CONTRA

CONflict in TRAnsformation
explores how institutionalising productive conflict may increase the transformative capacity needed to develop more sustainable cities

TEAM

Get to know our team of researchers.


Drama labs

Introducing a new model of urban living lab.

Case studies

Research in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.

NEWS

Follow our activities and latest news.

News

Show, Don’t Tell: Executing a (part of a) Drama Lab during the Joint Midterm & Kick-off Meeting by JPI Urban

Text by Lisa De Roeck In November 2023, Eva Wolf (Tilburg University), Barbara Koole (Tilburg University) & Lisa De Roeck (University of Antwerp) from the CONTRA project met in Delft and The Hague (NL) with other researchers from all over Europe, for a Joint Midterm and […]
by Celine Motzfeldt Loades
on Nov 28
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News

ECPR panel (2023): “The evolution of spatial planning law for environmental protection and climate transition”

The European Consortium for Political Research, ECPR General Conference in 2023 The ECPR General Conference gather around 2000 political scientists every year, and is an important arena for presenting papers with findings from on-going research. This year the conference was located in Prague. The CONTRA-project arranged […]
by Celine Motzfeldt Loades
on Oct 18
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News

ECPR panel (2022): “The drama of conflicts: what the creative arts can bring to understanding, handling, and transforming policy conflicts”

The European Consortium for Political Research, ECPR General Conference in 2022 Arranged by Cecilie Sachs Olsen (OsloMet) and Eva Wolf (Tilburg University), CONTRA-project The ECPR General Conference gather around 2000 political scientists every year, and is an important arena for presenting papers with findings from on-going […]
by Celine Motzfeldt Loades
on Oct 18
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The case studies consist of recent projects focused on climate transition…

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How?

Through a comparative study of urban planning law and practices focused on climate transition in 4 countries (Belgium; Netherlands; Norway and Poland), we study how conflict is handled and investigate the connection with political and legal institutions to determine whether conflict is suppressed or actively used for sustainable transformation. We also test new ways to handle conflict. CONTRA pioneers a new model of living labs (Drama Labs) that uses theatre-based methods to experiment with productive conflict.