Copenhagen Architecture Forum's Podcast

What happens to democracy when it meets a reality it wasn't designed to accommodate?

This episode is part of "On the Air: Redesigning Democracy," a three-part evening school we hosted live in our exhibition space at Halmtorvet 27 in the spring of 2026. Each evening brought together philosophers, political theorists, architects, community workers, and curators around one shared question: what happens to democracy when it meets a reality it wasn't designed to accommodate?

Across the three conversations, that question is asked from three different angles — through future generations, other species, and the participation for refugees. On this second episode of On the Air: Redesigning Democracy, we investigate how animals and nature can gain actual political subjecthood. On the podcast you will meet: → Mickey Gjerris, Associate Professor in bioethics at the University of Copenhagen, whose research focuses on the ethical questions that arise at the intersection of humans, nature, and technology — spanning animal ethics, food ethics, and climate ethics. → Lucy Reid, Chief Strategy & Creative Officer at DemocracyNext, whose work — spanning the arts, journalism, and 16 years in senior roles at the National Trust — focuses on accelerating the spread of citizens' assemblies internationally.

What happens to democracy when it meets a reality it wasn't designed to accommodate?

This episode is part of "On the Air: Redesigning Democracy," a three-part evening school we hosted live in our exhibition space at Halmtorvet 27 in the spring of 2026. Each evening brought together philosophers, political theorists, architects, community workers, and curators around one shared question: what happens to democracy when it meets a reality it wasn't designed to accommodate?

Across the three conversations, that question is asked from three different angles — through future generations, other species, and the participation for refugees.

On this first episode of On the Air: Redesigning Democracy, we explore how designing for future generations can change democracy itself.

On the podcast you will meet: → Klara Sørensen, who works with citizens' assemblies at We Do Democracy and with the question of how a political "we" is formed. → Nicklas Larsen, Director at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, working with intergenerational fairness and how future consequences are accounted for in present decision-making. → Pernille Maria Bärnheim, Deputy Director of CAFx, whose work moves between education, research, and curation, with a focus on how the built environment conditions collective life.

In this fourth and final episode of the podcast series Shaping the Rule, Ruling the Shape we wrap up our journey and bring the fellowship to a close. First, Danish business executive and lawyer Jens Klarskov explains how organisations in the construction industry can influence political decisions and turn their legislative visions into reality through strong research, well-developed cases, and lobbying. Then, Maria Brunander Vøgg, COO of COPI shares her perspective on material reuse, building transformation, and circular building practices from a developer's point of view. And finally, we'll hear presentations from the fellows, who will share their newly acquired knowledge and explore how it can be applied to create a more sustainable construction industry and support the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility.

Thank you for listening!

The fellowship was supported by the Dreyers Foundation and Profile Partner Velux.

Tune in to the third episode of Shaping The Rule, Ruling The Shape, from our weeklong fellowship with HouseEurope!

In this episode we will unfold standardisation. Today, standards define what we consider safe. But what does standardisation mean for the transition to a more circular construction industry?

Reused materials are often treated as higher risk, but in this episode, we discover what it might take to standardise them to enable a safer, more circular construction industry.

You'll meet Alexander Mollan Bohn Christiansen, Senior Consultant in Construction at Dansk Standard, who explains how standards shape the construction industry and explores the challenges of reusing building materials to support safer, more circular construction practices.

The fellowship was supported by the Dreyers Foundation and Profile Partner Velux.

How are some of Denmark's biggest engineering and contracting firms thinking and working towards transformation and material reuse? Tune in to episode two of Shaping The Rule, Ruling The Shape, a podcast series documenting our weeklong fellowship with HouseEurope! On this episode you will meet Daniel Veenboer, Industrial Design Engineer and Sustainability Consultant of Rambøll, who explains why we demolish rather than transform existing buildings. And what could potentially change that. Afterwards, Niron Nirmalananthan from Tscherning discusses the challenges and opportunities within dismantling, material reuse, and sustainable transformation. On the episode you will meet: Daniel Veenboer: Daniel Veenboer is an industrial design engineer and Chief Sustainability Consultant at Ramböll working in the field of sustainable urban development. Niron Nirmalananthan: Niron Nirmalananthan is Head of Sustainability at Tscherning which is a Danish construction company specializing in civil engineering and demolition. Back in August, Copenhagen Architecture Forum, in collaboration with HouseEurope!, invited eighteen architects from across the world to Copenhagen for a week-long fellowship.You are now invited to follow their journey and discover what legislation and politics can mean for architects and architecture when we are willing to listen, question, and engage with the systems around us.

How can architects move from passive recipients of regulation to active contributors to policy-making?

Back in August, Copenhagen Architecture Forum, in collaboration with HouseEurope!, invited eighteen architects from across the world to Copenhagen for a week-long fellowship. Now you're invited to follow their journey - in a four episode series- and discover what legislation and politics can mean for architects and architecture when we are willing to listen, question, and engage with the systems around us.

In the first episode you get both sides of the story: from an architect and a lawyer. First, Nicholas Duxbury Ransome, managing director at Lendager, uses the studio's own practice with reused and recycled materials as a case study for how regulation can transform architectural practice. Before Simon Heising, an experienced lawyer specializing in construction, gives his view on the state of the legislation in the industry, focusing on the legal challenges surrounding material reuse and Extended Producer Responsibility.

On the episode you will meet:

Nicholas Duxbury Ransome: architect, urban planner and Managing Director at Lendager has been involved in many of Lendager's most ground-breaking projects.

Simon Heising: Corporate lawyer specializing in construction law, public procurement, and insurance, working at Nexus Advokater.

How do you live with water when there simply isn't enough of it? Why did an island that had spent centuries learning to do exactly that suddenly stop? And why does the answer to both of those questions matter far beyond one small island in the Atlantic?

In this episode, architect Pablo Castillo Luna reads his text "Arid Infrastructures: Water beyond techno-optimism in the island of Lanzarote."

Lanzarote is, in many ways, a preview of where a lot of the world is heading: a hot, dry territory with no natural freshwater, that for generations built entire cultures of care, maintenance, and shared responsibility around scarcity — and that then, almost overnight, handed that relationship over to a desalination plant and a control panel. That shift, from water as something you live with to water as a resource managed by technical experts, is happening quietly almost everywhere, and it rarely gets questioned. Pablo's text asks what gets lost when it does, and what we might still learn from the infrastructures it replaced.

The text builds on Pablo's project "A Permeable Atlas," shown in our exhibition "Slow Down" at the Copenhagen Architecture Biennial.

AI predictions tend to rest on an averaged notion of what a human being is. In this final episode of Inclusion Talks, we take a closer look at how the growing use of AI in architecture and design processes risks reinforcing historical assumptions about what is deemed 'normal', with the consequence that difference is filtered out, concealed, and ultimately erased. For this conversation, we have invited Canadian professor and director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre, Jutta Treviranus, who argues that the current wave of AI has underscored the importance of genuinely involving those who stand to benefit most from change. Together with former Bevica Scholarship Programme recipient Aleksandra Mostovaja, she explores how we might move towards a future that embraces the full spectrum of human diversity – rather than allowing AI to lead us back into the patterns of the past. On the podcast you will meet: Jutta Treviranus: is a Professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU) in Toronto, Canada. She is the director and founder of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and the Inclusive Design Institute (IDI) and is a world expert in the field of universal design.

Treviranus has established the IDRC as a leading international centre for inclusive design in digital systems and leads the Inclusive Design Institute. Her work has pioneered personalised digital accessibility and contributed significantly to international accessibility standards and legislation.

Aleksandra Mostovaja: is a Master Student at Sciences Po Paris and former Bevica Scholarship Programme travel grant recipient for her project Advancing Spatial Equity Through AI: A Study of Universal Design Principles in the Public Sphere in which she has explored how AI understands inclusive language by studying how AI visualises urban landscapes. Moussa Mchangama: is a leading strategic facilitator and change agent in the Nordic cultural conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. Inclusion Talks has been developed in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation. The podcasts are moderated by Moussa Mchangama.

In the second episode of Inclusion Talks: A Universal Design Perspective we zoom in on the role museums and cultural institutions play. Museums have a key role in shaping cultural narratives, yet many still exclude visitors who don't fit the traditional visitor model. In a talk between Camilla Ryhl, Research Director at Bevica Foundation and Academic Lead of Universal Design Hub, Louise Kæmpe Henriksen, curator at the New Viking Ship Museum, and student travel grant winner of the Bevica Scholarship Programme 2025-2026 Camille Wenner from the Royal Danish Academy we explore how universal design and co-designing can be a means to create a more inclusive environment in museums and cultural spaces. Over three episodes of Inclusion Talks we investigate and share stories of how we can collectively create truly inclusionary spaces - spaces that are successful in rethinking our shared spaces, inviting more people in – from physical spaces to AI and digital spaces. On the podcast you will meet: Camille Wenner: Student travel grant winner of the Bevica Scholarship Programme 2026, from the Royal Danish Academy. Louise Kæmper Henriksen: Curator at New Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde Camilla Ryhl: Research Director at Bevica Foundation and Academic Lead of Universal Design Hub. She holds a Master's degree and a PhD in Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, and has specialised in universal design and the sensory qualities of architecture, as well as the interpretation and implementation of universal design as an interdisciplinary principle. Moussa Mchangama: Moussa Mchangama is a leading strategic facilitator and change agent in the Nordic cultural conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. Inclusion Talks is a podcast that has been developed in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation. Tune in next Tuesday for the last episode!

In our new podcast series Inclusion Talks – A Universal Design Perspective we investigate and share stories of how we can collectively create truly inclusionary spaces - spaces that are successful in rethinking our shared spaces, inviting more people in – from physical spaces to AI and digital spaces.

In our first episode we go straight to a fundamental question: What does it truly take to ensure a sustainable future for us all?

The question lies at the heart of the Bevica Scholarship Programme, and to answer it we have invited two big capacities. Tune in and hear Camilla Ryhl, Director of Research and Head of the Universal Design Hub at the Bevica Foundation, in conversation with Daura van Vuuren, a former recipient of the scholarship.

Moderator Moussa Mchangama asks Camilla Ryhl and Daura van Vuuren: How do we take the right steps towards a sustainable future - without leaving anyone behind?

On The Podcast You Will Meet:

Daura Van Duuren: Is a former winner of the Bevica Scholarship Programme. In her work, Daura links Denmark's political commitments to global climate action plans with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Denmark ratified in 2009. In 2024, Daura van Vuuren travelled the world to gather knowledge, and if there is one key insight she brought back, it is this: sustainable development does not happen in silos – it happens through collaboration and across disciplines.

Camilla Ryhl: Research Director at Bevica Foundation and Academic Lead of Universal Design Hub. She holds a Master's degree and a PhD in Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, and has specialised in universal design and the sensory qualities of architecture, as well as the interpretation and implementation of universal design as an interdisciplinary principle.

Moussa Mchangama: Moussa Mchangama is a leading strategic facilitator and change agent in the Nordic cultural conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion.

Inclusion Talks is a podcast that has been developed in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation. Tune in the next two Tuesday for more engaging conversations on creating an inclusionary future.