The low-lying, arid coastal regions of the Southern Mediterranean Basin, extending over 4,600 km, face daunting sea level rise and hydroclimatic changes due to shifting weather patterns. The impact of these factors on coastal urban buildings and infrastructure must be better understood. Alexandria, a historic and densely populated port city in Egypt representative of several coastal towns in the Southern Mediterranean, has experienced over 280 building collapses along its shorelines over the past two decades, and the root causes are still under investigation. We examine the decadal changes in coastal and hydroclimatic drivers along the city's coastline using photogrammetric satellite images from 1974 to 2021. We explore the interconnectivity between shoreline retreat, ground subsidence, and building collapses. Our results suggest that collapses are correlated with severe coastal erosion driven by sediment imbalances resulting from decades of inefficient landscape management and urban expansion along the city's waterfront. This severe erosion, combined with sea level rise, increases seawater intrusion, raising groundwater levels in coastal aquifers. Degrading ground stability and accelerating corrosion in building foundations ultimately culminating in collapses. We identified a coastal area of high vulnerability with over 7,000 buildings at risk, surpassing any other vulnerable zone in the Mediterranean Basin. We propose cost-effective and nature-based techniques for coastal landscape adaptation to alleviate these dangers in Alexandria and other Southern Mediterranean cities facing similar climatic challenges.@en

The increasing recognition of the health benefits of blue spaces highlights their crucial role in constructing Healthy Cities and advancing Sustainable Development Goals. Given that promoting recreational running represents a fundamental pathway to harnessing these benefits, integrating it into spatial planning and design is imperative. Nevertheless, this integration process necessitates substantiated evidence, especially concerning variances among population groups. To address this gap, utilising crowdsourced data and a machine learning approach, this study investigates heterogeneous spatial distributions of recreational running across various age demographics in Rotterdam, with a specific emphasis on visual perceptions and built environments. The mapping results illustrate the varied allure of blue spaces for recreational running, exhibiting a trend of increased clustering in running activities with age, extending beyond the city centre. The outcomes of GWR and spatial regression models indicate significant associations between various visual perception factors and built environment indicators with individual running preferences. Crucially, disparities and spatial heterogeneity are evident in the impacts of different environmental factors on running across age groups. Accordingly, tailored planning strategies and patterns are proposed, informed by age-specific environmental perceptions and preferences, contributing to a deeper understanding of the blue-health mechanism and offering practical insights for creating health-promoting blue spaces.@en

Groundwater is a vital resource for ecosystems, with its recharge process influenced by climate change and urbanization. The transformation of natural and urban landscapes and the over-extraction of groundwater contribute to its depletion and degradation. Groundwater recharge and management are intricately linked to land use and the landscape. Despite this close connection, spatially integrating groundwater recharge strategies in the landscape context remains underexplored. This systematic review synthesizes state-of-the-art research at the intersection of spatial planning, landscapes, and groundwater recharge. We employed a combination of bibliometric visualization and thematic analysis and reviewed 126 studies published between 1990 and April 2024 from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Based on their objectives and outcomes, we found four prominent themes in these clusters: groundwater recharge potential studies, groundwater vulnerability studies, design-based studies, and participatory studies. When organized iteratively, these clusters can become potential building blocks of a framework for a landscape-based groundwater recharge approach. With interdisciplinary collaboration, spatial visualization and mapping, a co-creative design, and a feedback mechanism at its core, this approach can enhance stakeholder communication and translate highly specialized technical knowledge into adaptive, actionable insights. This study also highlights that including spatial design can help develop landscape-based groundwater recharge for long-term sustainable regional development.@en

This study aims to present a regeneration process for historical spaces based on the notion of collective memory. We argue for the necessity of simultaneously studying conservation and rehabilitation policies for restoring and continuing the collective memory of historical spaces. This approach can effectively preserve and shape the collective memory of historical spaces by focusing on preservation and valuing the landscape as a major key between place and humans. The historical ChaharBagh Avenue from the Safavid era in Isfahan serves as a case study. Over time, the social and cultural significance and value of ChaharBagh Avenue as a historical public space and collective memory is diminishing due to inconsistent renewal policies. The study employs a qualitative approach, including field studies and interviews with 32 citizens of Isfahan, to suggest a model for sustainable regeneration and conservation of historical urban sites based on collective memory.@en

Although there have been numerous studies on the heritage attributes, characteristics, and values of the historic garden as a special category of cultural heritage, the question is why a comprehensive review combining mainstream historic garden conservation with ways of understanding the garden in a landscape context has not been conducted. Landscape is an integrative concept that combines physical features and the diversity of functions with social and ecological processes throughout the scales of time and space. Therefore, this landscape context means applying the landscape approach to explore the organic connection between the scale of evolution and the architectonic elements in relation to each other. To elaborate, instead of viewing the garden as an object in one specific temporal-spatial frame, such an approach focuses on the evolution of the site in order to identify persistent structures and other values. The method used in this study involved paper coding as qualitative analysis combined with bibliometric visualization software. We reviewed 162 studies to explore the interconnections between the historic garden and landscape approach. The result is that there are three correspondences between landscape approaches and different stages of the historic garden’s conservation and development: studies identifying the historic garden’s characteristics using landscape mapping, studies demonstrating historic gardens’ conservation based on landscape planning, and studies exploring the potential of development and reuse through landscape design. Finally, we discuss the research gaps and outline an action framework for the conservation and development of heritage gardens in a landscape context.@en

In the heart of southern Iran’s arid expanse lies Siraf, a testament to the enduring bond between water and civilisation. This port city flourished in the 9th and 10th centuries, sustained by ingenious water management. Exploring Siraf’s water heritage reveals a cultural landscape shaped by the symbiotic relationship between water and human innovation. Through meticulous analysis of technical reports, excavation records, interviews, and historical accounts, this research aims to understand Siraf’s water heritage landscape using an interdisciplinary landscape-based approach. This approach integrates insights from archaeology, geology, geohydrology, and agriculture to provide a holistic view of the interconnectedness of natural and cultural elements. These dynamic systems inspire sustainable practices through landscape-based solutions considering natural and cultural landscape features to address urban challenges. As we face climate change and urbanisation, understanding and preserving Siraf’s water heritage landscapes through an interdisciplinary approach provide a roadmap for a more resilient future.@en

In recent years, smart cities have gained traction worldwide, particularly in the Netherlands, where urban populations are growing, and technological advancements are shaping urban landscapes. Smart cities utilize innovative technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and the emerging Internet of Nature (IoN), to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and residents› overall quality of life. The IoT, a network of interconnected devices and sensors, optimizes various urban systems like transportation, energy management, healthcare, and public safety. Similarly, the Internet of Nature extends IoT principles to natural ecosystems, promoting biodiversity and climate resilience. Integrating IoT and the IoN offers promising solutions for urban challenges, ensuring that smart cities in the Netherlands and beyond continue to thrive sustainably. These concepts offer innovative solutions to challenges posed by rapid urbanization, resource depletion, and climate change. This paper explores the integration of IoT and the IoN in the context of smart cities, focusing on their applications and best practices in the Netherlands. Smart city applications in the Netherlands focus on smart mobility, energy transition, circular economy, smart green infrastructure, nature-based solutions (NBS), and digital twin models. Cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Eindhoven lead in smart city innovation and employ smart infrastructure, digital connectivity, data analytics, and citizen engagement. @en

Landscape Logic is an essay on the need for a landscape-based approach to designing sustainable urban environments.

Urbanization is one of the biggest challenges of this century. Urban development comes at the expense of fragile ecosystems that protect and provide us with food and water, not to mention the associated increasing vulnerability to flooding, drought, and social inequality. We therefore need a landscape-based approach to urbanism that considers the biosphere as the context for social and economic development and takes the landscape as its basis.

Landscape-based urbanism utilizes the understanding of the landscape system and its ecological and social-cultural processes and relationships – landscape logic – as the foundation for designing sustainable urban environments across scales. Design with nature, people, and history are at the approach’s core. Using landscape logic, we can build nature-inclusively and climate-adaptively and ensure a healthy and safe living environment for everyone.

Steffen Nijhuis is a full professor of landscape-based urbanism and head of the landscape architecture section at the Faculty of Architecture and The Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands.

Landscape Logic was published on the occasion of the appointment of Prof. Dr. Ing. Steffen Nijhuis as Full Professor of Landscape based Urbanism at Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (NL), on 28 March 2023. The text is an adaptation of his inaugural lecture, held on 2 February 2024 in the Aula of Delft University of Technology.@en

[Objective] Human perception of landscape and environment is primarily through visual senses, making visual landscape research a central theme in landscape architecture research. Conducting a visual analysis of the spatial characteristics of traditional Chinese gardens and exploring their visual features can provide valuable guidance for inheriting the essence of spatial design. In recent years, many scholars have employed quantitative analytical methods to identify the visual space of traditional gardens. However, few of these studies have used detailed models to analyze the spatial features of traditional garden spaces. Compared to traditional digital models, point cloud models collected through LiDAR (light detection and ranging) offer more detailed spatial information for visual landscape research. Therefore, this research aims to take Jichang Garden in Wuxi as an example to explore the possibilities and applications of in-depth visual and spatial analysis of traditional Chinese gardens using point cloud technology. This aim can be further broken into several components: 1) Establishing analytical methods and selecting analysis indicators; 2) applying these methods and indicators to analyze the visual space of Jichang Garden; 3) uncovering the characteristics and features of traditional Chinese gardens through the interpretation of analysis results. [Method] This research establishes a set of methods for quantifying the analysis of visual space using point cloud data, including three main steps. 1) Establishment of a model based on point cloud for calculating the analysis results of visual space. In detail, this research applies a voxel-based method to build multidimensional digital models for buildings, vegetation, and rockery, and build a digital elevation model (DEM) based on the point cloud data on the ground. Then, the aforesaid two kinds of models are integrated with water surface to finalize the modeling process. 2) Establishment of a visual analysis method (line of sight method) based on the three-dimensional digital model for obtaining visual space information. 3) Proposal of indicators for evaluating visual landscape utilizing the visual space information obtained, including “3D visibility”, “visual spread” and “feature ratio of visual field” indicators. A total of 11 viewpoints (viewpoints 1, 2, 3 ... 11) on the west side of Jinhuiyi Pond are analyzed using the above methods. [Results] This research’ s main findings consist of three parts. 1) 3D visibility calculation results. From the visibility analysis results of 11 viewpoints, it is evident that viewpoints 1, 5, 6, 7, and 10 have a relatively broad visual field, with some line of sight reaching a length of 100 meters. 2) Evaluation results of visual space indicators. The viewpoint with the highest 3D visibility is labeled as viewpoint 1, located at the Xianyuexie water viewing platform, while the one with the minimum 3D visibility is labeled as viewpoint 2. The viewpoint with the highest “visual spread” is viewpoint 10, situated in the plaza at the south of the Jiashutang building, while the one with the minimum “visual spread” is viewpoint 11. Except for viewpoint 1 (dominated by buildings) and viewpoint 10 (dominated by the ground), the highest “feature ratio of visual field” is occupied by vegetation. 3) Interpretation of the calculation results. […]@en

Numerous studies show the benefits of wilderness to humans and the environment. Therefore, preserving and developing wilderness areas within urban settings are crucial to combat and mitigate challenges like biodiversity decline resulting from urbanization. According to previous studies, human-wilderness interactions can be contradictory, e.g., relaxing while feeling anxious and insecure. How individuals perceive and comprehend intentional urban wilderness, what dimensions contribute to their perceptions, and how these dimensions influence the visitors’ perceptions remain to be investigated. Selecting Jiangyangfan Ecological Park (Hangzhou, China) as a survey case, this research investigates if and how people perceive intentionally incorporated and designed urban wilderness and how various dimensions of attributes shape their perceptions. This study identified three dimensions that may contribute to visitors’ perceptions of the urban wilderness; namely, cognitive landscape attributes, perceived environmental attributes, and their visitation experience. A mixed-method approach was employed using a questionnaire, mental maps, and environmental behaviour observation as diverse data sources to assess visitors’ urban wilderness perceptions and comprehension from the three dimensions. Results indicate a high propensity to visit the park as an urban wilderness. Our findings also revealed that visitors’ perceptual environmental attributes, e.g., the existence of vegetation and waterbodies and encounters with wild animals, as well as their visit experiences, e.g., their satisfaction with the visit and their motivation for experiencing nature, significantly influence their perceptions. In contrast, prior knowledge and experience-based cognition of urban wilderness attributes showed no significant influence on their perceptions. Moreover, attributes like plant diversity, water visibility, and plant density emerged as critical factors shaping visitors’ perceptions. These findings underscore the importance of considering visitors’ on-site perception of environmental attributes and actual visit experience when assessing the value and acceptability of urban wilderness areas. Future implications of this study for urban wilderness planning and management were also discussed.@en

Understanding the dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC) change in today’s context of rapid urbanization is critical for sustainable urban planning and environmental conservation. Therefore, the research aim is to understand the LULC changes in the Chattogram Metropolitan Area and to assess the policy implications of these changes for sustainable urban development. Through a comparative analysis of LULC maps for two periods (1997–2007; 2007–2017), we investigated the transformation of a detailed planning zone before and after Detailed Area Plan (DAP) approval. Using quantitative data analysis and policy review, we elucidated the impacts of urbanization trends on local ecosystems—specifically the conversion of forest cover and waterscape use. The findings reveal a significant conversion of forested and waterscape areas to urban and peri-urban landscapes, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable planning interventions that focus on these peri-urban areas. The study further critiques the DAP’s effectiveness, revealing a disconnect between regional policy implementation and local outcomes. This research proposes a validated, scalable framework for urban master plans that adapts to the complex socioecological contexts of rapidly urbanizing regions. @en

Waar ik in Nederland ook ben, vraag ik mij steeds af: wat als we nieuwbouwijken anders hadden gepland en gebouwd? Wat als we dan vanuit het landschap waren begonnen? Het antwoord op deze vragen lijkt steeds duidelijker. Steden zouden niet alleen groener zijn, maar ook gezonder, biodiverser en veerkrachtiger. Een stad in het zandgebied kan niet hetzelfde zijn als een stad op kleigrond of veen. [...]@en

De bedrijventerreinen in Nederland zijn een belangrijke drijfveer achter onze welvaart en ze vormen de werkomgeving van velen. Momenteel staan deze terreinen vol met ‘grote dozen’ en is er een gebrek aan groen. Hierdoor wordt het er warm, is er sprake van wateroverlast en is de openbare ruimte niet ingericht op verblijf en recreatie. Dit maakt de terreinen onaangenaam voor werknemers, bezoekers en omwonenden. Met het nationale Werklandschappen van de Toekomst programma wordt beoogd om de duizenden bedrijventerreinen in Nederland te transformeren in klimaatadaptieve, gezonde, natuur-inclusieve en multifunctionele bedrijventerreinen. Dit is een belangrijke conditie voor de innovatie van de terreinen en daar gevestigde bedrijven. Het transformeren van bedrijventerreinen is een complexe opgave. Een dergelijke transformatie kan leiden tot een verscheidenheid aan ruimtelijke, ecologische, sociale en economische voordelen zoals een aangenamer microklimaat, ruimte voor multifunctionaliteit, bevordering van de biodiversiteit en van de gezondheid van de werknemers. Door kwalitatieve omgevingen te bouwen versterken we de economie. Om te komen tot deze nieuwe generatie bedrijventerreinen zoeken we naar integrale ruimtelijke oplossingen en handelingsperspectieven. Dit vraagt om landschapsbewuste gebiedsontwikkeling en waar mogelijk met versterking van de economische en innovatieve waarde van bestaande bedrijventerreinen. De terreinen zullen dus hun economische karakter behouden, maar hun kille uitstraling inruilen voor een aantrekkelijk perspectief. Hoe ontwerpen we voor een dergelijke integrale gebiedsontwikkeling? Deze bijdrage pleit voor een co-creatieve aanpak waarbij generieke ruimtelijke patronen worden ontworpen die toepasbaar zijn op de duizenden bedrijventerreinen in Nederland. @en

In the inevitable high-density urbanization process, existing urban green space (UGS) design approaches are ineffective in creating more green areas and combining multidisciplinary design principles to provide balanced sets of ecosystem services (ESs). This paper proposes a systematic framework for UGS design in the context of high-density urban development, results in spatial patterns, a pattern language, that combines specific design principles with a wide range of complementary ESs suitable for high-density environments. Such design approach can create more possibilities for UGS provisioning, deal with the complexity in high-density contexts, and provides consistency at different scale for UGS designs.@en

Cities serve as both political and economic hubs. Sustainable development has long been acknowledged as crucial to the well-being of the environment, people, and society. In order to improve the current state of spatial affairs and attain long-term resilience, humanity is looking for reliable and sustainable urban planning approaches. Urban agriculture has received a lot of attention in recent years as an enduring and pervasive kind of landscape. Although the contribution of urban agriculture has been well documented in many studies on economic, social and ecological aspects, there has been little discussion of its practical value as a tool for spatial development. Additionally, the potential of urban agriculture as a landscape approach remains underdeveloped. In summary, current research and practice lacks a scientific framework for considering urban agriculture as a landscape approach to intervene in urban spaces. To this end, this paper explores the potential of urban agriculture as a landscape approach in sustainable urban planning and design through qualitative case study. Taking Songzhuang in Beijing as an example, we discuss and summarise the operational value and potential of urban agriculture from a design perspective. The findings suggest that landscape-based urbanism that includes urban agriculture can harmonise social, economic, environmental and ecological elements. Finally, in order to provide a generalised approach, this paper proposes a scientific framework for articulating a landscape approach to urban agriculture to guide future research and practice.@en

Historic gardens, regarded as a significant genre of cultural heritage, encapsulate the enduring essence of bygone eras while concurrently transcending temporal boundaries to resonate with the present and future. These gardens provide us vitality and inspiration, holding a collective repository of human memory and serving as a testament to our shared heritage. However, like landscapes, gardens constantly change through natural processes and human interventions. How can we preserve these gardens, though changes are unavoidable? Spatial and visual characteristics are the gardens' essential characteristics, and point-cloud (LiDAR) technologies are powerful tools to reveal and analyze gardens’ spatial-visual relationships and characteristics. Therefore, this paper aims to present a point-cloud-based approach to identifying spatial-visual design principles and making them operational to protect and develop historic gardens. Additionally, several methods have been proposed in this research, including (a) a voxel-based method to transfer points into a solid model for GIS-based computation, (b) a novel method to analyze the field of view (FOV), and (c) a systemic framework to reveal historic gardens’ spatial-visual characteristics based on the voxelized model. Jichang Garden, a historic garden in Wuxi, China, known for its visual design and spatial arrangement, has been selected as a case study to showcase how to apply the methods proposed by this paper. The findings include the design principles for the water body, the arrangement for a route, and the planting strategies of the garden. The conservational strategies have been formed based on the findings, and the appliable potentials and limitations of the methods have also been discussed.@en

Riverscapes are a complex and multi-scale socio-ecological and hydrogeomorphic system, which is the result from the interaction between human and nature. The "River Style Framework", based on the principles of hydrogeomorphology, provides a mature learning tool to understand the "form and process". The paper made a systematic review of the main principles, procedures and contents of river style framework. The multi-scale spatial framework, the classification system of river style and geomorphic units provide the basic approach for describing and interpreting river character and behavior. At the watershed scale, the priority of restoration strategy of each reach can be identified after the geomorphological condition assessment and the restoration potential assessment; at the reach scale, with the evolution trajectory analysis of the specific reach, the change trend can be predicted, and providing knowledge evidence for "process-based" riverscape restoration design and actions.@en

Duurzame verstedelijking, klimaatadaptatie en biodiversiteitsontwikkeling vragen om een ontwerpaanpak die het landschap als uitgangspunt neemt. In een dergelijke aanpak staat het ontwerpen met natuurlijke en sociaalculturele processen centraal. Naast natuur zijn mensen een belangrijk element van een landschappelijke aanpak. Het landschap verbindt mensen, thema’s en schaalniveaus met de natuurlijke context. Het is de drager van de stad en biedt structuur, ecologische samenhang en variatie, maar is ook flexibel en multifunctioneel. L'urbanisation durable, l'adaptation au climat et le développement de la biodiversité nécessitent une approche de conception qui prend le paysage comme point de départ. Dans une telle approche, la conception intégrant des processus naturels et socioculturels est centrale. Outre la nature, l'être humain est un élément important de l'approche paysagère. Le paysage relie les personnes, les thèmes et les niveaux d'échelle au contexte naturel. Il soutient la ville et assure structure, cohérence et variations écologiques, mais il est également flexible et multifonctionnel.@en

Urban blue space offers substantial health benefits by encouraging population physical activity. Despite much evidence on the nature-health nexus, the relationship between blue space and recreational exercises remains under-studied, limiting the realisation of health benefits in blue space design. Using crowdsourced data, including volunteered geographic information and street view image data, this study investigates the associations of blue space quality with recreational running and cycling in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Results show that recreational exercise levels on street segments vary based on the blue space type and design. Compared to inland canals and rivers, small-scale recreational waterbodies are more conducive to running but not cycling, while both activities tend to cluster around the Nieuwe Maas River. Interestingly, the Water View Index shows a general negative association with both activities after adjusting for the blue space type. Besides the waterbody characteristics, eye-level environmental factors, including higher Green View Index, lower building density, more diverse land use, greater connected street network and fewer traffic elements, are associated with more running and cycling exercises. Results for visual complexity and neighbourhood population composition are mixed depending on the exercise type. These findings are further translated into spatial design patterns for developing exercise-supportive and health-promoting blue spaces.@en

Urban agriculture is acknowledged as a multifunctional integrated concept capable of delivering various ecosystem services. Design-related empirical research which is regarded as crucial for introducing and exploring the transformation of design knowledge and practice. Despite the growing body of scientific evidence, operational guidelines for this topic are relatively scarce. The primary step in promoting practical value involves reviewing existing design knowledge and transformation status in empirical research. In conjunction with the existing design research findings, research through design is the only way to acquire and test design knowledge. Spatial design is acknowledged as a way to translate theoretical concepts into practical applications. This systematic literature review offers a comprehensive qualitative analysis of urban agriculture, ecosystem services, and design research. Additionally, it utilizes bibliometric visualization tools to clarify existing research gaps and propose reliable solutions. This paper reveals the imbalance of design research in delivering ecosystem services in urban agriculture through the review of 70 selected empirical research articles. The results suggest that the research for design approach is the most prevalent and offers abundant design knowledge. However, the relatively infrequent use of the research through design method obstructs the transition from implicit to explicit design knowledge, resulting in a shortage of available operational guidelines. Consequently, the study proposes a framework for systematic design knowledge of urban agriculture to catalyze the transformation of design knowledge. Finally, we outline the framework's composition and logic and elucidate its role in addressing research gaps.@en