What do we mean by “mission neighbourhood”? Neighbourhoods represent the sum of everyday places we share with one another: The streets, squares, bus stops, kindergartens and schools, the places where we shop and meet – when possibilities allow. The neighbourhood is where communal activities take place. But it is also the context where the structures of society at large are expressed. The neighbourhood scale reveals our ability as a collective to handle challenges and create meaningful frameworks for everyday life.

Towards the festival in the fall of 2022, the Triennale will be an open laboratory for our joint investigation of ways to form the neighbourhoods of the future: What are the features of good neighbourhoods? How can infrastructure such as roads be transformed into neighbourhood spaces? How can institutions, schools and offices be designed so they accommodate more diverse uses and users? And we will take a closer look at ways to reform the systemic premises of neighbourhood development: What is the value of good neighbourhoods – for the individual, for the public health and for sustainable societal development? How can politicians and the public administration create better conditions for fostering neighbourhood quality? How can capital benefit the public good in urban development?

The open laboratory is a local, national and international platform where professionals and citizens meet to create more thriving, fair and inspiring neighbourhoods. We will bring forward the skill and ambition, existing both within and outside of professional circles, to contribute to a more empathic take on city development. It will showcase practices, people and projects that contribute to neighbourhood thinking – from the local transformation of a single street to large-scale visionary city planning. We will shed light on neighbourhood’s past, present and future to show the wide array of possible diverse, vibrant communities.