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.

The Greater Bay Area, known as the GBA, ultimately incorporates 11 main cities (consisting of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR) as well as the municipalities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing) into an urbanised population of over 70 million people. It represents a significant opportunity to shape the future of the Pearl River Delta region.

In the last decades, this region has experienced an unprecedented rise of urbanisation and a rapid economic growth positioning itself as the future centre of global economy. However, the uneven development has been the reason behind several environmental and socio-spatial challenges that threaten the future of this mega region. The research intends to comprehend these issues under the fragmentation perspective, by classifying and analysing the challenges within three main themes (Society, Economy and Environment) in three different scales. Furthermore, the research proposes that the integration of bio-physical infrastructures (Green and blue network) respecting the natural ecosystem and the delta conditions throughout the whole process of development and urbanisation, will help redefine the future of globalisation in the GBA. In order to achieve that, an explorative method using the ‘strips game’ was used as a method to produce a vision and urban scenarios on multiple scales providing functional and spatial distributions. This method was conducted in Hong Kong to give access to the feeling and environment in question.