Learning Through Heritage: Reflections from Brno’s Sister Cities Conference

The Czech city of Brno is one of Leeds's six partner cities

Dr May Newisar, Lecturer in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Leeds recently represented our city at the annual Sister Cities Conference held by our Czech partner city Brno. This year's conference had architecture as its special theme.

In a guest blog, she tells us how events like this can benefit Leeds's approach to its own built environment.

In early June, I had the opportunity to represent Leeds at the Sister Cities Conference 2025 in Brno, Czech Republic. The event brought together delegates from across Europe to exchange ideas on urban heritage, architecture, infrastructure, and cultural identity. As someone working in the intersection of city planning, heritage, and community engagement, the experience was both professionally enriching and personally inspiring.

Our first day opened with a walking tour of Brno’s interwar architecture a period of bold experimentation and optimism reflected in the city’s urban fabric. We explored landmark buildings that illustrated the depth of architectural vision during the 1920s and ’30s and learned how Brno integrates these into contemporary development. What stood out was the balance between conservation and innovation, and how heritage here is not just preserved but actively reinterpreted.

We visited Villa Stiassni, a beautifully restored modernist villa, where we learned about Brno’s meticulous approach to material authenticity, adaptive reuse, and visitor education. At the Brno Exhibition Centre, one of the most ambitious projects of interwar Central Europe, discussions centred on how such historical sites can be transformed into spaces for innovation, business, and cultural exchange without losing their architectural integrity.

The city’s Water Transit Project offered another dimension: heritage infrastructure as a driver for sustainable development. It demonstrated how water routes, once seen as purely functional, are now reimagined as public spaces that connect communities and improve urban liveability.

Brno's city hall has remarkable baroque ceiling frescoes

Our final day began with a workshop in Brno’s stunning City Hall, beneath baroque ceiling frescoes, where we explored the Brno Architecture Manual (BAM) a digital platform that documents and presents the city’s modern architecture in engaging, accessible ways. This initiative reinforces the idea that heritage isn’t only about buildings, but about fostering civic pride, storytelling, and public dialogue.

The highlight of the trip was visiting Villa Tugendhat, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. As an architectural icon of modernism and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the villa captures the essence of space, transparency, and landscape integration. It’s a powerful reminder of how architecture can express a whole worldview, and how cities can honour that legacy while adapting to present and future needs.

The conference has sparked new ideas about how Leeds might continue to engage with its own built environment through creative conservation, digital storytelling, and international collaboration. I'm grateful to our hosts in Brno and the wider Sister Cities network for a thought-provoking, hands-on, and beautifully orchestrated experience.

May Newisar FHEA, RIBA Part 1 & 2, PhD, MArch, BSc

Lecturer in Architecture and Urbanism

School of Civil Engineering

University of Leeds

m.newisar@Leeds.ac.uk