For several decades, architectural theorists have argued that there is a loss of meaning in architecture, caused by an over-emphasis on scientific thinking and the devaluing of poetic practices. Some theorists have presented ways to return meaning to architecture: Juhani Pallasmaa has called for empathic imagination and Alberto Perez-Gomez for attuned architecture. However, neither has offered methods for how to achieve those ends.

This research aims to bridge theory and practice by developing methods for attuning to a location and its inhabitants. It focuses on ways to become attuned to a place and people, in order to imagine spaces empathically and tailor architecture to the affective qualities of a place.

To best develop methods that identify these qualities, this research looks at familiar places, that is, places we assume to know well and therefore may overlook distinctive features. Accordingly, I have focussed on Brigflatts, my childhood neighbourhood in rural England.

I develop methods for attuning in two ways. First, by drawing upon three fields and their related methods: cognitive science and sensory mapping; anthropology and collaborative design ethnography; and architecture and reflections on atmospheres. Second, by creating physical objects that translate qualities and experiences of place into an interactive form.

My exploration of Brigflatts culminates in four large-format paintings that express what I became attuned to. I deconstruct and analyse these paintings to indicate how the on-site activities provided insights into the affective qualities of the location.

While this research looked at a familiar, rural location, I show how the methods elaborated at Brigflatts can be adapted to less familiar and urban environments. I discuss their broader application through a set of guiding principles for methods of attunement.

The research findings feed into a design project set at Brigflatts. “The Quaker Project at Brigflatts” seeks to re-activate a historically and spiritually significant site while balancing the needs of the faith group, the national park planning authority, and the locals living nearby.

Through this project, I explore how architecture can be attuned to a place and a people – how social behaviours, material bodies, and affective qualities can inform the design of new spaces and new experiences of the site and the protected landscape. I ground this project in a real-life scenario, responding to the Quaker testimonies and the National Park’s development requirements. In doing so, I envision a future of development in the Yorkshire Dales that protects cultural heritage, progresses building techniques, and offers a contemporary architecture attuned to its locality.

The Danube river is Europe’s second largest and flows east from Germany to the Black sea through diverse foothills and plains. On the river bank of the midstream in the Vojvodina region, focus area of this thesis, the city of Novi Sad lies. As a result of agricultural practice and urban settlements in the former floodplain, the Danube river became constrained. On the left bank of the Danube at Novi Sad, a relic of the dynamic midstream river processes lies, a river island called Kamenička ada.

In the context of Novi Sad, the human impact on the river landscape is evident and has led to a polluted and partly chopped up system with cut-off floodplains. Less space is left for the riparian zone and the river channels, which means increase of flood risk. Important dynamic river processes, such as erosion, sedimentation and occasional floodings are undermined in these areas, resulting in deteriorating ecological quality and a static environment. The former characteristic braided river with multiple channels and river islands have become a rare sight.

Focus lies on tackling three main issues related to the water, the ecology and the culture: the components that form the layered landscape. The first issue is related to the unbalanced amount of fresh water, which means the flood risk and the droughts. The second focus is the loss of the typical braided system with the riparian ecological zone. At last, the relationship between the people of Novi Sad and its public space is highlighted: the disconnection between the locals and the river floodplain. Due to the complexity of ownership of public space in the Yugoslavia period, the connection is neglected.

Kamenička ada, a former river island, has the potential to mitigate these issues and become a project example for spatial development based on a landscape approach. Therefore, the aim is of this thesis is to develop a landscape-based regeneration strategy for the Danube at Novi Sad and to demonstrate the potential of a landscape approach for designing a social-ecological inclusive and flood proof island, Kamenička Ada.

The issues are tackled by using a landscape approach, which takes the landscape structure and processes as foundation for spatial development. From this approach the importance of nature based solutions are understood and applied, together with an understanding of urban and ecological resilience and the interconnections in the river system. The layers of the landscape, the water, the ecology and culture are guiding principles throughout the research.

The result of this research is an analysis and understanding of the challenges and potentials for the spatial development of Novi Sad and the translation of four spatial strategies to design principles. Secondly an application in the form of a strategic vision for the river island Kamenička ada and a reflection on the connection of the river island to the bigger context. Kamenička ada becomes an example for landscape based and resilient spatial development in the urban context of the river for the midstream of the Danube. 

This thesis introduces the “city stack” framework and the concept of the “typology grid” to analyze and procedurally generate cities using publicly available geospatial data. It builds upon existing urban morphology research and combines existing metrics with new metrics to examine road networks and building footprints across 43 cities worldwide. The resulting unsupervised clustering of road patterns produced mixed outcomes: some global road typologies were consistently identified, while others lacked clarity or validity. Supervised classification of building typologies showed potential for city generation applications but faced challenges related to data quality and validation methods.
To encode the captured urban form, the typology grid was introduced, which allows for straightforward comparison between cities and links the analysis phase with the generation phase. While this approach simplifies complex urban patterns for better understanding, it may oversimplify details needed for effective city regeneration, needing future research into parameterizing the grid.
The simulated annealing optimization technique was applied to generate new city models to produce typology grids resembling those of actual cities. It proved a promising method, with relatively plausible results from just a few shape-based rules in the objective function. Computation time and grid size were a limiting factor, ruling out real-time use. The road and building generation methods based on the typology grid and city stack framework demonstrated the approach’s feasibility but indicated that further refinement is necessary.
Further contributions by this thesis are an open source command line tool for analyzing the urban form real-life cities based on publicly available geospatial data, a proof of concept tool for generating cities, and a publicly available dataset of the analyzed cities.
In conclusion, the city stack framework and typology grids offer a viable method for captur- ing and generating urban form and can be used as a starting point for future research.

Rapid urbanization, governmental neglect, socio-spatial segregation, and a widening societal gap has led to São Paulo’s nickname as the ‘City of Walls’ (Caldiera, 2000). These processes continue to shape the sprawling city today, contributing to the formation of a society characterized by multi-dimensional inequality and deeply isolated marginalized communities. In addition, global pressures resulting from climate change and the degradation of ecological systems within the region further expose these marginalized communities to increasing risks. Consequently, leading parts of the city to live in the of face extreme exposure, especially as these communities lack the resilience to withstand these socio-ecological pressures.
Addressing these socio-environmental inequalities requires the establishment of a foundation of ecological integrity, ensuring a high standard of liveability and an environment of inclusivity for marginalized communities. This research proposes the reconfiguration of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo through socio-ecological strategies aimed at restoring ecological integrity, promoting social inclusivity, and empowering local communities. By examining the vulnerabilities, barriers, and opportunities present in Brazilian society, this project seeks to promote the restructuring of São Paulo for socio-ecological resilience, embracing principles of nature-based urbanism, sustainable urban development, and adaptive governance capacities.

This thesis explores and analyses the usage of modular architecture and mixed buildings and their role in solving the Dutch housing crisis. The Dutch housing market is in a crisis due to various reasons that can be solved partially in the design process and partially by regulation changes. The mixing of production and living has become more accessible due to new innovative manufacturing methods like 3D printing. The mixing of 3D printing and residential functions is relatively new, and there is a need to understand this manufacturing process to ensure a successful mix with residential functions. This paper uses Habitat 67, Nakagin Capsule Towers and Bremer Punkt as case studies to better understand modular architecture and its benefit. Modular Architecture brings multiple benefits, which are explored in this thesis. One of the architectural benefits is that it allows a building to be adaptable, flexible and affordable compared to traditionally built buildings.

Owing to the unique landscape characteristics of Dutch lowland, forests in Randstad region are found being the result of the interaction between historical development and natural conditions. As cultural influences are genetically embedded in forest formation, the landscape approach to urban forestry provides a novel and wholistic lens looking at the interrelationship between trees and the cities, which enables deeper understandings of analysis and is possible to function as an integrated design tool.

South-west Randstad is facing the pressure of population growth and loss of natural landscape due to projected urban expansion in the following decades. Countermeasures of creating 52,000 new dwellings plus 5,000 hectors of forest by the year of 2040 are proposed in the development vision by the province Zuid-Holland. Therefore, this project aims at providing a spatial scheme that integrates future urban development and forest network that is rich and healthy.

The project starts with urban forest typological analysis, which concludes the interrelationships between underlayers and the urban forest pattens. By the typological analysis, health qualities are evaluated and compared between types that stand for different spatial qualities. The conclusion and comparison of the analysis enable further instrumental function of urban forest typology in landscape design.

The design part of this project envisions a regional urban forest network that consists of existing forest in urban context and an interurban forest which integrates the polycentricity and fragmented forest patches of the region. By the design approaches of structural experiential and dynamic program planning, a throughout design scheme is proposed, leading to desired spatial qualities which are carried out by utilisation of urban forest typology.

With the climate change and energy transition becoming evident and ever so relevant, industrialised regions focussed on fossil fuels need to rethink their socio-economic plan. Furthermore, urban designers are obliged to rethink the energy paradigm. This report combines energy landscape and resilient region theory and applies it on the peri-urban and industrialised polycentric metropolitan region of the Ruhr, Germany. The present structure of the metropolitan region is analysed and linked - using existing literature - to energy consumption and potential energy production. Using scenario building, design exploration is applied to strenghen ecosystem services as a way to adapt to the climate and implement sustainable energy landscapes. These sustainable energy landscapes are the spatial element of the energy transition and the new energy system. Furthermore, these landscapes facilitate climate adaptation. This report is a research-based design experiment, proposing an alternate energy transition strategy, focussing on ecosystem services, while improving the spatial quality of the peri-urban Ruhr area.

The sixth episode of 'Post-Pandemic Public Spaces' is the last chapter of the series. The previous five episodes have explored the future of our public spaces. At the end of each episode, key factors are summarised. This final episode concludes the journey by bringing together important lessons learned and setting the agenda for the future design of the public space.

The second episode ‘Design’ dives further into the challenges in the post-pandemic era and it illuminates possible design solutions. The documentary searches for approaches in which the design of public spaces can be updated and improved. It also questions if there is any one-size-fits-all public space at all. Depending on how and if people can get there, public space are very different as are people. Not all spaces are equally attractive and safe to stay in. From a different angle we may question; who is touched by which place, and how. Differences have become very clear during the pandemics and awareness on this has risen. Public space is also no longer static, but constantly adaptive to new needs. How can we design for this? Can we design for flexibility? Can we release physical design; if so, to what extend? The increasing need for green space is also exemplary for the post-pandemic era; partly grown out of necessity for health reasons, recreational purposes, or simply a lack of space in the house. We will have to design green spaces as a new quiet place, and for outdoor activities like sports, online connectivity in public, and/or just natural climate-adaptive space at the same time.

The fifth episode presents 'Behaviour'. With the interviewees, the discussion on inequality is stretched to people’s behaviour in the public space. How has it changed during and after the pandemics and did their perceptions of public spaces change along? City beaches and parks have become popular, while the lack of outdoor terraces, restaurants, or discos has been manifest. Measurements taken during the pandemic have forced a change in our behaviour. While social distancing will be abandoned and masks in general, we seem to have become aware of human vulnerability. Public health will be related to public space again. What more will stay in the future? A lot of people have canceled their sports club subscriptions. Everyone is training outside now. It's really nice to see all those active people, says Annemieke Fontein; but at the same time, it also takes up space and changes the nature of parks as designed for quiet relaxation. Also in other forms, we can see that the need for connection, and in particular for encounters and meetings, in public spaces has grown. Yet whereas online presence continues to grow, thus new networks emerge and ways to meet change, thus place to meet also change. Communities gather in a wide variety of public spaces. Are new bubbles emerging? When will people come together as a whole? The culture of a place; and of a city will change and develop. Appreciating public space as a daily life environment in the Netherlands has one of the positive outcomes of the pandemics.

The fourth episode of the series presents the topic 'Inequality'. In line with last episode, it is important to remember how mobility relates to (in)equality. The measurements taken during COVID-19 outbreak, like social distancing and staying home, has shown once more that not everyone has the same pattern, can have the same pattern, and/or is able to have equal patterns. Public spaces in different neighbourhoods have different qualities. The pandemic has shown that not everyone lives under the same conditions. Not everyone has access to equal public spaces. There is, for example, not always shaded space near the house. Places for stay in general and distances to recreational (green) spaces can differ greatly, as is the safety along the routes not equal. Power structures and distribution of resources, if we define public space along these lines, are unequal almost by definition, and thus access abilities and agency is diverse. This, generates questions: How can we realise a more inclusive network of public space? How can we create a human space, lively at the street level? What public amenities and facilities should we include? Is privately-owned public space a (fair) solution? Can we create common spaces on the roof, for example? What needs to be done in different neighborhoods to contribute to a just city?

The third episode ‘Mobility’ follows up on the discussed new ways to approach the design of public spaces and it shines particularly the light on the changing mobility patterns. This includes general strategies to remove cars and give space back to the residents. Yet, induced by the COVID-19 crisis, these approaches move to a shift in commuting patterns: Will people keep working from home? Do they want to spend an hour in the car or on the train for four or five days when there is an alternative in the remote office and on-distance work? Other travel needs emerge, depending on the needs and desires of the different social groups. The pandemic influenced public transport. Many people feared this mode. Trust will have to be regained in order to make mobility more sustainable by traditional means. New forms of individual transport have taken off in addition. Think of micro-mobility, like shared scooters. Thus multi-modal chain mobility seems to increase in importance. The concept of the 15-minute city, in which living and working hybridise and facilities and amenities are nearby, also seems to have made a breakthrough too. Places and mobility are being brought together, in the words of Lior Steinberg. This may resemble the Dutch-rooted idea of neighborhood thought ('wijkgedachte'), making cities fairly democratic: Everyone uses similar modes of transport; bike use as examplars for the world. Still, also in the Dutch city, pedestrian traffic and social safety need to be improved.

The first episode of the documentary Post-Pandemic Public Spaces ‘Challenges’ introduces expected paradigmatic shifts caused by the situation induced by the COVID-19 crisis. It extends the discussion on public space, which has been about making cities more sustainable and liveable while working with major transitions. During the pandemic, health has been challenged in addition. Also, new ways of using public space have become manifest. This exposes different claims. Can we continue to use public spaces as we did? Are we reverting to our old behaviour? Do we realise how important public space is? In conjecture with the challenges that already emerged before the crisis, we can question if we shouldn’t reduce traffic, for example, and kick-off from our car addiction? New challenges have an effect on the size, accessibility, and quality of the public spaces and, together with changing human needs, its presence and design remain to be essential in the future.

The climate crisis will require far-stretching changes to our urban systems, also called a transition. However, the direction in which our society will transition is still deeply uncertain. To become less vulnerable, cities and urban areas need to increase their adaptive capacity, establishing an evolutionarily resilient region. Delta cities in the Netherlands are governed through a decentralised and neo-liberal governance model, giving responsibilities for the long-term to local actors. As a result, climate adaptation relies on being integrated in local urban redevelopment projects to produce the necessary innovations that are needed for the transition.
In the Netherlands, post-industrial port sites are redeveloped into mixed-use residential areas which should have an innovative and adaptive character to function as pilots for the regional transition towards a climate adaptive system. Nevertheless, in many cases short-term responsiveness and econmic values get the overhand, reducing the innovative value of experiments and the contribution pilot projects make for the essential transition. This leaves redeveloped neighbourhoods and the delta region vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis and is predicted to result in a chaotic transition from the existing to the climate adaptive system (Rotmans, 2021).
This urbanism graduation project therefore studies the following question: how can post-industrial port redevelopments contribute to the transition towards climate adaptive delta cities? Comparative case study research of cases in the Rhine-Meuse delta is used first to compose an understanding of mechanisms behind the integration of climate adaptation and industrial and societal transitions in post-industrial port redevelopment projects. Next, the case study lessons for adaptation are integrated with transition principles in a redevelopment strategy for a representative case and regional pilot for climate adaptation: de Staart in Dordrecht. Here, the Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways framework (Haasnoot et al., 2013) proves to be a promising methodolgy for making the complex and interdisciplinary transitions more insightful.
An urban design simulation for a section of de Staart shows how the policy pathways should be used in combination with an inclusive process, a spatial framework and a set of dynamic rules to esure that short-term actions contribute to the long-term transition pathway and adaptation under uncertain future contexts remains possible. The strategy for climate adaptive redevelopment of post-industrial sites shows that it can improve local liveability through its inclusive process and accellerate the regional transition by being connected in a regional network. The project shows promising qualities for bridging the gap between ambitions towards realising climate adaptive delta cities and it can be a valuable design and redevelopment strategy for application in practice. Nevertheless, applicability in different context than the Rhine-Meuse delta can be evaluated by performing similar research under different cultural contexts.

Semarang City is located in the northern part of Java Island, Indonesia. As an important port city, Semarang’s urban fabric is closely related to its infrastructure: water and traffic networks. However, since the 1980s, the acceleration of Semarang urban growth has not been supported by proper foundations. The characteristics of the coastal area were hardly taken into account in urban development. Consequently, flood risk and, in particular, rob phenomena or tidal flood became the chronic problem of Semarang City. Consequently, environmental degradation and infrastructure destruction have continued to occur in the Semarang coastal area. Moreover, community life is always threatened by inundation risks. With Semarang as a backdrop, this research aims to address the gap on soft and hard approach in urban mitigation resilience planning in concept from both social and ecological resilience perspective and positioning urban design (both from architecture, landscape, and planning) by exploring the local adaptive mechanism in the chosen coastal Kampung Kemijen, in Semarang, Indonesia. This research derived from the socio-cultural perspective, trying to explore more on the local level and how it can be translated and integrated into the larger scale urban mitigation planning. The objective of the strategic framework, which is based on the socio-ecological principles, the actions which try to integrate the soft and hard approach in urban planning, and both of the design framework and strategies outcomes will be implemented on the design elaboration. The Strategic Framework’s goal is to develop a general understanding and possibilities of balancing the soft and hard approach in urban mitigation planning from the human scale through to the city scale. The project tries to read the relationships between three scales of planning: the city of Semarang, the coastal area (on the district scale), the kampung, and most importantly, to the human scale. The projects at some point are very site, time, and contextually specific. Therefore, the people’s participation and the high concern of climate and ecological-based planning are very important. In the end, This research demonstrates the strength and quality of the soft approach through local adaptive mechanisms in urban planning. Public participation is an important aspect when dealing with the urban planning issue in the Indonesian context. The normative urban planning in Indonesia tends to exclude public participation, whereas utilizing the local adaptive mechanism might contrive a new way of urban mitigation planning, which can be enforced for longterm planning.

When we talk about Rome it is difficult not to think about its waters, from the Tiber to the beautiful fountains that adorn the cities. The original territory, where Rome was founded, was incredibly marshy, due to the continuous flooding of the Tiber, but the Romans, thanks to their ingenuity, were able to reclaim the area through sewers and drains and to obtain running water thanks to the complex hydraulic system of the aqueducts. The relationship between Rome and its waters begins from its origins and has represented for centuries the authenticity of the city.
The uncontrolled and immense growth of Rome, which occurred over the last 50 years, leads to a significant shift in urban infrastructure that has changed people’s attitude toward the water. This positivist approach to the construction of the modern city has contributed powerfully to the destruction, cancellation, alteration of many signs of the historical stratifications that derived their reasons, origins, and significant developments from the water factor.
The Romans, who over the centuries coexisted with water in a resilient and technological society, today they perceive it as a separate element from their everyday life, which indeed often causes incredible problems with heavy storms and flooding or a long period of drought.
The city today urgently needs to propose profound transformation to face the need for services and resolve issues brought by a developing populace and a modern lifestyle. The city needs to build its resilience in reacting to the social and ecological difficulties of its time while considering Rome’s really extraordinary nature. A uniqueness that must be protected and enhance.
This research aims to provide site-specific strategies to reveal, connect, preserve, and explore the existing water-based identity of Rome, meanwhile creating an adaptive and resilient system, that could reduce flood risk and create socio-ecological transformations.
Based on an in-depth study of the city in its various aspects - morphological, cultural, social, archaeological -the area of the historical center of the Palatine hill through to the Caffarella park has been chosen as study area. Along this axis the project defines “water-based” routes, which have the aim both to make known the ancient and modern water-based identity of the city and to solve the most serious problems of flooding and drought, creating public and green spaces available to citizens and tourists. Through the route, which begins in the Palatine area, in the urban heart of the city, the visitor will learn about an unusual and unknown history of Rome in which various modern and ancient elements take shape as part of a larger system. Visitors, both tourists and citizens, will understand the link between aqueducts, fountains and thermal baths but also the importance of more modern elements such as wetland, bioswales, watersquares, finally arriving at the end of the route at the Nymphaeum of Egeria at Parco della Caffarella, a place full of mystery and charm, surrounded by nature.
It is therefore thanks to these routes that the city and its citizens regain their water-based identity, in a project that leaves ample room for both educational and recreational moments, creating areas that restore the relationship between urban and nature.

The Jacobuskerk is currently the Catholic church of Winterswijk. Because of the outflow of churchgoers, there is a high probability it will lose this function in the future. Therefore, the challenge is to find a new purpose. There is an opportunity to create a public space in the church which can act as a meeting place for the whole community. The function that has been chosen is a library and community center. This communal function continues the social aspect of church buildings. As the new function requires a more open appearance, several transformations will be made. The values ​​of the church serve as a starting point for these transformations. Firstly, the front and the back of the church are better connected to the surroundings. The church is located in between a shopping street and a park. At the front of the church this is done through a colonnade, connecting the shopping street with the entrance of the church. At the back of the church an extension is made in the form of a public stairs and tribune looking over the park. The roof of the extension forms an elevated walkway, connecting the park and the shopping street. Secondly, the nave is transformed into a library space. The existing building is adapted to meet the new requirements. A bookcase with three floors is placed in the aisle of the church. A curtain is applied as a room dividing and acoustic element to transform the space into an event space. Thirdly, an element is placed in the transept of the church. This will create an interior garden inside the church space. The facade of this element is inspired by stained glass windows. The colored glass creates an interesting play with colors in the interior of the church. The interior garden is accessible from the elevated walkway. Underneath the element, a sheltered reading room is created.

Since the fall of socialism, the production of space in Serbia has been uncoordinated and chaotic, without a clear national policy. Post-socialist countries went through the period of transitioning to free-market and democracy, and this process resulted in hybrid institutional, social, and urban forms. As the global pressures intensify, countries need to employ development mechanisms that will ensure a more sustainable future and slow down the process of global warming. Transitioning to sustainability planning is becoming more urgent, as scientists warn that scenarios for the future in which the business-as-usual approach is carried out bring disastrous consequences to our environment. Many post-socialist countries, such as Serbia, are caught in a path-dependency ideology, trying to position themselves in a global economic network, thus ignoring the social and environmental issues. Current development in Belgrade is shaped by market-driven mega projects that are a result of public-private partnerships. There is also a lack of participation in the planning process, which is institutionally allowed. This leads to the development of the most attractive locations which are predominantly located at the riverfront. This kind of ad hoc development does not follow a comprehensive strategy and leads to fatal consequences such as – loss of biodiversity, social stratification, endangered heritage, loss of sense of place and ultimately: unsustainable development of the riverfront. This thesis provides an overview of the consequences that led to the present state that the country is in regarding urban planning and development. The goal is to examine the implications for transitioning to sustainable urban development, starting from the actual conditions of the Belgrade riverfront territory and the planning procedure in place. Urban planning is a political process that has certain values embedded in it. Instead of adapting the values to the existing procedure, the values should shape the process. The current government has a strong agenda which many citizens protest against and this is why the proposed framework for transition is meant to serve as a starting point for moving towards a comprehensive sustainable planning and development process that would provide real results in the actual state of the riverfront. The framework that is proposed is an altered urban planning process that approaches the riverfront territory holistically, through different scales. This has to be done through a participatory process in which the acceptance of limits, protection of existing qualities and regeneration play an important role. These guiding principles are applied to environmental, social and economic dimension to provide a comprehensive urban planning approach for the sustainable riverfront.

This research design project aims to reconnect the landscape with its local users. The landscape has many components, but in this research design project is focussed on the relation between human practices and the landscape, since this relation has been broken in (recent) history of the city. Landscape as common ground operates on different levels of intervention in order to reconnect the landscape with its local users. By connecting through continuity, the productive landscape, engagement and by reactivating ruins and abandoned spaces this site specific landscape design intervention reacts on different scales to the post-traumatic context of Mostar.