José
Profile
José van Campen is an urban planner and external PhD candidate at the Department of Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at Delft University of Technology. Her PhD research concerns the interpretation of quality as a spatial objective. This theme stems from her many years of involvement in the practice of spatial quality policy and quality review practices. Qualitative objectives often remain vague, which can lead to confusion, uncertainty about whose quality is being referred to, less support and non-transparent decision-making. The aim of José’s doctoral research is to build up knowledge that can be used to organise quality discourses and create a conceptual framework, so that the interpretation of quality in both scientific research and the practice of quality management will become more systematic, coherent and transparent.
In José’s research, quality as a spatial objective is seen as a social construct: a concept to which a certain group of people assigns a certain meaning in a certain period of time. Discourses on quality in spatial processes have multiple dimensions, including the dimension of public values. A dialogue about the public values that people want to preserve, strengthen or develop through quality objectives can have an integrating effect on complex spatial choices. Clarity about public values contributes to the meaning and power of quality as a spatial objective.
Together with Sandra van Assen, José initiated the Research Program Q-Factor, in which their PhD projects are combined with other research projects. Q-Factor brings together research on the interpretation of quality as a spatial objective (José) and research on how this quality is governed and operationalised as public value in practice (Sandra). Following their individual promotions, they plan to bring together their research in a joint publication that synthesizes insights into how quality as a spatial objective is enacted in practice.
More about José van Campen
José van Campen graduated in 1990 as urban planner from the University of Amsterdam. She then worked for Architectuur Lokaal and MOOI Noord-Holland, among others. Since 2005, she has been working as an independent spatial planner, advising governments and social organisations. She has contributed to numerous practical studies on topics such as local architectural policy, design competitions, aesthetic advice and the work of quality teams. In 2012, José was one of the initiators of the “Mooiwaarts Plea” which ultimately led to ‘good place quality’ (goede omgevingskwaliteit) being included as one of the societal objectives of the Dutch Environment and Planning Act. She is closely involved in projects in which spatial quality objectives are operationalised and developed into appropriate quality instruments.
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