In an increasingly urbanised world, inner-city densification is a key strategy for achieving sustainable urban development. However, this process often conflicts with urban health goals, giving rise to the Health-Density paradox: the tension between Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 for sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 3 for good health and wellbeing. This thesis explores how these contradictory objectives can be reconciled through design. Rather than seeking a universal solution, it argues for a context-sensitive approach by reconceptualising both urban density and urban health. Using the neighbourhood of Overvecht Zuid in Utrecht as a case study, the research investigates how urban densification strategies can be tailored to specific contexts in a way that promotes, rather than compromises, urban health.

This study applies a conceptual framework in which urban density is prescriptively defined through Floor Space Index (FSI) and Ground Space Index (GSI), while urban health is unpacked into eight determinants. The eight determinants are People, Lifestyle, Community, Local Economy, Activities, Built Environment, Natural Environment, and Global Ecosystem. The maximisation method structures the design process, enabling transparent urban design decisions throughout the process. The results suggests that targeted increase and decrease in GSI across the site can strengthen different health determinants. Although empirical data on the precise relationship between density measures and health determinants remains very limited.

All in all, this thesis demonstrates that the maximisation method can effectively serve as a design framework to operationalise the Health-Density nexus, offering a path towards urban densification strategies that supports urban health. ... Read more

As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of heatwaves, urban areas are particularly at risk due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, which amplifies local temperatures. However, the impacts of rising temperatures are not equally distributed: , heat disproportionately affects vulnerable populations In areas where social and spatial inequalities are deeply rooted, often leading to the poorest neighborhoods to be the warmest. While research has explored either the physical or social aspects of heat vulnerability, limited attention has been paid to the interplay between them across scales. This limits the effectiveness of adaptation strategies and risks overlooking the complex, lived realities of those most affected.
This thesis addresses this gap by investigating how a multidimensional understanding of urban heat vulnerability can support more tailored and inclusive adaptation strategies. Using The Hague as a case study, the research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining a literature review, principal component analysis (PCA), field observations, interviews, and policy analysis. The PCA identified four distinct vulnerability typologies and revealed clear spatial patterns linked to socio-economic inequalities. For instance, Schildersbuurt-West emerged as the city’s most heat-vulnerable area. In-depth fieldwork in this neighborhood highlighted residents’ everyday experiences with heat, coping mechanisms, and varying levels of trust in institutions.
Findings show that exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity interact in context-specific ways and cannot be fully understood in isolation. Vulnerability is shaped by intersecting factors such as migration background, housing conditions, income, gender, and social support networks. The typologies derived from the PCA illustrate this complexity, showing that vulnerability takes different forms in different places.
In addition, the analysis of existing adaptation tools revealed a strong focus on physical and municipal-level interventions, often lacking behavioral strategies or bottom-up engagement. To bridge this gap, the thesis introduces Beat the Heat—a multi-scale, user-friendly adaptation toolkit. It offers practical strategies for both municipalities and residents, including preventive and responsive measures at household and neighborhood levels. Interventions can be filtered by stakeholder, target group, and location, and include information on cost and cooling potential.
By combining academic insights with practical tools, this research contributes both theoretically and pragmatically to the field of climate adaptation. It advances a multidimensional approach to understanding and addressing urban heat vulnerability and provides actionable pathways toward more just, effective, and inclusive responses. Beat the Heat helps ensure that adaptation measures align more closely with local needs, capacities, and lived experiences.
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In the summer of 2023, heatwaves became quite prominent in the south of Europe. Due to the extreme heat, the health of those citizens was affected. The Netherlands Meteorological Institute predicts an increase in heatwaves in the future for the Netherlands as well. The main research question is how to propose a strategy for a liveable environment by designing public spaces while mitigating heat stress for vulnerable target groups in the context of Bospolder Tussendijken in Rotterdam. This research questions also how a reproducible tool could help identify heat stress and test design interventions in Dutch cities. The research included a literature review, expert consultations, scenario planning, modelling of the urban environment and mapping techniques.
Comparing the heat stress software reproducibility, computation time, possibility to test design interventions and the scale of modelling were important. Improvements in the reproducibility of the PET map of Koopmans et al. (2020) are made by creating an open-accessible QGIS plugin applicable to Dutch cities. This helps urban designers to indicate and test their design interventions. Refinement of the wind calculation contributed to speeding up calculation times of the wind for neighbourhood and city scale areas. Future research should focus on some refinement in PET calibration to work properly, and advanced wind modelling is required for urban design practices.
The application in the Rotterdam test case study emphasizes the importance of maintaining liveability now and in the future. By enhancing social liveability and physical liveability within a network of heat-mitigating interventions liveability is guaranteed. By revealing the vulnerable groups and their social interactions on a summer day, the most frequently used routes are qualified for refurbishment. Based on the current quality of social space and walkable environment, ownership and degree of open space on the street level, the interventions are chosen for the situation.
The research emphasized the importance of identifying heat stress in public spaces and the need for urgent action to maintain the quality of life in the future. By integrating informed strategies from multiple fields like Geomatics and Urbanism a climate-adaptive and healthy environment can take shape. ... Read more

Urban form plays a critical role when planning city transitions toward decarbonization. However, in urban climate conditions the complex relationship between urban form and cooling demand remains understudied. This thesis develops integrated approaches and knowledge in the transdisciplinary domain of urban morphology, urban climatology and energy-related fields while addressing the question: ‘How does urban form influence building cooling demand in urban microclimate conditions, and how can the magnitude of the relationship be assessed?’.
By answering this main research question, the thesis delivers a threefold contribution. First, it contributes to the conceptualization and understanding of both the intrinsic and the extrinsic role of urban form, by identifying urban form characteristics that directly influence building cooling demand, and indirectly contribute to shaping urban microclimate conditions in buildings’ surroundings. Second, the thesis contributes to increasing the assessment accuracy of urban form-related climate and energy performance. It does so by developing a quantitative morphological method to identify Local Climate Types (LCTs) and by developing a modelling method that enhances the use of microclimate data as boundary conditions for energy demand assessments. Thirdly, for the city of Rotterdam, the testing of these novel methods provides an understanding of how and to what extent the form of buildings and contexts influence building cooling demand. ... Read more

To encourage climateadaptive building in the Netherlands the Covenant ClimateAdaptive Building (CKAB) was developed by a consortium of stakeholders (Convenant klimaatadaptief bouwen in ZuidHolland, 2018). This nonbinding agreement proposed standards for six (climate) aspects in order to adapt the Netherlands to a changing climate. These standards were first applied in pilots in Haarlemmermeer, Utrecht, Rotterdam (Vlot et al., 2021) and in Dordrecht, where the new residential area of Amstelwijck was planned. Implementing climateadaptive measures ánd standards is yet an innovative process and iterative learning is required to improve this process. We want to know what role standards played in selecting climateadaptive measures in Dordrecht and what result they achieved. This study focused on three climate aspects specifically: heat stress, pluvial flooding and droughts. The case study in Dordrecht was evaluated by means of a stateoftheart hydrological model, UrbanWB. Urban plans of Amstelwijck provided the basis to research applicability of this model as a design and assessment tool (i). The goal of this method was to improve the integral understanding of the complexity and interrelations of a (hydrological) system for designers and policymakers, which would allow them to make better choices. Additionally, this same model was used to assess uncertainty in design, engineering and climate (ii). A quantification was made for the relative relevance of design choices, such as decreasing paved surfaces, local conditions, such as soil type or drainage velocities, and climate change, with increased evaporation, precipitation and extremes. Additionally, CKAB standards and the process of applying them in Amstelwijck was researched (iii). Two groups of stakeholders, goal oriented (Municipality of Dordrecht, WSHD & hired staff) and user oriented (project developers & hired staff), were identified and these groups were interviewed with the goal of learning what kind of standards encourage climate adaptation and finding where barriers or enablers exist. This was done with the help of the concept of user centred design (Long et al., 2016), inspiring the stakeholder groups and a division into standards focused on goals or means, and the concepts of principle/rulebased approach (Nakpodia et al., 2016) and creative freedom/specification (Frei and Di Marzo Serugendo, 2011). With this research it could be concluded that UrbanWB can help designers by providing arguments for design choices, which was mentioned as an enabler in interviews. The model touched on interconnectivity between different climate aspects and five model indicators were identified to compare the performance of different plans. For assessment purposes no major improvements were made yet compared to models commonly employed, except that this method offers potential for a tool, which is easytoadopt. By verification with other models this should become more clear. The model architecture was found to be less suitable for assessing urban plans on heat stress and to a lesser extent drought, but proved valuable for pluvial flooding. On uncertainty three important notions were made: climate change is a significant uncertainty; local conditions are decisive for the ’robustness’, ability to perform under different conditions, of an urban system; design choices can have large effects on the hydrology of the system, some are effective enough to deal with climate change. The type of soil was found to be a decisive factor for every climate aspect. It is reaffirmed in interviews and focus groups that local conditions could be listed as a possible theme in the process of climate adaptation. In working with CKAB standards for the first two parts of this research ideas about the way of description, direction and commitment of standards were already formed, but the interview analysis affirmed and strengthened this view. Ideal standards should be specific, focused on goals and rulebased, but principles are leading and exceptions should be allowed to ensure creative freedom, which is important in an innovative process. Designers, policy makers and engineers could apply the methodology used in this study to promote climate adaptation and deal with the uncertainty brought by climate change. The results of this research emphasized the importance of integral thinking in design and lawmaking, since this provides more insight and argumentation for selecting climateadaptive measures A perception that standards should be focused on goals instead of means is crucial to directing urban developments. ... Read more

This graduation thesis looks at the possibilities of
densification in the city without having negative effects on the thermal comfort in the micro climate. During warm periods heat stress arises in the micro climate. Heat stress is the stress on the human body caused by a large heat load. People suffering from heat stress experience
discomfort, health problems and in some cases death as the core temperature rises due to more heat being
absorbed than given off (McGregor & Vanos, 2018).
Due to the high pressure on the housing market, more space is needed, but in the cities there is a lack of space. This often goes hand in hand with more surfacing, causing more heat stress. Due to climate change, heat stress will become more common and to prevent this, the thesis will address the question:

How to densify in The Hague in order to mitigate and
prevent heat stress and the urban heat island effect to improve the livability of the city and the health of its
inhabitants?

Through targeted research and analysis of heat stress, densification and the test location The Hague, more insight is gained into the problems and solutions in Moerwijk. By using the Pattern Language the analysis is linked to the design.
In this way the solutions can be transformed into patterns. The results of this thesis is a toolbox of heat patterns and densification patterns that can be applied in different ways and be used flexibly in a city. Also the translation step is made to an implemented design whereby the district Moerwijk is taken as an example. Ultimately, a maximised situation for heat stress and densification is created, which also takes the livability and ecology problems of the
neighbourhood into account. The design focuses on
different scales from neighbourhood to street level,
applying different patterns at each scale.

Keywords: Densification, heat stress, the urban heat island effect, micro climate, The Hague ... Read more

This project is an adaptive-reuse project on De Knip, the current tax administrative building in Sloterdijk, Amsrerdam into dwelling complex for starters. It is a house to rekindle our innate, physical sensitivity towards our environment, which has been slowly eroded in the mass standardisation in architecture. The interventions are added in modest, archaic or non-canonical approaches to challenge the conceived idea of comfort and home, materialised in reeds & relevant complementary biobased materials. ... Read more

In 2018, the ‘Deltaplan Ruimtelijke Adaptatie’, has been set up by the National Institute of Health and Environment (RIVM) for the purpose of facilitating the transformation to a climate adaptive living environment. As part of the Deltaplan, municipalities have been asked to perform a heat risk assessment through standardised outdoor thermal comfort maps, formulated in terms of the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). The heat risk assessment has increased awareness of urban heat related issues amongst municipalities, and sparked interest in heat-proof (re)development of urban areas. However, appropriate tools for outdoor thermal comfort assessment in the early stage of urban design are currently not available, as established PET simulation tools come at large computational cost. In response to the absence of appropriate outdoor thermal comfort design tools, this thesis proposes a Grasshopper-based PET simulation tool with an adequate balance between time-efficiency and sufficient accuracy for the early design stage. Additionally, a study into the heat mitigation efficiency of varying Height-to-Width ratio (H/W ratio), street orientation and facade albedo for extreme heat events in the Netherlands provides global rules of thumb for heat-proof urban design.

Through literature review, conditions for appropriate determination of four meteorological input parameters for PET calculation (urban air temperature, mean radiant temperature, urban relative humidity and urban wind speed) have been determined, which have been used to construct the PET simulation model. The PET model has been validated to be sufficiently accurate through both literature and sense-checks and shows a considerable improved time-efficiency in comparison with established simulation tools such as ENVI-met. The model is thus considered suitable for application in the early design stage. Application of the model is limited to (1) cities in Western-Europe, (2) situations of low wind speed and (3) the months of April to September.

Because of its rather quick computation time, the Grasshopper PET simulation model has been used to formulate basic rules-of-thumb for heat proof design through a study into the effects of varying H/W ratio, street orientation and facade albedo. The study has been performed for a representative urban canyon in the Netherlands for an analysis period from 12.00 – 18.00 on an above average warm summer day. Study results show decreased spatially and temporally averaged PET in the urban canyon for increasing H/W ratio. Considering street orientation, highest average PET occurs for streets oriented towards the South-East (SE) and lowest average PET occurs for streets oriented towards the North-East (NE). Varying H/W appears to be the most effective strategy for heat mitigation with a heat mitigation potential of up to 5.6 \degree C, closely followed by varying street orientation with a heat mitigation potential of up to 4.7 \degree C. Default settings for street orientation affect the effectiveness of varying H/W ratio and vice versa: Varying H/W ratio is considered most effective for SE street orientations (heat mitigation potential of up to 5.6 \degree C) and least effective for NE street orientations (heat mitigation potential of up to 3.9 \degree C). Varying street orientation is considered most effective for larger H/W ratios (heat mitigation potential of up to 4.7 \degree C for H/W ratio 1.0) and least effective for smaller H/W ratios (heat mitigation potential of up to 3.0 \degree C for H/W ratio 0.5). From the study results, no firm conclusions can be drawn with regards to the effectiveness of varying between low albedo facades (albedo = 0.3, untreated facades) and high albedo facades (albedo = 0.8, white-painted facades): The results appear to be highly dependent on the number of ambient bounces (ab) of reflected shortwave radiation considered in mean radiant temperature calculation. Depending on the considered number of bounces, either low albedo facades (ab = 2) or high albedo facades (ab = 4) result in lower average PET in the urban canyon. At the time of writing, it is uncertain which number of ambient bounces should be considered realistic for calculation. For both considered number of ambient bounces, however, study results show that the heat mitigation potential of facade albedo is significantly lower than that of H/W ratio and street orientation.

For the considered urban canyon, a combination of H/W ratio 1.0 and SE street orientation results in the lowest average PET (approximately 38 \degree C), whereas a combination of H/W ratio 0.5 and NE street orientation results in highest average PET (approximately 47 \degree C). Dependent on the number of ambient bounces considered, either low- or high albedo facades result in highest average PET. However, the contribution of façade albedo on the mentioned PET values is limited (up to $\pm$ 1 \degree C). An exploration into the effects of ground- and façade material on the obtained average PET results suggests that varying ground- and façade material moderately affects average PET results. Further research is needed to quantify the exact effect of varying ground- and facade material on PET.

For future research, it is additionally recommended to perform a more elaborated validation with field measurements. The focus of a validation study should be on calculation of mean radiant temperature, as the calculation method implemented in the PET model is currently a draft version. Other interesting topics for future research are the implementation of vegetation in the PET model, and improvement of the wind speed calculation for more accurate wind speed modelling. ... Read more

Climate change, and the effect it has on our lives and the world, has been at the centre of debate in the past decades. Also in architecture and urban planning fields, the effect of climate on buildings and cities has always had a role in the design process, nowadays especially when it comes to sustainability related topics. An interesting element within climate is the microclimate, which is a small area where climate circumstances are different then in the surrounding area. For example in an urban area the temperature difference between an area in a big city and the rural area around it can be up to 10°C, due to influences of surrounding buildings and materials. In the design process often more general weather data is used in calculation, this while they can differ a lot from reality. Modern tools make it possible to simulate the microclimate. One of these tools is ENVI-met. However, inputting 3D models into this software is mostly a manual process. This while a lot of information that is necessary is already available in existing architectural and urban design models. There is just no way to input this information into the software.

In this research a method is developed for combining detailed information from BIM models (IFC), with information about the surroundings from 3D City models (CityGML), and translating them to the ENVI-met format, so that these models can be used as input models for microclimate simulation in ENVI-met. This is done by creating a command line tool that extracts the necessary data from both input files, combining and converting it, and then writing it to a file in the ENVI-met format. Also guidelines and requirements for the input files will be established.

This is done by first establishing what information is necessary for microclimate simulation in ENVI-met and how this information needs to be represented, and then finding out where this information can be found in the intended input files, and how it is represented in there. From this can be concluded what information can be taken from which input file and the characteristics that are necessary for their correct use in the process can be established. Then the conversion tool itself can be developed, where the data is transformed to the same coordinate system and format, so that it can be combined and written to the ENVI-met format. In the last step the results are checked by doing a small case study and running the microclimate simulation.

This way, IFC and CityGML models can be used as input for microclimate simulation software ENVI-met, by using the conversion tool developed for this research and the provided guidelines. ... Read more

The building consists of 3 programs mentioned above and each program works as a bridge. The goal of the marketplace is to be a cultural bridge by providing interaction between people including locals and immigrants. To achieve this, a routing system of Katendrecht street was introduced that connects the inside and outside of the building, draws people with diverse background deep into the building, links them to the history of the building and expands their understanding of the multi-cultural world. To make the Fenix ensemble legible as a historic entity again and include street connecting Wilhelmina pier into routing system. Despite the recent changes to the Fenix 1 building, the market place will be extended to lower part of Fenix 1 and become huge cultural area with Deliplein. In addition, the lost part on quay-side will be restored to restore weakened connection between water. Above the marketplace, there is an education center for immigrants and both spaces are interconnected. By doing so, locals and immigrants can communicate in many ways and this space will be social bridge. The migration museum links above two programs as a historic symbol of the building. It also links past and present, users to history and shows the root of the building. ... Read more

A green-blue roof consists of a water storage layer with on top a substrate layer covered with vegetation. Due to the presence of the water storage layer, a green-blue roof is better capable of retaining heavy rain events. A movable valve makes it possible to manage the amount of water on the roof and the timing of drainage from the roof to the sewer system, while in addition the stored amount of water is made available to the vegetation layer via a passive capillary irrigation system. This could potentially result in a higher evapotranspiration rate and therewith a reduction of the sensible heat flux compared to green roofs. Because of its qualities, green-blue roofs have been added to the list of measures that contribute to mitigation of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and pluvial flooding. However, during dry summers a third climate related challenge arises namely drought. The question arises whether it is sustainable to increase the amount of vegetation in cities, as this increases the water demand during droughts. During long dry spells it can be challenging to store enough water for vegetation and cooling while keeping sufficient empty storage available at the same time. A conflict in water related functionalities of the roof is the result. It was the aim of this thesis to investigate how implementation of green-blue roofs can be made climate resilient by defining its strengths and weaknesses regarding temperature management and water consumption and come up with possible ways to improve the roof system. By conducting a measurement campaign in the summer of 2020, it was investigated if the presence of a water storage layer indeed enhances the cooling effect of a green-blue roof on the indoor and outdoor environment. Thermal fluxes at a green-blue roof and a conventional black roof were analysed, as well as two situations with either an empty of full water storage layer at the green-blue roof. Furthermore, a bucket model was designed to study the climate resilience of green-blue roofs for the climate scenarios of the KNMI for 2050. Based on the results, it is concluded that additional adaptation measures are required to make sure green-blue roofs can still contribute to a better and more resilient urban area towards the future. Several measures are available to improve the performance on water retention and drought resilience, like valve management, enlargement of the storage capacity on the roof or on ground level and irrigation. Closing the water cycle locally is important to make green-blue roofs self-sustainable in water consumption, which reduces the risk on conflicts on water use during droughts. Only regarding UHI mitigation, other measures like creating shade could be more efficient as the enhanced cooling of the urban area due to unlimited water availability is small, unless largescale application of green-blue roofs. ... Read more

To limit increasing heat problems in cities, green areas are being implemented in the urban context. Since space is often scarce, an opportunity lies in the use of green facades. This research has investigated the cooling effect of natural green facades in the form of He¬dera helix. Both the effect on thermal comfort inside and outside buildings was investigated during a five-day heatwave using a model approach in ENVI-met. For this purpose, energy labels and the urban heat island effect were used as heat exposure indicators to determine ur¬ban hot spots in Amsterdam. One study area was selected for which dwellings were simulated for four different orientations, namely facing north, east, south and west. The results demon¬strated that green facades could account for small decreases (<1 °C) in air temperature and outdoor thermal comfort. This cooling effect was more pronounced for indoor temperatures, where the insulating function of the greening led to a maximum cooling of 3 °C for the sou¬thern oriented buildings within the first 24 hours. After a few days, the indoor effect appeared to fluctuate, resulting in lower temperatures during the night and higher temperatures during the day compared to a non-green facade. In conclusion, this research has demonstra¬ted that green facades can reduce the heat accumulation of buildings as they function as an extra insulation layer. Further research may be necessary to determine which accompanying measures can optimize the cooling effect of green facades to limit urban heat problems. ... Read more

Netherlands is a coastal country with a typical maritime climate such as mild summers and cold winters but the intensity, duration and frequency of heat waves has been observed increasing since 21st century. The elderly, as one of the vulnerable groups of continuous hot weathers, are the first to be affected by the heat waves with regard to increasing mortality and morbidity while the aging population combined with uneven distribution of the urban heat risks is exacerbating the situation and placing challenge to the public. Public health interventions have been applied in the past few years which have been proved to be effective but the overall effect for the future scenario is questionable. Strategies from urban planning have been focusing on the mitigation of urban heat island and adaption to extreme weather conditions but the effect should be expected in a long term. Since the urban heat island and the uneven distribution of heat risks have strong interaction with physical environments in the urbanized areas, the thesis is seeking for the solutions to intervene within existing urban settings to reduce heat stress for the Dutch elderly through urban design approach to fill in the gap between public health and urban planning interventions. The thesis, by analyzing and researching in The Hague as the test field, introduced an approach to uncovered the causation of the uneven distribution of urban heat risks among the public and evaluate the heat risks level among the elderly from large scale to small scale. The further research on the courtyard block dwellings in the study areas reveals the potential heat risks from the perspective of building configuration and several interventions have been applied within the blocks to reduce the heat stress for the residents.
The design outcomes consist of strategies and temporal spatial interventions, ‘Cooling sheds’, and urban microclimate design following the instruction of strategies has been applied in the study areas to the test effectiveness of the strategies. The combination of the application of strategies through urban microclimate design process and the placing of cooling sheds on neighborhood streets could work as a network on various scales to reduce the heat stress for not only the citizens and healthy elderly but also the elderly with restriction of movements in different times in The Hague. The ideas behind the research and strategies could also be applied broadly in the urban renewal process from the microclimate perspectives in the Netherlands to reduce the heat stress among the public. ... Read more

In recent years, with the deepening of the urbanization process, high-density urban development models have led to a series of climatic problems such as poor urban ventilation and air pollution. Urban morphology forms a unique microclimate in the city, which has an important impact on the diffusion and distribution of pollutants inside the urban boundary layer. Chengdu, as a large central city in the southwestern of China, has developed rapidly, with numerous sources of atmospheric pollution. At the same time, its basin topography and climatic conditions make it difficult to dilute and disperse pollutants. In this thesis, the background of Chengdu was introduced, and the severe trend of urban development and air pollution was stated at first. Secondly, further understanding of the relationship between urban morphology, urban microclimate and air pollution will be involved. And a city-scale risk assessment was conducted to define the most vulnerable areas. Thereafter, it is possible to evaluate the microclimates represented by the wind and heat environment in these areas. Then integrating pollution abatement and microclimate design into the urban design process by using a maximization approach. From the aspects of street canyon morphology, surfaces and urban trees, proposing wind-heat coupled optimization solutions to reduce air pollution. The guidelines and design method are aimed at improving the scientificity of urban design and providing a reference for the creation of sustainable and healthy cities. ... Read more

Delta cities all around the world are under pressure from different forms of climate change effects. Soil subsidence as a result of peat oxidation, and anthropogenic loading of the soil. The soil in many of the heavily urbanised deltas around the world is subsiding faster than the see level is rising as a result of climate change. Few people are however aware of the problems that soil subsidence can cause and the threat that it poses for the cities and their hinterlands, in Delta regions. Soil subsidence has been going on for such a long time that few people seem to realise that it can pose a threat in the nearby future. Delfland is a part of the Dutch delta that has been polderized and it has been subsiding ever since these polders where created. The purpose of this thesis is to research what the spatial and strategical requirements are, to make it possible for Delfland to deal with soil subsidence, and its effects within the region. There is however no certainty about the future impact of soil subsidence or the which actions are required to counter soil subsidence and its effects. The dynamic adaptive policy pathways (DAPP) method is used to deal with this uncertainty. This method has been developed to be able to plan for an unknown future. This is done though the development of dynamic pathways that function as a plan that can change, depending on future developments. This makes it possible to deal with uncertainty within the soil subsidence problem feld, as well as, external uncertainties. For example uncertainties from climate change, economical changes, or political changes. The strategical impact, of dealing with soil subsidence and its effects through the use of DAPP, is reviewed by taking a closer look at how decisions are made within the DAPP method, and how these same decisions could be made on a regional scale for all of Delfland. This requires knowledge of the possible stakeholders and their role and influence within Delfland and in relation to soil subsidence and its effects. The spatial impact, of dealing with soil subsidence and its effects through the use of DAPP, is reviewed by taking a closer look at the pathways that could be chosen when using the DAPP method. Spatial reflections of different pathways, on the Delfland region, offer an insight in the possible spatial outcomes of different pathways and the actions that are taken within these pathways. ... Read more

The subject of this graduation project is the energy transition within urban environments. This is pursued through, firstly, gaining an understanding of the fossil dependency and how this has affected our cities and practices. In order to overturn this effect and open the way for the urban energy transition, urban design needs to become more responsive to the climate in terms of buildings’ energy use and to incorporate renewable energy technologies. In this direction climate-responsive and energy-active urban design is introduced as part of sustainable urban design, and the steps taken in the project contribute in its implementation within existing residential areas, and more specifically dutch post-war neighbourhoods. Because apart from facilitating the urban energy transition there is a need to sustain the rapidly growing urbanization rates in a different way than the one followed in the post-war era. The illusion of free space is no longer in place and densification needs to take place first and foremost in post-war neighbourhoods. Their open space and inherent unsustainability makes them an ideal case for climate-responsive and energy-active urban design to be applied. Therefore the knowledge gathered in this project in order to review the practice of urban design is combined with the morphological qualities of post-war neighbourhoods to provide with design solutions that act on three levels: lowering energy use, generating energy locally and offering the potential for densification. In the end the steps taken are combined in a design method that can contribute in developing climate-responsive and energy-active urban design. ... Read more

When thinking of air pollution, most of the people refers to Asian countries such as China or India where the air is often unbreathable. However, despite the common believes, air pollution poses the single largest environmental risk in Europe today (EEA, 2015) and, among all the countries, Italy has the highest rate of deaths related to air pollution. The city of Turin, as one of the four most polluted cities in Italy, has been facing high rates of air pollution concentration for several year. Despite several attempts by the municipality to improve the quality of the air, the situation has slightly changed in the past years and the urgency of the issue calls for alternative and more concrete solutions.
The graduation project, by discovering and analyzing the relationship between air pollution, built environment and urban design, aims to propose a thorough interscalar approach able to mitigate air pollution in the city of Turin. The form and the nature of the built environment are in fact critical to air pollution concentration: street orientation and width, building heights and several other urban features play a key role in air pollution dispersion.
The design proposal focuses on three design interventions which are characterized by different scales of action: from the micro scale of a single public space to an entire neighborhood. Seen together, they form a comprehensive system for mitigating air pollution whose basis rely on the discipline of urban design.
Overall, the graduation project substantiates the relevance of urban design when assessing air pollution in cities. It offers valuable, effective and alternative solutions able to support the already existing urban policies in the city of Turin. ... Read more