This paper researches the formation of the Swedish variant of cohousing (kollektivhus) by examining the ideas and cultures which inspired it and asks the question: what has been the contribution of the architect within this history?
Re-writing the script for life at home has been a collective task involving many agents of change and, perhaps most interestingly, the role of the architect in Sweden has extended beyond usual domains of operation to be crucial to the genesis and sustenance (as well as delivery) of the cohousing movement. Through writing radical manifestos, creating resident groups and indeed living in their own projects, architects have been instrumental in developing what is now a self-sustaining movement for progressive housing of a social ambition.
Significantly though, it is the transition from a top-down institutional application of the concept to a grass-roots driven movement – and the accompanying integration of end-users in the design process as experts in living - that proves to be the defining moment addressed by this research. ... 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

This thesis seeks to explore relations between Urban Metabolism’s framework and regional planning in Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area (RMBH) - Brazil, and possible solutions to promote sustainable development through a better management of resources. In order to do so, the problem field defined in this research focuses on the area’s rapid urbanization heritage and its main environmental pressures. The research also restrains itself to wastewater and solid waste flows, pointing out their urgencies and opportunities through the combination of territorial, policy and metabolic analysis, providing a new perspective on the urban comprehension of the region. In combination, this thesis puts forward a catalog of solutions and a regional strategy. The proposal embraces the regional scale, the flows perspective and specific challenges due to rapid urbanization processes, translated into 4 different systems applied in regional clusters. It also explores the spatial implications of the proposed strategy, together with local governance and stakeholders with two test cases: Belo Horizonte and Ribeirão das Neves. Moreover, by understanding the metropolitan region as part of the same tissue rather than seeing it as a poor version of the capital, this thesis contributes towards, not only diminishing the existing inequality, but also strengthening the region as a whole. Lastly, this thesis reflects upon the translation between theory and design, within the concept of Urban Metabolism, contributing to the academic field. ... Read more

The graduation project ‘Gender Walk Design’ investigated genderwalks as a method for knowledge gathering in planning and design. Because gender based differences and inequalities are present in cities, the work towards understanding and reacting to them is very relevant for urbanists. However, intersectional gender aware design is extremely complex and the right approach can be difficult to distinguish. The project looks to utilize the potentials of walking - in its simplicity and effectiveness - as a responding strategy. For this purpose, the potentials and limits of the method were tested through a transparent design process of the method, through the conduction and documentation of genderwalks in Berlin Neukölln and through an analysis of the findings that lead to design proposals. ... Read more

Giving away all the leverages of housing policy to the hands of free market created certain trends. Since profit started to play a main role in whole development scheme, high prices and short term thinking became the core issues. Market liberalization determined that real estate is produced with minimal resources and sold for the highest possible price. Despite many attempts to control quality of built environment by introducing new laws, there were no visible results achieved. This way of development comes along with lack of basic amenities, infrastructure, immense need for commuting and no sense of community. Even though in most cases quality is pretty low, high prices dissociate major part of society from affording a living place. It also became a driving force for concentrating vulnerable social groups in deprived city districts. At the same time sub-urbanization brings along another pack of problems – huge amount of people commuting everyday; immense need for road infrastructure; complete absence of everyday amenities; uncertain future of aging population ... Read more