Public Space Design
Minouche Besters | STIPO
Tactical interventions for getting unstuck in changing our cities.
Changing cities, citizens, users and interests, it is in this complexity of interests and contradictions that Minouche Besters, as senior advisor at Stipo, finds her playing field for the development and realization of unorthodox transformations. Her work focuses on creating better places, neighborhoods, and cities, as well as (urban) liveability and mobility issues. She pays a lot of attention to the human dimension, ownership and the different needs of residents and users.
All cities worldwide are faced with their own challenges to improve the quality of public space in relation to the social and economic context. Based on a recent case in Milan during the covid period, Minouche outlines the unprecedented possibilities of a tactical intervention by developing a temporary reality for and by people. The city council used the placemaking method and residents were asked to redesign their 'own square' for a period of one year using 5 ingredients (paint, benches, planters, ping pong tables and partitions) and a designer to shape the square. By physically changing the familiar traffic-dominated squares into car-free places for the community, what seemed unimaginable became visible.
Minouche Besters is an experienced process designer and facilitator of change processes. She works in complex inner-city transformations with methodologies around placemaking, participatory research, tactical urbanism, design thinking and strategic visioning. She studied political science (UvA, 1999) and subsequently developed a clear vision on connecting the lived and planned world, especially in the context of the multiplicity and diversity of the large, complex interests and the changing wishes/needs of residents. and users in changing cities. Minouche is a partner at STIPO and a senior advisor to various organizations/temporary teams, such as Placemaking X, Placemaking Europe, High Construction Committee, Uptempo!, Q team-Capelle aan de IJssel and Rivium.
