This graduation project proposes a new critical approach towards the design of drought adaptive interurban forest structures. The increasing drought during the summer is currently neglected in the design (and management) of green structures in the Netherlands. Several studies underpin the importance of taking drought stress in consideration for the future well-being of trees and forests. Gerrits (2010) provides insight into the cause of drought stress following the hydrological cycle of trees. De Vries et al. (2000) gives an overview of the indirect factors that can contribute to the level of drought stress that trees perceive. The research of Brunner (2010) reveals the response mechanism of trees. Zadworny et al. (2014) and Pretzsch et al. (2012) showed that changing the current forestry practice can result in more drought adaptive forest. However, these studies do not look into the spatial implications of the drought-stress. Since, they do not consider forests as part of a spatial structure which is embedded in a landscape that is defined by its palimpsest, scale-continuum. The Utrechtse Heuvelrug serves as a case to map the spatial implications of transforming the current forest structure into an expanding drought adaptive interurban forest structure. The desk analysis of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug provided more insights in about everyday functioning of indirect factors. The soil conditions, water cycle appears, and human interference seems to make existing vegetation less capable of dealing with increasing extreme climate conditions. Furthermore analyses the forest structure shows that it contains four tree constellations: lanes, estates, forest plantations and nature reserves. A new framework is proposed that include these neglected spatial aspects. The framework combines the drought stress cycle with scales of urban forestry. The framework is applied to develop a vision Utrechtse Heuvelrug which is elaborated in regional design for the area between Austerlitz and Woudenberg. The vision proposed a new forest structure which will be realized in two stages. The first stage is the transformation of the structure, which consists of the addition of seasonal buffers in between the forestry, agricultural and urban cores. The second stage consists of the expansion of the forest in patches between the forestry, agricultural and urban cores. The regional design proposes a new green and blue system that adapts the current grid to make it drought adaptive. Moreover, the adapted grid will facilitate further expansion of the forest. The central element is regional water bodies. They buffer excesses of rainwater and diminish the amount of water that drained into the river Eem and river Rhine through the local canal ‘Valleikanaal’. Two different subsystems are connected to these regional water bodies. The purpose is to retain water and distribute it later. Lastly, the different corresponding constellations which are needed to transform and expand the current grid are described. This includes seven different constellations. Changing a new forest structure consists of four types of tree constellation. The catchment valleys and network of ditches are two primary constellations that will be constructed to prevent exciting forest of further deteriorating from drought stress. The sprengbeek and the zigzag are constellations mainly let circulates the retained water. The sprengbeek is responsible for disposal whereas the zigzag take care of the (emergency) supply of water. The constellation of expansion contains four types of tree constellation. These tree-constellations are the backbone of both developing agriculture and urban patches. The food clearing consists of wooded banks and swamp forests. The living clearings is the last constellation which is part of dense forest patchwork which will develop in between food clearings. This graduation project resulted in the design of seven tree-constellations. They illustrate spatial implications which are necessary to designing drought adaptive interurban forest structure in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug.

The research focuses on the estate zone of the Baakse Beek region which is facing environmental problems mainly caused by historical human intervention and climate change. Besides, in the Vorden cluster, as the land use changing caused by intense land reclamation and consolidation, the current agriculture productive landscape makes it not easy to perceive the rich historical layers.
The main research method of this study is research by design and the main goal is to explore the potential of forest landscape restoration to increase the resilience of the estate landscape in the face of climate change and to promote their cultural-historical values and identity. By restoring forest landscape, it provides a green infrastructure to the estate zone to gain more spatial experience, ecological benefits, as well as cultural value, so that vulnerable aquatic eco-environment and cultural identity can be promoted.
The research aims to design a climate-adaptive estate landscape as a green infrastructure that connects the estates, local history, ecology value and societal value through forest landscape restoration. This thesis primarily focuses on the territory of two estates, Het Medler and De Wiersse, where ecological restoration of the aquatic eco-system and cultural-historical landscape experience can be strengthened utilizing forest landscape restoration.

This study aims to characterize the variation in stomatal conductance and leaf water potential of corn plant in height over time on a diurnal time-scale and on a seasonal time-scale, under well-watered and water stressed conditions.
An additional objective was the development of a protocol for plant-water relation measurements in radar experiments.
Field experiments were done to measure the leaf water potential by conducting pre-dawn measurements three times a week, evening measurements once a week and a mid-day measurement in the beginning and at the end of the growing season. The stomatal conductance was measured multiple times per day for three days a week, given that there was no precipitation. As the research is part of a larger project, additional hydrological data, soilmoisture data and sap flow data were collected.
For the stomatal conductance a clear variation over height was observed. This variation was caused by limited solar radiation for the lower leaves. The leaves that received full solar radiation had clear diurnal cycle in stomatal conductance and a high variation in stomatal conductance. In water-stressed conditions, it is expected to see a change in stomatal behaviour in these leaves.
For the leaf water potential, no values were reached that have been connected to water stress in the literature. Also, no water stress coping mechanisms were observed in the corn. From this it can be concluded that no water stress took place during this experiment for the days on which data was collected. In the leaf water potential data a clear influence of the soil water potential was observed. For the leaf water potential, no values were reached that have been connected to water stress in the literature. Also, no water stress coping mechanisms were observed in the corn. From this it can be concluded that no water stress took place during this experiment for the days on which data was collected. In the leaf water potential data a clear influence of the soil water potential was observed.

Humanity is facing a special point in history, the era of industrialisation is over soon and we are at the beginning of the Post-Anthropocene. Botanical gardens should be the place to present and forecast these changes. However, the design of botanical gardens remained undeveloped. The project is looking into the essence of botanical gardens and questions the operation mode in order to deliver a diverse understanding of nature. In the context of emerging environmental issues, how can botany take a leading role in developing a common understanding of the different kinds of natures we inhabit today?

What can we learn from nature? And how can we tackle problems our conventional methods cannot solve? From 13 September – 9 January 2018 the TU Delft Library will host the exhibition ‘Bioinspired – Designing the Surface. Creative Learning from Nature’ . This exhibition shows examples of nature-inspired technology, and explains about the immense potential for future-oriented innovation. @en