At Girls Make the City, we place the potential of the neighborhood at the heart of our regenerative development approach. We believe that the essence of a place — its history, people, spaces, and culture — holds the key to creating safer, healthier, and more inclusive environments, particularly for girls. Our workshops are designed to tap into this potential, fostering a sense of ownership, empowerment, and collaboration. Here's how we do it:
The first step is to understand the place. We walk the neighbourhood together, exploring its streets, open spaces, and hidden corners. Along the way, we get to know each other’s worlds and networks. This is an opportunity to reflect on what makes the area unique: What is celebrated here? What’s typical of this place? What characteristics stand out — whether in the people, the history, the natural environment, or the built spaces? What is the soul, what is the essence of this neighbourhood?
The second focus is on identifying the neighbourhood’s untapped potential — particularly in creating safer and healthier public spaces for girls, where they feel free and confident. We explore how the neighbourhood’s unique features can help achieve this goal. What are the local opportunities, resources, and possibilities to make change happen? Together, we envision spaces where girls are not only safe but empowered to be themselves.
The third step is recognizing that creating change is a collective effort. It’s not just about the girls — it’s about everyone in the community. Families, boys, local policymakers, community workers, urbanists, and activists all have roles to play in creating safer, more inclusive spaces for girls. Through collaboration, we can amplify the impact and ensure that everyone is invested in making the neighborhood better for everyone, especially girls.
Finally, we focus on action. Together, we develop concrete interventions, creative occupations, and collaborations to bring these ideas to life. From designing physical spaces to organizing community events, we ensure that the changes we envision are translated into real-world projects that have a tangible impact.
Marolles
Marolles
Podcast
In the warm late summer of 2022, ZIJkant and Wetopia brought together 25 young people with very different interests and backgrounds around a part of Brussels they share: the skate park at Kapellekerk and its immediate surroundings in the Marolles district. It is a place and a neighbourhood where none of them feel truly free or safe. Together, they came up with ideas on how their city could become a more inclusive place. Listen to the girls, their experience of the city, and their dreams for a more gender-inclusive public space in this podcast series, created by Elena Dikomitis. The podcasts can also be found on podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Brochure
Articles
Wall of Truth
Molenbeek-West
Summary of Findings
Langa
Podcast
Living Magazine Article
Living Magazine Article
"Maybe we're not changing the space, but we're changing how we use the space"
Langa GMTC Video
Girls Make The City
Langa Organisation
The Girls of Langa kept meeting and growing their crew, joining forces with young women from Bridges for Music in Langa. Together they created Girls Make the City Langa, a movement run by young women for young women. During Open Langa 2025 they stepped out into the streets as such, claiming their space and showing that the city belongs to the girls of Langa too.
Langa x Athlone Sisterhood
As many of you know, through various Wetopia projects we try to create a new “us.” Not as an abstract idea but as something real and alive. Between neighbours, between sectors, between generations, wherever walls have been built, we look for bridges…
Ostend
GMTC EXHIBITION
The outcomes of Girls Make the City Ostend are brought together in a public exhibition, featuring drawings by participants Estelle and Eva, and graphic design by participant Imke.
Ten exhibition panels explain the Girls Make the City project and present eight design concepts for Leopold Park and its surrounding neighbourhood, aimed at making the park and its environment safer and more enjoyable for girls and women, starting from the potential of the place. The exhibition will be on display in the park for two months. Visitors can also discover more through audio stories accessed via QR codes, in which the participants share their ideas and reflect on the concepts in their own words.
View and download the PDF below.
