Living in the deep polders in the deltaic landscape of the Netherlands poses large-scale challenges. Biodiversity decline, weather extremes, sea level rise, salination, the housing crisis, and subsidence affect large parts of the Netherlands. These challenges should be tackled together through the integral question of ‘what does the area need?’ instead of the more contemporary idea of adding one aspect and the rest will follow. This thesis argues that the territory-oriented approach in relation to current functions and natural and cultural value support urban development to create value in low-lying Dutch polders. In this project, a design for the Benthuizer Noordpolder is created with the use of the territory-oriented approach that regards several aspects of the project, such as urban development, water management, agriculture, and recreation. Through the investment in time, cultural and natural values, integral design, and adaption a design is created that takes a proactive stance toward the current climatic and societal challenges.

This is achieved by using water as a carrier. The hypothesis of a new waterway functions as the backbone of the transition of the area. This transition allows for the reconstruction of a landscape that is related to the natural cultural landscape. Through several steps towards 2100, the vision creates a new type of urban ecosystem that has a beneficial relationship with the landscape. Infrastructure, housing, and open spaces are reconfigured to enhance the system. Through the addition of floodable housing typologies and infrastructure, a new perspective is given on the relationship with the delta which argues for a shift from extreme water management to the creation of boundaries in which the water is allowed its natural rhythm. Through the territory-oriented approach and the use of the physical conditions of the site, the landscape is transformed from barren agricultural landscape to a multifunctional landscape in which there is space for agriculture, living, and recreation. With this design, the argument is made that it is possible to propose urban development in the low-lying polders.

The project’s progression from today until 2100 is not without limitations. Questions have been put about the justness, the involvement of stakeholders, and water management specifications. This design for the area of the Benthuizer Noordpolder conveys that future value can be created by reimagining infrastructure, housing, and open spaces through long-term investment.
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Our modern food structure is unsustainable and fragile. Changes like climate crises, rising food demand, biodiversity loss, and the technological revolution will radicalize how and what we eat and produce. Whichever changes will happen, they will have an effect on the food system. In South Holland, this will happen with the transition to a circular economy. In order to deal with the unpredictability of these changes, this report proposes to create a resilient system. The main question that will be answered is ‘How can resilient food systems contribute to a circular agri-food sector in South Holland?’. In this context, resilience is the ability to ensure the provision of system functions in the face of increasingly complex and accumulating shocks and stresses.
Through capacities of robustness, adaptability, and transformability a just transformation to the circular food economy can be ensured. The strategy Recipe for Resilience derives from this definition. Based on a network of a mix of three types of hubs, the strategy calls for a more widespread and integrated distribution of knowledge about food and the food system. These hubs are the Seeds, where knowledge and food produce germinates, the Melting Pot, common interacting ground for all actors, and the Mixers, the in-between spaces that are not transparent. Together, they supply a network facilitating producers, distributors, and consumers. Thanks to this high-functioning network of knowledge, the main goals of the strategy can be achieved.
During and after implementation, there will be high stakeholder engagement through all layers of society, local food cycles with feedback loops to distribution centers and farmers, and the knowledge about it will be widespread throughout the South Holland population. The constant exchange of expertise will ensure feedback loops throughout all layers of the knowledge production. Through this constant adaptation and transformation, a resilient system can be achieved. ... Read more