On April 14, the CCLab hosted a creative mapping workshop in Hoensbroek in Heerlen the Netherlands as part of the Transforming City Regions Integrated Project course and Master thesis group “Tackling Energy Poverty through Placemaking.” This event was a key step in our ongoing, art-based placemaking project, aimed at promoting community collaboration and neighbourhood regeneration.

It started with insights from the Hoensbroek district manager, Remco van Hummel, and continued with site visit and mapping exercise with the course tutors and project researchers Dr. Ceren Sezer, Dr. Aslı Alanlı and Alper Al. Afterwards, students took a 50-minute walk through the neighbourhood, using sensory mapping techniques to explore the area. Colour-coded maps, drawings, and notes captured key themes such as vacant lots, inadequate infrastructure, lack of seating, and the unequal distribution of social activity. At the same time, small details—like people sitting in front of their houses or spaces filled with children’s voices—offered strong clues about community collaboration and the layered fabric of everyday life.

This hands-on workshop explored creative mapping as both a research method and a starting point for community collaboration and neighbourhood regeneration. In the following stages, we will reinterpret the mapping—collaboratively created and accumulated over time—with local participants from different age groups and continue reflecting on a just transition and the role of outdoor spaces in reimagining inclusive and climate-resilient future scenarios in Hoensbroek.

We wish our students a fruitful semester and look forward to seeing the outcomes of their projects!