Prof.dr. P. Pelzer
Professor Spatial Planning and Strategy
Department of Urbanism
Peter Pelzer is driven by a fascination with and concern for the planning of long-term spatial development. Central to his approach are long-term thinking and imagination. How do you render- the distant future more important in the spatial choices we are making today? ‘To achieve necessary change, we must dare to let go of what we are used to.’
Imagination paradox
When designing spaces, we often look at the problems of the present or the near future. While the choices we make now have an impact for decades, sometimes centuries. However, this forward-thinking is not that simple. When designing the spatial environment, we value certainty. Pelzer: ‘We are having difficulties to think beyond the familiar. You need knowledge of the present to outline futures, but that knowledge also limits you.’ Pelzer calls this an imagination paradox": ’Without interest in the present, it is easier to imagine alternative futures, but they have limited consequences. With strong interests in the present, it is very difficult to imagine those alternative futures. So the paradox is that precisely what is desirable -interest in the present and a representation of a different future- are challenging to combine. Fortunately, a paradox is an apparent contradiction, which means that solutions are possible.’
While the importance of the long-term perspective is necessary, it does not mean that we should fix everything for eternity. ‘In fact, long-term thinking can also imply that we allow for the fact that zoning can change again. When designing spatial environments, we value certainty. We act as if the use of space - such as housing, agriculture, industries - will remain the same forever. That assumption is in itself questionable, but with the uncertainty of climate change it is put under even more pressure. I argue for an approach in which we start ‘thinking in decades’ to a greater extent.
Education
With Pelzer, TU Delft brings in a lauded lecturer and educational innovator. In 2021, he won a Higher Education Premium from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) with the Mixed Classroom project and was elected national Lecturer of the Year in 2024.
‘It is important to me that students connect their inner development and developments in the world around them. As a lecturer, you contribute with expertise, examples and perspectives, but I think the student ultimately has to make up his, her or their own mind.’
For Pelzer, by the way, education does not stop after the bachelor's or master's degree. At Utrecht University, he was director of education for Education for Professionals: ‘It should be a given that you keep studying throughout life. And that is precisely where the university also has a crucial task.’
Experience
Peter Pelzer was associate professor at the Department of Social Geography and Planning and director Education for Professionals at the Faculty of Geosciences, both at Utrecht University. In the past, he also served as co-founder of the Urban Futures Studio, external committee member of the Council for Living Environment and Infrastructure, project leader of the Post-Fossil City Contest, (lead) editor of RUIMTEVOLK and AGORA, and researcher at the municipality of Amsterdam.
Peter Pelzer is author of the open access essay Verantwoordelijk voor de toekomst: op zoek naar een planologie van de lange termijn (Responsible for the future, in search of a long-term spatial planning).
