Shaping Just Cities

Insights from TU Delft’s Innovative Summer School on Water and Urban Design

One of the biggest sustainability challenges our cities face today is ensuring water justice through responsible water management. The Netherlands has a long tradition of integrating water management, urban development, and spatial justice. In keeping with this tradition, Roberto Rocco and Caroline Newton, Associate Professors of Spatial Planning and Strategy at TU Delft, brought the TU Delft Summer School to life. This program explores innovative ways to tackle water-related challenges while considering social, environmental, and economic sustainability. We talked with Roberto about the summer school’s past editions, the involvement of the Resilient Delta initiative, and the experiences of its alumni.

Could you introduce us about the idea behind the TU Delft Summer School?

The TU Delft Summer School Planning and Design for the Just City is a two-week total immersion into the rich Dutch tradition of planning and design with water for justice and sustainability aimed at undergraduates in any area dealing with sustainability, social justice, and the built environment.

The aim of the Summer School is to explore the integration of spatial justice and sustainability into urban development within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda and the European Green Deal.

It invites students to put SPATIAL JUSTICE at the center of urban development and to understand the theories and practices that bring together spatial justice and sustainability, applying the knowledge acquired in the elaboration of a vision and a spatial strategy and design for an area in the city of Rotterdam in The Netherlands.

Why did you decide to organize the summer school?

True sustainability can only occur when environmental, economic and social sustainability happen simultaneously. Growing inequality is a threat to the sustainability of our cities. Social sustainability is underexplored in sustainability studies and the absence of this dimensions in most sustainability study programs means there is an enourmous gap to be filled.

Among the many sustainability challenges faced by our cities today, water justice via responsible water management is one of the most pressing. Issues include the provision of fresh water and sanitation to growing urban populations in the Global South, the preservation of natural water environments, pollution and contamination of water sources, flood risk management and last, but certainly not least, tackling the consequences of climate change. (ICPR, 2013).

Where does Resilient Delta come in?

The TU Delft Summer School Planning and Design with Water for the Just City benefits from the partnership with the Resilient Delft Initiative under the Convergence Programme between TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam. This partnership draws on cutting-edge research and interdisciplinary approaches to water justice and urban resilience, enriching the curriculum with innovative perspectives on managing water-related challenges in the context of social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
The Resilient Delta Programme supports this summer school with expertise on resilient urban development in delta regions, which are home to more than two-thirds of the world’s largest cities and are at risk from rising sea levels owing to their geographical location.
RDi also provides funding so that students from least developed countries can enjoy the summer school with full scholarships, in the hopes that they will act as multipliers of knowledge and ambassadors for TU Delft and Erasmus research and education.

Fitsum Abera Angasa from the EiABC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I was so excited when I was selected to receive a scholarship for the Summer School Planning and Design with Water. The summer school helped me learn the core values and processes in spatial planning and design. The summer school was well coordinated with many lectures by TU Delft professors, researchers and government officials, as well as site visits. We also worked in a group project which deals with water issues in Scheveningen, a harbor area, located in the west of The Hague.

At last I can proudly say that my summer school in TU Delft was fruitful , I took a lesson that can be applied in real practice and can be shared in my university.

Atoosa Marzban from Iran, stuying at Politecnico di Milano

The Summer School at TU DELFT, was a great Journey, I mean Journey in terms of 10 days of new experiences, achievements, knowledge, making friendships, fun and enjoyment, discovering a new city and a new lifestyle….that was a challenge which gave me the chance of learning, practicing, listening to new ideas, meanwhile enjoying to think freely while making a creative project. I enjoyed a lot during the summer school and I would never forget that days. I recommend surely not to miss a big chance to have an experience which is totally different of all projects during university period. That’s not only the lessons of planning and design, but also you would learn the lessons of life and being happy.

 Aris Golemis from Greece – civil engineer

The experience I gained from this summer school was truly unique both in terms of making acquaintances and expanding my knowledge. For me, a civil engineer, the summer school helped me gain an aspect I have never heard of, zooming out from the original engineering aspect and making me realize the bigger picture. Technicalities aside, I also met some awesome people whom I am still and will be in touch with, both staff and students.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the environmental aspect of either engineering or urban planning, as I believe it was overall an invaluable experience, both for my academic background but also for me as a person. I am grateful to have attended it