Shows
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastBeyond Solutions: Safety Through Participation and Co-DesignIn the final episode of our mini-series, Whose Safety? Rethinking Public Space for Women and Girls, Kuljeet is joined by Daisy Froud, strategist in participatory design, Mayoral Design Advocate, and member of the steering group behind the GLA’s guidance on Safety in Public Space, Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People. This conversation explores what safety really means when we move beyond solutions and into belonging, power, and the cultures that shape public space. Daisy reflects on how safety is formed long before any design reaches the site, through briefs, systems, politics and institutional attitudes that determine whose voices ar...
2025-12-091h 04
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastLived Realities: Navigating Safety, Identity & Urban LifeIn this second episode of our mini-series Whose Safety? Rethinking Public Space for Women and Girls, Kuljeet is joined by Bhav Ghedia, an East Londoner with a background in architecture, an advocate for inclusive cities, and a member of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park’s youth-led Elevate Board. Together, we unpack what safety looks and feels like in everyday life. Moving beyond design checklists or surveillance-led fixes, this conversation explores the quiet work many women, girls, and gender-diverse people do to stay safe: from route-planning, outfit considerations, and wayfinding strategies, to managing sensory overload, navigating seasonal restrictions, and the emotional and...
2025-12-0249 min
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastSafety Beyond Surveillance: Feminist Urbanism in PracticeIn the first episode of this three-part mini-series, Kuljeet speaks with Dr Ellie Cosgrave and Gaia Crocella from Publica CIC to explore what safety in public spaces really means for women and girls. Moving beyond assumptions, surveillance-led fixes, and design “quick wins,” this conversation unpacks the structural inequalities that shape how public space is experienced differently across gender, age, identity, and context. Ellie and Gaia bring forward a powerful combination of research, data, and lived experience, drawing on feminist urbanism and evidence-based methodologies. Together, they explore the gap between design intent and lived reality, and why meaningful participation is essential...
2025-11-251h 14
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastMore Than Murals: Art as ProvocationHave you ever considered art as a powerful tool to readdress equity in public spaces? In this episode, we’re joined by Hanna Benihoud, an architect-turned-artist whose joyful, intentional public art is reshaping the way we experience our cities. Hanna shares her journey from architecture to establishing her own studio, and how her practice challenges tokenism in co-creation, reframes public art as a fundamental part of regeneration, and sparks dialogue around safety, belonging, and ownership in public spaces. From transforming tunnels and alleyways to spotlighting both the hidden and illuminating lived experiences of women, Hanna’s work sits at the...
2025-09-301h 03
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastRethinking Our Relationship with Land and LandscapesClosing our mini-series on Waterden Green: Power, Place and Participation, I’m joined by Fenella Griffin, landscape architect, educator, and founding partner at Untitled Practice. This episode dives into what it takes to design spaces that genuinely reflect the lives of teenage girls, not just in principle, but in practice. Fenella speaks with clarity and care about landscape as more than terrain, but as a vehicle for justice, joy, and belonging. Our conversation moves between the personal and the political, uncovering how working with young women as co-creators shaped the design of Waterden Green in powerful ways. It’s a meani...
2025-07-0150 min
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastJoy, Justice and Public SpaceIn the penultimate episode of our first mini series, we are joined by the wonderful Beulah Taiwo Olawoyin, board member at Elevate Youth Group, and co-client on the Waterden Green project. This conversation is joyful, reflective, and deeply insightful. Beulah brings clarity and warmth as she shares her personal journey with Elevate, her perspectives on creating less male-dominated public spaces, and why amplifying youth voice, particularly that of young women, is so essential. We intentionally took a step back from the detailed project processes in this episode to create space for storytelling, lived experience, and moments of powerful reflection. Beu...
2025-06-2440 min
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastPeople First, Legacy AlwaysIn the third episode of our mini-series, Pedro Gil brings a powerful perspective, not just on the Waterden Green project, but as someone whose lived experience actively informs how he designs with, not just for, communities. We dive into how Studio Gil and the multidisciplinary design team collaborated with young women and girls to co-create a more people-centric, inclusive space, and we reflect on the importance of equity, opportunity, and representation, both in the communities we participate with and in architectural practice itself.Discover more about Studio Gil here: https://studiogil.org Find o...
2025-06-1754 min
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastLeading Change with Girls and Young WomenIn the second episode of our mini-series, we speak with Fahmida Nidhi, co-client on the Waterden Green project and now a board member at Elevate. We dive into how the co-clients shaped the project brief, took part in key decisions, and championed design that reflects the lived experiences of teenage girls. Fahmida shares powerful insights on building confidence, navigating adult-dominated spaces, and being taken seriously in a system not designed for young women. This is an honest, inspiring conversation about power, presence, and why representation in public space matters.Discover more about Elevate here: https://www.q...
2025-06-1045 min
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastBehind the Scenes with LLDCIn this first episode of our mini-series Reflecting on Waterden Green: Power, Place, and Participation, Kuljeet is joined by former colleagues from the London Legacy Development Corporation; Ruth Lin Wong Holmes, Jen Anderson, and Nigel Dexter, to explore the story behind a groundbreaking public realm project in Queen Elizabth Olympic Park, East London. Waterden Green is more than just a new green space for teenage girls; it’s a bold experiment in co-creation, where young women were empowered as co-clients to shape the brief, design, and decisions from the ground up.Discover more about LLDC and QEO...
2025-06-011h 03
Diverse Dialogues The PodcastWelcome to Diverse DialoguesIn this short introductory episode, host Kuljeet Sibia shares the story behind Diverse Dialogues, a podcast spotlighting voices and approaches that too often go unheard in conversations about cities, space, and development. Drawing on years of cross-sector practice at the intersection of equity, the built environment, and social change, Kuljeet reflects on the urgent need to centre diverse perspectives in shaping more inclusive, just, and resilient futures.Expect honest reflections, conversations with changemakers, and a space to reimagine who gets to shape our environments, and how. Whether you're a developer, designer, policymaker, student, or...
2025-06-0103 min