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. 

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.

The world is facing global challenges that are dramatically changing the social and physical environments, resulting in cultural confrontation. Rapid urban growth, and gentrification increase urban pressure while jeopardizing social cohesion, multicultural values and local economies. Moreover, environmental factors associated with climate change challenge the way cities respond
and adapt, as their assets have to be re-designed to meet the current and future generation needs.

One response to these challenges is adaptive reuse, the transformation of the function of an underused structure into a new use. This process turns the cities’ elements in decline into development catalysers. The adaptation to these changes is often a source of conflict, as urban policies lack citizen engagement in the redefinition of public space, resulting in more disagreement. This is particularly acute when addressing contested communities, as their continuous evolution directly influence the adaptation of cultural heritage.

Considering these aspects, this research question is responded: ‘How can socio-spatial conflicts that result from contested identities be mitigated through the adaptive reuse of urban heritage?’.

The relations between Adaptive Reuse, Urban Heritage and Contested Identities are studied, resulting in the research’s objective: to develop an integrative methodology to evaluate urban heritage adaptive reuse alternatives in contested urban contexts, using the case of Acre (Israel).

This final outcome is proposed as a tool for decision-makers and urban planners that provides information-based results to be applied in urban design practice, aiming to translate the theory into practice, and to bridge the gap between global goals and local issues.

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 work examines the critical theory of public participation through a case study of the post-shipyard area redevelopment in Gdańsk, Poland, interrogating the relevance of such processes in a context where cultural heritage is crucial, but there is also an urgent need for new development. This centrally located, (post)industrial waterfront has undergone multiple restructuring attempts over the past 30 years. The negotiation between a vision for an integrated inner-city district and commemorating its heritage value as the cradle of the Solidarność (Eng. Solidarity) movement have stood in the way of substantial progress.

The narratives of the stakeholders and participants involved revealed the importance of positioning the most recent consultations in the wider history of public involvement in this area. Examining the latest participatory consultations not in isolation, but rather as a consequence of earlier grassroots initiatives, allows to trace their evolution from bottom-up to top-down. The interviews revealed differences in the meaning behind notions such as heritage, naming, values, and conflicts used by the participants, suggesting these discrepancies can influence dialogue in participation. Finally, the work links the findings back to the critical theory of public participation, using the concepts of crossbenching (Miessen, 2010) and agonism (Mouffe, 1999) to describe the mechanisms found in the case study.

There is a need to broaden discussions on sustainable mobility beyond electric cars and address the challenges faced by border regions and marginalised groups dependent on public and soft transport. This thesis explores how a transition strategy can support the creation a just and sustainable multi-modal network in a cross-border context. The provinces of Limburg and the mining district are used as a case study. Valuable insights are derived from comprehensive analyses, contributing to a holistic strategy for the region. Key findings emphasise the role of garden cities in shaping the strategy, connecting neighborhoods and promoting mobility alternatives. Improving public transport connections within the mining region is crucial for reducing car dependency and generating positive impacts. Collaboration among stakeholders is essential due to the lack of cross-border connections and administrative barriers. Repurposing the old mine infrastructure offers a transformative opportunity to establish a sustainable transport system. The envisioned future sees opportunities for the old mining infrastructure to act as a multi-modal transport backbone, integrated with multiple garden cities for enhanced connectivity and community. A pattern language approach guides the strategy-making process, tested through a workshop simulation. Policy recommendations stress cross-border collaboration, flexibility, co-creation, and data sharing. By following these recommendations, the region can achieve a just and sustainable multi-modal network, fostering regional integration, equal opportunities, and access to resources.

The story of modern Botswana is that of dualities. At the time of independence in 1966, it was the second poorest country in the world in terms of GDP. Since then, it has seen explosive economic growth and accompanying improvements in human development. It is now ranks third in sub-saharan Africa in both GDP per capita and HDI. This impressive record, however, does not tell the full story. Botswana is the 10th most economically unequal country in the world and is ranked 132nd out of 137 surveyed countries in the World Happiness Report.
This project seeks to explore the relationships between the urban system, inequality and life fulfilment by analyzing the spatial and societal systems active both in the present day and in the traditional/pre-colonial era. An anthropological and philosophical lens is used throughout the analysis in order to distill the value systems that have underpinned life in these different historical eras. These value systems, in turn, reveal the perspective through which people have been experiencing their environments, which helps to explain why this concept of life fulfilment inequality is present here. There is a clear disconnect between the cultural and historical makeup of society in Botswana and the modern systems, spaces and institutions which govern everyday life.
Thirteen principles for a new urban system are then proposed, which when taken together, attempt to define a system which prioritizes economic/socio-spatial equity and the maximization of life fulfilment. Design demonstrations are created to imagine how these principles could be translated into space.

A transition is needed within the current agricultural sector. The intensive food production emits a significant amount of greenhouse gases, but also generates a nitrogen surplus. Consequently, biodiversity and soil quality have been decreasing dramatically in recent decades. One way of achieving a more sustainable food system is through regenerative agriculture, which is a nature-based practice where ecosystem services and soil health are central. This research aims to understand how the decentralisation of farming practices can aid a transition to regenerative agriculture in a socially just way. Through research by design, the concepts of decentralisation, regenerative agriculture and social justice were studied separately and layered on the project areas of different scales: Northwest Europe, South-Holland (NL) and Biesbosch National Park. The objective of this research is to develop a vision and strategy for these areas to achieve a socially just transition to regenerative agricultural practices. Based on literature, we propose a set of regenerative agriculture land-use typologies for Northwest Europe (i.e. nature buffer, food-forest, polyculture crop, polyculture crop-livestock mix, urban food parks). Next, we show how we can transition to these new land-uses, employing methods of spatial and systemic (administrative, fiscal, economic) decentralisation. Each transition is qualitatively assessed by its implications for social justice in local communities and its potential to improve soil quality of the region. On a local scale, for the Biesbosch area in the province of South-Holland, a strategy is proposed that is based on our vision for Northwest Europe. Through local strategic interventions and the empowerment of existing initiatives and cooperatives, we show that the proposed land-use patterns and decentralised food chain can mitigate biodiversity loss and foster local agri-food networks that provide food security in a sustainable way.