Aim: This paper aims to explore various design strategies for revitalising former small-scale
harbours and reinforcing maritime identity in the Water Triangle area, located in the south-western Netherlands.

Problem: The Water Triangle area has a rich maritime history, but its maritime identity has faded over time. Many former harbours in the region have disappeared or become ‘hidden harbours,’ where traces of maritime heritage still exist. Despite their historical significance, these small-scale harbours have not been extensively studied.

Methodology: The research uses several methods, including a literature review, an analysis of a
reference case, and a conceptual design process. These methods help identify and test potential design strategies.

Findings: The study presents nine design strategies, generalised to be applicable to other
contexts. Strategies are tested through a conceptual design process applied to the hidden harbour of Papegat, demonstrating how they can be adapted within a small-scale context.

Research Limitations/Implications: This research focuses on a specific geographical area and one case study, which may limit its direct applicability to other regions. However, the design
strategies offer a framework that can inform similar revitalisation efforts in other historically
significant maritime environments.

Value: By addressing the overlooked small-scale harbours, this study contributes to the broader
knowledge on revitalisation of maritime heritage and identity, and provides a framework for
integrating maritime traces into contemporary
architectural design.

This project explores the transformation of a former shipyard in Sliedrecht into a resilient, mixed-use neighborhood that reconnects the village with its maritime heritage and the river landscape. Situated outside the primary dike, the site faces flood risk but holds cultural and historical value as part of the “Maritime Industry Heritage Line.”

The design proposes a layered masterplan that integrates housing, public space, and the adaptive reuse of industrial structures. Key heritage elements—such as the crane, slipway, and shipbuilding halls—are preserved and reinterpreted, with the shipyard repurposed into a hotel and conference center. Flood resilience strategies are embedded throughout, using a combination of elevated construction, water-resistant materials, and adaptive landscape design.

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) has always been one of the centers of gravity for China's economic development. Over the past few decades, the PRD has been undergoing urban development at an astonishing rate, but this development momentum has begun to wane in recent years. The development dividend initially gained from the manufacturing industry is gradually diminishing, and the whole region is facing a transformation. To meet the needs of the manufacturing industry, many rural villages have rented out their land to factories, and the living space for farmers and fishermen has been continuously reduced. Pollution brought about by the establishment of factories has also seriously affected the water system of the Pearl River, bringing about the extinction of aquatic organisms.

Not all groups of people have enjoyed the dividends of economic development in the Pearl River Delta. Especially the fishermen among the marginalized people, their living space and production sources are threatened by urban expansion. However, fishermen, as the first to settle in the Pearl River Delta and have lived on the land for thousands of years, have their unique wisdom about the land and the water system. Therefore, the project hopes to help the region achieve sustainable development from the perspective of the fishermen while ensuring their livelihoods.

The project has developed a core fishermen's habitat framework through theoretical research. Firstly, based on this framework, the project collected data and information on typical fishing villages classified the fishing villages in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), and summarized their specific elements. Secondly, the project selected one of the fishing villages for design exploration, exploring specific habitat modifications and area-specific planning strategies. Finally, the design logic implemented in the design exploration was utilized to examine the principles of the other two types of fishing villages, and a relatively feasible way of application was proposed.

Landscape has always embodied the mutual compromise between man and nature. In the past, humans have forced nature to make compromises, leading to the increasingly severe ecological degradation problems today. It is time to think differently about the relationship between man and nature, so the project hopes to help the residents of the Pearl River Delta, and nature reach a new coexistence through the means of landscape modification, which will no longer be a relationship of forcing one party to compromise, but rather a relationship of balanced development.

As the "rice bowl" of Vietnam, the Mekong Delta provides a large amount of agricultural products for Vietnam and the world. Over the years, the government has dramatically altered the landscape of the Mekong Delta in order to maintain existing production patterns. When production conflicts with the natural environment, governments choose to use a series of rigid water management facilities such as dykes, sluices, and wells to control and utilize the water. However, these facilities exacerbate problems such as saline intrusion and flooding, which in turn cause a decline in crop yields. As the climate changes, sea levels will gradually rise and the seasonal distribution of precipitation will become more uneven. When the government chooses to rely on these facilities to control the water system, higher dams, more sluices, and more wells will be needed, which will also further exacerbate water problems. Therefore, when people fight against water, the relationship between people and water is trapped in a vicious circle.

In fact, within natural landscape systems, there is potential for mitigating water problems in their own right. At the same time, the richness of local production practices and traditional wisdom offer opportunities for change. It is therefore more sustainable for the communities living here to be aware of these potentials and to think differently, not by trying to control the water, but by making changes in themselves following the changes in the water environment.

The project views the landscape as a system, integrating challenges and opportunities at all layers through layered analysis, historical analysis, and cross-scale design. The landscape approach is utilized to create a framework at a large scale within which nature is given space to fulfill its potential while providing a toolbox to guide spontaneous change by local people. By combining large-scale planning with a small-scale design, the ecological resilience of the landscape is enhanced and a new system of resilient landscapes is constructed to address problems, and even respond to climate change.

Vulnerable people with a psychiatric disorder are no longer staying in institutions outside of society, from now on the will live in the neighbourhood, in the so called ‘inclusive society’. In reality, some challenges need to be overcome such as loneliness and social isolation while living independent, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of people with psychiatric disorders, absence of the necessary safety nets of outpatient care, a lack of suitable low-cost rental housing and a society that is not entirely inclusive. This is to be seen as ‘the illusion
of inclusion’. In my research I aimed to develop architectural principles to enable psychiatric patients to live independently within the neighbourhood. These architectural principles were developed by means of a literature review, best practices and interviews. The architectural principles serve as a method of testing the design. Even though the design itself is positioned on a specific location, these principles are a general guideline for designing for independent living with a psychiatric illness.