The demand for a more conscientious and integrated design process in urban infrastructure design arises from the realisation that the environmental crisis can only be addressed by enhancing the resilience of the built environment (Amirzadeh, Sobhaninia, and Sharifi, 2022). Resilience can be achieved through a meticulous design process that seamlessly integrates spatial design and engineering in a smart way <Cutter et al., 2008>. However, since the era of industrialisation, civil engineering and spatial design have evolved into fields with distinct cultures and languages, characterised by protocols and efficient organisation in multidisciplinary cooperation. Meanwhile, the core of urban infrastructure design remains inherently interdisciplinary (Hadfield-Hill, 2020).

The collaboration between civil engineering and spatial design disciplines specifically encompasses significant challenges, primarily due to differences in vocabulary, starting with the definition of 'design' itself. In the broadest sense, design is described as a method to find common ground in cases where the measures, problems, and goals are still undefined (Van de Ven et al., 2009). However, most civil engineers are trained to use a linear and optimisation approach to solve problems, while most spatial designers adopt a more explorative, research-by-design approach. Each field employs different paradigms and rationales for problem-solving.

The transformation of Pearl River Delta (PRD) is characterized by a complex layering, spatial and temporal differentiation. Its complexity is not only caused by interactions between multiple layers like blue-green spatial structure and urban spatial structure, but also caused by the interactions of several large sub-regions that are mutually interrelated. This paper aims to characterise the spatial structure and its evolution as a basis for the development of spatial strategies for future development. In this research, the combination of multiple spatial–temporal approaches and multiple layer approaches for its spatial structure analysis is employed. Firstly, after mapping the evolution process of the PRD, several important sub-regions are analysed. Secondly, evolution mechanism and driving forces are studied in detail. Thirdly, main existing problems are exposed and the causes of these problems are analysed. Finally, several possible strategies for future land-use schemes of PRD are outlined. It is proposed that the land use of future PRD regions should be divided into three spatial zones and four categories of land use. The goals and measures of development for each land-use category are highlighted in order to make contributions to future planning and design.

To achieve inclusive and sustainable urban development, the introduction of water related Nature Based Solutions (NBS) have proven to be eff ective in specific urban contexts. Different sources point out their contribution to various SDG’s in Europe, Australia and the United States, all of which are regions with high GDP levels with strong institutional contexts. However, in regions that are underdeveloped, have weak institutional contexts, high social and economic inequality and are situated in more vulnerable or extreme landscapes, the so called ‘vulnerable geographies’, the experience with Nature Based Solutions is less extensive (PBL, 2018). This report presents the results of a literature review that aims at providing a first (broad) exploration of NBS in contexts outside the regions mentioned above.

This report is the result of a symposium organised by the department of Urbanism of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of the TU Delft on May 14 2018. with the objective to discuss ideas, methodologies and challenges of a planning and design education for water resilient cities.