Degrees of Encounter: Densification Strategies to Alleviate Urban Loneliness in Post-War Neighbourhoods

The growing concern about a mental health crisis and a looming threat of the loneliness epidemic worldwide that was further escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic forced people into isolation and created a new form of ‘work from home’ lifestyle. Nonetheless, the loneliness epidemic can be traced back to the 19th-century design principles that...

Densification for Social Integration: A study on the potential symbiosis between densification and social integration, social mix and social cohesion in post-war neighbourhoods with Den Haag Zuidwest as a case study

This project investigates the potential for social integration, social mix, and social cohesion by densification in post-war neighbourhoods with Den Haag Zuidwest as a case study location. The current status of housing and public spaces in post-war neighbourhoods results in challenges regarding social segregation and social dissolution that are...

A Socially Cohesive Overtoomse Veld: A research project on how the monofunctional post-war neighborhood Overtoomse Veld can be transformed into a more socially cohesive mixed-use area

Amsterdam is a rapidly growing city with a high demand for new homes. Research indicates different initiatives and processes over the last years to densify the city and enhance the liveability in its neighborhoods. However, time has shown the injustice accompanying these proposals and the situation in several neighborhoods worsened over the last...

Hoptille - from Stigma to Charisma: Image enhancing transformation of post-modern architecture while retaining its identity

This graduation thesis was executed within the studio New Heritage in which the question was raised whether postmodern architecture can be valued as heritage. Multiple postmodern neighbourhoods suffer from a stigma. Outsiders have a negative image where insiders are much more positive about their neighbourhood. This master thesis focusses on the...

Future Primitive: A Common Landscape

In today’s cities, global urbanisation has created a fragmented, unresponsive and socially divisive landscape. Intensifying agglomerations to urban centres across the globe due to the displacement and mass migrations of large populations has increased the pressure of organising a dense urban habitat. In its dominion over nature modern life was...

Closed Loops, Open Justice: Creating circular construction flows, for a just social housing industry

In the province of South Holland steps have been taken to create a circular construction industry to mitigate current linear processes. These linear processes include wasteful resource-intensive models that lead to loss of value and depletion of raw materials. However, to achieve a complete circular construction industry, the true social and...