For this session, Het Nieuwe Instituut collaborates with Ekim Tan from Play the City and Jan Willem Petersen from Specialist Operations. Changing the way we engage stakeholders, Play the City designs physical games as a method for collaborative decision-making and conflict resolution. Specialist Operations initiates and undertakes projects that rebuild resilient urban and conflict-affected environments It is a pioneering development expert on cities in conflict, often responding to questions derived from disciplines beyond architecture and urban planning.

Gaming will be used as a problem-solving method bringing together military and civilian stakeholders, as well as top-down decision makers and bottom-up stakeholders. In the accessible environment of games, freed from jargon, various ideas, plans and projects meet, conflict and collaborate towards negotiated outcomes about future urban challenges.

Participants Urban Diplomacy

Esther Agricola, Merve Bedir, Gert Beffers, Guus Beumer, Younes Bouadi, Frans Copini, Michiel de Lange, Erella Grassiani, Kilian Kleinschmidt, Rick Krosenbrink, Anastasia Kubrak, Henk Oosterling, Marina Otero Verzier, Ippolito Pestellini, Jan Willem Petersen, Michelle Provoost, Michiel Riedijk, Ronald Rietveld, Astrid Sanson, Mary-Ann Schreurs, Marc Schuilburg, Malkit Shoshan, Lisette Smits, Renilde Steeghs, Ekim Tan, Thijs van den Bomen, Dirk van der Heuvel, Joren van Dijk, Dirk van Gameren, Richard van Hooijdonk, Barbara Visser, Vera Winthagen, Rutger Wolfson and  Annemarie Zeilstra.

The event is invite-only, however there will be a report of the breakout session.

Speakers

Ekim Tan

Dr Ekim Tan graduated as an architect from the Middle East Technical University in 1999, winning the Archiprix Award. She received her second degree in urbanism from the Technical University Delft in 2005. Tan has long been fascinated by both Istanbul and the Netherlands, watching as the political and spatial landscape in both areas change dramatically, in unexpected ways. In 2010, Ekim founded Play the City, an Amsterdam and Istanbul-based city design and research network. Play the City integrates city gaming, digital public polls, interactive learning, co-design and social networks with traditional architecture and urbanism, in a bid to create more open, dynamic city spaces.

Jan Willem Petersen

Jan Willem Petersen is a graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture (2005, Hons), and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (2003) and has published, taught and been a visiting critic at several universities and colleges across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He is a spatial planner, architect and researcher. Petersen is also the founder and director of Specialist Operations, an independent Amsterdam-based office for research and design. Specialist Operations initiates and undertakes projects that rebuild resilient urban and conflict-affected environments.

Marina Otero Verzier

Dr Marina Otero Verzier is Head of Research and Development at Het Nieuwe Instituut. Otero studied architecture at TU Delft and ETSA Madrid. In 2013, as a Fulbright Scholar, she graduated from the M.S. in Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture at GSAPP. She earned her PhD from ETSA Madrid in 2016. Her work, recently awarded by The Graham Foundation and Fundación Arquia, has been published in different books and journals. She was Chief Curator of the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2016 with the After Belonging Agency, and co-curated exhibitions at The 2013 Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale and the Istanbul Design Biennial 2014, among others.