01. Pedagogies of Hope, with Caroline Newton

Author: POLIS
Published: Mon 01 Sep 2025
Episode Link: https://rss.com/podcasts/critical-hope/2193399

In our first interview, we sat down with Caroline Newton to reflect on what it means to design and plan for inclusive urban futures. Together, we explore questions of social justice and post-colonial perspectives in architecture and planning, the role of intersectionality, and why pedagogies rooted in feminist values are essential for the next generation of professionals who will shape our built environment.

Caroline shares how she finds hope in teaching, and how she seeks to nurture empathy and solidarity in future urban imaginaries, and how she works toward these goals by decolonizing the curriculum at the Faculty of Architecture of TU Delft.

Caroline Newton is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft, where she also serves as Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer. She is trained as an urban planner, architect, and political scientist, with a research focus on post-colonial architecture and planning, intersectional design processes, and inclusive approaches to knowledge production.

Learn more in her new book: Envisioning Spatial Justice (Newton, 2025, Jap Sam Books). Discover the Centre for the Just City, including their manifesto, summer school, and other activities: https://just-city.org/

People and references mentioned in this episode:

[min 17:30] — Irene Luque Martin; Johnathan Subendran

[min 20:12] — Gloria Jean Watkins, a.k.a bell hooks

[min 20:15] — Chandra Talpade Mohanty

[min 26:49] — Arturo Escobar

[min 27:01] — Juliana Goncalves

[min 41:16] — Greta Thunberg

[min 43:37] — Roberto Rocco

[min 46:10] — Saskia Sassen

Credits

Critical Hope is a podcast by POLIS, the platform for Urbanism and Landscape Architecture at TU Delft.