UPCOMING EVENTS

After being ignored for a long time, the lack of affordable, social housing in the Netherlands has become ubiquitous. In the current debate, most of the attention is focused on numbers: too few homes are being built compared to what is should be needed. High construction costs are used as an argument to make social housing seem like an unprofitable investment. Moreover, there is a maze of rules that people have to navigate to qualify for social housing. This narrowing perspective on numbers and regulations, overlooks something important: the resident and the experience of habitation itself. As a result, many (young) people do not even consider living in a social project. Not only is social housing discouragingly scarce, it also suffers a negative imago. In this series we discuss these issues from different perspectives. What do decent spatial floor plans look like? What should be meant by the word “social” mean? And why do we know so little about alternatives to home ownership?

The first in a series of three evenings about social housing, with Andrea Prins, Beatriz Ramo, Fenna Haaksma Wagenaar and Job Floris. Taking place on 28 January, 19:00 - 21:30. Doors open and dinner served at 18:00. Get your tickets here

Every last Friday of the month the Independent School for the City celebrates the start of the weekend with a public lecture. For this edition we have invited writer and urbanist Adam Greenfield to talk about his latest book "Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire." In this book he describes how practices of mutual care and local power can help us to survive the terrifying reality of climate collapse in our own communities.

The lecture is followed by a short film and drinks at the bar. Friday 31 January 2025, 19:00 - 22:00. Doors open at 18:00. Get your tickets here

This series of three lectures, curated by Lena Knappers and Bram van Ooijen, examines the impact of climate change on the liveability of our world and the potentialities of space. Where is climate-induced displacement and migration already happening today? Which areas will be most affected by global warming? Where can people move to and how can new places for living be built?

the speakers of this last evening are architect and researcher Malkit Shoshan and visual artist Esther Kokmeijer, who will look for strategies to deal with displacement and migration in the context of a changing climate. We will address regional displacement and migration, but will also look at areas near the planet’s cooler poles that might become potential places to build new villages and cities.

In the Netherlands, social housing is now primarily reserved for the poor or those in trouble - a scarce resource, burdened with stigma and prejudice against its residents. But what if "social" didn’t just mean help for individuals in need, but instead reflected a broader societal responsibility? This isn’t just wordplay; it’s a fundamental shift in perspective. Rather than viewing housing as a personal issue, it becomes a collective, socio-political priority.

On this second evening, we will look together with Bernd Vlay at examples from Austria, where social housing is available for everyone who wants to pay a fair rent for a moderate home, making social housing a basic facility for all.

A lecture by Catherine Mosbach from the Paris-based design firm mosbach paysagiste, about their layered and temporal approach to landscape architecture. She will talk about the importance of communication, exchange, and sharing as a cornerstone of creating connections between beings and their environments—both above and below the surface. Acknowledging that our understanding, knowledge and vision is limited, Mosbach argues that landscape architects must explore and develop multi-purpose forms, tools and dynamics that are accessible to as many people as possible. Through a selection of her own projects she will illustrate that this approach not only represents an aesthetic choice but also reflects an ethical stance.

The lecture is followed by a short film and drinks at the bar. Friday 28 February 2025, 19:00 - 22:00. Doors open at 18:00. Get your tickets here

A festive opening of the Independent School for the City's new location, with drinks, DJ's, performances and a lecture by Guardian's architecture and design critic Oliver Wainwright. Friday 28 March 2025, 19:00 - Late. More info soon.

A lecture about the work of this Brussels-based architectural practice that operates at the intersection of architecture and fiction, using critical and creative instruments to rethink how we live together, followed by a short film, drinks and tunes. Get your tickets here

A lecture by historian and writer Samia Henni  about built and destroyed environments, dealing with questions of colonisation, nuclear weapons, and deserts. Henni will present her latest research on the French nuclear weapons testing programme (1960–1966) in the Algerian Sahara, bringing together nearly six hundred pages of materials documenting this violent history of France’s nuclear bomb programme in the Algerian desert. Meticulously culled together from across available, offered, contraband, and leaked sources, Henni will present a rich repository for all those concerned with histories of nuclear weapons and engaged at the intersections of spatial, social and environmental justice, as well as anticolonial archival practices.

The lecture is followed by a short film and drinks at the bar. Friday 30 May 2025, 19:00 - 22:00. Doors open at 18:00. Get your tickets here

A lecture by Kenny Cupers, Professor of Architectural History and Urban Studies at the University of Basel, where he co-founded and leads the Urban Studies division since 2015. This lecute will be about his historical and collaborative research in Kenya, exploring the planetary politics of design, the coloniality of infrastructure, and African worldmaking.

The lecture is followed by a short film and drinks at the bar. Friday 27 June 2025, 19:00 - 22:00. Doors open at 18:00. Get your tickets here