Place-Based Acupuncture: Cultivating Inter- and Transdisciplinary Collaboration Through Immersive Experience in Interstitial Spaces of Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Abstract

Amid growing urban challenges, designers must navigate the interplay of social, ecological, and spatial systems. Spatial design pedagogy can address this need by fostering hands-on, real-world experiences that encourage collaboration, critical and creative thinking, and a deep appreciation for the existing values of a site. This contribution reflects on two teaching experiences within TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, focusing on interstitial spaces in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The course On Site: Landscape Architectonic Explorations engages master’s students from Landscape Architecture, Urbanism, and Architecture, emphasising interdisciplinary collaboration to develop inventive analyses through immersive experiences and a design proposal using minimal interventions. In 2023, students examined Land van Chabot, a fragmented polder landscape once immortalised by painter Henk Chabot (1894–1949), now redefined by an emerging motorway, the recreational corridor of the river Rotte, and the suburbs. In 2024, they focused on Stadspark-West, a network of programmed and leftover green spaces interwoven with dense urban infrastructure. Both experiences prioritised immersive fieldwork and direct stakeholder engagement with local associations, the municipality, and human and non-human residents, users, and passers-by. While addressing the sites’ dissonant challenges, students uncovered their tangible and intangible qualities. Ephemeral interventions exposed the audience to the existing qualities and potential futures of the site, showcasing the students’ site interpretations and design proposals, but most importantly providing a vehicle to experience the site. This approach demonstrates the transformative potential of reframing urban fringes as laboratories for experimentation, from which meaningful places can emerge.