The aim of the graduation project is a (re)development plan for a neighbourhood in a deteriorating district of Naujininkai, Vilnius. A neighbourhood faces the major issues which are common in the districts around the city centre built in Soviet times. Worn out building environment, ageing, low-income population lead to threats of social segregation. A revitalization of this kind of neighbourhoods is an important issue for the city. There is a need to attract more people in the more central areas because the city has huge sprawl issues what is the reason for a low density of the city. One of the objectives of a neighbourhood plan was to revitalize the area by involving the community and other stakeholders in planning and upgrading processes. A proposed neighbourhood plan encourages people by giving ‘guidelines and recommendations’ to improve their environment. ‘Guidelines and recommendations’ explain how the improvements could be made, and how ‘win-win’ situations between private- public sector could happen in the upgrading processes. The other objective of the design was to switch planning from the top- down to participatory and from zoning to strategic.
 The proposed neighbourhood plan is alternative planning method which encourages participation, provides guidelines and one development vision/plan.
 The third objective of the design was to solve dilemma between control and self-organization.
 It is proposed to integrate a neighbourhood plan with its spatial plan and guidelines into the interactive online tool. An interactive tool should help to organize the dialogues between the community, private sector, and municipality, to make the easier process for the implementation of the neighbourhood regeneration plan.

The thesis explores design methods to integrate social-ecological and morphological relationships of the peri-urban areas into one network by using existing altered systems on site. The course of the research is mainly focused on the questionable relation of these in-between landscapes with the urban and rural realm and their future perception considering the case of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area as the main context. The main context is being analyzed through a series of scales to identify the relationships that contribute or not in the creation of the network. Furthermore the design framework considers research by design tools such as the use of exploratory mapping, mental mapping , cross reference mapping, narrative mapping, images and interviews. The design process is inspired by a series of design principles related to Landscape ecological approaches and Landscape urbanism theories enhanced also by the utopian visions of both fields such as the works of Frank Lloyd Wright ( The Broadacre City ) and Geoffrey Jellicoe (Motopia). The project starts with the multi-scalar analysis of the three peri-urban areas of the Lisbon metropolis by identifying the networks that occur and connects them as being part of a larger system. A continuous explorative process that tries to understand the relationships between the urban and rural and the reason of social and ecological detachment within the peri-urban areas and the core of the city of Lisbon. A historical analysis is also used as a main perspective in order to understand the complexity of the context as well the administrative perspective in order to to reflect on the diagnosis.The fact that we perceive these areas as two distinctive landscapes pushes forward the aim of this research, which is to develop design principles that can re-envision these in-between landscapes of the metropolitan region of Lisbon as a network of social ecological and morphological relations. The creation of a hybrid landscape where these processes interact with each other and behave as one network , that characterizes the continuum . The final design project highlights 3 areas of exploration, where the new image of the territory is unveiled . Going from the rural to urban the gradient is reshaped. The new cultivated landscape reveals the pottentials of the network’s main elements aiming not only to re-attach social and ecologiclal processes, but also to contribute to the sensorial exploration of the visitors and residents. The new landscape promotes new uses derived from the actual pattern of the topos. Finally, reaching the core of the territory, the village of Malveira, the left over spaces are highlighted as dynamic tranzitional zones , that contibute to the ecological continuum, as well as to the creation of interchanging landscapes. The creation of meaningfull places out of neglected spaces. Places that are prominent to changes , always in the process of becoming, reflecting the social and ecological needs, promoting a new consideration of the dynamic flows, not as distinctive ones, but as a complexity that characterizes the new cultivated landscape.

As a foreseeable trend, the automated mobility is believed to change our city in many aspects. It draws out a question to urbanists: is the application of the new technological innovation an urgency in our agenda, or the utilization of it for other urban issues should be. This project is based on the latter one. 
Like many other mega cities over the world, Amsterdam is also facing to the explosive of urban population.The following socio-economic and spatial pressures on the built environment like densification and concerns of livability are all the urgencies that we should put in the agenda of future urban development. Especially the present common forms of urban block are at the point of collapse due to its limited spatial capacity and performance on livability. What automated mobility can do? This thesis mainly focuses on the spatial form of urban blocks in Amsterdam, and their performance on spatial capacity and livability, aiming at creating future blocks that meet the demands of densification and quality of life in the coming era of automated mobility. How to understand and measure the relationship between urban form, density and livability based on contexts is the core of this thesis. The design proposals is more like the conceptual models that shows the possibilities of how the automated mobility can be utilized in the processes of formation and transformation of urban blocks when considering densification and livability.

Landscape narratives have the potential of being powerful design tools. Designing with narratives may provide new opportunities, shaping conditions for new possibilities and stories. The project focuses on the gap between the theory of the landscape narratives and the practical application in the field; emphasizing the interconnection between the design elements which are essential for construction and the type of narrative. Starting from the theory of landscape narratives the spatial ways of the representation of time are discussed; followed by a further investigation of the way continuous landscape narratives may be translated into spatial architectural compositions which implicitly are presented in the materials, experiences, sequences and processes of landscape forming and resulting in a suggestion for a methodological framework for designing with landscape narratives, including instruments for analyzing, constructing the narrative, spatial translation and implementation.

Venice and its lagoon are a place where the imaginary and the legends of man and water are thriving. It is a place of profound history of cohabitation and victory, where time and movement have a different definition for people than in other parts of the world. It is the urban and landscape archetype of close co-existence between the domain of inland and seaward territories. People, culture, and traditions always remembered and respected the legend of Venice and its creation, understanding the delicate boundaries and the frontiers of encounter between inland and seaward, preserving the reached balance between them and the population sustained on it. Nevertheless, it is possible to notice that at a certain moment, the urge of becoming modern prevailed on the equilibrium between the two domains. The need for civil society and a global view on what cities should be, brought distance between inland and seaward while letting people forget the legend of Venice. We could say that Venice always retaliated its own identity to itself and the rest of the world, modifying its description from maritime independent power, to artistic cradle of revolutionary ideas, to petrol-chemical industrial force, to mass-consumption product. Its definition came always from within, while now, with the approach of the climate crisis, for the first time Venice must deal with powerful externalities which are going to consequently redefine the Venetian identity from the outside. This research by design tries to remember the legend of Venice of co-existence and adaptation to its landscape, finding new possible anatomy based on the binding of Inland and seaward pressed by the climate crisis worst-case scenarios.

Women inequality is a common practice in today’s world which is global in nature. Focusing on a developing country like India, violence against women, needless to say, is a grave concern. Crime in the form of rapes, molestation, and eve-teasing, has made public spaces fearful, and women have developed the fear of being a part of these places. The aim of this project is to redesign and reinvent the public spaces in New Delhi, India to reclaim the women’s right to the city in public spaces and make them gender inclusive and safe through the participation of stakeholders and community building. The methodology adopted for this research includes “research by literature” and “research by best practices” which helps in evaluating the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework is used to relate spatial and social qualities of the site and recognize main issues by “research by design.” The site for this project is a neighborhood in Malviya Nagar, New Delhi, India. Womenspatialactivism is an urbanism approach devised in this project aiming towards re-appropriation of spaces by women in New Delhi, India. The concept of #WomenSpatialActivism is the re-appropriation of the front door by an old woman, the street by a working girl and the public park by mothers. It aims to spread in the city through digital media. The women spatial activism is an urban designer’s approach which has three main components. These are the physical charter and physical interventions into space, a social stakeholder structure that connects the stakeholders (knowledge, financial and implementation partners) to implement the project and record the feedback of the interventions for its further scope and the third component is the digital structure which includes a mobile application “SHE-CONNECT” that allows women to travel together from the same source to the same destination. The physical structure works on a street and public park to make it more safe, lively and women-centric. The key projects taken up in the research are revitalizing streets (community building and cleanliness through guerrilla gardening), light your lantern (a fund-raising project for lighting the streets), the pink carpet (a wayfinding strip for a safer street), spatial activism headquarters (engaging citizens for temporary urbanism to achieve re-appropriation for women) and reclaiming the park (re-appropriation by women in the public parks with basic amenities). All these projects are a composition of small spatial activism physical interventions which are generic in nature and can be implemented in other areas. The implications have been tested with “Space Syntax” which proves the vitality and viability of the research. Through these interventions, a gender sensitive neighborhood can be achieved which sets an example in the city of New Delhi and thereafter seeking attention globally. The research topic is socially relevant in terms of the problematics of gender inequalities and freedom of women in public spaces, especially in a country like India.

The history of Taiwan is closely attached to the establishment of transportation infrastructure. The thriving scene of urban Taiwan emerged in the 70s after the establishment of several national level infrastructure projects. They have become the backbone of both Taiwan's past economic glory as well the daily necessity of present society. As the technologies of transportation infrastructure has been advancing with time, it becomes a common trend of Taiwanese municipalities to renew its existing transportation infrastructure systems in order to boost up their city's image and advantage on competitiveness. Common practices of the renewal includes transferring the existing systems to either flyovers or underground. However, inconsiderate planning practice of transportation infrastructure implementation could induce variety of urban problems. In fact, many of the existing spatial problems in urban Taiwan are the consequences of the implementation of these massive transportation infrastructure projects. Furthermore, many case studies has proven that the inconsiderate planning practice are vulnerable to socio-economic interference. Postponement or conflicts frequently occured as the consequence of fiscal pressure, change of political regime, or failure to include multiple actors in the implementation process. Therefore, it is concluded that the existing transportation infrastructure implementation process is detached with the real need of the urban environment, which is smaller scale of urban regeneration and inclusion of various actors presented in the transportation infrastructure renewal project. Taiwan Railways Administration Taoyuan Railway Underground Project (shortened as TRA Taoyuan Project) is chosen as the case study of the thesis to further delve on the research of mentioned problem induced by transportation infrastructure. Existing urban problems in spatial, social, and economic aspects induced by the existing railway system will be unfolded. Future vulnerabilities that TRA Taoyuan Project would encounter during the implementation process will be predicted. To tackle the analyzed problems, urban design of the released corridor once occupied by the railway will be utilized as a method to encounter the concluded urban problems and further include the actions of demanded urban regeneration. Moreover, the research and design process conducted throughout the thesis will be documented and examined on its validity and potential to adopt into practice approach.

Despite the increasing demand for women’s participation in the growing economy, the persisting gender inequality in current societies has a significant spatial factor contributing to inhibiting women from accessing various facilities and economic opportunities, further undermining them from enhancing their social mobility and decreasing gender inequality. The spatial structure of public spaces, including the mobility networks, functional distribution, and presence of appropriable spaces and co-creative processes emerge as critical dimensions within which women’s needs must be met in order to achieve a state of social resilience in these systems, and promote women’s spatial and social mobility across the city. While urban planners and designers highlight ecological and economic resilience, social resilience is vital to establish, in order to achieve a balanced system of resilience. This research proposes an evolutionary approach to addressing and mitigating gender inequality in cities through urban planning and design practice using a strategic planning framework. This is proposed with the goal of increasing women’s capacity for participation through the strategic shaping of their local contexts according to their spatio-temporal needs. By redefining the parameters through which urban planning and design decisions are made, and addressing who is needed to make these decisions, the research proposes a guide to decision-makers on enhancing the socio-spatial integration of city residents. Through the comparison of the three distinct cultural contexts of Cairo, The Hague, and Seoul, across the dimensions of society, economy and space, the unique needs and variables contributing to women’s inhibition are pinpointed, and actions can then be proposed, using the local conditions, to tackle the spatial issues. This allows the framework to be implementable across cultural specificities, and provides a guide for urban planning practice holistically. The strategic framework proposed is therefore a tool that utilises local stakeholders and conditions to co-create and anchor urban transformations in the local context, and does not provide a definite spatial plan. Through addressing the role of urban planners and designers in creating conditions for gender equality, the research aims to provide a frame of reference for actor dynamics in co-creation processes, empowering women to appropriate public spaces as they see fit to reach their needs.

The globalization that we are facing completely transformed the world as we knew it fifty years ago. The historical era we live in today is cha- racterized by the use of technology, which is one of the factors that made globalization possible. While some time ago it was possible to define and identify the “center” of powers, of cities, it became more challenging today. Nowadays different types of centralities exist, ranging from the new transnational networks of cities to electronic space (Sassen, 2001). The urban question addresses the cities as the main places where the activities that arose from globalization are focused and they are characterized by different degrees of virtuality. Finance is one of them, probably the most virtual, thanks to the liberalization that happened in the eighties of the last century (Harvey, 2007). (Sassen, 2001) proposes a challenge to the archi- tects and urbanists in this sense: are we able to study and imagine projects for the places of intersection between the global, mostly virtual dynamics, and the local realities? The research that is explained here wants to take up this challenge. It focuses on the topic of the global commercial networks that have been developing in the last years. Such corridors aim at creating new con- nections between cities around the globe, by building new infrastructure in strategic points, among them harbors too. The practice of allowing den- ser flows between these areas is less virtual than the activities of finance, for instance. Every commercial corridor needs to take into consideration the question of logistics, mobility and consequently infrastructure whose physical implications are tangible. Similarly, some of the flows that pass through the hubs are flows of very tangible objects such as containers or liquids. Along with the concrete passengers of the commercial there will be the unofficial ones, whose presence is intrinsic every time there is an exchange of goods: the knowledge and culture from the places connected by the new economic corridor. Just like in the case of finance, explained by Sassen (2001), there is a variety of other activities and spaces that emer- ge along with it. This research wants to address the ones that emerge and could emerge from the development of harbor cities in the current logic of globalization and growth of global flows. This research wants to underline that the answer is not in the obedient ac- ceptance of the conditions that the global powers dictate. That is why, the outcome of this thesis wants to be a new method, and a new lens through which we can all choose to look at the urban paradigm of harbor cities.

Fear as one of the earliest survival mechanisms of humankind has significant effects on how people lived in cities since ancient times. Today fear is embedded in the physical characteristics of the urban space and how it is perceived by its inhabitants. It transforms the spatial behaviors of the contemporary citizens into introverted spatial biographies of fear, where the public spaces have become the ’dangerous outside world’ (De Cauter, 2004) to be avoided when possible. The most crucial outcome of this ongoing trend is the loss of any democratic public domain in contemporary cities. Departing from that, this thesis focuses on the dominant ecology of fear in the long-established central public space network of Istanbul comprising Gezi Park, Taksim Square & Istiklal Avenue where the citizens are disconnected from their democratic public domain in the last decade. The research aims to approach fear as an urban phenomena rediscovering and inventing tools to investigate fear in space, decode it in the context of Central Istanbul and discuss the role and range of influence of the urbanist in finding solutions to mitigate fear and establish a new constructive dialogue between the citizens of Istanbul and their public domain under extreme societal and political conditions that Central Istanbul exemplifies.

The thesis describes the development of the oil and gas industry in Arctic Norway. This sudden increase in wealth is causing urban developments and strong inequalities across different scales. Furthermore, it is causing friction between indigenous Sámi and non-indigenous worldviews, sustained within the culturally fragile county of Finnmark. The role of the Norwegian state is notably dubious - both historically and presently – by instating policies aimed at development through a modern lens and wealth from oil and gas extraction – especially in the city of Hammerfest. The fixation of space through this concept is disinheriting indigenous people as well as the climate, landscape and socio-economic state of Finnmark. Reindeer herders have a different conceptualization of time and space, accumulated through centuries of observation and adaptions to the seasonal cycles, and is highly dependent on the flexibility for their herds. Conflicts arise due to increasing urbanization impeding Sámi movement, creating a socio-territorial paradox. Strong uncertainties arise: will the oil and gas industry continue as planned by the Norwegian state? How does this relate to the vulnerable path-dependent relationship with the fossil industry in the future? Will development on the mainland further impede the ability of traditional practices? Through an understanding of different temporalities within urban planning and indigenous herding knowledge, the argument of the thesis unfolds over an in-depth spatiotemporal and on-site analysis of the island of Kvaløya. I argue that the triangulation of spatial modeling, research by design, cinematographic strategies and the integration of indigenous knowledge can help in improving the agency of mapping. I argue that the we should look more critically at the role of the modus operandi of urbanists and decision-makers, in their capacity of influencing and shaping the conceptual framework on which decision making is based, especially in the highly uncertain and contested territories. The thesis then moves towards a possible way forward by integrating the (indigenous) knowledge into scenario construction through transtemporal and transscalar mapping and 3d modelling. I end by arguing that the incorporation of both practical and conceptual knowledge of the territory and the ability to share and communicate this knowledge between academics, practitioners and stakeholders is critical to confront this uncertainty. The flexible and adaptive knowledge of indigenous people could therefore help into planning and decision-making processes. This will help to foster trust and build consensus among indigenous and non-indigenous participants for future decision-making. Ultimately it is a tool for (co-)creating awareness, action and allowing space for Sámi agency.

This research uses the notion of ‘pluralism’ as an alternative starting point for landscape architectural design by focusing on aspects of time and interactivity as opposed to strategies of re-configuration of both form and agency of the landscape. It explores the role of design in a rural landscape characterized by land ownership through the concept of ‘borderscapes’ as a political vacuum and area for minor interventions. The site of interest is located at the Hunze stream valley in the province of Drenthe, the Netherlands. The water conditions since pre-historical times have formed this territory through high and low plateaus, different soil types and dry or wet vegetation types. Located at a geomorphologically rich location but also vulnerable to land reclamation, the landscape of the Hunze valley has been influenced by ecological degradation. This research examines the spatial conditions that result from years of implemented policies and the effects on everyday experiences of nature. The Hunze stream valley has often been approached as a north-south water system that runs from highlands to lowlands, however this project depicts the area as an east-west system of material conditions and human inhabitation. Concluding that the territory is now characterized by separation (zoning of nature and culture), displacement of problem areas (soil movements), and the negligence of resource proximity. The east-west routing is used as a starting point for creating a new representation of site and experience on three traverses: the source, the crossing and the community.

Maker movement is emerging in Shenzhen which is seen as one of the catalysts in facilitating mass entrepreneurship and mass innovation. Because of its rich resource in Hardware, Shenzhen attracted lots of makers and startup teams to start their businesses. This is timing that Shenzhen heads to another phase of city development which is related to creative industry and innovation. However, used to be city of Shanzhai products, the city benefited a lot from Shanzhai ideology which is seen a successful migrant entrepreneurship model by some scholars. This significant social movement provided some strategies could be used as guidance for improving the maker movement later. Current maker movement in Shenzhen represents the national culture which mainly focus on manufacturing production instead of incubating innovation. Highly connected to production chain makes it lose the essence of doing for fun spirit. Under the pressure of employment base shift, migrants especially workers are gradually leaving the city center even the city. Thus inclusive urban innovation development will defiantly deserve discussion on how migrants could build up a new model of entrepreneurship based on maker movement to achieve self-empowerment. How could Urban village where 50% of migrants live spatially, economically and socially contribute to the incubate social economical innovation instead of only a collective property waiting to be redeveloped. This essay will discuss how a model learned from Shanzhai Movement is used a strategy to revise current maker movement towards inclusive urban redevelopment and empower migrant entrepreneurs. During the last decade, Chinese Shan Zhai mobile phones have steadily and deliberately evolved from an informal economy to a formal one. We draw on institutional entrepreneurship to study this evolution, focusing in particular on how informal Chinese entrepreneurs pursued change and the transition to a formal economy. We emphasize three strategies—framing, aggregating, and bridging—Chinese entrepreneurs employed to mobilize support, garner resources, and increase their amount and level of legitimacy. We also discuss implications for research on informal economies and institutional entrepreneurship. This shanzhai model provided a basic for discussing about the possibility of implementing Maker Movement in Urban Village, which could be seen as an opportunity for new migrant economy. A dramatic paradigm shift over the last few years from top=down planning, physical construction and industrial development towards a new wave of experimentalism that attempts to tackle contemporary urban complexities, develop holistic social growth and steer new social values not solely dependent on economic metrics. In urban village, the urgency of discussing informal development should go beyond the physical structure of the urban village and needs to include the understanding of an intangible network of communities across the entire city.

The thesis explores the socio-territorial orientation of Finnmark, northern Norway, in relation to the growing international interest for the development of the mineral industry. This interest is met locally with directly opposing views, favouring on the one hand the cultural development related to land-based practices, and on the other hand exploiting Finnmarks high resource potential for the benefit of municipal growth and job development. Difficulties arise with the geographic distribution of ethnicities. Proposed developments of the mineral industry find more support in coastal areas and although most indigenous Sámi find their home inland, they depend to a large degree for their livelihood on this coastal areas. The current fractured political landscape is highly related to and tied up with the complex history of internal center-periphery dynamics, colonization and stigmatization, which took (and in a way are still taking) place under the flagship of national assimilation policies of ‘norwegianization’, sustaining Finnmarks not-so-postcolonial present. In this perspective, three mining cases are of interest, due to the different social and political responses to the mining plans: Nussir in Kvalsund, Bidjovagge in Kautokeino and Sydvaranger in Sør-Varanger. Motivations behind decision-making on these cases illustrate clearly the conflicts of interests and demonstrate the difficulties for coexistence of directly opposing world views. Through an understanding of the formation of societal strata, the argument of the thesis unfolds over an in-depth spatiotemporal and on-site analysis of the cases and their specific socio-territorial setting in Finnmark. I argue that we should look more critically at the tendentious role of the modus operandi of urbanists and geologists (more specifically of resource mappers), in their way of influencing decision-making and framing and shaping cultural life, especially in contested territories. The thesis then moves towards a possible way forward through redesigning our conventional tools and methods for a more inclusive territorial-based endogenous growth model, such an inclusive growth model has the potential to bring together on the long term the opposing visions and ideas on the future of the mining industry and the preservation of indigenous culture. I end by arguing that knowledge building from a combined perspective has the potential to evolve the acceptance amongst cultures abiding by different worldviews. Effectively, the newly proposed geological era of the Anthropocene, proposes also the updating modern science with cultural diversity, asking for renewed responses away from the modern tradition.

This research begins with a fascination for nonhuman activeness. This is based within a theoretical framework of multispecies world, in which nonhumans are seen as active beings that continuously disturb. Seeing nonhumans as active beings causes some policies, or interventions, to look strange. One of these policies in the Netherlands is the new forest strategy commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture in the Netherlands: the expansion of forest by 37.000 hectares within ten years. Even though the goal of the forest strategy is to provide more biodiverse spaces, the new forest is still there because it is pleasant for us humans. The research therefore aims at an alternative to this forest strategy through researching the main question: How can new ways of connectedness between humans and nonhumans be generated in existing and newly constructed areas perceived as ‘natural’ or ‘nature’? In order to research new types of connectedness, the theoretical framework of multispecies world is further explored. This results in design principles on human, nonhuman, and abiotic movement, hybrid as an explicit human structure where there is a condensation of movement, and landscape as being, which is a forest structure designed as if it has legal rights. After this, the dune region, with in specific Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen is analysed in terms of movement, transitions and identity of the area, and problematic areas where a landscape as being is necessary. In terms of movement there are different movements found in the areas of the forest/savannah, the dunes, the water infiltration system, and the flower bulb fields. Transition zones are found between these areas. Hybrids are placed here in order to let make humans more aware of nonhuman movement. Problematic areas around Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen are considered to be the Oosterkanaal, that retrieves water from the dunes, and the cultivation of flower bulbs. These elements result in a research by design that tries to generate new ways of connectedness between humans and nonhumans. Time, and materiality become very important in the design. The hybrids have a timespan in which they need to be build anew or left to decay. Therefore, every thirty years there is a reassessment of the relation that humans have to the landscape. Through the design it becomes clear that the multispecies approach taken on in the design, does not generate new connections with the presence of movement, hybrid, and landscape as being. But it does generate different ways of connectedness because of the rebuilding of hybrids that are a direct response to the landscape and its corresponding movements, and the changes that happened in the landscape. A multispecies framework therefore proposes an alternative design for the forest strategy that instead of moving towards an end goal (which the forest strategy does), mostly marks a beginning of a relation to the landscape that is revaluated through a cyclical approach to time. This approach thus does not lead to new connectedness, however it does lead to different connectedness.

At the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, weekly bi-national markets exemplify (within a tense social context) the economic relevance of the goods and people metabolism along with emerging bi-national social relations. For this border territory, a temporal perspective is productive to develop a comprehensive grasp of the area; the markets, daily local and insular logistics, commuters and yearly fairs reveal this character. Moreover, inhabitants of the border engage in transmigratory practices, meaning, they pertain and participate in more than one community. In this thesis I focus on Malpaso|se, a strategic node at the southern border connecting the main capitals of the island. At the same time, is the location of the most important border logistic check point on the island and the site of a prominent binational market. The spatial organization of this site relies on the dialectic of mobile and fixed spatial configurations given the nature of the market scheduling. However, its current configuration prioritises security -with its inherent violence- hinders the potentials for cross-border interaction, restricts the operability of the current activities of the site and reinforces pejorative socio-spatial dynamics. For this reason, I based the approach of this project on cross-border itinerant programs, infrastructure thinking and adaptable design interventions. The goal is to produce a common territory, promote multi-temporal practices, foster bi-directional social exchange and develop spatial configurations that respond to the uncertainties of use under different time frameworks; daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.

The agricultural landscape in the Netherlands has changed drastically over the course of the last 70 years. After World War II, it was governmental policy that pushed the transition to intensive farming by giving out subsidies. These developments have also had an impact on the province of Friesland, where agriculture has a long history and is thereby embedded in the province’s landscape identity. However, years of scaling up have caused a loss of small-scale structures in the landscape. The result is not only the disappearance of a historic cultural landscape but also the rapid decline of a biodiversity. Fertilisers and pesticides are the two biggest polluters of Dutch surface water, both secondary effects of intensive agriculture. Today, the balance between ecology, the landscape and intensive agricultural practice is lost. This thesis has two main objectives. First a study, to understand the agricultural developments that have taken place since World War II in the Netherlands and specifically Friesland. This study will examine the effects these developments have on ecology, social structures, and the cultural heritage found throughout Friesland. Secondly, a research-by-design assignment aims to find a solution to how a new balance between agriculture, ecology and the landscape can be found through design. Three strategies are developed which are emphasising cultural-historical structures, strengthening ecological values and working with the vernacular. The strategies are implemented on a regional scale in Friesland and on a local scale in dialogue with a local farmer. Through various scales, ecological corridors are strengthened in the area by introducing nature-friendly banks along waterways. These ecological corridors will connect routes on both land and water with cultural-historical structures in the area. In addition, a small-scale farmers’ nature network is implemented. On a local scale, a water-purifying helophyte field will be constructed which filters agricultural water run-off before it discharges into a local waterway. This project can serve as a reference to how we can move towards a newfound balance between ecology, the landscape and agricultural practice in the Netherlands.

The Cyprus island(s) of 2022 is divided into the North and South sides, on the Turkish and Greek sides, since the war of 1974. 47 years of an intentional post-conflict (bio)political process of erasure of the pre-war shared identity between Orthodox and Muslims that leads to a series of critical socio-cultural and environmental conditions. In order to counteract the impacts of this monologue, the project proposes a process of harvesting, decomposing, and reintroducing the components of past shared identity, between the traces of a post-conflict vilified territory. So, following this process, a series of care protocols exemplify an alternative way of occupation the settlement and the landscape of these kinds of territories, for the future. The notions of time, exchange, and attachment are the key elements of these alter-protocols. This paradigm is being assembled based on a cultural identity that is built during the years and constant current experimentation (scientific or not). An action, and reaction between human entities and other ecological elements following a biodynamic calendar. So, the protocols’ times are both linear and circular, with the random times of events revealing another kind of interrelation between the multiple components. Furthermore, it acts on an “ownerless” land, which obtains different agencies during this process. It is the shelters’ land, the survival land, the shared land, or the human-less land. The actors build their shelter, live collectively, and work with the landscape in order to co-create but also develop the paradigm of symbiosis. This system is accessible seeking to influence local actors and visitors. So, the permanent actor hosts an ephemeral actor in order to co-create together, products and art, temporarily integrating them into a new way of life. This is an expanding process, as the ephemeral visitor becomes permanent and the paradigm is embraced by more actors.

The project I propose is not the child of its time, it rejects the lexicon of current affairs (climate change, pollution, exploitation of resources) as well as that of social issues. It does not want to solve the problem of the site in which it operates, but it embraces a horizon of analysis and observation of man in his existential dimension, completely isolated from the dynamics determined by the homo faber. The project focuses on the relationship between the homo figurans 1 and the territory in which he lives, an archaic, but never anachronistic, relationship. The project I propose focuses on architectural language, on how to act in the place rather than what to do in the place. For this reason, I believe that it has a markedly political valence. As the political valence of a work of any type - literary or architectural - is not determined only by the issues it deals with, but above all by the choice it operates. There is not a more purely political operation than an operation on language. Homo Figurans, term used by Eugenio Turri in The landscape as a theater 2001. Homo Figurans: Man as a figure among the figures of the world.

The extreme character of human activities and hard infrastructures in combination with the continuous variation of the climate has triggered an unprecedented fast rate of alterations in the environment. Hereafter the anthropogenically magnified climate change is increasing stress on ecosystems; especially interfaces such as coastal areas are in significant risk. Considering that the North Sea is one of the most urbanized seascapes, we can draw upon its susceptibility to three hazards: inundation, sea temperature rise, and growing harbors. Although an ambiguity will prevail concerning the magnitude and rate of transformations, certainly inundation will cover and drown habitats, as well as move large amounts of formations and sediments; that sea temperature rise will attract invasive species and decrease water quality due to habitat depletion; in addition to the demand on expanding ports which implies more pollution by ship traffic, industrial areas, and spills, hence the accumulation of externalities in the sea bottom. One of the most sensible as well as affected territories concerning these hazards is the Wadden Sea Re¬gion, which consists of a large intertidal zone surrounded by high productivity areas and rich marine ecosystems shared by three countries. Recalibrating this region could mean enhancing the exhausted North Sea ecology to embrace climatic risk, store externalities, and set an example for the manage¬ment of other conservation areas at risk. Our spatial measures have developed from the exploitation of ecology (1900s) to its conservation (1960s) , currently (2000s) we are looking towards shepherding nature by integrating them into our constructed systems. However this spatial management perspective overlooks the innate benefits resulting from the synergy by co-habitation of human life, non-human life and the environment. The proposed project recommends to look into a partnership with nature to join the intrinsic dynamics this planet offers, instead of trying to dominate them. This suggested co- habitation could be a chance to synchronize with the changing processes of our environment, which might lead us towards adapting progressively to them. The project claims to regenerate the multi- equilibria state of marine ecosystems and develop an evolutionary adaptation through an ecosystem suc¬cession approach(Davoudi et al., 2013; Hale et al., 2009). This entails the grad¬ual transformation of constantly obsolete infrastructures towards hybrid evolving systems consisting of Infrastructural Ecologies (Brown, 2019).The idea is to use a mixture of soft and hard infrastructures that reintegrate the bio dynamics of ecology, so that it can be colonized by socio- ecological elements. Hence the interplay of the anthropic designs and environmental processes would support the creation of habitats that allow a shared expansion space for dissimilar activities to meet (ecotone enhancement). To propose such infrastructures it was necessary to understand the dynamics of the different marine ecosystems in terms of time cycles, longevity and inter dependencies. The consideration of this temporal dimension of socio- ecological elements in the design, allows the proposed changes to eventually be coupled to the pace of environmental processes. Hereafter ecosystems could be able to embrace climatic risk, since they no longer present a hazard, but a trigger of transformation.