The transition to a fully circular housing sector is urgent, given the greenhouse gas emissions and waste generated by the building sector, as well as the high energy demand that burdens both residents and the natural environment. This thesis advocates for a social approach to the Circular Built Environment, rather than one-size-fits-all technical solutions. It explores circular living environments and initiatives in the Netherlands to define the roles of architects and planners in the circular housing transition. To this end, ethnographic fieldwork has been conducted on circular initiatives in the Netherlands, such as ecovillages and the energy collective 015Duurzaam in Delft. The methods employed include in-practice studies of everyday human activity, participant observation, sketching, painting, in-depth interviews, volunteer work, and semi-structured interviews with researchers. The results indicate that both the circular housing transition and the energy transition depend on local community efforts, which are often unpaid and underrepresented in the current debate on the Circular Built Environment by policymakers and academia alike. This thesis advocates for a greater recognition of community efforts and identifies a role for architects and designers to facilitate this. Consequently, the thesis outlines six design principles for architects to foster resilient communities. Finally, it concludes with a design proposal for a circular catalyst in the form of a building that integrates a workshop and residential component. Situated in Tanthof, Delft, this proposal illustrates how circular development can respond to and build upon the specific conditions of an existing urban context.

This booklet describes the process of work carried out by a group of students within the On Site Studio of the Department of Landscape Architecture at TU Delft (Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences)in the spring of 2024. The students
have different academic backgrounds in either architecture, urbanism or landscape architecture and have been divided into dynamic sub-groups focusing on different approaches to analyse and design, but the work is the result of an effort by the group as a whole.

As the title of the studio ‘ON SITE: Scenes in Stadspark West’ suggests, this project took place in Stadspark West (SPW), a unique location in Rotterdam, however it is not an officially recognised geographical name. The initiators behind SPW refer to it as ‘an idea’ and ‘a fictional park that actually exists’.

This document is divided into three elements, the first part, Analysis and Research, deals with the embodied on-site analysis of the site and the theoretical research that underpins this analysis. The main aim of this part is to get a better grip on the multifaceted area of Stadspark West and to find better ways to describe, define, discuss and work with this area from a landscape architectural perspective. The second part of this booklet focuses on exploring and transcending the outcome of this analysis to a wider audience. In the project we achieve this goal by designing an intervention in the landscape. As the findings of our analysis have come from our first-hand embodied experiences, the aim is to present and extend these impressions from the same perspective. In the final part we use these findings to create an overall vision for Stadspark West.