UvA’s Placemaking course nominated for the Dutch Education Premium 2023

What is this innovative challenge-based course about?

Roeterseiland Campus (Image: Wouter van der Wolk)

Since 2017, the University of Amsterdam has been offering the course 'Placemaking: Relay for City Makers', which has now expanded into several courses at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level, a summer school, and an internship program at the municipality of Amsterdam. Available at multiple UvA locations including the University Quarter, Roeterseiland, and the Science Park, this initiative fosters collaboration between students from diverse disciplines. This year, the Placemaking educational team has been nominated for the Dutch Education Premium, the highest award in Dutch higher education.

To learn more about this innovative challenge-based course, we spoke with Drs. Katusha Sol, professor at the University of Amsterdam and specialist in Placemaking strategies in urban contexts using co-creation processes, and Mees Deknatel, a former student who recently completed the MSc. Metropolitan Analysis, Design & Engineering program.

What is placemaking?

Taking principles from architecture, urban planning and environmental psychology, Placemaking is a transdisciplinary field. Placemakers rethink space and link it with communities: the end user and local experience are central to the method and process.

The Placemaking course is a unique and exciting project that explores the art and science of creating vibrant, livable public spaces. With a focus on community engagement, design, and innovation, it offers students a chance to develop the skills and knowledge they need to become effective placemakers. Taking into account the needs of the community, but also the reality of the terrain as well as the ongoing agendas of government agencies, students learn to cope with complex and interconnected subjects and problems. Their mission is to develop innovative solutions that put the local community experience (and therefore the end-user) at the centre of their strategy.

From creating a community around the Bike Kitchen (a space to repair bikes for free, located on the campus), to fostering links between students and neighbours of the Roeterseiland area around activities and shared projects, the Placemaking course gives a lot of space for student creativity and initiative.

An innovative challenge-based course

The program offers students a chance to work on real-world problems and actively contribute to societal change, starting from their campus’ neighborhood. Almost 100 student projects have already been developed, and are passed from year to year from one team to another, allowing follow-up and long-term relationships with a group of 40 external partners.

According to Katusha Sol, students are more motivated by the challenge-based teaching method. “They are not doing something that only a teacher reads and disappears in a desk drawer. Students feel more relevance and urgency by getting started with a real issue. An important factor for the success of such a course is to create a safe learning environment where they feel confident and are allowed to experiment and fail. This stimulates students' critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills”, she points out.

Mees Deknatel, a former student, highlights the benefits of such courses in terms of practical learning and interdisciplinary collaboration. “I personally found it incredibly rewarding to finally learn a more practical approach to the scientific knowledge I had gained in other subjects. I would definitely recommend other students to take a challenge-based course! It challenges you to use your knowledge to make an impact. It is also very valuable to collaborate with students from different disciplines”, he explains.

The added value of collaborating with external partners

UvA students collaborate in interdisciplinary teams during those challenges. Teams also get in contact with a wide variety of actors: neighbours, companies, local actors, NGOs, governmental organizations, municipalities and more. For the 5th anniversary of Placemaking, an article was released developing its impact on places, and the experience of external stakeholders.

According to Professor Katusha Sol, the added value of these collaborations is twofold. "Students are strongly motivated by the idea of working for an external partner. It gives them the feeling and opportunity to really contribute to society," she argues. As a former team member, Mees Deknatel's personal experience is supportive of this approach. "The external client gives the project an extra layer. It makes you think more deeply about the outcome. It's really just like a project for an employer", he comments. In parallel, there is a high added value for the partner, who benefits from the student’s innovative solutions and advanced knowledge. “Usually, partners find it very fun and interesting to be a client for UvA students. The projects they propose are often issues they don't get around to themselves due to lack of time or capacity, so they are happy to see something happen!”, Drs Sol describes.

Nomination for the Dutch Education Premium for HO 2023

The University of Amsterdam's Placemaking educational team has been nominated for the prestigious Dutch Education Premium 2023, which recognizes innovative educational initiatives in higher education. The programme's approach of partnering with local stakeholders to improve the UvA campus area, involving the community in the interventions and facilitating knowledge sharing between residents and student teams was deemed particularly noteworthy.

The ceremony will take place on June 29th at the Comenius Festival in Nieuwegein, where the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, will present the award.

For more information about the Placemaking program, visit the Placemaking website. For any collaboration, please contact Katusha Sol at k.sol@uva.nl.

We kindly thank Katusha Sol and Mees Deknatel for their participation in this article.