In early April, the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology and the African Studies Centre Leiden announced an expansion of their collaboration. This stems from the LDE minor in African Dynamics, in which Erasmus University also participates. Mia Barnard of Delft University of Technology explains why the combination of disciplines is so important when it comes to understanding Africa.
How do TU Delft and Leiden University collaborate on the subject of Africa?
What makes this collaboration compelling is that each of the LDE universities brings something genuinely distinct to the table. At Leiden University, Africa-focused knowledge has a long-standing academic foundation, particularly through the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL). Research spans history, anthropology, politics, and cultural dynamics, offering a deeply contextual understanding of the continent.
At TU Delft, the perspective shifts toward the built environment, urbanisation, technology, and global challenges. Through initiatives such as the TU Delft Global Initiative, GROW, and various design studios within the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, the focus is on how cities evolve, how infrastructure is shaped, and how design can respond to complex realities grounded in lived experience.
Meanwhile, Erasmus University Rotterdam contributes a strong economic and entrepreneurial perspective, particularly through the Rotterdam School of Management. The Minor African Dynamics sits at the intersection of these approaches. Rather than engaging with Africa through a single disciplinary lens, it invites students to explore urbanisation, migration, governance, and climate challenges from multiple perspectives, spanning spatial design and the social sciences. The result is a programme that is both contextually grounded and intellectually expansive.
Is this collaboration new, and what is its purpose?
The collaboration itself is not entirely new. The minor has been running successfully for several years across Leiden, Delft, and Erasmus. What is new is the role of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft as Delft’s primary representative, signalling a more active and committed contribution. For the faculty, this shift is not simply about participation, but about shaping the programme’s direction and strengthening its design and urban focus.
There is also a broader ambition at play. While the minor is currently centred on education, it is positioned as a foundation for deeper collaboration, particularly in urban development. Emerging connections with initiatives such as the Nuvoni Research Centre suggest that what begins in the classroom may extend into long-term research partnerships. In that sense, the minor is more than an addition to the curriculum; it functions as a bridge between education, collaboration, and future research.
Where does Africa expertise sit within Delft, Leiden, and Rotterdam?
Across the three universities, Africa expertise is not concentrated in one place; it is distributed. This decentralisation is precisely what gives the collaboration its strength. At Leiden, expertise is anchored in the ASCL, the only multidisciplinary academic institute in the Netherlands dedicated entirely to Africa. At TU Delft, knowledge is embedded in practice, particularly within design studios and global research programmes. Erasmus adds another layer, focusing on economic systems, entrepreneurship, and development.
The collaboration is further strengthened through partnerships with institutions such as the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, and Maasai Mara University in Kenya, which act as key African partners. The minor brings these strands together. Rather than encountering them in isolation, students engage with them simultaneously, developing a more nuanced understanding of how social, spatial, and economic forces intersect in shaping cities and societies.
Is this collaboration in education, research, or both?
At present, the collaboration is primarily educational, and intentionally so. Building a programme in which students from different disciplines and contexts can meaningfully learn with one another requires time, care, and continuity. At the same time, the ambition extends beyond education. From TU Delft’s perspective, there is a clear interest in expanding into research, particularly in the field of urban development.
The minor acts as a testing ground: a space where relationships are built, ideas are explored, and shared agendas begin to take shape. For students, it also serves as a bridge into their academic trajectories. The skills they develop, ranging from fieldwork to navigating complex social and spatial contexts, feed directly into master’s programmes, whether through research theses or graduation projects. It connects naturally to broader initiatives such as the Global Initiative, situating it within a wider academic ecosystem.
Interdisciplinarity has a fundamental impact on the learning process.'
What makes the experience particularly distinctive is the diversity of the student body. Participants from TU Delft, Leiden University, and Erasmus University Rotterdam come from architecture, engineering, economics, anthropology, and policy backgrounds. This interdisciplinarity fundamentally shapes the learning environment.
Conversations shift, assumptions are challenged, and it becomes clear that no discipline operates in isolation. Students are encouraged to see their field not as a closed system, but as part of a broader network of actors, decisions, and influences. In that sense, the minor not only expands knowledge, but also reshapes how students understand their role within the world.
Why is knowledge of Africa important for students?
Africa is home to some of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Places such as Nairobi, Lagos, and Accra are not only expanding rapidly, but also continuously adapting and innovating under pressure. For students across disciplines, these contexts offer critical insight into the complexity of contemporary challenges, from urbanisation and governance to climate adaptation and economic development. They push beyond conventional frameworks and invite new ways of thinking. At its core, the minor fosters critical reflection.
It encourages students to question whose knowledge is prioritised, whose voices are included, and how perspectives shape both problem framing and proposed solutions. This exchange is grounded in direct collaboration with students from Kenyan universities, making the learning experience reciprocal and shaped by diverse social, cultural, and spatial realities.
During the field trip to Kenya, the focus shifts from theory to practice.'
A key component of the programme is a six-week field trip to Kenya, where learning shifts from discussion to immersion. Students work alongside local institutions and peers, building relationships and engaging directly with the contexts they have been studying.
More than anything, this experience reinforces that knowledge is not one-directional; it is shared, negotiated, and shaped through encounter. The programme opens up new ways of understanding how disciplines engage with rapidly changing environments, and how more meaningful responses can emerge through collaboration. For students, this is not a departure from their studies, but an expansion of them, broadening both perspective and sense of responsibility.
Did this stem from the African Dynamics minor?
The starting point is broader. Within the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, there has long been a recognised gap: the absence of Africa-focused (or Global South) content in the bachelor programme. The minor responds to that gap, while also aligning with the faculty’s wider decolonisation ambitions and its commitment to strengthening the international dimension of the curriculum.
What makes African Dynamics such a strong fit is that it does not need to be developed from scratch. It is an established collaboration with Kenyan universities, supported by a well-structured programme that moves from theory to fieldwork to virtual exchange. It offers a combination of interdisciplinary depth, international engagement, and hands-on experience that is rare within the current minor landscape.
The programme also creates a clear bridge to master’s tracks such as Global Housing, by introducing Global South perspectives at the bachelor level. It brings together architecture and urban development, business and entrepreneurship through Erasmus, and human geography, cultural studies, and anthropology through Leiden’s ASCL. These are not supplementary perspectives, but essential lenses for understanding how spatial projects operate in real-world contexts.
In short, African Dynamics does not duplicate existing offerings within the faculty. It complements and extends them, providing students with a formative experience that shapes not only their studies, but the professionals they become.
