Reimagining the 'Unloved' Spaces - with Alenka Korenjak & Zala Velkavrh

Almost every city has them - spaces and places that feel like they’re waiting. Waiting to be reawakened, reimagined, and reconnected to the people around them. Too often, though, that reawakening follows a predictable script: maximise economic return, build apartments, squeeze in shops, add a parking lot. Little thought is given to anything beyond profit.

That’s exactly why I loved hearing Alenka Korenjak and Zala Velkavrh from Prostorož (a not-for-profit urban design agency from Ljubljana/Slovenia) speak about “unloved” places - because it shifts the lens. It’s not just about return on investment, but about how people relate to space, how public life can be cultivated, and how cities can become more liveable, more layered, more human.

So when I spent a few weeks in Klagenfurt, it was high time to jump over the Karawanken Mountains to Ljubljana and visit the Prostorož studio in person on a Friday afternoon in May 2025.

Further info:

• More on Prostorož: https://www.prostoroz.org
• Alenka, Zala and Johannes on LinkedIn
• Cities Reimagined on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/citiesreimagined/
• The book I mentioned in the show: Vocabularies for an Urbanising Planet: Theory Buidling through Comparison - https://birkhauser.com/en/book/9783035623031