Public spaces are crucial for fostering interaction and a sense of belonging. But are they designed for all? How can we create inclusive public spaces where all living beings can actively participate? It requires to rethink the design of our shared environments to ensure that structures, materials, and layouts do not merely accommodate diversity but embrace it. This Autumn we will investigate how to create public spaces as dynamic networks of relationships—between people and other earth dwellers, among communities, and the design elements that frame their encounters.
We start our evening with pizza. Walk in, have a slice and get to know your fellow audience members in an informal setting. 19:30 we will kick off the programme.
Critical Mass – Studium Generale
How does our society work? Why is it the way that it is? Hey – and if we don’t like it, what can we do about it? Critical Mass is Studium Generale’s experimental space at Theater de Veste. We bring in experts to unpick society’s biggest problems. Then it’s over to you. Can you apply what you’ve just learned? Work with other audience members to solve a specially designed challenge. Maybe together, you can change the world.
Explore SG’s related events this quarter on the theme: (Re)Claiming Space
How does design—of streets, campuses, digital platforms, or lecture halls—shape who belongs and who does not? And what happens when we use these spaces to speak out, resist and make ourselves seen? When presence turns into protest, these spaces become political.
In this series, we explore how political spaces come into being: why they matter, how they are designed, and how they might be redesigned. SG invites designers, philosophers, activists, and students to explore how we might design for difference.
9 September 12:45 | Existential Tuesday: Is everything political for Gen Z? @ TUD Library, The Nook
23 September 17:00 | Is a campus designed for protest? @ TUD Library Hall
8 October 16:00 | Driving societal change through inclusive STEM research processes and outcomes @ TUD Library Hall
9 October 12:45 | Current Affairs Lunch Lecture: Male Violence Against Women @ TUD Library, Orange Room
13 October 19:00 | Critical Mass: Woke Design @ Theater de Veste
15 October 16:00 | ‘Flying Solo’ Opening Reception @ TUD Library Hall
13 November 12:45 | Kiting Huddle: Write for the Wind @ TUD Library, The Nook & the Greenroof
4 December tba | Non-humans and public space @ TUD Library Hall
