Postdoc Candidate in Urbanism

Are you interested in co-creation in urban development? Do you want to work for and with youth in developing green public spaces ? Do you want to develop new methods in placemaking by focusing on building trust through design approaches? Are you keen to work in an international research project? The TU/e Department of the Built Environment is currently seeking one postdoc researcher to join the research project 'Trustmaking.

About the project
The Trustmaking project will explore how to enhance established Placemaking practices by focusing on an essential and often overlooked aspect of co-creation processes: the building of trust amongst stakeholders, especially between stakeholders and public parties. The project will focus on the building of trust amongst youth by developing capabilities for youth and involved parties.

Establishing a trustful basis is key for well-informed, intergenerational, and cross-sector collaboration with city governments, entrepreneurs, and civil society organizations in the course of urban transformation processes. Strategies for trust-building encourage and empower the most needed level of competence, therefore, the project explores the relationship between trust-creating principles and urban spaces to reveal the best framework for liveable and inclusive neighbourhoods. The goals of the project are (1) to initiate Urban Living Labs at four different urban sites in Austria, Lithuania, Norway, and The Netherlands, with a focus on youth co-creation, where (2) existing and new tools for youth co-creation of green infrastructure are identified and developed, and (3) cross-section collaboration mechanisms through summer/winter schools are designed, in order to (4) develop guidelines of youth co-design and access of green infrastructures to increase capacities in public service for integrating youth perspectives and their abilities to bridge short-term concerns and long-term objectives in urban transformation processes.

The overall project coordination will be the responsibility of the Viennese partners. TU/e Urban Labs is responsible for coordinating the work package on the research on trust making and the establishment of the Urban Living Lab in Valkenswaard.

The Urban Living Lab in Valkenswaard will be established in collaboration with the local partners, the Natuurgrenspark De Groote Heide and the Designlab for a Healthy and Sustainable Living Environment. In this case we will focus on the development of an inclusive nature experience garden which appeals to all, including youth with disabilities, a relatively invisible group in society. The aim of this case is to engage youth with disabilities in all stages of the development process and develop and test an approach that: (1) ensures a design of the garden that matches the abilities and wishes of a diverse group of youth, (2) builds trust with youth groups to facilitate future collaborative projects, and (3) stimulates an enduring relationship of youth with the garden (and follow-up projects) enhancing its meaning and experience and creating a feeling of shared responsibility. The Urban Living Lab in Valkenswaard will focus on the development of trust building capabilities and the role design can play in this.

Function description
Your main task as a Post doc will consist of coordinating and executing two work packages: Co-research on trust-making and the development and implementation of the Urban Living Lab in Valkenswaard. The activities of the research work package include: (1) coordinate with the international partners the co-research activities with local youth, (2) analyze local contexts, (3) create a procedure for monitoring Urban Living Labs and (4) monitoring of Urban Living Lab's activities and innovation outcomes. This will result in reports through various channels: from accessible blogposts to peer-reviewed papers.

The activities of the Dutch Urban Living Lab work package include (1) Establishing and maintaining the local team, (2) Co-design, co-develop and implement the local Urban Living Lab (3) Evaluate, improve and upscale methodology for replication. This will result in case specific guidelines and general lessons for future Urban Living Labs.

You will become part of the Dutch Trustmaking team that consists of a project leader, a part-time designer, two collaborators of the partner organizations and a (student-)assistant, and the international consortium consisting of four Urban Living Labs.