Made in the MRA: How the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam could source a quarter of its food from the region by 2030

This master's thesis explores four future scenarios for short food supply chains in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam in 2030 and their potential spatial impact. Agricultural land in the Netherlands has been decreasing in recent decades, especially within the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam. This trend is likely to continue in the coming...

The Shape of Healthy Lowland Metropolis: Urban Forestry as Landscape Architectural Approach to a Healthy Environment in Rotterdam- Den Haag Metropolis

Owing to the unique landscape characteristics of Dutch lowland, forests in Randstad region are found being the result of the interaction between historical development and natural conditions. As cultural influences are genetically embedded in forest formation, the landscape approach to urban forestry provides a novel and wholistic lens looking...

The Influence of Polycentric Governance on Co-Creation in the Heating Transition: An Explorative Case Study of Middelburg

According to the Dutch Climate Agreement, each municipality has to formulate its heating transition vision strategy by the end of 2021. In the strategy, each municipality has to show how it will make its municipality natural gas-free, specifies the technology that will be implemented and describes the timeline for each of its neighborhoods. This...

#Amsterdam after 6 pm: Planning for a diverse and balanced night-time economy

With the development of the social economy, the traditional urban work and rest pattern of working during the day and resting at night has gradually changed. The night-time economy has become a new engine for urban regeneration, economic growth and cultural creation.The growth of tourism in Amsterdam has also benefited from its inclusive and...

Building Bridges for Bridges: Towards a Participatory Approach for Tackling Large-Scale Societal Assignments in Project-Based Polycentric Systems: The Case of the Large-Scale Rehabilitation Assignment of Civil Engineering Structures in the Netherlands

The Dutch civil engineering sector is facing a large-scale rehabilitation assignment of their civilengineering structures, that consists of complex projects that lead to cost overruns and time delays. As a consequencethereof, the sector as a whole must realise a productivity growth to match the required capacity and complexity.Criteria such as...

AMA diffused: Reorganising the built environment in an emerging knowledge economy

The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA) is characterized by its strong performing economy and its high liveability standards, making the region an attractive place to live and work in. However, the AMA’s spatial structure and social geography have come under increased pressure. Unprecedented population growth as well as economic activity is...

(Re)Connecting Borders: Functional and institutional integration in relation to the urban pattern of the cross-border Euregio Maas-Rijn

The Euregio Maas-Rijn can be considered a Polycentric Urban Region (PUR), a region that consists mostly of medium and small-sized cities. The region is divided by three national borders, but the opening of European borders has enabled the region to cooperate more. PUR’s have access to the same level of agglomeration benefits as a single, large...

Evolution of public transit networks in polycentric urban regions

The aim of this thesis is to gain insights into the impact that various variables have on the topological evolution of a public transit network in a polycentric urban region. These variables are: the spatial structure of the polycentric urban region, the demand distribution, the operational costs and multimodality versus unimodality. To gain...

The Lebanese Electricity Sector: A Novel Polycentric Design

This paper presents a new theoretical approach to design a polycentric electricity sector. The study focuses on Lebanon and its electricity sector, and tries to reform the sector using a proposed polycentric structure. The study utilises the polycentric indicators and general structure, along with organisational modes, and electricity market...

Linking the image and identity of cities in polycentric regions

In a globalizing world, cities find themselves competing more and more for the likes of visitors, residents, investors, and companies. Simultaneously, cities may attempt to ignite synergies by working together with other cities in the region. Two core concepts of the place branding domain, image and identity, are central to this situation....

Experimental Modelling for Allocating Recovery Facilities in the Metropolis: Integrated research between Circular Economy and Urban Spatial Structure

The primary aim of this project is to investigate an approach to integrate the study of CE with urban spatial structure, then form a tool to assist the procedure of decision-making by analyzing empirical data.

Growing the Dutch mountains: From an economic concentration, towards a strong & diverse economic region

Performing extremely well on the Randstad scale, the polycentric model is lacking functional links and complementarity on the AMA scale. In the following pages, we will explain the conclusions that we have drawn from our detailed analysis, reveal the aspects of the AMA that we identified as key issues and explain our method to tackle these...

Towards Regional Synergy: Potentials for polycentric development in Tehran Metropolitan Region (TMR)

A metropolitan Region of the Third World countries like Tehran metropolitan region (TMR) in Iran, in consequence of unbalanced rapid urban growth, is facing with large set of unique social and demographic, cultural, economic, ecological, environmental and managerial problems. The entire problems are because of lack of effective regional plan and...

I solemnly pledge to public space - dualities in contemporary public space developments, applied in Brussels' European Quarter.

The european quarter in Brussels has become a monofunctional office district since the rapid development of the European Union in the second half of the twentieth century. Uncontrolled office expansion has led to a district characterised by the monotony of glass closed office blocks, empty streets and large infrastructure. This project is a...

Looking for Urban Synergy. Dealing with Polycentric Development: The Case of the Metropolitan Agglomeration of Fortaleza

Brazilian metropolitan agglomerations have a predominantly monocentric configuration, which are nowadays experiencing the deconcentration of urban activities and an increase in urban mobility due to various economic and social trends. However, this trend toward polycentric development in Brazil is translated in high socio-spatial segregation and...