The Blue Heart is the deltaic territory composed of the IJssel Estuary, IJsselmeer-Markermeer, Wadden Sea, and the reclaimed polders of Flevoland and Wieringermeer. The Blue Heart is a globally important node of migration of aquatic species and birds due to its delta estuary geomorphology. However, the same deltaic conditions that allowed intense biodiversity were dangerous for local human settlements, constantly facing disasters due to storm surges from the North Sea. As an adaptation measure to minimize the probability of flooding, the
Zuiderzeewerken implemented new linear flooding defenses in the Blue Heart Delta, such as the Afsluitdijk and new dikes that surrounded the newly reclaimed polders. However, this adaptation measure had severe ecological trade-offs. It interrupted the migratory routes and completely changed the endogenous brackish water ecosystem of the Zuiderzee into a freshwater reservoir for the demand for agriculture and housing. In the process, the water infrastructure morphology eliminated most of the vital local species of the brackish water
habitat, degrading the ecological succession processes in the lakes. Currently, the lakes Markermeer and IJsselmeer have severe ecological challenges related to the lack of biodiversity, which not only impacts the global web-of-life of the Blue Heart but also the original local fishing activities. Furthermore, the Province of Flevoland was developed as an intensive agricultural land towards exportation, facilitated by favorable marine clay fertility conditions and advanced farming technologies. As new climate conditions appear in uncertain future horizons, the limits of the paradigms that maintain the current territorial conditions and
functions of the Blue Heart are increasingly urgent. The project starts by shifting the harmful conditional and functional paradigms by adopting a nexus of ecology, water infrastructure, food, and housing. Then it proposed a planned adaptation model that guides the territorial recomposition and regional deconstruction of the Blue Heart to achieve endogenous agrourban ecological interfaces. In that sense, proposing a socioeconomic system that can synergize
with the web of life. The new spatial possibilities allow a regional envisioning for Flevoland that is rooted in ecological reintegration and water infrastructure change considering the future socio-climate scenarios of Deltares. ... Read more

This research explores the potential of urban design to fulfill the role of integrating the domains of ecology, food, and climate change to achieve long-term restorative goals. Also, the potential of urban design to be the operator of a dynamic coexistence with nature by acting upon the diverse layers of landscape infrastructure and embedded socioenvironmental systems. After establishing the theoretical foundations on the domain intersections, this research adopts a research-by-design methodology that aims to answer the question of how can urban design simultaneously operationalize the intersection of ecological restoration, climate adaptation, and food production through spatial possibilities in an exploratory case study. Divided in three steps, the case study exercise starts by a pre-design step, that aims to achieve a contextual problem definition; subsequently, the design step focuses on developing a program, proposals, and evaluation of the proposals; and finally, the post-design step establishes a synthesis of the projections and discusses the wider knowledge acquired during the process. Through a contextual analysis of the case study of urban expansion in the Netherlands (Almere-Pampus), it is revealed that territorial dynamics, the trade-offs between current land use, and also the political context of the site are intertwined with its landscape infrastructure, that is vulnerable to sea-level rise. Furthermore, by adopting local references of “building with nature” approaches, it establishes a projective design exercise to investigate the potential of answering the research question through the proposition of a renaturalization process grounded on an agroecosystem that functions on base of local habitats. The results of the research indicate the potential of endogenous forms of production and land use to coexist with natural dynamics and guide the spatial design of multifunctional backbones. Also, it reveals the possible agency of a reformed countryside to be part of a decentralized water infrastructure that guides renaturalization efforts, integrating local actors and agenda demands. ... Read more