Independent School for the City

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Nederland
Rotterdam
Independent School for the City

Independent post-graduate education institute initiated by Crimson Historians & Urbanists and ZUS (Zones Urbaines Sensibles)

The Independent School for the City is not a regular school, but aims to be a sanctuary, a learning community, open to everyone who is involved with the city. The School develops activities in which (future) professionals are confronted with the complexity and contradictions of the contemporary city. Taking Rotterdam as a pars-pro-toto, we want to reveal the invisible realities of the city, to go

beyond the wishful thinking and the marketing that so often disguises what a city is really about. Ultimately our goal is to train a group of critical urbanists that knows how to deal with the major spatial issues that will dominate the city in the near future.

12/06/2026

During the last two weekends of May, we organised the annual edition of our studio To See the World in a Soybean, centred around one of our ongoing research themes: the Anthropocene. This year, together with Lotte Embregts and Joran Lammers, we explored the question of what would happen if the Netherlands stopped producing animal proteins. As a point of departure, we used the speculative study Nederland Veganland by Strootman Landscape Architects.

After a full day of lectures and discussion on the first day, on the second day, we headed out for an excursion. We first visited Choro Koji Fermentation Brewery to learn from Hiro about the process of making traditional miso with a contemporary twist. After that, we continued to Wijdehorst, a regenerative farm that is part of the Land van Ons initiative. These visits offered tangible insights into alternative forms of food production and land stewardship.

The studio also welcomed several inspiring guest speakers. On Wednesday, 27 May, we had the pleasure of hosting Jago van Bergen of van Bergen Kolpa Architecten, who presented his research on Architecture for Food and some of his amazing built projects for vertical farms in Belgium and China. During his talk, he highlighted food as a crucial point of connection between the countryside and the city, posing the provocative question: “What do you accept on your plate?”

As in previous years, landscape architect and thinker Dirk Sijmons joined us with a compelling lecture on agriculture and the Dutch countryside, placing current challenges within a broader historical and spatial context.

Over the course of the three-day workshop, participants reflected on the radical implications of Nederland Veganland as both a spatial proposal and a shift in mindset. Participants noted that putting a face to a problem can help uncover pathways towards solutions. Ultimately, the workshop underscored the strong and inseparable relationship between nature, culture, and what we choose to eat.

05/06/2026

For the 59th edition of School’s Out!, we had the pleasure of welcoming stylist and profiler Ellie Uyttenbroek, who presented her work on the Exactitude projects. This project spanned more than three decades and showcases styles that unite in diversity. At its core, the project explores street fashion and how, willingly or unwillingly, people tend to long to be part of certain communities while still distinguishing themselves within them.

Ellie explained in her talk, how one of the motivations for starting the project, was the fact that major fashion news often focuses on stars or royals, leaving out the ordinary people around them. Ellie presented examples from the book and shared anecdotes from her work on it. She emphasised the importance of trust and the process behind the shoots, and reflected on how the collective movements and characteristics of a group can be perceived, even without any actual movement. The evening concluded with a conversation between Ellie and the audience, which continued with drinks at the bar.

Meanwhile behind the scenes we are preparing a research by photography workshop with Ellie. Stay tuned for more info!

03/06/2026

In the first week of July, while (hopefully) the summer temperatures are coming to their peak, we are organising the unique studio: Harbours are for Swimming. During two days, we will dive into the potential of Rotterdam’s harbour basins as public space for swimming, through lectures, fieldwork, mapping, and design exercises.

Today, we would like to introduce to you Martina Germana, who is the co-innitiator and tutor of this studio.

Martina Germanà is an Italian urban designer and co-founder of FUGUE together with Riccardo De Vecchi. FUGUE is a collaborative platform that explores how environments are perceived, used, and contested. In addition she works at the urban design office PosadMaxwan, where she focuses on the transformation of urban areas and the design of public spaces that enhance human and environmental health. With roots in the Mediterranean, Martina has developed a strong interest in climate-adaptive design, particularly in relation to heat, water, and the reactivation of public space.

Harbours are for Swimming will take place on Fri. 3 & Sat. 4 July 2026. Register your spot for only 100 euro before 19 June 2026. Limited spots available. Get your tickets on our website, link in bio.

01/06/2026

On Saturday 13 June 2026, we will be hosting a postponed lecture by architect, architectural historian and theorist Vikram Prakash about his father’s architecture in Chandigarh (India).
Aditya Prakash (1924), the father of Vikram, was one of the Indian architects who collaborated with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret to turn Chandigarh – the famous modernist new capital for the state of East Punjab (India) – into a reality. Although unknown to most, he and other Indian architects such as MN Sharma, BP Mathur and JK Choudhury, have played an important part in modern and contemporary Indian architecture. Vikram Prakash will speak about his father’s architecture in Chandigarh under the rubric of Non-Aligned Modernism, understanding modernism not as a Western idea but as an ongoing global project

The lecture will take place on Saturday 13 June 2026 at 17:00-19:00. Tickets are available for 5 euro here: https://www.schoolforthecity.nl/public-lecture-by-vikram-prakash/

27/05/2026

As a part of the upcoming workshop Harbours are for Swimming, we are organising a public lecture by Paul Steinbrück from the Brussels based initiative Pool is Cool ( )

Paul is co-initiator of POOL IS COOL - a non-profit organisation that was founded in 2016 to campaign for the reintroduction of outdoor swimming in Brussels through actions, projects, research and debate.

One of their beautiful initiatives was Flow - the design and construction of a temporary outdoor swimming pool that they built in collaboration with Decoratelier Jozef Wouters. Located on a derelict industrial site in Anderlecht this pool was made out of reused materials. Local youth participated in the construction, creating a venue for various outdoor activities and community engagement. By fostering social cohesion and connecting urban dwellers with nature, FLOW showcased the positive impact of outdoor swimming and served as a prototype for future long-term projects.

Join the lecture on Friday 03 July, taking place at 19:00. Moreover, there are still some spots available for the Harbours are for Swimming workshop, happening 3 & 4 July. Register via our website.

Images: FLOW project in Brussels by POOL IS COOL & Decoratelier Jozef Wouters

26/05/2026

On Monday 15 June, we will host a film screening and lecture by urbanist Rashiq Fataar, of Our Future Cities - a South African-based urbanism practice that operates at the intersection of policy, the public realm, and urban development.

The session questions the limits of design when facing deep social injustice, centring on a screening of Good Hood Stories Season 4 - a short film by Rashiq that tracks resident-led tactical urbanism in the historically marginalised, high-crime townships of Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, and Mitchells Plain on Cape Town's periphery. Following the film, Fataar will deliver a short lecture titled "What Design Can’t Do" on global design trends, where tactical urbanism is so often driven by property developers and private funding, to focus on the everyday questions he and Our Future Cities have grappled with on the ground.

The film screening and lecture will take place on Monday 15 June, at 18:00-19:30. Participation in the event is free, but requires prior registration. More information available on our website, link in bio.

22/05/2026

For the last School’s Out! before the summer break, we are doing something special! Together with Verso Books - we’re organising a duo talk on the politics of housing and homeliness, in the form of a book presentation and conversation with two authors: Holly Smith and Alva Gotby.

Holly and Alva have both recently published beautiful and incredibly timely books that explore domesticity as an experience that is both political and personal.

Holly Smith’s “Up in the Air: a History of High Rise Britain (2025)”, explores the slabs and towers of post war Britain, from the inside out. Through the experiences of the people who lived there, she traces how these new forms of housing reshaped everyday life, forcing residents to rethink family, community, and neighbourliness.

Alva Gotby’s “Feeling Home: Transforming the Politics of Housing (2026)”, uncovers an enormous amount of ideology, assumptions and mechanics of oppression and inequality hidden under the carpets and the flowery wallpaper of the ideal home. She does not allow us the illusion that if everyone is housed, then all will be well.

The lecture will take place on Friday 26 June, at 20:00-22:00. Get your 5 euro tickets on our website, link in bio.

20/05/2026

As a part of our upcoming studio To See the World in a Soybean, we are organising a public lecture by Jago Van Bergen (Bergen van Kolpa Architecten) on Wednesday the 27th of May in the evening. Let us introduce Jago to you.

Jago van Bergen is an Architect and co-founder of Bergen Kolpa Architects - an office specialised in architecture for the horticultural and agrologistics sector. With over 20 years of experience they work on research and design projects for (rooftop) greenhouses, vertical farms, experience centers and office buildings. In addition he explores the architecture for fFood within academic institutions such as the Design Academy Eindhoven, the Berlage Institute, the AMS institute, the universities of Delft, Wageningen and Eindhoven and other universities worldwide.

The evening will focus on the longstanding relationship between food and the city, and shows how architecture can create space for food production, consumption, recreation, exhibition, and research.

The lecture takes place on Wednesday 27 May at 20:00. More information is available on our website, link in bio.

19/05/2026

For the next School’s Out!, happening on Friday 29 May, we will welcome stylist and profiler ellie uyttenbroek to talk about her Exactitudes project - a research by photography project in which together with Ari Versluis she analyses the way identity manifests itself through dress codes and shared attitudes that on a wider stance points out to neatly differentiated social groups.

Ellie describes Exactitudes as “an inquiry on how the self is constructed in a highly volatile and complex social environment like ours. An environment in which a great number of opposing forces are continuously at play. Notions such as uniformity and individuality are at the core of our concern. How our desire to differentiate ourselves is also matched by a need to belong to a specific group. Identity, which has been described by many authors as an eminently fragile, fractured and problematic notion, operates on many levels”.

Join us on the evening of Friday 29th May, at 20:00. Get your 5 euro tickets, available on our website, link in bio.

15/05/2026

We are excited to share that in the first week of July, together with urban designer Martina Germanà, we will be organising the summer-themed studio “Harbours are for Swimming.” During these two days, we will dive into the potential of Rotterdam’s harbour basins as public space for swimming, through lectures, fieldwork, mapping, and design exercises.

Participants are invited to bring their own references, personal swimming spots and inspiring initiatives as a starting point to build a shared vocabulary around urban swimming. Through lectures and discussions with, amongst others Paul Steinbrück of the Brussels-based initiative Pool is Cool ( ), the workshop will position Rotterdam within a broader international movement advocating for swimmable cities, drawing on historical precedents and contemporary practices.

The workshop concludes with a collective swim, embodying the central question of the programme: what would it take to reclaim the harbour as a space not only to look at, but to be able to engage with / access?

The participation fee for this workshop is 100 euro. Limited spots available. Registration deadline 19 June 2026, apply on our website, link in bio.

Adres

Robert Fruinstraat 52
Rotterdam
3021XE

Telefoon

+31102827724

Website

http://www.schoolforthecity.nl/

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