Debate: Challenges that define the new urban project

Currently, a series of urban crises challenge us to rethink the role of urban design in the production of the built environment and the education necessary to train the next generation of designers. The climate crisis and the water level rise question the quality of life in cities. The housing shortage and the COVID 19 pandemic increase further existing inequalities in cities and urban regions, producing fast growth and shrinkage situations. At the same time, digitization changes the way we think and act, paving the path for new ways to evaluate, govern, and produce space. This also informs how designers aim to build cities more inclusive, improve the living standard and enable citizens to engage in public life. Yet, it is not clear which approaches, processes, and methods are suitable to achieve such goals. At the Metropolitan Club, we want to discuss design’s potential to create synergies, to integrate different fields of knowledge, and to rethink and reshape the built environment in this process of urban transformation.  

Drawing on the Delft tradition of urban design at the faculty of Bouwkunde at TU Delft, the 2021 Metropolitan Club series is dedicated to the discussion about the agency of design in the process of urban transformation and the way education and training may help to pave the path for the next generation of designers. We have invited experts and practitioners from the field of urban design in the Netherlands to present and discuss their views on the future role of design.