Aurelie De Smet

Researcher, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Aurelie graduated in Architecture at the Hogeschool voor W&K, Sint-Lucas Gent and in Spatial Planning at the University of Ghent. After working as an independent architect for three years, Aurelie was offered a grant by the Brussels-Capital Region (Innoviris) to research ‘The Role of Temporary Use of Waiting Spaces’ . This research (promoted by Prof. Kees Doevendans, Sint-Lucas & TU/e and Prof. Bruno De Meulder, ASRO, KU Leuven) lead to a series of publications, workshops and consultancy assignments on 'temporary use', ‘bottom-up urbanism’ and 'tactical urban planning’'. Currently Aurelie is working as a (PhD-)researcher for the KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture on the ‘SWOT-mobile’ project (promoted by Burak Pak and Yves Schoonjans, KU Leuven). At the same time Aurelie also works at the Department of Landscape Architecture of the Erasmus University College Brussels, where she leads the Centre of Expertise ‘tuin+’. Her work there involves the exploration of the ‘gardenlandscape’ (the accumulation of the variety of semi-public, semi-private and private open and green spaces) on a theoretical and spatial level. In general Aurelie is fascinated by the influence people have on their environment and vice versa. The interaction between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ is a common thread in her work, as she finds it essential to relate her findings to the real, everyday world. Research areas: temporary use, Waiting Spaces, tactical urban planning, bottom-up urbanism, participatory design, action research, social and spatial resilience, solidarity, interdisciplinary practice