The Scheveningen coastal resort is under pressure. Since the rise of global tourism, fuelled by growing prosperity and the affordability of faraway holiday destinations, once-glamorous North Sea resorts have fallen into decline, carrying a sense of faded grandeur.
Yet in Scheveningen, the challenges are not solely economic. As sea levels rise, the resort faces a growing urgency to strengthen its flood resilience. At the same time, tourists, businesses and residents are competing for space, influence and visibility, often at the expense of the natural environment. The result is a landscape where environmental risks and conflicting interests collide, raising pressing questions about the future of the resort.
This thesis identifies a fundamental imbalance between the resort’s spatial organisation and the needs of tourism, local communities and natural ecosystems. Drawing on theories of strong sustainability and sustainable tourism, it underscores the urgent need for a tourism model that prioritises ecological resilience, while also fostering a sustainable living environment for residents and a regulatory approach to mass tourism.
In response, the project proposes an integrated urban masterplan that seeks to restore a sustainable spatial balance between ecological resilience, residential liveability, and sustainable tourism dynamics. Adopting a mixed-method approach, including fieldwork, morphological, heritage and stakeholder analysis, the research investigates the spatial dynamics and identity of the resort, informing a design proposal rooted in local character and environmental context.
The core intervention involves a seaward expansion that introduces a new dune ridge, providing a soft approach to coastal defence while integrating densified urban development with regenerative ecological zones. A complementary mobility strategy manages tourist flows to mitigate pressure on both local communities and natural ecosystems.
While developed specifically for Scheveningen, the proposal introduces a design approach that could inform similar transformations in other coastal resorts facing comparable ecological and social pressures. ... Read more

This booklet describes the process of work carried out by a group of students within the On Site Studio of the Department of Landscape Architecture at TU Delft (Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences)in the spring of 2024. The students
have different academic backgrounds in either architecture, urbanism or landscape architecture and have been divided into dynamic sub-groups focusing on different approaches to analyse and design, but the work is the result of an effort by the group as a whole.

As the title of the studio ‘ON SITE: Scenes in Stadspark West’ suggests, this project took place in Stadspark West (SPW), a unique location in Rotterdam, however it is not an officially recognised geographical name. The initiators behind SPW refer to it as ‘an idea’ and ‘a fictional park that actually exists’.

This document is divided into three elements, the first part, Analysis and Research, deals with the embodied on-site analysis of the site and the theoretical research that underpins this analysis. The main aim of this part is to get a better grip on the multifaceted area of Stadspark West and to find better ways to describe, define, discuss and work with this area from a landscape architectural perspective. The second part of this booklet focuses on exploring and transcending the outcome of this analysis to a wider audience. In the project we achieve this goal by designing an intervention in the landscape. As the findings of our analysis have come from our first-hand embodied experiences, the aim is to present and extend these impressions from the same perspective. In the final part we use these findings to create an overall vision for Stadspark West. ... Read more

The Nitrogen Crisis has become a focal point for the global community, with the related European policy stirring uncertainty in the agricultural sector. This political unrest has been clearly manifested in the Netherlands, while natural areas remain exposed to high emission levels. Society calls for systematic solutions to the nitrogen issue that conserve the existence of farmers, the preservation of nature and the national economy.

This report focuses on the agricultural sector, as it accounts for 52 per cent of emissions (RIVM, 2022). We investigate opportunities to mitigate NH4 and NO3 surplus in soil caused by current agricultural practices and we spatially explore a systemic approach to cut emissions caused by livestock farms and inefficient use of fertilizers within field crop farming in the Eurodelta region.

Through document review and archival research, followed by spatial analysis and mapping, we investigate what changes in agricultural practice can restore balance in the nitrogen cycle. A vision for the Netherlands’ primary agricultural production future is formulated. This vision focuses on sustainable land use, alongside nature protection, research development and community engagement. We elaborate on this through a spatial
strategy, which concentrates on five strategic projects used to assess the interventions on-site and demonstrate their potential to all stakeholders.

Our proposal involves the recognition of natural protection zones in areas where agriculture borders natural habitats. Actions and policies are suggested to facilitate land conversions and support the farmers in this transition. Furthermore, we propose a network of living labs and community centres aimed at applying sustainable farming methods and connecting the city and agriculture.

We conclude that to prevent harm to human health and the environment we need to explore ways to combine the farmers’ and the environment’s interests. The systemic approach requires equitable regulations governing permissible emissions for farmers throughout the Netherlands. However, it should allow farmers to autonomously shape emission reduction initiatives locally. ... Read more