S.I. de Wit
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1
Book chapter
(2026)
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Daniela Maiullari, René van der Velde, Saskia de Wit, Michiel Pouderoijen, Marjolein van Esch
Trees and the urban forest are essential cooling devices for adapting cities to urban heat. This chapter explores the potential of these solutions to adapt to climate change while addressing essential considerations and challenges within the urban design domain. Thermal mechanisms through which trees contribute to cooling urban environments are presented, ranging from shade provision and evapotranspiration at the scale of the tree to the scale of a tree ensemble, area, and urban forest network. Principles for careful green space planning and strategically placing trees are introduced with a specific focus on the spatial factors that optimize their cooling effects and maximize their benefits. Additionally, this chapter highlights the value of onsite measurements in assessing the magnitude of trees’ cooling potential. Data collection methods are introduced to evaluate the impact of trees and other nature-based interventions on temperature, humidity, and wind patterns. Finally, this chapter discusses the complex nature of urban environments, related limitations and opportunities for enlarging, maintaining and integrating green areas into densely built areas.
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Trees and the urban forest are essential cooling devices for adapting cities to urban heat. This chapter explores the potential of these solutions to adapt to climate change while addressing essential considerations and challenges within the urban design domain. Thermal mechanisms through which trees contribute to cooling urban environments are presented, ranging from shade provision and evapotranspiration at the scale of the tree to the scale of a tree ensemble, area, and urban forest network. Principles for careful green space planning and strategically placing trees are introduced with a specific focus on the spatial factors that optimize their cooling effects and maximize their benefits. Additionally, this chapter highlights the value of onsite measurements in assessing the magnitude of trees’ cooling potential. Data collection methods are introduced to evaluate the impact of trees and other nature-based interventions on temperature, humidity, and wind patterns. Finally, this chapter discusses the complex nature of urban environments, related limitations and opportunities for enlarging, maintaining and integrating green areas into densely built areas.
Confectie en eigenheid
De confectieborders van Mien Ruys als bouwstenen voor gewortelde tuinen
Mien Ruys (1904-1999) was een pionier van de moderne tuinarchitectuur. Ze was politiek en sociaal bevlogen, en een voorvechtster van interdisciplinaire samenwerking; ze werkte samen met architecten en stedenbouwkundigen, en streefde ernaar dat het landschapsontwerp integraal kon bijdragen aan stedenbouwkundige plannen. Een groot deel van haar oeuvre speelt zich af in en rondom sociale woningbouw en is nog steeds te zien in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. Werkzaam in een tijd van vernieuwing en wederopbouw stond haar creatieve geest garant voor veel innovaties in het tuinontwerp, zoals de uitvinding van grindtegels, toepassing van afgedankte spoorwegbielzen - waarmee ze vooropliep in het nadenken over hergebruik - en confectieborders. [...]
...
Mien Ruys (1904-1999) was een pionier van de moderne tuinarchitectuur. Ze was politiek en sociaal bevlogen, en een voorvechtster van interdisciplinaire samenwerking; ze werkte samen met architecten en stedenbouwkundigen, en streefde ernaar dat het landschapsontwerp integraal kon bijdragen aan stedenbouwkundige plannen. Een groot deel van haar oeuvre speelt zich af in en rondom sociale woningbouw en is nog steeds te zien in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. Werkzaam in een tijd van vernieuwing en wederopbouw stond haar creatieve geest garant voor veel innovaties in het tuinontwerp, zoals de uitvinding van grindtegels, toepassing van afgedankte spoorwegbielzen - waarmee ze vooropliep in het nadenken over hergebruik - en confectieborders. [...]
De bomentaal van Rotterdam Zuid
Ontwerpend onderzoek naar de verdichting van het stadsbosmozaïek in parken en bosplantsoenen
1.Analyse bomentaal van drie parken/bosplantsoenen in hun context (periodisering en achterliggende ontwerpgedachten, gebruik, ruimtelijke relaties en interne samenhang, ontwikkeling in de tijd).
2.Aanbevelingen.
3.Ontwerp- en beheervoorstel voor versterken van bomentaal in deze drie parken/bosplantsoenen in hun context: Minimaal en maximaal volume aan bomen: laadvermogen (op verschillende schalen).
4.Omschrijving van methode voor analyse, aanbevelingen en uitgangspunten voor ontwerp en beheer van Rotterdamse parken en bosplantsoenen op basis van bomentaal. ...
2.Aanbevelingen.
3.Ontwerp- en beheervoorstel voor versterken van bomentaal in deze drie parken/bosplantsoenen in hun context: Minimaal en maximaal volume aan bomen: laadvermogen (op verschillende schalen).
4.Omschrijving van methode voor analyse, aanbevelingen en uitgangspunten voor ontwerp en beheer van Rotterdamse parken en bosplantsoenen op basis van bomentaal. ...
1.Analyse bomentaal van drie parken/bosplantsoenen in hun context (periodisering en achterliggende ontwerpgedachten, gebruik, ruimtelijke relaties en interne samenhang, ontwikkeling in de tijd).
2.Aanbevelingen.
3.Ontwerp- en beheervoorstel voor versterken van bomentaal in deze drie parken/bosplantsoenen in hun context: Minimaal en maximaal volume aan bomen: laadvermogen (op verschillende schalen).
4.Omschrijving van methode voor analyse, aanbevelingen en uitgangspunten voor ontwerp en beheer van Rotterdamse parken en bosplantsoenen op basis van bomentaal.
2.Aanbevelingen.
3.Ontwerp- en beheervoorstel voor versterken van bomentaal in deze drie parken/bosplantsoenen in hun context: Minimaal en maximaal volume aan bomen: laadvermogen (op verschillende schalen).
4.Omschrijving van methode voor analyse, aanbevelingen en uitgangspunten voor ontwerp en beheer van Rotterdamse parken en bosplantsoenen op basis van bomentaal.
In 2024 the management department of the municipality Rotterdam asked Delft University of Technology researchers for a durable and future-proof decision-making method for tree maintenance in parks and plantations, based on Tree Language. Tree language is a typology of urban tree structures, which characterizes the spatial relationship the grammar between tree species, configurations and plantations (vocabulary, syntax and structure) and their specific situation. It provides a neutral framework for decision-making; the socio-cultural, economic, physical and ecological dimension provide the content. Urban tree structures derive their logic from the anchoring in the longue durée of their development, and from a scale continuity in which the different dimensions play out. Therefore, the method starts from understanding the existing mosaic of plantations, tree types and configurations in relation to each other as the basis for future transformations. To make the tree language operational for management we studied three cases of different sizes and complexity: Buizenpark is small and part of a neighbourhood plantation structure, Valkeniersweide is a clearly defined urban park and Drechterweide is a large forest plantation. We used the case studies to define different steps: determine 1) type of plantation; 2) tree types; 3) configurations; 4) groups of configurations; 5) Proposal for strengthening existing groups and configurations, with a basic and maximum version as a tool for discussion with different actors. This provides a solid starting point for the next two steps, to be conducted in collaboration with the municipal departments: 6) Compare to ongoing plans; 7) Differentiate in time. This asks for two transitions in management paradigms: 1) Spatial dimension as basis; 2) Configuration instead of forest plantation or individual tree as management unit. Merging a landscape architectural and a maintenance perspective, we might speculatively call this method a ‘creative management strategy’.
...
In 2024 the management department of the municipality Rotterdam asked Delft University of Technology researchers for a durable and future-proof decision-making method for tree maintenance in parks and plantations, based on Tree Language. Tree language is a typology of urban tree structures, which characterizes the spatial relationship the grammar between tree species, configurations and plantations (vocabulary, syntax and structure) and their specific situation. It provides a neutral framework for decision-making; the socio-cultural, economic, physical and ecological dimension provide the content. Urban tree structures derive their logic from the anchoring in the longue durée of their development, and from a scale continuity in which the different dimensions play out. Therefore, the method starts from understanding the existing mosaic of plantations, tree types and configurations in relation to each other as the basis for future transformations. To make the tree language operational for management we studied three cases of different sizes and complexity: Buizenpark is small and part of a neighbourhood plantation structure, Valkeniersweide is a clearly defined urban park and Drechterweide is a large forest plantation. We used the case studies to define different steps: determine 1) type of plantation; 2) tree types; 3) configurations; 4) groups of configurations; 5) Proposal for strengthening existing groups and configurations, with a basic and maximum version as a tool for discussion with different actors. This provides a solid starting point for the next two steps, to be conducted in collaboration with the municipal departments: 6) Compare to ongoing plans; 7) Differentiate in time. This asks for two transitions in management paradigms: 1) Spatial dimension as basis; 2) Configuration instead of forest plantation or individual tree as management unit. Merging a landscape architectural and a maintenance perspective, we might speculatively call this method a ‘creative management strategy’.
This issue of SPOOL elaborates a designerly perspective on urban forestry. Evidence has increased rapidly in the recent years to confirm the agency of trees and urban forests to cure a number of ills besetting urban societies. An expanding range of disciplines, in varying and novel combinations, are turning to an urban version of forestry to re-configure green (and grey) infrastructures, re-write neighbourhoods, re-purpose derelict territories and re-vitalize disparate peripheries. As such, in the face of the growing number of challenges facing cities globally, we see that urban trees and forests are becoming increasingly central to spatial planning and design practise. And yet, with all this work done on the environmental, ecological, technical and recently also urbanism-related aspects of urban forestry (cf. Journal of Landscape Architecture 1/2023), its site-specific, spatial, aesthetical, and cultural dimensions have received less attention in research. For us as SPOOL editors, this is an invitation to focus on trees and forests from the vantage point of landscape architecture and the related thread of SPOOL, called ‘landscape metropolis’. This thematic thread addresses the dynamic, composite, and layered urban landscape with all its biotic and abiotic elements from a design perspective, with the intent to transcend the conventional city-countryside dichotomy, and to understand landscape as a permanent underlying subtext of the urban condition, with repercussions into the remotest corners of the globe. From a landscape metropolis perspective, cities are understood as complex territorial mosaics where the conventional categories of urban and non-urban give way to a mix of material environments in various stages of ‘naturalness’, or to put it another way: natures in various stages of becoming ‘cultured’. Building on the potentials of an alternative reading of the urban territory then, in this issue we feature a number of select authors who elaborate on this condition, expanding on a designerly frame of knowing and doing in urban forestry. Publication formats also help: besides regular papers, visual essays are featured as a lesser-known yet highly appropriate category of exploration for design research.
...
This issue of SPOOL elaborates a designerly perspective on urban forestry. Evidence has increased rapidly in the recent years to confirm the agency of trees and urban forests to cure a number of ills besetting urban societies. An expanding range of disciplines, in varying and novel combinations, are turning to an urban version of forestry to re-configure green (and grey) infrastructures, re-write neighbourhoods, re-purpose derelict territories and re-vitalize disparate peripheries. As such, in the face of the growing number of challenges facing cities globally, we see that urban trees and forests are becoming increasingly central to spatial planning and design practise. And yet, with all this work done on the environmental, ecological, technical and recently also urbanism-related aspects of urban forestry (cf. Journal of Landscape Architecture 1/2023), its site-specific, spatial, aesthetical, and cultural dimensions have received less attention in research. For us as SPOOL editors, this is an invitation to focus on trees and forests from the vantage point of landscape architecture and the related thread of SPOOL, called ‘landscape metropolis’. This thematic thread addresses the dynamic, composite, and layered urban landscape with all its biotic and abiotic elements from a design perspective, with the intent to transcend the conventional city-countryside dichotomy, and to understand landscape as a permanent underlying subtext of the urban condition, with repercussions into the remotest corners of the globe. From a landscape metropolis perspective, cities are understood as complex territorial mosaics where the conventional categories of urban and non-urban give way to a mix of material environments in various stages of ‘naturalness’, or to put it another way: natures in various stages of becoming ‘cultured’. Building on the potentials of an alternative reading of the urban territory then, in this issue we feature a number of select authors who elaborate on this condition, expanding on a designerly frame of knowing and doing in urban forestry. Publication formats also help: besides regular papers, visual essays are featured as a lesser-known yet highly appropriate category of exploration for design research.
In the thread Landscape Metropolis, SPOOL addresses the interrelation between urban, infrastructural, rural, and living formations as a dynamic, intertwined, and layered landscape structure. Triggered by the profound changes of the Anthropocene, the complexity of the metropolitan landscape asks for reorientation when addressing physical space as well as spatial investigation and theory, in terms of aesthetic appreciation, designerly concepts, guidelines for planning and governance, and design theoretical understandings. Spatial design responses to this growing complexity cover a broad spectrum of areas. They range from a focus on negotiation processes between human actors and demands—such as approaching the need for inclusivity, accessibility, and democracy in urban spaces (e.g., Landscape Metropolis #5 – Park Politics)—to a technical or ecological systems-oriented focus on managing landscapes, as in landscape ecology. [...]
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In the thread Landscape Metropolis, SPOOL addresses the interrelation between urban, infrastructural, rural, and living formations as a dynamic, intertwined, and layered landscape structure. Triggered by the profound changes of the Anthropocene, the complexity of the metropolitan landscape asks for reorientation when addressing physical space as well as spatial investigation and theory, in terms of aesthetic appreciation, designerly concepts, guidelines for planning and governance, and design theoretical understandings. Spatial design responses to this growing complexity cover a broad spectrum of areas. They range from a focus on negotiation processes between human actors and demands—such as approaching the need for inclusivity, accessibility, and democracy in urban spaces (e.g., Landscape Metropolis #5 – Park Politics)—to a technical or ecological systems-oriented focus on managing landscapes, as in landscape ecology. [...]
Amid growing urban challenges, designers must navigate the interplay of social, ecological, and spatial systems. Spatial design pedagogy can address this need by fostering hands-on, real-world experiences that encourage collaboration, critical and creative thinking, and a deep appreciation for the existing values of a site. This contribution reflects on two teaching experiences within TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, focusing on interstitial spaces in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The course On Site: Landscape Architectonic Explorations engages master’s students from Landscape Architecture, Urbanism, and Architecture, emphasising interdisciplinary collaboration to develop inventive analyses through immersive experiences and a design proposal using minimal interventions. In 2023, students examined Land van Chabot, a fragmented polder landscape once immortalised by painter Henk Chabot (1894–1949), now redefined by an emerging motorway, the recreational corridor of the river Rotte, and the suburbs. In 2024, they focused on Stadspark-West, a network of programmed and leftover green spaces interwoven with dense urban infrastructure. Both experiences prioritised immersive fieldwork and direct stakeholder engagement with local associations, the municipality, and human and non-human residents, users, and passers-by. While addressing the sites’ dissonant challenges, students uncovered their tangible and intangible qualities. Ephemeral interventions exposed the audience to the existing qualities and potential futures of the site, showcasing the students’ site interpretations and design proposals, but most importantly providing a vehicle to experience the site. This approach demonstrates the transformative potential of reframing urban fringes as laboratories for experimentation, from which meaningful places can emerge.
...
Amid growing urban challenges, designers must navigate the interplay of social, ecological, and spatial systems. Spatial design pedagogy can address this need by fostering hands-on, real-world experiences that encourage collaboration, critical and creative thinking, and a deep appreciation for the existing values of a site. This contribution reflects on two teaching experiences within TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, focusing on interstitial spaces in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The course On Site: Landscape Architectonic Explorations engages master’s students from Landscape Architecture, Urbanism, and Architecture, emphasising interdisciplinary collaboration to develop inventive analyses through immersive experiences and a design proposal using minimal interventions. In 2023, students examined Land van Chabot, a fragmented polder landscape once immortalised by painter Henk Chabot (1894–1949), now redefined by an emerging motorway, the recreational corridor of the river Rotte, and the suburbs. In 2024, they focused on Stadspark-West, a network of programmed and leftover green spaces interwoven with dense urban infrastructure. Both experiences prioritised immersive fieldwork and direct stakeholder engagement with local associations, the municipality, and human and non-human residents, users, and passers-by. While addressing the sites’ dissonant challenges, students uncovered their tangible and intangible qualities. Ephemeral interventions exposed the audience to the existing qualities and potential futures of the site, showcasing the students’ site interpretations and design proposals, but most importantly providing a vehicle to experience the site. This approach demonstrates the transformative potential of reframing urban fringes as laboratories for experimentation, from which meaningful places can emerge.
How Trees Shape Urban Spaces
Multiplicity and Differentiation of the Urban Forest Viewed from a Visual-Spatial Perspective
Background: The field of urban forestry encompasses many dimensions, of which that of visual-spatial perception, addressing the spatial relationship between city and trees, has received little attention. Analyzing the urban forest from a visual-spatial perspective is needed to understand relationships between different components as well as site-specific qualities. Methods: Tree configurations describe the relationship between form and space, determined by the relative disposition of the trees which result from an interaction between design and the development over time. Based on field observations, with the city of Delft in the Netherlands as a case study, 35 generic tree configuration types have been defined. With this “vocabulary,” specific tree configurations and their relations are researched, describing the urban forest from an eyelevel perspective as an essential level on which the spatiality of the urban forest can be understood. Results: Unraveling the urban forest components by comparing two emblematic ensembles of tree configurations allows an understanding of their heterogeneity as well as their coherence and dynamics. Conclusions: The relationship of the tree vocabulary with the specific location exposes their role as an ordering structure and a carrier of the identity of Delft, and their differentiation and site-specific qualities, revealing a composition of wooded areas each with their own characteristics, shows both urban and forested areas as equivalent components of an urban forest mosaic. This differentiation can be used as a tool for strengthening relations between the different components as well as diversity and heterogeneity in urban forests.
...
Background: The field of urban forestry encompasses many dimensions, of which that of visual-spatial perception, addressing the spatial relationship between city and trees, has received little attention. Analyzing the urban forest from a visual-spatial perspective is needed to understand relationships between different components as well as site-specific qualities. Methods: Tree configurations describe the relationship between form and space, determined by the relative disposition of the trees which result from an interaction between design and the development over time. Based on field observations, with the city of Delft in the Netherlands as a case study, 35 generic tree configuration types have been defined. With this “vocabulary,” specific tree configurations and their relations are researched, describing the urban forest from an eyelevel perspective as an essential level on which the spatiality of the urban forest can be understood. Results: Unraveling the urban forest components by comparing two emblematic ensembles of tree configurations allows an understanding of their heterogeneity as well as their coherence and dynamics. Conclusions: The relationship of the tree vocabulary with the specific location exposes their role as an ordering structure and a carrier of the identity of Delft, and their differentiation and site-specific qualities, revealing a composition of wooded areas each with their own characteristics, shows both urban and forested areas as equivalent components of an urban forest mosaic. This differentiation can be used as a tool for strengthening relations between the different components as well as diversity and heterogeneity in urban forests.
Second Glance
Landscape Architecture Europe #6
It happens to all of us at one point or another: you walk through a park and think ‘OK, this is really pleasant’, and then leave and kind of forget about it. And when you visit, maybe by accident, for a second time, things have grown, the light is different, you walk from a different direction, you see it from a totally different angle and you recognize a deeper meaning. There is more to it than what you assumed the first time. Second Glance. This is the title of the sixth edition of Landscape Architecture Europe. [...]
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It happens to all of us at one point or another: you walk through a park and think ‘OK, this is really pleasant’, and then leave and kind of forget about it. And when you visit, maybe by accident, for a second time, things have grown, the light is different, you walk from a different direction, you see it from a totally different angle and you recognize a deeper meaning. There is more to it than what you assumed the first time. Second Glance. This is the title of the sixth edition of Landscape Architecture Europe. [...]
Introduction
Embracing the Future of the Wadden Sea Landscapes
How do young generations and educators envision the future of the Wadden Sea territories? How will these landscapes be modified in the years to come? How do we embrace the past and the present and imagine the future? […]
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How do young generations and educators envision the future of the Wadden Sea territories? How will these landscapes be modified in the years to come? How do we embrace the past and the present and imagine the future? […]
Urban Forestscapes
The City of Delft as a Woodland Complex
To understand the role of the urban forest for people and society a focus on the spatial-experiential aspect (in relation to the human body and human perception) is relevant: trees frame the space in which people move, act, experience and appreciate. ‘Tree language’ refers to the spatial relationship between tree species, planting configurations and plantations and their unique location.
The notion of ‘plantation’ is explored as one of the defining aspects of such a language (next to ‘species’ and ‘configuration’). ‘Plantation’ is proposed as a term to describe the wooded characteristics of areas in the urban realm, defined by a combination of characteristics of species, tree configurations and the density and morphology of the plantation, comparable to a natural forest mosaic which is also determined by commonalities in species and vegetation community structure, as well as having alternations of densely wooded and less wooded areas.
This reveals an urban landscape composed of a variegated wooded mosaic of plantations, which invariably transcend neighbourhood boundaries as well as common understandings of the boundary between city and countryside. In successive density and arrangement, in Delft seven types of plantations can be distinguished, connected and separated by the long lines, the avenues that traditionally formed the connections between Delft and the countryside like spokes in a wheel. ...
The notion of ‘plantation’ is explored as one of the defining aspects of such a language (next to ‘species’ and ‘configuration’). ‘Plantation’ is proposed as a term to describe the wooded characteristics of areas in the urban realm, defined by a combination of characteristics of species, tree configurations and the density and morphology of the plantation, comparable to a natural forest mosaic which is also determined by commonalities in species and vegetation community structure, as well as having alternations of densely wooded and less wooded areas.
This reveals an urban landscape composed of a variegated wooded mosaic of plantations, which invariably transcend neighbourhood boundaries as well as common understandings of the boundary between city and countryside. In successive density and arrangement, in Delft seven types of plantations can be distinguished, connected and separated by the long lines, the avenues that traditionally formed the connections between Delft and the countryside like spokes in a wheel. ...
To understand the role of the urban forest for people and society a focus on the spatial-experiential aspect (in relation to the human body and human perception) is relevant: trees frame the space in which people move, act, experience and appreciate. ‘Tree language’ refers to the spatial relationship between tree species, planting configurations and plantations and their unique location.
The notion of ‘plantation’ is explored as one of the defining aspects of such a language (next to ‘species’ and ‘configuration’). ‘Plantation’ is proposed as a term to describe the wooded characteristics of areas in the urban realm, defined by a combination of characteristics of species, tree configurations and the density and morphology of the plantation, comparable to a natural forest mosaic which is also determined by commonalities in species and vegetation community structure, as well as having alternations of densely wooded and less wooded areas.
This reveals an urban landscape composed of a variegated wooded mosaic of plantations, which invariably transcend neighbourhood boundaries as well as common understandings of the boundary between city and countryside. In successive density and arrangement, in Delft seven types of plantations can be distinguished, connected and separated by the long lines, the avenues that traditionally formed the connections between Delft and the countryside like spokes in a wheel.
The notion of ‘plantation’ is explored as one of the defining aspects of such a language (next to ‘species’ and ‘configuration’). ‘Plantation’ is proposed as a term to describe the wooded characteristics of areas in the urban realm, defined by a combination of characteristics of species, tree configurations and the density and morphology of the plantation, comparable to a natural forest mosaic which is also determined by commonalities in species and vegetation community structure, as well as having alternations of densely wooded and less wooded areas.
This reveals an urban landscape composed of a variegated wooded mosaic of plantations, which invariably transcend neighbourhood boundaries as well as common understandings of the boundary between city and countryside. In successive density and arrangement, in Delft seven types of plantations can be distinguished, connected and separated by the long lines, the avenues that traditionally formed the connections between Delft and the countryside like spokes in a wheel.
Atlas van boomstad Delft
Conclusies en aanbevelingen
Het stadsbosmozaïek is verantwoordelijk voor structuur, oriëntatie, identiteit en betekenis, en zorgt uiteindelijk voor de leefbaarheid van een stad. Om de stad een leefbare plek te maken en te houden voor zijn (menselijke en niet-menselijke) stadsbewoners, ook in relatie tot vragen ten aanzien van klimaatadaptatie, economie, en ecologie, zou de boom een centraal gegeven moeten zijn bij de transformaties van de stad. Hij vormt de verbindende component tussen de verschillende dimensies en schalen van deze transformaties. Er spelen verschillende dimensies in het begrijpen van en het ontwerpen aan het stadsbos. Maar deze dimensies hebben niet allemaal dezelfde rol. Uit deze atlas komt de ruimtelijke dimensie en de historische verankering ervan naar voren als bepalende drager voor alle overige dimensies.
...
Het stadsbosmozaïek is verantwoordelijk voor structuur, oriëntatie, identiteit en betekenis, en zorgt uiteindelijk voor de leefbaarheid van een stad. Om de stad een leefbare plek te maken en te houden voor zijn (menselijke en niet-menselijke) stadsbewoners, ook in relatie tot vragen ten aanzien van klimaatadaptatie, economie, en ecologie, zou de boom een centraal gegeven moeten zijn bij de transformaties van de stad. Hij vormt de verbindende component tussen de verschillende dimensies en schalen van deze transformaties. Er spelen verschillende dimensies in het begrijpen van en het ontwerpen aan het stadsbos. Maar deze dimensies hebben niet allemaal dezelfde rol. Uit deze atlas komt de ruimtelijke dimensie en de historische verankering ervan naar voren als bepalende drager voor alle overige dimensies.
Affective Encounters
Nature Close to The Skin
In an era of globalisation, landscape architects and urban designers have learnt to think big: large-scale plans with far-reaching visions, saving the planet and solving urgent global challenges. Usually, we try to solve these problems in the same way that we created them: with advanced and generic technological methods, and with significant investments. Yet this bigness is still largely the domain of international players, and its effects do not necessarily foster the quality of urban spaces. On the other end of the spectrum is the small realm of a terrarium, intriguing because of the contradiction between their otherworldliness and the representation they offer of the world as we know it. They share this quality with gardens, described by Michel Foucault as “the smallest fragment of the world and, at the same time, represents its totality, forming right from the remotest times a sort of felicitous and universal heterotopia”1. What if we learned to think small again? What do small gestures have to offer to reveal what is valuable and meaningful and to foster a novel understanding of the relation between humans and nature? How can they sharpen our view for the particular, identifying the places in the landscape in their structural, material, dynamic, practical, atmospheric, mnemonic, and discursive identities? [...]
...
In an era of globalisation, landscape architects and urban designers have learnt to think big: large-scale plans with far-reaching visions, saving the planet and solving urgent global challenges. Usually, we try to solve these problems in the same way that we created them: with advanced and generic technological methods, and with significant investments. Yet this bigness is still largely the domain of international players, and its effects do not necessarily foster the quality of urban spaces. On the other end of the spectrum is the small realm of a terrarium, intriguing because of the contradiction between their otherworldliness and the representation they offer of the world as we know it. They share this quality with gardens, described by Michel Foucault as “the smallest fragment of the world and, at the same time, represents its totality, forming right from the remotest times a sort of felicitous and universal heterotopia”1. What if we learned to think small again? What do small gestures have to offer to reveal what is valuable and meaningful and to foster a novel understanding of the relation between humans and nature? How can they sharpen our view for the particular, identifying the places in the landscape in their structural, material, dynamic, practical, atmospheric, mnemonic, and discursive identities? [...]
Augmenting socioecological dynamics in urban leftover spaces
Landscape architectural design as a foundation
Leftover spaces are urban interstices that are open to spontaneous socioecological appropriation, complementary to defined and managed urban open spaces. The design intervention of leftover spaces poses a paradox: while repurposing leftover spaces to make them accessible, usable and meaningful, design simultaneously runs a risk of closing off opportunities for appropriation. This paper examines the role of landscape architecture design in transforming leftover spaces. Four analytical lenses: the morphological, material, ecological and social lenses, were developed to examine the Dalston Curve Garden. Two essential design lessons for engaging the interstitial condition of leftover spaces were concluded: to design with multiple site qualities and to nurture local stewardship. The study further highlights the role of spatio-physical design as ‘founding’: to establish the beginning of a place-bound transformation without fixing the endpoint and to allow a profound connection between people and place to emerge.
...
Leftover spaces are urban interstices that are open to spontaneous socioecological appropriation, complementary to defined and managed urban open spaces. The design intervention of leftover spaces poses a paradox: while repurposing leftover spaces to make them accessible, usable and meaningful, design simultaneously runs a risk of closing off opportunities for appropriation. This paper examines the role of landscape architecture design in transforming leftover spaces. Four analytical lenses: the morphological, material, ecological and social lenses, were developed to examine the Dalston Curve Garden. Two essential design lessons for engaging the interstitial condition of leftover spaces were concluded: to design with multiple site qualities and to nurture local stewardship. The study further highlights the role of spatio-physical design as ‘founding’: to establish the beginning of a place-bound transformation without fixing the endpoint and to allow a profound connection between people and place to emerge.
'The Garden as an Expression of Supernature' discusses the Wasserkrater Garden in Germany as an entry to define a contemporary interpretation of nature: "super-nature", which might be represented in gardens as a force of abundance, beautiful and dramatic, showing existence to its full extent in which humans are only a small part, and at the same as something close to home, part of our daily environment. The Wasserkrater Garden shows an entanglement of natural and artificial expressing the contemporary understanding of the Anthropocene: the current era after the Holocene, in which humanity intervenes as a force of nature, and nature no longer exists without human influences. Without the distinction between what is natural and what is man-made, the contemporary garden can expose wilderness not in opposition of, but as an integral part of the metropolitan realm and our daily environment, evoking an immersive encounter with nature: an embodied experience.
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'The Garden as an Expression of Supernature' discusses the Wasserkrater Garden in Germany as an entry to define a contemporary interpretation of nature: "super-nature", which might be represented in gardens as a force of abundance, beautiful and dramatic, showing existence to its full extent in which humans are only a small part, and at the same as something close to home, part of our daily environment. The Wasserkrater Garden shows an entanglement of natural and artificial expressing the contemporary understanding of the Anthropocene: the current era after the Holocene, in which humanity intervenes as a force of nature, and nature no longer exists without human influences. Without the distinction between what is natural and what is man-made, the contemporary garden can expose wilderness not in opposition of, but as an integral part of the metropolitan realm and our daily environment, evoking an immersive encounter with nature: an embodied experience.
Cool Tree Architecture
A Descriptive Framework for a Tree Architecture Typology to Temper Urban Microclimates
As the elementary unit of the urban forest, trees temper thermal extremes in urban microclimates through shading and evapotranspiration, and by altering the movement of air. Metrics on shade performances of different species, however, are currently limited, which can be remedied by the development of a method to describe the range of species and cultivars via a structured overview of physical characteristics impacting radiation reflectivity, absorptivity, and transmissivity. This paper proposes a descriptive framework based on the concept of “tree architecture,” which has developed into a recognized field of plant study from the perspective of their physiognomy, morphology, and morphogenesis. The framework describes various architectural sub-traits within the overall trait categories of Crown, Wood, and Foliage. The descriptive framework can be used to develop a “Cool Tree Architecture Typology” (C-TAT), in which trees can be organized into similar types based on common physical characteristics. Further elaboration of sub-traits using observations of trees in controlled field laboratories resulted in new derivative classes for use as key in classifications for the C-TAT. The C-TAT can be used to organize the many species and cultivars occurring in, for example, Cfb Atlantic climate zone cities, to a lesser number of architectural types. This allows for more rapid evaluation and cooling performance calculations of tree inventories and can also be of value in assisting tree managers to propose more accurate thermal performance standards for trees in urban projects. The elaboration of tree architecture from an urban microclimate perspective complements existing elaborations and approaches in the field of tree architecture.
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As the elementary unit of the urban forest, trees temper thermal extremes in urban microclimates through shading and evapotranspiration, and by altering the movement of air. Metrics on shade performances of different species, however, are currently limited, which can be remedied by the development of a method to describe the range of species and cultivars via a structured overview of physical characteristics impacting radiation reflectivity, absorptivity, and transmissivity. This paper proposes a descriptive framework based on the concept of “tree architecture,” which has developed into a recognized field of plant study from the perspective of their physiognomy, morphology, and morphogenesis. The framework describes various architectural sub-traits within the overall trait categories of Crown, Wood, and Foliage. The descriptive framework can be used to develop a “Cool Tree Architecture Typology” (C-TAT), in which trees can be organized into similar types based on common physical characteristics. Further elaboration of sub-traits using observations of trees in controlled field laboratories resulted in new derivative classes for use as key in classifications for the C-TAT. The C-TAT can be used to organize the many species and cultivars occurring in, for example, Cfb Atlantic climate zone cities, to a lesser number of architectural types. This allows for more rapid evaluation and cooling performance calculations of tree inventories and can also be of value in assisting tree managers to propose more accurate thermal performance standards for trees in urban projects. The elaboration of tree architecture from an urban microclimate perspective complements existing elaborations and approaches in the field of tree architecture.
Operations on Railyard Sites, the Dutch Case
In between Landscape Design and Engineering
The technical landscape of railyard sites brings together a multidisciplinary set of expertise and needs. It entails the union of engineering and landscape design concerns, to redefine these spaces in the way they are maintained and potentially transformed. The paper gives an overview of this interplay, focusing on the Dutch panorama to describe experimental procedures to manage and leverage railyards' green spaces in their transformation. It is presented a specific case study, the design for Amsterdam PHS, where technological advancement allowed to redefine the railyard section, providing a new urban park for the city. Ultimately is explored the potentialities and impact of translating this approach in another territorial context, the Italian one, where abandonment phenomena are widespread. The originality of the contribution lies in correlating aspects usually disconnected, such as technical needs, design, and ecological thinking, to propose an alternative management and redevelopment outlook.
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The technical landscape of railyard sites brings together a multidisciplinary set of expertise and needs. It entails the union of engineering and landscape design concerns, to redefine these spaces in the way they are maintained and potentially transformed. The paper gives an overview of this interplay, focusing on the Dutch panorama to describe experimental procedures to manage and leverage railyards' green spaces in their transformation. It is presented a specific case study, the design for Amsterdam PHS, where technological advancement allowed to redefine the railyard section, providing a new urban park for the city. Ultimately is explored the potentialities and impact of translating this approach in another territorial context, the Italian one, where abandonment phenomena are widespread. The originality of the contribution lies in correlating aspects usually disconnected, such as technical needs, design, and ecological thinking, to propose an alternative management and redevelopment outlook.
The urban environment is perceived through multiple senses in parallel, which means that visual understanding of space is aided and complemented by auditory, basic-orienting, and haptic stimuli - although mainly unconsciously. Sensory conditions are inherent attributes of urban places, but are often overlooked in research. To include these aspects in any way in analysis of the urban landscape, they need to be understood as properties of urban space, to be translated from attributes of the perceiver to attributes of the perceived. Using the relation between a designed garden and its suburban context in Bad Oeynhausen (DE) as an example, I will explore an alternative analytical methodology that takes the first-hand perspective view of the subject moving through the city as the starting point. The human body explores space by moving through it; walking is the most direct way to access, study, and research the physical qualities of the (urban) landscape, involving not only visual experience but also sound, rhythm, kinaesthesia, balance, and so forth. A notation technique that discloses the interrelation between visual qualities and their perception over time is the technique of ‘scoring’. Scores are symbolisations of processes, which extend over time. They can objectively represent non-visual qualities of space, communicating the relation between such processes and their spatial context to others in other places and other moments. These representations of movement expose the qualities of the surroundings that change as one moves through them, thus communicating the experiential aspects of urban landscape.
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The urban environment is perceived through multiple senses in parallel, which means that visual understanding of space is aided and complemented by auditory, basic-orienting, and haptic stimuli - although mainly unconsciously. Sensory conditions are inherent attributes of urban places, but are often overlooked in research. To include these aspects in any way in analysis of the urban landscape, they need to be understood as properties of urban space, to be translated from attributes of the perceiver to attributes of the perceived. Using the relation between a designed garden and its suburban context in Bad Oeynhausen (DE) as an example, I will explore an alternative analytical methodology that takes the first-hand perspective view of the subject moving through the city as the starting point. The human body explores space by moving through it; walking is the most direct way to access, study, and research the physical qualities of the (urban) landscape, involving not only visual experience but also sound, rhythm, kinaesthesia, balance, and so forth. A notation technique that discloses the interrelation between visual qualities and their perception over time is the technique of ‘scoring’. Scores are symbolisations of processes, which extend over time. They can objectively represent non-visual qualities of space, communicating the relation between such processes and their spatial context to others in other places and other moments. These representations of movement expose the qualities of the surroundings that change as one moves through them, thus communicating the experiential aspects of urban landscape.