Who We Are 

al-ae is a collaborative practice rooted in community, culture, and co-creation. Our guiding principle is to design with and not for. Co-founded by Abdullah Elias and Androniki Lagos, ALAE advances ecosystem development through the integration of participatory design, cultural strategy, and collective care. We work at the intersection of policy, place-making, and public life to build infrastructures that reflect the needs, values, and leadership of communities too often excluded from planning processes. Through a hybrid approach that merges participatory design, art, architecture, and activism, we reimagine how systems and spaces function, centering local knowledge, fostering cultural resilience, and expanding collective agency.

Our work is built through long-term relationships with grassroots organizers, artists, educators, city agencies, and public and private institutions. From revitalizing markets and launching community incubators to designing mobile interventions and hosting public forums, each project is rooted in place and shaped through collaboration.

We ground our projects in research and storytelling, guided by a commitment to cultural stewardship and shared ownership. We create platforms where communities can gather, express, and build futures together, cultivating spaces for belonging, imagination, and joy.

Whether convening cross-sector partners, producing public programming, or supporting cooperative development, we design for impact that is both structural and social. We believe that design is a civic practice, and that ecosystem development is most powerful when led by those most affected.

Through this work, we aim to transform not just projects but possibilities in the spaces where people live, work, gather, and dream.