TU Delft Summer School Planning and Design for the Just City

We are not looking for the most accomplished CV in the pile. We are looking for people who are genuinely curious about cities — who notice injustice when they see it, who ask why things are the way they are, and who care enough about the answer to do something with it. Critical thinking matters more to us than credentials. A willingness to be wrong, to revise your assumptions, and to learn from people whose lives and knowledge are very different from your own matters more than a list of achievements.

The students who thrive here tend to share a few things: they find cities fascinating and troubling in equal measure; they are interested in other people and in other ways of living; they are comfortable with complexity and impatient with easy answers. They may already work in planning, design, architecture, geography, or social science — or they may be approaching these fields from somewhere quite different. We have been surprised, repeatedly, by the quality of work produced by people who arrived uncertain and left with a clear proposition.

If you have read something about spatial justice, the right to the city, participatory planning, or urban inequality — tell us. If you have noticed something in your own city that struck you as profoundly unfair, and wondered what planning had to do with it — tell us. If you are not yet sure what you think, but you know you want to think harder — that is enough.

The core question is simple: Who are you? What are your dreams and aspirations? What are your worries about the world? What are your goals — for yourself, for your community, for your work? A good motivation letter answers these questions honestly and specifically, not with generic statements about “passion for sustainable development.”

Your education, the languages you speak, your internships and training. Have you graduated with honours? Have you followed extra-curricular courses? Have you published, exhibited, built, or organised something? We want to know what you have done — but integrate it into your narrative rather than listing it. Show us what it means, not just that it happened.

Do you have hobbies? Do you have a business, or would you like to start one? Are you an artist, a musician, a writer? Are you a geek who reads technical papers for fun? Do you read novels? Are you an activist or do you have a cause you believe in? The students who stand out are not those with the longest CVs — they are the ones whose letters make us feel we are meeting someone real.

There is nothing wrong with being shy. You need to value your personality for who you are. But you must try to express yourself and let us know who you are — in writing, even a shy person can find their voice. The letter is your space to say things you might find difficult to say out loud. Use it.

Could you give a short workshop or teach other students a skill? Could you introduce the culture, planning traditions, or urban challenges of your country to other students and teachers? Have you studied something unique that you would bring to your group work? The Summer School is a collective exercise — we are selecting a cohort, not just individuals, and we value people who can contribute to and learn from others.

This is a crucial element. We need to understand how the Summer School makes sense in your educational path. Are you at a stage where you need to test your ideas against a live case? Are you working on research that this programme can deepen? Are you considering a career in spatial planning and want to understand what it means in practice? Be specific — generic statements about “broadening your horizon” tell us very little.

The mission, learning outcomes, teaching approach, and Delft pages tell you exactly what kind of programme this is and what kind of person we are looking for. A letter that shows you have read and understood our approach — and can articulate why it speaks to your own interests — is far more compelling than a letter that could have been sent to any summer school anywhere. Show us that you chose us specifically, and why.