Who we are

Research team

Darinka Czischke

Dr Darinka Czischke, MSc, PhD

Associate Professor | Founder of Co-Lab Research
d.k.czischke[at]tudelft.nl

Darinka is an urban and housing specialist with 20 years of international experience in research, teaching and consultancy. Her background combines Architecture, Sociology and Urban Planning, having been awarded a PhD from TU Delft (2014) for her research “Social Housing Organisations in England and the Netherlands: Between State, Market and Community”, an MSc  in Regional and Urban Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2002, with Distinction), and a BA in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (1998, First Class Honours).

Darinka’s experience includes working as a research associate at the LSE Cities Programme (2002-2004); research director of the European Social Housing Observatory at CECODHAS Housing Europe (2005-2010); director of World Habitat (2013, formerly Building and Social Housing Foundation, BSHF) and as founder and managing director of DCConsulting in the UK (2013-2015). Darinka has advised and carried out research for a number of international bodies, including the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Council of Europe and Habitat for Humanity.

After being awarded the Delft Technology Fellowship in 2014, she switched to a full time academic career. Her core areas of expertise are social housing and affordable housing in comparative international perspective; collective self-organisation in housing, housing (co)production and management; social enterprise and social innovation in housing, and urban social sustainability. In 2015 she co-founded the working group on Collaborative Housing at the European Network of Housing Research (ENHR), which she currently jointly co-ordinates with Dr Claire Carriou and Dr Richard Lang.

Gabriela Pires Vieira

Research Assistant | Co-JuST Project
g.piresvieira[at]tudelft.nl

Gabriela Vieira is Architect and Urban Planner, with a BA from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a master’s degree in Spatial Planning, specialization in Planning, Land and Real Estate Development, from Radboud University. Her professional background involves practice in design firms, where she developed her desing skills, experience with data analysis, urban planning and sustainability research.

She has joined the Co-JuST project where her main focus is on understanding the potential impact of collaborative housing forms in the decarbonisation of the housing stock. This includes, improving datasets and exploring drivers for decarbonization in collaborative housing. Additionally, she is part of the ECO-SPARK project, that explores the relationship between the propensity to take part in collective action and individual pro-environmental values into the institutional design of housing cooperatives.

Juan Pablo Urrutia Muñoz

PhD Researcher (2024-current)
j.p.urrutiamunoz[at]tudelft.nl

Juan Pablo Urrutia is Architect and Master in Management of Real Estate Projects from the Universidad de Chile, Master in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Master in Public Affairs from the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). His research and consultancy work has been related to housing policies, housing deficit, social housing, informal habitat and lately on co-residence and housing strategies. He is currently working as a researcher in the PhD programme at TU Delft with Vincent Gruis and Darinka Czischke, his research seeks to understand how co-residence influences housing design and potentially could be developed as new dwelling typology.

He is also a researcher at the Housing Institute of the Universidad de Chile. Juan Pablo was co-curator of the Architecture and Urbanism Biennial of Chile in 2015 and 2019, Director and General Secretary of the Chilean Architects Association, Head of the Architectural School at the Universidad de Chile and he received the National Young Promotion Award in 2018. Juan Pablo is author of the book “Co-residence Strategies: Informal Housing Typologies for Extended Families” (2019 and 2025, 2nd edition) and co-editor of “Collective habitat, 50 housing ideas” (2018) and “Guía para la formulación de planes maestros integrales de recuperación de barrios y viviendas” (2017).

Past researchers and visiting scholars

  • Valentina A. Cortés Urra – PhD candidate (2019-2025)
  • Macarena Gaete Cruz – PhD candidate (2021-2025)
  • Neil MacKenna – guest PhD researcher, University of Leeds
  • Dr Sara Brysch – PhD candidate (2019-2023), Research assistant (2018-2019)
  • Marije Peute – Project and Research assistant (2021-2023)
  • Dr Carla Huisman – Post doctoral researcher (2018-2021)
  • Dr Luz Maria Vergara – Research assistant (2019-2020)
  • Stephanie Zeulevoet – Research assistant (2018-2019)
  • Dr Jasmine Palmer – PhD University of South Australia – visiting scholar (2018)
  • Anne F. Beck – PhD candidate Aalborg University, Denmark – visiting PhD researcher (2017)
  • Dr Eva Morales – PhD University of Seville, Spain – visiting PhD researcher (2016)

Visiting Scholars

We regularly host researchers from other universities who spend some months working with us in Delft. If you are interested in being a visiting scholar at Co-Lab Research send us a message. Please note that we are not able to provide funding for your stay at TU Delft. You are kindly requested to secure the funding for your visit in order to apply to become a visiting scholar with us. Please note that we are not able to host visiting researchers until 30 August 2025