A Manifesto for the Just City 2021 16 // 404
THE GLOBAL URBAN LAB An earlier version of this text was previously published in the “Manifesto for the Just City”, volume 1.
globalurbanlab.org
Street scene in Rotterdam. Photo by Roberto Rocco, CC BY-SA licence.
T
he Global Urban Lab is a communication and action platform, which is part of the TU Delft | Global Initiative. Our goal is to bring visibility and articulation to TU Delft staff and students doing work on urbanisation in the Global South (Low and Middle Income Settings). Next to hosting discussions, lectures and events, the Global Urban Lab predominantly wants to connect and build knowledge: serving as a platform throughout all faculties, schools, and departments for researchers and practitioners to meet, learn and collaborate in a transdisciplinary manner. In a context of social, political and environmental unrest, there is an urgent need for developing alternative solutions and relations on a global scale. Therefore, the Global Urban Lab wants to share alternative views and knowledge without the traditional Global North centrism, in order to create a positive collaboration between different areas of the planet. From a wider perspective, the idea of “urban” includes a broad multiplicity of sites, forms and scales, from the most remote settlements up to global metropolises. This approach sees urbanisation as a process, not as a goal or fixed category, that overcomes and increasingly diffuses the traditional divide between ‘the rural’ versus ‘the urban’. The platform aims to actively seek the connection outside of the academic realm, proposing itself as a space for experimentation and action, informing public, private and civic initiatives of innovative research happening at TU Delft. For more information, please visit:
