In the Anthropocene, human activity has profoundly impacted the Earth's environment, particularly in urban areas where nature is domesticated and humans dominate. Rewilding has emerged as an ecological restoration concept to create more sustainable urban ecosystems, though it faces significant challenges, especially in urban context. This graduation project proposes a new vision for urban rewilding, focusing on restoring natural processes and reducing human control over landscapes while enhancing human experiences of wildness. Using the Schijn Valley in Antwerp as a case study, the project explores the integration of ecological quality and aesthetic experiences in urban forests. Through multi-scale design strategies, it aims to promote harmonious coexistence between humans and non-humans, with riparian forest corridors serving as key spatial elements that offer both ecological benefits and profound aesthetic experiences.

Before you lies the graduation project ‘Tree-Ways for Water Issues’. This project is made within the Urban Forestry Lab as part of the Flowscapes Graduation Studio of the master track Landscape Architecture at the TU Delft.

This graduation project for Zwolle investigates how the revision of the tree and blue structure, necessary for climate change, can be used simultaneously for a number of future spatial challenges for the city as a healthy living environment.
The motivation for this is the demand for more space for water storage and the improvement of greenery by adding and transforming it in conjunction with landscape and urban challenges.

Based on the morphological analysis of the entire city, current policy documents, research into water issues, and the landscape architectural concept of Urban Forestry, an Urban Forestry Plan has been created for the area enclosed by the city ring road, with a detailed plan for the neighborhood Kamperpoort, where greenery, traffic, urbanization, and water challenges converge.

This report presents a literature study, site research, and a design proposal for a new tree structure in Zwolle. The purpose of this project is to showcase how a potential forested structure in an urban environment can help alleviate waterproblems.

The project takes its basis in a concern for the future liveability of European cities in regard to public space, public buildings, and public life, looking specifically at the capital city of Budapest in Hungary. Studying internal migration patterns within Hungary, it is clear that while the Budapest conglomerate region have grown in population over the last 30 years, there has been a negative net migration to the Budapest inner city. The urban population is choosing to a larger degree to move to village suburbs in the conglomerate region, mainly due to the access to nature and recreational space that these places offer, suggesting that the city is failing to supply an attractive alternative for the local living environment of the inner city. Though large efforts and funds are already dedicated to address this, my research and design questions the impact current developments in the city have on the perceived recreational value of the living environment within the local city block. The project investigates the core concept of “publicness” and the separation of public and private realms, aiming to challenge the ways public space and public buildings are configured and realized.

The investigation resulted in a design for a multifunctional building and an urban green strategy which aims at addressing the “everyday” aspects of public space and public lives. The focus lies on ways in which public buildings to a larger degree can offer spaces for everyday activities rather than curated experiences and ways which these spaces can become appropriable for users to utilise as they please and in the ways they see fit. The specific mixite of functions and the configuration of program around loosely programmed “in-between” spaces has been crucial to achieve a degree of ambiguity in terms of use and purpose of space, something which becomes a driver for appropriability and the perception of public space as an extension of the private living sphere.

The project takes as a starting point the architectural exploration and revival of the typology of a courtyard block – a type that has a long history in the city of Budapest and yet, is getting abandoned and rejected in the in the last decades – a predicament that surprises as the type has been realised successfully for centuries and even millennia across the world. For that fact, I take a stance that a courtyard is a universal and everlasting type, but in need of adaptation to the changing conditions of current times.
The main flaws of the majority of Budapestian courtyard blocks derive from the very failure to adapt to growing and densifying cities – in pursuit to densify the plots, the courtyards became overly elongated, narrow, dark and uninviting. Another common weakness is the deteriorating state of the courtyards resulting from a complex and inefficient system of ownership in Hungary. As a result, even once beautiful courtyards and facades became neglected and deteriorated as it proved difficult to make the residents look after them on their own account without any system.
The revitalisation of a Budapestian courtyard is then two-fold – systematic and architectural. As part of the design, all properties in the project come partially owned by the municipal/civic body to ensure organised maintenance and enduring quality of the building. The main architectural improvements are opening up the dwellings to at least both sides of the block introducing more light and diverse views, and careful proportioning of the courtyards ensuring sufficient access of light and a more usable space.
The project lies in a in a mainly residential neighbourhood in a place that is historically and morphologically very heterogenous. It aims to give back coherency to the urban tissue that is currently broken, by working with a rectangular perimeter. The buildings use the courtyard system to break down the scale of the block and create multiple different environments and more private spaces within.
The project explores the diversity of the courtyard typology and plays with the juxtaposition of different types, introducing both outdoor and indoor courtyards, large and small ones, public and private, loud and quiet, exposed and secluded, green and paved, colourful and toned, densely and lightly programmed. A vast study of courtyards across the world brought forth the forms and techniques that make them successful, giving inspiration for the design that aims to capture these different qualities and collect them creating a diverse courtyard maze.
The project is of mixed program – housing with retail, restaurants and cafes, and a library. The mixed use, together with a variety of courtyards introduced life into the block and creates an engaging living environment.

In a world that is becoming more virtual by the day, there is a longing for physicality that yearns to be fulfilled. This thesis explores the potential of architecture to evoke diverse behaviors and emotions, drawing from the idea that individual perceptions of space are subjective and influenced by the memories and knowledge ours bodies have absorbed from our unique lived experiences. With Budapest as a dynamic testing ground, the thesis focuses on activating the Danube waterfront.

The proposed project consists of a retreat that transitions the people from Budapest to the water fostering a more symbiotic relationship between the urban community and the river.

The project comprises two parts. The first is a private bathhouse facility, nestled within a once-concrete expanse in a park and sheltered within a public layer. The result is a building that outwardly serves the public, while inwardly housing an introvert private bathing facility. The second is a public floating structure, paying homage to the evocative reminiscences of old pontoon pools with a purpose of re-activating the historical legacy of swimming in the river. By sewing these two worlds together in one area, while bridging the community physically to the river, the proposal becomes a revitalisation of the waterfront.

The goal was to craft an architecture that delivers spaces capable of leaving a lasting impression on the mind and bodies of those who engage and experience them. Architecture is the set for life to happen, and we, as set designers, choreograph and orchestrate different scenarios and environments for different users to engage with - and the play plays out.

The Yuanyang Rice Terraced Fields are located south of Ailao Mountain in Yuanyang County, Yunnan Province, China. They're at the core area of the Honghe Hani Terraced Fields, stretching for more than 166 square kilometres, and a wonder of terraced farming civilisation created by generations of Hani people using the steep hills of the unique geographical conditions. The villages within the Yuanyang Terraces bear witness to this long history.

Under the background of rapid urbanisation and tourism development in China, the rice terraces' beautiful scenery and unique culture have gradually attracted many tourists. However, these traditional villages are not prepared for tourism development. Unfortunately, many villagers give up the conventional way of life. However, modernisation is at the cost of destroying historic buildings and their culture and the activities of tourists contribute to destroying their living environment.
Furthermore, the region is affected by rapid climate change, causing a shortage of water resources, making the situation worse for the villages. Lower rainfall means less water for irrigation, which leads to a decrease in the rice yield, affecting the farmers' income. The gradual disappearance of the paddy fields also means the disappearance of the thousand-year-old terrace culture and landscape. Traditional farming cannot provide villagers with the economic source to survive in modern society.

To reactivate the traditional villages, many things need to be considered: how to make the Yuanyang terraces ecologically sustainable and appropriately introduce modern technology and rural tourism into the farming civilisation and improve villagers' living standards.

The project takes Azheke Village, one of the most intact traditional villages, as an example to illustrate the possibilities of coping with the dilemmas of tradition versus modernisation, the climate crises and increasing tourism by design solutions. The design discusses the economic, ecological, and cultural development of Azheke Village by introducing a research station to experiment with new crops, which might increase the farmers' income. In terms of ecology, the problem of water and energy shortages is solved by building reservoirs and using renewable energy. In terms of culture, landscape elements such as forests, canals, terraces, rivers, buildings, roads, crops, etc., are enhanced to strengthen the landscape narrative potential of the site and emphasise its cultural value. In terms of economy, inhabitants' income could be increased by selling tickets, planting new cash crops, and selling agricultural products. The sustainable ecological environment and unique human landscape could make Azheke Village more competitive in terms of eco-tourism. This design therefore can bring new ecological, social, and economic values to the Azheke Village, which help the villagers to stay and be proud on their landscape.

Social housing associations play an important role in providing affordable, adequate, and safe housing to their tenants. This requires constant maintenance of the real estate in their portfolio. There are different types of maintenance, but in this research, the focus will be on repair maintenance. Repair maintenance is carried out in response to complaints from tenants. Although housing associations often score satisfactory in the Aedes Benchmark for tenant satisfaction in the field of repair maintenance, in practice situations occur where housing associations struggle with carrying out and/ or managing repair maintenance, which leads to dissatisfied tenants. So, there are opportunities to maximize tenant satisfaction and investigate repair maintenance. The main research question of this study is, therefore: What contributes to tenant satisfaction at housing associations in the field of repair maintenance and how can this be improved? Based on literature research, analysis of benchmark data, case studies, and interviews, data will be collected to answer the main question. The study aims to gain insight into factors that contribute to tenant satisfaction and to create recommendations from this that can help housing associations in making choices to maximize tenant satisfaction.

The Dutch housing market has a shortage and especially a shortage in its middle-segment between, low-income, social housing, and higher-income, homeownership. Because of this, municipalities have become more active in creating middle-segment housing, but most Dutch municipalities have few land positions which has urged them to create middle-segment housing in developments with no or low municipal landownership. The so-called passive land policy. However, this has proved difficult as there no longer are extensive national housing plans which were used in the past. In addition, Dutch municipalities do not have much knowledge on creating more middle-segment housing in developments with a passive land policy. Therefore, this thesis asks what land-use instruments exists in the Dutch passive land policy to create more middle-segment housing and how successful these instruments are in creating middle segment housing.

The passive land use instruments are within their relative typology the regulatory minimal percentages and eternal land lease, stimulating by anterior agreements, and communicational means by policy documents. When analysed it was found that these instruments are more often used in combination with each other. So, in implementation, this meant that some regulatory pressure was given on a developer to make them negotiate with the municipality. After this, the municipalities used stimuli to help create a financially feasible project with middle-segment housing and gave permits or sold (small portions of) land. Moreover, the policy documents were used more in advance to let any market party know what conditions were necessary to make the municipality cooperate with a plan.

Dutch municipalities thus influence the amount of middle-segment housing made by the passive land-use instruments used. Therefore, the municipality negotiated with market parties on projects in a context to create an agreement that is possible. In this several factors and actors played an important role. Most important for the agreement were the financial feasibility and the gaining of permits. The procedure for the permits started after the negotiations and the financial feasibility would be reached through the negotiations in which the municipalities stimulated in kind, by lowering other requirements, or by lowering taxes. The context could also play a role through an abundance of social housing in the area, political will, or land positions. There also seemed to be a correlation between more regulative instruments and less trust or a more strained relationship between the municipality and the developer in the network.

The research focuses on the estate zone of the Baakse Beek region which is facing environmental problems mainly caused by historical human intervention and climate change. Besides, in the Vorden cluster, as the land use changing caused by intense land reclamation and consolidation, the current agriculture productive landscape makes it not easy to perceive the rich historical layers.
The main research method of this study is research by design and the main goal is to explore the potential of forest landscape restoration to increase the resilience of the estate landscape in the face of climate change and to promote their cultural-historical values and identity. By restoring forest landscape, it provides a green infrastructure to the estate zone to gain more spatial experience, ecological benefits, as well as cultural value, so that vulnerable aquatic eco-environment and cultural identity can be promoted.
The research aims to design a climate-adaptive estate landscape as a green infrastructure that connects the estates, local history, ecology value and societal value through forest landscape restoration. This thesis primarily focuses on the territory of two estates, Het Medler and De Wiersse, where ecological restoration of the aquatic eco-system and cultural-historical landscape experience can be strengthened utilizing forest landscape restoration.

During the past few decades urbanization has been occurring at a very fast pace, claiming new territories by spatial expansion and occupying the last precious open spaces that are left. Urban growth, in combination with rapid climate change and the neglect of ecological processes, has had severe negative effects on the environment. Therefore, improving the quality of life in urban environments and transforming them into resilient cities has never been more relevant. At the same time, as current practices of urban development are failing to cope with the existing conditions, new opportunities are occurring. One of these opportunities are the unused and forgotten areas generated by urban growth that occupy large parts of the urban web. Despite their derelict appearance, these spaces provide a haven for spontaneous vegetation - the (so called) Third spaces. The Third space is a concept forged by the theories of Ignasi de Solà-Morales and Gilles Clément and refers to all types of places that constitute a territory of refuge for biological diversity. As a result of their abandonment, the Third spaces evolve into secondary landscapes that are colonized by pioneer species and perform ecological services. With Athens as the context of the proposal, this thesis aims to explore the potentialities of the Third spaces in the new processes of urbanization and re-envision their role as support for new ecological, morphological and cultural interrelations within the urban landscape. In order to do that, the area of Eleonas is chosen for intervention, as a characteristic example of an agglomeration of Third spaces among the post-industrial remnants and empty spaces found in the heart of Athens metropolitan area.

The Netherlands has a long and fascinating history with water to keep its land safe and dry. Recently, when the country is exposed to a changing climate, it is at the turning point to shift from defensive water control to adaptive and integrated management. Landscape design has a role to play in endowing water and water management with new values and enabling the water as well as its related natures are adapted to be more resilient for the future.

The study area Baakse beek has a rich context in which the prominence of water greatly decides the water management and the landscape and also exposes the area to the challenge of climate change. Hence, one aim of this study is to review the local historical water management approach and take values from them to bring back wetness conditions and water balance. The long history with water also means there are many opportunities (ecology, aesthetic, and cultural heritage) in the area, but the difficulty is how to weave together ecological function and spatial experience in landscape design. So, the second aim of this study is to find ways to communicate ecological function through spatial design.

Through exploring the history with water over time, three categories of local historical water management approaches are summarized and they are adjusted to different water retention and ecological principles to formulate design strategies involving stream re-naturalisation, water retention, and water purification. For design, the core is to provide human with pleasure from the landscape appearance that involves beneficial ecological functions. landscape design needs to communicate ecological function and to conform to our cultural expectations of naturalness. This is achieved through two approaches, spatial modification, which gives an overall framework of landscape experience and cue to care, which gives hints of maintenance and neatness.

The design explorations take place on various scales and locations. Selected design principles are assigned to the most suitable locations in the Baakse beek catchment area to preserve and strengthen the landscape characteristics of each sub-area. Two landscape ecology models and two design options for spatial experience are built in the Medler-Wiersse cluster, estate landscape, to test various ways to bridge the gap between the environment and spatial experience. Combinations provide design possible options towards alignment between landscape ecology and spatial experience.

A graduation based on evidence based long-term design principles, translated into contemporary context and beyond. The design principles are used to create a neighbourhood in a gentle way: letting people participate in the design and development proces, keep housing (forever) affordable, to think beyond short-term effect by creating social impact.

This exhibition presents analytical models of hofjes(the little charity courtyard), made by MSc2 students in the elective course Analytical Models at the faculty of Architecture in Delft.

Exhibition 15 January – 2 February 2018, Faculty of Architecture (Delft University of Technology), Oostserre

The institution in this case is the Delft University of Technology, which will make its appearance through a building to be situated in Delft’s historical center, suggesting the university’s physical return to the city after a hiatus of some eighty years. The agent of this return will be a complex of 'spaces of collection' for the accommodation and display of artefacts in various university collections. An opportunity is seen to provide an elaborated place of social and intellectual contact between the university and the public, affected by objects and realized through students, citizens and visitors.

The theme of the studio is ‘Space of Collection’. The aim is to design a type of space embedded into the context of Delft’s city centre through research and experiment, which is not only to solve the problem with a place for the collections of TU Delft, but also to build interactions between university and historical city as an ‘Urban Institution’. Therefore, there are two keywords for the project, one is ‘Collection’, the other is ‘urban institution’.