Globally, climate change has a significant influence on human well-being and interaction. Current societal reliance on fossil fuels must be reduced through a transition to renewable energy. The Netherlands is poised to be a global leader in this transition. Local communities in the northern province of Friesland - residents, farmers, fishermen, and local energy companies - are often forgotten in this discussion. The proposed project seeks to provide benefits for both the residents and municipal governments of Friesland towards regional electric self-sufficiency.

The proposed project views the province in three different areas, the North Sea, Wadden Sea, and mainland Friesland, based upon unique ecological characteristics. These areas are accordingly assessed through three themes: energy production, ecological stewardship, and local engagement. Adherence to theoretical research of ecological stewardship, self-sufficiency from energy production, local engagement spurred through urbanization, and multilevel governance throughout the energy transition helped to facilitate discourse and direction throughout the proposed project. When contextualized through the conceptual framework, each theoretical component is given spatial gravity: energy production and self-sufficiency in the North Sea, ecological stewardship of the ever-important Wadden Sea, local engagement through urbanization of five Frisian cities that couples with a multilevel governance framework that values bottom-up approaches.

While Friesland is one of the most energy-poor provinces in the country, it also has many geographical advantages that can play host to renewable energy transition including vast areas for wind, solar, and tidal energies production potential. The proposed project seeks to provide regional self-sufficiency, to the benefit of the province’s residents and municipal governments. Various stakeholder identities have shaped the project to incorporate needs for a multitude of communities at all scales. The proposed project culminates in a unified vision with a plethora of action cards that are implemented in various contexts in different phases.

This research project reimagines planning through a critically reflexive and decolonial perspective. It positions the Western planning tradition within the oppressive structures of coloniality and neoliberalism, shaping the role of planning in the marginalisation of vulnerable communities. Modern planning is largely a product of the Western knowledge system and culture. Through its focus on rational and ‘objective’ knowledge inherently excludes many Indigenous knowledges and the lived experiences of vulnerable citizens. Due to the normalised application and adulation of the Western knowledge system, the colonial inheritance of an unjust built environment, and the increasing domination of neoliberal policy, these dynamics of exclusion remain unchanged.

As the Western planning tradition continuously proves to be unfit to meaningfully address the structural injustices in our built environment and society, because it is situated within the oppressive societal structures that cause these injustices, this thesis explores alternative approaches to planning to create just outcomes, such as humanist urbanism, feminist urbanism, Indigenous knowledges, and traditional planning practices.

This research bridges the gap between theory and practice by continuously connecting decolonial planning theory with the case of Old Fadama, an informal settlement in Accra, Ghana. Through critical reflexivity on the role of the planner and planning methodology, and empirical research in Old Fadama, a decolonial planning meta-methodology is proposed. The meta-methodology centres embodied and experienced knowledge in the planning process, promotes community-led and autonomous planning, and regards critical reflexivity as a key planning activity for Western planners working in non-Western contexts. The research itself is an important body of self-reflexivity and displays the transformation in thinking and acting that is necessary for decolonial planning.

The planning practices and spatial outcomes of Old Fadama are reimagined through this decolonial planning meta-methodology. By viewing Old Fadama as an example of community-led planning and governance rooted in decoloniality, our understanding of urban informality and urban planning can be transformed. The thesis contains a set of radical imagination exercises that visualise possible spatial outcomes of a decolonial planning approach that goes beyond the formal-informal binary and towards a just and decolonial future for Old Fadama.

In response to the growing emphasis on social sustainability in urban redevelopment, this thesis investigates how Dutch developers define and implement strategies concerning affected communities in the built environment. With the recent introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the associated ESRS S3 standard on affected communities, developers are increasingly expected to disclose the social impacts of their projects. However, translating these abstract and highlevel regulatory principles into practice remains a challenge, particularly in the absence of sector-specific tools.

To address this gap, this research compares and integrates the ESRS S3 standard with the academic framework of Shirazi & Keivani (2018), which results in an adapted framework that combines regulatory expectations with socio-spatial indicators. Experts were interviewed to refine and validate the framework. The adapted framework is then applied to two redevelopment cases, Katendrecht (Rotterdam) and Dreven, Gaarden, Zichten (Den Haag). Through interviews with developers, the study identifies their definitions, strategies and objectives surrounding social sustainability and affected communities. These are mapped onto the adapted framework to assess where they align, diverge or extend its dimensions. Additional interviews with municipal representatives and local community actors further broaden and deepen the understanding of how social sustainability is interpreted and experienced in practice.

Findings show that developers increasingly recognize social sustainability as a multidimensional and collaborative practice, but their approaches remain strongly shaped by system-world logic, such as policy, targets, feasibility and formal participation processes. Local representatives reveal how lived experiences, identity, cultural practices and everyday routines shape the perceived impact of redevelopment, factors that are often underrepresented in formal strategies. The analysis highlights a reoccurring tension between system world requirements and lifeworld realities, underscoring the need for context sensitivity, long-term governance and continuous engagement.

The study concludes by refining the adapted framework and presenting operational tools that enable developers to translate social sustainability principles into concrete, measurable and meaningful practices, contributing to socially responsible reporting and to the creation of meaningful neighbourhoods with measurable social impact.

This research explores the relationship between the decolonisation of memoryscapes and the design of urban space. How can design contribute to an urban representation of pluriversal narratives? To find an answer to this question, I conducted a qualitative case study of Bremen and Windhoek, two cities that are connected by their shared colonial history and that I thus investigated in relation to one another. Through semi-structured interviews with actors who work in decolonisation and participant observations, I analysed the current state of collective memory of colonialism in Bremen and Windhoek. I found that although actors work on the decolonisation of public memory, a collective amnesia of colonial histories persists in both cities. In the second part of the research, I explored what visions the actors have about the future of the collective memory of colonialism. I discovered that conversations about colonial histories are key to a decolonial memoryscape. From these visions, I developed a set of urban design guidelines for Bremen and Windhoek that I then applied in a pilot proposal project. Overall, this research shows how crucial a relational lens on cities and their colonial memory is to achieve a true decolonialisation. To understand what constitutes a place, it has to be analysed in relation to other spaces in the world.

Bali, Indonesia, has experienced accelerated urbanization and overtourism over the past decade, resulting in multifaceted social, economic, cultural, and environmental challenges. These dynamics have driven land conversion, exacerbated water shortages, intensified environmental degradation, deepened social inequalities, and contributed to the erosion of indigenous cultural practices. As competing claims over land and water resources intensify, Indigenous communities are increasingly marginalized, and the island faces escalating ecological pressures. Central to these dynamics is the Subak, an ancient community-managed irrigation and water management system that exemplifies the concept of hydrosocial territories—spaces where water and its management are deeply intertwined with social, cultural, and power dynamics. This system, fundamental to Bali’s agricultural landscape and cultural heritage, now faces growing strain as tourism investors and industries encroach on Subak territories, threatening its sustainability and the communities that depend on it. 
This research investigates pathways for reconstructing Subak’s hydrosocial territories to promote just development through spatial planning and governance frameworks. By focusing on the interplay between the hydrological systems of Subak, institutional governance structures, Indigenous community practices, and environmental sustainability, the study examines how the principles of spatial justice and learning from values can inform the reform of spatial and governance policies to protect and sustain Subak’s social and ecological significance without neglecting its Traditional Ecological Knowledge. 

Despite the steady growth of the Kenyan economy, poverty rates remain high and informal settlements keep expanding. The economic and spatial inequality in the country is increasing. The informal settlement of Kibera, in Nairobi, is the largest in Kenya and struggles to establish sustainable socio-economic development for its residents. The aim of this research is to unravel the causes for the persisting socio-economic disparity and how they can be overcome. This is achieved by investigating a bottom-up approach of development by means of the concept of community capital. The result is an inclusive urban strategy to promote sustainable socio-economic development in marginalised communities. The research consists of an exploration of the theory of community capital, combined with physical, socio-economic and political analysis. It involves explorative research to methods to effectively achieve development. Essential to the creation of the strategy, is the establishment of a community-based approach, which is key to effective and sustainable co-production. The strategy is composed of several spatial interventions, which can be implemented inside the settlement. They include shared plots, active streets and community centres. Their main function is to enhance the creation of community capital, through building trust and a sense of community among residents, while providing basic services and public space. Improved community capital leads to better collaboration, higher levels of safety and a stronger political voice. These elements are fundamental for enabling sustainable, socio-economic development and diminishing inequality in the city.

This thesis explores the possibilities of future inclusive urbanism by investigating how tradition and modernity—in socio-spatial and ecological practices—interact in Chinese urban contexts and what implicit values they carry in post-growth cities. Over the last four decades, accelerated state-led modernisation, accompanied by technocratic urban planning, has led to the making of a spatially homogenised ‘generic city’, often neglecting history and obscuring social-ecological inequalities. However, the persistence of thousands of villages in a city reveals a more complex urban reality, and the recent slowdown demands an inclusive approach to urban planning and design, making it necessary to document values of the past and present for the future.

Using the palimpsest analogy, the research conceptualises a city as a multilayered system with a nonlinear history, enabling the unravelling of historical and cultural layers from the past in present-day readings. It rethinks pluralisation of modernity as reflected in South China’s urban landscapes since the 1980s. An analysis of 50 empirical studies reveals that Chinese modernity is an evolving process entangled with traditions.

This entanglement is further elucidated through an architectural ethnographic investigation of Pingshan village in Shenzhen, focusing on the lived urban spaces, the surviving agricultural landscapes, and the omnipresent sacred spaces. Using ethnographic drawing, photography and interviews, the research reveals that traditions transform themselves while interacting with modern interventions in daily life, producing various hybrid spatial forms and practices. Reflecting on empirical findings, the research proposes hybridisation as the potential for building future inclusiveness in architecture and urbanism in China.

Urban blue space is increasingly used to refer to an urban waterbody and its waterfront, implying that the waterfront should be a shared public space. Unsurprisingly, increasing competition over the benefits of urban blue space has resulted in issues of justice. While spatial justice is rapidly becoming one of the main planning goals in the global North, in the global South, where central states are often pursuing neoliberal agendas to keep up with developed countries, empirical studies remain few. This thesis evaluates urban blue space regeneration from a spatial justice perspective in Istanbul, a typical example of such a context. An evaluative spatial justice framework is applied to the policy plans for ‘Haliç Marina and Complex Project’, a recent regeneration initiative and hot discussion topic in local and national politics. Using interviews, site observations, and two local Masterplans, a qualitative content analysis (QCA) shows that the plan prioritizes commercial development before spatial justice. The plan seems to be an iteration of developmentalist politics of the national government, and so Istanbul’s blue space is subject to the will of a powerful, entrepreneurial government. While this poses many challenges to spatial justice, a strong resistance movement and a slowly changing political climate stem hopeful. Future studies should extent the empirical database to more different contexts, to identify how the transition from profit-based regeneration towards spatial justice can be achieved.

The rapid proliferation of urban gated communities in Bangkok posed significant challenges to the city's walkability, accessibility, and equitable development. The existing policy framework, including the Bangkok Masterplan 2024, lacked effective strategies to address the negative impacts of urban gating. This research investigated the root causes and effects of urban gating in Bangkok, focusing on the Lumpini area as a case study. By examining the physical manifestations of urban gating, understanding the perspectives of citizens, and analyzing the policy landscape through a socio-technical framework and ethnographic methods, this study aimed to bridge the gap between policy intentions and the lived experiences of residents, providing insights for more equitable and effective urban planning policies.

The research underscored the need for a more nuanced and comprehensive approach to urban planning in Bangkok, one that integrated the social, cultural, and psychological dimensions of urban gating alongside physical and economic factors. The study recommended the development of design guidelines that prioritize inclusivity and community well-being, as well as the implementation of effective communication strategies to foster public understanding and support for open and accessible urban environments. By addressing these critical areas, policymakers could create a more equitable and sustainable urban landscape in Bangkok, where the benefits of urban development are shared by all residents.

The energy transition is a complex challenge for cities. All sectors of society will have to change. Many sustainable opportunities arise, but injustices are still present. Often, people in disadvantaged positions are not properly recognized, included in decisions and left to deal with the burdens. Lack in proper citizen participation, causes current energy transition policies to appear distant from the local, implementation scale. Using socio-economic, spatial analysis and governance mapping, this project showcases energy vulnerabilities and the skewed institutional perspectives on local transition capacities. By combining expert interviews, policy analysis and imaginative co-creation sessions in the case study area of Hillesluis, Rotterdam, a more just governance structure and inclusive participatory practice can be formed. The project exposes injustices in underlying systems of power and decision making, as many policy incentives are aimed towards financial benefits. The current participatory process of transitions in itself is characterized by ex-ante responses and informs rather than actively engages communities. This results in many citizens who are in disadvantaged positions, albeit financially or socially, are left out. Thus keeping loops of injustice in place. Through theoretical and co-creation experimenting, a just participation process was formed, however the execution therein showcased many difficulties. Measures such as frequent city-wide campaigns, transparency and adaptive area-based strategies could divert these fragilities in participatory processes for future sustainable transition research. As socio-technical transitions are becoming more complex, innovative perspectives and empirical research are needed. This project not only critically examines current governance structures and participation processes, but proposes measures to overcome the experienced socio-spatial and procedural barriers towards just energy transitions. Resulting in more human-centred and socially innovative policy aims towards a just energy transition for all.

In recent decades, China's rapid urbanization and economic growth have caused significant ecological damage, especially in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). Jiaxing, at the heart of the YRD, exemplifies these challenges. Historically, Jiaxing's identity and prosperity were intertwined with water, supporting agriculture, trade, and cultural activities. However, modern urban development has drastically reduced water areas, altering the landscape and detaching residents from their water-centric lifestyle. This shift has led to ecological, economic, and social issues, eroding the city's identity.

This paper aims to restore Jiaxing's identity as a water city, ensuring a sustainable future by following Cheshmehzangi's (2015) theory. At the regional scale, it will analyze the interplay between the city and its water elements using Mačiukėnaitė and Povilaitienė's (2013) framework, focusing on infrastructure, ecology, society, and symbolic roles to revitalize urban identity and city vitality.

At the environmental scale, the study will examine the relationship between citizens and their urban environment, emphasizing forms, activities, and impressions. Using the Holistic Urban Landscape theory, it will propose strategies to maintain spatial atmosphere and improve urban space quality. The paper will conclude with the design of urban nodes to demonstrate the feasibility of these strategies.

The Netherlands has created a large nitrogen pollution problem in its soils, which is harming biodiversity. By intensifying and industrialized farming, by importing animal feed for dairy production and fertilizer for crop farming, too much nitrogen has accumulated in the soil. Consequently, ecological processes are disturbed due to eutrophication (over-feeding of nutrients), from which only a few species profit, causing other species to lose the competition and cease, with detrimental effects on reliant other species.
This project explores how this intensive/industrial farming can be substituted by more sustainable alternatives in which creating and maintaining biodiversity is key. An alternative system is proposed based on the spatial intergrading between cities and protected natural areas with typologies that focus on balancing food production and biodiversity creation. This alternative system is then detailed concerning the small-scale effects it has, the necessary process of policy creation and the necessary systemic changes as preconditions for a successful execution. The transformation design is developed along a framework of values which are reflecting on current best practices in the discipline of urbanism touching on issues of planetary boundaries, justice and transitional thinking.
Our key takeaways are to keep the city and adjacent areas productive, close to where consumption of goods is high but also where functions like education and food markets can be sensibly integrated. Further from the city and closer to already biodiverse and protected areas of the Nature Network Netherlands (NNN), the gradient leans more towards focussing on the creation of biodiversity. Humans and non-human species can find their thriving space on the gradient, food production is still an integral part as well. By creating a system in which farmers are working together, and are guided to create this balance on their farms and are paid for their efforts and the services they provide to society, they can be encouraged to change their farming practices for the better.

Cities are responsible for a great amount of CO2 emissions related to transportation (CBS). However, the greatest amount of CO2 is caused by private transport and is mainly associated with peri-urban (the peri-urban area is a common place to live for the natural environment and also near accessibility to city facilities) and rural areas due to the lack of public transport, proximities to Services of General Interest (SGI) and access to jobs. This problem is especially evident in the cross-border regions.
When zooming in on North-West Europe, more specific issues around transport, mobility and battling CO2 arise. The European railway network, which spreads across national borders, is a patchwork filled with gaps around those national borders. Considering that a large share of the European Union’s territory consists of border regions and includes more than one-third of the EU’s population, this fact is rather alarming (European Mobility Atlas, 2021). The spatial vision and strategy presented in this report will focus on the challenge of carbon emissions caused by the transport and mobility sector with a focus on cross-border and last-mile connectivity of peri-urban areas.
The region of Maas-Rijn is used as a case study. This project explores how the region can become a place where what is not in your direct vicinity, is still within reach in the next 30 years. In saying this, the project is not only referring to physical proximity to amenities, services and (infra)structures but also to the possibility of accessing job opportunities, education, social networks, communities and other intangible resources.
Based on our analysis, the relevant trends and values are identified for a region covering three different scales: Local scale within national borders, Cross-border scale, and Multi-nation/ European scale. Key findings emphasize the role of enhancement of short-distance transport trips, the reduction of motorized vehicle use of any kind by promoting development aimed at close proximity to physical and intangible resources and promoting the use of active/ non-motorized modes of transport of any kind. More medium and long-distance/ not daily movements will be replaced by the use of sustainable alternatives, such as EVs, optimized public transport networks and smart sharing systems.

There is an imbalance in the nitrogen cycle, mainly caused by an increasingly intensive agricultural sector. This leads to the degradation of nature and the loss of biodiversity. Measures have been taken at European level to reduce the amount of nitrogen emitted by the agricultural sector, but this has caused a backlash as farmers in many European countries have protested strongly. Many farmers fear for their future and something must be done to safeguard their livelihoods and the quality of Europe's nature.
To address this, we propose a vision for 2150 in which the food system of north-west Europe shifts from intensive agriculture to a regenerative, small-scale and collective farming system. We envision diversified and rotational land use to close nitrogen cycles and thus reduce the burden on the climate, giving the soil space and time to regenerate so that nature can thrive. Food and bio-based materials will be produced locally and seasonally, making food and material consumption more transparent and integrated into the daily lives of communities, transforming peri-urban and rural structures and the way we live in them. This regenerative production system, coupled with new incentives, will provide affordable food for all, while being more circular, organic, sustainable and fit for the future world we envision.
To enable diversified farms, farmers will share facilities, tools and land to enable soil-based crop rotation. This will have an impact not only on the local diet, but also on the food and materials produced. Focusing on local production also means introducing other collective infrastructures that increase local and regional flows. It also means reducing some of our international infrastructure while increasing knowledge flows between countries to empower people in the Global South to process and produce food locally, thus ensuring a more equitable distribution of resources. Finally, at the heart of the strategy is the conservation of nature, which will shape the boundaries of the newly structured peri-urban rural agricultural landscape. The existing boundaries of the built environment will remain, with the emphasis on densifying and transforming our current structures rather than expanding them.
In order to visualise the vision, we selected three pilot projects based on three different typologies and existing infrastructure: Nijkerk (sand, rural, a practical school and a milk processing unit), Utrecht (clay, urban and distribution centres) and Bodegraven (peat, peri-urban and dairy related businesses). These pilot projects show the necessary landscape transformation over time with the introduction of regenerative agriculture, food and material hubs along with food production within city boundaries, working towards a sustainable landscape and local diet.

This thesis explores the role of shared mobility as a sustainable and inclusive alternative to car ownership within the context of the mobility transition, focusing on how shared mobility can bridge accessibility gaps, particularly in urban areas where shared mobility options are limited. Using the Multilevel Perspective (MLP), this research analyses the niche replacement potential of commercial shared mobility in relation to the traditional car-ownership regime. A case study in Amsterdam Zuidoost is employed to explore how shared mobility can contribute to an inclusive mobility transition, addressing issues of urban inequality and societal exclusion from sustainable transportation alternatives. Qualitative methods are applied to assess the interactions between three key perspectives: policy, individual, and business. The findings reveal a gap between the societal need for the mobility transition, the mobility needs of residents in Amsterdam Zuidoost, and the business opportunities for shared mobility providers, leading to low implementation potential. This research advocates for a shift away from commercial shared mobility solutions towards to more cooperative, community-based models, such as Mobility as a Commons (MaaC) to empower local communities, diversify mobility options and promote a more inclusive transition towards sustainable urban mobility.

This thesis investigates the influence of Public Collective Collaboration (PCC) on the governance of urban commons in Amsterdam. Urban commons, comprising collectively managed resources, management systems and communities, are increasingly recognised as alternatives to traditional market- and state-driven resource management systems. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research identifies the landscape of urban commons in Amsterdam, examining their structures, practices, and interactions with the municipality. Key findings highlight how both internal factors (such as trust-building and shared understanding) and external factors (like institutional design and facilitative leadership) shape collaborative efforts. The study further explores how these factors of collaboration influence the functioning (political pressure versus service provision) and positioning (independence versus autonomy) dimensions of the governance of the commons. The results show how the success or failure of factors of collaboration can influence the mutually exclusive nature of the dimensions of governance of the commons. These results give a more nuanced and empirical understanding of the dynamic of enhancement and co-optation due to PCC. These insights aim to support policy development under the amsterDOEN research agenda and contribute to academic debates on the evolving relationship between commons and local governments.

This research explores the relationship between socio-ecological resilience and spatial justice in Nouakchott, Mauritania, a city shaped by opposing climatic forces altering the landscape, rapid urbanization, deeply rooted social inequality and political uncertainty. The problematization emphasizes how climate impacts amplify existing social inequalities, both threatening the city’s existence as a habitable place and posing a challenge to the survival of especially vulnerable communities.

The study critically examines the concepts of resilience, spatial justice and indigenous knowledge through the local context, highlighting the adaptive capacity embedded within local practices. Through a diachronic spatial analysis of Nouakchott’s development, it identifies territories of persistent informality and displacement, revealing how past interventions have disrupted rather than supported vulnerable communities. In this context, resilience and vulnerability coexist, emphasizing the importance to strengthen local knowledge and to learn from the community.

Using the pattern language methodology, this research develops tools to design context-sensitive spatial strategies that combine socio-ecological resilience and spatial justice across scales. It advocates for adaptive, community-driven interventions that empower vulnerable communities, addressing environmental, social and spatial challenges in a contextually grounded design. This study demonstrates how addressing social and environmental challenges simultaneously can create unforeseen opportunities for both social equity and climate adaptability.

This study explores the use and demand for offices in the Netherlands in 2050. Employees and employers have not found a balance in hybrid working, resulting in significant hidden vacancy. This refers to office space that is leased but not utilized, leading to ineffective office management. Real estate managers lack a guide to formulate a future-proof strategy for their real estate portfolio. Therefore, this study examines four exploratory scenarios on how work could be conducted in 2050 and its implications for office demand. This helps map external developments that may influence the demand for offices. The central research question is: "How can societal trends influence the way people work and, therefore, the demand for offices?" In this study, human scale and technology use are identified as the two key uncertainties. Along these uncertainties, four scenarios have been developed: Human Hands, Bionic Man, Manual Machines, and Technological Domination. In each of these scenarios, there is a different balance between human and technology, resulting in distinct characteristics of offices. In the Human Hands scenario, the quantitative demand for offices increases, while in the other three scenarios, this demand decreases. Nonetheless, each scenario indicates that there will still be a demand for offices in the Netherlands in 2050.