Many cities in Africa are confronted with the challenges of a rapidly expanding population, urban geography and the service provision it requires. Also Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s main economic and cultural city, is with 6 million inhabitants and a project population of 10 million by 2030, classified as one of the fasted growing cities in Africa. Consequently, livelihood activities are diversifying and expanding, while spaces for doing so are hardly available or threatened to disappear. The general lack of resources and knowledge incapacities make many development plans dependent on the investment of foreign and popular interests. These ‘development’ schemes ought to answer to sprawling cities through increased accessibility and the premise of economic growth, but ignore local welfare and do not recognise the potentials around public space and infrastructure that shape socio-economic livelihoods. This thesis argues to look beyond the one way story of infrastructural development for solely city scaled interventions and proposes alternative infrastructure at places where different scales meet. This infrastructure focusses not only on roads, but is designed to integrate development, environment, living and justice as critical projects. The spatial strategy can be regarded as a methods for urban planning and designing which addresses 4 strategic urgencies that are besides being defined by site specific conditions, also based upon the research on Dar es Salaam as an African city.

Governments and private and non-profit organisations from international to local levels have acknowledged the idea that more sustainable systems are required to reduce our ecological footprint (WWF, 2016, Jonkhoff, 2012). The food system is a very important aspect within our lives, socially as well as economically but it is also one of the most important causes of unsustainability. The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA), a key player within the global food sector, is also working to a more sustainable system with their focus on a circular economy. This research outlines the fact that in order to reach a more sustainable economy, there should also be an emphasis on resilience. In analyzing the region, there were several dependencies highlighted within the food system. Within the aspects of production, retail and end of life, each are dependent on a handful of controlling and dominating stakeholders as well as unsustainable and uncircular practices. Thus, there is a heavy emphasis on the food system needing to adapt and change to growing demands and trends.

This led to our research question of, How can the food system become more resilient in the AMA to promote a sustainable circular economy? In our research, scenario planning and weather mapping were used to showcase and locate feasible opportunities for our goals and strategies within the AMA. The primary strategies to create resiliency within the food system were to decentralize, diversify and connect aspects related to various urban and agri-food trends. This project envisions a decentralized system that contains a dense network of diverse and independent stakeholders with localized sustainable projects. There is also an emphasis on creating smaller and shorter connections within the chain.This includes incorporating and empowering various smaller stakeholders and actors with positive incentives but also restricting dominating stakeholders with policies and regulations. In addition, through the creation of more transparency through integrated and multiscaled design solutions, this will increase awareness and promote healthy and sustainable practices within the system. Food island encourages a thriving circular economy that is resilient and thus more sustainable.