EU cities
• Printed methodological guidelines (steps, roles, ethics, facilitation tips)

Digital Tools

• Collaborative whiteboards (Miro, Mural or Jamboard)
• Survey and consultation tools (Mentimeter, Slido, Google Forms)
• Mapping & urban analysis tools (Google Earth, Maptionnaire, ArcGIS StoryMaps – demo use)
• Documentation tools (Padlet, Notion, Canva for reporting & co-briefing)

Resources

• Curated reading set on participatory design, co-governance and climate-resilient urbanism
• EU frameworks and policy documents (New European Bauhaus, EU Green Deal, Climate Pact)
• Access to exemplary toolkits from cities, NGOs and design labs

All tools and resources are selected to be transferable to VET, municipal, NGO and university contexts.

Certification details

• Certificate of Attendance in line with Erasmus quality standards.
• Europass Mobility Document.
• Learning Agreement.
• Learning Agreement Complement.
• TRAINER: Giouli Athousaki, a coordinator of educational and cultural projects and an accredited facilitator and trainer of Participatory Design Methodologies in Educational Programs for Sustainable Development, Commonspace, Greece.

Costs

The 560 EUR fee covers the course tuition, issuing the required Erasmus+ documents, coffee breaks, and a guided tour.
We offer an optional cultural programme in order to provide you with opportunities to explore the wonders of the area. All the details including the destinations and the prices will be sent to the participants two months before the course starts.