For questions and how to register please contact: Hill Scholte h.a.g.scholte@hr.nl  
 

INTRODUCTION: A REAL URBAN CHALLENGE 
In this minor you engage with real-world urban challenges through exploration and interventions, fostering both curiosity and creativity. You are challenged to explore and develop grassroots initiatives for a just transition in the dynamic city of Rotterdam, working collectively with local communities and stakeholders. 

 
Cities across the world face challenges related to socio-ecological and democratic issues. We believe that each city has its own distinct struggles, requiring targeted approaches and solutions that derive from bottom-up interventions and lived experiences rather than top-down decisions. 
 
The city of Rotterdam serves as the research field in this minor, revealing its local socio-ecological challenges and urgent need for societal improvements that embody just transitions. You engage in imagining diverse approaches to city-making through the lens of the New European Bauhaus concepts ‘sustainable, beautiful and inclusive’, and by connecting humanities, social sciences, and art & design practices. All meetings and workshops are scheduled to take place at Cultuur&Campus Putselaan (Rotterdam Zuid). 

 
CONTENT 
From the outset of the programme, it is crucial to understand the city as a complex network of lived experiences and histories. Through interacting with local communities and to listen to their narratives meta challenges turn into specific experiences. This requires an open attitude towards building a shared language that foster trust and recognition and reciprocity.  
 
Throughout the minor, you will apply a diverse range of methods and approaches from both the arts and social sciences to initiate meaningful dialogues. By hand-on collaboration and experiences with peers and the community, you will gather narratives that emerge from these interactions—valuable insights that can inspire creative solutions to local challenges, brought to life through the richness of visual and embodied practice. Integrating scientific and artistic research enhances the credibility of your work while strengthening the communication of your message to truly resonate to both the community and a wider audience. 

Working in a transdisciplinary environment requires critical reflection on personal perceptions, ethical considerations, and the implications of your choices, perspectives, and positions. Moreover, it is essential to thoughtfully explore ways to create work that is transferable and generates lasting impact beyond the project itself. 

This programme enables you to develop new skills and explore diverse forms of knowledge through both teamwork and collaboration with the community. It will reveal critical perspectives on the process and used methods as well as fostering a deeper awareness of your role as professional, researcher and creator.  Moreover, you’ll build a valuable network of inspiring individuals who can support and enrich your future. 

The 20-week project covers two interconnected periods. The first 10 weeks encompass exploring the context, situation, and key issues through participatory action research and embodied methodologies creating a portfolio. At the end of this period, both group work and personal reflection are evaluated and graded. The following 10 weeks shift towards a self-directed making process, where students apply the skills and insights gained from the initial phase. 

KEYWORDS 
interdisciplinary, social, art-design, real-urban context, participation, intervention, just transitions, narratives, on location. 

LOCATION 
Cultuur & Campus Putselaan (Rotterdam Zuid). 
 
PARTICIPANTS: EUR, WdKA, Codarts, the Municipality of Rotterdam and other societal stakeholders and local communities

LEARNING OUTCOMES 

1.       Understand and engage critically with the (origins of the) New European Bauhaus and its values (beautiful, sustainable, together), and relate them to local practices and developments in Rotterdam. 

2.       Identify and analyze complex societal challenges from a transdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspective that combines ethics, theory and collaborative (artistic) practice. 

3.       Critically evaluate individual and institutional positioning and practices in relation to sustainable and inclusive city-making, with attention to challenges relating to poverty, growing inequalities, health and wellbeing, gentrification.  

4.       Applying course learnings and multi-stakeholder perspectives to the creation and evaluation of shared practices that further sustainable, inclusive and beautiful city-making.   

5.       Selecting, mapping and framing a matter of concern from a specific angle, through undisciplinary research. 

6.       Being able to justify and take responsibility for the choices you make throughout the learning and research process. 

WHAT WE OFFER 

Regular meetings and field visits alongside individual and project-based work. 
All meetings provide an interactive workspace that brings together knowledge and skills from both the arts and social sciences. You will work in interdisciplinary teams with students from Erasmus University, Codarts, and Willem de Kooning Academy. 
By engaging with theoretical, practical, and embodied methods, you will explore inclusive city-making to investigate local situations and develop collaborative actions with stakeholders. These explorations contribute to new insights into just and sustainable urban transitions, with a focus on creative placemaking. You will present your work at a public event. 
This minor also offers the opportunity to expand your network—through collaboration with students from diverse disciplines, professional creatives, and local stakeholders. 
WHAT WE EXPECT 
Are you ready to dive into a dynamic, collaborative learning experience? We’re looking for students who are eager to challenge themselves in an interactive, interdisciplinary environment where ideas flow freely. 
You take initiative, actively engage with stakeholders, and help shape meaningful processes. You embrace new perspectives, think critically, and reflect on personal biases. Most importantly, you approach the journey with a curious, respectful, and analytical mindset, always open to growth and deeper understanding 

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WHAT WE EXPECT 
Are you ready to dive into a dynamic, collaborative learning experience? We’re looking for students who are eager to challenge themselves in an interactive, interdisciplinary environment where ideas flow freely. 
You take initiative, actively engage with stakeholders, and help shape meaningful processes. You embrace new perspectives, think critically, and reflect on personal biases. Most importantly, you approach the journey with a curious, respectful, and analytical mindset, always open to growth and deeper understanding 

DELIVERABLES 
Your work will take the form of a portfolio, in any format, that captures the dynamic interplay between personal and group contributions. As both researcher-participant and changemaker, you will document your evolving role and insights. This portfolio includes a theoretical argumentation applied to a real-world case study. Furthermore, the portfolio includes conducted emerging ideas, and even failures that all shape the creative process, accompanied with a critical reflection on ethical considerations and the impact of your work. To bring your journey to life, you will deliver a verbal presentation alongside your portfolio. At the end of the second period, you will present a final work that highlights your participatory engagement with local stakeholders which reflects the impact and potential of meaningful collaboration. 
This is more than an assignment—it’s a space to experiment, reflect, and create meaningful change.