My approach

In my teaching, I focus on questions of governance and planning and their inter-relations with urban and regional design processes. My approach is characterised by a creative and mutually-beneficial dialogue between research and teaching. I use research projects to ‘situate’ and anchor teaching process, while learning from the students and applying their insight to research. I put an emphasis on nurturing cross-disciplinary and critical thinking and ability to engage in debates in the world of practice and within academia. This entails pushing the students to address the ‘why’ and ‘for whom’ questions and to develop sound methodological, theoretical and empirical foundations for their design and research explorations. Finally, I pay special attention to sensitising the students to the social and governance dimensions and societal and institutional consequences of urban planning and design choices. I also provide them with methodological tools to explore those dimensions and design inclusive stakeholder engagement strategies.

Teaching qualification:

Education activities at the Faculty of Architecture and the Build Environment TU Delft:

  • AR3U100 Graduation Lab Urbanism Studio – Planning Complex Cities (co-ordinator from 2024/2025, first mentor of graduation projects 2017-present);
  • AR3U010 Governance, Policies and Stakeholders (co-ordinator, teacher, circa 20 students, 2022-2024);
  • AR2U088 Research and Design Methodology for Urbanism (co-ordinator, teacher, 80-90 students, 2018-2024);
  • AR2U086* Research and Design Studio: Spatial Strategies for the Global Metropolis (studio mentor, liaison with the H2020 REPAiR project leading to cross-fertilisation between research and education 15-20 students, 2016-present);
  • BK2AC1 Academic Writing (bachelor course, in Dutch, teacher);
  • ABE 013 Qualitative Research Methods for Architecture and the Built Environment (PhD course, teacher, circa 10 students, 2016-present);
  • Summer School ‘Planning and Designing for the Just City (teacher, circa 80 students, 2016-2023).

Past courses:

  • AR3U013 Analytical Methods of Urban Planning and Design (teacher, circa 20 students);
  • AR3U023 Theories of Urban Planning and Design (teacher, circa 20 students);
  • European Post-Master in Urbanism: ABE005 Planning Policy and Governance course and graduation projects mentoring (co-ordinator 2019-2021; teacher 2016-2019, 15-20 students);
  • Graduating on a journal article submission in MSc3&4 Urbanism – informal course (2020-2021, co-ordinator, circa 10 students).

Guest teaching and invited lectures outside TU Delft:

  • Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari – summer school Governance, policies, and stakeholders (co-ordinator of the summer school based on my TUD course contents, teacher, July 2024)
  • Department of Urban Planning and Design, University of Hong Kong (circa 70-80 students, 2022-2023);
  • Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University Rotterdam (2015-2019): Urban Management Tools for Climate Change (course for urban professionals under the banner of UN-HABITAT, circa 20 students);Developing urban climate change resilience in Asia and the Pacific (training for Asian Development Bank, circa 20 students); Urban Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change (Master specialisation course, circa 40 students).
  • Urban Studies Foundation, COP26 seminar, University of Glasgow (2021):
    Unlocking the potential of sustainability transitions to make cities more just and liveable Video

Mentoring:

  • I have played the role of first mentor for students in Planning Complex Cities studio and acted as second mentor for MSc Urbanism students in other studios including Urban Metabolism, Transitional Territories, Urban Fabrics, European Post-Master Urbanism.
  • So far, 32 student theses supervised as first or second mentor since 2016 (28 in MSc Urbanism and 3 European Post-Master Urbanism). Topics: spatial justice, energy transition, flood resilience, climate adaptation, circular economy, sustainable urban development, citizen engagement, circular food systems, informal urbanisation, shrinkage, etc. Here is a full list of graduation projects I mentored:
  1. Gillian Weber – ongoing
  2. Yuanjie Wang – ongoing
  3. Yuhang Zhai – ongoing
  4. Rexhina Basha – Redefining Energy Scapes in Elbasan, Albania. Establishing a synergy between communist industrial sites and residential areas in the context of energy transition
  5. Rik Ebbers – Regenerative energy. A just energy transition from a socio-economic perspective for Groningen
  6. Xinyu Lin – From Arrival City to Circular City. The Circular Development Approach to Incorporating Migrant Workers into the Urban Village Regeneration
  7. Anna Kalligeri Skentzou – Landscapes of Power. Reconfiguring the energy production landscape of Western Macedonia
  8. Ke Zhou – Feeding the Future. Towards a climate resilient rice production in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam
  9. Lisa Peek – Mix to the Max or Max to the Mix? Research by design into how spatial qualities and characteristics shape the future of mixed-use business parks in the Province of South-Holland
  10. Fran Shen – Re-imagining Periphery. On Identifying Development Opportunity of North Anhui through Place-based Circular Transition
  11. Kuan-Ting Liu – From Energyscape To Energy Justice: Rethink Approaches For A Just Energy Transition. Revitalize the neglected regions through integrated planning: a case study in Changhua, Taiwan (see academic paper based on the thesis here)
  12. Gabriele Caradonna – Addressing the New Urban Question Developing an Inclusive Strategic Framework for the Right to the City in the Peripheries of Milan through Critical Planning
  13. Xiaoling Ding – Towards a Flood-Resilient Civil Society. Explore Flood Risk Adaptive Design and Governance Strategies in Roermond
  14. Annam Irfan – Building Resilience with Vernacular Practice Along Jhelum, Kashmir
  15. Paulius Kliucininkas – How We will Live Together in the North. Cooperation among Port Cities in the Baltic Sea Region
  16. Enrico Corvi – The Porosity of the Purgatory. Tools for an alternative development of East Naples (European Post-Master Urbanism)
  17. Ganesh Babu – Reterritorializing Zuidoost. Towards sustainable, livable and just assemblages in Amsterdam Zuidoost
  18. Laura Conijn – Developing Strategies. Planning cities affected by Coastal Erosion
  19. Karolina Tatar – From Parking to the City. An integrated approach to the transformation of Zakopane city into a liveable and sustainable urban environment for its residents
  20. Jan Fries – The Other Side of the Table. The Countryside’s Role in the Brandenburg-Berlin Food System
  21. Mark Scholten – (Anti-)Social Stockholm. Understanding interrelations of socio-spatial segregation
  22. Sankarnath Pothannoor Mukundan – Changing Sacredscapes. A cultural approach for a sustainable Varanasi
  23. Ilyana Miteva – Adaptive Resilience: The added value to a changing world. Flood risk adaptation strategy for overcoming socio-spatial vulnerabilities in Bandung regiom
  24. Preetika Balasubramanian – Geographies of Power. Spatial Strategies for a ‘just’ energy transition in Tamil Nadu (thesis shortlisted for Archiprix award 2018-2019)
  25. Anne van Bergen – The Dialogue of the City. Implementing a productive Citizen Participation Method for Urban Node Development, in Delft the Netherlands
  26. Ioanna Karadimitriou – Juxtaposition of realities in transformation areas. Case NDSM Amsterdam
  27. Oumkaltoum Boudouaya – Casablanca, Coexistence of Contrasts
  28. Johanna PIeritz – La strada della valle. Towards an alternative strategic framework for the regeneration of the valleys Impero and Prino in the province of Imperia, Liguria, Italy
  29. Pablo Unceta Munoz – Looking for alternatives in the city of the slopes. Housing as a process to reduce socio-spatial segregation in Lima, Peru (European Post-Master Urbanism, see academic paper based on the thesis here)
  30. Javier Tobias – Regenerative Flows. Neglected Vestiges of teh Bortheast of Saragossa (Spain) (European Post-Master Urbanism)
  31. Ijsbrand Heeringa – Reimaging the European Periphery. The Case of Asturias
  32. Nilofer Tajuddin – LEVERAGING SOCIO-CULTURAL NETWORKS. Local adaptation strategies to bring about flood resilience in Chennai Metropolitan Area, India
  33. Annemieke Wiggers – Energy Landscapes. Shaping the energy transition in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area
  34. Matthijs de Deckere – Hot Town! Summer in the city. A research into the relation between Rotterdam’s South socially deprived neighbourhoods and the urban heat island
  35. Wenchi Yang – Green is the New Black. In search of an alternative vision for eco-city development in China

Examples of student group work supervised: