Challenging Anthropocentric Urbanism through Marginal, Queer and Multispecies Perspectives: the Plural Public Space Workshop

Margins are spaces of collective imagination and oppositional practice—sites where hidden realities emerge and dominant urban and social norms are critically questioned. In this context, peripheries are not merely geographic boundaries but epistemological zones where alternative narratives challenge the anthropocentric, binary, and patriarchal logics that underpin conventional urban planning. This paper focuses on Plural Public Space (PPS), an experimental research project that explores how the concepts of margins and marginality can reshape urban public space design through the lenses of queerness and multispecies coexistence. Grounded in transdisciplinary frameworks—including queer theory, multispecies studies, and participatory design—PPS critiques human-centred urbanism by foregrounding marginalised voices, both human and non-human, as active agents in the design process. Through participatory workshops, PPS invited local stakeholders to adopt diverse perspectives using embodied role-playing, scenario envisioning, and prototyping exercises. These methods were intended to provoke collective reflection on alternative approaches to designing more pluralistic public spaces. This process not only problematised dominant spatial narratives but also surfaced tensions and possibilities often overlooked in traditional design practices, ultimately contributing to more inclusive, dynamic, and socially just urban futures.