The Dutch have complicated relationship with nature, since the land is in a constant battle against flooding. Being successful at conquering nature also showed in the increased urbanisation and management of remaining landscape. Due to globalisation, the impact of daily activities on nature remain distant. The world now has entered a so-called ‘digital era’ where daily activities take place online rather than outside in nature. A ‘shifting baseline’ leads to people caring less for nature protection (Miller, 2005; Pauly, 1995; Karouzos, 2018). In the light of a glooming climate crisis, it is urgent to improve peoples sense of responsibility to not only protect, but to restore the natural balance.

In collaboration with Staatsbosbeheer, this research aims to increase nature experiences in urban territory. A case study is done at three scale levels: Tanthof; a neighbourhood in Delft Zuid, the Abtswoudse Bos; Staatsbosbeheer property, and Midden-Delfland; the cultivated green buffer between Rotterdam and The Hague. Although Tanthof was designed as an eco-neighbourhood with a strong green infrastructure and car-free streets called ‘woonerven’, over the years these streets have become parked car territory. An overall private atmosphere is the result of houses oriented to the backyard and closed off to the streets, making Tanthof a barrier between the citizens of Delft and the adjacent nature areas Abtswoudse Bos and Midden-Delfland. The Abtswoudse Bos fails to function as an urban park, due to a lack of urban program, attractive entrances and the barrier effect of infrastructure. In Midden-Delfland, human interventions serving agricultural practices are causing subsidence of the peatland and lead to fragmentation of the ecological network.

The design attempts to answer the question: ‘How can urban design of the woonerf type in Tanthof contribute to reconnecting people to the natural landscape system of Midden-Delfland, by facilitating meaningful gardens of responsibility?’. Literature research, physical analysis in the form of mapping and site visits, and inspiration found in philosophy, art and poetry, are used to reshape our understanding of the human-nature relationship. Following the theory of Oneness- implicating a mutual relationship between humans and their environment- forms the concept of the Gardens of responsibility. A different mobility strategy is proposed to create community gardens as residential public space. A green route is created from home to Midden-Delfland. Meaning is found in reshaping natural layers of the past in Midden-Delfland and in building a intergenerational community that takes responsibility for caring of their environment.