City governments, developers, housing associations, and communities have engaged with a range of contracts and development models for urban renewal and infrastructure. It is in the public interest that these contracts and models treat futures accountably, as they represent and institutionalize political choices with long-term societal implications. But how do these arrangements work, and how do they foster urban transitions? Martijn van den Hurk studies the spatial and social impact of contracts and development models from a perspective of city building and public accountability.
Dr. Van den Hurk is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University. He teaches land and real estate development and coordinates the master’s program in Spatial Planning. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Antwerp. He has previously worked at the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the University of Amsterdam, and his work has been published in journals including International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Planning Theory and Practice, Policy Sciences, and Urban Studies, and he coauthored the book Neighbourhoods for the Future: A Plea for a Social and Ecological Urbanism (trancityxvaliz).