This research focuses on how to improve levels of inclusivity through spatial design in hyper-diverse and socio-spatial segregated neighbourhoods in order to improve the liveability in urban areas and is conducted in the neighbourhood Tarwewijk in Rotterdam-Zuid. The research has according to theory identified three design values which became key pillars of this thesis and has derived design strategies and design principles from that which would contribute to social cohesion in an urban area. The final outcome of this thesis is a public space design proposal for Tarwewijk that has integrated these design principles to enhance levels of social cohesion and inclusivity within the neighbourhood.

The upcoming circular economy has consequences for the application of materials within the building sector, which requires a different mindset and way of designing from the architect. The aim of this research is to develop a Circularity Overview in which the materials of a building can be assessed for circularity and environmental impact. The Overview can thus be used as a tool to test materials of an existing building, materials for a design, or can be used as a tool during the design process for adaptive reuse. This allows for orderly weighing of options and making choices, therefore it is a tool that can be of interest to students and architects who will be working with circular material use. The Overview is developed from criteria that have been compiled through desk research, for which it was important that the criteria are measurable and verifiable so that results can be replicated and traced. Knowledge about circularity was generated through literature research, after which six case studies were analyzed with an objective view. By testing the Overview on both newly built circular projects and transformed buildings, it emerged that the combination of material use and construction technique of both, such as reusing materials, applying detachable connections, and keeping existing structures intact as much as possible, can lead to favorable outcomes in terms of circularity. The circularity of the case studies as well as the operation of the Overview itself have also become insightful as a result. Although the Circularity Overview has shortcomings due to the incomplete availability of data, it provides an indication of circularity in material use that can be used to support choices before, during, and after a design phase. The Circularity Overview was used during the design process for the revitalization of the St Barbara church in Culemborg, which resulted in a design with minimal impact on the environment.

Nairobi’s urban processes today are largely impacted by global and postcolonial forces. Its inherited planning frameworks keep contributing to the self-sustaining systems of socio-economic inequality and exclusion of the urban poor in a capitalist society. At the same time, its urban planning reflects postcolonial processes, characterised by the global dominance of Western knowledge and the assumption of its universal applicability, as well as the pursuit of the ‘modern’ urban imaginary. Derived within this context, the standard mainstream upgrading and (re)development practices to address informal areas are unsustainable: showing ineffective (participatory) processes, providing solutions unfit to local circumstances and needs, and mainly indicate our limited epistemological understandings. This project responses to this trend, by approaching the informal settlement as spatial manifestation of implicit knowledge by the subaltern (‘subaltern urbanism’ (Roy, 2009;2011)(Varley, 2013)) in order to explore alternative development perspectives. It approaches local knowledge as the implicit knowledge that arranges space and governance. The research analyses Mathare Valley, Nairobi, and uncovers its spatial, social, and economic structures, including the organisation of local governance. The aim of the project is to explore how local knowledge and a community-based approach can provide a base for a strategic framework to guide sustainable development in Mathare Valley. As a final outcome, the proposal of an integrative strategic framework combines spatial and non-spatial interventions, introducing a local co-operative organisation that forms the heart of the community’s collective process of empowerment. Accompanying the strategy is the community action plan, meant as inspiration for the community on how to instigate such a process. This thesis’ relevance derives from its appreciation of the depth of informal settlements, its contribution to a contextualised understanding of sustainable development, and the promotion of a broadening of urban concepts and understandings to discover new insights on more effective and sustainable solutions within the context of development of informal urban areas.

The last decades in the spatial development of the cities in Eastern Europe can be described as a complex outcome of the institutional and societal changes after the era change in 1989. During this time the economy of these countries was transformed from a central-planning-controlled system based on state ownership to a neoliberal one, where capitalist principles rule. Besides, the political structure also changed entirely because the socialist regimes were transformed into democracies. Through these complex transitions, everybody’s life was affected because regulations, employment and services were reorganised. These processes also had a great effect on the urban fabric and continue to affect the current development of these cities. In my thesis, I collect the post-socialist consequences of the era change to specifically address them through creativity-led regeneration. This type of regeneration can be a catalyst to achieve an integrated design process to positively affect local communities and to reach a larger social impact through which the social and spatial consequences of the post-socialist transition can be addressed at the same time. This is demonstrated through a detailed creativity-led regeneration process in the XXIst district of Budapest, in the underused industrial area of the Csepel Works.

Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. This makes them centres of resource consumption and waste production. Sustainable development is seen as an opportunity to respond to the consequences of urbanisation and climate change. In recent years the concepts of circularity and urban symbiosis have emerged as popular strategies to develop sustainable urban areas. An example is the experimental project “Straat van de Toekomst”, implementing a circular strategy based on the Greenhouse Village concept. This concept implements circular systems for new ways of sanitation, heat and cold storage and greenhouse-house symbiosis. Although many technological artefacts have to be developed for these sustainable solutions, integrating infrastructural systems asks for more than just technological innovation. A socio-cultural change is needed in order to reach systems integration. The institutional part of technological transitions has been underexposed over the past few years. Besides the fact that systems integration is a relatively new concept, challenges regarding the process towards it have been mainly focussed towards the technological side. There is a lack of a clear answer on what institutional challenges and opportunities emerge during the process of systems integration, as well as a lack of knowledge on its implementation in urban area development. In order to analyse the process of systems integration in urban area development, the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework of Ostrom is used. The framework enables us to identify the influence of important variables on the decision making process. It consists of three exogenous variables (biophysical/ material conditions, attributes of the community and rules) that influence an action arena (action situation and participants) and provides handles to identify interactions and analyze these interactions through evaluative criteria. A comparative case-study is performed into three cases in the Netherlands: Cityplot in Buiksloterham, Amsterdam; Waterschoon in Noorderhoek, Sneek and EVA Lanxmeer in Culemborg. These were selected on the criteria of encompassing a project integrating infrastructural systems from the “Straat van de Toekomst” and being an urban area development.

Taking into consideration that ancient Greece is highly correlated to the democratic public space, the aim of the present thesis is to regain public space in modern Greece, by having as a testing location a medium-sized city, Chania. Public space was an important part of Greek people’s lives in the different chronological periods of its history. Starting from antiquity, the ancient agora and the Greek polis were considered as prototypes of democratic public spaces. In more modern years though, the relationship between Greek people and public space was gradually lost, leading to the present-day function of the Greek public spaces. Nowadays, most Greek people spend their free time in cafeterias and bars, neglecting so public spaces, such as squares, parks etc. Even though it is undeniable that cafeterias play an important role in the sociability, liveability and the economic vitality of an area, the way they function in Greece leads to the extreme privatization of public space due to coffee tables, the absence of people in areas where there are no cafes or the occupation of the empty public spaces by marginalized groups. Hence, the present thesis is dealing with the problematic use and the poor quality of public space in the Greek context, and especially in the city of Chania, as a case study. Many of the public spaces are extreme privatized, causing problems of accessibility and walkability, while others are not used at all or used by specific social groups developing urban voids or ghettos in the city. This existing defective Greek reality results in social exclusion and poor social interaction among different demographics, questioning the serving of needs of the different users. Taking into consideration the above-mentioned problem statement and the results by the different research methods used, it is concluded that the enhancement of sense of security, social interaction and inclusion are the main goals to be achieved in the project. Since these three concepts are more social than spatial related, design patterns are used as a method for their translation into space and urban environment. Moreover, they function as a bridge between research and design. In the end, to avoid generic solutions the definition of the patterns is a forth and backwards procedure between research and design.

With the development of the social economy, the traditional urban work and rest pattern of working during the day and resting at night has gradually changed. The night-time economy has become a new engine for urban regeneration, economic growth and cultural creation.The growth of tourism in Amsterdam has also benefited from its inclusive and prosperous night-time economy. However, the agglomeration of the nightlife industry in Amsterdam's city center results in a rise in noise, crime, and antisocial behavior, which triggers a backlash from residents. As a current countermeasure adopted by the municipality, state-led gentrification has mitigated the night-time economy's negative externalities to an extent, but caused massive closures of nightlife venues. This research aims to solve the dilemma of Amsterdam's night-time economy through planning instruments that optimize the urban polycentricity. The research explores integrated strategies and multi-scale spatial interventions to stimulate the development of peripheral night-time industry clusters while minimizing the nuisance, in order to improve the livability of the city center and contribute to a diverse and balanced night-time economy in Amsterdam.

The protagonist of this work is the rightless, displaced person - a population of individuals in transition, hidden like a shadow in the contemporary city. Departing from the active oppression of this considerable group from the fabric of the city and the ways in which architecture contributes to enclosing or dividing populations, this work proposes a reconsideration of the role of the architect in civil society. After all, what is the current role of the architect when we talk about the socio-political tensions in the context of a marginalised existence in the contemporary city? The work proposes critical, nonmodernist and empathetic ways of thinking about the communication between the individuals at stake and their spaces of transition. The design suggests how a situated, highly visible and appropriable building in the city of Amsterdam could contribute to give meaning to the ongoing debate on Dutch immigration policy and the position of a marginalised population in society.

The Netherlands faces climate change due to global warming and earthquakes due to gas production. To decrease both earthquakes and CO2 production, the government aims to half the gas production in the coming four years and aims for an entire stop by 2030. Over 80% of Dutch houses are heated with gas; 20% were built in the late post-war era (1960-1974) and these houses consume the most gas due to low levels of insulation. As most of these houses are very similar in construction they have a high potential for large scale refurbishment strategies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to create three strategies with each a different level of improvement, applicable to multiple building types of late post-war era houses. A row house was used to develop and test the strategies and a semi-detached and a free-standing house were used to test the versatility. Testing was performed with Design Builder and Uniec 2.2, both energy performance programs. Based on a literature review and analysis of the case study, the strategies developed were a basic insulation strategy (A), Energy Performance Coefficient (EPC) ≤ 0,4 strategy (B), and a Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) strategy (C). Strategy A consists merely of basic insulation techniques and the upgrading of old heating systems, which lowers gas consumption with roughly 50% and has a payback time of roughly 15 years. The second strategy aims to lower the EPC to 0,4 or less as is required for newly built houses and consists of higher-level insulation techniques and the use of solar power for heating and electricity. This decreases gas consumption with roughly 75%, electricity consumption with over 45%, has a payback time of roughly 15 years, and a better balanced investment vs. yearly savings. Strategy C adds exterior insulation and installs a hybrid electric boiler, an air heat pump, and solar collectors resulting in a (nearly) NZEB and gas-free house. A very large investment is required for this strategy but the approximate 20 year payback time makes it worthwhile. The free-standing house was very similar in construction and the three strategies can easily be applied. Strategy A showed similar results, and remarkably both B and C showed both a higher reduction and shorter payback time than with the row house. With strategy C a NZEB could easily be achieved. The semi-detached house has an a-typical construction, monumental status, and air heating system and would require a specific strategy focussing on internal insulation and complete replacement of the heating and ventilation system. In conclusion, typical post-war era houses can easily be refurbished with these three strategies whereas a-typical houses will require a specific strategy. From a long-term societal perspective, I recommend the NZEB strategy. From the homeowner’s perspective, the EPC ≤ 0,4 strategy is probably the best achievable given the required investments. If we really want to reduce global warming and reduce gas consumption, major steps still have to be taken by the government and industry.

As freshwater scarcity has become one of the most important environmental and social issues of the 21st century, the way the built environment interacts with water must be reconsidered. Today’s urban water cycle in Curaçao is characterized by linear, centralized, polluting, costly, time and energy consuming and does not contribute to cultural value. Architecture can play part in creating a more efficient and sustainable urban water system, while increasing the public awareness of issues related to the freshwater cycle. Heritage of water typologies and systems like water plantations, cisterns and wells give example of how Curaçao used decentralized micro water catchment systems (MWCS), in the pre-desalination period, to provide freshwater for the communities inhabiting it. In addition to the concept of these heritage inspired designs solutions (HIDS) the concept of current nature-based solutions (NBS), referring to ecosystem-based and biomimetic approaches, are analysed as alternatives. The integration of HIDS and NBS is a much-needed step forward towards an integrated and holistic approach of spatial planning and design in general and water related design and management in particular. ‘Regenerative Ruins’ focuses on the neighbourhood Otrobanda, centrally located in the capital Willemstad of the island Curaçao. The island has a rich history of urbanization in which the natural freshwater cycles have been neglected. As a result, the island is dependent to obtain its freshwater from a centralized desalination plant. The trend to live in the peri-urban area of Willemstad also led to an exodus of the formerly renowned labour district of Otrobanda, resulting in a cityscape dominated by decaying monuments. The project provides a solution to both problems by transforming a dilapidated monument into a regenerative decentralized freshwater production space, whereby the existing envelope becomes a central freshwater harvesting courtyard.

Chengdu is experiencing rapid development, and the urban area is sprawling to the south and east, leaving many old communities in the north. Most old communities were built before the 1980s with the aging built environment. Spatial structure cannot meet the increasing need of people. The current community redevelopment focuses on large-scale demolition, destroying the previous urban form and social network, and leading to social segregation. The project explores a strategic framework in collaboration with the government, the locals, and other public and private sectors, to promote the old community redevelopment. During this process, the locals’ voices will be heard, and they will be an essential part of the redevelopment implementation. Scenario making is an important way to help the locals without professional skills to engage in the decision-making and implementation steps. The project also proposes a series of guidelines and toolboxes to help develop several scenarios, finally to promote the community redevelopment.

The world we live in is more and more a digital world and the number of people having access to digital communication technologies is growing rapidly. This integration of digital technologies into everyday life is what is called the digitalization process (IGI Global dictionary, 2018). It is a process that can be seen as a long-term societal transition influencing our daily life, like the way we work, how we do our shopping or how we communicate with friends and family (Van Winden & De Carvalho, 2017). As the way we live influences our use of the space around us, changes in this process also change our use of the space around us. On the other hand, our surroundings influence the decisions we make as well.This graduation projects will focus on the use of public space and how public space is affected by the introduction of digital devices. It is believed that this digitalization process has introduced new behaviour, making public space not just a space for traditional uses, like meeting people, but also places where digital devices are used more often, either for practical or for social purposes. Public space is seen as one of the fundamental elements of cities and thus also of Dutch cities, and cities need to prepare themselves for future changes. This graduation project tries to find a new synergy between this traditional use of public space and the use of digital devices in public space, by analysing the phenomenon in the Indische Buurt, a neighbourhood in the eastern part of Amsterdam. It will provide an analysis of this neighbourhood, research the impacts using personal digital devices have on the use of these spaces, and how to deal with these changes. The results of the analysis will be translated into urban design interventions which have the ultimate goal to find a new synergy between the different uses of public space. With reflecting on these interventions and proposals, a matrix will be produced to show how certain interventions are connected to different types of use and user roles. This will show how the design interventions could be integrated in other neighbourhoods or cities.

In this thesis report, research and landscape architecture design are integrated to formulate guiding principles to combat environmental and social issues in urban areas through the case-study of Lombardijen, a neighbourhood in the south of Rotterdam. In the recently published Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ climate report, the overall expectancies of climate change is expected to increase worldwide, with temperature rise as main pillar to cause intensifying weather conditions, sea level rise, draught, ocean acidification and flooding. These negative consequences of climate change are found to have an often amplifying effect on already existing inequalities based on asymmetries in power, showing great inequality in the levels of preparedness and ability to deal with climate change effects. In the city of Rotterdam problems with flooding, draught and biodiversity loss, as well as problems with social inequality, a lack of social cohesion and a high demand for new houses put pressure on existing spatial structures. The neighbourhood of Lombardijen, in particular, is one of the cities post-war extensions based on garden-city principles. A once loved neighbourhood is now suffering from poor housing quality, lack of social integration due to fast changing demographics, large underused green spaces due to a lack of programming, poor ecological value due to monotonous vegetation and problems with water management. With the added demand for densification and the development of new houses, a new strategy needs to be made to bring the neighbourhood towards a holistic future. Through the application of agroecology principles, possibilities are created for the improvement of environmental and social issues. Agroecology is an approach for the design and management of food and its production, as defined by Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. It integrates ecological and social concepts, and seeks an optimization between plants, animals, humans and the environment through the diversification of landscapes, efficiency in the use of re-sources and the formation of strong community links that ensure possibilities for collaboration. By introducing the model of an agroecological farm, the neighbourhood of Lombardijen gets the opportunity to receive direct valuation of its public space and communal infrastructure. Farmers hired by the municipality take on the responsibility to care for the public spaces in collaboration with the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. The integration of food production benefits self-sufficiency, social cohesion and mobility for humans, as well as biodiversity through the ecological principles of agroecology. Also water management (through habitat creation), alternative food production and spatial quality are improved due to programming, activity and feelings of ownership. The design of the neighbourhood and the overall strategy is based on the hierarchical structure of the original design of Lombardijen garden city. The application of agroecology and the elaboration of the aforementioned model shows the possibilities for the improvement of social and environmental issues through public spaces design.

The challenge of an effective governance process and the demand for inclusive development form a tension, traceable in contemporary (Re)development Projects in South Africa. Based on the legislative premise of urban planning and architectural design, private sector developers must engage with urban authorities in the Project-related Governance Process (PGP). Within the PGP, municipal and provincial authorities have the opportunity to share contextual information and thus steer planning intentions. However, the ambiguous understanding among involved actors how an effective PGP should look like and what degree of influence urban authorities should have on the planning fuel the above stated tension. This research project investigates the Cape Town Waterfront Development in three distinct episodes: Firstly, the initiation of the Waterfront Development and the setting up towards a negotiated environment. Secondly, the completed Silo District project and thirdly the current stage of the Canal District project. The research insights presented concern the work of key actors involved and their interactions linked to these episodes. Hence, the question is answered what effect these interactions have on the development process as well as the materialized outcome of todays Waterfront.

Although not widely known, The Hague emerged as one of the most impaired cities in the Netherlands after World War II (Mellink, Saal & Van Schuppen, 2017). Bombings on Statenkwartier and Bezuidenhout left part of the city in ashes (Van Der Boom, 1995; Verbaan, 2011), but also the construction of the Atlantikwall left its marks on the urban tissue. The remnants of the Atlantikwall in the dune landscape form permanent scars that recall a memory of war, oppression and its consequences. Therefore, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of valuing this sensitive heritage. However, within the city most has disappeared. The lack of presence and the portrayal of solely military bases may have diverted attention from the human aspect of the Atlantikwall. Though, the impact of the Atlantikwall on the public space in The Hague is often greater than people think. In The Hague, 35,000 houses have been demolished from Kijkduin to Benoordenhout to make place for walls, tank ditches, bunkers or dragon’s teeth. This defensive fortress was a total of 26 kilometers long. 145,000 residents, about thirty percent of the population, were forced to move elsewhere: within The Hague, in the province or even beyond. The area that was excavated and occupied by the Germans, left its mark on the public space and had an immense impact on the residents of The Hague at that time. Consequently, an elongated visible scar is left in the urban fabric of The Hague. When commemorating World War II, we reminisce about stories of Operation Market Garden, the bombings on Rotterdam or other events. However, the woundedness and events in The Hague, via the construction of the Atlantikwall, is a story that is often forgotten. Sense of place, together with local communities, increases the attractiveness of and quality of urban life. Sense of place can magnify the unique values of nature, culture, (sensitive) history and landscape. It can make things tangible for a large audience and gives impetus to reconcile. The perception of citizens’ sense of place is influenced by the urban environment and its organisation. These urban external stimuli have significant influence on the well-being and mental health of residents (Gehl, 2022). The challenge lies within maintaining development and harmony with a healthy environment. Wellbeing, mental health and dealing with (intergenerational) trauma has become a significant challenge in society. Healing is not solely defined on the individual level, but also on the community and its environment. To meet reconciliation within the landscape, cultural resources can provide pathways to healing. Exploration and development are a potential to come up with new strategies and to mitigate wellbeing and mental health, among them are cultural, social and environmental strategies (Darvill et al., 2019). A component of healing through cultural strategies is the integration of narratives of heritage, creating a sense of community and sharing connection (via the past). Parallel to the increased differences in the meaning and significance of this heritage, the primacy of the official heritage institutions has been challenged in recent years by bottom-up initiatives. The trend towards ever-increasing citizen participation, resulting in co-creation, is also evident in the heritage world. All these initiatives come from non-governmental foundations, associations and individuals, and have a major impact on the management, (re)design and perception of the historic living environment. The knowledge to successfully cooperate with this development has not yet been brought to a generally applicable level. As a result, the appropriate working method and role perception for heritage experts, more just initiatives for residents and designers have not yet sufficiently crystallised to strengthen the spatial quality.

Sub-Saharan Africa is often regarded as the world’s fasted urbanizing region. This implies the high demand for urban housing, infrastructure developments and services. In many cases, because the government is unable to provide solutions, it shifts the approach from “providing to enabling”, encouraging the private sector to invest in the built environment. This results in developing New Towns which tend to envision of “Africa Rising” Narrative - driven by rapid economic growth. Ideologically, New Towns should be the solution for economic and population growth, however, influenced strongly by private sector’s ambitions, governments’ visions and emerging middle-class’s desires, they tend to become an exclusive and luxurious development, excluding the majority of the population who simply cannot afford living there. This approach may lead to socio-spatial exclusion, resulting in socio-spatial segregation. This research discusses this phenomenon in the case study of Tatu City – a private New Town in Kenya that is partly built, partly under construction and partly in the design process. This research discusses the socio-spatial and governance challenges of Tatu City that have a direct and indirect impact on socio-spatial exclusion. It shows the variety of different perspectives on this issue – public sector’s, private sector’s, NGOs’ and civil society’s. Furthermore, based on theoretical and empirical research it presents the concept of Inclusive New Town and the concept of Inclusive Space In-Between as a response identifies challenges. The outcome of this research is a planning and design framework with a toolkit that was implemented in making the final design - an Alternative Vision for Tatu city.

The research focuses in the city of Altamira, in Brazil. The municipality is located in the margins of the Xingu river, affluent of the Amazon river, and has been facing intense socio economic transformations, mainly through the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant - third biggest in the world, in generation capacity. Over the last 10 years, the local municipality estimates that the population inflated from 100.000 to 140.000 inhabitants (FOLHA, 2013), as a consequence of the jobs related to the dam and its construction. On the one hand, the implementation of the project has brought heavy investments in public infrastructure, following the compensation and mitigation guidelines established by the national environmental agency, providing the inhabitants with public amenities completely nonexistent before the dam. On the other hand, the intense transformation of the built environment resulted in new social challenges, including increased violence, prostitution and drug consumption, adding pressure on the limited infrastructure and public equipment. The project - heavily criticized by local and international media - is almost concluded and is already in partial operation. This research investigates the next steps following the conclusion of the construction, suggesting strategies capable of promoting sustainable development in the region. The focus is not only to look into the urban transformations triggered by the installation of the dam but also to explore possible future scenarios once Belo Monte is concluded.

In the entire European Region over 80% of the adolescents are not active enough (WHO, 2019b). Physical activity can be seen as an essential component of human health as it can contribute to reducing the risk at several diseases, such as diabetes, depression, and several types of cancer (World Health Organization, 2010, p.10). Physical activity behaviour is influenced by a high variety of variables, ranging from personal variables to the physical environment. The composition of public spaces can facilitate or hinder adolescent physical activity behaviour. Although a lot of research has been done already and studies increasingly included the physical environment, research shows inconsistencies regarding similar variables (e.g. Ding, Sallis, Kerr, Lee, & Rosenberg, 2011). This makes it difficult to apply the knowledge in urban design practice. The objective of this thesis is to explore the role of urban design in contributing to increase activity levels of adolescents using quantitative statistics. Literature review is used to identify attributes of (adolescent) physical activity behaviour. From this review spatial attributes are selected to research the preferences of adolescents to visit public spaces for physical activity. A choice based conjoint analysis (CBCA) is used to estimate the relative importance of ten spatial attributes for adolescent physical activity in outdoor public space. To illustrate how such statistical method can be used to inform urban design a square in Westland, the Netherlands is selected as a test case to transform. Westland showed to be the least green municipality, and adolescents in Westlands appeared less active than the Dutch average. The attributes that showed significantly important from the survey were used to analyse and transform an existing public space. Choice based conjoint analysis can be a valuable method to use in urban research and design, as one can identify user preferences before actually transforming the physical environment. However it is important to carefully define and use the attributes for the analysis, and to avoid misinterpretation as much as possible. Choice based conjoint analysis can identify what spatial attributes are important and with that an urban designer can show how these can be implemented in urban design. 

The project started with the fascination of vanishing traditional living space in Shanghai, the Lilong and shantytown. The traditional living neighbourhoods reflect the historic socio-spatial network of the first spaces (Lilong, shantytown), the second places ( modern textile factories) and the third places ( streets, commercial streets, workers' club, etc.). With the urban transformation, the historic socio-spatial network is vanishing and new social structure threats the future of the historic network. By utilising the concept of third places from sociology, third places, as the main objects in the project are used to reconnect the historic socio-spatial network and create new spaces to unite all the social groups in the future. Based on the research, third places with multiple space qualities will offer an inclusion, accessible spaces while the space narrative telling the memory of the historic network.

Social inequility is still part of the current world, not only in the poorer countries but also in the wealthiest once. With the use of gentrification it was tried to hide the poverty by improving the quality of neighbourhoods. Although this improved the liveability and wealthiness of a neighbourhood, it did not improve the lifes of the former citizens as they were forced out. This shows the wrong focus of the regeneration that is often used in deprived neighbourhoods, improving the liveability instead of improving the lives of the citizens. To be able to improve the life of the citizens, it is important to find out what their wishes and needs are, so an urbanist can implement these in the design. Therefore, this thesis researches how an urbanist can establish citizens’ participation as a design method to be able to design life improving neighbourhoods for its citizens. This will be done by answering the main question of: “how can the use of citizens’ participation in the urban design process of the regeneration of deprived neighbourhood improve the liveability?”. To answer this question, research on citizens’ participation, happiness and liveability will be combined with analyses on a case studie to create a new design method for urbanists that is focused on participation as the main way of designing. The manual will show how participation can be used as a design method and how an urbanist should approach this way of designing. The main focus is on the way the urbanist should communicate with the citizens so they will both understand each other.