Klimaforum is Berlins new interactive art, science and technology forum, located on a soon to be vacant heizkraftwerk site along the Spree river.
Commissioned by The German Ministry of Culture & Media, The City of Berlin and exploited by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the TU Berlin, several NGOs & private companies.
The Klimaforum will be at the forefront of the radical shift to a climate neutral society by shortening the road to a much needed debate about climate change. ... Read more

What happens if we look at (public) space through the lens of gender? How would it be experienced differently? These are questions this thesis will look into. It aims to not only explore different types of gendered spaces but also to increase the understanding of designers and planners on how to make public space more gender inclusive. With the purpose of exploration, a case study is done with a neighborhood in Rotterdam, namely Beverwaard. The conclusions are translated into a strategic framework and an accompanying patternbook. The strategic framework proposes the improvement of the safety, accessibility and inclusivity of public space. ... Read more

This thesis is an exploration into architectural strategies that help build up the holistic care for children in paediatric facilities. ... Read more

People across the world, identifying beyond the binary notion of gender and sexuality are often limited to freely access and appropriate the city and feel a sense of belonging. A general problem is that notions about gender are strongly embedded within the design of the built environment. To be specific: gender relations in public space are normatively coded as masculine and heterosexual. Whereas masculinity is understood as a man who is dominant and refuses to acknowledge vulnerability. The multitude of masculinities are mostly subordinate in the patriarchal urban environment as well.

The largely residential neighbourhood Gaasperdam in Amsterdam’s South-East will be studied in greater depth to address and illustrate the spatial consequences. To be more specific, this thesis expands on the following research question: How can we reshape heteronormative spaces in Gaasperdam to facilitate legitimacy to diverse masculine identities?
To answer this question, a research-by-design approach is used to identify the challenges at hand and propose various spatial design interventions. In addition, the use of personas is critical for imagining and addressing different demands and appropriations of space.

This research made clear how the current built environment of Gaasperdam does not facilitate interactions between different masculinities, while these are very essential. Therefore, this thesis proposes to increase the diversity of public spaces in Gaasperdam, which safeguards individual needs. Secondly, more space for collective use should be developed which allows diverse masculinities to interact. The insights of this thesis are valuable to research fields which focus on spatial issues, such as urban design, urban planning, and architecture since it offers design principles to reshape our built environment to include diverse gender identities. ... Read more

Social inequility is still part of the current world, not only in the poorer countries but also in the wealthiest once. With the use of gentrification it was tried to hide the poverty by improving the quality of neighbourhoods. Although this improved the liveability and wealthiness of a neighbourhood, it did not improve the lifes of the former citizens as they were forced out. This shows the wrong focus of the regeneration that is often used in deprived neighbourhoods, improving the liveability instead of improving the lives of the citizens. To be able to improve the life of the citizens, it is important to find out what their wishes and needs are, so an urbanist can implement these in the design. Therefore, this thesis researches how an urbanist can establish citizens’ participation as a design method to be able to design life improving neighbourhoods for its citizens. This will be done by answering the main question of: “how can the use of citizens’ participation in the urban design process of the regeneration of deprived neighbourhood improve the liveability?”. To answer this question, research on citizens’ participation, happiness and liveability will be combined with analyses on a case studie to create a new design method for urbanists that is focused on participation as the main way of designing. The manual will show how participation can be used as a design method and how an urbanist should approach this way of designing. The main focus is on the way the urbanist should communicate with the citizens so they will both understand each other.
... Read more

With the progressing housing shortage, there is a need for affordable and accessible housing to accommodate the vulnerable population whose number steadily increases every year. Post-socialist urban residential neighbourhoods, an outdated and neglected but culturally and sentimentally significant typology, has the potential to become a solution for this. If regenerated in a considerate way, those have the potential to become not only areas offering affordable housing and comfortable living conditions for the vulnerable population, but places which feel like home and provide the support to help the residents become less vulnerable and grow further socially and financially. Informed urban regeneration of the public spaces of post-socialist urban residential neighbourhoods with focus on the accumulation of social capital would accommodate the need for both housing and community, while helping the neglected typology become a place that truly feels like home and a place to belong. Essentially, the goal of the project is to argue that having a home is not only about ownership, because the notion of “home” goes beyond that: home is also our social capital, and the possibility to create or maintain social capital needs to be facilitated accordingly in urban residential neighbourhoods. ... Read more

Biodiversity is declining worldwide because of population growth and the rising demand for goods. Biodiversity is needed for our ecosystem services which provide us with fresh water and medicine which means people are dependent on a healthy biodiversity. Cities want to greenify to battle the urban heat island effect and the bad water infiltration. If these cities want to connect to nature on the outside of the city there are often business parks situated in between. These Business parks are large grey areas that create a barrier between the green and the city and add onto the urban heat island. To change a business park from a barrier to a corridor there is a need for change. This brings us to the question “What are design tools an urban designer can use to improve biodiversity and human well-being on a business site and how can this be implemented? Using case study location Spaanse Polder.” Twenty design tools have been created to enhance biodiversity and improve human well-being. These tools have been divided into three categories wherein each category biodiversity will be enhanced and human well-being will be improved. These categories are blue, green, and grey. To understand how these tools interact with each other and their surroundings and what effect these tools have they have been implemented on the location site. In conclusion, multiple elements should be taken into consideration if these tools will be implemented. These are combining design tools, effect on different scale levels, the size of the location, and it is still a business park with private properties. By implementing these design tools in the Spaanse Polder the Spaanse Polder will function as a corridor with multiple patches on its site which are connected to the ecological networks instead of the barrier it is now. ... Read more

Finding Common Grounds: Adapting Heritage meaning in Socially Diverse Couperusbuurt is a renewalproject of Amsterdam’s Western Garden Cities neighbourhood. Western Garden Cities Amsterdam orWestelijke Tuinsteden is a post-war neighbourhood considered heritage by the Municipality of Amsterdam.Currently, Westelijke Tuinsteden of Couperusbuurt fails to provide a liveable built environment forits residents. Its heritage status causes the neighbourhood to be alienated from development which ledthe neighbourhood to be outdated to the current needs. In contrast, the neighbourhood’s heritage form isalso vulnerable due to the municipality’s densification agenda. Simultaneously, some residents in Couperusbuurtare vulnerable socio-economic groups, contributing to social segregation issues in Amsterdam.This situation has pushed them out of social comfort and spatial comfort due to their dissatisfaction withtheir neighbourhoods. This research aims to identify the heritage importance of Westelijke Tuinsteden,integrate it with the spatial planning & development of Couperusbuurt and translate it into possible designelements to achieve socio-spatial cohesion and a liveable Couperusbuurt.The methods used in identifying heritage are built upon theoretical studies that indicate the dynamic approachto heritage, which means that heritage value is not limited to its form. Thus, heritage has a flexiblelayer that could be integrated into the future redevelopment as long as it could transfer the initial value ormeaning. The investigation found that the heritage value in Couperusbuurt is collectivity through community.Then, in integrating it with planning, the collectivity value is translated into spatial and social planningstrategy which are community-driven spatial strategy and participatory planning. Later, these strategies areelaborated into design exploration process.The design exploration in this research is done through scenario design. Design by scenario is beneficial tovisualise extreme possibilities, accommodating different needs from different stakeholders, and as a toolof participatory planning. In doing so, there are two design scenarios which are centralised collectivity anddistributed collectivity. Each scenario shares the common ground value that is collectivity as the heritageimportance for the neighbourhood’s renewal.The output of this project will be used as a material for the ongoing Couperusbuurt’s renewal projectwhich is conducted by the Municipality of Amsterdam and Housing Corporation, Stadgenoot. ... Read more

This research-and-design research addresses the influence of urban conditions on social conditions (and vice versa) and explores interdisciplinary alternatives. In the context of Athens (Greece), spatial planning and its governance support social exclusion of migrants, which is expressed through conflicts with native residents. The project experiments with alleviating these effects by establishing spatial planning as active agent of integration. The main aim of the research is to develop an appropriate strategy in areas with migrants, by re-adjusting the principles of urban space. Instead of providing one fixed solution, the project will design flexible initiatives that help the community achieve the desirable outcome. The methodology of this urban integration can be replicable, provided that it is adjusted for similar urban and social contexts. ... Read more

This research is dealing with the development of a new town in Hanoi, Vietnam. With many Hanoi new towns that are currently failing and on the brink of becoming ghost towns, this research aims to explore the way to design a new town that promotes urban vitality throughout the master planning process - not only in the design process. The main principle in this research is to understand how the local urban areas performed with spatial analysis and on-site observation i.e., Space Syntax analysis (Depthmap) and Public Life Studies (Gehl Institute) and then interpret and simulate it to the design of the new town. The design is then being evaluated through the urban vitality factors and masterplanning processes. ... Read more

Cities in the Netherlands have mostly traditionally developed themselves around water: often near rivers or sea, sometimes also at its intersection. Rotterdam, with one of the largest port city in the Netherlands, is an example. Rotterdam is a dynamic world port and has a century-long tradition of living with water. The tradition of protecting “against and living with water” contributed to the development of the city. The strategic location of Rotterdam in the Dutch delta brought us prosperity and growth. The city grew with their port activities. After the 20th century, the movement of the port towards the sea where the Maastvlakte aroused has left former post-industrial areas abandoned. This change in space and function has accelerated into new opportunities for Rotterdam as a city port. Rotterdam can continuously adapt to new conditions responding to economic and social changes. Thanks to its position in the delta, Rotterdam has a strong international orientation and has a large number of potential financial clusters. Because of this economy, the population number has grown in Rotterdam. Rotterdam as a delta can also face the threat of river floods and storm surges from the seas and heavy rainfall. The City cope with a lot of heavy rain that can affect our health and environment. Due to a changing climate and changing insights concerning sustainable relations between cities and water-landscapes, new interventions will be needed to create a new urban delta-landscape. In addition to safety and better water-systems, in urban delta’s there is a need for stronger spatial identities and new cohesion of cities and their water-landscapes (delta intervention objectives). There is a requirement for Rotterdam to transform into a climate adaptive city to protect itself from floods and water damages. It is a favorite situation to live in or along water environment. Therefore, development of the water-related climate offers excellent opportunities in Rotterdam. This challenge Rotterdam in a correct way of land use planning where public and private stakeholders are involved. New interventions that are needed to create a new urban deltalandscape are mostly planned as an individual tool that lacks in coherency of urban planning strategies in general. Van Veelen (2016) mentioned that there is a lack of research that focuses on actual processes of urban development, management, and change as an essential precondition for a successful implementation of climate adaptation strategies. There can be an integrated approach of climate adaptation in waterfront development and urban renewal. Incorporating adaptation into regular urban development processes can be explained as part of a political process to redistribute responsibilities to lower levels of authority (e.g., city level) and enlarge the role of the private sector (van Veelen, 2016). This part of the research indicate the problems of climate change, waterfront redevelopment and declining neighborhood resulting in a problem statement and a hypothesis for an enhanced integrated approach in the development of common interest between private and public stakeholders. ... Read more

An architectural project for a biodiverse embassy, creating a place for close encounters with the other creatures of the city. The goal is to create awareness and interraction with other species both on a local and global scale and provide the means for a biodiverse community of urban species. ... Read more

Rotterdam is chosen an example of a city in constant flux, based specifically due to 2 main events- the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940 and the shift of the harbors westwards- 1970's, focussing on the shift of harbor Westwards. • The development of the South of Rotterdam- Kop Van Zuid, after the shift of the harbors westwards, led to a large vacuum in what used to be the heart of the city. The infrastructure that once was created to primarily relate to shipping, now had to cater to a different use, the HEF bridge being a prime example of this.This also led to fragmentation in the South of Rotterdam, as the infrastructure that catered to the shipping industry no longer served that function, and in certain cases was abandoned- like the HEF. • In such a fast paced city, can infrastructure adapt rapidly enough? Can it also be more than a physical connection and also work a public place typology to connect people? • I wanted to use infrastructure as a grid, as something to orient towards, within a city in flux, by integrating it into the public realm. This would mean different interpretations of what the HEF could be, as well as for future infrastructure, and with a new bridge connection already being planned by the city, I zoomed into the strip/core between east and west Feijenoord as my site. • With new developments like Feijenoord city, slated to come up actively over the next decade, this will require 2 things: 1. Infrastructure to support new traffic and movement intake. 2. To integrate this infrastructure in the diverse urban fabric and everyday life of Feijenoord- preserving its identity, while still responding to the grand architecutral gestures, that initiate innotivation and economic growth of Rotterdam. The project is an approach to address the current issues of Feijenoord by developing a strategy to design a more connected and inclusive typology of public place. This is considered as a plug-in to the existing infrastructural networks of Rotterdam- using other qualities of the region. The main objective is to integrate new infrastructure and developments into the daily life of Feijenoord with design elements and program that act as activators for an interactive, inclusive public place. To offer a collective identity to Feijenoord, and a different way of moving and viewing the neighborhood. ... Read more

This thesis project on Christiania in the context of Copenhagen is an account of the research being carried out during the graduation year of Urbanism, eventually resulting in a design oriented project within the ‘Design of the Urban Fabric’ Research Group.

The structure of this graduation project is divided into five chapters, respectively (1) investigating the problems, (2) searching for supportive urban theory, (3) analysing socio-spatial conditions, (4) experimenting with possible future scenarios and lastly (5) designing a spatial proposal which addresses the problems.

The problem statement outlines the urban challenges which Christiania is currently facing towards the context of the surrounding city of Copenhagen. Located in the city centre Christiania is continuously being threatened to leave behind partially or entirely its self-organisational values and instead to embrace public and private investments. Therefore a prospective Christiania poses relevant threats of population decline, physical segregation and other implications due to the governmental plan for socio-economic normalisation. On this basis, the project focuses on investigating possible future scenarios which would give answers to above mentioned issues without affecting the character of Christiania. Through an experimental study contributing to alternative ideas, this project aims at finding the balance between contemporary development challenges and Christiania’s fragile cultural identity. Applying an inter-scalar design approach the interventions unfold through network, structural and programmatic design proposals, making culture the main regenerative catalyst for Christiania.

The essential aim of this prevails the preservance of the freetown identity as an inseparable element which defines Christiania as a culturally alternative neighbourhood of Copenhagen. The ending chapter is a catalogue of visualised design interventions of culture-led regeneration and it acts as a mediating tool for the Christianites to initiate their wishes and desires for the future. ... Read more

Aim: This research focuses on aims to explore the concept of shared leadership in integrated design teams in the construction branch. The exploration is conducted by addressing the question of whether leadership styles and tasks are solely performed by the project manager of a design team, or whether leadership styles and tasks are also performed by other team member of the design team. The intention is to increase understanding of the interrelatedness of tasks, leadership style and communication using an inductive approach.
Research question: What are the main tasks that need to be addressed in project teams with Shared Leadership and is the way a task was performed dependent on certain leadership styles?
Methodology: The concept is explored by using a comparative case study design. Two case studies were executed to collect data. First, the team members and the project manager were interviewed by using a semi-structured interview at the beginning of the research. Second, an observational study is done by observing the design team meetings to identify which members are contributing to shared leadership and could there be tasks and roles recognized on the basis of their behaviour and communication flow. Third, the team members and the project managers were asked to fill in a questionnaire, which are used to understand the interpersonal side of team collaboration.
Findings: Shared leadership can be measured by making observations and applying communication labels as developed during the research. There is not a relationship to be recognized between the formal role of a person and the shown behaviour. Furthermore, Shared leadership is dynamic as it is not linked to specific leadership styles. Furthermore, a new definition of shared leadership appeared from this study: Shared leadership consists of multiple dynamic leadership behaviours to maximize team effectiveness.
Limitations of the research: Qualitative research is always subject to bias due to the interpretation of the qualitative information. Subsequently, the modest number of samples that is investigated in this research are not intended to adequately represent the behaviour and communication flow. To date, this is among the first observational studies to result in an inductive result.
Practical implications: This research raises awareness on the concept of shared leadership and how this is outlined in corresponding tasks. This research recommends to train the project managers in a way where there is an increased focus on the people-oriented approach. Furthermore, reflections on the collaboration process should be built in the standard project checks every month.
Scientific relevance: This research tries to make an addition to the current literature about shared leadership. By introducing specific communicative qualities and link these to tasks performed in teams with shared leadership.
Originality/value: Limited literature is available on the practical implication of shared leadership; this research increases the insight of this concept.
... Read more