Amsterdam’s urban food system knows a painful paradox of food insecurity and food waste. BuurtBuik’s community kitchen cooks free meals of surplus food while creating opportunities for social contact. This research examined how participating in BuurtBuik as a guest is related to guests’ perceptions of social cohesion in the community kitchen and the wider neighbourhood.
Using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the study combined a survey (n = 33) with two focus groups (n = 9) to provide contextual depth. A multidimensional, multi-level perspective on social cohesion was operationalised to measure and compare perceptions of social cohesion at two levels (community kitchen and neighbourhood) of guests of BuurtBuik Jordaan. Their personal circumstances and their reasons for joining were also considered.
The findings indicated that BuurtBuik can be seen as a socially cohesive “third place”. Guests’ valued aspects such as acceptance, respect for shared rules, and trust. Social and relational motivations for joining were associated with stronger social cohesion perceptions in the community kitchen, while pragmatic or moral reasons were valued less and were not associated. Culinary conviviality seemed to play a key role in strengthening social cohesion. Neighbourhood social cohesion was significantly lower, but half of the guests reported improvements in this due to participating in BuurtBuik, especially in social networks and participation. Effects were stronger for regular and nearby residents, and factors such as income, food companionship at home, and consistent table partners at BuurtBuiks also played a role. This indicated that social cohesion and its improvements were not experienced evenly by all guests.
Limitations included the cross-sectional design and small sample, restricting generalisability and causality. The study contributes to science through operationalising a theoretical framework on social cohesion that includes the deeper components of this ‘catch-all’ concept. It contributes to literature on “more than food aid” by positioning community kitchens as both social infrastructure and food provision. Practically sustaining culinary conviviality through funding and volunteer training could strengthen the social outcomes of BuurtBuik. Still, food aid initiatives such as BuurtBuik should be seen as a temporary relief rather than a structural solution to food insecurity. Future research could include a longitudinal and comparative research design. A qualitative direction could be on the ‘invisible’ rules of culinary conviviality and how the usage of surplus food may be experienced differently across groups.
Keywords: community kitchen, social cohesion, neighbourhood, commensality, food insecurity
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The integration of social value into real estate business models is essential for achieving truly sustainable urban development. This research examines how the European real estate industry can embed social considerations, such as equity, accessibility, and quality of life, into strategic decision-making to support a systemic transition toward a more sustainable and just built environment. Adopting a systems perspective, the study identifies key barriers to the adoption of social value, including limited awareness, lack of standardized metrics, and entrenched financial priorities. It also outlines enablers such as regulatory support, green financing, and stakeholder collaboration. The research culminates in a strategic roadmap designed to help developers integrate social sustainability into their core value propositions through structured assessment, implementation, and feedback processes. Ultimately, the report positions social value not as a peripheral concern, but as a strategic imperative for long-term success. ... Read more

The Netherlands has experienced a decline in active school travel over the last decade. This is concerning, considering that active school travel is essential to support children’s health and independence. Parents’ perceived traffic safety is often linked to children’s mobility choices, but there is little knowledge on what factors inform parents’ perceived safety in a bike-oriented context. This research employed a combination of literature reviews and interviews with mental maps, to understand what factors influenced parents’ perceived traffic safety in a bike-oriented context, like the Netherlands. Overall, this research established a multitude of factors that informed parents’ perceived traffic safety. These factors included, but were not limited to, complex crossings, high speed, high traffic volume, type of bike path, type of crossing, and accidents along the route. This research also highlighted that children’s characteristics and parents’ approach to risk mitigated parents’ perception of traffic safety. The results further showed that parents’ perception of traffic safety did not solely depend on the factors found along the route, but also on the interplay between factors at any specific location. These findings largely overlapped with the literature, with some important additions, which can be attributed to the bike-oriented context and use of interviews in this study. A key supposition from the study was that parents focused on minimizing the uncertainty along their travel route to feel safe. Hence, they preferred routes where their expectations matched the resulting behavior and where infrastructure elements minimized the consequences of any mistakes their children made. The conclusions in this research should be reconfirmed with a larger sample. ... Read more

Over recent decades, many Western governments, including the Dutch government, have adopted collaborative governance strategies in urban (re)development, emphasizing citizen involvement in the decision-making process. While such participatory approaches can potentially promote justice within cities, they risk several implications. This thesis critically examines how participation is utilized, organized, and perceived in the context of urban (re)development in the Rotterdam neighborhood of Hoogvliet. The guiding research question is: ‘What is the role of citizen participation in the neighborhood regeneration strategy for the area of Hoogvliet in Rotterdam, and how can participatory governance be strengthened to support community engagement?’. To answer this question, a qualitative research approach was used, including an analysis of current participatory policies and practices and semi-structured interviews with three key stakeholder groups: public actors, private actors, and the civil society. The findings indicate that citizen participation is poorly integrated into the urban (re)development process of Hoogvliet, primarily due to two factors. First, existing policies fail to effectively support citizen participation, as their flexibility leaves public and private stakeholders with insufficient guidelines for meaningful engagement. Second, there seems to be lack of trust from the civil society towards the government, which affects the incentive for citizens to engage. To enhance a collaborative planning process where citizens actively take part in the process, it is crucial to address these issues first. ... Read more

North-western European countries play an important role in the global food system, by providing 80 percent of the whole European production. The current production system is focused on profit, has a yearly emission of 1250 megatons of CO₂ equivalent in North-western Europe and produces pollutants in the soil, water, and air. This results in an imbalance between natural and human activities, which is destroying biodiversity, natural resources and is increasing food access inequality. Therefore, our goal is to reduce CO₂ emission to net-zero in 2050 and to reach food security for all people North-western citizens.
We aim to design a sustainable food production system that is based on three pillars: nature-based, community-based and production for need. We analysed the current system through fieldwork, data analyses and literature reviews.
The concept of the circular economy formed our basis for a vision of an open adaptive system for the food production system. It includes concepts of circularity from the production on the fields, towards the re-valuing and re-purposing of household and industrial by-products. For each of the production steps we have developed a toolbox of innovations, which are integrated following the local context. New ways of production are incorporated in the farming process; management techniques, which reduce CO₂, are implemented in the processing phase; new marketing strategies are applied in retail; in the consumption phase mindset is changed to accept alternative products and meal planning. In terms of disposal, waste is reduced by reusing it as an input for other processes. Lastly, carbon sequestration is improved by recovering and increasing natural areas, leading to an increase in biodiversity and soil health.
This toolbox is implemented as a strategy in the region of South Holland to illustrate the spatial, social, and economic impacts of the new food production system. The circular concept ensures an approachable transition from linear to circular food production systems in North-West Europe. Therefore, it can be used to inform international cooperations, national and regional governments in making policies, and to provide an overview of the spatial implications of this transition on the national, regional, and local scale. Overall, it is a radical shift towards renewable energy sources, incorporating by-products as inputs and using and producing food products with a smaller CO₂ footprint.
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The negative effects of global climate change are experienced more clearly every day, meaning that significant alterations across all causing sectors are necessary. However, the influence of the building industry as one of the most polluting sectors, is immense, but therefore this industry also has a high potential in mitigating the greenhouse gas emissions by applying circular design principles, such as circulating products and materials, and thereby designing a more sustainable, circular and healthy living environment. Additionally, increasing the amount of nature in the built environment will also contribute to this manner, nonetheless the ongoing trend of urbanisation causes a challenging dilemma between facilitating more residences and adding extra nature to the cities. Hence, new strategies of greening cities are essential to resolve this problem, at which utilising building envelopes as hosting surfaces for fostering vegetation and fauna form a highly potential solution.

Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to design a low-tech, three-dimensional, circular façade cladding system which utilises waste materials and fosters local biodiversity in urban areas. To properly design and develop this cladding system, research has been conducted through literature and case study review in the fields of circular design and biodiversity implementation in the façade industry and by physical and digital design experimentation and modelling.

Whereas, the research phase resulted in various potential low-tech manufacturing techniques, suitable reclaimed materials, modular and Design-for-Disassembly design principles and a selection of building-reliant flora and fauna species to implement in the design of the system, collectively facilitating the guidelines for the design phase. Finally, after an extensive design process a three-dimensional façade system derived consisting of three main modular elements, constructed from merely five unique planar components. Through the principle of rotation, a total of nine variations of the modules are generated, which facilitates not only the implementation of local biodiversity, but also creates an intriguing architectural language.

From this thesis, various conclusions have been drawn, including that in order to optimise the circular value of the design, the decision has been made to select the majority of the waste materials based on their local availability whenever the system is implemented in a certain location and at a specific timeframe. Moreover, the low-tech design strategy contributes to the involvement of the system’s end-users, eventually accelerating the transitioning process and furthermore increasing people’s awareness, knowledge and interest regarding circular, sustainable and nature-inclusive design subjects.
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Mankind is exhausting natural resources. Therefore, the need to transform the linear material flows towards circular chains is increasing. Steel is a material that is produced and used globally and has high potentials for recycling. However, in the maritime sector, steel is currently barely recycled, let alone reused in a more direct way. Maritime manufacturing is a vital industry in the province of South-Holland, strengthened by a strong knowledge network. The aim of this project is to localise and extend the steel life cycle, to create an environmentally and socially sustainable province in which maritime manufacturing can grow in a responsible way. In order to close the loops, the R-ladder is used as a framework for circular material flows in the manufacturing industry and in the participation of the citizens. A local steel life cycle for maritime manufacturing will be achieved through the connection of the steel using maritime companies in Rotterdam and the Drecht Cities with the steel production company of TATA Steel in IJmuiden. Missing links in the cycle, a secondary steel processing company and ship disassembly companies, will be brought to the province, providing a new purpose to the Port of Rotterdam when fossil fuels phase out. The transition to material circularity will be made possible through innovations in modular shipbuilding and renewable fuels. Innovation centres in the maker's industry will bridge between knowledge and practice. The consumers will be involved in the material transition through community re-hubs in their cities, where they can share, reuse and recycle products. In this strategy, the extensive water network will function as a backbone along which spatial developments will take place. The water backbone will be a connector for both public transport and industrial transport. This strategy for a transition towards circular steel flows in maritime manufacturing, can be an incentive and inspiration for other manufacturing sectors to close their material cycles. ... Read more

Nowadays, circular economy is of growing importance in the social, economic, and environmental fields. The realisation happens on different scales. First steps towards a circular economy have already been taken, but it will take time before a circular world is reached. Also, under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the bio-based concept raises more awareness.

This strengthens the aim to create a circular economy. The industry in the Port of Rotterdam is mainly based on fossil-based industries that follow the linear system. Therefore, high emissions and waste are caused. This contradicts the aims of the SDG and the idea of a circular system. Consequently, the port area should be transformed into a flexible system that can adapt to changing future situations. This will be realized by a circular system that contributes to the development of the bio-based industry.

This transition is triggered by the current oil- and plastic industries taking place within the Port. By treating the bio-plastic industry as a trigger industry, a strategy for the transition towards a bio-based system is created. This leads to a circular economy that depends on bio-based materials. Since the bio-based system might face future challenges, it is important to guarantee further adaptation and self-improvement over time. The final goal is to create a closed-loop within the Port region to reduce emissions and waste products using these bio-based materials.

To close this loop, the Bio-Loop ZH2050 is integrated into the Port area. A Green Belt strategy promotes the circular economy within the province of South Holland, and by implementing the Living Labs, knowledge and technologies are improved over time. The Bio-Loop ZH2050 influences the aim of the province to become 100% circular by 2050 and several SDG topics. Environmentally, this project supports the transition towards a circular bio-based system and to reduce the impact of pollution and climate change. Socially, the Bio-Loop ZH2050 creates the possibility to get society involved in the bio-based circularity. And finally, economically, the Port of Rotterdam will become the port of Europe based on the bio-based economy, which is the entrance connecting the global market and EU market.
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The city of Lahore (Pakistan) is suffering from a severe environmental crisis. Water related issues such as droughts, floods and waterborne diseases have interrupted the accessibility of citizens to basic amenities. At the TU Delft, I have been approaching these issues in the Explore Lab Studio for my Master’s graduation. In my approach as a future architect, abandoned heritage – Bradlaugh Hall - will serve as an experimental laboratory for testing new ideas along with the reimplantation of local methods for climatization. In terms of programming, a common ground will be set up to narrate the existing boundaries to impede people from meeting fellow citizens out of their circle. Addressing the socio-economic segregation that has characterized Lahore since the colonial rule and has worsened in the last decades. The interaction and transgression among people will allow to learn, express and exchange ideas. Contributing to provoke awareness among citizens regarding their role in society. Along with an urban vision of reconnecting the city with the green structures as an mitigation strategy, the gardens culture will be reintegrated in the life of communities. Who have inherited the beautiful environment as part of their heritage. ... Read more

In 2018 Cape Town faced the threat of becoming the first city in modern age to run out of drinking water and reach Day Zero, the day when due to a 3-year long drought the city’s taps are switched off and residents are compelled to fetch their daily 25 liters of water from communal taps. This time the city successfully managed to avoid the critical date; however, the underlying problems are not solved permanently, the future is not secured. The city is pushed forward to take action and „be a beacon in Africa through the progressive realization of Cape Town as a water sensitive city (CoCT, 2018A)”. However, water scarcity is further complicated by high levels of inequity and poor water quality in the city’s townships, where the legacy of apartheid is still present in forms of social and spatial segregation. The thesis seeks to explore and develop spatial strategies that can foster the transition towards a water sensitive Cape Town, while also providing inhabitants with equal access to water services and amenities. The Cape Town urban water cycle and resource flows are evaluated using the Water Mass Balance equation. The metabolic analysis is completed with spatial mapping of regional water flows, which reveals vulnerable territories and potential intervention zones. Three peri-urban cluster areas along different watercourses have been selected to showcase water sensitive design interventions focusing on the water-food-energy nexus. A micro scale design for Imizamo Yethu township exemplifies the details and technical aspects of implementing Water Sensitive Urban Design and Sustainable Drainage Systems. Spatial measures are translated into typologies to enhance their transferability as design principles to various locations. Besides the spatial strategies, the thesis provides recommendations on improving public participation in water governance by bridging the communication gap between local communities and decision-makers through catchment forums. The thesis concludes that the urban water cycle is an epitome of why we cannot ‘divide’ a city without serious consequences. As water flows through the city and interlaces neighbourhoods regardless of any border, Cape Town can only achieve its goal and become a water sensitive city if strategies address the whole urban ecosystem including still often neglected areas and marginalized communities. ... Read more

To balance the outbreak in density which is currently focused in Rahmat Nagar and encourage a city that is open for newcomers, the connection between Nalasopara West and East should be embraced. In order to achieve this connection and create a community linking both sides of the railway, issues such as urban markers, collective spaces, variety in dwelling types and the seek for ownership should be investigated. Finally, to transform this project into a possible action plan for other developments in Mumbai, density and profitability for developers should be of high importance. Considering all these aspects, I aim to investigate and make a solid contribution to the discussion about affordable housing in Mumbai. ... Read more

This project describes the results of interdisciplinary design research. It is based on the restorative ecological capacities and principles of Everglades National Park on a large scale and zooms in to the municipality of Everglades City. The project addresses a multitude of challenges that can be related to the environment, economy, and community in South-Florida. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP), ‘the largest hydrological restoration project ever undertaken in the United States,’ already deals with many of these challenges. However, as it mainly addresses environmental and economic aspects on a larger scale, there is little connection to the local community or with the significant number of tourists who visit South-Florida every year. Design solutions at the local level, such as in Everglades City, are still to be developed. The interdisciplinary design approach creates a link with the community and integrates the social aspect within environmental and economic development. ... Read more

The architectural discipline has always maintained a safe distance from the ‘informal’ settlements by positioning itself as objective outsiders. However, in the case of India’s capital city of Delhi with 73% of its population living in these settlements, the discipline has been forced to re-position itself. Forming outside the claims of regulation and planning, the sheer existence of these settlements challenges the city’s aspiration to become a ‘world city’. Resultant, is a love-hate dynamic where a high-modernist design propaganda seeks to evict the urban poor’s position in the city to a ‘safe’ distance where they are out of sight but in the appropriate range to aid the city function.

I base my study in ‘Anand Parbat’,a deplorable resettlement transit neighbourhood developed 4 miles from the city core to re-house slum dwellers evicted from inner city areas. Envisioned as a transition camp, it is home to more than 2000 families. The design of the ‘camp’, involved a process of ‘formalizing’ the informal and invited disciplinarian aid, which by the virtue of ‘always being outside the system’ was exceedingly limited in the understanding and translational of the emergent qualities of a user-generated informal dwelling. With rigid dwelling typologies, unregulated open/shared space structure and an incoherent application of ‘incrementality’, Anand Parbat is an architectural mess.

This thesis attempts an iteration to existing approaches by offering an alternative housing scheme. It learns from the contextual informality and rationalises the learnings for a disciplinarian application. It uses infrastructure as invisible layers as the backbone of the dwelling layout and reimagines domestic space for rendering progressive and high-spirited families. By the means of economics, proactive policies and careful design decisions it lays out an itertive and nuanced masterplan scheme that beneath its surface offers various spatial characteristics of an informal settlement from Delhi.

The project peaks at building and surface material innovation where to make the dwellings cost effective a brick is modelled out of kitchen waste found commonly in Indian urban poor kitchens. A large variety of colors and sizes are innovated to give the settlement an aesthetical character. Various cost effective techniques are used to involve inhabitants into small-scale buidling processes.

The project is rationalised for a widespread application in New Delhi, fully capable to absorb and embody contextual characters - geographic, cultural and economical. The project is also visualised for projective iterations and scenarios that would be cast by its inhabitants to highlight the performance of the design decisions in time. ... Read more

The increasing demand of potable water required by Mexico City has become so large that since the late 30’s the local government has opted for importing water from three different basins away from the city, causing damage to the ecosystems of the region as well as the eviction of thousands of indigenous communities from their homelands. Since the late 18th century, agrarian land reforms in Mexico have been constantly modified in favor of expanding the development of its main cites, creating a segregation of services and depriving native communities from vital resources as well as indirect consequences such as increasing their cost of living without improving their livelihoods. The tendency for the city’s water management model is to expand the supply regardless of the social and environmental costs, resulting in an ever-growing water infrastructure network that threatens the long term well-being of the population. This research seeks to understand the process of urban transformation of Mexico city and illustrate how water sensitive urbanization patterns in the city’s periphery may create an entry point for other disciplines and interested stakeholders to help ameliorate the ongoing expansion of the city’s water extraction infrastructure through an autonomously governed and decentralized collective water management system.
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