The Nomad City idea was brought to life by Milan Gillard and Stef Lemmens. For two years they both lived in a self proclaimed street called ‘Crocodile Boulevard’ which was part of Maison Florida, an artist-run space organized by The School in the industrial zone of Hasselt. Here they researched community building, small living, permaculture, self-sustainability and wellbeing together with four other residents. During this time Milan Gillard founded AFT, an organization focused on site-specific communal collaborations as a main tool to give birth to new ideas. In this project he focussed on questions such as ‘What is a home? How can we live together? How can it be shared?’ Stef Lemmens has been building small homes and researching his own behavior while living inside them since 2019. In 2021 he walked around the city of Hasselt with his shopping cart home to start a dialogue about (small) living. When the Crocodile Boulevard project came to an end, Stef felt the urge to build a new home on a horse carriage, enabling him to carry his house wherever he wanted. This nomadic house ignited a dialogue between Milan and Stef, ultimately leading to their decision to take this research on living to the next level. They wanted to extend this project beyond the periphery of the city and onto unoccupied lands near schools and neighborhoods. To achieve this ambitious vision, Milan and Stef issued an open call in October 2022, inviting artists, designers, or architects to join them in building their own nomadic homes and becoming part of the Nomad City community. In December, they received an application from Mirte Menève, an architect with a unique perspective. Mirte has been researching squatted buildings and their communities, seeking to challenge conventional architectural norms and promote a socially conscious approach to design. Within the Nomad City project, she aims to question our current way of living and explore ecological, community-centered living. With Mirte’s addition to the team, the Nomad City project found its dedicated members, each bringing their own expertise, passion, and commitment to the pursuit of sustainable and communal living.”