The Netherlands is facing urbanisation and densification, and the domination of car use in our mobility system. Both challenges result in built structures and hard surfaces claiming the public space and leaving less space for green and other functions, resulting in the imbalance in public space demand. Within public spaces the green has a low ecological value and climate change challenges, such as Urban Heat Island Effect and water infiltrattion problems, are not addressed. Yet, we see a call for a mobility transition that is oriented to dominantly soft and shared modes of transport.

This thesis investigates how the mobility transition can be used to create green structures within movement spaces that cater to the urban ecological demand, using the region of Haaglanden as a case study. The urban ecological demand concerns three themes: ecology, social activities, and climate. Each of these themes are represented in the ecosystem services (such as water infiltration or food provision) that natural green and blue structures provide and from which we, as humans, derive direct and indirect benefits.

A strong regional green structure can be created through urban environments by making use of the existing mobility network. By moving the focus away from transportation by car to slow and shared transport and by creating linear green structures, the street is used to connect larger green patches within and around the urban fabric. To realise a regional green structure the street profiles need to change; more soft surfaces are to be applied by minimising the space reserved for car use. A Green Street Toolbox is developed as an instrument to obtain an integrated design where all urban ecological demands are considered by applying a systematic approach to the various considerations. Linking the tools of the instrument to the services they provide to the public space allows for this systematic approach.

By applying the toolbox in combination with new street profiles to the chosen design locations in The Hague, this thesis shows that an average result of softening almost 50% of the street surface is a reachable goal. All these softened surfaces provide ecosystem services to our urban environment, leaving us with healthier and higher quality public spaces.

The province of South-Holland is located in a delta, where the Netherlands have been changing the landscape for centuries to keep out the water and create the productive, highly urbanised and well connected landscape it is now. Due to climate change, the water system brings about an increasing pressure in both the rivers as well as the sea. In addition, economic and demographic growth pressure the agricultural production system and urban system. Instead of reclaiming land from sea and rivers, this report aims to find a a collaboration between the three sectors. It will enable the people of South-Holland to work together with the water and create a more balanced landscape.

To create this balanced landscape, this project researches the possibility of protecting the province of South-Holland from climate change while producing sufficient food and keeping the region livable. Three systems (water, agriculture and urbanisation) are analysed on both their individual system as well as the synergies between them. Using these three systems, a vision and strategy are formed for South-Holland in 2100, where the landscape is transformed into a water based productive landscape in which the synergies between the three elements are key. This landscape ensures the realisation of three goals: 1. Productivity by creating dense agricultural hubs, 2. Safety from the water for the whole province, and 3. Livability for the people by creating healthy and desirable densifying urban systems. A toolkit of six intervention typologies is created with a focus on innovation in water, agriculture and/ or urbanisation while keeping a liveable environment. By implementing the interventions on the synergies between systems they create the balanced landscape. This landscape results in the need for a healthier and local diet for the inhabitants and the creation of new green and blue infrastructure will increase liveability. Additionally the food economy of the region will be more efficient and resilient.