This research analyses and evaluates the performance of the drainage system in Beira, Mozambique. It considers its formation, maintenance, failure modes and connections, to recommend improvements on its performance. The research identifies six primary failure modes - vegetation overgrowth, human interference, waste accumulation, sedimentation, underdimensioned structures and ’other’ - highlighting the disparities between technical design and real-world complexities. The study quantifies the presence of these failure modes by direct observations and transect walks, and uses hydraulic modeling software, D-FLOW FM 1D2D, to simulate their impact on inundation depths.

The results show that widespread flooding can be found even without failure modes. Additionally, it prioritises the risks of vegetation and human interference. Therefore, it recommends an increase of hydraulic capacity of a part of the system, proactive vegetation management, water level control, and community engagement in system management. It also underscores the importance of early land demarcation in urban planning, the implementation of flexible yet delineated canals, and the involvement of communities in flood adaptation.

Temperatures in the planet are rising, our cities are not designed for extreme weather and that makes urban heatwaves a deathly hazard. The Red Cross, an organisation who’s vision prevents and alleviates human suffering partnered with the TU Delft for a strategic design approach to find solutions for this wicked problem. This project explores the collaboration of the humanitarian sector in the urban environment. Cities are alive and they can offer space for innovation and experimentation. This master thesis is the result of a highly collaborative process, in which experts from different disciplines were interviewed, a thermal image study was performed in the cities of Delft, Amsterdam and Utrecht and literature review was executed. After collecting data, design directions began to arise. Heatwaves are invisible, people are not aware of the risks, the vulnerable groups are varied and vegetation can help bring the temperatures down. The result of this twenty weeks of work is a three step strategy to be followed by the Netherlands Red Cross. See, Share and Solve. See the heat. Urban heatwaves are dangerous because they are invisible Share the data. Show people how hot it can really get, also share solutions Solve the problem. A call to action, connect citizens and volunteers with organisations that are working with vegetation in the city. To share the data, structures across the city are proposed, cooling stations. By placing cooling stations in the city, the Red Cross can offer a temporary solution by providing shadow to the citizens but can also share information with citizens on how to cool down themselves, their homes and their neighbourhoods. Together with the Red Cross volunteers, neighbours can get involved in activities to bring vegetation on to the city in order to lower the temperatures and at the same time build strong communities with those who live next door.

In the midst of climate change, a global pandemic, and an increasingly complex world, urban communities are in need for novel ways to adapt to the new climatic conditions.

Through a vision-led iterative design process, I explored how community resilience can flourish, by focusing on human relationships. Focusing on the values of care and conviviality, the process of commoning, and the act of being mindful, I investigated how urban dwellers can contribute directly towards the wellbeing of their community.

A digital platform is proposed for the empowerment of urban dwellers, to address collectively, great challenges, as the heatwaves, through the proactive sharing of relevant information, and awareness of community needs. A prototype of the concept provided depth on the potential of commoning. A pilot is proposed in collaboration with the Netherlands Red Cross.

An extensive literature review was performed on the areas of heatwaves, urban heat islands, international environmental agreements, the impact thereof in national policy and local resources, participatory practices and the commons, volunteering, care and conviviality.

A transition towards collective futures becomes a necessity in order to address the climate crisis, its effects on our communities and most importantly, personal and collective resilience and adaptation.

This report shows the process and result of a graduation project at the Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC). In their search to improve the humanitarian system, innovation is necessary. However, the Netherlands Red Cross faces challenges associated with time, resources, culture and methodologies to execute a research regarding the integration of innovation into the organisation. Based on this problem the following research question was formulated:

“How can humanitarian innovation at the Netherlands Red Cross be improved?”

To answer this research question, two ethnographic studies were conducted in the context of the headquarters of the Netherlands Red Cross and Red Cross operation on Sint Maarten. Ethnographic research is a qualitative research method in which you observe, interact and empathise with the topic that is being researched. It is mainly used to gain a deep understanding of the context when dealing with highly complex problems.

Ethnographic Study 1
The first ethnographic study took place at the headquarters of the Netherlands Red Cross, involving methods such as observations and interviews. The research resulted in a general understanding of the way of working at the NLRC. Furthermore, multiple bottlenecks of innovation were identified: Donor structure, organisational silos and project proposals.

Ethnographic Study 2
The second ethnographic study was conducted on Sint Maarten. The island, located in the hurricane prone Caribbean, was hit by hurricane Irma in September 2017. The Red Cross responded and provided relief aid to the inhabitants of Sint Maarten. The field visit, which had a focus on disaster preparedness, allowed research into the programming of the Red Cross on Sint Maarten. The following insights were found:

Design principles
The Red Cross should follow the the following five design principles; (1) embrace a holistic approach; (2) pivot the existing situation; (3) ensure knowledge is transferred; (4) use a context specific approach and; (5) use a phase specific approach.

Organisational insights
Through collaboration, the missing identified qualities: creativity, ideation, speed, hands-on approach and decisiveness, can be implemented into (future) projects.

Concept
The concept, ‘Community Based Data Collection’, that was developed for this thesis consists of three different phases: preparation, quick response and long-term benefits. Each neighbourhood will have a local ‘data collector’ with knowledge of the community, which will gather relevant data for the three different phases.

Preparation
• Identify the most vulnerable people in the communities by mapping the neighbourhoods;
• Use data to estimate the quantity of relief good necessary per community, and;
• Identify and map valuable capacities on the island for a ‘sharing economy (relief operation)’.

Response
• Use data from the preparation phase to deliver appropriate and focussed aid;
• Use a communication system (e.g. pop-up wifi) to provide communication possibilities for both beneficiaries and the Red Cross, and;
• Use real time data to optimize relief aid.

Long-term benefits
• Identify and map structural problems on Sint Maarten;
• Provide information to specialized organisations in order to solve these problems, and;
• Create a financial independent project by having a ‘data based business model’.