In the harbour neighbourhood Muide-Meulestede in Northern Ghent, 30 students with backgrounds in advertising, digital design, film and interior design from LUCA School of Arts Ghent and Brussels are submerged for one week in social design. They dived into topics such as mobility, refugees, solitude, poverty, interculturality,… During the first week of Spring they observe, interview, draw, photograph and design in the neighbourhood. The students work towards solutions for social challenges and ideate and prototype (im)possible answers.

The research was conducted together with students from the graphic design department at the Dokuz Eylűl University in Izmir, Turkey. The participants were developing among other things a colour scheme of the city, creating neighbourhood maps, alienating iconic structures of the city or making a ‘How to behave guide’ for men. Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. It is one of the most westernised cities in Turkey and the third biggest city in Turkey with 2.8 million inhabitants. The metropolitan area spreads along the outlying waters of the beautiful Gulf of Izmir.