Urban Development in the Global South

Caroline Newton serves as an Associate Professor and Van Eesteren Fellow at TU Delft's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment's Department of Urbanism, bringing together her unique background as an urban planner, architect, and political scientist. After completing her PhD in social geography from KU Leuven, she has established herself as a leading voice in socio-spatial dimensions of design and critical spatial practices in Europe and the Global South. Her academic journey includes positions at University College London's Development Planning Unit and KU Leuven's Faculty of Architecture. At TU Delft, she teaches in the R&D Studio: Spatial Strategies for the Global Metropolis and the course on Social Inequality, the City, Diversity and Design, while also being involved in the Graduation Studio 'Planning Complex Cities' with a focus on 'Planning as Critical Engaged Practice.' Her research spans informal housing, participatory upgrading, post-colonial architecture, and the methodological challenges of design-based knowledge production. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Housing and the Built Environment and actively contributes to the Global Urban Lab, where she mentors students working on topics such as climate-induced migration, cultural nomadism, spatial justice, and women's place in public realms. Her five-year Van Eesteren Fellowship focuses on developing an engaged and inclusive approach to planning, using spatial justice as leverage and design research as an enabler.

Roberto Rocco serves as an Associate Professor of Spatial Planning and Strategy at TU Delft's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, where he has worked since 2004. After completing his architectural training and master's in spatial planning at the University of São Paulo, followed by specialization at École d'Urbanisme de Paris and a PhD from TU Delft in 2008, he has established himself as a leading expert in urban governance and sustainability transitions. His teaching portfolio includes several key courses: he coordinates the Research and Design Methodology for Urbanism course, leads the Metropolitan Innovators program at AMS Institute, manages the TU Delft Summer School Planning and Design with Water, and directs the Urban Region Networks studio in the European Masters of Urbanism program. He also teaches in the PhD Graduate School course on Qualitative Research Methods and coordinates the Confronting Informality Symposium. His educational approach emphasizes problem-led, real-world issues in studio settings, focusing on regional planning, governance, spatial justice, and sustainable urban development in the Global South. As course coordinator for Metropolitan Innovators, he collaborates with various institutions to provide comprehensive education in urban innovation and sustainability. His teaching methodology incorporates critical thinking, design-based learning, and practical applications of planning theory, particularly in addressing complex urban challenges and informal urbanization issues.

Darinka Czischke serves as an Associate Professor in Housing and Social Sustainability at TU Delft's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, where she has established herself as a leading expert in collaborative housing research. Her academic journey includes a PhD from TU Delft, an MSc with distinction in Regional and Urban Planning Studies from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. After receiving the prestigious Delft Technology Fellowship in 2014, she founded Co-Lab Research, a research platform focused on collaborative housing forms, and co-founded the Collaborative Housing working group at the European Network for Housing Research. Her professional experience spans leadership roles across academia and practice, including positions as Director of World Habitat, Research Director at CECODHAS Housing Europe, and Research Associate at LSE Cities Programme. She currently leads Project Together!, a groundbreaking initiative exploring collaborative housing potential in the Netherlands and internationally, and recently received a VIDI grant for her project 'InCommon' investigating collective housing preferences. Her research focuses on social housing, collaborative housing approaches, and urban social sustainability, with particular emphasis on co-production and social innovation in housing. She regularly advises international bodies including the European Commission, European Investment Bank, and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, while maintaining an active publishing record on social, affordable, and collaborative housing in international comparative perspective.