Exploring a More-than-Human Approach to Designing with Urban Ecology

Ecology as an equal user of the city <br/>The city is designed to be human-centred. In the multispecies urban environment humans take on roles of management and ownership over flora and fauna. This leaves the richness and biodiversity of urban habitats in the hands of humans (Denters, 2020). Ecology is often treated as a second class citizen and...

Omburo: the link between water access, re-housing and mycelium: From too little to too much

Namibia has been home to some of the world’s oldest ethnic groups since the dawn of civilization. One of these cultures is the Himba, often referred to as ‘the last true pastoral nomads’ of Africa. They are known for inhabiting the water scarce desert region of Kunene in Namibia for centuries. Now, various factors, including climate change and...

The forest formerly known as: Reimagining forest infrastructure as an agent of care

The Anthropocene necessitates us to rethink the way in which care for and take care of the world we are part of. To acknowledge our entanglement with biotic and abiotic beings, but also our dominance over them and with that our responsibility for them. Employing this notion of responsibility, as well as care thinking as critical concepts for the...

Limits to reef growth: Dynamic behavior of (sub)tropical social-ecological coral reef ecosystems in the Anthropocene

Coral reef ecosystems are slowly reaching their physical ecosystem boundaries. Urgent action is required by reducing carbon emissions, halt degradation, and initiate restoration and conservation efforts of coral reef ecosystems, and bring coral reefs back to a safe ecosystem operating space. This research study uses a multidisciplinary approach...

A Tale of Two Rivers

The thesis starts with the launch of two national projects in the source of yellow river, which is on top of Tibet Plateau, the most fragile and delicate ecosystem on the earth, is endangering the region. The sky river project, an external imposition that aims to turn the region into a huge landscape machine and the Nation Park plan, an internal...

Living with the Lesser Black-backed Gull in the Dutch Delta

In advanced capitalist societies, nature has become more dependent on human influence. But some species are living in closer proximity than others. Including the Lesser Black-backed Gull. Throughout the 20th century, human activities have led to changes in the environment of this “synanthropic” species, a species living in close proximity to...

The Apiarium garden: How to live with nature

Belgrade is a city in the Balkan peninsula and has hosted different Empires through the centuries which formed a vivid cultural heritage. When thinking about a possible future identity, the city must cope with its complex history, present memories alive in the city and a range of different narratives that interweave with selfsame. Looking for a...

Future Relics: About Doel's de-polderisation and eventual destruction in the Post-Anthropocene era

Within the main geographical contexts of the North Sea and the Scheldt estuary, the Doelpolder area stands out for the conflictual relationships between human settlements, environmental crisis, and man-made infrastructures, which are all paradigms of the so-called Anthropocene era. The site comprises the village of Doel, the natural reserve of...

Flotta: A Bruck-Mining Saga

Globalisation and global urbanisation are reshaping our world. Life in Central Places is expanding; life in remote territories is vanishing. For centuries, subsistence agriculture sustained rural communities the world over; that raison d’être has now largely vanished. Cities mine the territory for fuel, material resources, food and even...

Things Fall Apart; The Center Cannot Hold

“It was generally believed that losing one’s life to a hurricane is… something that happens in far-away places,” the Indian writer Amitav Ghosh wrote in his 2017 book ‘The Great Derangement’ (p. 26). The current climate and environmental crises are in the very first place crises of culture, crises of imagination. [...] An idea in close...

Jacquerie Mimesis: The transformation of life during the Anthropocene concerning the build environment

This thesis is made during my graduation project within the studio Explore Lab at the Technical University of Delft on the Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences. Since the writing of my first master thesis, the fascination for the topic arose. At the Architectural Theory department under guidance of Andrej Radman I wrote; ...

In The Garden of Anthropos: The City as a Place for Production

The project acts as a way to bring production back to the city as a part of everyday life in the year 2050, in a time when industry has become individualised as a result of the fourth industrial revolution. At the same time, additive manufacturing (3D-printing) makes it possible to produce just about anything; from shoes and textiles to...

Wormhole University; Geo-pedagogy, Architecture and Practice

This project is a proposal for a school of architecture that tries to question how we should practice and educate in the current epoch of the Anthropocene. This geological time-frame enforces a change in our horizon that reveals the increasing contingency and complexity of our condition, creating a new urgency in the relationship between...