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

18 Spatial Planning & Strategy
[THE BIG PICTURE]
A word from the Head of the
Department
MACHIEL VAN DORST, HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF URBANISM,
FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT, TU DELFT
Over 70 years ago, Professor Lohuizen
held his inaugural speech at
our faculty. Lohuizen discussed the
“Unity of Town Planning”. This was the starting
point for the important role for spatial
planning in our Faculty and Department.
The complexity of city-making needs both
theory and practice, and it also needs planning
and design. Urbanism education at TU
Delft became the perfect combination of
spatial planning and urban design. Within
our department, the two fields of science
are the two pillars of our education. From
the 1950s onwards, many town planners
were educated in Delft in a practical way.
It was only in 2008 that the department
and the faculty were expected to develop
a stronger relationship between scientific
research and education. For the section of
Spatial Planning and Strategy, the appointment
of Professor Vincent Nadin was
perfectly timely. Vincent built on our history
and strengthened the scientific culture in
the section and in the department. Vincent
also enriched the relationships between
planning and design. Much has changed in
70 years and even more in the last 10 years.
Today, SPS is a section that is doing it all;
strong in (inter)national research and strong
in education. A group of people that is united
in diversity, a group of colleagues that
are an indispensable and valuable asset for
the department and the faculty. It is a joy to
work with the members of this section.