This thesis explores how elderly residents of The Hague Southwest, particularly those with migration backgrounds, limited Dutch proficiency, and intersecting social identities, can be meaningfully engaged in placemaking processes that support their ability to age in place. In a neighbourhood shaped by spatial segregation, political framing of newcomers, and participation models that often exclude the most marginalised, autonomy in later life is far from guaranteed.
Grounded in an intersectional theoretical framework, the study investigates how urban actors can create more inclusive engagement strategies. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted at four apartment buildings along Lozerlaan, where workshops, informal conversations, and observations revealed key barriers and facilitators to participatory inclusion. These included language and literacy gaps, mistrust, internalised disempowerment, and the need for culturally sensitive, low-threshold engagement.
The research produced four actor-specific communication products: booklets for Haag Wonen, architects, municipal planners, and residents. Rather than offering generic guidelines, these booklets function as invitations to reflect on roles, responsibilities, and the meaning of “residents” in a superdiverse city. A spatial design proposal for the Cirkelflat illustrates how fieldwork insights can be translated into architectural interventions that promote ownership, pride, and social connection.
This thesis ultimately argues that placemaking should be understood not as an aesthetic exercise, but as a relational and political process rooted in care. In times of growing polarisation, inclusive placemaking offers an opportunity to centre everyday experiences, redefine institutional roles, and design urban futures from the perspective of those most often left out.

The energy industry is responsible for almost 89% of GHG emissions (IEA, 2022), and projected CO2 emissions would exceed the 1.5°C goal (IPCC,2023). There is no question that we need to transition towards renewable energy sources, it has become an urgency and we need to transition now.

However, there are several challenges within this energy transition. Renewable energy sources require better spatial planning in terms of land-use. Its production and the stability of energy systems require reliable and resilient geopolitical relationships. It is also a challenge to ensure affordability and accessibility of renewable energy, as well as the acceptance of the transition towards renewables. We have to tackle all these challenges while involving nature as an actor.

We aim to achieve a just and resilient energy transition by 2050. This means creating secured geopolitical relationships, ensuring affordable, accessible and fair distributed energy and regenerating ecology in the process. These goals are divided into three main pillars: Geopolitics, Social aspects and Ecology. With circular economy as one of our theoretic frameworks combined with our pillars, we create a conceptual framework. In this report we made use of other theoretic frameworks like resilience, spatial and social justice, the pattern language and panarchy theory.

Spatial analysis and literature research have concluded in several strategies to ensure a just and resilient energy transition. We zoomed into the region of and between Rotterdam and Ruhr-area. On this scale we determined areas of specialised and generalised production; inter-connection of energy production landscape and expanded protected nature areas; mixed land-use of energy production, agriculture, the urban fabric and natural areas. On a local scale we explained two different systems of rural decentralised energy systems with a bottom-up approach.

The ‘Power of justice’ aims for a future that is resilient and just because of strong geopolitical relationships and an improved energy grid. We not only consider present life but also the future of human and non-human generations.