Contemporary public spaces continue to be predominantly designed through a visual paradigm, resulting in environments that offer limited support for people who navigate the city primarily through non-visual means. Although accessibility has gained prominence as a design objective, this recognition has not translated into a substantive shift away from visually dominant design practices, resulting in limited and fragmented multisensory cues for wayfinding and perceptual comfort for visually impaired and blind individuals. This becomes particularly problematic in high-density urban contexts, where intensified sensory input increases cognitive demand and undermines non-visual legibility.

This research investigates how multisensory spatial design variables can support non-visual wayfinding and perceptual comfort in public space, and how these variables can be systematically translated into design strategies for plazas, parks and urban routes. The study employs qualitative walk-along interviews with visually impaired and blind participants conducted in The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, complemented by evaluations of spatial design principles with ten other visually impaired and blind participants.

The findings demonstrate that consistent auditory, tactile and material cues significantly enhance spatial legibility, reduce cognitive load and contribute to a more comfortable and predictable urban experience beyond vision alone. These insights are structured through a pattern-based framework that mediates between research and design, while a complementary maximization method is employed as an ordering and communicative tool within three spatial design proposals. By bridging experiential research and design practice, this study contributes to the d ... Read more

The Netherlands faces a growing challenge: the escalation of nitrogen pollution, closely tied to the expansive dairy and animal husbandry industry in the country. As a predominantly dairy-based culture, the dairy industry plays a significant role in the economy, contributing to an 8% trade surplus. Dairy farms occupy 30% of the Dutch land surface, producing 14 billion kilograms of milk per year, resulting in a highly efficient industry. However, at the expense of a degraded landscape and the escalating nitrogen crisis.

This project aims to explore the future of the dairy industry by creating a shift from the current monoculture and centralized dairy chain to a more local and self-restoring model. Recognizing the polder as a crucial spatial element of grasslands in the Netherlands, we view it as a fundamental unit for enhancing dairy industrial efficiency.

Our goal is to instill stewardship of the exhausted landscape, transforming polder typologies into regenerative ecosystems. Our focus is on the regions of SW Friesland, where the concentration of cows and nitrogen issues intersects with Natura-2000 areas. Our methodology aligns with the Netherlands’ aspirations to foster a more biodiverse and multifunctional landscape by proposing a strategic plan for implementation of a green network and polyculture polders keeping in mind the social as well as physical transformations of the landscape. Cooperative systems organized around polder typologies serve as a framework for comprehending new social and economic configurations. A larger organizational structure in which polders co-operate is implemented to redistribute trade and production.

Ultimately, our project aims to establish a new localized, decentral dairy system alongside a toolbox of multifunctional polder-cooperation mosaics. These steps are designed to reduce nitrogen emission and loss, contributing to the overall sustainability and resilience of the dairy industry in the Netherlands. ... Read more