For more than 25 years, the Architecture and Urban Planning department at Ghent University has been organising Joker Week: for five days, students from all years work together in groups on a specific assignment, with lectures and debates further exploring the theme of this workshop week. Last academic year, Joker Week focused on ‘inclusion’, or the impact of gender, decolonisation and participation on the city.

“Joker Week is an inclusive story in any case,” says Eef Boeckx, lecturer at the department and, together with Kris Coremans, coordinator of the elective course ‘Special Issues’ in the final year of the programme. “During this course, students prepare for Joker Week. They choose the theme and set the agenda. They invite the speakers and moderate the debates. Joker Week is student-led across the board. So there are no teaching assistants on stage, and behind the scenes, lecturers are equal discussion partners, not supervisors who steer or give direction.”