In lecture halls you sit and listen, project rooms are there for group sessions, and when exam period hits, you fight for a spot in the Library to study. The campus seems to be a place with a clear purpose: work on your research, or work on your degree. But our campus is also increasingly political. Between the concrete, the glass and the grass, we’ve seen protests on the Library stairs, on the lawn in front of the Aula and around the offices of the executive board. Is the campus designed for this?
A library has always been a place to sharpen and shape (scientific) minds and opinions. But what do we think of this when banners about complicity in genocide suddenly appear on the balconies, and it starts raining protest leaflets while we’re studying?
Maybe we should ask ourselves what a campus is for in the first place. Is it a public space, and if so, is it a safe environment to shape your opinion on collective matters in society or in the university and student life? Should it be? And how do we design it so that everyone feels invited to make use of it?
Tonight we will take the Library and campus as a starting point to talk about public space as a stage for claiming space, and we will take matters into our own hands and start to design it.
Speakers:
Dr. Laurens Kolks (1976) is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering – Delft University of Technology. He received a bachelor’s degree in industrial design at Design Academy Eindhoven (1999), a master’s degree in sociology (2018, cum laude), and a doctorate in sociology (2024) – both at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Kolks examines how design can engender and support public engagement with collective concerns. His research and writing address subjects at the intersection of sociology and design. His design work focusses on spatial interventions that explore possibilities to reshape public spaces.
Tom Twigt (1996) is a graduate of TU Delft, with a degree in mechanical engineering. During his studies, he developed an interest in issues of inequality, which led him to join GroenLinks and eventually he became involved in activism. He has participated in various protests, including against Shell’s presence at the Delft Career Days, campus occupations for climate and Palestine, and actions with Extinction Rebellion. Currently, he is involved with a squat in Delft and with groups focused on alternative masculinity. These groups work to ‘reclaim’ public space and turn it into civic space.
Irene Haslinger is director of TU Delft Library. Earlier in her career she was a researcher in the area of theoretical linguistics. After that she worked at the KB, the national library of the Netherlands, in various roles with a special interest in policy development, innovation and international collaboration. Before joining TU Delft Library, she was director of operations at the TU Delft Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.
Ivana Ivković is a political philosopher born and raised in former Yugoslavia. She analyzes firsthand how political upheaval reshapes meanings and identities. Ivana teaches philosophy, addressing contemporary political issues such as citizenship, the transformation of public space, and populism through accessible yet rigorous philosophical frameworks.
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
