Supporting Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty techniques with hydraulic modeling

Infrastructure is at risk to climate uncertainty due to a combination of long life spans, complexity of the systems it is embedded in, and the high investment costs often necessary. Current infrastructure planning approaches lose efficacy under deep uncertainty, necessitating new approaches that function better under conditions where the future...

Liquid Territories: Configurations of geographic space in the cartographic projections of the Mekong River’s catchment areas

The role played by the Mekong River in the organization of land and people is inextricably linked with a particular spatial category. The concept of the hydrological catchment extends the space of the river far beyond the limits of the river’s perennial waterbodies, to encompass vast areas inhabited by millions of people speaking different...

Multi-and interdisciplinary design of urban infrastructure development

Due to the environmental crisis, there is a need for a more conscious and integrating design process within the field of urban infrastructure development. Through cooperation between civil engineering and spatial design resilience of the built environment can be increased. Delft University of Technology investigates interdisciplinary design...

Integrating agent-based modeling, serious gaming, and co-design for planning transport infrastructure and public spaces

Car-oriented transport infrastructure developments have had detrimental impacts on the public realm in terms of poor walkability and fractured leftover urban spaces. To build integrated transport infrastructure and public space systems with considering non-motorized travelers’ behavior, we present an integrated methodology incorporating an...

Integrated transport management: Lessons from a Chinese city

Sustainable transport typically requires a broad spectrum of policy measures, with responsibilities shared by different authorities and with various public values competed with each other, such as commuting, health, spatial quality, and economic development. Designing and implementing integrated policy packages, with consideration for the...

Social value for whom, by whom and when?: Managing stakeholder dynamics in a UK megaproject

Studies of project success have generally recognised the role that stakeholder management plays in shaping a collective understanding of value. While these studies have typically focused on new builds, few studies have examined stakeholder management at the end of the life of a built asset. This paper draws on a single megaproject case study...

Multivariate simulation modelling for adaptive long-term infrastructure planning

Infrastructure asset managers are challenged by rapid changes around the world such as urbanisation and climate change. They have to deal with multiple complex and dynamic infrastructure systems that can influence each other and that can be influenced by various uncertain factors. Traditional planning methods are not well suited to complex and...

Assessing the robustness of Dutch Inland Ports

In the present turbulent environment highlighted by energy transition, disruptive technology, and climate change impacts, adaptability and robustness are essential in long-term planning of infrastructures. This also applies to inland ports, which play an important role in the Dutch transport system. Inland ports have three major functions, i.e.,...

Untangling decision tree and real options analyses: a public infrastructure case study dealing with political decisions, structural integrity and price uncertainty

Managerial flexibility in infrastructure investment and replacement decisions adds value. Real options analysis (ROA) captures this value under uncertain market prices. The concept of ROA is that future unfavourable payoffs can be deferred as soon as more information about market prices becomes available. The popularity of ROA is seen in a...

The impact of smart city technologies: Lessons from three UK cities

The concept of smart city has been discussed widely in the academia and policy terms, mainly referring to the ways in which cities can be managed more efficiently. Nevertheless, the real implications of smart technologies in urban practice often remain unexplored. Today, especially, not much is known about the challenges of smart city...

Towards sustainable infrastructure with planned adaptation

In the present turbulent environment, adaptability and robustness belong under the overarching definition of sustainability. Sustainable infrastructures should not only achieve economic, environmental, and social objectives, but should be robust and adaptable under uncertainty. This paper examines the current guidelines for port development and...

Financing urban transportation infrastructure in a multi-actors environment: the role of value capture

Purpose: A family of innovative financial mechanisms and tools for urban public transport, based on the value increment caused by enhanced accessibility, are lately gaining much popularity as a solution to the challenges posed by public financial resources’ shrinkage: Value Capture Finance (VCF). The effectiveness of applied transport...

Decision Support Methods within the spatial-infrastructural planning process: A research towards the added value of Decision Support Methods within the first part of the exploratory phase of MIRT projects in the Netherlands

Organising urban symbiosis projects

Urban symbiosis is a strategy to create a more efficient metabolism of cities. However, urban symbiosis requires the integration of different systems, which is hard to achieve. Actors involved in existing systems can hardly develop ‘the bridges’ that are required to connect the thus far unrelated worlds of pre-existing systems. This paper...

Productive Riverscapes: Food as a tool to connect people and nature in the city of Rotterdam

The negative effects of climate change and the out-balanced carrying capacity are torturing our cities today. The field of urban planning and design is starting to research the idea of the city as a natural system. Still, the amount of major natural disasters torturing today’s cities proves the urge to rethink our urban systems even more. A...

The Flexible Port

Ports are beset with many uncertainties about their futures. They are confronted with new demands in terms of functions and scales, new external constraints, and changed expectations. The inability to adequately meet these demands can mean costly adaptations for a port, or loss of cargo and competitive position. A plausible reason is that the...

“SimDelta”: Inquiry into an internet-based interactive model for water infrastructure development in The Netherlands

The Dutch Delta Program is currently developing new government policies for flood protection and fresh water supply. Decision support instruments have to address the program’s technical and political complexity. The water system functions are highly interwoven and would benefit from an integrated approach on a national level, with decisions...

Operationalising Public Space Activity and Structuring Redevelopment Trough Public Facilities Planning in a Configurational Urban Structure

Forms in planning often do not match the forms of cities. This is important because the experience and functionings of cities are given by certain forms and not by others. In particular we are concerned here with the fact planning and design thinking often assumes a nested hierarchy of communities and spaces while the real forms of cities...