Deeper than Density: A Sense of Place in Bucharest

Bucharest is changing fast, driven by real estate pressure, climate urgency and the relentless logic of densification. Organised by the Holcim Foundation, this event asks what happens to the sense of place when a city is under pressure to grow, and what climate resilience can mean beyond the technical aspects. 

Moving between scales and methods, the conversation will explore how Bucharest is being built, rebuilt and repurposed, and what it means to do so with resilience and identity.

Held at Teatrul Grivița 53, a community-funded theatre that seeded an entire neighborhood’s ambition, and recognised by a Holcim Foundation Award, the conversation will be as much in the room as on the stage. Bringing together practicioners, economists, and, city representatives, this event opens a space to ask what it takes to make a city worth staying for.

17:30 - Doors open & welcome by the Holcim Foundation

18:00 - Panel discussion, Q&A

19:30 - Cocktail reception

21:00 - Close of evening

Teatrul Grivița 53 is a neighbourhood theatre built through years of community effort and civic determination, recognised by the Holcim Foundation Awards as a catalyst for an entire area's transformation. 

CityMakers Live is Holcim Foundation’s new events platform focused on responsible urban development through conversations between people who shape cities.

Each edition brings together the people who shape the city — municipalities, architects and engineers, developers, academia, civil society — for a conversation on a tension that city is facing.

The series launches in Bucharest in June 2026, then travels to other cities over the year.