Meaningful Encounters is an exploratory research project attempting to understand the relationship between meaningful encounters in public spaces and place making activities in the city. Together with Sara Ozogul, I organised an event at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam on 25 October 2016 titled The City as a Lab #2: Creating Meaningful Encounters in Cities of Diversity. We had several questions: When do encounters become meaningful? When do they bring diverse people together and provide new ways of relating beyond presumptions and stereotypes? And can we plan for those encounters? We held a ‘mobile urban lab experiment’ in Amsterdam Oost with a small group of participants from different disciplinary and professional backgrounds. During an organised walk they explored different spaces and initiatives in order to gain insight into the practices, challenges and opportunities of creating meaningful encounters. You can read a report on the DIVERCITIES website.