A new school in Rotterdam will teach students to think critically about the links between urbanism and migration. Announced last month, theIndependent School for the Citywill offer post-graduate students the chance to “celebrate complexity and contradiction in cities, and defend it against the forces that are making everything the same,” according to Michelle Provoost, co-founder ofCrimson Architectural Historianswhich is spearheading the new educational outlet.
The school is a joint-venture between Crimson Architectural Historians, Dutch-based activist-architectsZones Urbaines Sensibles(ZUS), andDeDependance, a platform for city culture and debate in Rotterdam. Its pedagogy draws from Crimson’s and ZUS’s critical, activist approach to the city that seeks to effect real change by blurring the lines between critique and practice, as well as research and policy, and by initiating incremental change rather than large-scale city planning projects.
The school builds on the belief that architectural, economic, spatial, and social strategies for the city should be based on real, first-hand empirical research into the city. Research methods will include filmmaking, journalism, history, art, graphic design, gaming, fieldwork, traveling, planning, finance, and architecture. The school will be located in Rotterdam but will be connected to an international network of cities, schools, offices, and companies.
Initial course offerings include a series of masterclasses with professionals from various fields such as architect and exhibition designersHerman Kossman, urban sociologistArnold Reijndorp, as well as designersEdith Gruson,andGerard Hadders. Students will also learn from architect-filmmaker Jord Den Hollander and leaders from DeDependance.
The first year’s topic of investigation will be migration, a subject that builds on the ongoing Crimson projectCity of Comings and Goings. After an initial three-month period of skill-development, the students will spend a semester abroad, expanding their research and testing their strategies in Shenzhen, Ghana, or Kiev. On their return, they will present their research in designs, strategies, or stories. The school will collaborate withCANactionsin Ukraine, theStrelka Institutein Moscow, as well as ZUS andSyracuse Universityin New York. Special lecturers includeOlly Wainright,Urban Think Tank‘sAlfredo Brillembourg,Assemble‘s玛丽亚Lisogorskaya,Peter Barber, and Ghanaian architect/novelistLesley Lokko.
