A critical discourse on the influence of the Modern Movement in urban design and planning has been taking place since the mid-20th century, accompanied by an ongoing search for opportunities to bring the human dimension, scale and self-organisation into this process. However, still a large number of new towns have been built across Asia and Africa, generally following modernistic urban concepts. This research contributes to the afore-mentioned discussion, exploring the context of urbanisation in Latin America in the 1950s and 1960s, in many ways similar to the context of current new town developments in Asia and Africa. To address the meeting point of the ideas of the Modern Movement and self-organisation, the study examines two case-studies in Venezuela, a country which urbanized rapidly after the discovery of oil in the 1920s. The oil revenues made it possible to build new towns, on a large scale, with modernist ideals.

The analysis of the planning and implementation of the two new towns built in Venezuela in the 1950s and 1960s provides important lessons that can be shared to improve the current practice of new town planning. The main lessons emphasize the importance of integrating the needs and wishes of the residents, and to get the commitment of the authorities. More importantly, the results show the opportunities of the aided self-help housing policy, an effective alternative beyond the habitual use of modernistic ideas and concepts.
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The research aims to provide an understanding of an urbanizing delta in which different scales, times, and domains are related to each other; and to examine how this understanding can be used in a planning and design process in a rapidly urbanizing delta. A mapping method is developed according to the key notions in the understanding of urban deltas, namely its systems, scales, and temporality. The systematic mapping approach was used to organize and analyze both short-term and long-term spatial data during the rapid delta urbanization processes by transforming spatial data via scales, times, and domains. The mapping approach works with insufficient data, which is often the case in a rapidly changing environment, to identify spatial challenges from a long-term perspective. Applied in the Pearl River Delta, the knowledge of the development of the urban landscape had been inventoried, synthesized, and presented in its own spatial-temporal model using maps. Three types of processes (landscape formation, infrastructure extension, and urbanization) were identified according to their speeds. Spatial interactions were illustratively explained on both the delta scale and local scale from 4000 BC to the present with a time extent ranging from 2000 years to 50 years. The intervention of this mapping framework was applied and evaluated in terms of design, decision-making, and education, and the insights gained were used to discover new possibilities and strategies for the delta. ... Read more

In the wake of climate change and rising water levels the city of Dordrecht is looking for alternative ways to prepare for coming threats other than keep raising the current dikes. In an exploration a suggestion is made to use the southern side of the island as a buffer for excess water. This research takes that suggestion a step further and upgrades it towards a room for the river project.

In contrast to normal room for the river projects this case is located on a city border where the city even has wishes to expand. Within this research the city dynamics that have implications for the dike in the room for the river plan are identified. A research by design process was aimed at working towards a solution to account for these city dynamics as well as future water safety needs. This resulted in a framework for the placement of a number of mounds. Mounds that are scaled up to be able to accommodate different types of developments as well as be able to have integrated solutions for self reliance and sustainability. ... Read more

The San Rafael canal district is an example of a high density, low-income neighborhood in a flood risk area. A combination that is becoming a global problem, and will likely grow with future climate change. In this thesis strategic spatial planning, water management interventions and goverenance policies are used alongside in an attempt to protect the local residents, giving them a chance to grow with the future economic development of the district. ... Read more

The Parana River is the third largest river in the American continent, after the Mississippi and the Amazon. Instead of flowing directly to the sea, it flows to the Rio de la Plata (located between Argentina and Uruguay) through a complex delta system. This delta is a large and heterogeneous territory that spreads over three provinces of Argentina and that is characterized by different dichotomies along its extension. On the one hand, the islands of the delta are young alluvial lands in constant transformation due to the processes of sedimentation, and are subjected to pulses of floods influenced by the Paraná River streamflow, droughts, precipitations and strong southeastern winds coming from the Atlantic Ocean. Although these alluvial territories seem to be pristine, they have been moderately altered as a result of the development of economic activities. On the other hand, along the edges of the delta, we find the older territories of the mainland, created in the Pleistocene and less dynamic. Here is a network of cities of dissimilar sizes, that establishes the wealthiest corridor of the country. Conurbations such as Rosario (located in the province of San ta Fe) and the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (located in the homonym province), exert different pressures over the territory, generating an increasing impact on the delta system. In other words, this delta shows a contrast between the wild and dynamic condition of the islands and the more stable but strongly urbanized edges. Nevertheless, this dichotomy is not the only one that can be found in the delta. On the contrary, there are other oppositions regarding economic, policy and social realms, expressed through a polarized, unsustainable and unplanned land use, which turns the area into a vulnerable place, given the uncertain context of climate change... ... Read more

The realisation of an urban design involves many players, such as designers, critics, politicians, journalists, public relations specialists and residents. In order to consult with each other they make use of drawings, but also frequently of words, to be able to interpret the drawn objects in the plans. But are these urbanistic notions used by everyone in the same way? And have there been noticeable changes in their usage or meaning over time? This urbanistic and linguistic doctoral research addresses these questions. ... Read more

Historically, cities have been shaped by the transport system as it was considered as the most crucial element for economic growth. However, the advance of infomation technology broke the strong relationship between the city shape, the transport system and the economic growth. Since the flow of information is no longer dependant on the physical transport system today, modern cites recently show the limits of current design methods in their urban spatial structure.

In the meantime. Landscape urbanism has been discussed as an alternative way of designing urban spatial structure. However, the actual method for design process is not developed yet. The problem of the method developing process is that Landscape urbanism does not have a quantitative part to materialize the concept of landscape as a structuring element.

For this reason, this paper attempts to combine landscape urbanism with a quantitative tool, Spacematrix. By the marriage between them, landscape urbanism have a tool to materialize the idea of re-structuring a city with nature. At the same time, a new usage of spacematrix for design process is discovered.

San Jose is a case chosen for the process of developing the method because the current situation of the city shows the struggle of the new urban transformation. It is located in the southern part of San Francisco bay, greatly overlapped with the area of silicon valley. Since the silicon valley has shown noticeable economic performance last decades, it has been gradually expanding, and reaching the periphery of the city toward the sea.

Today the area cannot offer enough land for new development of the silicon valley because of the shortage of available land. Besides, the trend of sea level rising is also threatening the availability of land. As a result, the migration of silicon valley is getting accelarated every year. In the process of developing the method. Therefore, this paper focus on providing a solution for both the development issue and the flood problem based on landscape urbanism and spacematrix. ... Read more

Many delta cities and urbanized coastal regions are facing increasing risks of flooding due to climate change and sea level rise and will have to adapt. The question that is central to this study is what opportunities offer spatial development and urban renewal to speed up the process of adaptation, and reduce costs, while creating spatial value and wider benefits for society. To answer this question a new method is introduced that is based on the development of adaptation paths and analysing urban dynamics. The method has been tested in two flood-prone waterfront areas in Rotterdam and New York. Both cases have shown that identifying opportunities for adaptation based on an analysis of planned investment projects and life cycle of buildings and urban infrastructure helps to systematically assess the effectiveness of adaptation paths. Moreover, it helps to identify new spatial transformations that provide opportunities for adaptation that were not yet identified, or positively assessed before. This makes it easier to synchronize adaptation measures in space and time, and to develop more comprehensive strategies. Both cases show that in intensively built-up environments, such as Rotterdam and New York, adapting existing buildings, despite changes in the building regulations is not a sustainable solution to increasing flood risk. In the long term an integral solution by developing integrated flood protection as part of the redevelopment of the waterfront is necessary. To make this possible, it is however necessary to develop new financial arrangements that fairly distribute the costs and benefits of the stakeholders and to make major changes in the policy regime. ... Read more

Het polder-boezemsysteem, een watersysteem dat is ontstaan door vallen en opstaan, continue is aangepast, en vanwege de invloed van de klimaatsverandering moet worden uitgebreid vormt het onderwerp van dit proefschrift. In het onderzoek wordt gezocht naar een antwoord op de volgende vraag: Welke potentie heeft het huidige polder-boezemsysteem om door middel van het landschapsarchitectonische ontwerp (weer) tot ruimtelijke drager van de laagland-identiteit uit te groeien? Zodanig dat het laagland-water (weer) als ruimtelijke en compositorische kracht van het (stedelijk)landschap (her)ontdekt en versterkt kan worden. ... Read more

While agglomerations along the Rhine are confronted with the uncertainties of an increasing flood risk due to climate change, different programs are claiming urban river front sites. Simultaneously, urban development, flood management, as well as navigation and environmental protection are negotiating the border between the river and the urban realm. This produces complex spatial constellations between the river system and the urban realm with a diverse set of interdependencies, where programs have to synergize while adapting to dynamic water levels. Based on an expanding area at risk and the reliance on flood levels to remain within an acceptable spectrum for adaptive measures to be effective, Urban Flood Integration (UFI) involves border negotiations between the river and the urban realm where adaptation and mitigation ideally synergize. ... Read more