*Celebrating Spatial Planning at TU Delft: 2008-2019. Edited by Stead, Bracken, Rooij & Rocco

Urbanism . TU Delft 15
overlook other people’s subjective
experiences and to normalise
behaviours that exclude certain
groups.
“Colleagues from some cultures
may be less likely to let their
voices be heard in a diverse work
place. Integration across multicultural
teams can be difficult in the
face of prejudice or negative cultural
stereotypes and professional
communication can be misinterpreted
or difficult to understand
across languages and cultures.
There are different understandings
of professional etiquette that
may lead to conflicting working
styles” 2 .
TU Delft recognises all that and
has a plan. It focuses on INTEGRI-
TY as a concept that is crucial for
academic life. “TU Delft expects
everyone, whether staff, student
2 Reynolds, K. (2018), 13 Benefits and Challenges
of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace,
Hult International Business School Blogs.
Available at https://www.hult.edu/blog/
benefits-challenges-cultural-diversity-workplace/
Accessed on 10 July 2019.
or guest, to act responsibly with
regard to the ethical aspects of
their work or study” (…) “Our aim
is for staff and students to engage
in dialogue and dare to call
each other to account for their
conduct. Managers should create
a safe environment in which this
is possible. This is not always
easy, though 3 .”
The focus of TU Delft is on integrity
as an ethical issue. Diversity
pertains to the realm of intercultural
understanding and communication,
a part of a larger sociological
and political discussion.
As much as the discussion about
diversity belongs to these wider
fields of study and have an effect
on how research and education
are performed, their effects are
often perceived as “personal
issues” and tend to be left out of
3 Rocco, R. (2018). Diversity at the Department
of Urbanism of the TU Delft: Results of
the Workshop held on July 3rd 2018 at the
Department of Urbanism of the Faculty of
Architecture and the Built Environment, TU
Delft. Delft: Delft University of Technology.
the discussion about behaviour
in the workplace. As much as our
personal lives should be separated
from our working lives, there
are issues in the workplace that
affect us all very personally.
The international character of our
Section means that we have to
remain alert to issues of inclusion
and diversity. SPS believes that
we should strive to make TU Delft
inclusive and welcoming of differences
and variety, and should
pay attention to the complaints
of those who feel discriminated
or “not taken seriously” because
of their appearance, gender, race,
religion, sexuality, or many other
characteristics that make us
human and hence different from
each other. Gender equality remains
our biggest challenge and
steps have been taken to make
the Chair more gender balanced.
Fig. 5: PhD defense celebration, Verena Balz, 2019. Photo by R. Rocco.