IS THE SUMMER SCHOOL ABOUT ARCHITECTURE?
Not exactly, although many of our participants come from architecture programmes and professional practice.
The Summer School is organised by the Department of Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft. Urbanism is concerned with the city and the built environment as a whole. It combines spatial planning, urban design, governance, public policy, sustainability, and social questions into a single field of study and practice.
While we are located within a Faculty of Architecture, our primary focus is not the design of individual buildings. Instead, we explore how cities, neighbourhoods, and regions are planned, governed, financed, and transformed over time.
Architects often enjoy the Summer School precisely because it invites them to think beyond the scale of the building. It encourages them to engage with the social, political, economic, and environmental forces that shape urban development and influence the lives of citizens. Architects who wish to deepen their understanding of cities, planning, and urban governance are strongly encouraged to apply.
IS THE SUMMER SCHOOL ABOUT ENGINEERING?
No, although engineering perspectives are both welcome and highly relevant.
The Summer School focuses primarily on spatial planning, urban design, and the governance of the built environment. Engineers often find the programme valuable because it provides insight into how planning and design decisions are actually made, and how technical expertise operates within political, institutional, and social contexts.
Many contemporary urban challenges, from climate adaptation and mobility to housing and energy transitions, require close collaboration between planners, designers, engineers, policymakers, and communities. Engineers who want to understand these broader decision-making processes generally find the Summer School directly relevant to their work.
WHAT IS THE SUMMER SCHOOL ABOUT?
The Summer School is an intensive exploration of how cities can become more just, sustainable, and democratic.
Through lectures, workshops, field visits, group work, and discussions with academics and practitioners, participants develop a spatial strategy for a real urban area in the Netherlands. Along the way, they learn how planning decisions are made, who influences them, and how planning can contribute to more equitable urban futures.
In essence, the Summer School is about democratic, inclusive, and accountable spatial planning, with spatial justice as its organising principle rather than its afterthought.
The programme reflects the intellectual approach of the Department of Urbanism at TU Delft, which combines insights from the social sciences, environmental sciences, policy studies, and design practice. Rather than treating these perspectives separately, we bring them together to address complex urban challenges.
The central objective of the Summer School is to develop what we call a Spatial and Political Proposition: a proposal for how an urban district can become more just and sustainable through specific planning interventions, public investments, governance arrangements, and spatial strategies.
Participants are expected to identify a concrete problem, explain how it operates spatially, identify who benefits and who bears the costs, propose appropriate planning instruments, and demonstrate how their strategy advances spatial justice.
Spatial justice, as we understand it, has three interconnected dimensions.
Distributive justice concerns the fair allocation of the benefits and burdens of urban development.
Procedural justice concerns who participates in planning decisions, under what conditions, and with what degree of influence.
Recognitional justice concerns the acknowledgement and validation of diverse identities, cultures, experiences, and forms of knowledge, particularly those of groups that are often excluded from planning processes.
These dimensions are not abstract theories. They become visible in land-use decisions, housing policies, infrastructure investments, public space design, environmental interventions, and governance arrangements that shape everyday urban life.
Participants are encouraged to contribute from their own professional, disciplinary, and cultural perspectives. Effective planning requires knowledge from many fields, including architecture, planning, geography, engineering, environmental studies, sociology, economics, public policy, and political science.
The diversity of the cohort is therefore not incidental. It is one of the programme’s greatest strengths and an essential part of the learning experience.
IS THE SUMMER SCHOOL SUITABLE FOR PhD CANDIDATES AND POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS?
Yes.
The Summer School combines academic reflection, fieldwork, and practical planning and design exercises. Throughout the programme, participants engage with contemporary debates on spatial justice, sustainability, democracy, public goods, participation, and urban governance.
PhD candidates and post-doctoral researchers often find the programme valuable because it provides an opportunity to connect theoretical ideas with planning practice, while engaging with participants from different disciplinary, professional, and cultural backgrounds.
The Summer School may be particularly relevant for researchers interested in cities, planning, governance, participation, sustainability, social justice, urban design, public policy, or related fields.
Please bear in mind that approximately 70% of participants are Master’s students. The programme is therefore calibrated primarily to that level. Senior participants are expected to engage generously, contribute to discussions, and help create a supportive learning environment for the entire cohort.
You do not need to contact us in advance to confirm your eligibility. If you believe the Summer School aligns with your interests, simply explain your motivation in your application.