Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to the upcoming exhibition “Depletion, a design inquiry?”, organised by the Delta Urbanism Research Group at TU Delft. Building on the forthcoming Issue #6 of the Journal of Delta Urbanism, this exhibition seeks to spatially and interactively engage with the urgent and multifaceted condition of (soil) depletion.

About the Exhibition
Rather than framing depletion as a singular crisis, the exhibition approaches it as a prolonged unraveling of landscapes, infrastructures, resources, and communities. Set within deltas and other vulnerable territories, it explores how extractivism, (over)design, and climate volatility degrade the systems that sustain us — and positions (soil) depletion as a critical lens for adaptive and regenerative design.

Reorienting our relationship with soils is as cultural and political as it is technical. It requires rethinking how we value soil, how our everyday decisions shape it, and how our societies are organised around it. The exhibition therefore aims to create a platform for interdisciplinary exchange, expanding our understanding of the grounds beneath architectural production — their transformations, extractions, and potentials for regeneration.

Research Question
How might we design — and what does it mean to design — with, within, and beyond depletion?

Format
We welcome a wide range of creative, research-based and speculative contributions that explore, represent, or provoke critical reflection on depletion. The exhibition will occupy several BK exhibition spaces for two weeks and embraces diverse formats, including:

• large-scale models or installations

• drawings, diagrams, or photographic works

• written manifestos, essays, and visual narratives

• audio or audiovisual explorations

• postcards, artefacts, and other experimental media

Your contribution may be a work-in-progress (e.g., part of a thesis, dissertation, or ongoing design research) or a finalised piece critically engaging with depletion.

Who Can Apply
We aim to build a global and interdisciplinary dialogue. We warmly welcome contributions from:

• students, early-career and senior researchers

• practitioners in design, planning, architecture, landscape, and related fields

• contributors from geoscience, soil sciences, environmental humanities, and the arts

• both individual and collective (interdisciplinary) teams

How to Apply
Please submit the following by 31 January:

• 150-word description of your proposed contribution

• Images or media excerpts representing the work

  Send your submission to: Delta-urbanism@tudelft.nl

Exhibition Dates
The exhibition will be on display 31 March – 11 April at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (BK), TU Delft, running in parallel with the launch of JDU #6 and a dedicated BK Talks session.

We look forward to your critical, creative, and experimental contributions, and to engaging together with the complex condition of depletion.

Warm regards,
Delta Urbanism Research Group
Department of Urbanism | TU Delft