The Shared City is a proposal to replace the Paddepoel shopping center in Groningen with a new urban structure. The building includes more than just shops, with new housing, plazas, streets and prakt the shopping center transforms from a place to shop info a new urban core and connector of the surroundings.

The need for connecting places is increasing. Inequality in the Netherlands increases and the Wetenschappelijke Raad voor Regeringsbeleid and the Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau address the rise of new social segregations in the society. To counteract this, common ground needs to be found and informal meeting places need to be (re)created. By combining several functions in a new  urban core the informal encounter and meeting of different citizens is encouraged, making it a small counteract to larger social issues.

The design is a succession of public spaces and routes that take the visitor on a journey through the diversity of the city. The various functions of the building are linked together on a base grid that takes on different characteristics. The public spaces link up with this grid and differ from grand plazas to small-scale alleys. This diversity facilitates the large variety in residents and visitors of the center. The routes through the complex link up with the walking and cycling paths in the surrounding district. In this way the Shared city forms the connecting link for all kinds of traffic in this part of the city.