Spatial planning approaches have changed since the 1990s. Major shifts in the institutional architecture of planning schemes have occurred: plan-led planning approaches – characterized by fixed administrative boundaries, statutory frameworks, and paternalistic forms of government – have turned into development-led approaches, in which soft planning follows and facilitates development proposals by market actors and the civil society. Dilemmas that are triggered by an accumulation of competing spatial claims – often due to highly urgent climate mitigation and adaptation measures – and a coupling of structural social, economic and political change have resulted in a greater appreciation of soft, adaptive, and flexible spatial planning approaches. Such approaches involve knowledge about particular areas, draw on place-based community-led initiatives and tailored temporary governance arrangements. They employ more transformative perceptions of natural, metabolic and evolutionary spatial change. In a context of uncertainty, contentiousness and complexity, they aim at unlocking more immediate and effective societal responses to problems in the built environment while maintaining robust, longterm planning rationales at the same time (Van Buuren et al., 2013; Nadin et al., 2021).

This report (Deliverable 1.2) provides the DUST research project with a methodological
framework. It builds on the earlier methodology developed during preparation of the project
proposal, updating, expanding, and refining it in line with the development of the DUST
theoretical and framework (Deliverable 1.1) and the early insights from the research process. The purpose of this report is, first, to present the methodological approach of the DUST project to external audiences. Second, this deliverable aims to provide the DUST project team and the
stakeholders and experts involved with methodological guidance on each of the components of the projects and on the ways in which the different methods and research tasks interrelate to produce the expected results. This report is a ‘living document’, subject to updates as the project unfolds and research methods to be used in the specific tasks are further detailed and finetuned. The report outlines the overall methodological approach in the DUST project, including the workflow across its work packages. It also explains the strategy behind selecting the case study areas and briefly presents each of the regions studied. It then covers the research methods used in three phases of the project, namely, in the case study research, in the participatory experimentation following it, and in the exploration of affective communication with the communities engaged in the project. The report closes with a discussion on the synergies between the methods used and the measures taken to ensure validity of findings as well as an overview of the ways in which methodological innovation is delivered.

Based on the understanding of the built environment as result of competing claims on space that must be resolved via recognition, fair distribution of burdens and benefits of our human association, respect and care for the planet and just procedures to decide on those claims, Spatial Planning and Strategy is a chair in the Department of Urbanism within the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of the Delft University of Technology, committed to helping create sustainability, resilience and spatial justice through the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement and the European New Deal, among other frameworks. This commitment is reflected in activities, events, and courses. We are concerned with knowledge about the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of strategic and urban planning tools – visions, strategies, plans and programmes.

This deliverable is the result of Task 1.1 Theoretical and conceptual framework within the DUST Work package 1 Theory and methods. The document presents a comprehensive framework for research in and across the individual work packages of the DUST project. Guided by the concept of ‘active subsidiarity,’ the DUST project aims at an increased understanding of the participation of the politically least-engaged communities in the deliberative governance of place-based approaches to just sustainability transitions. Key concepts underlying this core objective stem from the fields of public policy, the democracy studies, and spatial planning and design. In conjunction they establish the DUST project’s interdisciplinary focus area within the wider field of citizen participation. More detailed objectives of the project are addressed in different dimensions of the DUST research. In its analytical dimension research will identify factors that enhance or hinder participation. In its evaluative dimension research will result in an index for assessing participation. In its instrumental dimension, research will test instruments for enhancing participation in democratic life at scale. In its communicative dimension research will increase our understanding of how narratives help or hinder participation and how affective two-way communication can support the emergence and dissemination of unheard story lines. The document presents theories and concepts that underpin and guide research in these dimensions.

This Deliverable 1.1 complements Deliverable 1.2, which concerns the methodological framework of the project. It is important to note that both documents are living documents, designed to evolve throughout the course of the project. Knowledge presented here will be further developed in the Tasks 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1 and 6.1 which prepare research in individual work packages. A final iteration of the documents will form part of D1.3 Synthesis research report.

This chapter elaborates on the role and position of regional design in spatial planning and governance. The chapter draws on exploratory case study research that has combined empirical analyses of regional design initiatives that evolved in the context of Dutch national plans between 1988 and 2012 with a process of theory formation. Significantly, the chapter distinguishes performances of regional design in spatial planning and governance as well as aspects of spatial planning frameworks that shape these performances. Its main argument is that design in these realms aims to improve planning guidance by judging its implications for particular spatial and institutional situations. The overarching aim of the chapter is to contribute to the integration of planning and design theory. It calls for a contemporary theory of regional design, derived from such integration. In its concluding section, it points at research to further develop the stance.

The port of Rotterdam is a major hub in the global maritime exchange of fossil fuels, a key entry way to the European Union, and a strong contributor to the prosperity of the Netherlands. The port’s strong economic performance comes with high costs: the industrial complex causes grave negative environmental externalities, such as the pollution of air, water and land. In order to reduce and mitigate these unintended effects, the Port of Rotterdam authority is seeking more sustainable development and - as part of this effort - promoting the transition towards a circular economy. Students in the Research & Design studio “Spatial Strategies for the Global Metropolis” at Department of Urbanism, TU Delft, explored the immense challenges that this transition poses for the province of South Holland, the region that surrounds the port, by means of spatial analysis and regional design. In this article we draw on the results of students’ work to construct a portrayal of the role that the port of Rotterdam plays in this transition. By doing so, we demonstrate how the practice of regional design can contribute to a critical positioning of the port’s vision in a wider regional arena.

This chapter discusses the organisational setting of regional design in the realms of spatial planning and territorial governance. As a starting point, it argues that rules on how imagined design solutions function in an abstract, simplified ‘planning world’ are an important regional design product. When focusing on these rules, regional design practice resembles discretionary action. As such, it aims to improve planning decisions by judging the implications of planning frameworks when applied to particular situations. This implies that the involvement of actors in design practice requires careful consideration. As in any form of legitimate rule-building, a critical distance between those who initiate practices and conduct design, and those who judge the quality and relevance of design outcomes is essential. On the basis of these considerations the chapter investigates regional design practices that occurred between the 1980s and 2010s in the context of Dutch national planning. It shows how they transformed from being a form of professional advocacy, criticising planning, into a practice that was pragmatically used to implement a national planning agenda. The chapter concludes by discussing this institutionalisation of a creative practice in the Netherlands, reflecting upon the implications of these outcomes for territorial governance in particular.

Climate change is causing people to migrate, affecting developing countries’ regional development and disproportionately impacting economically vulnerable communities. Low socioeconomic status and limited political power means that migrants suffer from reduced visibility and legitimacy, which increases poverty and economic degradation. Climate migration lacks a comprehensive and universally accepted name or status. Current policies focus on post-impact scenarios and do little to address structural flaws or humanitarian issues associated with state-aid practices. This article asks what role can be played for and by climate-displaced populations. It answers this by looking at climate-induced circular migration in coastal regions of the Global South. It explores spatial planning and governance best practices, seeing them as tools to adapt climate-induced migration to benefit both sending and receiving regions, as well as the migrants themselves. It advocates a pre-emptive regional approach, highlighting the role that traditional knowledge can play in helping people regenerate livelihoods and increase climate resilience by incorporating traditional knowledge into economic and spatial plans. This can contribute to conservation, and strengthen local ownership of identity and culture, which, in turn, can aid rural development strategies at a regional level. The article builds on existing literature, sees migrants as a source of traditional knowledge, and proposes a three-part framework. “Define – Include – Recognize” addresses climate-induced migration by providing a universal definition for the environmentally displaced; includes environmental migration in national and local spatial planning policy instruments; and stresses the need for community-based strategies and pre-emptive planning to make concrete proposals for the material improvement of migrants’ lives.

This thesis elaborates on the role and position of regional design in spatial planning. Building upon the argument that design in this realm aims to improve planning guidance by judging its implications for particular situations, the thesis develops an analytical framework for an enhanced understanding of how design both influences, and is influenced by, prevailing planning rationales. The analytical framework is applied to a set of regional design initiatives that evolved
in the context of Dutch national plans between 1988 and 2012. Significantly, the analysis reveals aspects of spatial planning frameworks that shape the performances of design practice, of particular importance being the flexibility of planning frameworks and the involvement of actors in initiating, conducting and judging design. In theoretical terms, the thesis contributes to the integration of planning and design theory. The societal relevance of this dissertation evolves
against the background of an increasing use of regional design-led practices in Dutch spatial planning since the mid-1980s.

The project ‘City of 1,000 Tanks’ was commissioned by Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) and led by OOZE architects, Rotterdam. The project identified interrelationships between the underlying causes of floods, water scarcity and pollution in Chennai, India, and developed solutions to these problems.

The strategic spatial planning experience led to the uncovering of the typical mechanisms involved in addressing conflicts that emerge as a result of spatial development. The main aim of the book is to identify interrelations between governance rescaling-the responsiveness of planning collaboration to the tensions and dilemmas that arise-and designing and visioning, i.e. the consideration of spatial imaginaries during planning procedures.The experiences provided in this book prove that these mechanisms enhance each other: Design-led approaches influence the formation of governance and enhance hard and soft governance integration; vice versa, governance rescaling is enhanced by visioning and the visualisation of (new) planning spaces through ‘travelling images’. Interrelations between them provide a set of interesting propositions for further research. Firstly, the assumption that regional design plays a role in governance models makes interaction between actors central. Modes of co-governance gain relevance in the attempt to understand how regional design performs in governance rescaling and scalar (re)structuration processes. A second proposition concerns the ability of design to bridge gaps between different forms of planning and planning frameworks. Due to its explorative and reflexive nature, it may have the particular ability to contribute to consolidating planning with different degrees of formality, at different levels of scale and/or focused on different planning sectors.

The book Shaping Regional Futures: Designing and Visioning in Governance Rescaling discusses the roles of regional designing and visioning in the formation of regional territorial governance. It aims to increase our understanding of (1) how the recognition of spatial dynamics and the imagination of spatial futures inform and are informed by planning frameworks and (2) how such design processes influence cooperation and collaboration on planning in metropolitan regions. The book gathers theoretical reflections on these topics and illustrates them through practical experiences in several European countries. The book appeals to a community of readers with an interest in experimental strategic spatial planning. It is innovative in the way it associates this interest with knowledge from the design field.

The concept of circular economy (CE) is high on the agenda of many planning agencies in European countries. It has also become a prominent issue in European academic education institutions. It is expected that spatial planning and design can support and add the spatial quality dimension of such a transition towards CE. However, incorporating the concept of CE in an integrative manner in urban design and planning courses is challenging because of its metabolic and complex nature. This article presents the first results of integrating design-teaching activities at a faculty of architecture with an H2020-financed research project. The integration of research and design education provided the students with a situated and indeed transdisciplinary learning environment. Students understood that they needed to address challenges from a systemic perspective rather early in the design process, meaning to understand what the relations between different subsystems and their spatial structures are. Furthermore, the experiment provided evidence that the eco-innovative solutions developed by the students are seen as an effective option to achieve objectives for a transition towards CE by stakeholders.

Dutch national planning has acquired an international reputation because it provides strong planning guidance while simultaneously being responsive to the particular spatial and political circumstances of different regions and areas. Spatial concepts, like the Randstad, are important vehicles for sustaining this approach. Such concepts incorporate select spatial planning rationales that justify operational decisions. Concepts can, however, also be ambiguous, and this can allow for different interpretations and deliberations about how guidance should take effect in different situations. In this paper we assess the degree of ambiguity contained in concepts outlined in Dutch national plans between 1988 and 2012. By focusing on the dimensions of spatial concepts, and the room for interpretation these create, we demonstrate how concepts were modified to accommodate a shifting appreciation of deliberation and, as a result, collaboration and governance. On a theoretical level, we propose a method that analyses in detail the ambiguity (“fuzzyness” or “softness”) of spatial concepts. We argue that such sophisticated understandings contribute to explaining the variety of governance responses that these geographies produce in practice. On an empirical level we seek to increase understanding of change in recent Dutch national planning.

In recent decades, The Netherlands has seen an increase in the use of regional design-led practices in national indicative planning. Despite this, the interrelations between design and planning decision making are not well understood, and attempts to involve the expertise and ambition of designers in planning have had unclear outcomes. This article elaborates on the role and position of regional design in indicative planning. It is argued that design in this realm resembles discretionary action, implying that design both influences, and is influenced by, prevailing planning rationales. An analytical framework is developed on these grounds and applied to a set of regional design initiatives that evolved in the context of Dutch national plans between 1988 and 2012.
Significantly, the analysis reveals forms of discretional control that shape the creative design practice, of particular importance being the flexibility of planning guidance and the resulting room for interpretation. In theoretical terms, the article contributes to the discussion of how design – as an explorative search for solutions to problems in a particular spatial context – and design theory can contribute to an understanding of the multiple planning experiments emerging in this post-regulative era.