We are proud to share that Paul de Graaf of the Rural Sociology Group will be defending his PhD thesis entitled “Trying the impossible. Urban agriculture as an alternative planning reality”.

📅 When: 14 September 2026 at 15:30
📍 Where: Omnia Auditorium, Wageningen Campus & online streaming

𝗔𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁
How can civic initiatives contribute to the spatial planning of the city? Reflecting on the rise and demise of the Rotterdam urban agriculture planning policy with planners and initiators, Paul de Graaf studied the planning processes surrounding the realisation of civic urban agriculture initiatives.

Focusing on the interaction between planners and initiators in these processes, the thesis shows that bottom-up initiatives can contribute to planning on different levels. They engage in an exchange of ideas with municipal planners and their departments that invokes innovative ways to plan and think of planning. However, this experimental ‘alternative planning reality’ exists parallel to regular municipal planning practice.

Persistent, structurally embedded ways of thinking in planning inhibit the transfer of lessons learnt to regular planning practice. A better understanding of the role and significance of civic initiatives in planning may reveal pathways toward a planning practice capable of addressing the challenges of our time in a complex and pluralistic society.

🔔 For those unable to attend in person, the ceremony will also be livestreamed via: https://wur.yuja.com. A link will appear in the “Event” section approximately 5 minutes before the start of the ceremony.