This thesis investigates how careful citymaking, as both a spatial and a processual practice, can support everyday democracy in Rotterdam. At a time of growing democratic erosion and declining trust, public space reflects and reproduces the conditions of today’s democracy. As the space where everyday interactions and encounters take place, public space serves as the platform for everyday democracy. How it is designed and how it comes into being therefore matters.

Using the theoretical lenses of plural democracy and everyday life, the research addresses four key questions; (1) it identifies the main challenges to plural democracy and the role of public space within this context, (2) examines where and how democratic citizenship finds expression in the daily routines of Rotterdam’s citizens, (3) explores alternative democratic futures and their spatial conditions taking Oostplein as its base and (4) defines the meaning of careful citymaking through a spatial design proposal for Oostplein. The methodology combines literature research, fieldwork, participatory methods, spatial imaginaries and iterative design to explore how a spatial designer can act responsibly when shaping the environment of others. These are brought together in both a processual and a spatial response, with everyday democracy as the guiding lens.

The research finds that active citizenship is subordinated to daily routine, constrained by time, obligations and perceived safety. Rotterdam’s public space prioritises movement over encounter, limiting its democratic potential. Yet spatial design can interrupt this and invite people to participate in everyday democratic life, when carefully executed. By mapping conflicting desires and making design decisions open to discussion in an ongoing negotiation, careful citymaking connects spatial design directly to democratic thinking. Here careful citymaking does not emerge as a fixed method, but as a design posture, one that treats public space as a shared responsibility. ... Read more

Zeeland is a land of production of food, energy and resources. Its very nature is deeply rooted in the Dutch people‘s historical ability to reshape the landscape and harness its potential for economic benefit. Today, it faces slow demographic decline, is largely covered by agricultural land and sits at the heart of a thriving transnational port economy and embedded within the Delta region, an area defined by dynamism and uncertainty.

Complex processes driven by climate change - such as sea level rise, soil salinization and the depletion of soil quality - raise urgent questions about the future of many agricultural zones and the rural communities that depend on them. These are farming communities that have inhabited the region for centuries, now thrust into a structural condition of uncertainty, shaped by evolving ecological processes that are often hard to predict or fully understand.
At the same time, they are communities with clear socio-economic needs and aspirations, which sometimes clash with broader environmental pressures and global dynamics. Yet, they also hold significant potential: as landowners, they are well-positioned to convert or diversify their agricultural practices toward renewable energy production, carving out a vital role in the green economy of the future.
“What’s missing is a clear and stable vision for my future and my farm,” says Peter, a Zeeland farmer. That is exactly what Performative Landscape: A New Paradigm for Energy Transition Through Farmers’ Community Engagement and the Transformation of the Zeeland Delta Landscape seeks to offer.

Our team of designers and researchers developed a new long-term vision, ambitious yet grounded, that emerged from an intensive and focused process of research and designs. It aims to sustain regional productivity, reinforce the economic resilience of farming communities, address environmental challenges, and unlock the full potential of the land for renewable energy. It proposes a new model for productive landscapes, rooted in local consumption, circularity, economic autonomy and the integration of agriculture with clean energy generation. ... Read more