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

76 Spatial Planning & Strategy
Planning Complex Cities
An MSc Urbanism graduation studio
VERENA BALZ
Planning Complex
Cities is a graduation
studio at the
Department of Urbanism of
the Faculty of Architecture
and the Built Environment,
Delft University of Technology.
As with other graduation
studios at the Department
of Urbanism, the studio is
set up to align graduation
students’ research with the
research programme of the
Department. Since 2010, the
studio attracts between 15 to
20 graduation students each
year, many of them international
students.
The studio involves in
particular researchers from
the Section of Spatial Planning
& Strategy, and the OTB
Research Institute for the
Built Environment. Planning
Complex Cities graduation
projects build upon their
expertise in regionalisation,
spatial planning and territorial
governance. Starting
points in graduation projects
are usually observations
of disparities concerning
the distribution of spatial
resources across territories,
and conflicts that arise from
these. Central propositions
on how spatial manifestations
of inequality relate to
institutional practices are
first formulated. Proposals
may concern formal institutions
embodied in e.g. legal
and regulatory planning
frameworks, policy delivery
mechanisms, and mandatory
cooperation between
governments. Proposals
may also concern informal
institutions, e.g. the voluntary
participation of commu-
nities and non-governmental
organisations in planning
processes, invisible power
distributions, and planning
and governance cultures and
traditions. During graduation
projects, interrelations between
spatial and institutional
circumstances are elaborated
in depth. Conclusions
of Planning Complex Cities
graduation projects finally
recommend institutional
change and demonstrate how
this can lead to new spatial
development, by means of
design.
Building upon existing
research capacities – the
expertise of researchers,
ongoing research projects,
and strategic alliances with
partners in regions – Planning
Complex Cities graduation
projects focus on
spatial development in three
parts of the world. Graduation
projects investigating
the topic “Inclusive Cities of
the Global South” explore
development in the context
of rapid modernisation and
urban growth, often with
inadequate governance and
weak institutional capacity
in developing countries.
Graduation projects investigating
the topic “Imagining
(European) Regions” focus on
increasing disparities within
and across European regions,
the political tensions that
disparities cause, and the
typically multi-layered, and
fragmented governance and
planning responses that seek
to address these. Graduation
projects investigating
“Transforming Chinese Cities”
consider development in the
context of highly accelerated
urbanisation, migration,
and demographic change in
China. As in other MSc Urbanism
graduation projects,
design-led approaches play
an important role in Planning
Complex Cities research.
Graduation projects see
design not only as a practice
used to explore desirable
spatial outcomes, but also
to achieve desirable institutional
changes. In addition,
graduation projects are
characterised by the frequent
use of methodologies from
the social sciences, e.g. the
political and planning sciences.
Stimulated by the particular
expertise of researchers
at the Spatial Planning &
Strategy section graduation
projects also often involve
comparative analysis.
Planning Complex Cities
graduation students learn to
tackle the complexities that
result from recognising the
institutional implications of
spatial change, and to address
these with trans-disciplinary
approaches. Students
learn how to consider the
interests, responsibilities,
and resources of actors in
research and design. Through
the international setting of
the studio, students learn to
systematically encounter and
appreciate differences among
spatial, cultural, and political
circumstances. Overall,
the studio aims to strengthen
their ability to position
themselves in societal and
political debates.
For more information on
the studio see https://complexcitiesstudio.org/
Fig. 43: Complex Cit