Public spaces are increasingly expected to address complex societal challenges, from climate adaptation to social fragmentation. Yet, while the technical performance of public space has received considerable attention, its social sustainability remains less clearly defined and operationalized. This article, developed within the STEPS project funded by the Dutch Research Council, explores how social sustainability can be translated into design-oriented principles for public space. The contribution focuses on three interrelated dimensions of social life in urban environments: social cohesion, social encounter, and social learning. Social cohesion concerns the ties that connect people to places and to one another through trust, participation, and shared values (Aelbrecht & Stevens, 2018; Asadollahi Asl Zarkhah et al., 2025; Harteveld, 2017, 2020; Lai et al., 2024; Schiefer & van der Noll, 2017). Social encounter addresses the capacity of public spaces to foster meaningful interactions across difference, moving beyond co-presence towards genuine exchange (Askarizad & He, 2022; Ferreira et al., 2021; Horgan & Liinamaa, 2023). Social learning refers to collective processes of reflection, knowledge creation, and problem-solving that enable communities to develop civic literacy and transformative capacities (Bandura, 1977, 1986). Rather than treating these dimensions as isolated categories, the article approaches them as relational qualities that emerge through the immersive experiences in public space. In this perspective, public spaces are more than their physical form or functional assets. They are social infrastructures where belonging, encounter, and collective learning continuously take shape and give live to interactions of bodies in space. Building on a co-creative and interdisciplinary research process, the article proposes a conceptual and design-oriented framework that translates debates on social sustainability into operational principles for analysis and design. In doing so, it challenges approaches centred primarily on technical performance and advocates for a more holistic understanding of public space, towards subjective, symbolic, and culturally embedded dimensions. ... Read more

Infrastructure forms the backbone of our society – from roads and railways to waterworks and ports. But that backbone is under strain. Ageing systems, climate change and scarce resources force us to rethink fundamentally how we design, use and value infrastructure.

This Design Guide starts from one urgent question: how can we make infrastructure future-proof in a world of uncertainty? Drawing on years of expertise at the renowned TU Delft, the book introduces an integrated approach in which design, engineering, policy and societal value come together.

Through a wide range of inspiring examples – including the Oosterscheldekering storm surge barrier, the redevelopment of the Delft Spoorzone, the renewal of the Afsluitdijk, the Terneuzen lock and the Dutch-Flemish port system – the book demonstrates how infrastructure can be more than merely a functional system. It becomes a driver of societal value and prosperity, and a strategic instrument that connects quality of life, sustainability and economic development.

This Design Guide offers a clear conceptual framework and a practical methodology to design infrastructure that is not only more efficient, but also more sustainable, inclusive and meaningful. A substantial and indispensable guide for designers, engineers and policymakers committed to shaping the infrastructure and the society of tomorrow. ... Read more

This policy brief presents findings from the Resilient Delta NOISE® project, focusing on Katendrecht in Rotterdam. Katendrecht is an emblematic redeveloped harbour neighbourhood where questions of social cohesion and community resilience are increasingly pressing. The brief demonstrates how participatory research methods can deepen engagement with residents in port cities and generate a richer understanding of the sensory qualities of public space. By integrating subjective sound experiences with conventional noise measurements, the research offers new insights for urban design, policy-making, and redevelopment strategies. Harbour districts near urban cores, once dominated by industrial activities, are being transformed into high-density residential areas marketed for their improved living quality. While the relocation of the port industry may reduce industrial noise, new sound environments emerge as density and public space use intensify. Increased activity, mobility, and commercialisation can reintroduce high sound levels and reshape everyday acoustic experiences. Current regulatory approaches rely primarily on objective, instrument-based measurements to verify compliance with maximum permissible noise exposure standards. However, such metrics do not capture how residents perceive and interpret sound in public space. Complementing quantitative measurements with participatory soundscape research allows planners and policymakers to understand how different groups experience redevelopment, and whether these changes contribute to feelings of belonging or alienation. By grounding its findings in Katendrecht’s public spaces, this brief offers locally situated insights with broader relevance for redeveloping port areas in Rotterdam and beyond. It argues that integrating community-based soundscape analysis into planning processes can support more inclusive and resilient urban transformation. ... Read more

This article explores the challenge of designing public spaces in hyperdiverse cities and argues that including knowledge often considered ‘stupid’ is key towards inclusive design approaches. It discusses recent shifts towards co-creation, co-design and placemaking by highlighting the importance of engaging with collective stupidity beyond presumed disciplinary intelligence. The integration of stupid or unconventional ideas in collective creation processes could help better problematise design challenges in public spaces and better engage with diverse perspectives to address diversity effectively. First, we will sketch the main societal pushes and academic turns supporting the enhancement of stupidity through the collective creation of public space for contemporary inclusive and hyperdiverse cities. Then, drawing on a comparative literature study of key authors introducing paradigmatic shifts for today’s theoretical framing and understanding of collective creation, diversity and design ethics in public space, we propose a non-conclusive series of design capacities for public space designers. These designer capacities are situated in contextual and sociocultural awareness, sensitivity to socio-spatial relations and narrative inquiry, and designing with the tacit, hence with empathy and responsibility. Finally, we highlight the relation between stupidity and failure in urban design and present relevant success practices. However complimentary to traditional design capacities, we conclude that these ethico-aesthetic approaches might challenge traditional notions of intelligence, beauty or authorship in design in favour of diversity and inclusivity. ... Read more

Public spaces have a significant impact on social interactions and community dynamics, particularly during times of disruption and change. This study investigates the role of public space in fostering community resilience. It introduces a conceptual framework to identify the attributes and characteristics of public space that support or hinder the social environment, in the context of community resilience. Through an interdisciplinary narrative literature review, the research examines how social dynamics—particularly communal interactions and activities—are influenced by spatial features and how these contribute to a community’s adaptive capacity during crises. The findings highlight that public spaces act as vital community infrastructure, facilitating community networks and fostering connections between people and place, all of which are key components of community resilience. As such, the research highlights the importance of recognizing various spaces within the public domain with these attributes, while emphasizing the significance of diverse public spaces to nurture communities and support their resilience. More so, by integrating public spaces into broader networks, the study suggests that fostering belonging, identification, and reinforcing essential structures enhance community resilience, transcending the role of conventional public spaces concepts. ... Read more

Urbanizing river deltas are highly susceptible to sea level rise and extreme weather events such as floods and droughts. Water-related disasters are already happening more often due to climate change, rapid urbanization, unsustainable land use and aging infrastructure threatening a large fraction of human and natural environments in these low lying and sinking areas around the globe. As stress levels of climate change are accelerating, societal and physical transformations are essential for adapting our deltas to climate change. In the Netherlands, imagination and evidence by design in the form of a long-term spatial vision, played a pivotal role in the past century to set, share and accomplish a new direction to overcome flood disasters by altering the coastlines and riverbeds of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. The unprecedented rainfall in July 2021 and the storm in December 2021 which hit Western Europe revealed the effectiveness of this new direction. We therefore plea for a prominent role of design in climate science and delta management to imagine, analyse and communicate future perspectives for climate adaptation in urbanizing deltas. ... Read more

The Public Space Academy aims to shift global public space practices towards an inclusive and equitable common future by delivering high-quality, free, open-access and interdisciplinary educational content to all public space lovers, researchers and practitioners, especially those coming from fragile socio-economic contexts. In addition, the Academy believes in the need for a public space agenda for local implementation of projects and initiatives, mobilising governments, academia, the private sector, and citizens. [...] ... Read more

The extent to which the built environment encourages people to walk in public spaces, hence the quality of being walkable or ‘walkability’ has long been associated with positive outcomes on people’s health. While various studies have developed indices to assess walkability, limited attention has been given to indices that reflect the influence of specific city characteristics on walkability. This study showcases the development of a city-specific walkability index through a participatory approach using Amsterdam as a case study. It explores the viewpoints of urban designers and policy-makers who work or reside in Amsterdam on what constitutes a walkable street and identifies the most significant walkability factors for Amsterdam. These factors are then quantified based on open-access datasets and integrated into a street-level weighted walkability index. The resulting walkability index underscores the importance of factors such as traffic and crime safety, quality of the pedestrian infrastructure, and proximity to public amenities in shaping residents’ decisions to walk in specific public spaces. Finally, this research underscores the importance of involving individuals through participatory methods, considering subjective perspectives, and acknowledging shared experiences within particular groups and spaces when assessing walkability. ... Read more

This year’s Urban Archipelago graduate design course focuses on water and public space in Moroccan cities. We are building on and advancing the methods that we developed during last year’s exploration of the Italian city of Trieste on the Adriatic coast, including, among others, biographies of place, micro-narratives, and guided imagery of water within urban landscapes. Once again we challenge students to rethink the spatial, societal, and cultural practices of today by learning from the past and envisioning sustainable futures by design. The effects of urbanization and climate change are also increasing in Morocco; however, here in particular, the lack of water will have a long-term effect on public areas and urban life. After visiting Trieste, we concluded that personal experience is key to understanding the role that water plays in our lives. This insight remains valid. It promised to be an immersive exploration into the multifaceted dimensions of water in the Moroccan cities of Rabat, Salé, Fes, and Tetouan. [...] ... Read more

Al decennia staren beleidsmakers en stedebouwkundigen zich blind op hoogbouwbeleid door middel van hoogteregulering. Ook al blijft dit vanuit gezondheid en welstand verstandig, dit is een eenzijdige benadering. Zeker nu er steeds meer openbare ruimtes binnen de hoogbouwprojecten ontworpen en gerealiseerd worden, rijst de vraag hoe we voorbij de gevel stedebouwkundig kunnen sturen. Interieurstedebouw kan antwoord geven op deze vraag door de verticale netwerken van openbare ruimtes in hoogbouwprojecten als fysiek en sociaal in verschillende vormen onderdeel van de stad te benaderen. For decades, policymakers and urban planners have been obsessed with high-rise policy by means of height regulation. Even though this remains sensible from a health and welfare point of view, this is a one-sided approach. Especially now that more and more public spaces are being designed and realized within high-rise projects, the question arises of how we can steer beyond the facade in terms of urban design. Interior urbanism can answer this question by approaching the vertical networks of public spaces in high-rise projects as physically and socially part of the city in various forms. ... Read more

This blog contribution supports the Urban Archipelago expo at Nieuwe Instituut (NI) in Rotterdam, designed to consist of four elements: a map, a view, a model, and a series of films that depicted a future of living with water, as well as a booklet that documented student work. The expo has been part of the Water Cities Rotterdam, which opened with the work of Kunlé Adeyemi (NLÉ) on 13 May 2023. ... Read more

Port cities exist at the intersection between water and land. They are currently under pressure due to global changes and climate, economic and social transitions. As they face the urgent need to respond to contemporary urgencies, port and city authorities tend to ignore port cities’ long history of integration and resilience. Instead, they continue the process that emerged since industrialization and that was reinforced by containerization, a process of disconnected development, divergent tools and visions. Such an approach, however, is no longer viable when port, city and territory face shared water challenges. To address this challenge, the course “Designing Public Spaces for Maritime Mindsets” challenged students to explore the future of port-city relations by rethinking public spaces as hubs where port and city actors can come together to share conversations and visions, engage in dialogues with citizens to develop a common agenda and maritime mindsets. Such gatherings are much needed to stimulate new approaches for future port territories that are no longer characterized by obsolete energy use or polluting industries. This article argues that design education can play an important role in generating new theoretical and practical planning approaches by combining historical analysis and spatial mapping and by developing provocative scenarios. ... Read more

Na meer dan vijfhonderd dagen vanuit huis te hebben gewerkt, zijn onze levens en dagelijkse rituelen door de COVID-19 pandemie ingrijpend veranderd. Het afstand houden tot elkaar en de overige maatregelen hebben bovendien ieders toegang tot de openbare ruimte aangetast en een reeks uitdagingen blootgelegd op verschillende niveaus. Onderzoekers van meer dan twintig universiteiten verkennen die gevolgen in de nieuwe open-access publicatie ‘2020: A Year without Public Space under the COVID-19 Pandemic’. ... Read more

After working from home for more than five hundred days, our daily lives and rituals have been severely changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, social distancing and other measures have affected everyone’s access to public space and exposed a range of impacts on different levels. Researchers from more than twenty universities explore those impacts in the new open-access publication ‘2020: A Year without Public Space under the COVID-19 Pandemic’. ... Read more

This paper focuses on public spaces for community resilience in their ‘response-related abilities’ and which can be improved. Comparative studies of communities, places, and/or disasters after the unforeseen impactful events are indicators to quantify the level of resilience. Within the broad scope of literature, in this line, 'community networks', 'people-place connections', and 'community infrastructure' are consequentially attributes that come out strongly in studying the resilience of community during change events. In other words, people, and spaces, in their social and physical interconnectivity, contribute to the level of community resilience. In this context, the aim of this paper is to take a closer look into the relation between community resilience and public spaces and specify those public spaces which enhance resilience by means of its design. Based upon reviewing literature and identifying similarities in reasoning community resilience as well as adherence in the discussed spaces as support for community resilience, these public spaces have been specified and some examples from Rotterdam are given to make an accurate image of them. ... Read more

How can the integral and multifunctional use of public space, subsurface, and buildings—within a densified urban environment—create space and value that contribute to an attractive and future-proof living environment? International interdisciplinary students from Delft University of Technology have outlined various design solutions by tackling this question. Manifest in all cases are the spatial bottlenecks on the level of public space. The hybridization of the urban and architectural program requires a cross-section thinking. The six real-life cases the students studied on are the result of a Flemish-Dutch collaboration of the project Stad × Ruimte: Leuven, Amsterdam, Oostende, Maastricht, Mechelen en Rotterdam. ... Read more

Today, the resilience of communities is increasingly highlighted in cases of returning hazards affecting everyday life next to those in cases of exceptionally devastating natural and man-made global disasters. Urban analyses on community resilience and translations of theory in actionable strategies are consequently informing everyday public spaces inside and outside buildings. We, designers of public spaces are thus challenged to design for resilience. Designing for resilience counterbalances designing for control, making vital and vulnerable places rigidly robust. Outcomes contrast designs like the enormous Venetian flood protection system MOSE, built on age-old ways to keep water out and secure cities alike the tiny temporary flood barriers for doors. As a relatively new moral value, designing for resilience is not innate to our professions and lacks such tradition. Luckily, examples emerge. ... Read more