Yesterday, Paul de Graaf successfully defended his dissertation, “Trying the Impossible: Urban Agriculture as an Alternative Planning Reality.”

We are proud of how Paul connects his extensive experience with urban agriculture in Rotterdam to academic debates within and around the planning profession.

One of the challenging questions during the defence focused on the title: what exactly is ‘alternative’ to what has been explored? And isn’t planning, by nature, already ‘fuzzy’?

Paul explained how, in practice, he has seen an increasing number of Rotterdam planners experimenting with and stretching the boundaries of what has traditionally been possible within dominant rational planning approaches.

And when asked about his biggest surprise, Paul shared his admiration for the idealism he encountered among planners.

Thank you, Paul, for opening up the conversation about what might — and might not — be possible.