This project is a renovation project of an old music school in Winterswijk. The Boogie Woogie has played an important cultural role in WInterswijk for a long time. This music school has both values and many problems and the owner of the music school has a management problem of the building because of decreasing the number of students. The municipality of Winterswijk has a plan to make a new culture cluster on the site of the music school and on the plan they want to demolish the music school building. As I have found many values of the building through deep research, I propose a new cultural cluster master plan with keeping the music school building by changing the music school program to a public library and a coworking space. Through this project, I hope Boogie Woogie music school could keep memories of the community in Winterswijk and help to revitalize Winterswijk.

Throughout humanity, we have told each other stories to explain the world around us. Stories of myths, folklore and legends, used to connect us with our physical environment, their objects, events and processes. Nowadays we mostly use scientific stories to explore our landscape. In landscape architecture we also use scientific stories to justify our designs. But even though these stories prove an urgency and credibility for our interventions in the landscape, they sometimes have difficulty connecting with people. Kagan, et al. (2019) argues that a more imaginary approach to narrative, instead of purely scientific, would help people connect to these stories. In this graduation project this question is explored in the city of Delft in the Netherlands through the narrative approach of myths. The three most important spatial stories in Delft are dissected using the narrative realms as posed by Potteiger and Purinton (1998). These stories are then transformed into the imaginary narrative of myths. These stories are: The story of Delft and the water. The industrial story of Delft and the royal Yeast factory. The ecological story of the urban forests and nature in Delft. These myths formed the basis for an exploration into the landscape and their design. I found that narrative realms allowed for an approachable method of reading and writing stories in the landscape. Understanding how the story and its parts are interacting in the landscape is crucial for us as designers, because this allows us to know exactly where and what we can change of the stories in the landscape. The imaginary narrative of myths simplifies and abstracts the elements of the story to their most essential form while still respecting the technical depth behind them. I think that myths offer great potential to be a way of communicating complex stories and meaning to the common layman.

The story of this project starts with the bad relationship between resident, tourists and the heritage sites. Firstly, local residents’ existence is not being acknowledged as part of the heritage. Secondly, tourists cannot find open heritage site easily because of excessive commercialization and unreadable space. Thirdly, there is a bad social interaction between the social group because tourists see residents’ living space as tourism spot. Based on this, the research question was put forward: “How to maximize the potential of heritage in South Luogu lane area through the participation of residents, the design of legible urban space and active social interaction?”The final output of this research design in an new urban regeneration approach that can balance the relationship between residents, tourists and heritage, forming a harmonious coexistence for this old district under today’s new context. The specific guideline that this approach put forward is not universal for all historical district. But the main idea of visiting route, which is separation & controlled mixture provides a new way of thinking for the coexistence of tourist and resident in over-developed tourism city in China.

While the department stores are in heavy weather, the need for housing is increasing everyday. Redesigning old department stores to be used as housing is a necessary solution. So how to fit appartments in a large building, that is so unfit to be used for housing in its current condition? While researching the V&D department store in Leiden it was confirmed that the building needed thorough changes to adapt to a housing function.To adapt the building for its new function the building block is changed into an open-block structure. Resembling the structure used in most high density urban environments. At the same time this open structure compliments the already existing connection between the Aalmarkt and Breestraat side of the building. While opening up the building it was important to preserve its valuable elements, and where elements were removed or introduced, to relate to the original department store. The result is a building with a stepped open-block structure to balance the amount of light, floorspace and functions. The open structure creates terraces for the apartments which also serve as traffic space. An open public courtyard is introduced on the ground floor, reintroducing the old connection through the building. The inside of the building and the Marsmansteeg get new facades, using materials that relate to the main facade at the Aalmarkt. Using the valuable old V&D store a building is created which mixes public functions and housing in the heart of the city.

The constant manipulation of the Dutch delta system and the resulting creation of hard borders between the natural river landscape, the harbor and the city has led to a destabilized delta system(Hein, 2021; Meyer et al., 2015). The spatial and ecological challenges resulting from population growth and the resulting urban growth, as well as climate change, are becoming increasingly urgent. To densify already urban areas, municipalities are transforming more and more inner-city port areas, which as a result of the relocation of the port to the North Sea are increasingly becoming available. However, this trend presents increasingly apparent challenges as these areas are outside of dike protection and exposed to natural influences (Breś & Krosnicka, 2021). On the one hand, they offer the opportunity for housing, which is urgently needed in Rotterdam, but on the other hand are highly vulnerable due to the enhanced risk of flooding resulting from sea-level rise and higher river discharge.  The research project "Accepting the current(s) - A porous approach for the revitalization of a former port area in the Rhine-Meuse Delta" explores a new nature-based approach for these areas. The resulting design aims to combine the natural and urban processes in an adaptive and urban tidal landscape, working with and benefiting from the natural processes of the Nieuwe Maas and the Delta. It seeks to balance the various entities by enhancing the natural environment in the urban delta. The permeable approach enables the provision of a collaborative zones for different flows and connections. This facilitates a transition from water to land and from port to city, where people, resources and ideas can move smoothly (Höller, 2021). Leading to better exploitation of potential and a better activation and integration of the previously segregated outer dike areas into the urban context. An adaptive hotspot is created within the dynamic landscape that is continuously evolving and able to accommodate future changes. In addition, the creation of tidal habitats provides an important natural habitat for different species of animals and plants that have been displaced by the previous water management of the region, thus creating a place of migration. For both humans and animals. The work includes a design catalog for the creation of an urban tidal landscape to show decision-makers the various options available to create an adaptive wetland neighborhood. It allows the project to be more comprehensible and regionally transferable. In the end the suggested design strategies are applied to the study area of the waterfront of Nieuw Mathenesse/Merwe-Vierhavens to give a more specific outlook and to better demonstrate the potentials the design is intended to offer.

The performance of a city is dependent on the performance of its infrastructure. As a result, the surface-level world is inseparable from the subsurface world. However, cities around the world are facing a shortage of available space both aboveground and belowground. The existing urban fabric has over time become unfit for the addition of new infrastructure systems that are required for the future. Spatial conflict problems are arising between necessary urban infrastructures, in Antwerp specifically regarding green, blue, place, and memory systems. Nevertheless, Antwerp has an opportunity: a decommissioned canal network that lies beneath the city as tunnels that can act as a spatial mediator. Establishing this potential, the main research question asks: how can the reappropriation of the decommissioned underground canal system in Antwerp spatially mediate the city’s urgencies regarding environmental and social infrastructure? While the research question calls for the implementation of four infrastructural themes (green, blue, place, memory), an exploration of background theories on urban infrastructure implementation indicates a research gap regarding a systems-thinking approach. In this case, the Environmental Maximization Method (BOOM-Duijvestein, 1998), with its five design phases (inventory, analysis, maximization, optimization, integration), is useful. Together, the four infrastructure themes and the five design phases form a matrix that offers an appropriate design framework in the context of Antwerp. Antwerp Unearthed, as a plan, provides two answers to the research question of this report. The decommissioned underground canal system in Antwerp spatially mediates the city’s future urgencies regarding environmental and social infrastructure by pairing external problems with internal potentials and by forming a singly functioning infrastructure system. Next to this, the plan is embedded in other aspects of the urban fabric. The findings are societally relevant because they show how to work toward adaptivity and resiliency in the context of climate change and densification. The findings are scientifically relevant because they show how to work toward a justifiable and balanced implementation of different infrastructure systems. The findings are professionally relevant because they show how to work toward integral and interdisciplinary design principles for multiple infrastructural themes.

The research focuses in the city of Altamira, in Brazil. The municipality is located in the margins of the Xingu river, affluent of the Amazon river, and has been facing intense socio economic transformations, mainly through the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant - third biggest in the world, in generation capacity. Over the last 10 years, the local municipality estimates that the population inflated from 100.000 to 140.000 inhabitants (FOLHA, 2013), as a consequence of the jobs related to the dam and its construction. On the one hand, the implementation of the project has brought heavy investments in public infrastructure, following the compensation and mitigation guidelines established by the national environmental agency, providing the inhabitants with public amenities completely nonexistent before the dam. On the other hand, the intense transformation of the built environment resulted in new social challenges, including increased violence, prostitution and drug consumption, adding pressure on the limited infrastructure and public equipment. The project - heavily criticized by local and international media - is almost concluded and is already in partial operation. This research investigates the next steps following the conclusion of the construction, suggesting strategies capable of promoting sustainable development in the region. The focus is not only to look into the urban transformations triggered by the installation of the dam but also to explore possible future scenarios once Belo Monte is concluded.

In the entire European Region over 80% of the adolescents are not active enough (WHO, 2019b). Physical activity can be seen as an essential component of human health as it can contribute to reducing the risk at several diseases, such as diabetes, depression, and several types of cancer (World Health Organization, 2010, p.10). Physical activity behaviour is influenced by a high variety of variables, ranging from personal variables to the physical environment. The composition of public spaces can facilitate or hinder adolescent physical activity behaviour. Although a lot of research has been done already and studies increasingly included the physical environment, research shows inconsistencies regarding similar variables (e.g. Ding, Sallis, Kerr, Lee, & Rosenberg, 2011). This makes it difficult to apply the knowledge in urban design practice. The objective of this thesis is to explore the role of urban design in contributing to increase activity levels of adolescents using quantitative statistics. Literature review is used to identify attributes of (adolescent) physical activity behaviour. From this review spatial attributes are selected to research the preferences of adolescents to visit public spaces for physical activity. A choice based conjoint analysis (CBCA) is used to estimate the relative importance of ten spatial attributes for adolescent physical activity in outdoor public space. To illustrate how such statistical method can be used to inform urban design a square in Westland, the Netherlands is selected as a test case to transform. Westland showed to be the least green municipality, and adolescents in Westlands appeared less active than the Dutch average. The attributes that showed significantly important from the survey were used to analyse and transform an existing public space. Choice based conjoint analysis can be a valuable method to use in urban research and design, as one can identify user preferences before actually transforming the physical environment. However it is important to carefully define and use the attributes for the analysis, and to avoid misinterpretation as much as possible. Choice based conjoint analysis can identify what spatial attributes are important and with that an urban designer can show how these can be implemented in urban design. 

In the Netherlands there is a current tendency of areas with extreme growth as well as areas with extreme shrinkage. Because of the increasing population in cities like The Hague, social problems intensify. Among these problems is the issue of social-spatial inequality. This occurs when the distribution of life chances is dependent on the place where you live. When the differences between places have an unjust distribution of life chances as a consequence, it is called social- spatial inequality. The intention of this project is the development of a new approach, the Urban Biography, that makes it possible to get an elaborated understanding of the development of a public place, whilst using the physical, social and mental aspects of that place. This approach makes it possible to be able to read and understand the city, or a specific place at a higher level, in order to grasp the identity of this place. Especially important for this identity are the physical, social and mental aspects. Current research often lacks at least one of these aspects, which often results in a design that is only focused on the physical and not the human aspect. The basic idea is that studying these different parts will help with the understanding of the current situation of social-spatial inequality in growing cities. This deep understanding will create the opportunity to alter the public space in order to match both the historical characteristics and the challenges of the future, like the reduction of social-spatial inequality, in order to create a design for a more just future. This Urban Biography approach is applied to the case of the city of The Hague. This city has a strong distinction between rich and poor neighbourhoods. Considering the current differences between the neighbourhoods of the city, the neighbourhood, Statenkwartier is chosen to research in more detail. This neighbourhood is not necessarily the neighbourhood that comes first to mind when thought about social-spatial inequality, but is indeed a very interesting case. The elaborated study of the city as a whole and Statenkwartier in more detail, result in a redesign of the public space for Statenkwartier. The design will contribute to the reduction of socialspatial inequality in the city.

The Syrian civil war has created a large refugee influx in the urban environment of surrounding countries. Half a million of Syrian refugees have settled in the metropolitan area of Istanbul, evoking an ad hoc humanitarian response. This master thesis proposes an interdisciplinary long-term approach, operating at the intersection of humanitarian aid and urban planning and design. It investigates how a spatial strategy, that takes into account the complexity of the urban environment, long and short-term goals, and involved actors, could enhance the integration process of refugees. The research predominantly focuses on qualitative data in the metropolitan area of Istanbul and a multiple case study on two districts: Sultanbeyli and Zeytinburnu. Integration can be considered as the process in which refugees become an accepted part of society, where interactions between refugees and the receiving society determine the direction and outcome. It comprises a legal-political, socio-economic, and cultural-religious dimension. As a final result, the collaborative process in which the spatial strategy is constructed and an exemplary spatial strategy are developed. This strategy enhances the cultural-religious integration of refugees and the receiving society, by employing the potential of interactions in public space.

This graduation project deals with the revitalisation of the former V&D department store in Haarlem. The building is transformed into a mixed program, consisting of dwellings and the library of the 21th century. This is not a regular library, on the opposite it is an easily accessible public building which functions as a central meeting place within the city. In this project the main theme is daylight. This varies from the practical side of applying different daylight adjusting measures to the more poetical side of introducing principles (regarding daylight) to influence the perception of spaces.

Overall, In the thesis examines in-depth indications of the De-growth theory for urban planing, and draws spatial implications from that. The chosen case study is the city of Rotterdam; known for its growing harbour, and its top-down and growth-based paradigm of urban development. The goal of the thesis to link economic and environmentally oriented theory to urban planing strategies, via researching possible transformation solutions, and optimizing them for specific locations.

Capitalism is under siege. As the famous economist and business strategist Michael Porter note. Business practice is overflown with an increasing number of societal and environmental concerns, trumping economic activity and trapping businesses in a vicious cycle in which taking responsibility is repaid with taking even more responsibility. On the other hand, these societal concerns cannot be ignored and need to be addressed. As shelter, water, food, and welfare must be provided to a growing population in a durable and future proof manner. Urban development practice is burdened with this same complex problem. Businesses are confronted by an increasing number of public sustainability regulations and with neo-liberal influences shifting more responsibilities towards the market. Scholars raised their concerns if the public social value can be safeguarded by the market. However, business practice proofed to be capable of taking their social responsibility and even found a way to contribute to both society and their business performance, linking their social behavior towards their corporate reputation. This phenomenon is called CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) benchmarking, in which social reporting and labeling are used to enhance their client base. The danger, however, is that these activities are often better displayed in these reports than performed. Besides, these reports primarily enhance the environmental concerns and leave the ‘softer’ aspects of sustainability ill addressed. These limits of the CSR-benchmarking concept are mainly caused by the intrinsic perception of businesses towards these social activities. Social activities are seen as a costly practice and with the ‘enterprise culture’ still present many businesses today. These activities are not likely to be performed. This problem became the starting point of this research. Can this intrinsic perception of businesses towards social activities be changed? The Shared Value Creation (SVC) concept fitted this question with its aim to turn corporate social activities from a costly practice into a value-creating activity. By exploring the concept of SVC this study aims to change this business perception towards social activities and eventually contribute to creating sustainable urban areas.

In the last few decades, income inequality has globally grown. Over two-thirds of the urban population lives in cities where the income gap has widened. Especially in urban areas this has resulted in socio-spatial segregation. This is also visible in Vlissingen, a coastal city in the Netherlands. The differences between residential neighbourhoods are huge (over 18.000 euros) when looking at the average income per person per year. This results in socio-spatial segregation between neighbourhoods. Socio-spatial segregation describes the concentration and residential separation of different social groups. The focus of the thesis is on poor social groups. Socio-spatial segregation leads to negative (neighbourhood) effects that affect the living environment en opportunities of poor social groups, such as economic and educational disadvantages, unemployment and crime. Therefore socio-spatial segregation is a problem that needs to be reduced. The outcome of the graduation project is a combination of design interventions on the city scale to reduce segregation between neighbourhoods and design interventions on the neighbourhood scale of the most deprived neighbourhood of Vlissingen (Bloemenbuurt) to improve the living environment and opportunities of poor social groups. To do so, the main goal of the project is to create an urban design for integration. More specifically, the urban design needs to stimulate diversity and interaction to counteract segregation. Theory about diversity and interaction have led into guiding principles that are needed to reduce socio-spatial segregation. These guiding principles are used in the final urban design for both the city and neighbourhood scale and consist of; indistinguishable side by side tenures, clear hierarchy between private and public, urban parks, mixed use neighbourhoods, walkability, accessible public transport, connected neighbourhoods, activity in public spaces, and eyes on the street. Together with the participation of inhabitants and general urban planning conditions it forms the input for the design. Thus, this thesis aimed at reducing socio-spatial segregation between neighbourhoods and improving the living environment and opportunities of poor social groups, through design interventions that take into account the guiding principles about diversity and interaction, the general urban planning conditions, and the participation of people living in Bloemenbuurt.

The river Rhine is Europe’s economic powerhouse. Without the Rhine, the Ruhr area and the port of Rotterdam wouldn’t have developed into the economically leading industrial regions they are today. The economic power of the Rhine comes forward from the ability of humans to control the river. By rectifying and canalizing the river and constructing dams and locks, the ships’ ability to navigate the river increased. This focus on economic development has caused critical environmental problems. Floods, droughts, and pollution are the most notable environmental threats to humans. This is intensified by climate change as extreme rainfall events and periods of drought will become more severe. Our current paradigm in flood risk management tells us to endlessly keep heightening our dykes, which is not a sustainable path to deal with flood risk. Heightening dykes also leads to shifting the problems elsewhere. If a river is not given space to flood its natural floodplains, it is forced to flow downstream more quickly, leading to a higher peak water level and potential floods downstream. This master thesis introduces the concepts of socio-ecological symbiosis and clearance as means to improve water safety, the connection between humans and water, and the natural habitat. The central question of this research is: How could water safety downstream be supported by upstream design interventions in the Northern Upper Rhine Valley, based on methods in which socio-ecological symbiosis and clearance are central? As upstream water management strongly influences the downstream water safety, design exercises are executed in the Northern Rhine Valley with the goal to improve the water safety both downstream and locally. Three typological design exercises are set up which together form the proposed future water management strategy of the whole Rhine Valley.

Drawing back on my experience of living in Nairobi, this thesis explores the city’s dynamic system of public space and tries to improve its legibility by establishing a framework for its use and design. Exploring Nairobi as a city of arrival, my personal process in the development of this project was quite similar to that of coming to Nairobi as a migrant, continuously learning to understand, use and finally appropriate the city. As a colonial foundation closed off to the native population, Nairobi, the urban epicentre for East Africa, has always been a city of constant coming and going rather than a point of identification for the Kenyan population. By consequence, Nairobi’s metropolitan system in general and its public space in particular is optimized to flexibly absorb the masses of migrants that make up its population. However, the lack of codification of public space, its dynamics and use side-lines minorities and arrivals and inhibits the ‘becoming’ of Nairobians, disenfranchising them with their own city.This research will therefore commence by trying to get an understanding of how Nairobi has developed into a city of comings and goings over the past 100 years since its foundation. Exploring the historical development of the city and its residents, I will argue that the notion of public realm in Nairobi is radically different from the ideals of public space discussed in traditional planning practice, mostly reflecting the European city.I will in a second step systematically analyse the spatial dimension of the public realm in Nairobi coming to the conclusion that in spite of its illegibility to arrivals, the city works by a set of clear spatial rules. Based on this research, I will try to establish how digitalisation and the mobile economy will codify the dynamics of public space and life in Nairobi. Trying to mediate between the city’s duality between integration and identity, this project will then propose a framework of soft and hard public spaces based on existing structural and spatial typologies found along Nairobi’s Ngong Road. Using a set of site specific indicators, these elements will be synthesised in designs for key sections of Ngong Road and its vicinity.

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’. The thesis consist of three parts: I. Research setup, II. Research and III. Design. It is divided into six chapters, respectively (1) investigating the problem, (2) setting up a methodological framework, (3) researching: what is experience, (4) analysing the spatial and socio-cultural conditions, (5) experimenting with possible future scenarios and lastly (6) developing a strategic plan and design interventions that address the problems. The problem statement outlines that in Vlissingen trends have bigger impact then elsewhere, because the experience that the city offers, is affected. The city cannot compete on the field of city experience, which leads to a setback in prosperity, an indistinct identity and a negative city image. Since the inner city is representative, it should function optimally, so it has to turn into a place of experience. Six spatial problems make that this is currently not the case. Furthermore, the city is facing three main trends: growing harbour activity, an aging and shrinking population and growing tourism. In possible future scenarios is researched how to address the spatial problems and at the same time how to deal with the possible impact the trends can have on the inner city. In the first scenario the harbour industry becomes important on a European scale and the prosperity of the city skyrockets. In the second scenario the population shrinks and especially elderly are attracted to the city. In the third scenario the touristic pressure increases and tourism becomes versatile and covers the whole year. The scenarios formulate recommendations for the spatial problematics and explain which developments should be stimulated and which should be limited or avoided, to continue in the direction of the optimal strategy. The most reasonable concepts, relevant recommendations and design interventions result in the strategy concept to create a high-quality network that attracts a high-quality program and a diverse audience. This high-quality network consists of multiple layers regarding mobility, program and image quality. Design interventions show how the layers come together and how to actual design a place of experience. Furthermore, they show how the design of the public space can ensure a specific place unites with the past, present and future. The design of the high-quality network will enable the inner city to function properly and become a place of experience, where trends will have less impact, prosperity is able to grow and an identity is able to emerge.

This project takes a critical look at the relationship between Willemstad’s quality of place and the socio-economic, socio-cultural and environmental well-being of its local population. As a reaction, a set of Urban Design Principles for US (the locals) are proposed.

Adequate housing has long been considered a basic human right. Trends of globalisation, financialisation and urbanisation are oppressing this right. Social housing is neglected by authorities and stigmatised by society. Local, low-income residents are dispossessed and displaced, and social housing is close to disappearance. London has become a fragmented and unequal city, with an unbalanced governance. The power of the private investors induces that residents cannot make use of their right to the city. To recover the right to the city for all residents and to counteract the displacement and dispossession, a shift has to be made towards a revival of the social housing community, providing secure tenure and quality housing for the entire population. This graduation project introduces a community land trust growth model. By gradually taking land out of the market into a CLT, the residents are able to make their own decisions and improve their living conditions. The model provides tenure security and permanent affordability. The project designs a transparent and modular People’s Plan with a holistic, multiscalar vision providing secure tenure and quality housing for the urban poor.

Rotterdam is chosen an example of a city in constant flux, based specifically due to 2 main events- the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940 and the shift of the harbors westwards- 1970's, focussing on the shift of harbor Westwards. • The development of the South of Rotterdam- Kop Van Zuid, after the shift of the harbors westwards, led to a large vacuum in what used to be the heart of the city. The infrastructure that once was created to primarily relate to shipping, now had to cater to a different use, the HEF bridge being a prime example of this.This also led to fragmentation in the South of Rotterdam, as the infrastructure that catered to the shipping industry no longer served that function, and in certain cases was abandoned- like the HEF. • In such a fast paced city, can infrastructure adapt rapidly enough? Can it also be more than a physical connection and also work a public place typology to connect people? • I wanted to use infrastructure as a grid, as something to orient towards, within a city in flux, by integrating it into the public realm. This would mean different interpretations of what the HEF could be, as well as for future infrastructure, and with a new bridge connection already being planned by the city, I zoomed into the strip/core between east and west Feijenoord as my site. • With new developments like Feijenoord city, slated to come up actively over the next decade, this will require 2 things: 1. Infrastructure to support new traffic and movement intake. 2. To integrate this infrastructure in the diverse urban fabric and everyday life of Feijenoord- preserving its identity, while still responding to the grand architecutral gestures, that initiate innotivation and economic growth of Rotterdam. The project is an approach to address the current issues of Feijenoord by developing a strategy to design a more connected and inclusive typology of public place. This is considered as a plug-in to the existing infrastructural networks of Rotterdam- using other qualities of the region. The main objective is to integrate new infrastructure and developments into the daily life of Feijenoord with design elements and program that act as activators for an interactive, inclusive public place. To offer a collective identity to Feijenoord, and a different way of moving and viewing the neighborhood.