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Ever since the eighties, spatial planners have been approaching planning processes as learning processes. In this article we argue that such learning processes not only require a trajectory that helps groups to reflect in and on their actions, but also a trajectory that helps these groups to learn how to participate in such reflections. We refer to such a trajectory as a Place for Continuous Learning. The aim of the article is to explore how to develop such places. Over a period of 18 months, we conducted our own learning experiment and facilitated, on the one hand, three participatory processes in three European countries that each address the societal issue of retrofitting suburbia, and, on the other hand, organized a series of three Collective Learning Workshops in which we invited the main facilitators of these participatory processes to exchange experiences. Together these participatory processes and workshops made up our Place for Continuous Learning. The article first discusses the design of the experiment. It then summarizes the actual workshops and ends with formulating a number of principles on how to develop Places for Continuous Learning.

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Suburbanization and more precisely the development of residential subdivisions in Europe are at the core of many current debates. Over the years, they have been strongly criticized for the waste of land, increased infrastructure and network costs, car-dependency and the lack of urbanity. In this context, two processes are politically-driven in Europe: the densification of residential areas and the revitalization of the city centers. These political guidelines interrogate the transformation − and possible deterioration − of living environments and ambiances of residential subdivisions. Indeed, beyond the negative perspectives, other investigations have revealed the potentials of residential subdivisions from different points of view: ecology, social, architectural and urban. In order to contribute to these studies, this paper proposes to investigate the intermediate lived spaces in the specific context of residential subdivisions.