dr. C.R. Koekoek (Catherine)

I am a researcher, curator and facilitator in the fields of architecture, feminism and political philosophy. I'm currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Knowledge, Transformation & Society research group (KiTeS) at the University of Twente, where I work with the RUrban Futures Collective. 

My work focuses on the relations between informal, civic practices, and institutional democracy and transformation. My PhD Towards an Architecture of Democratic Infrastructures (Erasmus University Rotterdam, October 2025) explored the spatial and practical conditions for democratic articulation. It included empirical-philosophical studies of community centres in Rotterdam, queer-feminist bookshop Savannah Bay, and participatory community theatre Rotterdams Wijktheater, with whom I've worked since 2018. 

I enjoy working practice-based and across disciplines and use creative and artistic methods to relate experiences and knowledge within and outside of academia. How do our ways of thinking and organising condition who can be heard, and on whose terms? This is a guiding question in my commitment to a critical and engaged research. 

In 2024, I was was co-curator of the 2024 International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Nature of Hope. With Veerle Alkemade, I co-produce the feminist architecture podcast Respons. 

Expertise

• Arts and Humanities

  • Architecture
  • H. Arendt
  • biennale
  • international architecture

• Social Sciences

  • Authors
  • Communities-Of-Practice
  • Temporality
  • Voting Behavior

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I

Address

University of Twente

Ravelijn (building no. 10), room 5232
Hallenweg 17
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands

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