Spatial Justice at Pakhuis de Zwijger

In May 2025 I spoke at Pakhuis de Zwijger as part of their Gebiedsontwikkeling series, alongside Nanne Brouwer, Pinar Balat, Marthe Singelenberg and Max Weghorst. The evening was organised around one question: how do you design a just physical living environment?

I presented Dat is niet eerlijk!, our spatial justice project in Amsterdam West. Our starting point was: 'In a just city, children should have an equal right to the city as adults.' Child-friendly cities are not only good for children, but become inclusive and safe places for all ages. To achieve this, our research suggests that there must be a change in the urban design process. It is not sufficient to design merely 'play spaces' for children; children must be included in their entire urban environment.

The panel brought together people working on justice from very different angles: housing and displacement, gender and the city, nature-based solutions in post-war neighbourhoods. What emerged the clear message that the search for spatial justice carries many different methods and means something different to everyone, there is no single problem or single answer. It is a set of overlapping claims on the same space, each of them legitimate, each requiring a different form of attention.

The evening was part of the Open Oproep Ruimte voor Rechtvaardigheid, supported by the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie.