With this program, Aedes explores how architecture, planning processes, and public spaces can promote democratic engagement and social cohesion—both of which are more urgent than ever in times of profound social uncertainty.
Image gallery
19 The Blue Table
Democratic Design, key visual
Democratic Design focuses on democratic planning processes and the spaces they create. It presents projects that empower marginalized voices, promote participation, and inspire collective visions of the future.
Participatory planning
Democratic Design presents outstanding examples of democratic planning processes that bring these principles to life.
Democratic Places
A democratic society also needs well-designed public and architectural spaces for encounter, dialogue, and exchange. Democratic Design showcases exemplary places that actively promote constructive discourse, mutual respect, and social behavior.
Collaborative Models
The increasing complexity of social challenges requires innovative, holistic, and inclusive solutions. Architects can play a central role in this, as architecture and urban planning have always been based on teamwork and compromise.
New forms of collaboration and the rise of young, transdisciplinary collectives signal a shift toward a cooperative culture that is oriented toward the common good and overcomes outdated hierarchies. Democratic Design presents actors who are testing alternative models of collaboration and collective decision-making processes as the basis for future-oriented design.
One exhibition, four Lab Talks, and one catalog
The four-part Lab Talk series brings together actors from architecture, urban planning, culture, civil society, research, and teaching. It examines how inclusive planning processes, well-designed public spaces, and innovative educational approaches can strengthen democratic participation.
The accompanying catalog invites readers to delve deeper into the topic. In addition to documenting the projects in the exhibition, it includes specially commissioned essays that open up additional perspectives. The catalog is published in English.
Lab Talks:
November 6, 2025, December 12, 2025, January 28, 2026
Exhibition opening:
December 12, 2025, 6:30 p.m.
Additional information
Opening hours:
Mon 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m., Tue–Fri 11:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Thu until 8:00 p.m.
Sundays and public holidays 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m., Sat December 13, 2025, 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Mon 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m., Tue–Fri 11:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m., Thu until 8:00 p.m.
Sundays and public holidays 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m., Sat December 13, 2025, 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
