it's 2025, what's next?

We’re excited to share insights from the engaging and thought-provoking panel discussion, which took place on February 6, 2025 in Rotterdam. This session marked a significant milestone in fostering critical discussions on the evolution of spatial planning and design.

In an era of shifting governance structures and systemic transitions, the event provided an opportunity to challenge familiar frameworks, and engage in a cross-disciplinary dialogue on the future of spatial thinking. Hosted by Vereniging Deltametropool, the session brought together leading experts to explore the necessity of rethinking planning, governance, and design at different scales.

Highlights

The evening opened with a powerful reflection on how 2025, a year that once stood as a milestone in future visions and international agreements, now feels like a moment of reckoning. Floris Alkemade was the first to address the audience, setting the tone by emphasizing that we are living in a time where familiar ideologies and approaches are proving inadequate for the challenges ahead. He argued that rather than seeing today’s complexity as paralyzing, spatial thinkers should embrace it as an opportunity — a call to creativity, solidarity, and political courage. Floris Alkemade called on designers to embrace the societal transformations of our time. He warned against becoming disillusioned with the present and instead invited us to see this as the moment we had long been preparing for — a time where spatial thinkers can play a vital role.

Nikos Katsikis continued the conversation by reflecting on the gaps within current spatial thinking, particularly the lack of attention to the greater landscapes which sustain urban life. While spatial planners have long focused on cities, corridors, and networks, Katsikis argued that we have neglected to understand the deeper, often invisible, resource geographies that underpin them. From food and energy systems to global supply chains, these “hinterlands” remain largely unmapped in spatial terms. Katsikis invited the audience to rethink how we conceptualize and plan for these interdependencies, posing challenging questions about scale: when we speak about localizing food or energy production, are we thinking in terms of cities, regions, nations, or something transnational? His contribution underscored that as cities become increasingly globalized and interconnected, spatial designers need new tools and concepts to analyze and engage with the spaces that make urban life possible.

The discussion then turned toward the ethics and attitudes embedded in spatial design, led by Irene Luque Martín. Drawing on her own trajectory as an architect, urbanist, and educator, Martín asked difficult questions about the social responsibilities of designers. She reflected on how much of her own education — and that of many others — had been centered on the “what” of design: the objects we create. Yet, she argued, we must pay equal, if not greater, attention to the “how”: how do we design? With whom? And with what values? Martín challenged the discipline to confront its deeply ingrained Western-centric biases and to consider how our practices might unintentionally perpetuate injustice. Through her notion of “justice by design,” she urged the field to embrace a radical spatial imagination that dares to ask not only what future we are building, but for whom — and at what cost. Her reflections highlighted that design is never neutral, and that spatial thinkers must interrogate the power dynamics and positionalities inherent in every project.

The final contribution came from Lesia Topolnyk, who brought a powerful artistic and activist perspective into the discussion. Through her projects — which range from speculative interventions in Morocco’s energy landscapes to performative acts in New York City — Topolnyk illustrated how spatial practice can make visible the often-hidden connections between global and local forces. She demonstrated that imagination is not just an aesthetic exercise but a political act that reveals uncomfortable truths. Her work explored how energy transitions in Europe impact communities in North Africa, how colonial histories remain embedded in contemporary landscapes, and how new forms of spatial storytelling can challenge dominant narratives. Topolnyk’s call was clear: spatial designers must dare to engage with the messiness of reality, recognizing that imagination, if wielded carefully, can open up new forms of action and solidarity.

Throughout the evening, a strong consensus emerged around the need to redefine the scope and responsibilities of spatial thinking. There was broad agreement that the boundaries of spatial design must extend beyond cities to include the wider landscapes — the food systems, energy networks, and resource flows — that sustain them. Justice, positionality, and agency were recurrent themes, with all speakers emphasizing that spatial designers must be acutely aware of the societal and environmental consequences of their work. The conversation also emphasized the urgent need for new ways of visualizing and communicating these complex systems, pushing beyond traditional maps and plans to explore more experimental, narrative, and participatory methods.

Yet, even as these points of agreement surfaced, so too did new questions. One of the most pressing was how spatial designers can develop methods that are both just and effective, in a world of power imbalances and systemic injustices. How can designers avoid becoming complicit in perpetuating inequalities, even unintentionally? What spatial concepts could help us understand and navigate the relationship between cities and the hinterlands that feed and power them? How can imagination be used responsibly, without reproducing colonial dynamics of speaking for others?

These are not easy questions, but as the speakers made clear, they are essential ones. As Floris Alkemade reminded us at the beginning of the evening, this is the moment we have been waiting for. If spatial thinkers want to contribute to building a more equitable, sustainable, and livable future, they must be willing to rethink their own roles, embrace uncertainty, and engage in deeper forms of collaboration and reflection.

The conversation did not aim to provide final answers but instead opened a space for collective questioning, a space that will continue to grow through the series of events organized by Deltametropolis Association in collaboration with Toekomstatelier Oostkop. As the evening concluded, it was clear that a new kind of spatial practice is emerging: one that is humble in the face of complexity, but also bold in its commitment to justice, creativity, and transformative change.

Take-aways

1. The Role of Spatial Designers Must Be Reimagined — Beyond Traditional Boundaries

Spatial designers and planners must redefine their role in society, moving beyond the traditional focus on city-making and aesthetics to engage with larger systemic issues like climate breakdown, social injustice, and global resource flows. Their work is no longer just about shaping space, but about shaping social, environmental, and political relations.

2. Justice, Positionality, and Responsibility are Central to Spatial Practice

Designing space cannot be separated from questions of justice. Irene Luque Martín strongly emphasized that how we design — and who is included or excluded in that process — deeply affects outcomes. Designers must be aware of their own biases, power, and positionality, and embrace justice as a fundamental design principle, not an afterthought.

3. The Need to Address “Invisible” Hinterlands and Global Resource Connections

Nikos Katsikis highlighted that current spatial thinking often ignores the landscapes that sustain urban life, such as energy landscapes, food systems, and global supply chains. These “hinterlands” — local and global — are integral to urban living but remain absent from spatial concepts. We need new spatial imaginaries and analytical tools to understand and visualize these connections, in order to address issues of sustainability and equity.

4. Imagination as a Political Tool, but Used Responsibly

Lesia Topolnyk showed that imagination and storytelling are powerful tools in making invisible systems and injustices visible. However, imagination must be used carefully, especially when dealing with post-colonial and politically sensitive contexts. Designers need to avoid reinforcing existing inequalities while attempting to propose new futures.

5. Spatial Design Needs to Develop New Forms of Collaboration and Language

There was a shared acknowledgment that spatial designers are struggling to communicate their visions and critical perspectives to broader publics, including policymakers and communities. The field needs new forms of representation, communication, and collaboration — moving beyond maps and technical plans to include storytelling, participatory processes, and interdisciplinary work.

6. This is a Moment of Urgency — and Opportunity

Despite the complexity and challenges of our time, Floris Alkemade argued that this is the moment spatial thinkers have been preparing for — a moment when creativity, solidarity, and courage are most needed. Rather than being overwhelmed by the scale of crises, designers should see this time of change as a call to action.

now what?

This event was intended as a preparatory session for a greater series of discussions to be held during Rotterdam Architecture Month. Your participation will help lay the groundwork for these broader conversations and contribute significantly to shaping the agenda.

We thank all speakers and attendees for their engagement and contribution to this essential conversation. Let’s continue to push the boundaries of spatial thinking together!

Deltametropolis Association is dedicated to connecting networks, exchanging ideas, and fostering meaningful conversations about the future of our cities and regions.

Through our projects and events, we aim to bring together a diverse community of thinkers, makers, and doers — from researchers and designers to policymakers and citizens. If you would like to stay informed and connected with this growing community, we invite you to sign up for our Newsletter: Private Picks, where we share events and news items that deserve attention within the world of metropolis development. You will never miss a conference, lecture, meeting or exhibition that is worth attending and you will be kept informed of the most recent studies, interviews with people from the professional world and publications of interesting books.

Do you have a research topic, passion, or challenge that you think deserves more attention? Are you working on something that could spark new conversations or collaborations?
We invite you to share it with us! we are always looking for new voices and ideas to bring into the dialogue.

Feel free to reach out to our event coordinator, Eva Kuiper, via eva.kuiper@deltametropool.nl — she would love to hear from you.