Social Inequality in the City, Diversity and Design

This course takes a socio-spatial view on social inequality, diversity and community-building, and how these phenomena impact on neighbourhoods and cities, but also on individual people. The focus is on the interchange between the built environment, population composition and residential behaviour. On a theoretical and empirical level, the course will address various forms of neighbourhood change over time, in particular socio-spatial segregation and urban regeneration, and their implications for neighbourhoods and individuals.

Moving on to policy and design, the course addressses various urban policies and strategies addressing social inequality with an explicit place-based diversity component. Special attention will be devoted to the roles of relevant actors in these contexts. In doing so, the course tackles the question to what extent urban policies and strategies can contribute to absorbing negatively perceived outcomes of diversity and strengthen its perceived benefits.

The acquired knowledge will be applied to a real life case study. In a Design Assignment, interdisiplinary groups of students will create strategic design proposals for a (site within a) neighbourhood which suffers from negative implications of social inequality and diversity, and for which clever solutions must be created. The design approach focuses on strategies and socio-physical interventions rather than architectural/urban design in a narrow sense. The Design Assignment will be conducted in co-operation with the local authorities, welfare workers, housing associations and other stakeholders connected to the chosen site.