In this episode, we discuss with Elina Moraitopoulou, an interdisciplinary researcher and educator working at the intersection of academia and civil society, to explore the overlap of education and public spaces. We dive into grassroots actions and how an environmental organisation operates to establish connections locally and intersectionally. We explore Mamagea’s approach to educational commons in relation to green spaces and communities. Elina contextualises these themes and reflects on the dynamic reality of co-creation and the need for planners and designers to take on adaptive roles. Through the lens of care and educational commons, we consider pathways to systemic change. Elina shares her perspective on critical hope, suggesting that connecting across struggles and mobilising our capacities to raise awareness and overcome injustice is where hope lies.

Elina's work explores how education can support socio-ecological transformation and just futures. Her PhD focused on young people’s emotional orientations to desired futures of education in the UK through participatory memory work. Her research includes the educational commons and their role in reimagining youth participation and cultural production in museums, as well as participatory monitoring and evaluation design. Elina holds an MSc in Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Education and a BSc in Biology. She is a postdoc researcher at the University of Manchester’s School of Social Sciences, co-developing a theory/praxis of radical care for urban social transformation. She has coordinated educational and citizen science projects and works as a scientific coordinator and educator at Mamagea Environmental Organization.

Learn more about Mamagea: https://mamagea.gr/

Elina’s suggested readings:

• Nolas, S.-M. (2021). Childhood publics in search of an audience.
• Emejulu, A. (2018). Crisis Politics and Intersectional Solidarity.
• Puig de la Bellacasa, M. (2017). Matters of Care. U. of Minnesota Press
• Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the Trouble. Duke University Press
• hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress. Routledge
• brown, adrienne maree (2017). Emergent Strategy

People and references mentioned:

Mamagea (min 0:51)

Neapoli-Sykies Municipality (min 11:41)

Cob-Building with Earth (min 11:43)

Neapoli’s Environmental Reforestation Group (min 11:43)

Neapoli’s 5th High School (min 11:46)

Bell Hooks (min 43:26)

March to Gaza (min 44:47)

Credits

• Hosting: Mary Sutherland & Evgenia Vamvakousi
• Post-production: Evgenia Vamvakousi
• Visuals & Media: Aleksandra Kurkierewicz
• Produced by: Critical Hope, a podcast by POLIS, the student-led platform for Urbanism and Landscape Architecture at TU Delft, www.polistudelft.nl
• Instagram: @criticalhopepodcast

Music: Miguel Ángel Justicia (@archivo.devocional) and Some Dirt (https://somedirt.bandcamp.com)

In our first interview, we sat down with Caroline Newton to reflect on what it means to design and plan for inclusive urban futures. Together, we explore questions of social justice and post-colonial perspectives in architecture and planning, the role of intersectionality, and why pedagogies rooted in feminist values are essential for the next generation of professionals who will shape our built environment.

Caroline shares how she finds hope in teaching, and how she seeks to nurture empathy and solidarity in future urban imaginaries, and how she works toward these goals by decolonizing the curriculum at the Faculty of Architecture of TU Delft.

Caroline Newton is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft, where she also serves as Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer. She is trained as an urban planner, architect, and political scientist, with a research focus on post-colonial architecture and planning, intersectional design processes, and inclusive approaches to knowledge production.

Learn more in her new book: Envisioning Spatial Justice (Newton, 2025, Jap Sam Books). Discover the Centre for the Just City, including their manifesto, summer school, and other activities: https://just-city.org/

People and references mentioned in this episode:

[min 17:30] — Irene Luque Martin; Johnathan Subendran

[min 20:12] — Gloria Jean Watkins, a.k.a bell hooks

[min 20:15] — Chandra Talpade Mohanty

[min 26:49] — Arturo Escobar

[min 27:01] — Juliana Goncalves

[min 41:16] — Greta Thunberg

[min 43:37] — Roberto Rocco

[min 46:10] — Saskia Sassen

Credits

Critical Hope is a podcast by POLIS, the platform for Urbanism and Landscape Architecture at TU Delft.

• Today's hosts: Isabella Jaramillo Díaz & Adriano Mancini
• Post-production: Evgenia Vamvakousi & Mary Sutherland
• Visuals & Media Representation: Aleksandra Kurkierewicz
• Instagram: @criticalhopepodcast
• LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/DZyz9
• Association website: www.polistudelft.nl
• Music: Miguel Ángel Justicia (@archivo.devocional)

Hello! In this pilot, we introduce Critical Hope—a student initiative born from conversations with our peers about alternative futures. The episode weaves together snippets of classmates’ voices and a short reflection on why being both critical and hopeful matters. We believe in questioning existing structures while holding onto the possibility of change, creating a space where ideas in urbanism, justice, and sustainability can become tools for action.

Critical Hope is a podcast by POLIS, the student-led platform for Urbanism and Landscape Architecture at TU Delft,

Credits | Hosts: Adriano Mancini, Isabella Jaramillo Díaz, Mary Sutherland. PR & Communications: Aleksandra Kurkierewicz, Evgenia Vamvakousi. Music: Miguel Ángel Justicia (@archivo.devocional)

Links | Instagram: @criticalhopepodcast LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/DZyz9 Association website: www.polistudelft.nl