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The last two years, I devoted much time, energy and reflection to my TU Delft Education Fellowship, which was awarded to me at the end of 2019. Even though Covid threw a spanner in the works, I managed to achieve several of my goals. I am happy to share some of the results with you.

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The theme of the Fellowship was “Exploring Community Engagement Through Planning and Design Education”. More specifically, I explored how and under which conditions student research in regular courses (bachelor and master level) can incorporate effective and responsible engagement with local stakeholders outside the university. While I spent some time exploring and piloting in my own courses, I also conducted more ‘general’ work, with two particular deliverables.

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Video series
I produced a series of 8 short videos: ‘Community Engagement in Design and Planning Education - Challenges and Practical Steps Forward’. The video series is especially relevant for university lecturers, students, policymakers, practitioners and businesses who seek collaboration in the context of challenge-based university education.

 

Working Paper
In this working paper, I develop and explain a conceptual (and practical) framework for better understanding the basic conditions for and inherent tensions in local university-community engagement in the context of research-based design and planning education. The working paper is especially relevant for course co-ordinators, educational advisors, instructors, and anyone who intends to embark on community engagement in education and does not know what to expect. During a lunch lecture at the Teaching academy, I presented the working paper (view the recording here).

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Interviews

During the Fellowship, I was interviewed several times:

Website WIJStad: "Fresh eyes are their best asset" (article available both in English and Dutch)

City Deal Kennismaken (nieuwsbrief): "‘We moeten studenten voorbereiden op alles wat op ze afkomt in de maatschappij’

 

Teaching Academy Special Interest Group
Any research/innovation/teaching project developing ‘answers’ always renders new questions, which I continue to look into in the coming years. During the Fellowship, Andrea Gammon (TPM) and I established the Special Interest Group (SIG) ‘Community Engagement in Design & Engineering Education’ at the Teaching Academy. This SIG is a ‘light-touch’ informal network, fostering knowledge exchange between TU Delft instructors (and beyond), emphasizing a hands-on, bottom-up approach towards community engagement. The SIG has now grown into a vibrant learning community which meets regularly and has representatives from almost all faculties, OC FOCUS, Teaching Academy and other institutions within the TU Delft.​

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the Teaching Academy colleagues Ted Adrichem, Gytha Rijnbeek, Toine Andernach and Annoesjka Cabo for their indispensable support during (and after) the Fellowship. Special thanks go to teaching assistant Jonas Althuis and colleagues from the New Media Centre, for their efforts in producing the video series. I also appreciate the suggestions and feedback provided by many colleagues in my own department, faculty and beyond. And last but certainly not least, thanks to the students of the CMSI Minor and AR0095 courses at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, who served as 'guinea pigs' during the engagement piloting. Their enthusiasm and drive continues to inspire me!