Tensions and opportunities at Shanghai’s waterfronts: Laboratories for Institutional Strategies toward Sustainable Urban Planning and Delta Design Transitions

How can the Global North oriented and welfare state rooted Sustainability Transitions theories be enriched with the Chinese and communist state rooted Ecological Civilization thinking that has been included in the Chinese constitution since 2007, to make it able to evaluate the making of the direct-controlled municipality Shanghai into an...

Adaptive Urban Transformation. Urban Landscape Dynamics, Regional Design and Territorial Governance in the Pearl River Delta, China

This open access book provides a cross-sectoral, integrative and multi-scale design and planning approach for adaptive urban transformation of fast urbanising deltas, taking the Pearl River Delta (China) as a case study. Deltaic areas are among the most promising regions in the world. Their strategic location and superior quality of their soils...

Searching for Reconnection: Environmental Challenges and Course Changes in Spatial Development Along Shanghai’s Shipping Channels

Waterways played a crucial role in the emergence of Shanghai as a cosmopolitan city and world port. Over the years the spatial and functional relationships between the city and ports and hinterland have been changing continuously. In Shanghai, like other port cities, almost all ports and related industries are placed out beyond the urban fringes...

Engineering an Ecological Civilization Along Shanghai’s Main Waterfront and Coastline: Evaluating Ongoing Efforts to Construct an Urban Eco-Network

Recent ecological civilization policies make clear that China is willing to play a leading role in a sustainable green transition. But there are still discrepancies in definitions, appreciation and evaluation of ecological assets. This paper examines how Shanghai works on a sustainability transition, with a focus on its main urban waterfronts...

Exploring Spatial Relationships in the Pearl River Delta

Urban deltas belong to the most promising regions considering their population concentrations, ecosystems service and economy significance. Meanwhile these regions are facing multiple threats and are extreme vulnerable for increasing flood risk, damage of social and ecological values and substantial economic losses. These challenges are...

Re-defining the appreciation and usability of urban watersides in the urban center and peri-urban fringes of Shanghai

Countless waterways defined both the rural and urban landscape and related daily life activities in China’s Yangtze River Delta for many centuries. However, much of these bodies of water disappeared due to extremely rapid urbanization in the last three decades and this process is ongoing. This paper critically assesses how the appreciation and...

Procesos naturales y urbanos en el delta inferior del Paraná: Actores, conflictos y desafíos de un área en constante transformación / Natural and urban processes in the lower Parana delta: actors, conflicts and challenges of an area in constant transformation

The Lower Parana Delta is a territory in constant transformation as a result of the dynamics of the natural processes and the expansion of Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. As in any urban delta, land and water management needs to respond to the specific conditions and overcome the limitation of the geographical definitions, jurisdictional borders...

The Dynamics of Urban Ecosystem Governance in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

We explore whether Rotterdam city has the governance capacity in terms of processes at place, and the attention in terms of vision and strategy to take up an integrated approach toward urban resilience. We adopt an interpretative policy analysis approach to assess the dynamics of urban ecosystem governance considering interviews, gray literature...

Rethinking the power of water - creating spatial solutions to integrate flood adaptation and renewable energy systems in sustainable urban delta development

Spatial Analysis of Climate Change Effects on Urbanized Delta Territories as a Tool for Planning: The Case of the Lower Parana Delta

This paper presents the spatial implication of climate change-related variables and the role of the representation and analysis of the data as a tool for the development of planning policies in urbanized deltas. The presentation illustrates some partial and preliminary results of a broader investigation regarding socio-economic variables too, in...

Prepare for Impact! Climate Change Adaptation and Spatial Quality in the Dutch Urban Delta

In the coming century, global urban deltas will be confronted with the effects of climate change. This graduation project handles the Dutch South West Delta, and aims to handle this challenge by establishing a renewed relationship between the city and the delta’s natural dynamics. How to yield a climate change proof urban delta whilst...