A fundamental challenge in urban scholarship is bridging theories of spatial justice with material reality. This paper critiques static concepts of ‘spatial capital’ for obscuring the dynamic social production of spatial advantage. We reconceptualize spatial capital as a dynamic capacity and introduce the A.U.R.A. framework–a heuristic enacted through the practices of Access, Utilise, Resist, and Adapt. Synthesizing insights from Bourdieu, Lefebvre, and intersectionality, A.U.R.A. offers a rigorous methodology for diagnosing injustice and a foundation for transforming the conditions that reproduce spatial inequality in cities. ... Read more

In the Anthropocene era, marked by significant human impact on Earth, the Global South faces deep spatial inequalities that necessitate rethinking urban planning. This study critiques capitalist urban development models that perpetuate “Accumulation by Dispossession” aggravating inequalities and depriving marginalised communities of essential rights and resources. Focusing on M-Ward East in Mumbai, India, where slum resettlement coexists with hazardous industries and inadequate infrastructure, this research examines collective spatial resistance as a survival strategy for marginalised communities.

Utilising Lefebvre's “right to the city”, the chapter explores how collective actions, despite lacking institutional support, emerge as resilience mechanisms against top-down approaches. Through preliminary fieldwork and secondary literature, this study discusses the challenges faced by marginalised communities in the Anthropocene and the transformative potential of collective resistance for achieving spatial justice. ... Read more

Urban inequality, epitomized by the systemic marginalization and precarious conditions of informal settlements and areas characterized by spatial disparities, continues to be a significant barrier to achieving equitable urban environments across the globe. Such spaces are frequently neglected by formal planning systems, manifesting pronounced spatial injustices that not only mirror existing socio-economic and political disparities but also exacerbate them. Yet, they also function as sites of resilience and agency, where residents engage in ongoing negotiations to claim their right to the city (Lefebvre, 1968), even amid instability and fragmented governance (Roy, 2011). [...] ... Read more

COVID-19 has made working from home routine for many. People who have had to maintain their productivity, particularly in physically and/or socially unacceptable home-working situations, experienced one of the pandemic’s disadvantages. The experience can vary substantially among individuals as well as by country. This study presents the results of a comparative study of the Netherlands and Korea. Working from home was not uncommon in the Netherlands before the pandemic; however, in Korea, employers adopted working from home from its start, and that increased rapidly. An online survey enabled us to compare the physical and social conditions of current home workspaces in both countries, to understand how well-equipped they were to support people who had to work from home. We studied the changes in productivity and physical/mental health before and during COVID-19, to learn how people coped with working from home in both countries. Contrary to expectations, Koreans showed better scores than people in the Netherlands, in terms of changes in health and productivity. This article discusses various aspects of that result, such as satisfaction with home workspace, housing type, job position and prior experience, compulsoriness, and frequency of working from home. Relieving stress and concentration appeared to be the most important dimensions of telecommuters’ satisfaction with working from home environments in both countries. The results are the basis for suggesting the development of strategies for a desirable WFH environment, considering different background contexts, experiences and cultures. ... Read more

A video made to communicate the "Localizing Global Garment Biographies" research project, funded by the Dutch National Science Agenda (NWA). The term ‘biography’ here refers to the history of a garment – the story it tells.

The NWA funds projects that aim to utilize scientific knowledge to tackle large societal challenges. It encourages projects that bring together researchers, educational institutions, NGOs and companies.

The project explored the cultural and economic significance of clothing, tracing the evolution
of garment production and usage from local, long-lasting items to today’s fast fashion and globalized production.

Involving Dutch and Indian fashion and design students, and Indian textile producers, the project aimed to bridge the experiential gaps within the global garment chain. To facilitate this, the project has experimented with digital tools that encourage communication between garment users and producers.

The globalization of garment production has a long history, making this project a perfect fit for the NWA’s Living History track. Inspired by historical and contemporary garments from Museum Rotterdam’s collection, the project challenged students to explore what garments
mean to them, and how they connect to their origins.

By linking previously disconnected narratives, the project aims to bring about positive changes in the garment industry, promoting fair and sustainable practices. ... Read more

The Institut für Tropenbau (Institute for Building in the Tropics, IFT), founded by the German architect Georg Lippsmeier in 1969, impacted architectural production in diverse geographies and cultural contexts until the late 20th century. As the research arm of the international architectural practice Lippsmeier+Partner (L+P), which focused on building in the “Global South,” IFT contributed to the growing discourse on so-called “tropical architecture,” (King and Chang, 2016; le Roux, 2003) and later on “appropriate technologies.” The interest was manifested most strongly through IFT’s publications. Beginning with Tropenbau = Building in the Tropics (1969), IFT published a series of books, reports, brochures, and newsletters that were circulated within “development” oriented architectural circles. Two editions of Tropenbau (1969 and 1980; Figure 1a-b) were stocked in libraries around the world.1 IFT’s research and publication activities were inseparably intertwined with Lippsmeier’s private architectural practice. [...] ... Read more

This book is the outcome of an experimental research and teaching project, aimed at rethinking how the garments we wear create relationships between producers, designers and wearers. The project has researched these relationships centered on the production of a dedicated t-shirt, designed, produced and put to use by the project partners, who are located in the Netherlands and India. This book provides an overview of the project trajectory, focusing on how the project has facilitated students from the vocational training colleges in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Erode (India) to engage in co-creation, and encourage conversations on design, materials, labour, social inequality (caste), gender and value. The book is a resource for students and educators working in fashion related fields at high-school, vocational training and early bachelor degree levels. Integral to the book are a number of short video clips, dedicated to the crucial phases of the process. ... Read more

Are your T-shirts some of the least valuable pieces of clothing in your wardrobe? Or are they very important to you? Have you ever wondered about the origin of your T-shirts, how they were made, where, or by whom? Join us on a journey to explore the places where the cotton for T-shirts was grown. We’ll introduce you to the people who turned the natural fiber into fabric, and you’ll discover what this means to you. Here, we’ll follow the journey of the T-shirt that was specifically produced for this project. Together we can discover what different stories a T-shirt can tell. Enjoy your travels! ... Read more

Our chapter explores the intersections of exile, urbanity and cultural production through the lens of a particular genre of publication: the guidebook. As a type of book that engages with the built environment, urban settings and cultural life, the guidebook offers a promising starting point for explorations of historical portrayals of urbanity. Often written by outsiders, guidebooks offer specific views on places as they seek to be “helpful and tactful companions” (Parsons 2007, n.p.) to tourists and other visitors. The guidebook that we focus on here, Pictorial Bombay, was authored by the exiled German journalist Ernst Schäffer, later Ernest Norbert Schaeffer and Ernest N. (Norbert/Nathan) Shaffer (1892–1978), and published in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1936.3 An unusual example of a guidebook written from an exilic perspective, Pictorial Bombay offers insights into both how Schaeffer grasped the colonial city and how he contributed to developing Bombay as a tourist destination. [...] ... Read more

Studies suggest that communities with greater social and economic capital are better equipped to deal with crises such as the covid-19 pandemic (Kiruthu, 2014; Pitas & Ehmer, 2020). Although social, economic, and cultural capital influence the impact on a community during a pandemic, it is spatial capital that anchors the community to a physical space. Depending on access, ownership and control of physical space, spatial capital becomes an enabler or a discriminator. It plays a critical role in creating, sustaining and shaping spatial inequalities. However, spatial capital has been scarcely studied in urban planning and even less so in terms of its operationality in research and practice.

Through this study, we redefine spatial capital and propose a novel operational framework - AURA - to measure the ability of different groups to Access, Utilize, (right to) Refuse and Adapt the spatial capital. The framework is used to understand how spatial capital has affected varied communities’ abilities to endure the impact of the pandemic by examining the scale, typology and user relationships of various spaces before, during and after the covid-19 pandemic.

Methodologically, the paper will review existing theory arriving at initial framework indicators to analyse the forms, roles and attributes of spatial capital on a neighbourhood scale. We will then conduct a comparative analysis of case studies in selected neighbourhoods in Mumbai, India and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The case study research will consist of a grounded approach and multi-perspective analysis to examine spaces of various scales, ownership and functions to understand how groups generate, use and engage with spatial capital. The inferences and lessons from the case studies will further help modify, upgrade and develop the analytical framework as a tool for broader use. The further stages of work include identifying weak spots in the neighbourhoods and formulating evidence-based spatial suggestions that contribute to making healthier cities for all.

As observed globally during the ongoing pandemic, the already marginalised and vulnerable communities have suffered the greatest negative impact, bringing a renewed interest in the issues of spatial and social justice. By bringing evidence from the most vulnerable neighbourhoods of two diverse contexts, we add an empirical perspective to the evolving knowledge of spatial capital. We hope the framework can serve as an analytical and decision-making tool for contexts beyond the two countries to help reduce spatial inequality and contribute to ongoing efforts towards just and equitable cities. ... Read more

The sudden adoption of working from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic has required the reconfiguration of home spaces to fit space for remote work into existing spaces already filled with other domestic functions. This resulted in blurring of home and work boundaries, the potential lack of space for telecommuting from home, and telecommuters’ feelings of crowding. Numerous studies have shown the negative effects of crowding feelings on workers’ responses. This study focused on the issue of crowding in the residential workspace. An online survey was conducted to investigate how features of the home workspace correlate with telecommuters’ feelings of crowding and how these feelings affect satisfaction, health, and productivity. As a result, we found that various environmental features of home workspaces (e.g., house size, purpose of workspace, accessible balcony, lighting, noise, etc.), as well as psychological aspects (e.g., individual control over space use), had significant effects on telecommuters’ feelings of crowdedness. It was also found that feelings of crowding in the WFH environment can directly and indirectly affect teleworkers’ satisfaction with work environments, well-being, and work performance. Based on the results, we offered various potential ways to alleviate overcrowding issues in the WFH context. ... Read more

"Since 2015, there has been an upsurge in scholarly interventions that engage with migration and exile. The 'crisis' perceived in Europe has impacted European traditions of architectural history, architecture culture, and discourse. Thus, the writing on architecture and the built environment resulting from this turn has tended to focus on contemporary displacement related to cities, landscapes, and social fabric in Europe. These have broadly drawn from a Eurocentric perspective of border transgression, rather than taken migration as an ontological condition, to be understood from the migrant's perspective." ... Read more

In this collection, we examine people, places, and things as diffracted through migration. Migration is an event and a concept. Diffraction is what happens in the moment when energy meets an obstacle. The feminist histories collected here speak of that moment. ... Read more

Water has served and sustained societies throughout history. Understanding the complex and diverse water systems of the past is key to devising sustainable development for the future with regard to socioeconomic structures, policies, and cultures. Today, past systems form the framework for preservation and reuse as well as for new proposals. In this course, you will learn how to identify the spatial, social and cultural aspects of water heritage in your environment. You will investigate real situations, assess specific issues and evaluate the impact of potential measures, following existing expertise on water heritage and water management traditions as a model for your own practice. ... Read more