This cluster is led by Irene Luque Martin. Roberto Rocco, Juliana Gonçalves, Caroline Newton and Johnathan Subendran are part of the graduation cluster Desig for Feminist Values and have, over the years, mentored students on a wide range of topics — but often all with the shared concern for justice and sustainability. This cluster adopts a feminist lens to confront intertwined systems of power and oppression within urban space. Urbanism, the integration of urban planning and design, is urgently in need of being reimagined through practices of disruption of the status quo. This includes, practices of care, reciprocity, inclusion, solidarity and anti-colonial praxis. This is done by grounding ourselves in feminist epistemologies, explicitly questioning who can/is allowed to produce knowledge and how this eventually manifests in space. Students are invited to critically position themselves, interrogate the political economies of design and space, and expand the tools and terrains of urbanism through situated, accountable action. With the Centre, we offer a platform through which students can discuss shared concerns and burning questions.

UP2030 is a Horizon Europe project that aims to support cities in driving socio-technical transitions to climate neutrality by integrating technology, urban planning and design.

City stakeholders and local authorities are supported and guided by a consortium of universities, research institutes and technology SMEs to put carbon neutrality on the map of their communities in day-to-day actions and strategic decisions. TU Delft is a Work Package leader in charge of developing a tool for benchmarking spatial justice, in collaboration with municipalities, technology SMEs and universities.

This work entails preparing a pilot strategy and urban design for a historic neighbourhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro, where the authorities wish to integrate one of the city’s favelas into the fabric of the neighbourhood in a sustainable, carbon-neutral way.

Students involved in this track are expected to contribute to the project by doing research and design that supports the city of Rio and the technical stakeholders, and to contribute to the Centre’s activities — including the symposium “Benchmarking Spatial Justice“. As an alternative, students may choose from the project’s other pilot cities: Lisbon, Granollers, Milan, Belfast, Rotterdam, Budapest, Zagreb, Thessaloniki, Münster and Istanbul. Participation guarantees access to city data and interaction with city officials and consortium partners.

Students in the Honours Programme are invited to do scholarly research on how to measure spatial justice and how to use the concept proactively in policymaking. Students are welcome to use case studies, literature reviews and interviews to unveil the challenges to including spatial justice in policymaking and to suggest possible sets of indicators or benchmarks for spatial justice.

If you are a student who is interested in what we do and wants to help shape and imagine just and sustainable urban futures, please get in touch with us.

Teams of students are invited to draft a Manifesto for the Just City, articulating their visions for cities that are sustainable, fair, and inclusive for all.

This workshop series is a collaborative effort by TU Delft, IHS Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the University of Illinois, Winston-Salem State University, Morgan State University, The Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and many more academic partners from across the globe.

This course seeks to discuss spatial strategies for an integrated urban recovery in post-conflict settings. It investigates the process of reconstruction and what “building back better” implies: tackling inequalities, strengthening the capacities of local actors and pursuing a green, resilient and inclusive economic recovery anchored in sound spatial planning, design and policy.

The course focuses on practical tools of spatial planning and strategy-making, land and resettlement policy, building and planning standards for climate adaptation and decarbonisation, policies and programmes for ensuring the development of adequate (re)housing, as well as mechanisms to ensure fairness, participation and transparency throughout the urban recovery and reconstruction phase.

Eight sessions with experts on aspects crucial for reconstruction. Available online.

The Centre for the Just City, in collaboration with the Department of Urbanism and the Chair of Spatial Planning and Strategy at TU Delft, announces the eighth edition of the Summer School Planning and Design with Water for Justice and Sustainability. The Summer School is supported by the Resilient Delta Initiative.

The school integrates spatial planning, urban design, and environmental technology to address spatial justice, sustainability, climate adaptation, and water management in urban transitions. Participants are invited to put the notion of spatial justice central in urban development, understanding and integrating theories and practices that connect spatial justice with sustainability.

This course presents today’s urban challenges with a focus on developing countries, referred to as the Global South. It debates three themes that go beyond traditional urban strategies and policies: spatial justice — having fair, inclusive and healthy urban contexts; housing provision and management — alternative approaches to meet increasing demand; and sustainable urban transitions — moving from current unsustainable systems towards fair and sustainable futures.

The course addresses questions such as: Is the Just City framework applicable to cities with extreme socio-economic inequality? Can community-led housing initiatives provide effective solutions for households in need? How can the transition towards an environmentally sustainable future also be socially just?

Through short theoretical lessons, case studies from Latin America, MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia, testimonies from practitioners, and practical assignments, learners develop a critical perspective on their own urban environment and translate this knowledge into analytical tools and innovative solutions.

Cities are vibrant, complex places serving as the backdrop of lives and livelihoods. Yet uneven distribution of infrastructure, wealth and opportunities can exclude the vulnerable, exacerbate inequalities and lead to further segregation. Looking at urban planning from a critical perspective, this module links theory to professional planning. It covers spatial justice, the commons, the right to the city, and global trends such as gentrification, and speculates how professionals of the built environment can begin to design fairer and more inclusive urban spaces for the future.

The video curriculum is divided into two main categories: Fundamentals — concepts and theoretical knowledge including spatial justice, critical urban theory, urban commons and public goods, and complexity and system theory; and Tools — structured as What?, How? and Examples, with methods to analyse current and future urban challenges including storytelling, observational drawing, and co-creation.