Compact Nature for Compact Cities

Abstract

As cities are getting denser and larger, space for conventional green features is diminishing. Cities without green alienate people from nature, deteriorate ecological systems and directly harm personal well-being. Limited open areas and many sealed surfaces in today’s cities raise the need for a renewed green space approach that fits in an increasingly dense and compact urban landscape; an approach in which green space is not limited to large open spaces at ground level, but one where greenery is truly integrated with built structures. The concept of compact urban green space (CUGS) is introduced in this study to refer to green space compatible with this approach. Too often, current CUGS on buildings and in small spaces solely serves aesthetic purposes and is treated as mere (architectural) decoration. This attitude results in pragmatic but disconnected interventions with little added value to ecology and well-being.
This study puts forward that urban planners and landscape architects should embrace these new and unconventional green spaces, because, when planned and designed from a larger social-ecological perspective, compact urban green space can functionally solve several urban challenges simultaneously while also improving ecological quality and human well-being. This graduation project explores the qualitative aspects of small green spaces that result in major improvements in ecological resilience and personal well-being. It is concluded that CUGS can provide quality for people and nature. E.g. by encouraging stewardship of local communities and allocating space for natural processes.
A pattern language approach is used to better understand the relations between a variety of CUGS patterns across different scales. Novel CUGS patterns, such as rooftop landscapes, bioreceptive building envelopes and topographic building blocks are tested in the spatial and ecological context of Rotterdam. The resulting spatial framework for the city centre guides the development of future CUGS. A design experiment performed in the neighbourhood of the Wijnhaven Eiland shows that multidimensional green structures and networks can improve well-being and ecological resilience in Rotterdam when they add value at different scale levels and are fundamentally integrated into the design of the city.