Water & Cities: An Interrogation of Methods

Convenors

Gregory Bracken, Delft University of Technology
Paul Rabé, International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden University
Marcin Dąbrowski, Delft University of Technology
Lukas Höller, Delft University of Technology

The Symposium 

“Water & Cities: An interrogation of methods” is a one-day PhD symposium to be held in the Architecture Faculty of TU Delft on 21 November 2024, aimed at PhD researchers at TU Delft, Leiden University, and Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Intended as an interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge, scholars researching issues relating to water and cities (any topic, anywhere in the world) can use this opportunity to gather and discuss their research, which will be organised into thematic clusters. The event is multidisciplinary, but the point of departure is water and cities. Research can address historic, current, or future challenges to the built environment, water networks and infrastructure, climate change, increasing inequality, etc. It is intended to be a forum for discussion, not a series of presentations (although short presentations are allowed – based on a template). We want people to be constructively critical of their own methods, as well as others’, in the spirit of being open to learning from different disciplinary approaches. While the main target group of the symposium is PhD candidates, selected postdoc researchers who have done work on water and cities can also attend to share their knowledge and methods (please contact us with a motivation of 200 words for this).

The participants will be asked to prepare inputs to the discussion by answering the following questions:

• What are you investigating?
• What are your methods?
• Why use these methods?
• Which methods would you like to learn how to use?
• What are you hoping to learn from others?

We all want to learn, so even if you are not sure about your methods yet, this is a good opportunity to showcase what works well and less well and to find out from others what might work even better. At the same time, as any event of this type, the symposium will provide opportunities to network and foster a community of PhD researchers sharing an interest in the relations between water and cities. 

Call for Papers

If you are interested in attending, please send a title and outline of your research (200 words) along with a biography (100 words) to Gregory at G.Bracken@tudelft.nl by 31 October 2024.