UPCOMING COURSES

Planting trees has become a popular project for local and national governments all around the world to combat climate change and to increase biodiversity. While expanding, regenerating and rewilding large natural areas are important strategies to create diverse and healthy carbon-storing ecosystems, there are also many reasons to radically green our urban areas: trees capture CO2 and clean the air, they cool down our cities, they can help regulate ecosystems, they improve our health and give people a sense of well-being. In this workshop we will follow an ecological and hands-on approach and used the natural reproductivity of nature by harvesting and replanting seedlings. We will create our own micro forest, taking a layered approach starting from the soil up to the top of the trees, while specifically looking at the biodiverse value of what we are planting and what a new forest needs to survive. Tickets are available for 250 euro. More info here.

A hands on workshop on the expressive potential of concrete, involving formwork, pouring and polishing, creating a Petrified Tapestry of concrete tiles with different pigments, stones, sand and cement, taking place on 1, 2 & 9 November 2024. More info soon.

In light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the severe destruction in Gaza by the Israeli government, the Independent School for the City is organising another edition of the Fables of the Reconstruction seminar in November 2024. Building on the insights from last year's edition, we will this time focus on the mechanisms behind the reconstruction of cities, contrasting the involvement of global conglomerates and multinationals with the need for locally rooted solutions. This seminar will focus on the reconstruction of Ukraine and Gaza - two countries at war within the Western sphere of influence. We will try to understand the place of consultants, bankers, politicians, engineers, planners and architects and how they influence the development of visions and plans. Through lectures and conversations the seminar will provoke an exchange of ideas across borders.