Atlantis #23.3 Designing Science by ATLANTIS

ATLANTIS ATLANTIS

#23.3 #23.1 March June 2013 2012 Teaching methodology for Urbanism 4 Urban and Regional Design Education 8 Top 5 Academic books 12

MAGAZINE BY POLIS | PLATFORM FOR URBANISM

Small Treatise on Method 14 Misconceptions about science 20 Empirical research and spatial design 22 Being a critical Urbanist 28 "2010" 32 The Urbanism department on emending education 34 An Asian perspective 38 From splendid isolation to "feet in the mud" 42 Marc Jacobs Foundation 45 An internal reflection 48 An external reflection 54 Flowscapes studio 60

Designing Research

SHIFTING TERRITORIES

Editorial The Atlantis committee is very proud to present our third edition of the volume: 23.3 Designing research. This edition is made around the theme of Urbanism as a scientific discipline. Remon Rooij is one of our Urbanism assistant professors at TU Delft and he is the one who originally came up with the theme proposal. As guest editor, Remon Rooij helped us a great deal with the magazine and this edition would not have been possible without him. The scientific relevance of urbanism is a topic that has been on the agenda of the Delft Urbanism department for a very long time. The goodbye of one of our associate professors Ina Klaasen, was a good reason for us to make a special edition of Atlantis around the theme of research. Ina brought the topic of Urbanism as scientific discipline to the front in her 2004 PhD thesis Knowlegde-based design: developing urban & regional design into a science. But she also passionately put it on the Urbanism education agenda with her longterm involvement in the MSc Urbanism methodology programme. The focus of this Atlantis is on what Urbanism as scientific discipline actually is or means, how this is ‘translated’ in the MSc Urbanism curriculum of today and how the both of them are perceived by all kinds of contributors (staff and students) and observers. This Atlantis therefore talks predominantly about the relation between academic research and design, the relevance of methodology and theory for urbanists and the important academic skills that an urbanist should have. This edition is the first edition made under the new Polis board and I believe it is an very good one to start with. The new Polis board will introduce themselves on the next page. On behalf of the Atlantis committee we wish them good luck for the upcoming year. From this edition on our editorial team is strengthened with two new editors. I would like to welcome Yos Purwanto and Inge van der Ploeg and I hope that they will contribute to Atlantis for many more editions to come. At the same time we have 2

to say goodbye to Laurien Korst and Yongki Kim who both left the magazine to focus on their graduation thesis. Good luck to them both! This edition is introduced by an article co-written by our guest editor about our urbanism master track. The second article by three staff members from our faculty goes into more depth on the urban and regional design component of our education. Edward Hulsbergen and Taeke de Jong provide us with an insight into their opinion about the relation between research and design. In her contribution, Ina Klaasen deals with a number of misconceptions about science. To conclude the first section of this Atlantis, we present here one of the best student articles written for the MSc Urbanism methodology course, which talks about being a critical urbanist. The artpage in this edition exhibits the work of Japanese artist Sagaki Keita. The second part of the magazine consists of much reflection on our education. A debate between five TU Delft Urbanism staff members touches upon many different aspects of the Urbanism master track. Three staff members with an Asian background reflect on the ‘Dutch’ education from the Asian perspective. Jeroen van Schaick offers us an insight in the challenges of working in practice now, after having finished his PhD in Delft. Two faculty research experts, Theo van der Voordt and Frank van der Hoeven have been interviewed to discuss the past and future of the discussion about the relation between research and design. Two faculty education experts from the Architecture and Real Estate & Housing MSc tracks, Roberto Cavallo and Matthijs Prins have been interviewed to share their perspective on the Urbanism track. Furthermore, this Atlantis edition also presents a number of Urbanism alumni reflections on the education they have had here at TU Delft and the value they see and perceive of their acquired academic skills and knowledge.

ATLANTIS

#22.1 April 2011

MAGAZINE BY POLIS | PLATFORM FOR UBANISM

URBAN SOCIETY

#22.3 Urban Economy Keywords: globalization, urban economy, competitiveness, branding, market, role of urbanism, foreign direct investment.

ATLANTIS

#22.1 April 2011

MAGAZINE BY POLIS | PLATFORM FOR UBANISM

URBAN SOCIETY

#22.4 Urban Landscape Keywords: landscape, metropolitan, urban-rural, biodiversity, border conditions.

#23.1 Shifting territories Keywords: territory, balance of power, borders, globalization, new towns, third world, mapping, slums.

#23.2 Re-Thinking practice Keywords: innovative practice, financial crisis, citizens participation, social media, small scale interventions

#23.3 Designing Research Please enjoy this new edition and be critical,

Keywords: research and design, Msc urbanism program, reflection practice, academic discipline,

Matthijs van Oostrum & Remon Rooij

body of knowledge, methodology

From the board Dear Polis members,

Kevin van der Linden - President In front of you lies the brand new edition of the Atlantis magazine, #23.3 Designing Research. As members of the new board for 2013, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an honour to inform you about our approach for this year. But firstly, we would like to thank the former board members for the enormous amount of work and enthusiasm that they have put in to Polis over the last year. Thanks to their hard work, Polis continues to be a meaningful and exciting platform for Urbanism and Landscape Architecture students. This year our task is to continue to raise the profile of the association.

Sarah Rach - Secretary

Due to the current economic decline confronting our field, it is increasingly important to focus on possibilities, not just impossibilities. This also applies to the way that Polis can support students at the faculty in the many challenging opportunities, of which many students are not aware. These include electives, graduation courses, and possible fields of work after graduation. Therefore, we aim to help students at our faculty better prepare for their next step, organizing events focussed on their future career.

Lizet Krabbenborg - Events

In short, the focus of the Polis committee for next year will be: - Bachelor students: promoting enthusiasm for urbanism and informing them about possibilities within urbanism - Master students: increasing possibilities during the study, internships, electives and graduation courses - Graduates: improving the connection with practice to inform the students and professionals about the urbanism developments

Tjerk Wobbes - Company Relations We believe there is much potential in involving young professionals as well as strengthening relations with professional practice. A large and eye-catching event such as the Urbanism Week can be a great opportunity to involve companies from many fields of work and improve the relation between study and practice. Besides lectures and excursions, debates are an interesting way to position ourselves in the current urban planning context and provide an opportunity to compare approaches and develop oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own position. Debate can be used to enlarge knowledge on specific topics as well as to share approaches and related experiences. In this way, Atlantis provides the opportunity for debate and discussion about urbanism between students, professionals and academics.

Jet van der Hee - Atlantis

As the new board of Polis we are very enthusiastic for the upcoming year. Our goal is to increase the number of people involved with Polis, both students and professionals.

Arjan Smits - Treasurer With great ambition to make the best of it, we are really looking forward to make 2013 to a fantastic year for Polis. On behalf of Polis Board 2013

* Interested in a Polis committees? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hesitate to contact us at our Polis office (01west350) or mail: contact@polistudelft.nl 3

Teaching methodology for Urbanism Appreciating the variety of perspectives in the Urbanism discipline

remon rooij & roberto rocco assistant professor chair of spatial planning & strategy

Urbanism is the academic discipline that is concerned with understanding the spatial organisation and dynamics of urban areas. It compares, evaluates, invents and designs new ways to maintain the balance between public and private, the built and natural environments, and local and global perspectives. Urbanism underpins practical action to shape the urban environment in a sustainable way. (Department of Urbanism, 2013: ii)

‘Urbanism’ is not an English word, but we use it to express our particular understanding of a discipline that is concerned with the organization and the design of human activity over a certain territory. In continental Europe and in Latin America, ‘Urbanism’ can describe various types of understandings and professional qualifications with an emphasis on the design of the built environment. In the Netherlands, there is a particular understanding of the discipline, which is not always easily communicable to outsiders, partly because practices have become so ingrained that they have become ‘invisible’, and partly because those practices are the result of very specific societal practices which do not translate one-to-one to other contexts. What Urbanism comprises in the Netherlands is not easily explained: there is a strong element of urban and regional design mixed with planning components, with tints of engineering, landscape architecture, sociology, political science, history, spatial economy and even computer modelling. When the daily board of the department of Urbanism of the TU Delft decided to implement a new methodology programme in its two-year Masters programme, we were faced with some big challenges. Within our department there is a large variety of ideas and opinions about what an education in Urbanism entails and what the relation between research and education is. Four main issues arose.

education in an increasingly internationalized environment, where understandings about the nature of the discipline are bound to differ (internationalisation). • Different worldviews

These four issues are interconnected and they have a huge impact on the nature of the questions being asked in an academic environment and the answers being delivered (the ontological question), the methods employed to answer those questions (the methodological question) and the discourses being built around questions, answers and methods (the epistemological question). The department of Urbanism consists a variety of chairs (Figure 1). All chairs form their own small communities. The MSc Urbanism curriculum is taught by staff members from all chairs. Different communities of practice often have very different worldviews. A worldview is basically a set of beliefs that one holds about the nature of the world and one’s place in it (Biggs, Buchler and Rocco, 2009). In philosophy of science, a worldview determines how one sees the world and the questions one asks about this world. In short, in academia different worldviews determine different research questions and the activities one would undertake as an academic to answer them. These different activities form different paradigms of inquiry. These different paradigms of inquiry must be articulated if Urbanism wants to claim its place as a specific discipline and not a collection of disparate disciplines next to each other.

"Different communities of practice often have very different worldviews."

First, as we explained, there is a particular understanding of the discipline and the activities and actions connected to it in the Netherlands (idiosyncrasy). Second, the scope of the discipline is very wide and different communities of practice have different understandings of the questions to be addressed (scope). The third issue concerns the dynamic nature of urban studies and practices today. The existence of new spatial challenges, new tools to understand them and new practices to tackle them means that the scope of the discipline is dynamic and in permanent evolution. Therefore, traditional and sometimes somewhat simplistic understandings of urban development and the practices involved are being challenged and new research and practice paradigms are arising (evolving paradigms). The fourth issue concerns an 4

• MSc Urbanism program

The 2-year (120 ECTS) Urbanism MSc curriculum at Delft University of Technology addresses spatial issues first and foremost from the point of view of urban and regional design, landscape architecture and spatial planning and strategy. One ECTS study point (European credit transfer system) is the equivalent to 28 hours of study. The didactic basis of the curriculum consists of a 80 ECTS research and design project education: research & design (R&D) studios and graduation studios (Figure 2). A second part is the 13

OTB Chair: Urban an Regional Development

Sect ion :S Prof. Wil Zonneveld pa tia l

OTB Chair: Neighbourhood Change and Housing Prof. Maarten van Ham

Prof. Eric Luiten

Pl Chair: Spatial Planning & Strategy

Chair: Design & Politics

Chair: Landscape Architecture Prof. Dirk Sijmons

Prof. Wouter Vanstiphout

Section:

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Section: Urban

Stra te

Prof. Vincent Nadin

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Chair: Urban Design

Prof. Han Meyer

Prof. Henco Bekkering

Prof. Arjan van Timmeren

Chair: The Why Factory Prof. Winy Maas

URBANISM @ TU DELFT

an ds cape

Chair: Theory & Methods

Urb

an Chair: Environmental Technology

Organisational Tree of the Department of Urbanism, TU Delft, jan 2013 by Roberto Rocco

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Chair: Cultural History & Design

Figure 1. Organisation tree of Urbanism department TU Delft © TU Delft

ECTS methodology programme: 5 ECTS in MSc2 (AR2U090) and two times 4 ECTS in MSc3 (AR3U012 and AR3U022). The curriculum is complemented with courses focusing on history, technology and practice in the first semester of the first Masters year, and a graduation project start-up course in MSc3. So, in order to reconcile a practice oriented education in Urbanism with the requirements of an academic environment and answer at least some of the concerns explained above, a curricular structure was developed in order to give room to both a practical approach (project oriented studios) and to raise the question of the academic value of students’ production within the methodology programme. Four years after the implementation of this curriculum, we have moved on and the importance of an academic education at TU Delft is not at all under discussion. Most people, including students themselves, agree that a higher education institution needs to offer the best academic education possible. In our case, this happens in straight combination

with practical skills that are inherent to our discipline. Students are particularly keen on doing high quality academic research that will inform, ground or promote good design and planning. But how to conciliate the requirements of academic research with the needs of design and planning practice? Do designers have special requirements and practices when doing research? If so, how do these relate to more traditional ways of doing research in the social and physical sciences? • Academic skills for Urbanism

These are questions we have explored in our methodology programme. The programme has evolved in its four years of existence and has incorporated new knowledge and varied viewpoints about the character of an education in Urbanism, as well as the connections between research and design and planning practices. This evolution has happened in a framework where students are constantly invited to discuss and reflect on different ideas about the nature of knowledge and theories, the importance of values, the variety of tools, skills and qualities one

needs in order to be an ‘urbanist’. They have contributed actively, sometimes passionately, with their knowledge, experiences and most of all, with their capacity for solid and wellgrounded research and critical analysis. Last but not least, they have been encouraged to reflect on the ethical dimensions of the Urbanism discipline. It is important to mention our programme objectives in order to understand the general direction the methodology programme is aiming for. In principle, the methodology programme aims to respond to the requirements of an academic education in an area of design and planning practice. In other words, the programme seeks: to build a relevant bridge between creative practice and academic research in the field of urban planning and design; to familiarize students with the body of knowledge that has already been produced on the relationship between creative practice and academic research, and to enable students to apply this knowledge to the activities and tasks involved in the Masters of Urbanism offered at TU Delft; 5

and the transparency of the design (process). So, the design needs to be criticisable from an academic perspective. We take a clear position in respect to the different paradigms of inquiry operating in Urbanism. We believe that the goal of articulating different paradigms of inquiry would be more easily met if meaningful relationships between the various disciplines that are part of an education in Urbanism were analysed within this framework, making the different research paradigms explicit. We take the position that an emphasis on research should not exclude design practice because of, among others, the mutually complementary nature of image and text in Urbanism. In other words, designs can communicate certain things that only the most skilled of writers could accomplish, and even then the time and effort employed might not make textual explanation the preferred tool to describe spatial relationships. Texts are not able to communicate spatial relationships satisfactorily, and therefore they need to be illustrated, visualised or ‘designed’. On the other hand, texts can convey messages that designs alone cannot convey. It is common practice in an education in Urbanism to say, “designs do not talk by themselves” and therefore they have to be explained orally or in written form.

Figure 2. Curriculum of the 2-year master track Urbanism at TU Delft © TU Delft

to introduce students to different notions of knowledge and different expected outcomes in research in the social sciences, the physical sciences and in design and planning practices; to encourage and support research in the Masters of Urbanism, in a way that is coherent with expectations of a leading academic institution, such as TU Delft; to provide the student with profound academic skills such as learning to learn, building argumentation, critical thinking and reflection, evaluating design alternatives, underpinning design decisions, academic writing, developing project proposals and presenting results clearly and convincingly. So, the methodology programme presents the students with discussions which are centred around different conceptions of knowledge and the different expectations regarding research, design and planning theories and methods, and outcomes from different communities of practice. We achieve this through a series of theoretical lectures accompanied by several practical exercises and much in-class debate. • Dealing with the variety of perspectives on Urbanism

The ‘worldviews’ of Urbanism are multiple and in permanent transformation. When the emphasis in the curriculum is put on design practice, elements of creativity, spontaneity and craftsmanship are valued. These elements are valued and sought after by students and teachers alike. When the emphasis is on (empirical) research, Urbanism generally dialogues with disciplines that have functional research paradigms like human geography, economy, law, psychology and sociology. When the emphasis is on study by design, value is given to the systematic exploration and evaluation of design alternatives 6

In summary, research groups within the department of Urbanism operate with implicit assumptions about space and how to understand it. The differences between research methods stemming from different worldviews in Urbanism are made explicit in our methodology programme, among others by the students themselves via the end products, which the students have to deliver: The Q3 Methodology course through a structured review of the methods that are presented in different study tracks offered to students in the different design studio quarters. The course enables students to develop a critical reflection on different research and design paradigms and assessment criteria. The MSc3 Theory of Urbanism course through a literature review assignment that builds the foundations of the theoretical framework of the (individual) graduation project. The MSc3 Methodology course through the development of the thesis plan that presents the methodological framework of the (individual) graduation project. Results in the Urbanism graduation track have shown us a strengthening of the argumentative power of our students over the last four years. International experiences show us that BK Urbanism students are able to present designs and tell stories that are underpinned by solid research, both empirical work and study by design. Our students, coming from all over the world, are consistently earning recognition because their designs and analytical texts are well delivered. Much still needs to be done in order to achieve excellence, but the methodology team is intent on achieving it. 1. Biggs, M., Buchler, D., Rocco, R. (2009) Design Practice and Research: Interconnections and the criterion-based approach. In: Malins, J. (ed), European Academy of Design: Design Connexity. Aberdeen. EAD & Robert Gordon University, 375-380 2 Department of Urbanism (2013) Research Programme: Summary 2013. Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology

Definition BOX Methodology, Science, Design, Research. These are all terms people from the urbanism department mindlessly use, but when it comes to think of them, these are actually terms people define differently. During the Urbanism week these words were used constantly and in a response to this we approached four different specialists to ask them how do they define the aforementioned terms.

Methodology: De Jong: Understanding each other’s methods. Van den Burg: The science of methods. So a method is something different than methodology. I believe this is a

Taeke de Jong Professor Technical Ecology And Methods

continental approach, as in opposite to the Anglo-Saxon meaning. Klaasen: Methodos, originally in Greek, the pursuit of any goal without a particular reference to obligatory procedures. From there: the pursuit of knowledge as a special case (Toulmin 2001: 84). Methodology is understood as meaning both ‘the procedures and techniques governing inquiry’ and ‘the study of such procedures and techniques.’ (Boyd, Gasper & Trout 1997: Glossary). Rocco: Methodology is the rational organization of research and design activities in order to achieve specific results. In our case (Department of Urbanism), methodology may be considered as the collection of steps and actions necessary to achieve new knowledge.

Science: De Jong: The set of tested suppositions. Van den Burg: A shared body of knowledge based on methodical research.

Leo van den Burg

Klaasen: In the empirical and practical sciences, the term ‘science’ may be defined as the entirety of:

Assistant Professor

1. Systematically ordered, reality-adequate knowledge on past, present and probable and/or

Urban Compositions

possible future reality, 2. Hypotheses, laws and rules and 3. Methods for obtaining further knowledge. Rocco: Science is a collective rational endeavour to understand the world and our place in it, through methodic observation, test, experimentation and reflection.

Design De Jong: Set of improbable possibilities expressed in words and drawings. Van den Burg: The creation of useable beauty. Klaasen: Verbal, mathematical, visual or material ‘construction’ of something that did not exist before; possibly on a different scale from the implementation. ‘Something’ might be anything from a research protocol to a theory. For design in which there is aesthetic flavour is strong (vormgeving), I use the term ‘visual design’. Rocco: Design is imagining and describing new processes. It is necessarily propositional.

Research

Ina Klaasen Associate Professor Spatial Planning and Strategy

De Jong: Testing suppositions. Van den Burg: Methodical actions, aimed to generate scientific understanding. Klaasen: My definition of research is a broad one: research may be characterized as an intellectual quest. I am following the Dutch 'guru' A.D. de Groot's definition of an ‘interpretative-theoretical study’. This is a form of research that meets the following criteria: it establishes connections, if necessary tentative, within a certain body of data; it must be impossible to solve the problem directly by experimental tests, and the interpretation arrived at is not the only possible one. (Groot (1961) Methodologie; Grondslagen van onderzoek en denken in de gedragswetenschappen: 325.). This fits our domain. Rocco: Science is a collective rational endeavour to understand the world and our place in it, through methodic observation, test, experimentation and reflection. (Research is the same as science!) Roberto Rocco Assistant Professor Spatial Planning and Strategy

Urban and Regional Design Education

elise van dooren, remon rooij & luc willekens tu delft faculty of architecture

Making the design process explicit

Urban and regional design are fundamental skills in the field of urban studies. Designing is a complex, personal, creative and open-ended skill. Performing a welldeveloped skill is mainly an implicit activity. In teaching, however, it is essential to make explicit what to do. Learning, a complex skill like designing, is a matter of doing and becoming aware what should be done and how to do it. Therefore it will be helpful for teachers and students to make the steps, methods and/or activities in the design process explicit. Based on literature research of the design process, on differences between novices and expert designers, and on personal experiences in practice, this paper distinguishes five generic elements in the urban and regional design process. These elements are generic in the sense that they lay beyond the complex, personal, creative and open-endedness of the design skill: exploring and deciding or experimenting; guiding theme or intended qualities; domains or aspects; frame of reference or library; sketching and modeling or physical language.

Urban and regional design are fundamental skills in the field of urban studies. Designing is a complex, personal, creative and openended skill. Performing a well-developed skill is mainly an implicit activity. In teaching, however, it is essential to make explicit what to do. Learning, a complex skill like designing, is a matter of doing and becoming aware what should be done and how to do it. Therefore it will be helpful for teachers and students to make the steps, methods and/or activities in the design process explicit. Based on literature research of the design process, on differences between novices and expert designers, and on personal experiences in practice, this paper distinguishes five generic elements in the urban and regional design process. These

elements are generic in the sense that they lay beyond the complex, personal, creative and open-endedness of the design skill: exploring and deciding or experimenting; guiding theme or intended qualities; domains or aspects; frame of reference or library; sketching and modelling or physical language.

they build the basis of the 120 ECTS Delft University of Technology Masters program in Urbanism (Rocco & Rooij 2010; Rocco, Biggs & Rooij 2011). Like all design oriented education programs, the MSc Urbanism programme faces the challenge to teach students (how to) design within limited time budgets of the Urbanism curriculum. Designing is a complex, personal, creative and openended skill. Dreyfus & Dreyfus (1986) label the design process as ‘unstructured’. Lawson (2006) sees it as a ‘prescriptive job’, creating (features of) the future. Schön (Goldhoorn 1991) points out that designing is complex: it is about different kinds of knowledge, about developing a personal system of preferences, and about using a specific language of sketching and modeling. For experienced

“How can teachers help students learn such a complex, personal, creative and open-ended skill such as designing?" • Designing

complex,

personal,

creative and open-ended skill

Urban and regional design are fundamental skills, disciplines if you like, in the fields of Urban Studies and Urbanism. Together

Figure 1. Exploring alternative ways to change an existing neighbourhood into a more child-friendly environment. A design study by Delft University of Technology 2012 minor students ‘Stedenbouw in de Delta’.

designers the process is not split up in separate steps and actions, but the process is an undivided whole with automatic, unconscious steps and actions based on common practice or routine and moments of reflection and exploration. How can teachers help students learn such a complex, personal, creative and open-ended skill like designing? How can we develop our teaching? To answer these questions, we need to look deeper into the processes of learning and designing. This paper, in the first place, discusses the importance of making [things] explicit when teaching and learning. Knowing this, immediately, a crucial question raises: what do teachers have to make explicit and what do students have to become aware of in learning to design? To answer this question, we formulate the hypothesis that, next to talking explicitly about the product, the design process has to be made explicit (section 2). We will elaborate in the third section of this paper on the design process in detail: five generic elements are presented as a framework for making the design process explicit. In the fourth and concluding section we discuss how teachers and students in urban and regional design might benefit from this framework. • Making explicit in education

Traditionally the ‘designerly way of thinking’ (Cross 2007) is taught and learned in the studio, in a master-apprentice system, or in educational terms: in a process of learning-by-doing. Schön (1985; 1987) has pointed out the paradoxical character of the design education. He states that the student ’is expected to plunge into the studio, trying from the very outset to do what he does not yet know how to do, in order to get the sort of experience that will help him learn what designing means’ (Schön, 1985: p57). For the student this is a confusing situation. Not only for the student learning to design is a challenging and

uncertain job, also for the teacher it is more challenging than it would seem. In principle, the teacher is an expert designer. However, in general, performing a skill like designing, is largely an implicit activity (Dreyfus and Dreyfus 1986; Lawson 2006; Ryle 2002). For experienced designers it is often difficult to make explicit what they do. Schön (1985; 1987) refers to this as ‘knowing-in-action’. However, in the process of learning and teaching a complex skill like designing, it is essential to make things explicit and to become aware of what to do. Dewey (in Logister 2005) describes this as ‘knowing is supporting to action’: knowing makes us understand the relation between our actions and the consequences of our actions. A better understanding of these relations, helps to act more focused and thoughtfully, more intelligently. Especially in unknown and new situations, it is important to use this understanding. Kolb (1984) describes learning as meaningful when four phases are included in the learning process: (1) concrete experience or ‘feeling’: sensory perceptions of concrete objects; (2)reflection or ‘watching’: observing and thinking, mental experimenting; (3) abstract understanding or ‘thinking’: translating experiences in general notions, conceptualising, relating; (4) active experimenting or ‘doing’: physical experimenting. In these four phases making explicit and doing are more differentiated: concrete experiences (1) and active experimenting (4) relate directly to doing, reflection (2) and abstract understanding (3) relate directly to making explicit. • Making explicit the process: a tool

To help the student in the process of doing design, the teacher and the student in a studio have regular talks. Personal observations of the dialogue between teachers and students tell us that we can distinguish four main layers in the discussions. To become experienced designers,

Figure 2. Vision for Rotterdam Zuid, the connection between the Maas river and the deprived neighbourhoods of Rotterdam Zuid. A guiding long-term development proposal for ‘Zuid naar de Maas’ by the 2012 Delft University of Technology minor students ‘Stedenbouw in de Delta’.

students learn by doing, by working on a case study: (layer 1) the design project at hand. In doing so, they discuss, at the same time, to apply (layer 2) personal and general design principles, by which design oriented knowledge is made applicable. Often implicitly, a teacher or student may follow a (layer 3) design method, a personal or cultural design approach. And last, but not least, students learn about the (layer 4) the design process, the generic process, lying beyond the personal methods and cultural approaches. Being teachers and observing teachers at work, our main impression is that in design teaching, a lot is said about the product, but

with each other. There is no fixed step by step sequence. Design processes might differ a lot in terms of the emphasis that is put on elements and the way the elements are used, depending on the kind of project, the designer and the design discipline. • Literature & experience

Starting point for us and the foundation for defining the generic elements in the design process is what researchers in this domain have written about the design process. Schön (1985; 1987) describes what happens in the design studio, and others like Darke (1979), Lawson (2004; 2006), Cross (2007) and Lawson and Dorst (2009) write

and focusing on the generic elements, the understanding of design further developed in the process of learning-by-doing and learning-by- reflection. In talking about the design process and the generic elements in design processes, they became more defined and focused. The next chapter presents them in detail. • Generic elements

Exploring and deciding or experimenting The design process is a dialectical and paradoxical process. A process of thinking in broad outlines and in detail, of doing and reflecting, of intensive working and taking distance, of naming and valuing, of seeing

Figure 3. The Delft University of Technology Core of Urbanism book series consists of four parts

a lot less about the process. Probably, for skilled designers, it seems more natural to talk about the design product than about the design process. Perhaps the (large) variety of things that you do in a design process is so self-evident for expert designers that they tend to ‘forget’ making them explicit in the education situation. Therefore, this paper defines and presents a basic framework of five generic elements to be distinguished in the design process. The framework is meant as a tool, to be used in design education, to make the design process explicit in a more clear and structured way. And we should not forget: designing is an interwoven process: the generic elements are to be distinguished, not to be separated. Moreover, the generic elements are not meant as a recipe for the design process. They are general principles or common features, present in one form or another in any design process. The elements emerge in the design process, next to and interwoven

about the design process in general. Apart from substantiating the generic elements in research about the design process, it is important that they are defined from an educational point of view. Therefore, we also relate to literature on the differences between novice and expert designers (like Eastman, Newstetter, & McCracken 2001;

what is and could be there and judging, of questioning and answering. It is a process of balancing between opening up possibilities, seeing new ways, analyzing, discovering alternatives, associating, encircling a subject, and abstracting it on the one hand and on the other hand reducing possibilities, testing, selecting, evaluating and making decisions. To summarize all these dialectical and paradoxical actions: designing is first and foremost a process of exploring and deciding, of diverging and converging, of experimenting. Designing is doing experiments and learning about the consequences and implications of these experiments. Schön (1985) describes this process of doing (small) experiments also as ‘making a web of moves’. He defines the moves as changes in ideas and representations, in configurations, sketches and words and the consequences and implications of a move as traces in the virtual world of a drawing or model. Starting with ideas and sketches, with proposed solutions,

"Designing is doing experiments and learning about the consequences and implications of these experiments."

Lawson and Dorst 2009). Furthermore, the generic elements have been developed in a process of experimenting and testing in design education practice. In a number of Delft University of Technology Architecture courses, students are trained in understanding the design process: the design process is made explicit during the training and is one of the important topics for discussion in the teacher-student dialogue. In structuring the education by

the designer explores the problem and possible solutions with an open mind. The experiments or moves are evaluated and further experiments are done. Making moves means creating new problems to be described and solved. And making moves may serve in seeing things in a new way, in constructing new meanings and intentions. In a way the process of experimenting is a process of questioning or in the words of Schön (1985) a ‘reflective dialogue’ and ‘conversation with the situation’. The designer is exploring and testing in experiments or moves with questions like: ’What if I do this?’, ‘What do I have to do, to achieve this?’, ‘What is happening here?’, ‘Do I like this?’, ‘Does it fit in what I want to achieve?’.

methods and culturally determined design approaches. And last but not least, it may help students in becoming more independent in designing. Cross, N.G. (2007). Designerly ways of knowing. Basel, Boston, Berlin: Birkhauser. Darke, Jane. (1979). The primary generator and the design process. Design studies. Sheffield: IPC Business Press Dreyfus H.L., Dreyfus S.E. (1986). Mind over machine, the power of human intuition and expertise in the era of the computer. New York: Free Press. Eastman, C., Newstetter, M. & McCracken, M. (2001). Design Knowing and Learning: Cognition in Design Education. Oxford: Elsevier Science.

• Guiding theme or qualities

Goldhoorn B. (1991). Het atelier, analyse van een onderwijsmethode.

Designing is working within an endless number of possibilities to come up, in the end, with an internally consistent whole. T13We see the framework of the five generic elements as a pragmatic – i.e. easy to understand, remember and work with – description of the design process. But we understand that, just as Magritte showing in his paintings, a model or representation is not reality itself. Reality is much richer and more differentiated. However, the description of a design process can help in learning to design and in learning to understand design. Learning a complex skill is a matter of doing and becoming aware of what has to be done. Making the generic elements in design processes explicit will give a focus on this design process. In this way the teacher-student discussions can much easier relate to both the design product and the design process. It is expected that explicitly knowing the broad outline of the design process and working explicitly with the generic elements in the design process, will lead to more understanding, for students and teachers alike. It will help to act more thoughtfully and focused. For teachers, it means that they can train the students in the design process in a more focused, structured and systematic way, with a design at hand functioning as a case study. Focusing on the generic elements, will lead to a better understanding of what students have to be trained in and what has to be paid attention to in education. Knowing more explicitly about the design process will help to structure the dialogue in the design studio and the curriculum. For students, being more explicit in the design process, will be helpful in the overall complex, sometimes confusing, learning process. Being more consciously aware of what designing is about, a student may get to grips with the ‘open, personal, complex and creative’ more easily. The generic elements provide a framework to distinguish the differences between urban designers, between the different personal

Archis 3-91. Keysers C. (2012). Het empathische brein. Amsterdam: uitgeverij Bert Bakker. Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiental learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Lawson, B. (2004). What Designers Know. Oxford: Architectural Press, Elsevier. Lawson, B. (2006). How designers think, the design process demystified. Amsterdam: Architectural Press, Elsevier. Lawson B., Dorst K., (2009). Design expertise. Oxford: Elsevier Logister, L. (2005). John Dewey, een inleiding tot zijn filosofie. Budel: Uitgeverij Damon. Pallasmaa J. (2009). The thinking hand. Existential and embodied wisdom in architecture. Chichester: Wiley and sons. Rocco, R., Biggs, M. & Rooij, R. (2011). Teaching for Urbanism: a didactical experience in a newly academicized area. In: proceedings 3rd world planning school congress. Track 12 ‘Planning education and planning practice’. Perth, Australia, 4-8 July 2011 Rocco, R. & Rooij, R. (2010). Educating the critical urban planner and designer. A didactical experience in an area of practice. In: proceedings INTED2010, International Technology, Education and Development Conference. Valencia, Spain 8-10 March 2010 Schön, D.A. (1985). The design studio, an exploration of its traditions & potential. London: RIBA publications Limited. Schön, D.A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Van Dooren (forthcoming). Making explicit in design education: generic elements in the design process. International Journal of Technology and Design Education. Houten: Springer

Figure 4. Urbanism 2012 minor students at work doing a SWOT analysis for Rotterdam Zuid

Academic Books The fountain of knowledge

TOP 5 ina klaasen associate professor, spatial planning & strategy tu delft

It is not a new idea to state that written knowledge has a substantial influence on the actual practices. Throughout the development of every science the academic books are the major source of understanding the phenomenana of interest and therefore a solid background for enhancing the social reality. In the following article Ina Klaasen defines her academic view in respect to the field of Urbanism and reviews the books which have inspired her the most as a professional.

Jacobs, Jane (1961): The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Everybody should recognise this title. And know that the author is Jane Jacobs. My copy is a ‘first edition’, from 1961. It was bought by me in the USA, which means I got it in 1967, when I visited that country, travelling there on a cheap student’s ticket, by boat. Why did a physical-geography student buy it? Before even doing a planning course at Wageningen University? While I could not have any inkling that my future work would be in the field of Urbanism? In later years it became very well read by me – so much that the cover became detached. It had to be read in English because until 2009 there was no Dutch translation. My favourite citation from this book, which I used several times, is ‘A city can not be a work of art.’ I am inclined to think that one of the reasons for the delay in translation was that, certainly at our Faculty,urban design was closely linked to Architecture, , focussing on objects instead of on people; focussing on form and compositions instead of societal processes. Another reason might be that in our domain, publications that are older than say 10 years, are not considered to be interesting anymore. I suggested once to get a group of students together to read ‘classics’, but this idea never got of the ground. An other book to be read then would certainly have been Ekistics- An Introduction to the Science of Human Settlements, by Constantinos Doxiadis, published in 1968. Also an early publication by Bill Hillier, entitled Knowledge and Design, from before his ´invention´ of space syntax, should have gotten attention.

Figure 1. The Death and Life of Great American Cities © Ina Klaasen

Lakatos, Imre (1976): Proofs and Refutations - The Logic of Mathematical Discovery Since my student years I have been interested in philosophy of science in the 1990s I obtained a certificate in this field at the Dutch Open University. It opened for me a fascinating world of thinking. So at least one philosophy-of-science book should be part of this Atlantis article. I have chosen this one of Imre Lakatos publications, because for me as a critical realist, he has been more influential than Karl Popper. I could have chosen The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes as well. Yes, I am a critical realist. In my opinion one cannot be otherwise in a practical science. The mathematician Lakatos was a pupil of Popper. He disagreed though with Popper’s falsification ‘dogma’ in the sense that falsifying not necessarily puts an end to a theory: it might help to find a hidden aspect which would instead strength the theory. My example in the domain of urbanism is that I had always taken for granted – and taught my students – that centre facilities in a village, district or town would/should always be more or less centrally situated in relation to the best accessibility for the most people. Until one of my students went to Brazil for his final project in the 1990s and found in Santos the city centre in the periphery… What in the Netherlands I had taken for granted was the more or less equal distribution of public purchasing power, but in Santos most people couldn’t afford regional facilities. For me Van Peursen’s Filosofie van de wetenschappen (Philosophy of the sciences) was an essential book – why has this small book never been translated into English? I do not have it anymore; either it was burned in the Faculty fire of 2008, or someone borrowed it and could not part with it. Figure 2. Proof and Refutations © Ina Klaasen

Huisman, Patricia (1996): Kennis Gewogen - Analyse van sociaalwetenschappelijk denken: kritiek en aanwijzingen. Ph.D Thesis. I bought Patricia Huisman’s sociological Doctoral Thesis (English translation ‘Knowledge Weighted’) after reading an interview with her in a newspaper. This book shaped my concept of scientific knowledge. A critical realistic view holds that the real world is independent of the knowing subject; the knowledge is in the context of human cognitive capacities, in principle objective or intersubjective. On the other hand “The attachment of importance to science in its own relevance to society, your choice of what to study, how you reduce reality, what your opinion is of scientific findings, what you do with the knowledge you acquire – all those things are value-bound.” (op.cit. 41 ff.) She states that terms used should not be multi-interpretable; they should be unambiguous and explicit before a theory is formed, and one should always think multidisciplinary given the complex nature of social reality. In addition, her realistic approach to science was euphemistically expressed; not stimulated by the subjectivists and structuralists around her. In the interview”(NRC, 14 June 1997) she says: “when I was writing I was continually asked friendly to quit.” When I myself presented my research to the faculty’s scientific committee, at the end of the 1990s, I was asked to forget the notion that spatial design could be scientifically underpinned although fortunately my promoter was not impressed. Last year giving the same reason, the reviewers of Urban Design Journal were not favourable to my submission. Figure 3. Kennis Gewogen © Ina Klaasen

Klaasen, I.T. et al. eds. (2005): De Stad van Niek de Boer. Maybe this book should have been the first to mention. It contains publications of Niek de Boer (1924), giving an overview of his rich oeuvre. He hold the Chair of Urban - and Regional - Design from 1969 to 1989. The title in English would be ‘Niek de Boer’s City; polemic views on city and region’. I came to work for him in 1975 after getting my degree at the University of Amsterdam. He was my teacher in the domain that I was not educated as a student (can be an advantage, actually). I owe him much. He was certainly an exceptional gifted author for a designer. Niek stimulated my interest in visual models; a model for the town of Emmen is shown on the cover of the book. It was his way of visualising the organised complexity of an open urban system in an abstract way, keeping away from the usual blueprints favoured by urban designers. From models like these grew my conviction over the years: not each design should be regarded as unique, the quality depending on the urban designer that happened to be chosen – the same way as we do not expect a medical practitioner to put together bits of biological, pharmaceutical and psychological knowledge together every time she sees a new patient.

Figure 4. De Stad van Niek de Boer © Ina Klaasen

Magnani, Lorenzo (2001): Abduction, Reason and Science - Processes of Discovery and Explanation. People tend to restrict models in science to mathematics. Designers do not tend to consider their designs as models. This does not help communication. This book discovered and published by me in 2001 combines models with the term ‘abduction’. The book explores visual models and temporal representations. Abduction, although very relevant for designers is a term not generally know in our domain. It is related to deduction and induction, and coined in the late 19th century by the American philosopher Charles Pearce to refer to “inference that involves the generation and evaluation of explanatory hypotheses” (op.cit. ix). Abduction can be read: How to do X? Y might do! So maybe try Y. Abduction is related to ‘plausible reasoning’: a pattern of reasoning by which one infers that a hypothesis is true from the fact that the hypothesis offers the most plausible or satisfactory explanation. This book relates abduction and models to science, relating both to heuristics: the art of discovery. The art of discovery is relevant to both practical sciences (e.g. medicine, all technical sciences) and formal sciences (e.g. mathematics and logics). By the way, practical science is not the same as applying science in a concrete case and is not the same as knowledge acquired in practice (see Drenth in the very last issue of U&H, 1995). In particular, abduction and heuristics are important for a science like urban and regional design, as for many reasons, finding answers in the context of justification is very difficult. Obviously it is only a small intellectual step to realise that heuristics, abduction and models have got to do a lot with ‘designing’ and with ‘creativity’. Be aware though that a specific design is not a hypothFigure 5. Abduction, Reason and Science © Ina Klaasen

esis – and that in practical science one never works with a hypothesis!

Small Treatise on Method Or, the iterative birth of an impossible figure

edward hulsbergen former associate professor tu delft

For decades thinking about scientific method in the context of social-spatial research and practice has given me joyful moments of reflection. The discussions about method seem as ancient as cultures, probably far earlier than the oldest remaining writings, judging from their quality and profundity. Looking at history retrospectively one might wonder about the methodological debates, many of which seem immature in our eyes, but which on close reading prove to be foundation and building stones for what is regarded nowadays as accepted wisdom. If one is sometimes amazed about the variety of views in the past, our own era demonstrates a cacophony of methodological views.

Is that bad, missing out on an opportunity? Or is it just the way evolution works? Is the ultimate thing to do, to participate to the best of one’s ability in the unending quest of method? In my experiences with - mainly empirical - research projects it became increasingly clear that it is a miracle that research exists at all, and that method comes to life in actual studies. To me, method in research is no more and no less than the birth of an impossible figure, which happens all the time, in an incredible variety of ways. This article is a personal statement. Discussions on method are more often than not difficult. Concentrating purely on methodological matters may well discourage fellow researchers and designers. Therefore, after looking at the Faculty's research, I focus on pitfalls that may be recognised, then on a few of my intellectual heroes and finally I pose that our brain is not always an ally, and often a trickster. More attention to case study logic might help to critically evaluate supposed accumulation of knowledge. The question of demarcation between science, pseudoscience and non-science never stops to be intriguing.

a broad debate about the logic of ‘ways’ and their different qualities as input for design and planning. It seems, however, that the facultywide effort did not achieve what was intended. The majority of academics continued their research and design as before, most probably to meet the output standards of the day. One may wonder if this lack of follow up is only counterproductive. Or that the variety of ‘methods’ safeguards potentially relevant research subjects in the Faculty which as yet only have (or have had) a chance to be developed in an idiosyncratic way. For example research which includes questions about intuition, quality, creativity, serendipity and originality in design; or, vague notions about planning for the region of the future, in countries with different planning traditions. If discipline-in-method and method-in-the-discipline are a problem, it might help for a start to focus on pitfalls, representing a minimal methodology. For the Faculty it is useful to make a distinction between ‘design’ pitfalls and ‘research’ pitfalls.

"I pose that our brain is not always an ally, and often a trickster."

• Method in the Faculty

The term ‘method’ with its long history in science usually refers to systematic and well-grounded research procedures, preferably at the frontiers of the scientific quest concerned. In (‘western’) scientific disciplines ‘method’ is generally aimed at fostering fair debate on the research project as a whole: on contents, steps, outcomes and feedback to the object of study, which in the field of technology includes the consequences of research outcomes for design. However, the general debate on method in architectural and urban research tends to foster confusion, for outsiders as well as for insiders. In an attempt to end this confusion, the Faculty of Architecture in Delft decided to make a composition of Ways to Study Research Urban, Architectural and Technical Design (De Jong & Van der Voordt, 2002). This compilation was meant as the starting point of 14

• Design pitfalls

Sources of bias – convictions, ideologies or prejudices – are always lying in wait. The many forms of bias in research and design indicate the continuing need for attentiveness to the precise identification of the design task and the architectural/urban intervention. The following pitfalls in (architectural) design, identified by Lawson (1990), might be common knowledge by now. The “category trap” is “the tendency to categorise the problem in solution terms before it has really been studied” (p.158); the “puzzle trap” is neglecting that “design problems are not in themselves puzzles” (p.161); the “number trap” is about “the discriminate use of numbers” (p.167); the “icon trap” is about “not manipulating the actual solution itself but rather some iconic representation of it in the form of drawings or models” (p.170); the “image trap” refers to the fact that “ideas are often expressed as symbolic images, and although these symbolic images are undoubtingly essential to the designer he can easily become trapped by his own illusion” (p.173).

In urbanism pitfalls also concern, for example, insufficient distinction between spatial model and urban reality, spatial scale confusion, fixation on physical-spatial solutions, neglect of processes in space and time, insufficient attention to the complex relations between functions in relation to space, and the actual daily use of space and functions by households (De Boer, 2005; Klaasen, 2005; Tummers, 2006). Another common issue is the notoriously uneasy relation between the written language of programme and the visual language of design, and the lack of time needed for sufficient, independent and encompassing evaluation of the consequences of a design intervention. • Research pitfalls

As far as method is concerned – judging from my own experience in trying to bridge the gap between social scientific ways on the one hand and on the other technological

design ways – several pitfalls come to the fore: a) ‘parental affection’ for opinions, ideas, hypotheses and theories; b) ‘vested interests’ concerning problem definition and outcomes of research; c) (conscious, yes or no) inclination to come to ‘comfortable’ conclusions; and d) the ‘black swan’ phenomenon, i.e. a too limited definition of the context (research universe). Ad a) ‘Parental affection’ is about the emotional ties between researcher and definition of the research problem; about the attachment of scientists to their own notions. Chamberlin (1965, originally 1890) points directly to the necessity of greater awareness regarding the methodological problem of a scientist’s implicite views which influence theory formation and research. Chamberlin puts forward his ‘method of multiple working hypotheses’, a way to operationalise theory in an interweaved network of working hypotheses, from simple to complex

ones. “With this method the dangers of parental affection for a favourite theory can be circumvented.” The emotional tie with one’s own views should not be denied, but be well used for its motivational power, and be corrected if necessary. Ad b) ‘Vested interests’ can take many different forms: earlier successes, scientific position, access to financial sources, political contacts, etcetera. It is wise not to underestimate “the idea of vested interest. People have an enduring tendency to protect what they have, justify what they want to have.” (Galbraith, 1977:11) Researchers, usually are very rational in their field of study and expertise; but as with emotions (see Ad a), academic, economic, social and other interest may hinder impartial problem definition, data collection and presentation of conclusions and recommendations. A university Chair can be sensitive to fraud by its scholars. This even reaches daily press

Figure 1. ‘Geboorte van een onmogelijke figuur’ (Birth of an impossible figure), painting by Piet van Mook in 1990 © Piet van Mook

papers. Deceptive behaviour seems not only a matter of personality but also of urgencies to uphold academic and research financial interests. Ad c) The inclination to draw ‘comfortable’ conclusions and recommendations is a risk especially when research is closely linked to policy. In the urban environment spatialsocietal problems are always complex and at first obscure. It takes time to scientifically define and - based on evidence - redefine what the problems actually are. Also in policymaking it takes time to focus on politically relevant policy definitions and the (re)direction of funding. Whether we like it or not, an attractive definition of a problem in policymaking is “simple, finite, has tangible parameters, and is administratively convenient. For these reasons it is entirely conducive to the formulation of programmes designed to ‘home in on’ an urban black spot, root out the malady, and cleanse it”, which is actually a way of neglecting the deep causes (Edwards & Batley, 1978:246). Researchers need to be aware that the political urge is often on ‘quick fixes’. It is their task to advise in the best possible independent way with preliminary outcomes on the one hand, while at the same time to keep straight that the present policy might be “a fantasy based on the finest intensions […] a fantasy nonetheless.” (Specter, 2009:7). When the causes lie deep, are neglected for long or change in the societal turmoil (as is the case with the majority of social-spatial problems) research which delivers comfortable outcomes for the present policy might lead to worsening problems in the long run. In particular for research related to policymaking and policy execution, the researcher should keep enough distance to safeguard independent research outcomes. “Close, but not too close” as IIASA (1980) advices. In design and research, scientists are no less human than their fellow humans; especially when willing to do good, there is a need to continue awareness of an adequate distance to any commissioner.

Ad d) The ‘black swan’ phenomenon is about “the fragility of our knowledge” (Taleb, 2007:xvii). ‘Black swan’ is a phenomenon of at the same time “rarity, extreme impact, and retrospective (though not prospective) predictability”, while, “the highly expected not happening is also a Black Swan” (xviii). The story has its roots in 1697, when Willem de Vlamingh discovered a flock of big black birds in Australia. It took some time to identify these birds as swans. Until the discovery of the black swans in Australia, in Europe all swans had been white. The Black Swan became a metaphor for the limitations of existing knowledge: beware of the one distinct observation that may overthrow existing and generally accepted ideas or theories. For the original Australian population (nowadays called Aboriginals) the blackness of the swans will have been ordinary. So, an appropriate academic attitude might be – apart from being aware and beware - to actively include the possibility of unexpected phenomena.

expressed in: “an individual method [in the context of design] has to be well-described, in order to avoid the predicate arbitrary” (Mick Eekhout, in De Jong & Van der Voordt, 2002, p.362). Another impediment to the faculty research programme is, that empirical research is taken lightly in the Faculty, not to say that it has an image of inadequacy. Empirical research would produce only old stuff and is said to frustrate creativity to design the future. This generalised view on empirical evidence is not only unjust but also pointless, as it keeps the eyes closed for potentials and innovation. Relevant empirical studies are focussed on the future, by improving problem definitions, identifying new possibilities for data collection and collaboration, up to evaluating what is built or intended, redefining design tasks and policy responsibilities. Regarding method, apart from the psychologist De Groot (1960) who explained the empirical cycle in a clear way, and Paul Drewe (TUD-BK Chair of Urban Research, later Spatial Planning, during 1973-2005) who opened new fields of study, two scientists were of special importance to me, namely Thomas C. Chamberlin and Karl R. Popper. At the end of the 19th century Thomas Chamberlin (1965) showed a way to deal with complexity, reality always being highly complex. His advice was not to focus on a single hypothesis, but to develop a coherent structure of working hypotheses (see above, parental affection). This structure consists of interlinked hypotheses (or expectances) on theoretical level down to hypotheses on measurement level. In this way the operator variables are visibly connected to the theoretical (abstract) variables. I combined this approach of ‘complex of working hypotheses’ with the Leyden non-linear multivariate analyses data elaboration (ALS) programs, which worked out very well for my research (Hulsbergen, 1992). Karl Popper was - anyhow to me - the great scout and leading light in thinking about methodological questions, and decision

" Another impediment to the faculty research programme is, that empirical research is taken lightly in the Faculty, not to say that it has an image of inadequacy."

• Dealing with complexity

The complexity of reality needs to be reduced to make it researchable or designable. Traditions - the paradigms in the disciplines - usually pave the way. However, in a rapidly changing environment hasty ‘clever’ reductions and ‘swell’ methods are easily taken for acceptable truth. If someone in science says ‘the method used here …’ it is clear that (s)he wants to be taken seriously, and invites to debate. In the Faculty of Architecture I experienced more than once that ‘my method’ seemed to mean, in my oversimplified terms: ‘take it or leave it, as apparently you are not able to see the quality and novelty’. On the other hand many scholars are well aware that the choice of any particular method or approach requires some level of justification, as

making about how to organize a research project. He took the tradition of ‘logic positivism’ to its end, stressed ‘critical rationalism’, tried ‘falsification’ as replacement for ‘verification’, ended up with something like ‘confirmation’. His many books, the commentaries by others, and my notes literally went up in smoke, on May 13th 2008. Only Popper’s autobiography with the telling title Unended Quest (1976) was outside the Bouwkunde building and thus saved. Almost at the end of his long and productive life Popper was interviewed by, as far as I remember, a philosopher from the university of Leyden (Dutch television, somewhere around 1991). To a question regarding his most important conclusion, Popper answered: the acceptance of uncertainty. All knowledge is momentary, and every generation is challenged to make its own updates and innovation of problem definitions. Caring about method makes humble. It is funny to read that more than a decade later, Bernard Lovell, also over 90 years old, said about the limits of (his) radio telescopic discoveries that he had never been “faced with so many unanswered questions as now” (Obituary, 2012). • To end

Society presses scientists and practitioners for results and positive knowledge. But there is more. The human brain appears predestined to see connections everywhere. In combination they appear to lower the attention for pitfalls and scientific proof. The brain, as causality machine, seems constantly busy categorising whatever is perceived, and gluing the categorisations together in a comprehensible explanation of the situation. At the same time, situations change through time, and moreover research changes the field of study. The expression ‘one can never step into the same river twice’ is quite applicable here. Nowadays the necessity to review findings (in technology, cosmology, medicine, geology, archaeology, history, social and behavioural sciences, in fact all sciences one can think of, maybe except mathematics) is evident. So far proven trustworthy generalisations are doubted and often need new proof; samples turn out to be unclear or skewed. Therefore it may be wise to approach every study in two ways. Apart from the traditional belief of systematic accumulation of knowledge, each study (research, design) should be considered as a case study, which has to meet the demands of case study logic, including its methodological requirements (e.g. Yin, 2003). In this logic the outcome of every case is in itself a separate test of assumptions, the accumulation of knowledge not taken for granted. Theory formation then links case outcomes with best educated guesses, leading to constructions to be tested, instead of assuming or claiming that there is sufficient systematic knowledge available. All of this entails not following the predestined brain, but putting it to work critically with both the societal complexity ‘outside’ and the complex nature ‘inside’.

but one has to admit that in research and design this approach can lead to surprising results. However, one needs to be cautious when introducing intuition as an alternative for method. It appears that successful intuition cannot be easily claimed. According to the “10.000 hours rule” one needs to be very experienced to trust in intuition that really counts (Gladwell, 2008, Chapter 2). Even then, great experience in design and research is no guarantee for the capacity to deal with pitfalls of whatever kind. Nevertheless, for all who feel limited by present methods it may seem hopeful that the debate on method in science is not finished. New methodological yet impossible figures will be imagined and if worthwhile stand the test. Where social researchers are usually happy to restrict method to explaining the world, technical researchers usually want to know what can be done, be made with this explanatory knowledge. Combining social and technical method may show new ways to generate possible figures. This entails, however, that all academics - researchers, designers, whatever they call themselves - working at the faculty acknowledge their share in the responsibility to put ‘method’ high on the research agenda. Chamberlin, T.C., 1965, The method of multiple working hypotheses, Science, Vol. 148, pp. 754759 (previously published in Science in 1890) De Boer, N.A., 2005, De stad van Niek de Boer. Polemische beschouwingen over stad en regio, Publicatiebureau Faculteit Bouwkunde, TU Delft De Groot, A.D., 1960, Methodologie. Grondslagen van onderzoek en denken in de gedragswetenschappen, Mouton, Den Haag De Jong, T.M. & D.J.M. van der Voordt (eds), 2002, Ways to Study Research Urban, Architectural and Technical Design, DUP Science, Delft Edwards, J. & R. Batley, 1978, The Politics of Positive Discrimination. An evaluation of the Urban Programme 1976-77, Tavistock Publications Ltd, London Galbraith, J.K., 1977, The Age of Uncertainty, British Broadcasting Corporation, London, and André Deutsch Ltd, London Gladwell, M., 2008, Outliers. The story of success, Little, Brown and Company, New York Hulsbergen, E.D., 1992, Positie en ruimte. Kwetsbare groepen in de stad: dekbeelden en feiten, Publikatieburo Bouwkunde, TU Delft IIASA (Intern. Inst. for Applied Systems Analyses), 1980, Beware the Pitfalls, Laxenburg, Austria Lawson, B., 1990, How designers think, Butterworth Architecture, London Klaasen, I.T., 2005, Putting Time into Picture: The Relation between Space and Time in Urban Design and Planning; in: Hulsbergen, E., I. Klaasen & I. Kriens (eds), Shifting Sense in Spatial Planning, Techne Press, Amsterdam, pp.181-195 Popper, K., 1976, Unended Quest. An intellectual autobiography, Fontana/Collins, Glasgow Specter, M., 2009, Denialism. How irrational thinking hinders scientific progress, harms the planet, and threatens our lives, The Penguin Press, New York Taleb, N.M., 2007, The Black Swan. The Impact of the Highly Improbable, Penguin Books Ltd, London Tummers, L., 2006, Ruimte voor elke dag, Nova Terra 4 Obituary, 2012, Bernard Lovell. Professor Sir Bernard Lovell, founder of Britain’s Jodrell Bank radio telescope died on August 6th aged 98, The Economist, Vol.404, Nr.8798, August 18th, p.74

Working methodologically is no guarantee for great solutions, but in- and outsiders will be able to get a clear picture of both proposal and confirmation. Working and designing on a non-methodological basis is (also) a choice, often put forward as navigating on intuition (or an ‘open’ mind). This may hinder understanding by others,

Van Schagen Architecten, 2006, De Verweving. De Florijn Amsterdam 1996, Van Schagen Architecten, Rotterdam (projectdocumentatie) Yin, R., 2003, Case Study Research. Design and Methods, Applied Social Research Methods Series, Vol.5, Sage Publ., London, Revised Edition

Alumni reflection from graduation.. justine muliuolyte tadas jonauskis graduated in 2010 at tu delft

In an edition that focuses on the scientific work, it is important to do a proper reflection on our research education. How did our alumni experience the research education at TU Delft and how useful is it for them in practice? Atlantis has approached four former students to discuss and reflect their on the TU Delft experience..

How would you define an academic way of working for an urbanist?

An academic way of working is creating a method how you deal with projects. In our practice we apply academic approach mainly in the pre-design phase. That is: evaluation of the field research and analysis, defining hypothesis, designing or proposing alternative variants and then evaluating them using SWOT analysis. Our design is always based on research. We can call this approach research by design, or rather design by research. How did you experience the research education in the MSc. Urbanism program at the TU Delft?

We think that research education is the strength of MSc. Urbanism program at TU Delft. It gave us overall very broad understanding

about the discipline of urbanism. We learned how to raise the questions, where to search for the information, how to organize the data. Skills to systemize the research, make the conclusions, and define the right arguments are the essential abilities in a professional life. Which academic skills (in a broad sense) which you learned at TU Delft do you use often in your daily life as professional?

In our daily life we use overall intelligence about urbanism, which we gained at TU Delft, not the specific academic skills. Understanding about the city, its layers, structures that connect everything, these are the topics that are in our heads every day. TU Delft gave understanding that academic approach and analysis are important in the strategy or design. That makes project stronger. Most important skills are mentioned in the question 2: how to raise

Figure 1. Public space vision for city centre of Kaunas ÂŠ Tadas Jonauskis

Interview with Justine Muliuolyte & Tadas Jonauskis

..to practice

Figure 2. Workshop presentation in a local temple © Justine Muliuolyte

the research question, where to search for the information, how to organize the data, how to systemize the research, make the conclusions, and define the right arguments. Did you miss any academic skills in your education program in the MSc Urbanism?

No, we did not miss any skills, but maybe in the educational program should be more focus on the research by design. What was your graduation topic? What was/were according to you the most important academic component(s) in your graduation project? Tadas did research and design about network city, transit based urbanization, and systems of public spaces in Kaunas, in Lithuania. Project title is “Lost in the city. Searching for urban vitality in city centre of Kaunas”. Main academic component in the project was research about growth of the city, historical analysis of infrastructures, mapping, and linking all the processes into one story. This story evolved into the strategy and design. The research was later presented in few conferences (Figure 1). Justina did strategy and design about regeneration of large scale housing estates in Vilnius, Lithuania. Project title “City,

catch the time! Rediscovering socialist neighbourhoods in a new capitalist society”. Most important academic component was literature review about large scale housing typology, and case studies about housing estates in western Europe. Research conclusion was hypothesis proving necessity to transform estates. Later Justina wrote paper about this research, and it was presented in a conference (Figure 2).

knowledge about modernism, transit oriented development and public spaces defining the masterplan of the area. In “One Space” project for a square in a small town in Lithuania we applied shared space theory and tried to realize it in practice. It was quite a challenge in context of Lithuania. Do you have any comments on or

"Understanding about the city, its layers, structures that connect everything, these are the topics that are in our heads every day." Were you able to develop your academic skills after the graduation?

Yes and no. Yes, we participated in few scientific conferences. No, we mainly work in practice and do little in academic world. Could you name a recent project of yours to illustrate the academic approach in practice?

We use academic approach in the process of design; therefore academic way of working is not very visible in the final image. In the “Multitalented City” we applied overall

recommendations research

education

for at

the TU

Delft Urbanism?

Very often in the graduation project students do very wide research, it takes more than half of the graduation year, covers all possible topics and only very little part is later applied in the actual strategy or design. Firstly, students should be taught to be more selective. That is necessary in practice, as you have less time for the research. Secondly, as the research is already done students should be encouraged to show their work outside the university, in municipalities, conferences, exhibitions, other events, share in internet. Reaction from real world is very important trying to link education and practice. And overall sharing knowledge is the essence of the 21st century. Laurien Korst

Misconceptions about science ina klaassen associate professor, spatial planning & strategy tu delft

In the period 2005 – 2006 there was an ongoing debate about science in B-News (wholly in Dutch). I contributed to this debate in January 2006, using as title 'Hoeveel misverstanden over wetenschap kan een mens verdragen...' The essence of this contribution, i.e. the misconceptions, is translated below – as the original title is not translatable I gave it the present one.

• Misconception 1: Transforming the domain of architecture into a scientific domain is necessary to keep our status as university faculty/for financial reasons/to keep counting internationally, etc.

These are management issues. The only good reasons for a scientific approach in any domain are (a) societal responsibility and (b) scientific curiosity. From the mission statement of the School of Architecture and Planning of the MIT ‘unlike many professional schools, we are not a self-contained institution, but an integral part of the vast research enterprise that is the core of MIT’s mission’, and ‘We are committed to sustaining and enhancing the quality of the human environment at all scales..’ (cited by Paul Drewe in Atlantis, March 2005).

Ina Klaasen After getting her degree in physical geography at the University of Amsterdam in Ina Klaasen started to work as assistant professor in an Urban Design Chair under/with Professor Niek de Boer in 1975. As part of her study Ina had been active in a so called ‘interdisciplinary study group urbanism’ in Delft, with the devel-

• Misconception 2: ‘ Science’ and ‘scientific knowledge are

opment of the new town Lelystad as subject.

univocal notions.

The opposite is true. Even the categorising of views on science below will not be shared by everybody 1. Objectivism (the logical-positivistic view of the Wiener Kreis; the critical-rationalistic view of Popper and Lakatos; diverse other forms of realism): those who count themselves objectivists consider the knowable object independent of the knowing subject. They adhere to the correspondence theory of truth: in the context of human cognitive capacities in principle ‘objective’, or, better, ‘intersubjective’. 2. Subjectivism (among else post modernism, phenomenology). Their point of view is that no strict separation exist between the knowable object and the knowing subject, and that the subject creates his or her internally coherent reality. They adhere to the coherence theory of truth (a theory is true if consistent with other ideas and theories in the scientific domain in question). Post modernists like Kuhn, Toulmin, Rorty, Latour, hold that truth is relative (a view which is of course self-contradictory). 3. Structuralism (Derrida, Foucault): here also the knowing subject disappears. The world is a meaningful entity, in the view of structuralists, by virtue of systems to which people must conform. 4. Pragmatism (C.S. Peirce, J. Dewey): ‘truth’ is not relevant, it is about theories that work, that are reliable (for instance, Freudian psychoanalysis).

From 1978 until 1987 she was a member of the Provincial Council of North-Holland, mid 1990s she settled at the Chair of Spatial Planning, led by Professor Drewe. Her PhD thesis, Knowledge-based Design – Developing Urban and Regional Design into a Science (2003)

Ina has supervised as co-promotor several PhD candidates. One of them as part of the Aspasia project of NWO/STW (STW is the Technical Section of the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research NWO), set up to stimulate universities to do something about the appallingly low percentage of female associate and full professors in the Netherlands. As one of only four women of our University from different faculties, she received a grant for a four year PhD candidate, on the condition that she herself would be promoted to associate professor. She retired in Februari 2012, but is still active in and for the Faculty, among else as PhD supervisor and as PhD mentor.

5. And then of course we have Paul Feyerabend, who sees science as in essence as anarchistic. Within our faculty I suppose most of these views can be found. A debate about these different views should start with people making clear what their view is, and could then go on about the tenability of the view in our domain. Personally I am an objectivist, because I cannot see how a technical science can be anything else.

of the functioning of people and institutions, agreeable and safe spatial conditions are desired. In the domain of architecture and urbanism we are should conduct practical science. In practical science the application of scientific knowledge is the object of multidisciplinary research. Practical

• Misconception 5: Science and scientific knowledge block creativity.

Applying practical-scientific knowledge in a specific case always demands creativity. By the way, even designers who oppose ‘science’ do implicitly make use of scientific knowledge. Moreover, it shows disdain to deny ‘scientists’ creativity. What kind of creativity we are talking about anyway? Selffulfilment?

The architectural domain, including urbanism is scientific – or can be scientific – because there is no fundamental Sciences can be distinguished difference between designing buildings, Untrue: comparable debates are going on in the domains into cities, cars, planes and machines. of philosophy, history and 1. Formal sciences (lacking • Misconception 6:

• Misconception

Only in the domain of

Only

one type of science exists:

architecture its scientific

empirical science.

nature is under debate.

empirical content): mathematics, logic. 2. Empirical sciences: the essential question is ‘is it true’. Progress is generated by internalscientific consideration such as physics, astronomy, sociology (using hypotheses). 3. Practical sciences (explicitly actingdirected sciences): the essential question is ‘does it work’. Progress is generated by external-scientific considerations: technical sciences, but of course also medical science, environmental science, clinical psychology, etc. (using goals/objectives). To answer the question ‘does it work’ formal and empirical sciences play a role in practical sciences. The architectural domain, including urbanism is scientific – or can be scientific – because there is no fundamental difference between designing buildings, cities, cars, planes and machines. Just as there is no fundamental difference with developing medical treatment methods or agricultural methods. We live in a society lead by scientific knowledge and its products. When travelling by plane one likes to fly as comfortable as possible, and certainly one does not like to crash. Just so, for the purpose

theology – all of them university studies.

scientific knowledge is applied in different situations in different ways, depending on spatial, economic, social and cultural context. That way in unique situations unique designs and unique objects are developed.

Cliteur, P.B., H.D.Papma & R.T.P.Wiche (red.). 1994. Overtuigend bewijs- Over het wetenschappelijke van niet-exacte wetenschappen. Amsterdam/Meppel: Boom Huisman, Patricia. 1996. Kennis gewogen -

• Misconception 4: The character of the

Analyse van sociaal-wetenschappelijk denken:

architectural domain (including urbanism)

kritiek en aanwijzingen. PhD Thesis. Assen: Van

is unique.

Gorcum

Architectural science is not unique; however, it holds in particular at higher levels of scale a special position within the practical sciences, as empirical underpinning of ‘products’ (i.e. the context of application) some - not unique - restrictions arise: 1. no laboratory testing; 2. the high capital outlay before testing can be started; 3. the long time required for the implementation of proposals; 4. the long period over which usability would have to be tested (the longue durée of implemented designs); 5. ethical complications.

Klaasen, I.T. 2004. Knowledge-based Urban and Regional Design. Serie Design/Science/ Planning. Delft: Delft University Press/ Amsterdam:Techne Press Klaasen, I.T. 2007. A scientific approach to urban and regional design: research by design. J. of Design Research, 5-4, pp.470-489 Peursen, C. A van. 1986. Filosofie van de wetenschappen. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff

Empirical research and spatial design

taeke de jong professor technical ecology and methods tu delft

The tension between empirical research and spatial design bothers me ever since I graduated as an urban designer in 1976 at the Faculty of Architecture TU Delft. Is there something wrong with empirical science, when it is confronted with contextsensitive diversity, the mode of possibility-search and design? And if so, what is it? Anything that is suitable to be generalised seems to be generalised already. The unique, context-sensitive cases remain. My first thesis, defended in 1978, contained an exploration of the humanities confronted with studies of diversity, possibility and design (Jong, 1978). I have rewritten this thesis with the experience of ample 30 years after my recent retirement as a professor in technical ecology, now confronting science and technology with these types of study. What role can empirical research play in the making of a design, other than preparing its programme beforehand, and evaluating its result afterwards? I hope that I can defend this second thesis (Jong, 2012) the 18th of December 2012 facing a forum of technical scientists from other faculties than Architecture. The text below is its paragraph 8.3 with some reductions and extensions. I dedicate this text to Ina Klaasen, one of my best opponents in our faculty (without damaging our friendship) and thus one of my ‘true academic friends’.

• A sad history

• Study and research relevant for spatial design

In the eighties of the last century, the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft contained three institutions for empirical research, according to three departments of the faculty at the time: architecture, urbanism and housing. Building technology (closest to the Faculties of Civil Engineering and Industrial Design) apparently did not require a separate research institution. The employees of the institutions were not designers, and they were often graduates from other universities. The research institutions were removed from our Faculty in the nineties. The majority of the design chairs regarded their reports as useless for design. The housing institute survived outside the faculty as a successful separate university institute for government research (OTB). The production of the research institutes had been impressive. Their reports on urbanism filled a separated library on my building floor. This library disappeared within a week. I saw its reports and books piled up at the corridor. Everybody could take whatever they wished, before they were removed. I rescued some of them for my own library, but they were burned by the 2008 Faculty fire. The design chairs took over the task of research, but they did not succeed in publishing a comparable quantity of research. They published more books with an artistic lay-out than peer-reviewed journal articles. Their subject was predominantly historical. The recurring debate on methodology of design related study resulted in many conferences, and finally a book was developed summarising nine types of study and research relevant for spatial design (Jong & Voordt, 2002). This book has been used for five years in methodology education, but it has been hardly read by the employees. The department of Real Estate and Housing appeared to be the most successful in publishing. Their orientation on building production and function instead of design fit better with the typical empirical research methods. The pressure to publish in scientific journals and to increase the number of PhD’s resulted in a return to classical empirical research and text writing. The department of Real Estate and Housing took over the methodology education, and now history is about to repeat itself (see Figure 1).

The specialised probabilities or even ‘truths’ of empirical research seldom convince spatial designers that are searching for possibilities. Sectorial averages of many cases cannot be successfully integrated in one spatially, ecologically, technically, economic, cultural and managerial unique case. Separately generalised linear truths from different directions seldom fit a design project’s context, or its possible futures with many tacit dimensions and variables. The parameters that are eventually able to produce a more contextsensitive deviation from the average specialist solution are often hidden in the linear inferences of specialists or their supporting computer programmes. Specialists may even not be aware of them; they may assume that they are valid at other levels of scale, anywhere else or in the future. Moreover, a spatial context often requires many specialists supposing their own, sometimes even mutually contradicting, probabilities. Case studies can be made afterwards to indicate that the assumed parameters are not valid everywhere, but the context-sensitive

art

intuitive design

possible

Science probable

design study study by design

emperical research

typological research design research programming research evaluating research

de sirable

optimizing research Figure 1. Different perspectives on academic research © Taeke de Jong

operation. That is an advantage, if you want to study or research an unknown operation. Research aims to know ‘how it works’. Design study, however, aims to know ‘how it can work’. In both cases, the working is not known beforehand, and that is precisely what a complete sentence expresses. If the operation is still undetermined, then it can be interpreted as any operation: Figure 2. Research cycle © Taeke de Jong

conclusions of many case studies are even less useful in other contexts than the generalised averages. General conclusions may be useful for industrial designers, who are usually working on less context sensitive mass produced products with a smaller life-span, but not for unique objects in unique contexts. Moreover, design decisions do not concern the functions themselves. They concern the possible forms and structures, the physical conditions making the described function (and many other unpredictable and indescribable, surprising functions, affordances) possible. Written reports cannot sufficiently engage the possibilities of form and structure. The linear character of text is most appropriate to describe separate, one dimensional, probable, straight forward, and causally predictable functions. Text is not appropriate to describe two dimensional possible forms. The sideward views of many possible functions, that are so obvious in a drawing, are lost in their causal line of reasoning in texts and calculations. It wrongly avoids logical paradoxes that are allowed in drawings. Empirical research has to cope with drawings to become relevant for design. Jong & Voordt (2002), show the kinds of empirical research that are relevant or design. Figure 2 locates them next to my distinction of modes of thinking. I will elaborate on some of them further along in the text below.

different object is particularly important (Jong, 1995). Usual language is built up by linear sentences containing verbs between an actor x and a result y. A complete sentence thus has the form y(x), to be read as ‘y as a function (working) of x’. The brackets in f(x) indicate the operation represented by the verb. In mathematical sentences this operation can be specified, e.g. as f(x)=x2. But design operations concern images instead of numbers. You then may replace x and y by images (see Box 1). Box 2 demonstrates that many obvious design operations still do not have a name. But, if you draw the reference and the result as a complete sentence y(x), then the operation f(x) may be clear enough: ‘design(reference)’. This simple notation, however, is useful for many other, more abstract purposes than naming design operations (Jong, 2002). If I read villa(landscape) as ‘A villa as it is influenced by (as a function of) a landscape’, then it may be the shortest formula for a study proposal. Landscape(villa) would mean a different study proposal. A complete sentence y(x) does not have to specify its

Box 1. Expressing design by mathematical operation

intuitive: f(x):= y associated with x; conditional: f(x):= y possible by x; set-theoretical: f(x):= y part of x, encloses x, without x ...; logical: f(x):= y if x, not x ...; mathematical: f(x):= x+x , x2...; causal f(x):= y caused by x; temporal: f(x):= y preceded, followed by x; spatial(formal): f(x):= y near to, contiguous to, surrounded by x; structural: f(x):= y connected with x, separated from x; combinatorial: f(boards, nails):= a combination of boards and nails.

A further advantage is, that this notation allows ‘nesting’ to become more precise. A verbal sentence cannot easily express more extended nested operations. For example, villa(landscape) elaborated in a ‘nested’ form produces different objects of study:

• Imagining, naming and describing

A 4D diversity and technique at different levels of scale considers numerous objects that can be described, typified, and categorised. Compared to the medical nomenclature (also facing a similar 4D diversity and technique), the vocabulary of spatial design is very limited. Naming its objects in words may enable empirical science to cope with the diversity of spatial possibilities. For design operations, the transformation of an object into a

Figure 3. Design research program © Taeke de Jong

Box 2. Example of mathematical operation

villa(landscape(water-system)) villa(landscape(water-system,history)) villa(landscape(water-system(history))) villa(landscape((water-system,occupation)(history,spatial dispersion))) If ‘()‘ appears in the formula, then it may suggest a list of contents of a report on villa(landscape): water-system(history) water-system(spatial dispersion) occupation(history) occupation(spatial dispersion) • Design research

Design research is studying existing examples of design (references, precedents). Design research may concern their content (variables, legend units), form (dispersion in space), structure (inward operation), function (outward performance) and intention at different levels of scale. Compared to the other design-related studies, the object and its context are both determined. Examples of design, however, can be studied at different scales, in different time spans, and from different (managerial, cultural, economic, technical, ecological and spatial) viewpoints or ‘layers’. A design research programme should start distinguishing these design relevant variables according to space, time and layers (see Figure 3) If you distribute these objects of study over the disciplines of Figure 3, then there would be 180 disciplines involved, communicating in 180 specialist languages. And, there are many examples that should be studied before you may, or may not, arrive at a typology that may be useful for any design. • Typological research

• Evaluative research

Evaluative research is a kind of design research that takes the mode of desirability as a starting point (see Figure 2). It occurs frequently in nearly any design process of an object in progress, after realisation, or in order to prepare programming studies for similar projects. Any specialist evaluating a drawing as a manager, client, economist, technician or ecologist, evaluates whether the impacts are desirable in her or his domain (see Figure 4). You cannot, however, predict any impact without suppositions about the future context. Any specialisation has its own hidden sup-positions. Participants and stakeholders of a project should make them explicit. Making suppositions about the future context explicit puts them in a perspective of possibility-finding. This may have some consequences (Jong & Voordt, 2002: Chapter 7).

“Making a brief surpasses the boundary of probability, by studying problems (probable but not desirable futures) and aims (non-probable, but desirable futures) within the limits of what is supposed to be possible.”

If different examples show similar contents, forms, structures or functions simultaneously, then you may have found a ‘type’. A type is a combination of incomparable categories e.g. form and colour. An object cannot be more cubic than blue. A cubic, blue object thus is a type. Form, structure and function are incomparable categories too. An object cannot be more cubic than strong or stronger than useful. A half-round theatre (an amphitheatre) thus is a type, a subset of at least two incomparable categories (sets): form and function. A type may get a name, but it is an intersection of overlapping sets. To identify a unique object by words, requires adding as many suitable categories (expressed in adjectives or subordinate clauses) as necessary to indicate just one particular object. The study of types (typology) may reduce the effort of functionalist designers to choose between an inconceivable amount of forms and structures that make the same function possible. A catalogue of previously built theatres may show different types of theatres with a similar form and structure being characterised e.g. ‘amphitheatres’. Choosing one of these types saves time, because they are proven to be possible. It makes the result recognisable: “Typically a amphitheatre!”, but some questions may 24

remain: a) Is it still possible (suitable) in the current context; b) Is the characterization of examples the only one possible?; c) Could you choose other groupings to typify them?; d) Are there other examples that do not fit in any known type? e) Could you invent a new type, without any previous examples? The function of a theatre is rather clear, but it may be combined with other functions such as a restaurant. And then, there are theatres where the meals are served while you are looking at the performance or during the breaks, producing different types. And, there are even more multifunctional devices such as a dwelling, a neighbourhood, a town (…the world). Summarising their possible functions gradually becomes a hopeless task. In such cases you may start the other way around by looking for forms that intuitively fit at the location, imagining different uses and functions amongst which surprisingly the required one is also included (design study).

• Programming research

Making a brief surpasses the boundary of probability, by studying problems (probable but not desirable futures) and aims (non-probable, but desirable futures, see Figure 2) within the limits of what is supposed to be possible. It translates intentions into functions, which are mainly based on a limited imagination of existing types and examples. Programming research is inclined to extrapolate probabilities into desired possibilities. But, if the client is a less experienced institution or person, the brief may be made in interaction with a designer, who introduces possibilities that are beyond the client’s existing desires. In that case, you could name this kind of research ‘programming study’. If many stakeholders and specialists formulate their desires, then ‘optimising research’ is part of the study. Both are elaborated on often enough, so it is not needed to elaborate further on them in this text (Jong & Voordt, 2002: section ‘Programming and optimising’). • Technical study

Technical study in a design environment goes beyond ‘construction’. It is a means-directed exploration of merely technical possibilities.

Figure 4. Different scientific domains © Taeke de Jong

Desirability plays a lesser role. A good example is the invention of the solution for the question of how to use computerised fabrication to produce curved glass surfaces that fit in curved façades (Vollers, 2001). Technical inventions have changed people’s desires, their economic demand, their culture, their priorities. Existing desires are based on what people know, and what they suppose to be possible. Short term valorisation may hamper technical study pur sang. Its risks may by high, but trusting the limited imagination of the majority of people leads to a technological stand-still. • Design study

Design study is the usual activity of design bureaus with projects in determined contexts. It is a possibility-search that is limited by the many probabilities and desires stemming from this context. But, the imagination of these probabilities and desires are often bound to a shorter term than the object of design will exist. The designer may increase the flexibility of imagination of the stakeholders and specialists involved, by showing possibilities and by discussing the future context. • Study by design

From a viewpoint of empirical research, study without a determined object and context is bizarre. It cannot formulate a clear problem or aim, and its outcome is uncertain. It is means-directed in a broader sense than a technical study. It explores the possibilities of design itself in any layer, scale and time span. It comes closest to art. Its task is to increase imagination, and this has been the intention of my new thesis.

• Conclusion

Empirical research can play a role in the making of a design, other than preparing its programme beforehand and evaluating its result afterwards. Its scope, however, should be extended from shear probability-finding into the wider field of possibility-search. A linear language alone cannot cover space, its diversity or possibilities. Space includes the gaps between the linguistic lines of reasoning. The image and the drawing should be accepted as full scientific documents. Textwriters must learn that space may contain contradictions perpendicular to a line of reasoning. Connection in one dimension may imply separation perpendicular to the connection. These ‘side effects’ are obvious in a drawing, but they are forbidden in linear logic. Side-roads are thus consequently avoided in classical research, but they cannot be neglected in design. Text is time-based, one-dimensional, connecting causes to effects, and neglecting the many contexts, so obvious in a drawing. Verbal language is the shadow of action. Its sentences have an active subject, a verb and an object, but any action has a spatial context. Drawings can be valid ‘arguments of possibility’. Possibility does not concern one well-defined action with a direction, a starting point and an end, it concerns many actions. A house does not cause a household, it makes many households possible. Empirical research should extend its causal and aim-directed fixation into a broader means-directed conditional awareness. Any cause is a condition for something to happen, but not any condition is also a cause. This change in the mode of thinking is not easy. The first step may be, to extend the nomenclature of spatial configurations and

transformations (Jong, 1995): imagining, distinguishing, naming and describing them accompanied by images. Avoiding images must be forbidden. The next step may be to derive variables from these names with extreme values, looking for an absolute value, a zero-point from where the other values may keep a determinable distance. These values are potential legend-units for design drawings. Empirical research may search for intermediate values, new legend units as they are never used in any design. The third step may be to evaluate the effects of connecting values of different variables in space, creating new types and structures, raising new research questions for design. Design study and study by design, however, go beyond empirical re-search. They include empirical research, but their task is not to find existing or probable relations; their aim is to find improbable possibilities. Jong, T.M. de (1978): Milieudifferentiatie, een fundamenteel onderzoek(Delft) TUD PhD thesis Jong (1995): Systematische transformaties in het getekende ontwerp en hun effect(Delft) TUDelft Diesrede Jong T. M. de & Voordt, D. J. M. v. de (2002): Ways to study and research urban, architectural and technical design(Delft)DUP Science, http://team.bk.tudelft.nl/Publications/2002/ Jong(2002)WaysToStudy(Delft).pdf Jong, T. M. de (2002): Syntactic key words (Delft) TUD Faculty of Architecture, downloadable from http://team.bk.tudelft.nl/ Publications/2002/Syntactic%20keywords.htm Jong, T.M. de (2012): Diversifying environments through design(Delft) TUD PhD thesis Vollers, K.J. (2001): Twist & Built creating nonorthogonal architecture (Rotterdam) 010 Publishers

Alumni reflection from graduation..

wendy tan graduated in 2007 at tu delft

How would you define an academic way of working for an urbanist?

Urbanism, like any other design-based field, has a long history of borrowing knowledge and research methods from the related social sciences of sociology, human geography and psychology, to name a few. This ‘cherry-picking’ is necessitated due to design science’s lack of pedigree (Fuller and MacHale, 1963) and its development from practice instead of academia. As a student, practitioner and researcher of architecture, urbanism, and now planning, an academic approach in this field is more closely akin to legal groundwork than theory: undertake due diligence and gather all proof. An urbanist needs to adhere to a transparent and systematic way of working from a solid and verifiable body of evidence as a research process (Van Aken, 2004).

by design’. Urban analysis was sometimes mistaken for research and its validity not enforced. There were distinct opposing groups within the faculty that were either pro-design or pro-research. Unfortunately, the delivery of both fell short. However, if one found the right guide as I did in Ina Klaasen: ‘the world of consequential collection of empirical data, epistemology and ethical academic conduct would unfurl’ (Klaasen, 2004). As trivial as it might be as an academic skill, the art of referencing and academic citation presented a steep learning curve as I wrote my thesis under Ina. To this very day, I am grateful for her strict corrections, especially whilst writing articles for a PhD in Planning. Did you miss any academic skills in your education program in the MSc Urbanism?

How did you experience the research education in the MSc Urbanism program at the TU Delft?

Research education was not an explicit aspect of the MSc Urbanism program during my time there. Here, one needs to separate research methods as a subset of academic skills. Understandably, ‘design for design's sake’ was sometimes bandied about in the guise of ‘research

Academic skills might not be the focus at a technical university given its emphasis on application instead, however; any higher educational institution would be remiss if it did not instil in its students the basics of academic ethics and rudimentary research skills such as abstract thinking, responsible reporting of findings and critical reflection of results. 4 July 2007

Urban Vitality: Exploring spatial conditions of 24/7 environments for Netherlands.

[IIB] LONDON UNUSUAL HOURS SERVICES/LOCATIONS

UNUSUAL HOURS

Figure 1 & 2. Overview of activities during unusual hours in Metropolitan London | GIS analysis of 24/7 environments in Metropolitan London © Wendy Tan

Interview with Wendy Tan

..to practice What was your graduation topic and what were according to you the most important academic components in your graduation project?

With Ina’s encouragement, I developed a research method to identify patterns of 24/7 urban environments for my master's thesis. The usage of GIS and collection of empirical data was a combination of technical and practical experience picked up from working at a strategic spatial planning think tank. Through our intense discussion together with her PhD student at that time, Dr. Jeroen van Schiack, we were able to embed this research method in a theoretical framework of urban vitality, combining Francois Ascher, Jane Jacobs, Marion Roberts, and Franco Bianchini and Charles Landry (Tan and Klaasen, 2007).

Figure 3. KAN RegioRail: Corridor strategy of TOD development Arnhem-Nijmegen region © Wendy Tan

Were you able to develop your academic

Do you have any comments on or

skills after the graduation?

recommendations

I was very fortunate to be part of an innovative thinktank, Atelier Zuidvleugel, during my studies and after graduation. There, both design and research skills were appreciated and encouraged on equal footing. After that, I choose an academic path first as a researcher in spatial planning at TU Delft and now at the University of Amsterdam. These later avenues allowed for further development of academic skills through active application.

education at TU Delft Urbanism?

Could you name a recent project of yours to illustrate the academic approach in practice?

In the last few years, I have focused more on designing the policy environment than designing the physical environment. In my current research project on how transitoriented development can happen in the Netherlands, the line between the academic and practice communities is drawn thin. Practitioners and researchers benefit greatly from each other’s experiences and methods. In my experience, planning and urbanism knowledge is strengthened by the exchange of knowledge across the academic and practice divisions.

for

the

research

A good majority of my peers who graduated from Urbanism were not able to find relevant work after graduation. The design field is saturated and our technical knowledge is much more limited than our colleagues in architecture or civil engineering. Most alumni are in either consultancy or civil service. Delft has the capacity to train a next generation of ‘spatial experts’ instead of the traditional ‘stedenbouwkundige’. Our educational basis could be enhanced with more research methods, abstract thinking, as well as analytics such as Space Syntax and GIS. The faculty should have both practice and research experiences. Students should be expected to factor in realistic policy and market conditions to their designs. This way, Delft will fill a niche for ‘triple threats’, urbanists who are able to design research and implement. In conclusion, design and research do not have to be polar opposites. Despite what a certain ‘pro-design’ lecturer at TU Delft who tried to fail my thesis thinks: ‘a plan (urban, master or floor) is not a pre-requisite for research by design’. Design skills are

not just limited to visualisation and graphic communications. A good designer should exhibit due diligence by researching his/her subject and the purpose of design (Hara, 2007). Likewise, a good researcher needs to be creative and innovative in designing his/ her methods to fulfil current knowledge gaps. Laurien Korst

FULLER, R., & MACHALE, J. (1963). World design science decade, 1965-1975: five two-year phases of a world retooling design proposed to the International Union of Architects for adoption by world architectural schools Phase 1, Document 1, Inventory of world resources, human trends and needs / by R.B. Fuller and J. McHale. World Design Science Decade, 19651975. Carbondale, IL, Southern Illinois University. HARA, K. (2007). Designing design. Baden, Switzerland, Lars Müller Publishers KLAASEN, I. T. (2004). Knowledge-based design developing urban & regional design into a science. Delft, Delft University Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10155186. VAN AKEN, J. E. 2004. Management Research Based on the Paradigm of the Design Sciences: The Quest for Field-Tested and Grounded Technological Rules. Journal of Management Studies, 41, 219-246. TAN, W. & KLAASEN, I. 2007. Exploring 24/7 environments. TOWN PLANNING REVIEW, 78, 699-724.

Being a critical Urbanist critical thinking skills in an urbanism education This essay was selected as the best essay from the course Research and design methodology for Urbanist. This is a shortened version of the original essay.

aleksandrs feltins and xiaochen che msc 2 students tu delft

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. (National Center for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction, 1991) Is society asking for critical thinking? We believe it is a vital necessity for the citizens of the 21st century, because the world is becoming increasingly complex and technical. There is need for workers in nearly every field who are capable to carry out multi-step operations, manipulate abstract and complex symbols and ideas, acquire new information efficiently, and remain flexible enough to recognize the need for continuing change and for new paradigms of lifelong learning. The multiplication of information sources makes it difficult to make choices of relevant, credible information and to interpret and evaluate it. Diane F. Halpern stresses the critical necessity of the ability of life-long learning. She points out that we are currently reaching life expectancies of 80 or even 90 years. It means that the current young generation is likely to change professions during their life spans. Some professions currently do not exist and some of the existing ones will face profound transformation. (Halpern, 2003) The twin abilities of knowing how to learn and knowing how to clearly select from rapid proliferating information are the most important intellectual skills for the 21st century.

• The Western origin – The Socratic method

The Socratic method can be regarded as the origin of Critical Thinking in the Western world. The formulating and testing of a hypothesis, the procedure of constant questioning of the object, the importance of knowledge acquired from research (“true justified belief”) all could be found in Socratic dialogues, recorded by Plato during the Classical Period in Ancient Greece. As the main objects of the dialogues served fundamental concepts, such as virtue (Meno), justice (Crito), piety (Euthyphro), beauty (Hippias Major) and others.

fallacies, contradictions and delusions. Nowadays, critical thinking is contextualized in different disciplines, some of which goes beyond purely academic fields into practical and creative fields. However the Socratic method may be a good start to a critical investigation. • The Eastern origin – Buddhism and Confucianism

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down Buddha for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” -

In simple other words, Socrates claims that knowledge cannot be handed over, like for example telling someone what is the capital of Greece or how many meters is in one kilometre — knowledge, for Socrates is rather ‘assisted recollection’. What he does is to test his own beliefs against the beliefs of another person, and this test is performed in dialectical order: definitions or accounts of different matters to be questioned and therefore clarified by one and the other. Such queries lead to a sort of knowledge. Socrates constantly claims his ignorance, which is expressed in his negative attitude towards beliefs that have not been questioned. The Socratic method is an early example of scientific research, when hypotheses are being tested, and research is done in order to eliminate 28

Buddha is believed to be one of the earliest practitioners of critical thinking. He used critical thinking not only to achieve his own enlightenment, but also to teach his followers to understand, experiences and practice critical thinking in their own spiritual journeys, but also as a means for solving daily problems. Buddhism

claims to be logical and relevant to rational thinking. Buddhist views on education are very similar to the constructivist theory of learning. For example, a general Buddhist philosophy is that there is no teaching per se – it is the student’s mind that is important. Essentially, Buddhism uses a studentcentered learning approach when it comes to porting role. learning. porting role.

thinking is also crucial. But there are more abilities that a critical thinker should have. Therefore, the following criteria are needed to judge a critical thinker. In the first place, critical thinkers are flexible. This means that they can tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty with an open mind. As Cottrell describes in her book, dealing with ambiguity and doubt is the core part of

especially about the ideas that the majority of people may agree on. They are often active and raise questions when judging other’s arguments. This should not be confused with being argumentative or being overly critical of other people. In addition, critical thinkers can separate fact from opinion. They put much emphasis on evidence and remain emotionally detached, and come to conclusions based on facts from a variety of settings and individuals. A person with a good memory and who knows a lot of facts is not necessarily good at critical AMS. AMS. Harbor AMS. thinking. A critical thinker is able to deduce Airport City Harbor AMS. consequences from what he knows, and Harbor Airport City Almere Zuidas he knows Harbor how to make use of information Almere Zuidas Almere Haarlem Zuidasto solve problems, Almere Haarlem and to seek relevant Zuidas Haarlem Haarlem sources of information to inform him or SCHIPHOL SCHIPHOL herself. Moreover, critical thinkers do not SCHIPHOL SCHIPHOL Airport Corridor Airport Corridor oversimplify a problem. During the research Airport CorridorAirport Corridor process, they try to think divergently and ACT ACT Hor dorp Hor dorp take different alternatives into account. In the ACT ACT Neuw end, they solve problems in a systematic way. Aalsmeer Neuw Vennep Aalsmeer Neuw Vennep At last, critical thinkers use logical inference Neuw Vennep Vennep Aerotropolis Network processes. Everyone makes inferences based Aerotropolis upon the limited information available, since Aerotropolis total omniscience is impossible. Aerotropolis Network

Figure 1. Theoretical concept of Aerotropolis© Xiaochen Che

Confucianism is another important Eastern source of critical thinking. Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system that developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. In practice, the primary foundation and function of Confucianism is that of an ethical philosophy to be practiced by the members of a society. Its ethics are characterized by the promotion of virtues, encompassed by the five virtues that are Humaneness, Justice, Propriety, Knowledge and Integrity. There are still many other elements in Confucianism, such as honesty, kindness, shame, judgement and the sense of right and wrong, bravery, gentleness. Both Western and Eastern streams associate critical thinking with rationality. Critical thinking in both instances is a way of learning and guiding action. In the next section, characteristics of critical thinker are summarized and his qualities outlined.

critical thinking. With the development of high-tech, we can easily obtain answers within minutes on the Internet, there are lots of possibilities and alternatives, but we need to identify which ones are rational and useful among those ready answers. Then critical thinking becomes a tool to filter. Moreover, black-and-white analyses should be avoided. Critical thinkers often enjoy themselves in mysteries and complexities rather than a unique and correct answer, and are willing to test their ideas and assumptions by themselves instead of finding an answer in a book or somewhere else.

• Criteria for critical thinkers

Critical thinkers have the ability to identify inherent biases and assumptions. On one hand, to identify the biases and assumptions of others is quite a critical process. On the other hand, critical thinkers also can confront their own biases and predispositions, then deal with problems in a rational way. They detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning.

To be a critical thinker, the ability to think clearly and rationally is necessary. The ability to engage in reflective and independent

With the willingness to self-correct, critical thinkers maintain an air of scepticism,

• Correlation with Urbanism

We understand urbanism as the practice of urban and regional design and planning. Critical thinking is crucial for this type of professional practice. Urbanism has emerged from the combination of various disciplines. The Dutch tradition of urbanism is grounded in architecture, civil engineering and landscape architecture (Palmboom). During the short period of its existence, urbanism has already changed numerous times. Recently, there is a tendency to stress the need for new critical practice, which would be able to anticipate conditions of the global economy and their spatial consequences (Soja et al.). Can we regard critical thinking as the fundamental skill to sustain our profession and accustom ourselves to ever changing new conditions? In the following paragraphs, we have looked at our own designs in terms of coherence of argumentation and logic of reasoning. We tried to evaluate their rationality and the propriety of argumentation. • Haarlemmermeer as the Aerotropolis

In Quarter 3, I joined the studio of regional planning for Haarlemmermeer, which 29

aimed at working out a strategy for a subregion of the Randstad-Holland, concerning both regional and local impacts in terms of economic and environmental issues.

In the end, we zoomed out to the Randstad scale. Our proposal for Haarlemmermeer as an Aerotropolis would change the centrality of the North Wing of the Randstad, and bring about enormous impact on the economy of this metropolitan region.

I worked with other 5 students on the economy of Haarlemmermeer. Obviously, economy is a difficult theme to work on, since it is so broad and related to almost everything about this region, including both physical and social aspects. We proposed the idea of “aerotropolis” which implies an urban form whose layout, infrastructure, and economy is centred in an airport, offering its businesses speedy connectivity to suppliers, customers, and enterprise partners worldwide. (figure 1).

Normally, designing is a quite subjective process since the results are dynamic and flexible, and different individuals have their own perceptions of design work. However, urbanism is not an artwork, but a series of spatial consequences that are supposed to meet the practical needs of users. Therefore, as urbanists, we should be critical and objective during the research and design processes, and take the possible effects of the design into account. That is

In urbanism, and in urban design in particular, coherent argument based on knowledge is crucial. Therefore, critical thinking is used to communicate information and highlight its relevance in the context of the urban design project. The brief of the “Vertical Cities Asia” competition served as an assignment for the studio. It was based on two main points. First, 100.000 people needed to be housed in one square kilometre. Second, the thematic of this year assignment was “Everyone Ages”: “Population aging is unique in Asia given the speed at which it is occurring and the immense social and economic changes that the region is experiencing at the same time” (VCA 2012).

NEW NEW RANDSTAD RANDSTAD

RANDSTAD RANDSTAD

Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam

CENTRALITY CENTRALITY Haarlemmermeer Haarlemmermeer AEROTROPOLIS AEROTROPOLIS

Haarlemmermeer Haarlemmermeer

FOCALFOCAL POINTPOINT

UtrechtUtrecht

NETWORK NETWORK

UtrechtUtrecht

NETWORK NETWORK

Rotterdam Rotterdam

Figure 2. Effects of proposal in Randstad structure © Xiaochen Che

After comparison with airports in Paris, Hong Kong and Frankfurt, which are multi-functional airport cities, we developed a strategic plan (figure 2 and 3) with two different structures combined together to develop Haarlemmermeer’s economy as an Aerotropolis (figure 2 and figure 3). One structure is a nucleus system in the south, which consists of a series of small towns that are separated from each other in order to maintain the rural landscape. The other structure is a network with three corridors that have different functions- residential, logistics, and financial. These corridors all come from the Schiphol Airport, which is becoming the new economic centre of Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, even surpass Amsterdam centre.

• Vertical Cities Asia - Yongsan in Seoul

to say, we cannot only focus on expressing our innovative ideas like artists. Instead, we should collect all the voices of users and try to balance and integrate them into a feasible design. In this case, critical thinking skills are quite important because we need to analyse relevant information critically and objectively. During quarter 3, we tried to create a logical story line while organizing the planning and designing processes, being critical when defining the problems and finding possible solutions, and also when envisaging the consequences of our proposals. We ended up with a quite rational and feasible proposal based on research of the actual conditions of the place and the needs and wishes of stakeholders.

The final story line which evolved from the brief towards a strategy is seemingly linear: problem statement-research-analysissolution. But in fact the process followed a spiral pattern, where initial statements of the competition brief were elaborated and eventually developed to design strategies. The three main ‘milestones’ of project argumentation, namely Brief, Conditions, and Strategy, helped to communicate ideas in legible and cohesive ways, keeping the story both clear and specific. The first part, the Brief, defines the thematic and spatial contexts of the project. (figure 5) Site itself is hierarchically related to the Hangang river, tied to metropolitan region by urban rail, bordered with main traffic thoroughfare, and is a part of poly-centric city (figure 6). Issue of ageing population in Asia is appropriated as a trend, which would change the society and calls for structural transformation of spatial reality of Seoul. The second part summarizes research and analysis, guided by three directions formulated in the Brief. The term “condition” was used as an objective of this research and analysis. Condition, in this context, means state, shape, status, which describes the performance of the site, its actual shape, on-going process and possible future.

The third part, Strategy, represents a set of attitudes to guide the design The Strategy addresses main issues formulated in the analysis step: To achieve more resilient urbanization, with respect to culture, society and existing conditions of the site and Seoul. The Landscape approach was crucial to formulate this statement: it is a culturally specific representation of the man-nature relationship, expressed in traditional Korean landscape painting, Sansu-hwa. According to the Daoist world-view, “man should not intrude upon the magnificence of the landscape, but should be quietly part of its complete whole” (Song-mi, 2006). This led to the critical examination of on-going urbanization in Seoul. Studies of terrain, climate and natural disasters showed that this harmony had been lost due to fast urbanization, which took place last three decades. Further elaboration of the strategy followed the questions: How to invent lost harmony? How do the specific characteristics of the site and its qualities (density, transformation possibilities) contribute?

Figure 3. Relation of the site to the larger scale © Aleksandrs Feltins

To come up with spatial answers to these questions, transformation strategies were defined, specifying the degree of transformation: former uses of rail-yards and warehouses were to be redefined completely, and more fine-grain urban fabric needed to be elaborated more carefully (figure 7). Taking into account enormous pace of Korean urbanization, harmony or balance, justice or qualitative growth (ageing), can be achieved only by mediating various scales and issues, such as natural forces, existing urban fabric and its social networks. The formulation of the strategy is organically developed from the analysis — critical thinning here is like a thread connecting scales, natural and social processes and development goals.

Moreover, critical thinking is used to rationally organize the whole design process, and develop an appropriate methodology to achieve the final objective of the project. For example, a logic story line is one of the representations for the use of critical thinking in urbanism, which calls for the coherent understanding of the whole project. Meanwhile, picking only essential products to show your main ideas and designs is also important. Communicative graphics and images should be chosen to present your final results. In addition, critical thinking skills are also required during the communication with colleagues and clients, as a set of critical and reasonable arguments should be formulated as the base for any design. In the end, the evaluation is obviously a crucial part, which requires critical thinking skills, both when criticizing others’ work or evaluating one’s own design. Being skeptical, we can recognize the positive and negative effects of a design proposal, raise questions when we doubt something and keep thinking and researching for different alternatives. This should be the path to follow in order to become an urbanist.

Figure 4. Yongsan market in the context of future development © Aleksandrs Feltins

As a conclusion, critical thinking is a necessary skill for urbanists, and it is served as a guideline that gives you directions during the whole planning and design process, including research, analysis, design, communication, presentation and evaluation. ROBINSON and JOHNSON, 1997, fourth edition “The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction”. New York Wadsworth Publishing Company. YAO X. 2000. “An Introduction to Confucianism”. Cambridge University Press. EDWARD C. 1998, “Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy”, Volume 7, Taylor & Francis COTTRELL S. 2005, “Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective and

• Conclusions

Arguments”.

In fact, critical thinking exists during the whole planning and design process in every urbanism project. Before starting to design, a comprehensive research on the project context is necessary. We used to gather torrents of information from the Internet, which may be partially relevant to the real problems, thus confusing and misleading our minds. Therefore, we need to think critically and filter useful information from the ready materials.

ENNIS R. H. 1993. “Critical Thinking Assessment”. Theory into Practice, Volume 32, P.3

"2010" When all people live in this world, everybody belong to some organization such as a family, school, company, city and nation even if we are unconsciousness. Let’s broaden your horizons. your country is part of nations all over the world. And, The solar system including our planet is a part of the Galaxy. However, the concept of “whole and part” is not fixed. It is in flux. If we interpret from a different viewpoint, the wholeness which we defined is converted into the partialness. Domain in the relations of both, it never ends. The concept of my creation is the relations of borderless “whole and part”. As I draw a picture in this concept, I want to express conflict and undulation from relations of “whole and part”, cannot be measured in addition and subtraction (The whole in the grand total of the part. and the part by the whole division)

sagaki keita tokyo, japan sagakikeita.com

The Urbanism department on emending education Debate, February 21st, 2013

anna-maria fernandez-maldonado urbanism graduation coordinator remon rooj MSc3 theory of urbanism course coordinator ina klaasen former associate professor machiel van dorst chairman department of urbanism roberto rocco msc2 methodology course coordinator

The curriculum of the Master Urbanism has changed and developed over the past decade. For this issue on education, Atlantis, in cooperation with Remon Rooij, prepared statements that would trigger a discussion on the current curriculum. We invited members of the department of Urbanism in a debate setting. Present were Ana Maria Fernández-Maldonado (FERNÁNDEZ), Roberto Rocco (ROCCO) and Remon Rooij (ROOIJ) to react on the statements . Interviewer Tess Stribos (TESS) from Atlantis recorded their ideas on the current state of the Urbanism Master programme from the Urbanism department members. We received written reactions from Ina Klaasen (KLAASEN) and remarks by Machiel van Dorst (VAN DORST). Their input is incorporated in this article on the debate. We thank the participating members of staff for their cooperation and contribution.

• On the MSc Urbanism curriculum The Q3 regional oriented studio assignment is outdated. Such large scale projects are not developed anymore and the assignment needs to be altered.

ROOIJ: I strongly disagree with the statement. ROCCO: I think the assignment of quarter three (Q3) is not a large intervention. It is a regional intervention. That scale is more relevant than ever. Which means that you do not need large intervention to act on the regional scale. You can do with interventions of any size that have a regional scope. ROOIJ: Yes, I fully agree. Regional design is not out-dated. It is very urgent. Under this statement lies the assumption that's it is only about growth. This idea is out-dated. It is not in line with what society asks from this kind of work or intervention. Society needs well-considered investments and interventions in and for sustainable urban regions. FERNÁNDEZ: I completely agree, planning is heading in the direction of the urban region. From urban to regional visions. KLAASEN: “A regional-oriented assignment has been part of the urban curriculum since the 1970s. (...) In the 1990s it was for some time a specific graduation ‘studio’ and later on –wrongly – a first year project for all faculty students. (…) Of course (urban) regions are still being developed – in the sense of altering their functional structure: for that reason you need to be able to analyse this structure, schooled in sensible additions and switch between levels of scale.” ROOIJ: What I like about the project is that it is not just about the

regional design, it is also about local interventions and strategic projects. So the assignment for the students is to come up with a regional vision, while scaling it down to local interventions. This is the core of the discipline of urbanism: working on a variety of levels. It is the essence of what we want to communicate with the program. ROCCO: I think people misunderstand the assignment, because they think we have got a region, so we can only talk about regional infrastructures and train stations, or high ways. But what Remon said, is that in order to intervene in the region you have to intervene in the local. The intervention should reflect this on several levels. FERNÁNDEZ: It is definitely; because the larger you go in scale, the more abstract the criteria. The lower you go in scale, the more space you get into. So in a way, when you are dealing with this regional scale you are talking precisely about the local scale as well. ROOIJ: And another dimension that strengthens our assignment [the Q3 assignment] is that it is not the Randstad discussion only. It is the international context of regions. Metropolisation, regionalisation, is a process, which is happening in many other countries, not just in the Netherlands. FERNÁNDEZ: It is a good statement. Do we have an educational program for national students only or is it an international program? This assignment has a generally Dutch orientation. VAN DORST: There is a potential contradiction between education

"... planning is heading in the direction of the urban region. From urban to regional visions."

for the Dutch practice and the international practice. There is also an international issue. Can the knowledge from the Bachelor be repeated in the Master, in order to overcome the different background knowledge between national and international students. FERNÁNDEZ: Using your Dutch example to show what metropolisation and regionalisation is, is perfect. We are in the Netherlands, there is a region that is sufficiently networked a complex. This does not mean it is Dutch oriented; it is only a Dutch example. To do some comparative studies is a valuable next step. The role of the urbanist has changed drastically. The current curriculum does not prepare for this new assignment and attitude of the urban designer/planner.

TESS: This topic was the theme of the latest Urbanism Week at the faculty. The urban designer has to safeguard all the, possibly conflicting, interests. The urbanist goes from a creator of strict big plans to a civil servant. Questions such as ‘what is the role of the citizens?’ and ‘should governments step aside?’ were discussed (For further elaboration on the latest Urbanism Week we refer to our previous issue 23.2 “Second hand cities). ROCCO: I think we do not prepare students enough to integrate private parties in the planning process. On the other hand, I disagree with the idea that governments need to step aside. We need the legitimacy and the societal strength of collective undertaking, which governments can represent. FERNÁNDEZ: Actually, there is a shift from the planner as part of the government to planner as one of the people involved in the building of the city, a more humble role. The role of the planner is more between the government and the private parties. ROCCO: I agree that we are articulators in a vast network of people, we need to be more creative, we have a very different role then we did ten years ago. ROOIJ: We have a course called Practice of Urbanism, were we actually talk about the role of the urban planner. Do we need to change the content of the studio? Yes, to understand spatial form and analysis and the different role of the government. This is more important than talking about the different role of the urbanist. FERNÁNDEZ: It should be taught, but it is

also something you learn in practice. ROCCO: You cannot learn it in the Master exactly, because our time is limited. But there are people discussing this new role and we can raise a discussion among students, staff and people from the practice. ROOIJ: Talking about stakeholders [like the government] – In the Q3 we extensively talk about the most important stakeholders and their role in achieving the regional strategy or local interventions. A former student said: “Why did you not tell us that money is the main thing moving all this?” ROCCO: Money is important, but promoting democracy is more important. I think that our students have a hard time dealing with planning and designing processes. These processes are not about the results only, but rather about building democracy in the process. ROOIJ: When talking about economic feasibility or legal feasibility in the Netherlands, the question is how deep do we go into this? You can learn from the Dutch example, but with regard to the international students it is questionable how transferable this knowledge is to the Chinese or American context. ROCCO: But teachers are able to say they are teaching the Dutch system and that is a very good example. But students must always compare it to the situation in their own home countries. Then students are able to see what are the differences and shortcomings of the Dutch system, but also of the Chinese or South American systems, for instance. TESS: Here I would like to act upon Machiel van Dorsts questions he send back in addition. He points out that discussing Conclusion drawing the electives in this debate would also be of relevance. ROOIJ: The question Machiel poses: is our electives program good enough, do they relate to the urgent issues that are discussed in the Urbanism Week. That is a good question to which I don't have an answer. It is a good thing that the department of urbanism critically evaluates the elective program. Maurice Harteveld, Han Meyer and me did this in the past, but the it was a huge elective program that had to be narrowed down and perhaps this has to be done again. Are the courses the really urgent ones? And do we want our students to be trained in the ones we offer, are they still relevant? FERNÁNDEZ: Are students well enough

Quarter three (Q3) of the Urbanism master Regional design is the subject of the third quarter of the MSc Urbanism. This is urbanism at large scale. At this level global impact is best visible and sensible, in terms of urbanization, economic powers and environmental impact. This results in the inability to fully control the region or metropolis. Regional design and planning is more about steering developments in the right direction. This we call a strategy. At the same time designs – as the visualization of possible futures – are still necessary to define what the right direction is. The core issue of this quarter is making a metropolitan design for a sub-region of the Randstad Holland. The quarter’s studio assignment of making a metropolitan design consists of three parts: develop a concept for the Randstad Holland, a regional plan for the sub-region of the Haarlemmermeer and an associated project portfolio of strategic interventions. (Semester guide booklet Q3 2011-2012 version 4 p: 6)

Figure 1. structure plan Q3 Haarlemmermeer © A. Bhargava, J. van Loohuizen, R. Wolves, T. Stribos, V. Nyman - 2012

informed about the electives and about the current issues? ROCCO: That is why the Urbanism Week is so important, but it is not enough. Not everybody takes part. TESS: That is true. Students can subscribe for the Urbanism Week, but they have to do it beside their other projects, which, of course, is hard. Because the Urbanism Week program is really dense, it is quite difficult to get the essentials out if it; how is this relevant for me, how does it enrich my studies? ROCCO: Well, some of these questions are addressed in the studios and some of our courses, but where would these things be better addressed? ROOIJ: I think Polis does play an important role, in the organisation of the Urbanism Week, Atlantis, lecture series and excursions. That is why the department is very helpful and thankful for an organisation like Polis. FERNÁNDEZ: Still I think that the department does not support Polis well enough. ROCCO: Would it be an idea for Polis to concentrate more on this issues Tess raised? TESS: You wonder what could be the platform? ROCCO: Yes, a course, an elective.. TESS: A magazine? FERNÁNDEZ: Or once a year a meeting, for students and staff to discuss these things. ROCCO: Before we do that, we first have to raise the awareness of the staff, because I do not think they consider these issues part of their program yet. FERNÁNDEZ: A discussion should also be with people from practice. With respect to what they think would be important for the students to learn. ROOIJ: That group is already there with professionals giving advice. That is a good thing. ROCCO: Sometimes the relevance of what practitioners have to say is limited, because they do not think about academic research and forming minds. We are forming minds here. FERNÁNDEZ: Yes, but it is a good thing to discuss. ROOIJ: The question is then who should discuss. I think – but I am not sure – that the management team once a year has a discussion with a team of professionals about what is happening in practice and how it would affect the university. This would be nice of course if we… ROCCO: … If we had it open. TESS: The urbanism board also talks to Polis once a year, but I do not know about what. So, these discussions are not constructive if outsiders are not welcome? ROOIJ: No, no. These are good discussions, I know. This happens already for years and that is good. When I was in the board of Polis we had already consultations with the department. ROCCO: I think Polis should come with the agenda and not let them do that. They need to give their ideas on what they would like to discuss with the department. TESS: What we can conclude is that there are many interactions between the board, Polis and practice. The only thing is that this could be more transparent. On this notion I would like to take the debate towards the next statements that concern the methodology courses. 36

There are two methodology courses in the Urbanism curriculum. One in MSc2 and MSc3. The course instruction in MSc2 states that: “This course tackles the need to create a solid academic base for the Masters of Urbanism programme with respect to established academic standards in dialogue with design research and practice.” Academic standards require the understanding of academic writing, for which the students are not prepared in the Bachelor courses. This is not a problem, as academic writing is more crucial in the masters. Following up on this statement #4 Our students are not at all acquainted with terms from the required academic standards.

ROCCO: I agree, students are not prepared. ROOIJ: Yes, I agree one hundred percent. And now I can react as a Bachelors coordinator, because this was one of the many motivations behind the Bachelor revision. The rest had to shrink or refocus more. Together with some colleagues from Real Estate & Housing and from Architectural Engineering; Elise van Doorn, Vincent Gruis, Henny Coolen, Lara Schrijver and myself developed a program which helped students from the first moment on with some academic skills, especially writing skills. This is a good improvement, also for the quality for the Master program. Academic writing should be trained much more consistently in the five or six years that students spend here. That is what the Bachelor program now will do. I hope we will get the fruits of that in our Master. But we have something else. Fifty percent of the Master Urbanism influx at the TU Delft is not from the Bachelor program here. How do we solve that? In the current situation we help students in the first quarter of the second year on their academic writing skills, when they develop their theoretical framework for their graduation project. FERNÁNDEZ: What is the academic method? To be able to distinguish what is academic and what is not academic, especially in these times when information and sources are everywhere and always present. ROCCO: Critical skills are relevant and necessary. For example; they give you the ability to understand complexity and ambiguity. These are things people have difficulties to accept. They must understand that knowledge is provisional and constantly changing and that there are ways of understanding reality that are more academic than others. ROOIJ: Do you think our staff are equipped enough and capable to bring this forward and teach it? Ina says no, they are not. KLAASEN: “Not only our students are not acquainted with terms from the requested academic standards, neither are our staff members, including professors. However, acquainting students and PhD candidates with an overview of views on science, including basic terms, apparently is not deemed necessary.” • On ethics While assessing statements on the curriculum of the Master Urbanism a strong scientific attitude is not found in any course. For this reason, Atlantis adopted a statement on ethics. In practice urban professionals can have big influence on the (built) environment. This brings a great responsibility and therefore ethical issues. Professional ethics is of great importance, but not represented in the Urbanism MSc. curriculum.

ROCCO: We have two sessions dedicated to this in the methodology course. Student are invited to think about it. In this year’s thesis plan, we again forgot to put it in the evaluation criteria. However, to limit the discussion to these two sessions in the whole Master program is ridiculous. KLAASEN: “Yes it is important. For the past two years I gave lectures/debates in the Masters on ethics. I am supposed – in consultation with Professor Nadin – to do this again in the Q3. What surprised me most was that some foreign students did not even know the meaning of the term ‘ethics’. As for ‘academic skills’, if ethics does not get attention throughout the whole of the curriculum, it will not become internalised.” ROOIJ: The staff have to integrate ethics into the projects. ROCCO: We have training in ethics for the urbanism department. It was two weeks ago. ROOIJ: It was how we should behave as academic professionals. Not about how design decisions affect the people. TESS: People from practice should know something about this. Questions like: Are you sure you are going to remove that block, since it is the home of many people? ROCCO: There is a difference between knowing something and teaching it. FERNÁNDEZ: It is something very personal and culturally linked. They know it, but when it comes to practice it is really forgotten. TESS: The teachers have some experience with ethical questions that they can transfer to their students. What may be needed is perhaps a theoretical framework. REMON: Or you have two sessions in which the basic ethics are introduced and then you have the studios in which it is addressed, it could be enough.

ROCCO: Perhaps you should not make a distinction between a foreign student s and Dutch students. Students that feel they need the course, should take it. There is a test I make for all the students. It has 30 questions about academic skills. The result are not bad at all. The students who choose urbanism already have a scientific mind. ROOIJ: This could be are very playful way to give the students a mirror to raise questions on how to perform on academic skills. KLAASEN: “The Methodology and theory courses - as they are – are not sufficient. The masters should begin with a theoretical course on the scientific method, in which students should learn basic academic skills and should be able to recognize what is an what is not academic in urbanism. This understanding should be brought to practice in the first and fourth design studio. This enables students to begin their graduation with a solid scientific basis.” ROCCO: Saying the same thing… one of the questions is about content in the Internet.

masters. First we talked about letting foreign students do an additional test. On the notion of ethics it might be unjust to do so. But, like Remon says, the ministry gives responsibility to do so. So it might be possible, without discrimination, to make a selection. FERNÁNDEZ: In America. They select. In a way, this is not discriminating. The system is not easy, so getting permitted is difficult. ROOIJ: If you have a Bachelor you don’t need to do anything in English. You then enter a Master with your high school English. ROCCO: I have never thought about that, I have had one or two cases in which I was talking to fast for the Dutch students. • On gender The

statistics

rather

• Selection at the gate In Urbanism 50% of the Master students are foreign and do not have the same background Master

knowledge

course

educational

anticipates,

and

cultural

that both

the from

perspective.

Foreign students should be trained more, or follow a special course in order to achieve a general level for all Master students.

women

and

men

remarkable

compared

the

statistics of other Architecture Master tracks,

let

alone

Delft

Masters.

Women are more attracted to Urbanism because the field concerns planning and

"The reasoning goes like ‘I do not have to quote [information from the intenet], because it belongs to the public’. A lot of students say its true." It implies that everything from the internet is part of the public domain. The reasoning goes like ‘I do not have to quote it, because it belongs to the public’. A lot of students say its true. ROOIJ: Selection at the gate. What we are asked by the ministry is to be selective. FERNÁNDEZ: What I know, is that they ask a portfolio. They ask the same for all disciplines. ROCCO: I do not know if the test is well conceived. ROOIJ: Not only in a test, but also in a interview. ROCCO: Who would interview so many people? REMON: It is only a hundred people. ROCCO: They have to assess a lot of different qualities. Not only academic knowledge, but also creativity and have good oral skills to explain. And of course the level of English. TESS: We are now talking about on what basis we can refuse or give entry to the

is almost 50-50 in Urbanism. This is

structuring, in which women are better than men. They also perform better in the Master Urbanism.

ROCCO: It wonderful that there are so many women. I remind you that there are not so many women among the professors of the department. KLAASEN: “It used to be that women lacked spatial insight – apparently the new ‘thing’ is that they are better in organising… So that is why the faculty and the world are run mainly by men…” ROCCO: It is a boys club. I think gender equality is a central issue. Sometimes you take it for granted, here in the Netherlands. ROOIJ: I would be nice to really ask male and female students about their motivation, why they choose urbanism. Perhaps Rocco already adopted this in his questionnaires during the course. ROCCO: No, I have not done that. What I did ask was what do you think you are going to be as a professional. A lot of my professors in my home country were women. More women should be professors. Tess Stribos

An Asian perspective on "scientific" urban planning and design

lei qu, peiwen & chung chenkun researchers at tu delft

approaches in the Netherlands

Interdisciplinary as well as consensus decision making in urban planning and design processes are getting more and more attention from those who are looking for integrated urban development models, especially when dealing with urban issues that involve technical solutions and various stakeholders. The tradition of negotiating spatial developments in the Netherlands could be dated back to the thirteenth century when people in the western part of the country collectively planned and maintained the polder landscape. Dealing with dykes, ditches and windmills in the marshy areas, the system was dependent on the input of individual farmers, regional boards and elected bodies at different scales (Qu and Hasselaar, 2011). This has shaped the present culture of consensus building among stakeholders with different interests. From an Asian perspective, using Taiwan as an example region, such collaborative approach is rarely seen within the inherited tree-like planning system, and public involvement normally happens in a much later phase than decision making. On the one hand, responsibilities among government departments are ‘too’ clearly defined; on the other, ‘Technocracy’ has created barriers for negotiation between engineers, planners and designers.

Water related urban development could be seen as one of the issues. In recent years, integrating water management in spatial planning and urban design has become a common interest in coastal regions in both Asian and European countries. The Dutch cities, that have a long history of water management, are adopting new spatial strategies of living with water. They are considered as good cases for comparison by the Asian researchers. The Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology therefore has been attracting researchers from Asia in the past several years, doing comparative studies on water related issues. They are mainly hosted by the Section of Spatial Planning and Strategy and the Section of Urban Design in the Department of Urbanism. These researchers have collectively formed some Asian perspectives on the Dutch approaches of transforming territory with water, which could represent the ‘scientific’ urban planning and design methods in the Netherlands, and Delft in particular, in regard to research and education. This article will try to unfold such perspectives based on the work of these Asian researchers in Urbanism.

Interestingly, according to the interviews done by the authors, the ‘outsiders’, namely the Asian researchers working in the faculty, and ‘insiders’, people involved in research and practice in the Netherlands, have different opinions on this. Generally speaking, the former group is more positive than the latter regarding the performance of integrated water-spatial management addressed in the Netherlands, and this is perhaps due to the different planning culture mentioned above. For people from the Asian context, consensus building in the decision making phase may already represent a high level of integration in spatial development process, while this might seem natural to the Dutch, to whom an ‘integrated’ approach perhaps refer to a thorough collaboration in the planning and design process with all the parties involved. This contradiction raises our interest in comparing these two different context, with two main questions: firstly, are there instruments facilitating integral spatial planning and design process from the technical point of view? Secondly, what are the different models of collaboration and noncollaboration among institutions and stakeholder that are responsible for water and urban development?

"Technocracy has created barriers for negotiation between engineers, planners and designers."

• Are the Dutch approaches of water management ‘integrated’?

It starts with the following question: are the current Dutch approaches of water management and spatial development ‘integrated’ from the technical and management points of view? 38

• Blueprint plans versus the Dutch layer approach

In the Asian context, for example in Taiwan region, blueprint plans are often used as products of decision making, the plans represent

professional opinion and are used as tools for guiding the future spatial development in city regions. Such plans, especially those related to systems of water or transportation networks are usually made separately by the responsible government departments. Technocracy in decision making has led to priorities in functionality of each system, which makes the plans of each field legitimate as from a single perspective, but rigid at the same time. For instance, the Water Resource Agency at the national level or the Hydraulic Engineering Bureau at the municipal level are responsible to make plans in dealing with flood prevention and drainage, restricted in focus on the water body. The Urban Planning Bureau then takes these technical solutions as the basis

of their land use plans or urban design proposals without further consideration of integration, for example creating a water landscape for better living quality of the city. There is not yet an instrument facilitating collaborative planning and design process between hydraulic engineers and urbanists. Instruments that offer possibilities for interdisciplinary and sector wide planning are addressed in the Dutch planning system, for instance, the method of the Dutch layer approach, which was introduced in the 1990s to facilitate comprehensive strategy making regarding future spatial developments of the Netherlands. It was related to the criticism on blueprint types of plans that overlooked the dynamics of transformation process. As a stratified model, three layers of substratum,

networks and the occupation pattern are used to visualise spatial dynamics of each layer and the connections among them. After the late 1990s this method became quite popular in decision-making and shaping coalitions (van Schaick and Klaasen, 2011). For instance, in the case of water related spatial development, the layer approach can be useful in pinpointing the focal areas for negotiation through recognising the overlapped layers of water system and occupation pattern. In this sense, the plans or design proposals made by the urbanists are not fixed ‘results’ or ‘guidelines’, but more of a platform for discussion with water engineers. Changes are expected and new knowledge will be generated when trying to create urban quality in areas with water problems. In addition, a further version of the Dutch layer approach, 3x3 layer framework, is being developed by the Delta Group of U-lab in the Urbanism Department at TU Delft. This framework considers ‘scale’ as another crucial dimension in visualizing the way water system of a whole delta or river basin works. Three scales of river basin, delta and city are involved in order to examine how the transformation of river basin landscape does affect deltas and cities, or vice versa. This framework of the whole water catchment area is quite helpful to resolve the water problems in highly urbanized deltas where finding proper land and methods for hydraulic construction seems difficult. Introducing concepts of urbanism based on visions of the whole river basin could be seen as alternative scenarios, compared to the traditional realm of hydrology. A 3x3 layer framework tries to provide such a working platform for interdisciplinary collaboration (figure 1). This analysis framework (figure 1) was applied in a workshop in Kaohsiung (figure 2) , a port city located in Southern Taiwan, where extreme rainfall brought by the climate change has posed a tremendous threat to this highly urbanized area during the last decade. The workshop was held in February 2012 to explore new ways of integrated water management, with hydraulic engineers, urban planners and designers from both the Netherlands and Kaohsiung participating. From the traditional perspective of hydrology

Figure 1. A 3×3 layer framework- Kaohsiung, Taiwan

building more detention ponds or heightening dikes are the main solution for battling the threat of floods. However, these proposals are not feasible anymore in Kaohsiung, due to the fact that the citizens will no longer accept the consequences for spatial quality brought for by a huge concrete dike, not to mention the difficulties in finding proper land to build detention ponds in very dense urban areas. It is a great challenge to meet the requirements of flood management and spatial quality at the same time. The Kaohsiung workshop introduced the 3×3 framework as a main analysis method and platform for specialists from different field. The main result of this workshop is a proposal to create a new multifunctional ring canal in the city, based on the historical ones (figure 3). Firstly, the new waterway with flexible gates could be used as a huge detention pond, which is larger than what the hydraulic engineers can propose. Secondly, the new waterway creates wonderful waterfront areas which would substantially improve the spatial quality of this industrial port. Thirdly, the ring system is also able to draw clean seawater into the waterway to flush the pollutant, which means that the waterway can be cleaned twice a day by the tide. The Kaohsiung workshop is just an interesting start that indicates the necessity to develop methods for interdisciplinary collaboration. • Working together to implement water policy

Another issue to be highlighted is the difference between the Taiwan region and the Netherlands in framing water-spatial policies. Policy makers in Taiwan have been paying increasing attention to flood risk management after the occurrence of several serious floods in the past decade, while technocracy remained dominant without any institutional arena for collaboration or knowledge exchanges. For instance, the Flood-prone Programme (Water Resource Agency, 2006) was created to deal with flood risks, but the programme addressed only engineering works of water defence (e.g., dikes, pumping stations and ditches) without any link to land use management (e.g., minimising the intensity of land use in floodprone areas) nor scientific debates on future trends (e.g., scenarios of scientific prediction). On the one hand, the implementation of flood risk management is generally so hydraulic oriented that planners or urban designers are excluded in the process of decision making. On the other hand, planners are not interested in taking the issue of water management into account, but would rather emphasise on spatial development for economic growth.

Figure 2. Workshop presentation in a local temple

Figure 3. The proposal of ring canal

Implementing water policies in the Netherlands is quite different. There is the tradition of negotiation which has been growing for the last centuries, together with awareness of the uncertainty in flood risk management under climate change, and the possible benefits for economic growth are considered. The ‘area based approach’ was addressed in the Dutch National Water Plan 2009-2015 (Ministry of Transport Public Works and Water Management et al., 2009), highlighting the necessity to work with all the stakeholders and to use a development-geared approach. This approach is not limited to the perspective of water management, but also includes the act of innovating and generating new knowledge in the working process. Policy-making is re-framed and shaped to make a comprehensive strategy towards the future and to gain bigger benefits for each sector. For instance, the Rotterdam Climate Initiative (RCI, the website: www.rotterdamclimateinitiative.nl) is a new set government platform created in the late 2000s for decision making, particularly regarding the issues of climate change. Based on this platform, the city of Rotterdam is collaborating with other actors like the Port of Rotterdam, organisation of employers in Rotterdam (Deltalinqs) and Environmental Protection Agency Rijnmond (DCMR). The process of policy making by the RCI has three aspects: to enhance knowledge development of climate change, to build new facilities of the city and to establish international cooperation networks (Rotterdam Climate Initiative, 2010, 2008), which are interlinked with other national programmes (e.g., Knowledge for Climate programme) and implemented as practical strategies for urban development (e.g., the floating pavilion and the on going project of the water retention square). The RCI also contributed to establishing global partnerships

by developing international networks for city level collaborations and knowledge exchanges (e.g., to share goals and implementation strategies), such as the collaboration with the city of Hamburg regarding the issue of the rising sea level, and the marketing of its waterproof architectural design proposals at the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010. Climate uncertainties are considered not only as a threat for the city (necessitating preparations) but also as an opportunity to develop and market its knowledge based economy of climate proof decision making. • Conclusions

would be raising awareness on the necessity of having collaborative ways of working. More platforms like workshops and seminars for communication among different ‘branches’ of authority and disciplines are needed. These might help to start a learning process, changing the collaboration model from making compromise to building consensus. Once such channels for collaboration are built up and are able to result in a more integrated decision making process, the next step would be to develop effective planning tools or management models to conduct an integrated development process in practice. This is a long way to go, even in the Dutch situation.

"Within the ‘tree-like’ planning system dominated by technocracy, the most feasible first step would be raising awareness on the necessity of having collaborative ways of working."

This article is mainly based on case studies conducted by the authors in their own research, in Asian and Dutch context. The authors perceived the increasing level of integration in water related urban planning and design processes in the Netherlands, both in research and practice, with the implementation of planning tools and management models. For instance, the Dutch Layer Approach is used to incorporate relevant disciplines into the scenario building for the territory, while the area based approach is implemented to facilitate development with regards to urban quality. Although ‘insiders’ do not regard the Dutch approaches as ‘very’ integrated, especially in the implementation process after decision making, the current Dutch thinking on integrated water management is still quite inspiring for the Asian urbanists. However, ways of transferring these Dutch approaches to the Asian context will be indirect. Within the ‘tree-like’ planning system dominated by technocracy, the most feasible first step

Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (V&W), Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM), and Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), (2009) National Water Plan 2009-2015 Rotterdam Climate Initiative (2008) Rotterdam Climate Initiative 2008 Report - Summary Rotterdam Climate Initiative (2010) Rotterdam Climate Proof 2010 Water Resource Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs (2006) Regulation project for flood-prone area, Taipei: Water Resource Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs Qu, L. and Hasselaar, E. (eds.) (2011) Making Room for People: Choice, Voice and Liveability in residential places, Amsterdam: Techne Press Van Schaick, J. and Klaasen, I. (2011) The Dutch Layers Approach to Spatial Planning and Design: A Fruitful Planning Tool or a Temporary Phenomenon?, European Planning Studies, 19 (10), pp. 1775-1796

Figure 4. Floating pavilion: one of the practical projects initiated by the Rotterdam Climate Initiative www.drijvendpaviljoen.nl/Beelden/Fotos.aspx

From splendid isolation to "feet in the mud"

jeroen van schaick guest position at tu delft province of south holland

Talking to Ina Klaasen at the kitchen table

• The window, a bit of context

I write about the period 2010-2012. I started my work at the province in the weeks just before the national elections of 2010. And while I am writing this in 2012 we have been faced with elections again because, as in 2010, the Cabinet has resigned before its four years were over. In the meantime, I have experienced the preparations and consequences of the provincial elections in 2011 that have shaped the political programme within which my work takes place. The financial crisis has been settling in as a mature neighbour, or even roommate that has found its voice and is vocalising louder and louder. In the past few years the discussion about regional government and governance has again been going on in the Netherlands. The cooperating municipalities or ‘city regions’ (WGR+) and the Provincie Zuid-Holland have been searching for new ways to cooperate. Before the fall of the Cabinet under strong pressure of a new law on regional cooperation. In the meantime municipal organisations have crumbled in terms of personnel and spatial development projects, while the province as organisation, with a slow delay, only now starts to feel the pressure for cutbacks. In this context I have worked in several arenas in which I have shaped my shift from academia to planning practice. On none of these dossiers I have worked solo. I am indebted to my co-workers and partners at other institutions for their work that has completed mine. Although I am indebted to others for finishing my dissertation as well; the degree of dependency on others is a crucial difference between the work at the university and at the province.

between regional partners in the South Wing of the Randstad. The cooperation is shaped pragmatically around a working programme (see www.zuidvleugel.nl) on major tasks for which the partners need each other to reach their own goals. One important role of the cooperation is to present the region as interlocutor for negotiations and strategic talks with the national government. The territorial agenda (Gebiedsagenda) for the South Wing is a framework document of regional and national governments with no legal status in terms of the law on spatial planning. It is based on existing policies of all involved partners. The importance

that this discussion came up shortly after the document had been agreed upon was exemplary for the political and societal context of decreasing funds. But, more important maybe, it showed the difficulty of regional cooperation,if repeatedly a member of the partnering networks is subject to significant changes in its agenda due to elections. In this case, the development of a new national structure vision by the national government, which limits the involved national interests, includes new divisions between ministerial departments and the preparation of a new law on regional cooperation, played an important role. This does not mean that the development of investment agendas stood still. After several years of increasing integration of policy domains the pendulum moved again in the direction of more sectoral policy agendas (e.g. economic), which provided more room for a quick political profile and, possibly, easier decision making on individual projects. In the meantime, many felt the need to think about new foci of the strategic, long term conversations between different government levels: what should we start to think about now in terms of the current societal developments and with a time horizon of 2030-2040. As spatial strategist one works in a networked environment where it is necessary to continuously shift between internal deliberation, sectoral policy goals, and external deliberation, with both regional partners and national partners. In a way it means muddling through. It also means to sometimes jump ahead to see if new directions can be explored. It means continuously substantiating agreements on agreed upon projects, moving decision making ahead, seeking for the added value of combining agendas, negotiating on priorities, (re)framing problems, seeking similarities between partners rather than

"Processes and (political) relations are at least as important as the content of the territorial agenda."

• Negotiating

agendas

regional

networks

The Zuidvleugel is an informal cooperation

of the territorial agenda is twofold. On the one hand it brings together the planning agendas of local, regional, provincial and national governments, on the other hand it brings together the ambitions, aims and integral projects from different policy domains such as water policy, green policy, economic policy, housing policy and spatial policy. It positions integral projects such as Stedenbaan or Stadshavens in a wider context. As such it helps to prioritise and bring together government investments in different policy domains. The territorial agenda plays this particular role specifically during the biannual meetings between national and regional governments on the MIRT program (see below). The current territorial agenda was developed in the years up to 2010 and politically decided on, by the end of that year. As spatial strategist at the province I have been involved in the discussion if and how to update the agenda. The fact

Figure 1. Gebiedsagenda Zeeuws-Vlaanderen © Jeroen van Schaik

differences. But it also means saying no to things others propose that are against your interests or pushing through when it is, politically, really important. Still, there is room for good ideas and for the search for what is important in the coming 20 to 30 years. It means argumentative planning that has a keen eye for power relations. Processes and (political) relations are at least as important as the content of the territorial agenda. • Advising politicians on decision making

The key task of politicians is to make decisions and choices. In 2011, the province needed to take a stance in the project to realise a new bank connection across the river Maas to the West of Rotterdam: een Nieuwe Westelijke Oeververbinding (see for documentation of the project www.projectnwo.nl). Now, it is difficult to report on this because the project is still not finally decided upon and politically highly controversial both within the region as well as within national parliament which has the final say because of the major investment involved. Being an employee of one of the involved regional partners, I feel the need to stress that I am writing this article strictly in a private capacity. The decision making around this project is like a dance. It involves sensitivity to your partner’s movements, trust in their and your

own decisions, a calculated estimation of who takes the first step, adjusting your movements to changing political realities(i.e. elections and financial crises). In other words, it is a serious game following some generic, but quite strict rules of process. The rules in this case are the Spelregels MIRT (rules of the game for the Meerjaren Investeringsprogramma Ruimte & Transport), which have been the response to a critical report and advise on improving decision making, in particular with regard to infrastructural projects. These ‘rules of the game’ provide the steps to funnel decision making towards the best option, or better, preferred option, while (and by) enhancing the quality of the decisions at intermediate steps of the process. The rules are meant to minimise the political tendency to come back to and question decisions and demarcations of the problem that were made at earlier stages of decision making. The steps guide the process from the decision to start an exploration based on an integrated regional vision of spatial-economic development, to a regional visioning and problem exploration, then towards a selection of possible directions for solutions that became projects, followed by a selection of most probable and workable solutions. Finally, the step should be made towards the preferred solution (or particular package of solutions) and a commitment of parties to finance that solution. That step then gets formalised and the phase towards a decision on how and under 43

Fictional dialogue with Ina on knowledge and its use: the applicability gap Ina: Ah, so that’s what you have been doing since you started working at the province; but do you use what you did at the university in your new work, Jeroen? Me: Well, Ina, there is quite some people that ask me if I am applying anything that I researched for my dissertation. And do you know what I often answer? I tell them about the applicability gap and the use of knowledge. Ina: Remember where it origined? I referred to it in my dissertation… the 1970s work by Hillier on the applicability gap. That’s where the term got coined probably. Me: I remember, one day I even looked up this original, old bundle of conference papers in the Architecture library, dusty and a bit musty smelling. And there it was, the original paper, saved after the fire in 2008. Ina: That’s also when we did not agree as often any more, wasn’t it? It was when you started to develop your own Me: That was an interesting moment during writing my dissertation. When I was confident enough to differ my opinion from yours. To stretch the idea about the applicability gap. Ina: We should still write and try to publish that paper together, the one about the applicability gap. Me: Yes, let’s still do that. But I was saying that this is also an important thing I took from academia to practice. All these different forms of knowledge use, the flexible relation between knowledge and political decisions: sometimes putting almost unlimited trust in numbers, sometimes using ‘doing more research’ as a way to circumvent difficult discussions or decisions, the difficulty to find time to do research that may deliver not directly concrete things to decide upon. It remains an interesting tension. Ina: But the applicability gap was about the gap between empirical knowledge and design… Me: True, that’s where it started off. And that is still relevant, but an important difference is that design really is of secondary importance in the procedural ‘violence’ of day-to-day spatial planning. Those fields of expertise that really rely on numbers and models, such as water policy and mobility, they still rely on the classic use of empirical knowledge. An interesting thing that was a footnote in my thesis now becomes really clear in the practice of spatial policy : the tension between amount of information available and limited possibility to comprise all that into decisions. That’s where the applicability gap, in all its facets, is very prominent. It is also the gap between a tendency to completeness of argumentation, put forward by us, civil servants, and the calculated simplicity necessary to make a political decision. Ina: But does that leave room for design and design principles as I proposed to solve the problem of the applicability gap? Me: Well, it is difficult to develop new design principles in such a context, but I think, for example, the Stedenbaan-concept proves the strength of some of those design principles. Despite the hardships of making it into a reality of negotiation, building and construction. We should remind ourselves of the work Beeno Radema and you did when talking about it. With pensioners leaving both academia and province such historical knowledge of ideas threatens to disappear.

what conditions the execution will take place can start. Societal and political draagvlak (general support)for the process and the results are a precondition formalised in the ‘rules of the game’. Implicated is the geographical and thematic demarcation of the problem, while it is suggested by the frame of the investment program that this involves not only sectoral policy and politics (transportation only), but a view and vision of the relation of infrastructure plans led by ambitions on spatial quality and economic development. In the case of the Nieuwe Westelijke Oeververbinding the process that I was involved in led to a decision on a politically preferred option, the Blankenburgtunnel. The decision, which marked an intermediate, crucial stage in the process towards realisation, showed the importance of the combination of factual information on the effects of the project and the organisation of governance dynamics and involvement of all parties. In addition to cost and traffic estimates, the advice involved the spatial-economic effects and the issue of spatial quality. The advisory process, involving numerous sessions with public servants as well as non-governmental institutions, was complex and showed the importance of defining goals at the start of the project which determined the criteria by 44

which a decision and negotiated result would be reached. The political decision was now supposed to be formalised in a structure vision of national government in order to start kick off the next round of decision making, but then the Cabinet fell in 2012… I am still wondering how robust the ‘rules of the game’ will be in a new political context with rising controversy surrounding the project as well as increasingly tight government finances. • New types of questions

In 2010 I switched from the splendid isolation of working on my dissertation at the Faculty of Architecture to having my ‘feet in the mud’ of the planning practice at the Provincie Zuid-Holland. This shift is first and foremost a change in frame of reference: who is connected to who and what is important? How do ideas transform into results? What is a result? What knowledge can we use to underpin a decision? Who are your peers that guard the gates to making an idea reality? How do you involve the environment of stakeholders? These were all things I needed to consider and reconsider after having taken the step from an academic to a political environment.

Marc Jacobs Foundation Three winners with their projects The Foundation dr. ir. Marc Jacobs awards one master level student each year, over a five year period, a travel grant to the main international conference of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP). The aim is to give an incentive to young and aspiring planners and designers to focus on the international context of our profession and on the regional level of scale. Atlantis asked the three students who were previously awarded the travel grant about their projects, and their experiences attending the ISOCARP conference.

Tine Segers What was your project about?

The project, ‘Suiting the City – Transformation of the urban fabric in Kumasi, Ghana’, was a graduation project in the master track Renovation, Modification and Intervention Techniques in Architecture at TU Delft. We had one semester of analysis and studying context, building techniques, theories, preparing our field work and then going there ourselves. The second semester started by defining our intervention in Kumasi and designing it. ‘Suiting the City’ wants to tie different worlds together in order to improve the city through spatial design. Kumasi is the second largest city of Ghana with 1.6 million inhabitants, as well as people passing in and out of the city every day. By combining socio-economic and cultural factors into a design strategy, the wall of Kumasi zoo is transformed. At the same time the zoo wants to expand, street vendors are taking over the street side. The level of the zoo is one story below street level, therefore it is possible with the very basic principles of architecture, to create an extra level to suit needs of the street vendors with very little extra means.

Professional Planners workshop focused on slum development, and having deeply researched informal settlements in the Kumasi-research, I was very enthusiastic. How did attending the conference affect

knowledge by working closely with people who are often already working in the field. Also the conference was very interesting, you are able to attend a lot of presentations on different subjects and discuss experiences in a more informal way.

your research project?

Attending the Young Professional Planners workshop gave a lot of useful input for my own project. In the YPP workshop we worked for one week on developing strategies for Kibera, one of the largest slums of Nairobi. Being together with all these nationalities and different backgrounds was very interesting and impressive, especially working intensively with many Kenyan people. As I was very interested in the adaption of places and informal activities, I was able to get reaction on some of my own ideas in the group. At the same time you gain a lot of inspiration and

Looking back, what was the most useful part of attending the conference?

I am very grateful to have been able to attend the conference. It’s a new world that opens working with and meeting scholars and professionals who gather at this large event. You meet many interesting people and you get to know many people from different countries and continents who are working on similar subjects or have similar interests. Especially the Young Professional Planners, who are now well connected among each other and every now and then you can still help someone or the other way around.

What was your motivation?

I was in the first semester of my graduation project when I found out about the grant to go to the ISOCARP conference ‘Sustainable City, Developing World’ in Nairobi,Kenya. Having been to Tanzania before, and as we were about to go to Ghana, I was very motivated to experience another place in the African continent. In this way I would to be able to compare the differences and similarities. The participation in the Young Figure 1. Suiting the city - street side ©Tine Segers

Brechtje Spreeuwers

What was your project about?

Phase 1 Implement network of public spaces Add commercial functions

My research project focused on formulating a set of guidelines for the Chinese phenomenon of urban villages that could offer an alternative to current demolition strategies. Urban villages (chengzhongcun) are former peasant villages that in recent years got enclosed by neighbouring growing cities. Although this new position offers opportunities for indigenous residents, rural-urban migrants and urbanites, local governments merely perceive urban villages as a negative consequence of urbanization. In combination with a profitled real-estate market and the central locations of most urban villages, this Yudaishan network Possible attitude often results inexpansion a massive short-term demolition strategy, obliterating the social and spatial characteristics of these villages. Research around urban villages mainly revolves around analysis and offers few if any practical alternatives to prevent shortterm demolition strategies. The project is based on a specific design proposal in Yudaishan urban village in Chongqing and by conducting ‘research by design’. What was your motivation ?

of planning is communication’. I completely agree with him. At Delft University I merely simulated assignments and in Leiden I only acquired knowledge out of books, the opportunity in Wuhan to ‘on the spot’ start a dialogue and really communicate with other planners put the pieces of my researchproject puzzle together. These dialogues with Chinese and western experts opened up new perspectives about urban villages that otherwise would have been closed. TVE

Phase 3 Develop new social housing at the borders

Phase 2 Renovate and expand adjacent housing

The moment I stumbled upon the Marc Looking back, what was the most useful Jacobs Stichting competition, I immediately part of attending the conference? felt that I should apply for this experience. At Personally, I experienced the Young that time I studied Architecture and Sinology Planning Professional (YPP) workshop and framed my graduation projects around as the highlight of the congress. Working 'urban villages', a topic that addressed both with planners from all over the world on a China and spatial issues. The conference relevant issue proved to be very valuable. could help me to 'test' my research questions The challenge was to think of a new urban in a Chinese academic atmosphere. Besides redevelopment plan on the area close to the that, I thought that I could learn a lot from new Wuhan high-speed railway station. farmers farmers TVE other planners in China. During the writing Because the Chinese government is anxious of my proposal my enthusiasm grew, as to plan cities and infrastructure well in the theme of the Congress 'livable cities, advance, these new stations are often situated urbanizing world, meeting the challenge' in ‘the middle of nowhere’ and at a great seemed to perfectly fit my research project. distance from the city. Our challenge was I was therefore more than happy when I was to come up with ideas for the empty (and selected to attend the congress in Wuhan. polluted) area between the new station and the city of Wuhan. I was part a group who were responsible for generating solutions How did attending the conference affect for the area that focused on the social and your research project? TVE issues. After four days of working, The Marc Jacobs Foundation offeredfarmers me economic farmers developer the unique possibility of participating in we had to present our results at the grand the congress and in a highly inspiring opening of the congress. At present, almost environment reflect upon these interesting 1,5 years later, I am still in contact with issues. The keynote speaker of the congress most of the young planners and will surely Zef Hemel mentioned in his lecture that ‘80% continue to do that for more years to come. 46

Gradual development in different phases based on network The Foundation dr. ir. Marc of public spaces

Figure 2. Gradual development in different phases based on network of public spaces © Brechtje Spreeuwers

Jacobs The foundation is set up in memory of Marc Jacobs, who dedicated Section AA himself to the development of urban planning and design in three ways. As PhD researcher he distinguished himself through a thorough dissertation: his study of multinodal urban regions contributed significantly to the scientific underpinning TVE of regional planning and design. As a professional he brought Section AA many projects of different sizes from vision to implementation in, for example, Schiedam, Rijswijk and Vlissingen. Finally, he was an active member of ISOCARP, an international organisation of experienced spatial planners. Our initiative is linked to the latter farmers TVE aspect of Marc’s professional activities. In memory of Marc,the Section AA foundation aims to send at least one master level student each year, for five years, to the main international conference of ISOCARP www.marcjacobsfoundation.eu

farmers

TVE developer

Marjo van Lierop What was your project about?

What was your motivation ?

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The ISOCARP congress and the Young Planning Professionals Workshop prior to the congress is an excellent opportunity to kick off my PhD research on ‘Planning ecosystem services in a changing landscape architecture context. As the topic of the ISOCARP congress is ‘Fast Forward’ planning, I thought it would be a great way to gain relevant and contemporary insights, exchange experiences and ideas with other planning professionals from all over the world on changing planning contexts. Next to that the workshop and the congress provided the occasion to meet other young planners from different backgrounds and to learn more about the Russian culture and its planning tradition.

Personally it was interesting to see the tremendous contrast between generations in Russia. On the one hand there are people who are raised in the former USSR and often discard the old system and on the other hand you have the younger generation who grew up in a more open globalising world and see the old Soviet as part of their heritage. Although it was not the first time for me to experience this contrast, it was nonetheless interesting to talk with people about the transition from USSR to present society, the generation gap and the differences with the western culture. Probably the most rewarding part of winning the award and attending the congress is to meet new people, discuss ideas, gaining new insights and understanding other cultures. It is expanding your horizons.

Looking back, what was the most useful part of attending the conference?

During the congress there was a fierce discussion going on about the changes in the Russian planning system, Russian society and the influence of the west. The debate continued throughout the congress and involved people from western societies, Russia and transitional countries such as (East) Germany and Poland. This discussion was the most useful and interesting part of the congress both from a professional as a personal perspective. First of all, is it fascinating to see how Russia is struggling to

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The objective of my thesis is to gain understanding of the ecosystem services concept, its benefits for design and planning and the use of the concept in scientific literature and landscape architecture practice. The research is conducted by a literature review, a data inquiry and a quick scan. The study shows that there is a major gap between the body of knowledge emerging from ecosystem services and the recognition and application of the concept in the domain of landscape architecture and planning, both in literature and practice. Subsequently, closer collaboration between researchers on ecosystem services and landscape designers and planners is needed to profit from the benefits of the concept of ecosystem services for landscape design and planning.

make big steps forwards in urban planning while still being stuck in old soviet systems. The discussion also made me think about the current Dutch planning ‘crisis’ from a different perspective. Many changes that were mentioned about the Russian planning system could be applied to the Dutch situation. It seems we are all looking for new ways for design and planning in a globalising and multi-actor reality.

How did attending the conference affect

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Ecosystems support human life by providing people, directly and indirectly with services, ecosystem services. The concept of ecosystem services shows the relationship between the health of natural environments and human wellbeing, demonstrating how spatial structures and ecological processes through ecosystem services are related with values of society. As designers and planners, our work consists for a great deal of translating values from society into landscape changes. With the concept of ecosystem services, designers and planners can make a considerable leap forward in making sustainable designs.

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Figure 3. From the YPP workshop at the conference, the plan for the redevelopment of the area around the station © Marjo van Lierop

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The gap between research and design

Interview with Theo van der Voordt and Frank van der Hoeven

theo van der voordt associate professor frank van der hoeven research director tu delft

Theo van der Voordt • How to bridge the gap between research and design

• Bringing research together

Our discussion with Theo van der Voordt began with his statement ‘The relationship between design and research is an issue for debate as long as I have worked here in the faculty for 38 years’. He started working at the Faculty of Architecture of TU Delft as a part of the Centre for Architectural Research where main issues were related to the social sciences i.e. how people experience and behave within the environment and how to provide feedback to designers. ‘In this time there were also debates about how to bridge the gap between research and design’ Theo reminds. According to Theo, 'the language of researchers and designers can often differ.' Designers want to create solutions for spatial problems and researchers seek to develop knowledge as an input for problem solving. The adopted methods are also different: the design uses e.g. Christopher Alexander’s Pattern language, topological as well as functional analysis etc. whether empirical research make use of questionnaires, observations and interviews. Therefore, you can say that there are lots of dissimilarities between research and design. However, researchers aim to have their input in the practical process and designers seem to use scientific works when they are relevant to them. In order to bridge the gap it is important as a researcher to “translate” your research findings into design principles, design guidelines, and building related tips what should be avoided in order to deliver practical input which can be directly utilised by designers. Other the other hand, it can be also seen that there are certain efforts by architects and designers during last decades to delve into the scientific field. In the past most research that the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft conducted was typological or historical. Nowadays, the scope of architectural research has extended towards various conceptual, functional, theoretical, psychological, social and technical issues. This growing interest concerning design related research is partly ‘voluntary’ but partly forced by external committees due to substantial worldwide criticism of the scientific relevance and output of architecture and urban design in late 1990s.

Urbanism by itself has a multi-disciplinary focus. It combines social science research approaches and typological and spatial analysis techniques in order to indicate the users’ perceptions regarding the built environment, to explore urban quality, to understand similar and conflicting interests of different stakeholders and so on. However, the design process of most projects includes various specialists bringing their own expertise such as architectural design, technical engineering, sustainability, project management, financial feasibility etc. If we take into account the diverse views of all experts as well as end-users’ preferences within a single development project we are more likely to produce a successful product. Our job is to balance the aesthetical, functional, financial, technical, juridical and cultural dimensions. Nevertheless, present research practice seems to focus on the design phase and the construction of the proposed design. What is often lacking in project analyses is what happens with a particular urban development in the postconstruction period. Architects and urbanists are well-trained in executing and representing design analysis via maps, schemes etc. but they should pay more attention to the usability of the implemented projects. For this purpose designers should adopt different techniques and tools in order to close the process into a research cycle.

"The relationship between design and research is an issue for debate as long as I work here in the faculty 38 years"

• Understanding the research cycle

Research by definition is a broad term; it can have different focus points i.e. environmental, technical, economic etc. In this sense, it is very important to specify the scope and orientation of certain research in order to be useful in the design process. Wolfgang Preiser, who has an architectural background but has worked most of his career as a full-time researcher, provides us with a valuable insight concerning the research type and focus in respect to the project development and life cycle of the built environment. He co-edited a number of interesting books including Building Performance Assessment (2005) and Enhancing Building Performance (2010). He follows the different

phases of the design process starting from market analysis which should justify the actual market necessity of an eventual project. In the planning and programming phases through effectiveness / program review we can investigate the importance of a further development and specify the (potential) size, type and effect on the existing urban environment. The outputs of the latter research can be used as a direct input for the following design project. During the pre-construction (design) process various types of case-based research such as microclimate, accessibility analyses etc. can be executed in order to test and identify the best spatial solution within the site of interest before starting construction. The last two phases of Preiser’s performance criteria include post-construction and Post Occupancy evaluations (POE). In this stage analyses regarding the technical performance and the usability / occupancy of the development can be conducted. By comparing the results with the exe ante expectations it is possible to define the actual success of the project. All of these types of research during the life cycle differ substantially from each other in terms of subject, approach, technique and utilised tools. Furthermore, the outcomes of research can be case-based with strong internal validity related to a specific context but limited generalizability or generic such as design guidelines and principles. • Distinguish research types

Based on this research cycle and his practice Theo van der Voordt concludes that it is essential to make a difference between different types of research. 'Researchers: 1) should be explicit about their observations’ concerns such as ‘what is the focus?’, ‘which phase of the development process ?’, ‘what are the results?’ and 2) emphasise clearly the design relevance of their outputs i.e. by providing guidelines or practical tools in order to bridge the gap and have an impact on the design process.'

Frank van der Hoeven • The ‘perceived’ gap between design and research

We started our discussion with Frank van der Hoeven directly with our major interest ‘What is the actual gap between design and research?’ To this question Frank provides a comprehensive answer in order to define his point of view. He started with the notion that there is at least a ‘perceived gap’ although design and research are definitely not two totally different activities. According to Frank, 'different issues can be identified as a reason for this gap.' First, Frank states ‘if we look at our faculty, we think of ourselves as being highly productive, we work on very relevant themes and we publish in interesting books. However, when assessment organisations have to evaluate our work, by looking at the production of scientific papers, their observation is that we actually produce very little.’ What is more, the ascription of different grants is dependent on the production of these scientific papers, or a number of significant monographs. The same issue tends to occur in other fields than architecture and urbanism, so this seems to be a real problem. NWO, for example, assigns grants to research institutions, but they notice some groups always miss out on these grants even though they do very relevant work. Thus, the question if the government money is spent in the right way arises. In order to find ways to reduce this gap, there has been a large project, that is called ERiC (Evaluating Research in Context). This project tried to explore possibilities how research that is being done can be evaluated based on its social relevance rather than just looking at the production of scientific journals. This is in line with the “Topsectorenbeleid” (Top-sectors Policy) of the government. With this policy the government wants to stimulate innovation in certain sectors; one of them is the creative sector.

Figure 1. Project performance criteria © Preiser, W. & Vischer, J., 2005:17

• The ‘real’ gap between design and research

• The importance of publishing scientific articles

‘On the other hand, there is also a quite real gap between research Another reason why not many people in the urbanism field publish in and design’, Frank states. The subscriptions to scientific journals scientific journals is that these types of publications do not really fit the tend to be expensive, and this makes them inaccessible for smaller quality preferences of the Architectural Faculty. The academic journals organisations. Therefore, if the tend to look very boring; they faculty of Architecture would start are in black and white with to produce more scientific articles, bad layout and no illustrations they will actually become out of - very traditional appearance reach for the practice of our field, of scientific materials. This and that will make the research makes the academic journals irrelevant. A movement that plies very unattractive for architects for more accessible peer reviewed and designers to publish in. articles is Open Access. This could In contrast, it prioritises other be a quite good solution to close this gap. type of publications (e.g. not academic) such as specialised design We can also find a third gap. In the practice of design it is normal to magazines and newspapers as more relevant. Therefore, development publish about somebody else’s work. We actually do not publish about in order to change this system is necessary. our own work, because many of the publications are reflections or A good option is the emergence of Google Scholar, which is much criticism. Van der Hoeven gives as an example that it would be very more democratic and open than other databases like Web of Science. inappropriate when Rem Koolhaas writes about work of OMA and In this way the academic designers and architects will be able to argues that it is a brilliant project. On have more substantial the societal the contrary, within other scientific impact, and enhance the relevance fields it is the other way around. of research that is being done. People would actually get mad when However, Frank argues that the somebody publishes about their work, publications and enrichment so mostly we see in these disciplines of the CVs of the researchers we decided that the author has the role of a with more published scientific to co-author definitely our articles less more fun researcher as well. articles are essential assessment stress An academic work in these fields can criteria in order to qualify be valued by a set of methods called for financial grants. It is also Bibliometrics. Bibliometrics measures important for the development how often in literature it is referred of the professional network to a certain research that is published. between the academics i.e. it is The more often people refer to a a good way of communication particular scientific work, the better with other researchers in related it is valued. However, in the field of fields. From this point of view the architecture and urbanism this system Department of 100% Research does not work because, as explained, it at Architectural Faculty started is accepted that authors publish about 1-1-1 campaign to encourage the somebody else’s work. Consequently, publication of scientific articles; in people who have worked for ten years other words, at least 1 published or more in practice, and have done (shared) article per person who indexed in Scopus or ISI / author or co-author / moving average 2 year very relevant work tend not to build is involved in research annually up a portfolio of scientific articles. is required. This is less than, for 100% RESEARCH / Faculty of Architecture / TU Delft Frank van der Hoeven says about this example, at Civil Engineering that in our field the article is often just Figure 2. 1/1/1/ campaign © Frank van der Hoeven and Geosciences and or Industrial a reflection of and the actual science is Design Engineering, where they the buildings being built, but there is no system that registers that. have to publish 4 articles, because the other output (books, design According to Frank, 'it is very important to bridge this gap, because journals) are also extremely relevant for our field. good research can actually lead to better design. And design will make Todor Kesarovski amd Imge van der Ploeg clear witch topics needs to be researched.'

"people who have worked for ten years or more in practice, and have done very relevant work tend not to build up a portfolio of scientific articles."

1/1/1 campaign

1 article / 1 person / 1 year

Lakefront development and the categorical imparative

ina klaassen associate professor, spatial planning & strategy tu delft

A developer comes to the planning department to ask for a rezoning to build six houses on a two-acre parcel. The land is in an undeveloped, outlying area of the city, on the shore of a lake, between a public park and a permanent conservation area. It is not now being farmed. It also contains four Indian mounds.

"The law locks up both man and woman Who steals the goose from off the common, But lets the greater felon loose Who steals the common from the goose."

Because this area has not seen any previous development proposals, the city has done no detailed planning for it. The project is too small to require an environmental impact statement. There is no law specifically protecting lndian mounds, and there are also no Indians in the area to raise the issue of their preservation. In the absence of any rules or policy guidelines that would apply to the site or any vocal constituency for its preservation, the planner must decide whether to recommend the rezoning.

Anonymous, in The Tickler Magazine, February 1, 1821

Perhaps, twenty years ago, the planner might have simply accepted the principle that development for single-family houses would be a "higher and better" use of the land. It would certainly increase its economic value, and would "put it to use." Today, a planner might well question this logic, but when she or he sits down to negotiate with the owner, it is still the unspoken assumption with which they start. If the planner thinks that the development should not take place, some very good reasons must be given, even if, legally, rezonings are not granted as a matter of right. In the absence of clear policy guidelines, the planner might resort to a utilitarian costbenefit analysis but would immediately have to deal with some of the difficult issues we have just seen. The aesthetic value of the undeveloped shoreline and the spiritual value of the Indian mounds would be difficult to measure; and in an area where much of the shore is already in parkland, the added value of these two acres as park would be fairly small, overall, such an analysis might well support the rezoning.

On the other hand, Kant's categorical innperative could change the assumptions underlying the decision. Simply in relation to developing the lakeshore, the maxim of the action for the owner would be: "If l want to enjoy the beauty of the lake, I should build a house there." This would work well for the individual, but it is obvious that such a maxim could not logically be universalized. The beauty of the lake would be lost long before everyone had a house. A parallel argument could clearly be made about enjoying the spiritual and historical qualities of the Indian mounds. If this were the test

of action in these cases of "commons", the basic assumption would deny the right of the individual to exploit them. As things stand now, enclosure of the commons is deeply embedded in our legal system and our ideology. However, since the time of the enclosure movement in eighteenthcentury England we have also recognized the injustice of it. A Kantian ethic would not allow such injustice. Howe, E. (1990) ' Normative Ethics in Planning', Journal of Planning Literature 5(2), p. 136

Figure 1. Master plan for the reconstruction of Dam Square, Amsterdam. Photograph of scale model viewed from south (designed by Simon Sprietsma, Municipality of Amsterdam). Source: Het Parool, 19-02-2000. The Royal Palace is on the left and the National War Monument is on the right. (Klaasen 2004: 82) Some comments by users on the Dam Square after the design was implemented: Editor, NRC-Handelsblad : Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lovely, Dam Square, but you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t walk on it! Editor, Het Parool : Proof â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Dam is a disaster for cyclists. In a letter to an editor : This designer does not walk on high heels, does not cycle, has no children and is not a wheelchair user (Klaasen 2004: 91).

Alumni reflection from Graduation..

remco van dijk graduated in 2004 at tu delft

and academic skills. Courses like R&D Methodology for Urbanism, Thesis Plan and Theory of Urbanism really helped to focus and think about how to bring the research of the R&D projects on an academic level. The fact that these courses had an autonomous position outside the R&D studio’s assured that they got enough attention and were not outflanked by the R&D studio.

How would you define an academic way of working in urbanism?

I would say that such a way of working needs a consistent methodology and a coherent guideline system, for solving the spatial problem at hand. The applied methodology should be developed and understood with knowledge and awareness of relevant “state of the art” academic knowledge.

Which academic skills (in a broad sense) learned by you at TU How did you experience the research education in the MSc

Delft do you use a lot in your daily life as a professional?

Urbanism program at the TU Delft?

Currently I am working on an article discussing the different planning regimes the Randstad´s Green Heart has had, building on the research done for my graduation project. The intention is that it should finally evolve in a PhD dissertation, for which I am also writing a proposal right now. In both cases, skills I have developed, such as formulating a good problem statement or a good understanding of how to develop a good research methodology, are indispensable. More concretely developed skills like referencing, literature research and academic writing are also helpful.

The experience was positive. In 2004 I graduated from TU Delft in the master´s programme architecture. At that time, at least in the Department of Architecture, research only made up a minor part of the education. Design had the main focus and too much knowledge almost seemed to be considered as an obstacle for the design process. Compared with then, a lot has improved. The courses parallel to the Research & Design (R&D) and Graduation studio’s have a clear focus, and therefore contribute to the development of the student’s research TYPE OF NETWORKS TYPE OF NETWORKS Spatial projects

Municipalities

Leisure Landscape Leisure Landscape

Spatial projects Productmarket combination

Farmers market association

Productmarket combination

Michelin stared restaurants

Farmers market association

Cow-munity Holland: a Dairy experience theme park

National Government

Dairy port Holland Dairy port Holland Provinces

Green house Farmers

Dairy Clusters

Country estates

Waterboards

Horticulturists

Waterboards

Restful Rural

Wat Wa W Water ate ter FFa ter Farms arrm rms ms

Golf clubs bs Wellness resorts Care farms Hiking association Wellness resorts

Drug rehabilatation

Local care centers

Municipalities

Medical specialists service Municipalities Care organizations Medical specialists service

Nature preservation Agricultural appartment rental organisation organisations

Drinking water company

Child and juvenile psychiatry

Drug rehabilatationAssociation for private care homes

Care Circles

Private clinics

Healing Heart

Provinces

Care landscape Care landscape

Hiking association

Healing Heart

Agricultural appartment rental organisation Provinces

Child and juvenile psychiatry

Care Circles Private clinicsLocal care centers

Health care real estate investment Nature preservation organisations

Dairy farmers

Horticulturists

Country estates

Wat Wa W Water ate ter FFa ter Farms arrm rms ms

Assisted living Golf clubs bs Green Heart office for tourism Care farms

country estates Real estate developers preservation association Health care real estate investment Farmers association (LTO) Municipalities Real estate developers

GGZ

Restful Rural

Farmers promoting association

Breweries Nature preservation servation organisations estates Wellness incountry the Wetlands preservation association Farmers association (LTO) Nature preservation servation organisations

LEI Wageningen i

GGZ Assisted living

Green Heart office for tourism Marina’s

Breweries

Municipalities Dairy Clusters LEI Wageningen i LEI Wageningen

LEI Wageningen

Green house Farmers

Marina’s ANWB

Wellness in the Wetlands Farmers promoting association

Cow-munity Holland: a Dairy experience theme park

Provinces

Agroparks

ANWB Waterboards

Ferry services

A taste of the Lowlands

municipalities

Provinces

Water world

Farmers shop association

National Government

municipalities

Waterboards Association for the leisure industry

Water world

FarmersProvinces shop association

A taste of the Lowlands Michelin stared restaurants

Agroparks

Association for the leisure industry

Municipalities

Care organizations

Natural Farms Natural Municipalities Farms

Association for elderly people (ANBO) Association for private care homes Association for elderly people (ANBO) Dairy farmers

Group(s) of elderly people Dairy farmers Waterboards Group(s) of elderly people Waterboards Dairy Farmers

Dairy Farmers National Forest Service

Municipalities

Provinces National Forest Service

Drinking water company Provinces

Interview with Remco Dijk

..to practice Did you miss any academic skills in your education program in the MSc Urbanism?

Within the programme of the MSc of Urbanism you have three R&D studio’s. The schedule of the education and lectures in these R&D studio’s direct you to follow a certain design methodology. A methodology that can be characterized as instrumental, starting with an analysis of a specific area, followed by the determination of the spatial problems and potentials of the area, finalizing with the formulation of a spatial solution. I believe that within spatial planning and design a lot of times you have to deal with so-called “wicked” problems. These are problems that are lacking consensus on the definition of the problem or goals to achieve and therefore in need of another approach, another methodology, more focused on dialogue and collaboration. Consequently, I think it is important to understand that there are not only different solutions to spatial problems but also different approaches to the design process, this is something which did not completely came across in the education program. What was your graduation topic and what were according to you the most important academic component(s) in your graduation project?

The graduation project’s title was Green Belts Revisited. It aimed to develop new spatial planning strategies that, by framing future trajectories of relevant actors, will be able to deal with the shared concerns about foreseen future spatial changes in former green belts. The developed hypothesis has been tested in the case of the Randstad’s Green Heart and resulted in a durable spatial planning regime for the area. The most important academic component of my graduation project is the theoretical framework that I have developed explaining why and how collaborative planning can contribute

substantially to spatial problems. It showed that in order to successfully pursue certain spatial goals, commitment of the important actors is needed and in order to develop this commitment, the process leading to the answer, is at least as important as the answer itself. Have you been able to develop your academic skills after the graduation?

After graduation I got invited to participate in two workshops organised by Atelier Stad collaboration between the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency) on the Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Region. During these workshops I learned that an academic and theoretical approach towards a certain problem is very useful to build a good and persuasive argument on the spot. Do you have any comments on or recommendations for the research education at TU Delft Urbanism?

Firstly the MSc Urbanism should become more transdisciplinary. Collaboration with the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management can bring in more professional and academic

knowledge on issues like physical networks (public transportation, infrastructure and water management) and the management of the design/planning process (negotiation skills, process and project management). It will strengthen the profile of graduates and as such give graduated urban designers and planners more authority outside the profession. Secondly, similar to the way that every R&D studio addresses a different scale, every R&D studio should introduce a different design or planning methodology. Ultimately resulting in final products that stretch beyond ´cartesian´ plans: strategies based upon a correct understanding of the issue at play, which can contain a plan, but should be part of a differentiated package which also can contain, for instance, a communication plan, a design for durable partnerships, or maps showing potentials for a given area. Strategies that are better capable to meet the complex demands of the changing urban conditions. Finally, the research education at TU Delft Urbanism should be more critical on the use of literature produced by the faculty itself. In order for students to become truly critical other academic point of views and insights should further become part of the education. Todor Kesarovski

External perspective on Urbanism

Interview with Matthijs Prins & Roberto Cavallo

matthijs prins, associate prof. design & construction management, re&h roberto cavallo, associate prof. & chair building technology

Roberto Cavallo While dealing with the realm of urban development, ultimately it is about the round table that draws the specialized knowledge of experts from different backgrounds to culminate in a design proposal. And so it is the joint scientific understanding of a situations specificities, which serves as a foundation on which the process for developing a spatial design is built upon. In the following we juxtapose two perspectives of professors form the Faculty of Architecture, on urbanismâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s relationship with science. Being a professional touching upon urban issues, hence, collaborating with urban designers, what has been your experience of implementing scientific spatial data into urban designs?

Designing in urban areas can be a complex issue. External factors always play a role and have influence on the design. In addition, today it is increasingly important to be critical with respect to existing methods and search for new solutions, in order to be able to engage with the current urban conditions. In this framework, the (urban) design fulfils multiple roles. On the one hand, transmuting analytical data into possibilities, the design generates the clearest possible future scenarios. On the other hand, its scope must reserve space for uncertainties about the determination of when, how and what should be developed. A design must be specific and well expressed in images and drawings while, at the same time, allow for different interpretations. Moreover, architectural interventions in existing urban areas cannot be defined outside the context of the city and its realization. Therefore, 54

every design approach should take into consideration the transformation processes of the city. The design of major interventions in the contemporary city calls for a reflection on the urban value and the position that buildings occupy in the transformation of their urban environment. For these reasons we need more insights into how existing building typologies can be transformed to adequately respond to the complexity of the current urban challenges. The combination of different programs, the flexibility in development and diversity in users often cannot be solved by the application of known models but require the design of buildings with multiple performances. These buildings should have the ability of supporting and interacting with their urban surroundings. Referring to your own experience of scientific writing or research work, how do you tackle the challenge of bridging the gap between the scientific realm and the compromising reality of applying knowledge in the design practice?

Personally, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very interested in the confrontation with urban environments where relevant opportunities have not been fully exploited and where transformation processes can still be unpredictable. Particularly areas around infrastructure are often presenting valuable challenges in terms of space but are experiencing physical fragmentation and inconsistency. Here we can find great opportunities for design and research. While complex bureaucratic processes, wherein the formulation of coherent design strategies is often very difficult, characterize the practice, these

types of assignments offer very interesting opportunities for intertwining education and research. And the academic setting, where teaching and research can operate without real market pressure, makes it possible to look at new applications for architectural and urban design. Design and research assignments at the Master studio Hybrid Buildings, the specialization at the Master of Architecture where I am responsible for planning and coordination, are often treating urban areas strategically well positioned in the city but characterized by insufficient public areas, fragmented urban fabric - a recognizable characteristic of fringe belts around infrastructures - and therefore unattractive. Our scope is to focus on

current issues and problems through design and research studies, sharing the common goal of anticipating and responding to the transformation and restructuring processes of these urban areas. In addition, design and research should also actively contribute to the improvement of the physical, social and cultural context. Research and design processes unfold in different time frames and durations. To what extend can our profession be

analytically

investigative,

while

designing for the instant situation? How does the approach change when dealing

with

static

condition

continuously transforming situation?

The traditional roles of urbanism and architecture in practice are currently undergoing drastic change. The scope of programs and the lack of clarity regarding precise arrangements or financing, require a cyclical design process in which the boundary between architecture and urbanism is continuously crossed in both directions. This is particularly evident in interventions related to major infrastructures, relevant examples of projects running for several years and experiencing many mutations on different stages. The scale of these interventions is almost impossible to fit within the constraints of the existing city and the projects are politically very sensitive, often deviating from existing planning procedures.

Matthijs Prins In this framework I would like to emphasize the importance of the relationship between academic work and practice in order to develop stronger perspectives on the future of our discipline by tackling currently relevant urban issues. In order to work properly with complex urban assignments, I am convinced that there will be a growing need of architects with expertise and training on projects running on the interface between urban planning and architecture. To achieve this target it is crucial that design and research are in constant connection at our faculty and that cross departmental collaboration is further developed and applied. In such a way the result of design and research can be used as breeding ground for discussions, bringing together various parties, on the future transformations of the city, while also creating opportunities for cooperation outside the academic world. Before going into detail on the questions asked I would first like to state that I’m not really belonging to the category of a professional “regularly touching upon urban issues”. So what you get is an outsiders view. But this view might be relevant as the type of questions asked aren’t exclusive to urban design only. The series of questions you ask start with an introductory assumption I disagree with. Knowledge, even if it’s specialized knowledge of – academically educated- experts, for me isn’t by definition contributing to or constituting any “scientifically accumulated understanding”. Actually my statement as does yours, asks for a definition of science. And here things are getting rather complicated, given –contemporaryepistemological debates. According to Aristotle scientific knowledge (episteme), is ‘knowledge aiming for knowledge’, based on the curiosity and willingness to know from the scientist, this contrary to techne, a bit simplified; professional knowledge aiming to be productive. Already with Plato and later on Descartes, Hume, Kant, Gadamer, Heidegger en Schleiermacher -and even- Popper and Peirce (skepticism, methodological doubt, transcendentalism, hermeneutics, pragmatism) the knowledge debate became even more complicated, questioning the certainty of our –scientific- knowledge and our ability to define and detect truth and justice, esthetics and ethics. Recently a revival of this debate within a broader academic community started with the so- called ‘Sokal-case’ also known as the ‘Science Wars’, between more sociological oriented constructivist and postmodernist scientists (orienting themselves beyond others on philosophers like Derrida, Lacan, Latour, and Foucault) and the more classical positivist and empirical natural scientists. Whatever definition of science and scientific knowledge one chooses or believes in, I am not in unrestricted favor seeing more regular –professional- design efforts, and their constituent parts, as a scientific process. These, as professional design services, are aiming to change the artificial world, by making specifications of entities to be realized, an activity, which in itself is not directed to generate –scientific- knowledge (episteme). The next thing I’d like to question on a similar basis, although it might be received as even more controversial, is the idea of ‘scientific spatial data’, which seemingly, given the first question, is usually implemented into urban design. If an urban designer retrieves and

collects spatial data, applying sound logical methods which can be verified (replicated), pre-assuming that they can contain any truth (“there are no facts, only interpretations”; Nietzsche), does this mean these data are ‘scientific’? For me they usually aren’t as their aim is not generating new –scientific- knowledge (nothing is to be added to the ‘encyclopedia of knowledge’, a kick out criterion whether or not an activity can be characterized as being scientific), but they are just and only aiming to be inputs and constraints in an often rather personal, emotional, undefined and seemingly intuitive design process targeting at realizing new, but known in typological terms, entities. If urban design is considered to be an artistic process like art (Bergson), the result might contain a new point of view on reality, mostly a kind of moral statement, however this is an artistic viewpoint, not a scientific one. And even more as professional design services, are delivering more or less pre-specified products to clients, users and

theory (hermeneutic analysis) and (more descriptive) history? Yes, maybe there is a point where science meets the essence of urban design practice, that’s in what I would like to define as value based urban design and value based urban design management; a paradigmatic approach to the urbanism domain, which is centered on Gadamers’ concept of truth. According to Gadamer, truth may be an aesthetic concept as well as a linguistic or a scientific concept. Truth may belong to a work of art as well as to a scientific theory or to a logical proposition. Professional urban design is a means to an end. Actually what an urban designer has to develop is not only an ‘entity’ (as I stated before), as this entity later on in the process transformed into an artifact is also means to another end (Kuiper); delivering intrinsic and extrinsic (Perry, Rice) added value, to clients, users, the society and all involved internal and external stakeholders. In an ultimate sense this added value has to be a strive not for short term

customers, urban design cannot be considered to be pure art, so the possible included new viewpoints on reality, according to my opinion again can not be considered to be part of real scientific production. Connected to this, in my observations of urban design, I am sometimes more or less surprised on the amount of data collected first, followed by a next often most mysterious step called ‘design’. Why process these rather formal spatial data in a way, which can not be replicated by nature; why is this data, given their nature, so seldom processed by applying more strict and formal procedures in terms of so-called methodological design techniques? So given the above, the question remains, is there any room for science left, considering –urban- professional design services, besides a kind of reflective academic capability, and an appropriate knowledge and skill base of the designer(s) involved? And connected to this, is there any role for scientists participating within or besides the process, left apart the more pragmatic efforts on developing methodological design techniques and urban process management techniques on the one hand (the classical engineering work), and the more ‘theoretical’ (often loosely coupled to practice) studies on architectural/urban

shareholders profit, but for delivering something ‘good’ in a Kantian meaning, containing truth; including justice, ethics and esthetics, while doing so contributing to the lives of others in special and our planet in general in terms of welfare sense and meaning also in an existential if not metaphysical perspective. Value based design management requires a predominantly moral and ethical attitude towards a strive for mutual trust, and cooperation, realizing that within an in essence pluralist professional world, money, time, human resources and capacity, knowledge, ICT, organizational models, legal contracts, risk allocation etc. are means to the aim of creating whole live added value in it is broadest meaning as an end. Value based design requires to a certain extent a shared language, also on the intangible aspects of the design outcomes, which accommodates the intrinsic moral, ethical, scientific and professional pluralism of all stakeholders involved in a project, this as a pre-requisite for mutual trust and cooperation. Urban value based design (-management) summarized: the search for and development of the hermeneutical design of project based cooperative governance. For me, that is the point where urban design practice and science meet at the essence of both realms. Emilia Bruck

Does Urbanism belong to a Technical University?

Lizet Krabbenborg

Marten Reijnen

Susana Somosa

Vera Konings

MSc 1 student

Msc 2 student

Msc 1 student

Trainee at Rijkswaterstaat

From the Netherlands

From Venezuela

From the Netherlands

in combination with scientific

At first glance, making urban

I would like to think that the

I think that Urbanism does not

knowledge, to solve practical

designs does not seem to be

Urbanism discipline, as well the

belong to the technical or scientific

problems. This is exactly what we

very technical. Urban designers

Architecture one, does belong in

studies. This is because of the

learn at Urbanism, this is why we,

look for the spatial problems that

the technical universities. For me

emphasis is not enough on

as urbanists, fit in perfectly with

occur in the public space and

there is no doubt regarding the

methodology and theory. If this

the other engineering studies.

try to improve the situation. This

presence of a technical component

would be more integrated to the

The difference between “normal”

indeed is not highly technical, in

in the Urbanism track, not only

design projects it could be better,

universities and a technical

the sense that there is not a whole

related to the scientific approach

but I think in these projects it is

university is the word technical.

lot of calculation going on in this

that we take towards each project,

more about the design instead of

You could think of this word as

process. Technology, nevertheless,

trying to solve an specific problem,

the theory or methodology.

courses like maths and physics,

is defined by the Oxford Dictionary

with hypothesis of what could

Beside that students do not

but I think that you should interpret

as ‘the application of scientific

happen if we change this or that

learn math, we do learn to think

technical, from the TU, as applied.

knowledge for practical purposes’.

variable, but even talking about the

in analytical way about complex

In contrast to other universities,

And this is exactly what an

tools we need to use nowadays.

problems, a thing that is a

which are mainly theoretical,

urban designer does. The urban

Although there is definitely

necessity in all the studies in the

students at the TU use the theory

designer investigates a problem

an artistic component to the

university. You could say this is a

to make practical things or, as said

thoroughly and analyses this

profession, related mostly to

technical skill. The lack of scientific

before, to solve practical problems.

problem. This sort of research

the composition of elements

skills is replaced by a high social

Faculties such as architecture and

can be done scientifically, and at

and the appreciation of spatial

involvement and more importantly,

industrial design are essential for a

least at universities it is. It leads

qualities, we need to be able to

creativity. This way Urbanism

technical university.

to generalisations about specific

“speak the same language” as

provides us with social engineers

problems and from there to

the other professionals involve

which we need just as much as we

possible solutions of the problem.

in the development of a project;

need “real” engineers.

This is the process towards

otherwise, it would be impossible

Most projects need an all-

scientific knowledge. In the field of

for an Urban designer or planner

inclusive approach in which social

urbanism we apply this knowledge

to reach an understanding about

engineers are just as necessary as

in the plans we make. The practical

an idea.

“real” engineers. Should they be at

purpose of the these plans is,

The sociological component of

the Technical University? Yes, but

as said before, to solve spatial

the profession is also an important

it will stay an outsider.

problems. Hence, in my opinion,

one, for sure. We have to approach

An engineer should be inventive

urbanism can perfectly be taught

the users, the developers, the

and creative and use these skills,

at a technological university as the

stakeholders, and so on. However,

TU Delft.

the data that we use and the manner in which we process it is definitely a technician’s methodology.

Alumni reflection from graduation..

emilia machedon graduated in 2012 at tu delft

How would you define an academic way of working in urbanism?

Urbanism is a highly multidisciplinary field of study. Therefore, it becomes rather difficult to define an academic way of working. I believe that urbanism requires the ability to translate the knowledge of an economist, a sociologist or an ecologist into spatial phenomena. Since being an expert in all these fields is a rather unrealistic endeavour the secret is maybe having the capacity to quickly learn the set of skills that complements your knowledge. Nevertheless, there are also essential abilities such as building a strong argument, being a good team worker in an interdisciplinary environment as well as understanding and representing space in a comprehensible manner. How did you experience the research education in the MSc Urbanism program at the TU Delft?

I believe there were two important moments in the MSc Urbanism program: the first year and the graduation year. During the first year we became familiar with the approaches of the different chairs within the Faculty of Urbanism, we got a good grip on working in a team, building convincing presentations and structured reports as well as being creative within the given problem field. This year was a useful

exploratory experience. On the other hand, within the graduation year we got the chance to develop an area of interest and expertise. During this year we had to tackle an issue of our own choice under the guidance of our mentor team, usually within the topic of a graduation studio. I enjoyed the most this opportunity to go into detail within a topic holding an element of personal fascination. I am still working on developing this area of expertise further on and the graduation year was an excellent start to it. Which academic skills (in a broad sense) did you learn TU Delft do you use a lot in your daily life as a professional?

One of the skills that I value and definitely use the most in my daily life as a professional is team work. This might sound odd to a Dutch audience but I come from Romania, a country where education is mostly focused on individual performance. Back home competition is present in all project stages, even if you do work in a team. In urbanism we have to deal with such complex issues that it is plain irresponsible not to make the best of the knowledge and skills of the entire team. Apart from that solid visual presentation skills have helped me the most so far. I even got job offers as a graphic designer rather than as an urbanist, an interesting option in a time of economic crisis.

Figure 1. Transportation networks â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Schiphol Airport ÂŠ Emilia Machedon

Interview with Emilia Machedon

..to practice Did you miss any academic skills in your education program in the MSc Urbanism?

Yes. What I missed the most are skills in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I believe that they have a still untapped potential in supporting the urban planning discipline since they facilitate the visualisation and analysis of large data sets with a spatial component. We waste so much time nowadays vectorizing maps in Illustrator or just searching for relevant information that is already there. I think a lot of efficiency could be gained if we used these tools during the planning process. Although I followed the elective on understanding living patterns of high-rise building inhabitants in Rotterdam using GPS tracking during quarter four of MSc1, the skills that we gained were specifically tailored for the Q4 project and not for a general understanding of the potential uses of GIS. What was your graduation topic and what were according to you the most important academic components in your graduation project?

Figure 2. Airport related production and consumption activities in the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport region. ÂŠ Emilia Machedon

to be as important as initially thought. The more insights you gain while reading, talking about your project, or trying out design ideas the better you can define a solid thesis. Have you been able to develop your academic skills after the graduation?

Yes. I am still working on defining problem statements for example. I am currently working on an explorative assignment in

Do you have any comments on or recommendations

for

the

research

education at TU Delft Urbanism?

I believe the research education could benefit in the future if it would integrate the teaching on the potential uses of GIS, as I have mentioned before. It can help planners gather, visualise and analyse information faster and provide us more time for other important activities. It would also maybe help to teach students about tools specific to other disciplines, such as how to execute an interview or what types of questionnaires are defined by the social science disciplines. Even if you do not end up doing the interviews yourself it is good to know what you can ask for from the sociologist in your working team. Although we did work in teams at BK we always collaborated in groups with other urban planners and designers, which is not always the case in real life. I guess summer schools, workshops and internships could help students gain confidence in multidisciplinary environments. Overall, I think the research education at the TU Delft is well structured and it offers an interesting diversity of specializations. If you have a specific interest you can easily find someone to ask for guidance.

"What I missed the most are skills in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)"

In my master graduation thesis in Urbanism at the TU Delft I proposed an alternative development strategy for the Schiphol Airport Corridor within a network urbanism framework. This project, 'Your Homeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Check In Gate.' Spatial Planning Strategies for the Integration of the Urban Development Driven by Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, gave me the opportunity to specialise in the field of airport region development concepts and strategies. The most important quality I gained while working on this thesis was flexibility, recognizing the fact that research and design are not linear processes. There have been a few important moments when everything I though was relevant proved not

order to discover project opportunities that could be presented to potentially interested stakeholders. It resembles a bit the first quarter of the graduation year when you need to carefully define your problem statement. I have also been busy with sharpening my academic writing skills by continuing the research of my graduation thesis. I hope that I can later use this knowledge as a starting point of a PhD research. And last but not least, I am also still studying since I have discovered amazing offers of on-line courses, such as coursera.org or edx.org. My main challenge now is time management, since I easily become enthusiastic about many things.

Todor Kesarovski

Flowscapes Design studio for landscape infrastructures The

newly

established

Flowscapes

studio addresses relevant sociocultural, ecological from

and

the

planning

technological

perspective and

design.

issues spatial

Urbanization,

ecological crisis and climate change are complex problems that only can be addressed transdisciplinary and from an international perspective – in particular regarding

environmental

sustainability.

While

issues

the

and

technical

challenges are considerable, the spatial and cultural challenges are by far the largest. Therefore, a new understanding of space-time condition of landscape – and its potential for change – offers promising opportunities to find new solutions to these problems. In order to redeem control over the processes that

shape

the

built

environment

and its contemporary landscapes a fundamental

review

the

agency

of landscape architecture design is required (Steenbergen et al., 2009).

steffen nijhuis assistant professor landscape architecture, tu delft daniel jauslin lecturer / researcher landscape architecture, tu delft

Flowscapes is the graduation lab of the Master track Landscape Architecture. It is also open to students of other design disciplines and suitable for students with special interest for landscape architecture. Ecologically motivated architects or urbanists can give shape to their interests within the academic framework, while working in relatively small groups. The core of the graduation lab is a referred design studio, supported by complementary courses (Nijhuis et al., 2012). The design studio is concerned with the spatial design of new topographies by integrating programs into the ‘genius of place’ and – with regard to landscape development – the continuation of spatial quality and cultural identity. These designerly explorations require a multilayered understanding of landscape: its spatial structure, history, context, as well as the ecological, economic and social processes involved. In this approach visual thinking and communication are considered to be crucial. Drawings, mappings and models

are used to reveal and create relationships, explore and elaborate landscape systems – in terms of geometry, quantity, velocity, force, trajectory – and for critical reflection. In this article we introduce the design studio and provide some background regarding the theme. • Landscape Infrastructures

The design studio explores the infrastructure as a type of landscape and the landscape as a type of infrastructure (cf. Strang, 1996). It is focused on landscape architectonic design of transportation, green and water infrastructures. These landscape infrastructures are considered armatures for urban and rural development. With movement and flows at the core, landscape infrastructures facilitate aesthetic, functional, social and ecological relationships between natural and human systems. Through multidisciplinary design-based case studies at different scale levels the studio seeks for a better understanding of the dynamic

between landscape processes and typo-morphological aspects; here interpreted as flowscapes. Infrastructures are understood as “constructed facilities and natural features that shelter and support most human activities – buildings of all types, communications, energy generation and distribution, green spaces, transportation of all modes, water resources, and waste treatment and management” (PERSI, 2012). Landscape on the other hand is defined as: “an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/ or human factors” (Council of Europe, 2000). As such, the current understanding describes infrastructure as the human impetus to alter the natural environment, while landscapes are described as the inadvertent resultants. The hybridization of the two concepts, landscape and infrastructure, seeks to redefine both notions into a more integral design assignment where goals and means converge – resulting in landscape infrastructures that serve multiple ends. In this view multi-functionality, connectivity, integration, long term strategies, communicative and socialinclusive design processes are key principles for spatial planning and design, to provide for more volatile forms of urban landscape architecture. The emphasises of ‘flowscapes’ is on the interaction of humans with their environment – connecting people to landscapes – directing urban development, biodiversity and the relation between ‘flows’ and ‘scapes’.

as organizational structures for metropolitan areas, providing space for nature development, leisure/recreation, urban agriculture and cultural heritage – food and energy supply are becoming increasingly important. Typical operations of landscape architects include: landscape planning and design of (urban) green spaces and structures urban ecology, development of urban agriculture, terrestrial nature development and protecting heritage landscapes. (3) Water infrastructures: consists of what is planned, designed and constructed to manage water and riparian zones. Important issues here are coastal and river management – including river modifications, seawalls and floodgates – as well as the use of beach nourishment, sand dune stabilization, development of flood forests and coastal/estuarine wetlands. It includes major flood control systems (dikes, levees, major pumping stations and floodgates), drainage systems (storm sewers, ditches), major irrigation systems (fresh water reservoirs, irrigation canals), and also, sewage collection and disposal of waste water. Important operations of landscape architects are: landscape planning and design of flood defences, river modification, aquatic nature development, fresh water supply, water fronts and waste water treatment plants.

“To take a critical position with our design studio as a whole is no mere academic exercise but a true research contribution.”

• Transportation, green and water infrastructures

Landscape architecture design practices can fulfil several roles in developing landscape infrastructures. We have defined three ‘lenses’ as starting point for designerly explorations. (1) Transportation infrastructures: technical systems which facilitate different modes of transportation, energy supply, waste treatment and information dissemination (telecommunications). Obviously it includes vehicular, rail, and air systems, as well as ports and waterways. But also energy systems (oil, gas, nuclear, wind), their transformation to produce energy, and their distribution are important elements (power lines, pipelines). When we consider these utilitarian systems as landscape infrastructures they become entities of multiple-use and integration where technical, aesthetic and social values blend. These multi-modal transportation systems affect the public space in different degrees. Typical operations of landscape architects in this context are: planning, allocation and design of roads, rail, harbours, waste treatment plants, wind power plants (figure 1), traffic mitigation measures and recreational facilities for travellers. (2) Green infrastructures: interconnected green space networks that maintain and develop natural ecosystem values and provide associated social, economic and aesthetic benefits to humans. Much of the foundation draws on the 19th century planning principles of regional metropolitan park systems. Useful for landscape planning and design is the concept of land mosaics consisting of green patches, corridors and matrices (Forman, 1995). Green space structures can act

While acknowledged in their differences amongst the three types of landscape infrastructure, it is important to understand their relationships and to address them integrally via design research and research-by-design (Nijhuis and Bobbink, 2012). The research inquiry and design thinking are systematically combined in a journey of discovery, where the design is the vehicle to draw up hypotheses of possible spatial futures. • Spatial framework: Rhine-Danube corridor

The studio is framed around the Rhine-Danube corridor, integrating and defining Europe between the North Sea and the Black Sea. The Danube River Basin collects water from territories of nineteen countries and it forms the international boundary of eight of these. The Rhine Basin connects nine countries. The Rhine is also the primary artery of one of the most important economic regions (about 1750 billion US$ GDP) of Europe and is characterized by large crowded urban areas which harbors about 58 million inhabitants. Since 1992 the Rhine and Danube are hydrologically connected via the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, thereby creating a Trans-European waterway offering spatial, ecological and economic opportunities, as well as threats. Along the Rhine-Danube various projects have been selected based on their strategic and integral nature. They have the potentiality to become a case study for design explorations in landscape architecture. These projects epitomize the struggle of the 21st century: to realign the spatial development of our global society in better harmony with the global ecology. Some of them are part of important project portfolio’s such as the ‘TEN-T’ (European Commission, 2012) or ‘MIRT’ (Government of the Netherlands, 2012). By choice, or inspiration from such projects, students can formulate their 61

own thesis. This requires selection of an adequate site and scale of intervention within the theme and geographically related to the Rhine-Danube. The landscape architecture design challenge here is found at the intersection of debates about spatial quality, economic growth, green networks, habitat, biodiversity, urban development, flooding, urban water management, urban agriculture, drainage/ irrigation, energy production, and a lot more pressing issues of high socio-political significance.

address emerging questions in treating infrastructure as landscape in our living environment. Landscape architecture design tools to be developed within this studio will let us approach landscape as infrastructure in a discourse that is highly relevant to our time. We are confident that the studio will train students to make a difference as spatial designers of our fast evolving world, and to take a unique integrating position in the dynamic professional field.

Figure 2. Ten potential projects in the Rhine-Danube Corridor for exploration of transportation-, green- and water-infrastructure © S. Nijhuis, TU Delft, 2012

The studio invites students to develop thesis that critically engage in this pressing contemporary challenge. Until 2020 1 trillion Euros (1.000.000.000.000 EUR) has been budgeted for the development of European Infrastructure (European Commission, 2011). The urgency for landscape architecture in the next few years is to formulate a position and design strategies, that rethink the infrastructural paradigm for the 21st century now – to make these huge investments a truly valuable contribution to our future living environment.

Council of Europe (2000) European Landscape Convention. Florence (European Treaty Series 176) European Commission (2011) A growth package for integrated European infrastructures. Brussels European Commission (2012) TEN-T: Transport infrastructure. Brussels Forman, R. (1995) Land Mosaics. The ecology of landscape and regions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Government of the Netherlands (2012) Multi-Year Plan for Infrastructure, Spatial Planning and Transport (MIRT). The Hague

• Perspectives

Nijhuis, S. and Bobbink, I. (2012) ‘Design-related research in landscape

Today infrastructure projects have a key role in global policy. This fact leads to large-scale economical commitment of national, international and global collaborations. We believe that the European landscape with its tradition and potential deserves our best efforts in contextual and spatial design. In a time of reconsideration and reflection of the European integration – fostered by financial issues – it is astonishing how large and uncontroversial projects ‘go through’ without much questioning. To take a critical position with our design studio as a whole is no mere academic exercise but a true research contribution. New disciplinary developments need to be made to

architecture’, Journal of Design Research 10(4); 239-257 Nijhuis, S., Jauslin, D. and Vries, C. de (2012) Flowscapes: Infrastructure as landscape, landscape as infrastructure. Graduation lab landscape architecture semester guide 2012-2013. Delft University of Technology PERSI Technical Committee (2006) Proposed plan for the assessment of knowledge and practice for sustainable infrastructure. S.l.: Practice, Education and Research for Sustainable Infrastructure (PERSI) Strang, G.L. (1996) ‘Infrastructure as Landscape [Infrastructure as Landscape, Landscape as Infrastructure]’, Places 10(3), 8 Steenbergen, C.M., et al. (2009) Urban Landscape Architecture. Research programme 2009-2012. Delft University of Technology

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Colophon ATLANTIS Magazine by Polis | Platform for Urbanism Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft Volume 23, Number 3, March 2013 Editor in Chief

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