Caroline Newton

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.