Telraam turns five. Let's talk about the future of public space.

Five years ago, Telraam started as a simple idea: let citizens count traffic themselves, with a small sensor on their windowsill. Today that idea has grown into a network of thousands of counters across Europe, feeding real data into decisions about mobility, safety, and public space. That's worth celebrating. But we also wanted to do something more useful than just looking back, so 1st floor is really about looking forward: how does data-driven insight shape the cities and villages we'll live in next?

What to expect

Expect a full day of talks and debate on mobility, spatial planning, and citizen participation, with speakers who work on these questions from very different angles:

• Els Vandenbroeck (Mobiel21) on decades of work in sustainable mobility and behavioral change
• Lior Steinberg (Humankind, Rotterdam) on tactical urbanism and building car-light cities that, in his words, make people smile
• Mathias De Winter (Omvorm) on designing systems, not just objects, from circular products to modular EV charging infrastructure
• Michiel Van Balen (Miss Miyagi) on bottom-up redevelopment projects like De Hoorn and Hal5
• Karl Catteeuw (Provincie West-Vlaanderen) on why villages need their own spatial language, distinct from cities
• Tom Goosse (UGent / University of Groningen) on where citizen science and spatial policy meet
• Jiska Gysels (Endeavour) presenting her new book on a decade of people-centered spatial transformation
• Eva Van Eenoo (VUB) on car dependency, social housing, and mobility patterns of social tenants

It's a mix of researchers, practitioners, and people who've actually built things in cities. That's intentional. We wanted a day where citizen-collected data meets the people who turn it into policy and design.

The details

• When: Friday, September 11, 2026
• Where: Opek, Vaartkom 4, 3000 Leuven (a 15-minute walk from Leuven station)
• Tickets: €90 (excl. VAT), including lunch, coffee breaks, and drinks
• A limited number of small expo stands are also available for anyone who wants a table at the event

Read all about it on the 1st Floor conference website 1stFloor.be

You are an engaged citizen and counting with a Telraam device? You can also enter our raffle for 10 free tickets.

Five years in, Telraam is still built on the same premise: good decisions about public space start with good data, and that data is better when citizens help collect it. We'd love to see you at Opek to talk about what comes next.

See you on the 1st floor.