Students in the Planning Complex Cities studio are free to choose the topic and location they wish to work on. To gain a deep understanding of relevant concepts, spatial development and institutional conditions in areas, we, however, encourage students to focus on issues and areas that are under investigation of ongoing research at the Department of Urbanism. A project that provides an excellent opportunities for in-depth research during the upcoming graduation year is the project Democratising jUst Sustainability Transitions (DUST), which is funded under a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action program, and led by TU Delft.
In very brief: The DUST project will develop and operationalise novel participatory instruments for proactive and strategic citizen engagement in sustainability transitions. It will combine design-led territorial tools with digital tools for citizen deliberation at scale. The project addresses a defining societal and democratic challenge for Europe, which is to hear the voices of least engaged communities, especially in structurally weak regions dependent on energy-intensive industries, which will be most affected by transitions towards a more sustainable future. Building on the concept of ‘active subsidiarity’, the project will employ an innovative mix of research methods, and experimental citizen participation, to understand the determinants of participation in decision-making on sustainability transitions at different levels of government, and to develop effective policy recommendations for inclusive engagement of civil society.
We encourage graduation students to consider exploring open research questions in dimensions of the DUST project. Our suggestions are listed here:
Factors influencing civic participation of least engaged communities: The objective of research in the DUST project’s analytical dimension is to assess how community, policy, and context factors enhance or impede participation of vulnerable, least-engaged, and historically marginalised communities in place-based (often multi-level) sustainability transition policies. Questions we raise include: How do place-based initiatives vary in the provision of different structures, processes, and arenas for strengthening community mobilisation? What are barriers to mobilisation and how can these be overcome?
Instruments for the deliberative governance of just sustainability transition policies: In its instrumental dimension, the DUST research will examine the instruments, mechanisms, and processes that enhance the participation of least-engaged communities in the deliberative governance of place-based approaches to just sustainability transitions. Questions we raise include: What are relevant instruments in this context and how can these be classified by processes, arenas and available means? What are the performances of regional design-led territorial instruments in this context and how can these be enhanced? What are complementarities between digital and analogue forms of participation? How do digital tools and instruments influence the extent and quality of participation?
Affective communication and narrative construction in just sustainability transition policies: Research in the communicative dimension of the DUST project explores communicative strategies that enable two-way exchanges between policy-makers and communities and that are underpinned by the concepts of ‘affective communication’ and ‘narrative construction’. Questions we raise include: What are existing stories that affectively influence the perceptions of sustainability transitions? What are the tools (both digital and non-digital ones) and languages that facilitate narrative re-construction?
For more information on the DUST project, please click here or contact: V.E.Balz@tudelft.nl, M.M.Dabrowski@tudelft.nl or L.Qu@tudelft.nl
Planning Complex Cities TU Delft 