Looking back at 2025, our work can best be described as careful and sometimes uncertain. Much of what we did emerged from ongoing conversations between research, teaching, and field experience, rather than from clearly defined plans. We were often reminded that urban research moves slowly and that understanding everyday spaces requires patience, listening, and a willingness to revise earlier ideas.
An important moment in this process was the exchange at the Community Studies Conference . Presenting our work on small-scale urban spaces and resilience there made clear how differently similar issues are understood across regions and disciplines, and how necessary it is to stay modest in our claims. https://heideimai.com/conference-reflection-civic-political-and-community-studies-voices-across-the-pacific/
Teaching continued to shape our thinking in very direct ways. In the Urban Design Seminar on Cities, Interaction, and Resilience, students worked with complex urban settings such as Jimbocho and struggled with contradictions between policy, everyday use, and emotional attachment to place. Their questions often revealed gaps in our own frameworks.
https://heideimai.com/graduation-themes-2025-cities-of-emotion-interaction-and-resilience/
Alongside this, the seminar offered space to think collectively about sustainability, social ties, and adaptation, without forcing quick solutions. The work highlighted how difficult comparison can be, and how easily concepts lose meaning when removed from their local context. https://heideimai.com/seminar-2025-26-reviving-cities-and-community/
Overall, 2025 was a year of becoming more aware of limits, rather than overcoming them. This has shaped how we look toward 2026. The intention is to slow down, to consolidate existing research, and to work more closely with collaborators and students. We hope to remain open to accept mistakes as part of academic practice, and to keep everyday urban life, with all its messiness, at the center of what we do. Happy New Year 2026 to you all!
