The increasing effects of commodifying urban structures result in the appearance of smooth environments (Boer, 2023), which lead to static, exclusive environments in which any form of otherness or spontaneity is removed. This in turn affects important democratic processes, for spaces for commononing, negotiating and conflict in the public realm are dimnished or erased.

By exploring theories of urban depth, a solution towards Just Cities can be found in viewing the urban as a sequence of territories that that unlock a variety of spatial conditions that can serve as the spatial framework for otherness to happen. A thorough understanding of the spatial environment as well as local social structures helped inform where strategic design interventions could act as a catalyst to enrich local depth structures in the Jordaan. Consequently, local territorial conditions are met which supports the opportunity for a diversity of norms to simultaneously make a spatial claim in the public eye. As a result, space for counter-narratives are established that help challenge and deconstruct unequal power structures, as well as provide the just spatial conditions required to participate in fair democratic processes that shape ourselves, the city, and society at large.

For the last decades, technologies, new agricultural trade policies, environmental restrictions, high pressure through economic competition in combination with a sharp competition of land lead to the development of intensive farming. As a result, patchy landscapes have been replaced by monofunctional, homogeneous agricultural landscapes that fragment natural landscapes and take away natural and cultural diversity. The consequences of the processes of fragmentation and homogenization are both socio-economic and landscape-ecological and cause biodiversity loss and social injustice among farmers.
Through changing existing paradigms about nature conservation, this project suggests an alternative approach for understanding possible interrelations between nature and agricultural practices. By reintroducing concepts about commons, a synergy can be found that compliments natural connectivity and agricultural landscapes through the establishment of a regenerative agro-ecological network that connects biotopes in a multi-functional way using current agricultural parcels and natural zones. This newly introduced Common Ground network produces a new farming method in which agricultural practice has a temporal character and is a continuous modifiable process. In this way, the vision makes use of the dual crisis as a solution rather than seeing it as the source of the problems.
The Commons also resemble a new way of practising agriculture, in which land, knowledge, resources and financial risks are shared among farmers in a socially just way. In addition, these shared landscapes reflect on the social context in which farmers are considered as environmental stewards who share some of the responsibility for an ecologically balanced system.