Maurice Harteveld is specialised in the theory of urban design and the architecture of the city, with a current focus on the issue of public space and interdisciplinary thinking. As such, the body of his work emphasises the multiplicity of public space from the point of view of understanding use, governance, and significance. His work explicates interrelated socio-spatial transformations and cross-cultural exchange. In this, he focusses on the epistemological approach to public space, by-passing dichotomies alike public-private, and thus philosophically departing from the Age of Modernism. His focus is shifting slowly to a more intercultural and interdisciplinary understanding of ‘human space’, still adding to the reposition of design theory.
“All metropolises, every city, and all that is urban include people. Human space is the most exciting place to be.”
Publications following his early work on ‘interior public space’ and ‘interior urbanism’ (since 2005) are awarding and can be seen as recognition. They paved the path towards current publications that bring urban design back to its fundamental interdisciplinary nature; in the overlap of cultural anthropology, social geography, and environmental psychology; – and in a non-structural way; bringing city and citizens together. In doing so, he specifically clarifies future challenges for designers, planners, and policymakers, and he reframes histories from the questions we have today.
At his ‘Human Space’ blog, the affiliated Research group on ‘The Design of Public Space’, and chair on Urban Design at the Delft University of Technology, and all related activities, the multiplicity of perspectives, points of departure, and professional and personal approaches is celebrated. With and within larger teams, he builds a culture where difference is valued, from the observation that diversity drives innovation. Consequently, all activities integrate top-down frameworks and thematic with grassroots initiatives.
Maurice Harteveld is based at the Delft University of Technology, where he develops the field of urban design, and explores the design of public space, and he extends his work to several places abroad, throughout Europe, North America, and China. He does this within the Delft Design for Values Institute, Delft Deltas, Infrastructures & Mobility Initiative, and among others Leiden•Delft•Erasmus alliance. He also works at the Architects Registration Board of The Netherlands and he is a guest professor at various foreign universities.
