YL

Y. Luo

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Master thesis (2026) - Y. Luo, Antonio Cantero, S. Lee
Delfzijl, located in the north of the Netherlands, is often perceived as a declining industrial city following factory closures, population loss, and environmental concerns. However, despite these challenges, its industrial sector continues to expand. The Oosterhorn industrial zone has become a national hub for green energy, hydrogen, and the chemical industry, making Delfzijl a "new productive city" rather than a post-industrial one.

Although industry remains the city's economic backbone, it is largely disconnected from everyday urban life. Residents often associate it with health and environmental concerns, while visitors rarely encounter the city's industrial identity because the active industrial area is inaccessible and physically separated from the town. As a result, Delfzijl's technological strengths remain largely invisible to both locals and tourists.

This project explores how Delfzijl's industrial identity can be integrated into the urban environment without opening the industrial zone itself. Inspired by local innovations in saltwater treatment, renewable energy, and sustainable chemical production, it investigates how public spaces can communicate these technologies and create new experiences. The aim is to strengthen the city's identity, improve public perception, and reconnect residents and visitors with Delfzijl's unique industrial landscape. ...

Square dancing as the process for Chinese elderly women reclaiming urban public space

Student report (2025) - Y. Luo, M. Tenzon
In open squares, parks and residential neighbourhoods, when the sun sets, groups of Chinese mid-age and elder women are often seen dancing together to music in public space. This activity is called square dance. Square dancing now is the most popular fitness and social activity among elder women in almost every city and town in China, although many people keep expressing discomfort with the dancers. The criticism of Square dance and its core participants——elder women——reflects the social debates over how public space should be used in Chinese urban environment. The paper begins from a historical perspective, constructing a timeline of the development urban public space usage and women’s behaviour in these spaces, analysing the people and places of square dancing, to argue that square dance is a method for elder women as a vulnerable group to reclaim the discursive power over urban space. Square dancing is not just a fitness/leisure activity, indeed, it is an natural outcome resulting from both the long-term urbanization and women’s pursuit of spatial rights in the context of China. ...