Metropolitan Club 2: Tools and instruments for the new urban project and the role of digitalization

On 5 October 2021, the Urban Design section hosted the second edition of the Metropolitan Club debate on “Tools and instruments for the new urban project and the role of digitalization”. 

Our four speakers were:

• Albena Yaneva, Professor of Architectural theory at the University of Manchester
• Sarah Williams, associate professor of technology and urban planning at MIT (to be confirmed)
• Anne Loes Nillesen, founding director of Defacto Urbanism, Rotterdam
• Arnout Sabbe and Rusnė Šilerytė, co-founders of geoFluxus

Following the line or argument set out in the first Metropolitan Club debate and drawing on the work of the section, we have asked our speakers to reflect on the following three questions

• Why does our society require more intense and better informed design decisions?
• Which are the tools and instruments urban designers need to master in order to deliver this?
• How can academia and practice help each other and what are the implications for education?

The Metropolitan Club is an event series hosted by the Section of Urban Design at TU Delft, in which students, professionals, experts, and educators come together to re-examine some of the fundamentals of our profession and engage with Dutch practice. This year we dedicate a series of three events to debate on upcoming urban challenges and the role of design within them. The first Metropolitan Club debate in June focused on “Challenges that define the new urban project,” (speakers Daan Zandbelt, Kate Unsworth, Henk Ovink, Like Bijlsma, moderation by Paul Gerretsen).