From Sprawl to Compact Primary City: The application of Transit-Oriented Development and resurrection of water transport to enable livable and socially diverse environments in Bangkok

Bangkok, the primary mega-city of Thailand, had once been driven by water-based development until car mobility was introduced. Since then, the development has been gradually shifted to land-based. The dispersed roads and highways stimulated the urban sprawl where suburban gated communities are built in the outskirts, inaccessible by public...

Improving Livability in Historic Neighborhood: A Case Study of Meiyuan Xincun, Nanjing, China

This graduation project focuses on the livability issues in the historic neighbourhood under the Chinese context. The current Chinese heritage preservation focuses on conserving material, while livability means adapt physical settings for present use. Therefore, the living condition in the historic neighbourhoods is often neglected. This thesis...

Embrace urban growth, avoid urban sprawl

In Europe there is a growing concern about the development of future urban form, especially deconcentrating of urban land use in the form of urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is synonymous with unplanned incremental urban development, characterized by a low density mix of land uses on the urban fringe. On 7th Environment Action Programme to 2020 ...

The Neighbourhood Medicine: Realizing a dementia friendly Ommoord

The world’s population is aging and as a result chronic illnesses become more widespread. The disease dementia will play a major role in the future of the Netherland. Moreover the people with dementia have to stay at home for as long as possible, which is also in line with their wishes. Ommoord is one of the neighbourhoods which can expect an...

A Virtual Future for London: The impact of virtual reality technology on the daily life of people, and the urban fabric

Virtual reality technology has captured the human imagination since before the first ceiling mounted glasses were invented in the 1960’s. Curiosity towards seeing what we can’t see and experiencing what we can’t experience, is one of the drivers behind societal and scientific progress.<br/><br/>In 2012, the technology saw a new phase of...

Urban Stress: Research into the reduction of urban stress through urban design

Stress is a well-known phenomenon and something everyone experiences. Urban stress however, stress caused by and in the built environment of urban areas, is less known. Still, quite some research has been done on this topic from the fields of sociology and psychology, but there are not many resources that focus on urban stress - with all its...

DAR: Courtyards and chinampas for urban water management in Dar es Salaam

The biggest city of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, faces increasing flood<br/>risk, causing frequent sickness, loss of life, and widespread damage<br/>to property. Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest growing cities in the<br/>world. More than 70% of the residents live in informal settlements.<br/>Many of them are located in flood prone areas like...

Towards a positive city experience: A research-by-design in utilizing experience as a stimulant for the prosperity of Vlissingen

This thesis project on Vlissingen is an account of the research being carried out during the graduation year of the Urbanism faculty, resulting in a design oriented project within the research group ‘Design of the Urban Fabric’.<br/><br/>The thesis consist of three parts: I. Research setup, II. Research and III. Design. It is divided into six...

The management of change: Strategic design for historic urban quarters of Guangzhou

This paper will discuss the conflict between designers and other actors in urban regeneration processes in China’s historic quarters. It does this because the role of mediation is missing. Based on observation and analysis, it will be shown how urban design can address this problem, both theoretically and in practice.<br/>As an increasingly...

From isolated to integrated: The research on improvement of connectivity in Railway Station Area (RSA) in Chinese high-density city centers by applying Dutch experience to Shanghai Station area

The relationship between the city and railway development is fascinating. In Europe, railway stations were originally placed at urban periphery. Step by step, as the urban dense core area expands outwards, the railway station areas were pulled in and now absorbed by the urban fabric. Because of large-scale and special facility form, Railway...

Een kamer in de wijk: Een project over het vergroten van ontwikkelkansen van jongeren en het verminderen van overlast door jongeren in de wijk Feijenoord door middel van het ontwerp van het publieke domein

‘Een kamer in de wijk’ is een project over het vergroten van de ontwikkelkansen van jongeren en het verminderen van de overlast door jongeren in de wijk Feijenoord in Rotterdam. Aan de hand van literatuurstudies en veldwerk zoals observaties, interviews, en workshops zijn deze onderwerpen verkend en onderzocht. In het onderzoek komt naar voren...

Playgrounds of commons| Spatial interventions for collective appropriation towards liveability and diversity in Rotterdam South: The case of Oud Charlois and Waalhaven

How would it be if collective appropriation was an essential part of a spatial strategy?<br/>Playgrounds of commons refer to a mix of top – down and bottomup<br/>spatial strategies and design interventions taking as a starting<br/>point that Rotterdam South can be seen, and (re)designed as an<br/>heterotopia, where as Shane (2003) underlines...

PLOT Perception: Perceiving Liveability through Objective Technology

Current mobile sensory technology allows us to track eye movement and measure physiological activities in our body. There are several studies conducted in how our body reacts to certain environments by using skin conduction (Nold, 2009) or EEG sensors (Mavros, P., Austwick, M.Z. &amp; Smith, A.H. (2016). Although these methods are fairly new in...

Christiania: The alternative neighbourhood: An urbanism project on the prospects of freetown Christiania through inter-scalar design interventions where culture is the catalyst for urban regeneration in the city of Copenhagen

This thesis project on Christiania in the context of Copenhagen is an account of the research being carried out during the graduation year of Urbanism, eventually resulting in a design oriented project within the ‘Design of the Urban Fabric’ Research Group.<br/><br/>The structure of this graduation project is divided into five chapters,...

Metaphorical and Analogical Thinking in Urban Design and Planning

Metaphorical and analogical thinking is a major aspect of how human intelligence tackles complex tasks in the discipline of urban design and planning. However, there is little research on this subject within urban design and planning, and the research approaches in closely related design disciplines lack a comprehensive view on its presence and...