The New Town on Gebiedsontwikkeling.nu

We have recently started again our public lecture series ‘The New Town – From Welfare City to Neoliberal Utopia” in collaboration with the international New Town Institute. Eric Burgers – A reporter from the independent Dutch platform Gebiedsontwikkeling.nu attended the first lecture and wrote a nice piece about it: On 21 April, Michelle Provoost (director INTI International New Town Institute) en Wouter Vanstiphout (professor Design as Politics) kicked off the lecture series at the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture. New town building is often associated with the post-war period, the 50’s and 60’s of the 20th century, when urban growth… Read More

  • 13/05/2015

LECTURE AND DEBATE BY MICHELLE PROVOOST, ALFREDO BRILLEMBOURG AND HUBERT KLUMPNER

The chair of Design as Politics and Utrecht Manifest present Social Design of Cities – The International New Town Institute vs. the Urban Think Thank. The event starts with two presentations: one by INTI director Michelle Provoost and one by the UTT directors Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner. We conclude the evening with a conversation with a.o. Pieter Hooimeijer, professor of Social Geography at the University of Utrecht. The event takes place on the 1st of April from 17:30 – 21:30 at the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture. The evening is moderated by Design as Politics professor Wouter Vanstiphout. Sounds good?… Read More

  • 13/03/2015

A Clockwork Jerusalem: architecture, politics, riots and the belief in a better world

A week from now Wouter Vanstiphout will talk at the British School in Rome, on Via Gramsci (!) about the relationship between architecture, creativity and politics. In his lecture, Wouter will discuss how architecture and town planning have for centuries been used to create the infrastructure and the institutional icons for nation states. It has been deployed as a tool to force people into certain behavioral modes and it has been instrumental in creating the visions of future cities and landscapes, that are needed to mobilize massive amounts of state and corporate power. Architecture however struggles with this responsibility. Often… Read More

  • 10/02/2015

Who will take the responsibility for public values in the built environment with changing public private relationships?


The Design as Politics research group, in collaboration with the TU Delft chair of ‘Public Commissioning’  organise a joint debate on Friday 13 February, about the challenges attached to safeguarding the public good in a changing world. You are cordially invited to join this debate session, which will take place in the Berlage Zalen – Faculty of Architecture – TU Delft. Amongst the speakers are Tom Avermate, Marleen Hermans, Allard Jolles, Petra Rutten, Karin van Dreven, Harry Kruiter, Patrick Healy and  Wouter Vanstiphout. Admittance is free, but due to constrained capacity of the venue, registration is obligatory. For registration please send… Read More

  • 28/01/2015

Spatial Planning Seminar in collaboration with Design as Politics

Design as Politics’  PhD candidates Azadeh Mashayekhi and Nurul Azlan will present an update on their research on Tuesday 27 January during the SpatialPlanning Seminar. The seminar takes place from 12:30 to 13:30 in room 00-WEST-670 of the Architecture Faculty. We hope to see you there! Azadeh Mashayekhi Dreaming of American City: Iranian consumer project of modernity    All through twentieth century Iranian cities have undergone processes of modernization in successive political regimes that have left their traces in the physical and social form of the city.  In her research Azadeh uses particular national development plans in Iran during the Cold War to… Read More

  • 26/01/2015

Video: Bookpresentation Are We The World?

Last Tuesday we presented our book ‘Are we the World? – Randstad Holland, São Paulo, Istanbul & Rotterdam’ in Pakhuis de Zwijger. We look back at a great evening with a well-recieved lecture by Design as Politics’ professor Wouter Vanstiphout followed by two statements by essay authors Marta Relats and Roberto Rocco. The evening was concluded with a interesting debate with Carolien Gehrels, Markus Appenzeller, Henk Ovink and Wouter Vanstiphout. For everyone who couldn’t be there: the whole event has been recorded! Check it out here

  • 22/01/2015

Stadmakerscongres 2014

Image by Fred Ernst A Couple of weeks ago, our Design as Politics students took part in the 2014 Stadsmakerscongres (City Makers Congress), organized by the Rotterdam Architecture Foundation. The event was concentrated around the central theme of ‘connectivity’ – a crucial issue in an age in which ‘city making’ is not only done by formal and institutional actors, but more and more also by entrepreneurs, activist and citizens. The Stadmakerscongres 2014 brought these parties and their practices together, investigated its potential and explored how it already works in Rotterdam. Our students took part in the Tours & Stories program,… Read More

  • 19/12/2014

Are We The World? – The Export of Dutch Planning

Join us on January 20th at Pakhuis de Zwijger for an evening around our new book ‘Design & Politics #6 – Are we the World?’ The event is part of the Urban Books program. Speakers include Wouter Vanstiphout, Henk Ovink, Markus Appenzeller, Saskia van Stein, Marta Relats, Ekim Tan, Michelle Provoost, Roberto Rocco and others. Dutch Planning is conquering the world. Designers and planners from the Netherlands are being invited to solve complex questions with their combination of technical skills and especially the ‘Dutch approach’ of integral planning, wherein planning and process management are combined. Simultaneously the role of public… Read More

  • 15/12/2014

Els Leclercq and Marta Relats at Randstad Research Seminar Series #12

Design as Politics’ PhD candidates Marta Relats and Els Leclercq are presenting their research tomorrow 12 December at the Randstad Research Seminar Series #12: Advances in Doctoral Research. Marta’s research ‘Pockets of reindustrialization in Europe: Regional planning and urban design impacts’ aims to investigate how to place the industry in the territory of western industrialised countries, in the foreground of a recovered interest in manufacture. The main hypothesis of her study is that design can contribute to two main societal goals at stake in today’s situation: one, the successful evolutionary breakthrough of the industry so that it is competitive, innovative… Read More

  • 11/12/2014

Book: Are We The World? Available soon!

We are extremely proud to announce that our first book ‘Are We the World? – Randstad Holland, São Paulo, Istanbul & Rotterdam’ will be for sale from November 1st! In this book we look at the export of Dutch design and planning, which has been exported for decades across the globe. After a successful period in which the polycentric Randstad model was held in high esteem, followed by the fresh, modern approach of the Super- Dutch architects, the resources and expertise of Dutch institutions have been employed for projects in Asia and South America. But, are Dutch ingenuity, pragmatism and… Read More

  • 30/10/2014