Delta systems, characterized by their dynamic nature and high population densities, are crucial for food and water security. However, they face significant challenges as they are on the forefront of climate change impacts, including sea level rise, river and coastal flooding, and coastal erosion. Among them is the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, where rice-dependent agricultural production systems and methods are increasingly unable to adapt to the new environment created by climate change. There is therefore an urgent need for climate-resilient agricultural transformation and the accompanying social engagement and cross-border cooperation, taking into account and adapting to local cultures and contexts. The Mekong Delta, spanning nearly 50,000 km2, is a region predominantly composed of fertile alluvial and marine sediments, stretching from Phnom Penh in southeastern Cambodia to southern Vietnam and encompassing the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Within Vietnam, approximately 39,000 km2 or 78% of the total area is covered by the delta. This graduation project will focus on its main area of rice production, namely the upper delta in the north.

This graduation project, under the Planning Complex Cities studio, will address the development of spatial planning and strategies that include political, cultural, and social contexts of the site, sustainable agricultural rice production adapted to climate change, and pilot spatial design for selected case areas.

Humans are consuming resources at a rate that the natural world can not sustain. Nations around the world are grappling with large amounts of possible interventions that can stop or at least delay the battle against environmental degradation. While we may not notice it, hard infrastructure (energy, transportation, water management and communications), have a outsized effect on the negative impact that humans have on the natural environment. It is a representation of the backbone of modern society that can both enable, and disable, our ability to transition to a more sustainable future. Directly linked to this our loss of connection with nature. Infrastructure is a critical piece of the puzzle that is the creating of a sustainable future. Thats why this project will focus on using hard infrastructure to enable us to live within the planetary boundaries in the context of South Holland in the Netherlands. An inventory of the existing infrastructure network is completed to understand the scope of the problem. Subsequently, a literature review, analysis of similar case studies and industry research was completed to understand potential solutions. Then, using the existing natural structure as a backbone, a series of green, connected and smart interventions are proposed. These interventions occur on provincial, municipal and local scales and work together to enable the human sphere and the ecosphere to exist in symbiosis.
The following is a proposal on how to achieve a sustainable, innovative, just, accessible and resilient South Holland by the year 2060 through a reimagining of the hard infrastructure system.