We live in a state of false abundance—a condition first articulated in the nineteenth century and later expanded through contemporary ecological critique—in which the apparent prosperity of modern consumption depends upon the systematic depletion of soils and territories that sustain human and more-than-human life. This depletion is structured by global markets demanding cheap food, labor, energy, and raw materials, and is enacted through extractive mining, industrial agriculture, infrastructural expansion, and large-scale construction. By abstracting material origins and obscuring ecological thresholds, extractive regimes normalize exhaustion while disproportionately burdening structurally marginalized communities.

Against this backdrop, cities and landscapes are not only shaped by depletion but actively reproduce it. Depletion forms the soils we become-with and co-produce, just as it conditions our design practices—whether acknowledged or not. It also shapes our collective future as climate change, climate-induced migration, and territorial instability demonstrate that environmental damage accumulates rather than resolves itself. Yet the study of soil—its cycles, dynamics, and transformations—has largely remained outside the core of design curricula and practice. Depletion therefore demands a reframing of disciplinary agency. As landscape architects, urban designers, artists, and thinkers increasingly turn their attention to soil and its exhaustion, this issue seeks to amplify emerging interdisciplinary thought and support the articulation of design’s agency under conditions of depletion.

This issue of the Journal of Delta Urbanism reframes (soil) depletion as a spatial, political, and material design inquiry. It calls for repositioning designers not as managers of decline, but as actors capable of tracing, engaging, and transforming depleted conditions. Drawing on contributions spanning research, practice, and dialogue—and grounded in a critical reading of present realities as a basis for imagining desired futures—the issue proposes three interrelated modes of engagement: designing with, within, and beyond depletion. Each mode repositions design differently: as a practice of tracing and critique (with), as a propositional engagement with existing constraints (within), and as a transformative imagination capable of challenging dominant paradigms (beyond). Together, they move from diagnosing the processes that produce depletion, to operating within its constraints, and ultimately to envisioning pathways capable of reshaping them. ... Read more

Food and deltaic systems are complex, interlinked systems that are crucial for future sustainable development. This study explores the synergy between these two systems to establish an agroecological framework for delta urbanism. Drawing on political ecology approaches and the infrastructural turn, this study critically revisits food systems to understand how they can be better integrated with hydrological, infrastructural, and urban–rural processes. It also addresses fundamental questions necessary for creating new pathways and redesigning deltaic areas. Second, it examines both past and future models of food equations in relation to the deltaic landscape. Finally, it proposes a spatial framework based on a layered approach that aims to provide an analytical framework for research and design related to deltas and food across various scales and historical timeframes. The operational basis for presenting this methodology is the case of the Mekong River Delta and its rice cultivation territories. Findings emphasize the significance of technological milestones and their spatial implications in shaping resource availability, population growth, and climate change. Further application and operationalization of this framework will provide a deeper understanding of the complex interactions among food production, environmental change, and socioeconomic structures, providing valuable insights into sustainable agricultural practices and climate adaptation. ... Read more

Between 1986 and 2013, the Province of Groningen in the Netherlands experienced approximately 1,000 minor earthquakes induced by decades of natural gas extraction. Until the major 2012 Huizinge earthquake, these tremors were neither widely acknowledged as a serious issue nor explicitly linked to extraction activities. Despite growing evidence, Dutch gas companies and governmental bodies delayed taking action, often prioritizing corporate interests over socio-environmental concerns. This essay examines the Groningen earthquakes as a socio-environmental "accident"—not as a random event but the outcome of sustained and systemic negligence which beyond physical damage, has led to long-term distrust, governance failures, and fractured communities. This study features the work of the National Coordinator Groningen (NCG) and it’s Regional Architect’s Atelier (Atelier Regiobouwmeester) to explore the recovery timeline, the role of design in rebuilding efforts, and how specific design measures (toolbox) can contribute to regional reconstruction and resilience. The Groningen case underscores the need for a more just and proactive approach to environmental governance and design in peripheral regions affected by resource extraction. ... Read more

Top world heritage artifacts act as pedestrian flow attractors in historic urban areas. Despite the growing literature on pedestrian movement in cities, evidence of the relationship between cultural attractors and the spatial characteristics of street spaces between these artifacts is scarce. This contribution applies the theory of natural movement and uses diachronic space syntax and micro-spatial
analysis to investigate the reciprocities between street networks and the presence of global heritage attractors in the historic urban area of Rome. The results from the macro-scale spatial analyses show good correlations between the current most popular cultural attractors and the global integration of the street network. The degree of spatial integration of the street network is particularly important at the time of construction of important artifacts, as shown in the diachronic analyses. City growth and urban transformation can affect the central position of these important artifacts. However, in the case of highly attractive artifacts, these
continue to perform as movement attractors. The result of a local neighbourhood investigation shows that micro-spatial parameters, such as the spatial relationships between building entrances and streets, may influence the choice of routes between important artifacts. Thus, the flows of people’s movement can be
influenced by both micro-spatial street characteristics and spatial configuration. ... Read more

The undisputable human influences on the Earth’s system demand an urgent change of ways and transitions in human systems to sustain a healthy society in the future. Addressing the urgent climatic transformations in deltaic areas, this paper is an attempt of the Delta Urbanism research group at TU Delft to set the line for new (integrated) research inquiries by design and investigate fundamental, experimental, and strategic & operational responses to the existing prospects for action as a way to create collaboration between various sectors. These prospects for action are targeted at four critical fronts (climate, urban, governance, cultural) based on trends and challenges that deltaic areas are facing and to which coherent spatial strategies are needed. These fronts together need a research response to enable the making of the delta of the future through the power of interdisciplinary design. This perspective or prospect is established through six lines of inquiry that are elaborated in the paper. The central question is “how can the research field of delta urbanism provide a transformative ‘prospect for action’ to establish strategic pathways toward a resilient Delta future, where assertion and proof are synergized”? The discussion of the six lines of inquiry, which effectively address the four critical fronts, explores how they are poised to deliver fundamental, experimental, and operational outputs for further research and action. ... Read more

The emergence of Airbnb along with an increase in urban tourism has intensified the pressure on urban areas while adding a new dimension to the dynamics of housing distribution, especially in historic cities. These dynamics affect local economies and significantly alter the characteristics of urban spaces, hence the necessity to not only create policies that foster sustainable tourism development but also to advance urban models that explore the relation between Airbnb and the traditional rental and accommodation sector. Through the case of Venice, the present study sheds light on the potential evolution of Airbnb housing in comparison to the traditional rental and homeowner market. In particular, we sought to understand whether a potential equilibrium between these uses exists and if so, at which point in regard to this equilibrium the historic center of Venice is. To tackle this question, methods derived from the field of game theory and specifically evolutionary game theory were used. With the agents (players) being the housing units, the designed theoretical model explored the population dynamics of the housing units in Venice given the three options of homeownership or long-term renting (residential); short term renting or Airbnb (airbnb); and no use (vacant). The findings of our theoretical population game model were validated and discussed with a dataset describing the usage patterns in the city of Venice during the past 20 years. A verification of the outcome through further case studies could eventually provide insights into the future behavior of tourism’s pressure in historic urban areas. ... Read more