Chennai, one of the largest metropolitan cities on the Eastern coast of South India, has seen massive growth over the last few decades, accompanied by a majorly infrastructure-led development that has put economic prosperity over environmental value and social inclusion. The effects of this process have been witnessed during the intense climatic events that the city has borne the brunt of, particularly affecting the socio-economically poor living in ecologically sensitive areas. The response measures that have been taken following such events have led to further marginalisation of these communities. The project proposes an integrated planning and design framework for the vulnerable areas in Chennai, in order to address climate adaptation in a more inclusive, just and humane manner.

This project displays an explorative attempt at redefining the megablock planning concept. The Greater Bay Area (GBA), as the site of interest, is undergoing rapid metropolization, with a risk of resulting in the formation of indistinguishable, generic urban structures. The fast development and the migration process have defined a region with multiple identities and diverse groups of people living in it. The social and spatial implications of the metropolization process reflect a segregation between the actual planning system and the diverse people that live in this region. The proposal aims to transform the megablock, a traditional, structural form of planning that is a form of de-contextualized, top down planning based around an economic, private-driven market, into a planning tool that enables the cohabitation of multiple lifestyles that creates social networks of interaction, activates spaces of the existing context and relates them with new developments. Therefore, the redefining of the megablock intends to find how rapid urbanization and the enhancement of distinct local and external identities can go hand-in-hand in a multiplicity of urban contexts, creating a balance between quantity and quality and creating a process of place making that allows the enhancement and strengthening of the notion of identity in a local, urban and regional scale. The Megablock becomes a sustainable prototype for future urbanization and a morphological spatial structure that re-establish a spatial order and framework for the transitions and relations between diverse places and people.

The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA) is characterized by its strong performing economy and its high liveability standards, making the region an attractive place to live and work in. However, the AMA’s spatial structure and social geography have come under increased pressure. Unprecedented population growth as well as economic activity is concentrated within the AMA’s epicentre, and dichotomies in the social fabric are becoming more evident. Simultaneously, the region’s natural landscape is under threat due to fragmentation of green space, and an increase of the built-up environment, especially in Amsterdam. In order to relieve pressure from the AMA’s epicentre while preserving the original landscape, flows of working and living environments need to be redistributed, and new ways of arranging the local economy and the built environment need to be uncovered. To achieve this, this report suggests a more polycentric structure for the AMA, while also drawing upon the knowledge economy as an economic system that is more inclusive and may facilitate the dispersion of population and economic pressure on the region’s epicentre. In order to accommodate the AMA’s growing population, this report suggests the implementation of the ‘built environment as a service’, a more circular approach of utilizing (existing) space. Additionally, an in-depth analysis of Almere is presented in which location-specific strategies are articulated to make the region more economically competitive, resource-efficient, and liveable.