During her six-week CYCLE UP! residency in České Budějovice, Elena set out to imagine what the city could look like twenty years from now – if cycling infrastructure, governance, ecology, and urban systems were more closely intertwined. This vision gradually took shape through a series of collaborative methods, with the bicycle serving as both research tool and connector between people, places, and perspectives.
 

Mapping Through Dialogue

Elena’s process began with solo field research: cycling through the city, observing existing routes, and documenting key impressions through photographs and notes. These rides offered her a first sense of how cycling is embedded in the urban fabric. In parallel, she conducted one-on-one interviews with a range of local voices, from active cyclists to those involved in policy and infrastructure decision-making. These conversations served as the basis for geographically grounded reflections, highlighting specific routes, places, and issues that matter to those who move through the city by bike.

Speculating Together

In two participatory workshops, Elena invited members of the local cycling community to share their insights and collaboratively map their experiences of the city. Based on specific prompts, these sessions generated a range of perspectives and ideas that helped shape a more complex, situated understanding of urban cycling in České Budějovice. A third and final workshop served as a platform to present the final map, bringing together participants and local decision-makers to reflect on its content and the questions it raises for the future of cycling in the city.
 

Artistic Outcome: A Map That Rethinks the City

The final outcome of Elena’s residency was a speculative map of České Budějovice, a visual synthesis of observations, conversations, and workshop contributions. Though originally conceived as a future scenario, the map ultimately stayed closer to the present, revealing underused paths, overlooked places, and unexpected connections within the city’s cycling landscape. By making these visible, the map invites a shift in perspective: from tourism-driven narratives to everyday geographies shaped by local experience and collective dialogue.

Thanks to: European Capital of Culture České Budějovice 2028, Cyklobudějovice

Elena Falomo's practice inhabits art, research, design and pedagogy, exploring complex social and ecological questions through collaborative processes. She applies speculative and participatory methods to uncover alternate presents and futures, represented through games, system maps, collective actions, and installations. With a foundation in Media Engineering and Design, she is dedicated to nurture mutual learning with communities and embracing ecosystem entanglement. She explores these themes through the Living Summer School, an initiative she cofounded that engages communities in reimagining ecological and social resilience, as well as through my teaching at universities across Europe, including the Royal College of Art, HfG Gmund, and Politecnico di Milano. Her work has been exhibited at the British Film Institute, Victoria & Albert Museum, Science Gallery Dublin, and Ars Electronica, among others. She has also been a resident at Design Regio Kortrijk and the Bauhaus Foundation.