Exploring Fragility in Urban Spaces: REBO Project Fosters Interdisciplinary Dialogue
In the framework of the Flagship 2 program, a series of workshops are being organized for the REBO project, The Recognition of the Fragile Body in the City: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on European Fundamental Values. The project is co-developed by the Institute of Sociological Research (Fiorenza Gamba, Nikolena Nocheva, Sandro Cattacin) in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen (Henriette Steiner, Mark Vacher, Kristin Veel), Charles University Prague (Tomáš Karásek), and the Fondation Braillard Architects Geneva (Panos Mantziaras, Hélène Gallezot).
First Workshop: The Fragile Body in Architecture
November 2024 marked a significant milestone for the REBO project with the inaugural workshop, The Fragile Body in Architecture. Funded by the 4EU+ European University Alliance Program, this hybrid event brought together academics, architects, urban experts, and students at the Fondation Braillard Architects in Geneva to discuss designing cities for the fragile body.
Cristina Bianchetti, professor of urban planning at the Polytechnic of Turin, opened the discussion by emphasizing that in the 21st century, the fragile body is part of a broader, organic, and technological system. She highlighted the necessity of incorporating perspectives of fragility into the design of livable spaces. Following her, Paolo Fusi, professor of urban design at HafenCity University in Hamburg, examined fragility as an aesthetic value, arguing that it should serve as a foundation for improving urban design practices. He suggested that architects must integrate differentiation and polysemantic meaning in a synchronic manner when designing public spaces for the fragile body.
Two discussants, Francesco Della Casa, cantonal architect in Geneva, and Panos Mantziaras, architect and director of the Fondation Braillard Architects, responded to the speakers' insights. Della Casa raised concerns about how technological advancements and neoliberalism might have contributed to urban infrastructure that fosters social division and fragility. Meanwhile, Mantziaras explored fragility as an inherent human condition. The workshop concluded with a collective discussion on the complex dynamics of understanding and listening to fragile bodies, with key themes including distance, multiplicity, protection, and robustness.
Second Workshop: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder – Conflicts Over Artistic Restoration of Public Spaces
On January 14, 2025, the second workshop of the REBO project took place, focusing on the role of artistic restoration in shaping public spaces. Funded by the 4EU+ European University Alliance Program, this hybrid event examined how art can reflect the everyday experiences of fragile bodies while also provoking social debate on the collective use of urban spaces.
Tomáš Karásek introduced the workshop by exploring how art can incorporate and highlight the realities of fragile bodies in cities. Using the restorative artistic intervention at the Jinonice underpass near Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences in Prague as a case study, the discussion centered on embedding the lived experiences of ordinary citizens into urban environments.
Klára Hamsíková, the artist behind the Jinonice underpass intervention, showcased how various installations by the Praho Project! sparked social dialogue and reflection on urban identity and belonging. Eva Nemečkova, a participatory planning specialist from the Prague Institute of Planning and Development, then addressed challenges in participatory urban planning and potential strategies for fostering collective efforts for change. The workshop encouraged participants to rethink conventional approaches to urban spaces and explore alternative participatory practices aimed at supporting the fragile body.
Third Workshop: #CallsFromThePublic - Introducing a methodology to listen to voices from the margins of the city
On 19 March 2025, the 4EU+ community came together online to explore the #CallsFromThePublic methodology, presented by Henriette Steiner and Mark Vacher. This session was part of the project “The Recognition of the Fragile Body in the City”, supported by the 4EU+ European University Alliance Programme, which investigates European fundamental values through an interdisciplinary lens.
Inspired by current debates on inclusive cities, the research team — Steiner, Vacher, Lærke Sivkjær, and Carla Jiménez Puigdevall — focused on experiences of vulnerability and marginalisation in Copenhagen’s public spaces. Using text messages and in-depth interviews, the team gathered insights into moments of disruption and exposure faced by individuals in urban environments.
The methodology aims to move beyond traditional concepts of accessibility by considering how social dynamics and visibility affect individuals in public life. The culmination of this work is a manifesto of ten design principles for inclusive public spaces. These principles will be further explored in collaboration with Cobe, a Copenhagen-based architecture firm.
The workshop sparked deep reflections on how urban spaces can acknowledge individual needs without compromising privacy or anonymity. Can cities offer social recognition without reinforcing constant exposure? What design practices support diversity and belonging, while allowing space for invisible identities?
This workshop contributes to an ongoing dialogue on rethinking inclusion, emphasizing that designing for fragility is key to creating cities that are truly for all.
Fourth Workshop: Participation of Marginalised Voices in Urban Decision-Making
On 29 April 2025, the fourth workshop in the series on urban inclusion took place, focusing on the participation of marginalised voices in urban decision-making. Hosted in Geneva, the event brought together a diverse panel of speakers, including Adéla Petrovic (Charles University, Prague), Ross Beveridge (University of Glasgow), Talide Cividino (Office de l'urbanisme, Geneva), and Joy Bruni (Maison du Récit, Lausanne).
Through case studies from cities such as Budapest, Brussels, Prague, Rome, Glasgow, Preston, and Geneva, participants explored how fragile bodies and underrepresented groups engage with urban governance. The workshop examined cities as ambivalent spaces, where democratic participation is often sporadic yet full of potential.
Discussions addressed the role of self-governed citizen initiatives, the responsibility of institutions to reduce discursive exclusion, and the transformative potential of art in creating spaces for civic dialogue. Emphasis was placed on rethinking spatial participation and fostering human encounters grounded in trust, gratitude, and collective impact, as a foundation for more inclusive urban futures.
Fifth Workshop: The Fragile Body in Urban Planning
In May 2025, the REBO project reached a pivotal moment with the final workshop in Geneva. This event opened up a space for discussion on the challenges involved in urban planning to ensure wide accessibility and usability for all city dwellers, considering their diverse experiences.
Interventions by Fiorenza Gamba, Sandro Cattacin, and Olivier Waeber highlighted the need for urban planning to acknowledge the broader social and emotional dimensions of urban life that influence the experiences, usage and needs of vulnerable individuals.
The workshop engaged in interdisciplinary reflections and dialogue, exploring the complex multitude of niches and pluralities that cities produce, as well as their practical implications for fragile bodies, whereby the aim to provide high quality of social and urban infrastructure for everyone becomes a central predicament to the creation of inclusive cities.
Final Workshop
November 2025 saw the project reach a significant stage in its completion, marking a major step towards its conclusion. All partners gathered to reflect on the dialogues initiated during the workshops organised as part of the Fragile Bodies project, and to consider the new perspectives that had emerged.
The concluding workshop provided an opportunity to discuss the outcomes of this collective exploration and the ongoing importance of listening to fragile bodies. The project's findings explore the relationship between urban multiplicity and broader social issues related to fragility. For instance, what types of spaces should be incorporated into the design of inclusive cities? How can inclusive cities fulfil their urban promise of enabling authentic, multilayered belonging? What kind of infrastructure can prioritise fragility? These final reflections on the project will evolve further until they culminate in a collective book examining Fragile Bodies in Cities.
Learn More About the REBO Project
The REBO project will continue to explore interdisciplinary perspectives on fragility in urban settings with partners across the alliance. For more information, visit the UNIGE REBO Project Page or the 4EU+ Opporunity Page.