De Rol van Ontwerp: Placebo, Therapie of Kwakzalverij?

In June 2016, the International conference ‘Building the future of Health’ took place in Groningen, discussing game changing concepts for healthy Ageing and the built environment. Design as Politics’ Wouter Vanstiphout was asked by the conference organization in collaboration with the Board of Government Advisors, to write a piece about the relation between architecture, urbanization and healthcare. A short version of the text was already published in Dutch magazine ‘de Blauwe Kamer’, but now it’s here for you all to read (if you understand Dutch). Edited by Cassandra Wilkins.

  • 16/06/2017

International Social Housing Festival: Migration and mobility in cities in the West

As part of the International Social Housing Festival, Crimson Architectural Historians and the ISHF research team are collectively organizing an event about Migration and mobility in cities in the West. All over the world, cities are challenged to accommodate newcomers. This not only contributes to the current refugee crisis in Europe, but also to the preexisting urgent need for temporary accommodation for migrant workers and an increasing demand for flexible housing. Our cities are increasingly defined by the dynamics of temporary inhabitants: expats, refugees, international students, and migrant workers moving in and out. The influx of individuals to cities is expected to be… Read More

  • 08/06/2017

AirportCity or #FortEU: Workshop with FailedArchitecture

In December we asked Michiel van Iersel, Rene Boer and Mark Minkjan of the research collective Failed architecture to organize a workshop for our graduation students taking part in the studio  ‘A City of Comings and Goings’. They came with the idea to focus this workshop on the border landscape of Schiphol Airport, the main hub for migration to and from The Netherlands. Together with the Rotterdam Harbor, Schiphol is one of the ‘mainports’ of the Netherlands. Since its origins, exactly one hundred years ago, the airport has become one of the leading aviation hubs in the world. Almost operating… Read More

  • 21/02/2017

WE CARE A LOT! – Final report

In the autumn of 2016 we conducted a research and design project commissioned by the Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands (Rijksbouwmeester) as part of his program ‘Oog voor de buurt’. The topic was aging and healthcare in Dutch neighborhoods. Together with students of the architecture master track, two Design as Politics Alumni and the International New Town Institute, we took a closer look at two specific cases: elderly home Humanitas in Deventer and the assisted living facility ‘Buiten Zorg’ in Zuid-Scharwoude – a village in the province of North-Holland. This led to two reports, one for each area, in… Read More

  • 23/01/2017

Workshop: Democratic integration in Feijenoord, Rotterdam

As part of the graduation studio ‘A City of Comings and Goings – Designing for Migration and Mobility’ a workshop was organized by Design as Politics PhD candidates Nurul Azlan and Els Leclercq about political and democratic integration of inhabitants with a migrant background in the neighbourhood Feijenoord in Rotterdam-South. Just as in many European countries, the influx of refugees in the Netherlands is a prominent issue in the social-political debate. Opponents often refer to the failed integration of migrants who came to the country in the ‘60’s, of mostly Moroccan and Turkish origin. The long-term impact of inhabitants with… Read More

  • 14/10/2016

Research on Design and Legislation

The past few months our chair has been intensively working on a research concerning one of the biggest legislative changes in Dutch history. All the laws concerning the (built) environment, twenty-four in total, will be merged into one overarching environmental planning law (‘de omgevingswet’). Let alone the extensive legislative consequences, this system change will undoubtably impact the way that cities are designed and planned in the Netherlands. The notion of change for Dutch planning and design has been the start of our investigation. In a series of interviews researcher Jelte Boeijenga and research-assistent Nina Bohm tried to find answers to… Read More

  • 26/09/2016

Symposium: We Care a Lot!

On the 15th of March we presented our research for the Chief Government Architect on elderly care and aging in Dutch neighborhoods to a group of policy makers, researchers and architects during the symposium ‘We Care a Lot.’ Here’s a report of the day ( in Dutch) by Design as Politics’ Mike Emmerik and Architecture student Hedwig van der Linden. Wat is de relatie tussen zorg en verstedelijking en de sociale functie van het verzorgingshuis als ontmoetingsplaats voor de hele buurt? Een interdisciplinair team van studenten en onderzoekers van de TU Delft, medewerkers van het International New Town Institute en… Read More

  • 11/04/2016

Design and the new Environment & planning Act

We recently started a brand new research project together with the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. Throughout the coming months we will be exploring the relationship between the new Environment & planning Act (de Omgevingswet) and architectural/urban design. This new law takes effect in 2018 and will incorporate 4700 articles, 120 general orders in council and 120 ministerial regulations into 1 planning law, 4 general orders in council and 10 ministerial regulations. The aim of this immense operation is to make the decision-making process around spatial interventions more straight forward en efficient. At the same time it responds… Read More

  • 17/03/2016

A City of Comings and Goings – E-Publication

Click on image to open publication We’ve got a brand new Design as Politics E-publication for you! A City of Comings and Goings – about the spatial implications of migration. In this publication, originally written for the Dutch urban design magazine De Blauwe Kamer, Wouter Vanstiphout and Michelle Provoost discuss that the way we deal with the current refugee crisis and the locations on which we house those that seek refuge, reveals a wider problem concerning the flexibility and absorption capacity of our cities. They argue that by isolating the refugee crisis we deny the fact that migration has become… Read More

  • 01/03/2016

Lets Work! Da Lang Fever 2.0

In the Fall of 2015 the Design as Politics graduation Studio ‘Lets Work!’ visited the Chinese City of Shenzhen on a factfinding excursion. Part of our visit was focused on Da Lang  – a migrant neighborhood in the north of the city. The International New Town Institute, who is working in Da Lang for many years, helped us to set up an amazing program. In order to  thank them for their great efforts, we made this poster as an virtual addition to INTI’s contribution to the Shenzhen Biennale titled: Da Lang Fever 2.0, which is focused on the transformation of… Read More

  • 20/01/2016