Urban densification is essential to keep the green spaces surrounding Dutch cities, especially in the Randstad. The current Dutch housing stock, of which a significant portion was built during the 1960's and 1970's, lacks a flexible layer in which people in urgent need of housing can find (temporary) affordable housing. Short-stay housing, which encompasses people living somewhere for a day, up to a couple of years, could provide this flexible layer. Target groups for short-stay housing fare well by social interaction, stimulating integration into Dutch society and opening up new possibilities in their life. This social interaction can be partially provided by introducing the sharing economy into an existing neighborhood, providing sustainable options regarding ownership or mobility.

The project 'Between a Day and a Lifetime' therefore proposes an urban densification strategy in which a short-stay housing concept, based on principles of co-housing and the sharing economy, creates densification in a way that it enriches the lives of the current ánd future inhabitants.

The architecture of transportation is recognized by the contemporary lifestyle of society. For the built environment and the future of aerospace infrastructure architecture this legacy needs to be properly examined, respected and continued. This new form of urban infrastructure will introduce a mixed-use building where passengers can check in and travel between distinct urban drone stations. The network in which these vertiports will exist is expected to grow considerably in the coming century to accommodate a decline in car use. The expected increase in demand requires the design to include a modular approach, allowing terminals to easily expand or downsize as needed in the future. Additionally, the design will feature a warehouse dedicated to postal services, where packages and post can be sent through the city via drones. The location of this drone hub is strategically located next to the Hauptbahnhof-station on the unused plot of land adjacent to the tunnel trench where the tracks go underground. This area around and over the train tracks is ideal for apron platforms. Due to the extensive tracks, the project’s site offers a significant potential for future expansion. Developing a cornerstone of tomorrow’s urban landscape.

Post-war shopping malls in the Netherlands are becoming increasingly vacant, which is reflected in the level of activity of the public spaces. These retail-oriented places are becoming less visited as the main reason to come here disappears. This presents a challenge in a compact and densely populated country with a high space demand. With the twelve urban quality criteria of Jan Gehl, a user-based design strategy for Winkelcentrum Leyweg in The Hague Southwest has been developed. The use of spaces determines the level of activity, as the people bring life to these areas. Therefore, this design focuses mainly on the people by introducing elements that make their daily lives more comfortable and enjoyable. A simple bench with trees functioning as canopies can already do the trick. In a building, it is about giving people the freedom to use the spaces they want; places to work, drink a coffee, have a workshop, study, or have the freedom to do what they want. When these buildings are occupied in various ways during the day, more people will be connected to the building, and even a small community can exist here. The increased activity in and around the building will contribute to the overall sense of security. By the use of the building, people will start to care for it and eventually maintain it, providing a more sustainable future. The architect's role is to shape the spaces by introducing qualities that enhance comfort and enjoyment. This can be the increase of daylight, a comfortable climate, moveable furniture, relation between inside and out, good acoustic levels and the opportunities to open or close spaces. Instead of shopping malls being intended for retail alone, these places can be a part of the city. This strategy can be applied to other vacant malls in the Netherlands, reactivating them and providing a more promising and sustainable future.

Wind has a profound impact on the meteorological and environmental conditions in cities. And so, by understanding wind flow behaviour within the urban environment, we can use the increasingly available open data to contribute to the design of healthy cities. This Master’s thesis presents a methodology to compute urban morphological parameters and its effect on potential wind velocity. The proposed method may serve as an complementary method to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation or scaled wind tunnel tests. The research question in this thesis is: Can we use urban morphology to automatically calculate potential increase in wind velocity? To answer this, first an introduction to wind flows in the urban environment
is presented. Then, several methodologies are presented to compute the urban morphological parameters, such as the Urban Canyon, wind- or leeward facade, Angle of Attack and terrain roughness length. The method relies on the use of a Voronoidiagram, with cells describing the morphology. After, the urban morphological parameters are related to potential wind velocity through a scoring method. Using two meteorological stations inside the area of interest, the mean wind velocity is compared to the scores. The result show that both stations show a higher mean wind velocity for higher scores. However, more research is necessary to validate this outcome and a recommendation is given to compare the result of this thesis to a CFD simulation.

Delta cities all around the world are under pressure from different forms of climate change effects. Soil subsidence as a result of peat oxidation, and anthropogenic loading of the soil. The soil in many of the heavily urbanised deltas around the world is subsiding faster than the see level is rising as a result of climate change. Few people are however aware of the problems that soil subsidence can cause and the threat that it poses for the cities and their hinterlands, in Delta regions. Soil subsidence has been going on for such a long time that few people seem to realise that it can pose a threat in the nearby future. Delfland is a part of the Dutch delta that has been polderized and it has been subsiding ever since these polders where created. The purpose of this thesis is to research what the spatial and strategical requirements are, to make it possible for Delfland to deal with soil subsidence, and its effects within the region. There is however no certainty about the future impact of soil subsidence or the which actions are required to counter soil subsidence and its effects. The dynamic adaptive policy pathways (DAPP) method is used to deal with this uncertainty. This method has been developed to be able to plan for an unknown future. This is done though the development of dynamic pathways that function as a plan that can change, depending on future developments. This makes it possible to deal with uncertainty within the soil subsidence problem feld, as well as, external uncertainties. For example uncertainties from climate change, economical changes, or political changes. The strategical impact, of dealing with soil subsidence and its effects through the use of DAPP, is reviewed by taking a closer look at how decisions are made within the DAPP method, and how these same decisions could be made on a regional scale for all of Delfland. This requires knowledge of the possible stakeholders and their role and influence within Delfland and in relation to soil subsidence and its effects. The spatial impact, of dealing with soil subsidence and its effects through the use of DAPP, is reviewed by taking a closer look at the pathways that could be chosen when using the DAPP method. Spatial reflections of different pathways, on the Delfland region, offer an insight in the possible spatial outcomes of different pathways and the actions that are taken within these pathways.