The City as a Learning Space: Ellen Schindler at SCHULBAU LEIPZIG 2025

How can the relationship between young people and their city be reimagined? This question is at the heart of Ellen Schindler’s presentation at the SCHULBAU Salon & Trade Fair in Leipzig on April 15 and 16, 2025. The architect, urban planner, and managing director of the renowned firm De Zwarte Hond provides insight into an unusual project that expands the public discourse on the city in a surprising way—through a graphic novel.

Using Graphic Novels and New Approaches to Increase Participation in Urban Development

“Metro 010” is a visual narrative about life in Rotterdam—published as a comic and distributed to over 15,000 seventh-grade students. The idea: urban development does not just begin in the planning office. It begins at one’s own front door, in the everyday lives of children. The graphic novel becomes an invitation to see one’s own living environment through different eyes. It is a collective story about living together, co-creation, and responsibility.

In her presentation, Ellen Schindler also asks how cities can initiate new forms of participation. She advocates for a new mindset—one that takes young people seriously as co-creators of their surroundings. It is about attitude, access, and formats. And it is about the trust that urban planning does not start with a pen, but with the ability to listen.

As an architect and managing director of De Zwarte Hond, Ellen Schindler operates at the intersection of design, strategy, and social responsibility. She studied at the TU Berlin and the University of the Arts and has been active in the German-Dutch region for many years. Her commitment is particularly focused on bridging the gap between planning disciplines and the people for whom the buildings are designed.

On April 15 and 16, the SCHULBAU Salon & Trade Fair Leipzig 2025 will once again provide a platform for exchange on educational spaces, urban society, and responsibility in the construction industry through its interdisciplinary program. Ellen Schindler’s contribution directs the focus toward the big picture—and toward the small stories that make up a city.