In the face of climate change, we are confronted with both rising water levels and water scarcity almost simultaneously. These challenges have brought new attention to rivers as crucial elements in urban planning. Yet often in architectural design, rivers are treated as existing elements on site rather than actors that can express their needs in shaping the city. This research constructs a narrative of the Vistula River’s voice in Warsaw, interpreting its needs through its social and ecological significance. It explores how reimagining the river as an active participant of planning debates can inform more responsive, context-sensitive urban design and architecture.
The paper addresses the question of what it means to design with the river, rather than merely around it. It challenges the dominant paradigm, which often disregards the complexity of the environmental role of the water bodies. Instead, the research highlights the intricate relationships between water, land, and community. The emerging global movement of granting legal personhood for rivers has expanded environmental protection, especially in the Global South. The presented approach focuses on building engagement and a personal relationship between the river and people as a key step to protect riverine ecosystems.
The goal of this research was to come as close as possible to the voice of the river – what the Vistula in Warsaw would say about itself and its future. Through qualitative research methods - on-site observation, audiovisual documentation, and interviews with stakeholders connected to the river - the study generated individual narratives that were analyzed and interpreted poetically to construct a collective voice for the river.
Findings reveal that the Vistula’s voice is one rooted in biodiversity, historical identity, and inclusivity. While its interpretations differ across user groups, there are aspects that are common and can be defined as the core of the river’s voice. Vistula gives life and seeps into its surroundings, influencing the biological richness of the area that it flows through. Animals are seen as the river’s primary users, but the Vistula welcomes all living beings, and responsible human activity. Its voice advocates for unregulated flow and improved water quality, while opposing development driven by short-term economic interests. At the same time, it encourages to keep a safe distance from sensitive areas, but bring people close enough to observe nature and be willing to protect it.
The study proposes a design approach grounded in attentiveness to natural rhythms and traditional practices, such as those of the Olęder culture. By shifting perspective toward the river’s own voice, designers and policymakers can increase sensitivity to the impact that their project will potentially have. It can also help them build more sustainable, respectful relationships between urban life and the river. The methodology offers potential applications in environmental education, legal frameworks, and further research on rivers in similar contexts.

Urban resilience is an evergrowing issue as cities face environmental, social and infrastructural challenges. Green infrastructure is currently being used as one of the main approaches in achieving urban resilience by providing multifunctional benefits, such as improving microclimate, enhancing biodiversity, and increasing accessibility to nature. However, through this process the evaluation and optimisation of green infrastructure at the street level remains a methodological challenge, particularly in the case of integrating multi dimensional indicators into predictive models using nature based solutions.

This study develops a machine learning based framework in order to assess and optimise green infrastructure in urban areas at a street level scale. Through the use of publicly available spatial datasets on environmental, biodiversity and morphological factors, the project constructs a comprehensive dataset incorporating factors such as urban heat islands, green infrastructure distribution, and green space accessibility.

Modelling techniques such as gradient boosting regression and random forest regression are employed as a regression technique to predict urban resilience related targets. These will provide insights into how resilient different areas of Rotterdam can be. By focusing on the study at a street level approach, this study aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of green infrastructure effectiveness at a high resolution, providing urban planners with data driven recommendations for optimising and implementing green infrastructure solutions to areas in need.

The findings of this research aim to contribute by bridging gaps in green infrastructure assessment by integrating geospatial data, network based spatial analysis, with machine learning, to assist in decision making to make urban areas more resilient.

The Rhine River, Western Europe’s most vital waterway, supports diverse economic, ecological, and cultural systems. As Europe’s busiest inland trade channel, it is critical to regional connectivity and prosperity. However, the Rhine faces unprecedented challenges due to climate-induced droughts, floods, rising sea levels, and soil subsidence. These pressures, compounded by urbanization, intensive resource use, and cross-border dependencies, threaten ecological stability, agricultural productivity, freight transport, and infrastructure resilience. By 2100, longer and hotter summers, coupled with intensified hydrological variability, are expected to exacerbate these issues, posing significant risks to urban areas, polder systems, and shared governance structures across the Netherlands and Germany.

This thesis explores how dynamic water equilibrium can be achieved through spatial, infrastructural, programmatic, and policy-based design principles, focusing on three interrelated lenses: economy, ecology, and society. By proposing adaptive freight regulation, ecological flow corridors, and socially embedded infrastructures, the research aims to rebalance water systems across scales, from transboundary coordination to regional and local interventions. Special attention is given to vulnerable transport corridors like the Gelderse Poort, which serve as testing location for scalable strategies.

Through a system of design principles with flexible interventions, the study reimagine the Rhine as both a functional infrastructure and a living cultural entity. Supported by cartographic analysis, cross-border insights, and systems thinking, this work offers a framework for climate-responsive river basin design—one that stabilizes freight movement, restores ecosystems, and reinforces the river’s identity as a shared space of resilience, memory, and flow. The findings aim to contribute to sustainable water governance, infrastructure planning, and regional cooperation, enhancing the Rhine’s role as a resilient and adaptive lifeline for Western Europe.

Amsterdam is increasingly confronted with the challenges of overtourism, where the influx of visitors exceeds the city’s capacity to accommodate them without negatively impacting liveability. This thesis addresses the urgent need for a spatial and systemic response to overtourism by exploring how spatiotemporal and morphological urban data can inform new tourism strategies. Central to the research is the development of a novel method to measure tourist pressure using publicly accessible data from Google Maps—specifically, review counts and Popular Times data. These digital traces were processed to generate a continuous, time-based pressure metric, allowing for the spatial and temporal mapping of tourism flows across the city.
The analysis identified not only when and where tourism pressure is concentrated, but also how the urban environment mediates its effects. Spatial hotspots such as the city centre, Museumplein, and Vondelpark showed consistently high pressure, particularly in the evenings and weekends. Morphological and network analyses further revealed that certain neighbourhoods, despite being well-connected or underutilised, remain largely excluded from the tourism system. Indicators such as Angular Choice (space syntax), Floor Space Index (FSI), Ground Space Index (GSI), and Mixed-use Index (MXI) were used to assess urban capacity, and a moderation analysis showed how built form characteristics influence the relationship between tourist pressure and perceived nuisance.
Building on these insights, the thesis introduces the “DeTour” strategy—a spatial corridor linking three underutilised but well-connected urban cores: Sloterdijk, Zuidas, and Bijlmer ArenA. These areas were selected based on their existing hotel infrastructure, high network capacity, and potential for spatial development without displacing residential life. The strategy reinterprets Amsterdam’s multi-core vision, offering a phased and grounded alternative that redistributes flows through a network of interconnected nodes and transitions. Spatial designs for key areas demonstrate how these interventions can enhance tourist experience while strengthening local liveability.
Ultimately, the thesis shows how integrating data science with urban design can yield actionable strategies for cities grappling with overtourism. The methodology developed is not only transparent and reproducible but also adaptable to other urban contexts, contributing both to academic discourse and to practical planning efforts aimed at creating more balanced and resilient urban environments.

The urban river space is the area in the city surrounding a river, distinguishing itself from other parts of the city by this relationship with the water. Urban river spaces around the world are increasingly under development and being regenerated. Urban planning solutions necessitate a comprehensive overview of this space, their boundaries and their characteristics. However, the concept of the urban river space is ambiguously defined, with varying definitions across studies. This thesis addresses the need for a standardized approach through semantic urban river space delineation to facilitate cross-case analysis. Three delineation methods are proposed and applied to urban areas in the Netherlands: the first building line based on visible building nodes, the visible space derived from viewshed analysis, and the floodable area, based on 100-year flood depth data. As urban river spaces are often represented as cross-sectional segments in research, this segment is used as unit to develop a typology of urban river spaces in the Netherlands. Properties of the segment, such as elevation, landuse, vegetation, flood risk, and visibility are quantified and used as input for the k-means clustering algorithm. 10 clusters are derived, each representing a semantic type of river space, resulting in a data-driven typology that enhances the understanding of urban river spaces in the Netherlands.

This thesis explores the future of Amsterdam and the broader metropolitan region, all deeply influenced by a rich history of water management practices. Against this backdrop, the rising challenges of climate change are increasingly threatening the Dutch delta region. Recognising the historical significance and heritage associated with Amsterdam’s water structures, this research aims to strengthen these assets to integrate a resilient water system with a strategy for sustainable heritage development in Amsterdam.
Qualitative and quantitative research have been combined to gain a better understanding of the water problems caused by climate change, enrich the understanding of contemporary cultural heritage values that are associated with the water system and look for spatial potential for urban transformation regarding water-related heritage. The integrated typology forms the basis for the design project, emphasising which design qualities can be improved in which places in the city.
In the design project, the maximisation method maximises the landscape and cultural resilience and by integrating these extremes it is intended to create the most sustainable urban plan. In parallel a pattern language will be developed that aims to generate design solutions that support the design qualities aimed for in this project.
The maximisation experiments and pattern language are combined into the integrated urban transformation plan and integrated implementation on the neighbourhood scale with two example neighbourhoods which show how different neighbourhood types can strengthen their water identity by integrating resilience water management with sustainable heritage development. Ultimately bridging past and future and creating a resilient urban environment.

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.

The survival and development of the city of Maastricht are facing enormous threats from the increasingly frequent and severe fluvial floods, while the leisure industry is the most vulnerable to flood damage as a crucial segment of the economy, accounting for about 50% of the total economic damage. However, flooding is essentially just a natural process with numerous ecological benefits, and can even stimulate diverse recreational activities under certain conditions.

Therefore, this report aims to explore integrated transformation from an urban design perspective for the city of Maastricht to adapt to river flooding and to promote sustainable leisure industry. It implies a transformed urban fabric that prevents the damage caused by river flooding and converts floods into a resource for sustainable leisure industry development through a series of spatial interventions and programs that cross three scales (regional scale, city scale, and neighborhood scale).

Due to global social and economic developments and the intensifying urbanization process, China's urban development is displaying a novel phenomenon of expansion and shrinkage oscillations. Cities dependent on natural resources are among those worst affected by China's urban shrinkage. Resource-based cities, which are essential to China's economic development, are facing the prominent challenge of urban shrinkage as a result of China's slowing economic growth, its homogenous industrial structure, and the industrial cycle of "boom and bust" brought on by resource depletion. In these cities, the gradual lack of urban dynamism results in the disadvantage in urban competition and attractiveness. The main challenge in these cities is figuring out how to achieve better sustainability and transformation.
The concept of "smart shrinkage" is a viable alternative to the conventional growth-oriented planning paradigm, which seeks to reverse the anticipated decline in the future. Smart shrinkage entails accepting the reality of shrinkage, developing policies in anticipation of urban population reduction, and investigating new models of urban intensive development under non-growth conditions. The potentials and transition based on the smart shrinkage idea are investigated in this thesis using Hegang as the study location. Hegang, a city on the border of northeast China, is on the list of resource-exhausted cities. Its population is declining, the city's mineral resources are nearly completely depleted, there is an excess of land and structures, and the quality of space is deteriorating. Does the idea of "smart shrinkage" make sense in the context of a municipality that is losing population with Chinese characteristics? Is local operationalization of shrinkage possible? In response to the long-term shrinking trend in the context of Hegang, this research develops a theoretical framework for smart shrinkage, suggests a strategic framework for urban recovery and resilience building, reconstructs Hegang's socio-economic and spatial dimensions, and recovers it to a resilient urban system. The results of a thorough investigation may serve as a point of reference for this particular group of cities' transformation and excellent development.

More and more frequently, the streamflow of the Rhine becomes dangerously low. Drought is exacerbated by climate change, glaciers are melting at rapid rates. These problems affect the functions and ecosystems around the Rhine. The Rhine accounts for two-thirds of all inland waterway transports across Europe and thus experiences severe economic consequences when the streamflow gets low. Goods can no longer be shipped, and industries and agriculture depend on this water supply. More importantly, the Rhine also serves as a source of clean drinking water. With growing urbanisation, industries and agriculture along the Rhine, the pressure on the drinking water supply grows. The chances of periods of drought are increasing. Problems like salinisation, water pollution, damage to ecosystems and rising water temperatures will only become more apparent in the future.

In Every Drop Counts, the vision for the Rhine is to become a connected green-blue infrastructure. This proposal combines nature-based solutions that form a coherent system on a small scale and a green-blue infrastructure that works in a cross-border approach. Together they provide habitat diversity, mitigate drought, and human-nature interactions. The riverscape of the Rhine has to deal with more extreme fluctuations in water levels and more intense periods of drought and flooding. To battle the problems the Rhine faces, this thesis attempts to create a pattern catalogue focussing on drought-mitigating design strategies. These strategies are implemented around the Rhine to create a riverscape able to deal with streamflow fluctuations.

The design strategy will have other positive benefits besides a drought-resilient riverscape. Flooding of urbanised areas can be avoided, and living and recreational spaces will stay functional during periods of drought. Industries, agriculture and thus the economy around the Rhine will remain stable during periods of drought, as water retention capacity will be increased and buffers can be implemented.
Habitat diversity will develop and improve biodiversity. The implemented green-blue infrastructure creates a connected structure of habitats where species can flourish. Part of this strategy will be restoring historic riverscapes, creating more space for the Rhine and bringing back old habitats that got lost during the reconstruction of the Rhine.

To create a functional riverscape during streamflow drought, the Rhine will have to use all available water throughout the seasons. To mitigate the drought problems, the urban and rural areas have to create a synergy where strategies are combined, and land is optimally used to develop a drought-mitigating strategy. For this, it is essential to know what each area around the Rhine offers and what type of drought-mitigating measures are most suitable to implement.

The nature-based solutions embedded in the green-blue infrastructure are combined into a drought-mitigating pattern catalogue. This multiscalar pattern catalogue can be filtered for different types of landscapes, land uses, and more requirements. This approach is tested on other design locations and leads to a selection of measures that apply to different landscapes. By implementing the green-blue infrastructure approach with nature-based drought-mitigating solutions in rural and urban areas, a functional riverscape during streamflow drought can be created.

Exchanges between China and Africa involving political, economic, scientific and cultural aspects have a long history and are constantly updated according to the practical needs of both sides. The high degree of complementarity has led to China-Africa deepening cooperation, which has been accompanied by the emergence of new industrial clusters, the shift in the interest of new investors, and the movement of new immigrant groups. Nevertheless, differences in historical traditions, social culture, and religious beliefs between immigrant groups and native groups, as well as the possible inequalities in economic power and international discourse between the two sides, often lead to controversial ways of cooperation and negative interactions.

According to the current mode of China-Africa capacity cooperation, industrial parks, as the main spatial carrier, have become the main platform for cooperation between China and African countries. The volume of industrial parks and the impact they bring to the host countries are no longer limited to affecting local economic development as the scale of investment continues to expand, but in most studies, such foreign co-built industrial parks are still treated as an instrument, and the focus of relevant studies is mainly on their promotion of local industrialization. As an entity with economic, social, spatial, and governance attributes that occupies a large area, has a high construction intensity, and has intensive flows of elements, the integration, and interaction between industrial parks and local cities is a direction that can be explored with many new perspectives and strategies.

So the aim of this study is, to use the China Eastern Industry Zone(EIZ) in Ethiopia as a case, to explore integrated strategies to foster regional vitalization in Dukem, Ethiopia via an incremental approach. Firstly, through literature research, mapping and comparative analysis, it is found that the impact of the Eastern Industry Zone on local urbanization and industrialization has penetrated into various aspects of socio-economic, spatial and governance. And the challenges and difficulties at the current stage are complex and intertwined. Therefore on-site surveys and questionnaires were used to analyze the demands of different local groups for the construction and operation of the Eastern Industry Zone, thus establishing the core position of this study to consider industrial park projects as an external opportunity to promote endogenous local development.

Then, based on literature research, comparative analysis and statistical analysis, the local capacity is assessed in three dimensions: spatial, socioeconomic and governance. Through scenario analysis, a vision is proposed, followed by the planning process to delve further into four cross-scale strategic action plans for industrial parks as an active medium for local vitalization. Finally, by analyzing the bottom-up spatial patterns, local activities, and stakeholders in local industrial communities in Dukem, focusing on the interaction and interface between industrial space and urban space, design guidelines for industrial communities are proposed, which is applied to the unbuilt Phase Two area of the Eastern Industry Zone for design testing.

Golden Horn, the centrally located inlet of Bosphorus, Istanbul, used to occupy a substantial position for the industry and was perceived as a poor-quality area regarding the emergence of slum neighborhoods and the environmental pollution caused by industrialization. The 1980s marked a turning point with the deindustrialization process, where the urban regeneration of the Golden Horn waterfront was seen as a major opportunity for representing the globalizing Istanbul through culture-led attraction zones and privatization of industrial heritage facilities. Such an approach failed to establish a context with their broader urban environment and promoted gentrification and segregation and Istanbul’s identity evolved exclusively towards culture and its government to a profit-based agent of the private market through the adopted neoliberal economic policies. Rather than a structural economic change and organized urban renewal, the culture-led urban transformations through the heritage industry overshadowed the current urban urgencies such as urban poverty and limited the accessibility of the locals to heritage values.

In this direction, the research aim promotes a challenge on how the transformation of industrial heritage areas can extend beyond their cultural and historical values by (re)establishing a broader urban context while providing an emphasis on the shifting role of heritage management in urban transformation strategies. The integration with the broader urban context aims for a productive linkage with present-day values and place identity, and the anticipated urban transformation prioritizes the urgent needs of locals for socio-economic development. Through the analysis of the Golden Horn, the thesis emphasizes the transformation of the urban fabric in relation to the waterfront area, to understand the dynamics of the urban morphology and the place identity as delineated by (and with) post-industrial areas. Driven by the multi-layered study on Golden Horn, the main focus shifts toward neighborhood scale with the profound analysis and transformation of the Unkapanı Flour Mill in the Unkapanı district as an illustrative industrial heritage area characterized by urban poverty. Additionally, the analysis includes the Süleymaniye district and the world heritage site, exhibiting a multi-layered study of urban morphology, signifying an emphasis on existing problems and values, intensified through a distinctive narration with photos from the fieldwork. Furthermore, the anticipated productive transformation refers to a bottom-up approach, contextualized through components of urban integration, and design principles that are characterized by specific actions for Unkapanı’s transformation. In the end, the thesis finalizes with a brief conclusion by reflecting on the implementation of the design approach and the principles through their applicability and further developability for other industrial heritage areas along Golden Horn.

Citizen participation is frequently mentioned in debates about our urban environment but proves difficult to be meaningful in practice. Often, participation is characterised by intransparency, poor communication and distrust. It is a loss seen the potential positive effects of influential civil participation that could help us overcome problems regarding the increasing complexity of cities. Enabling the potential and making citizen participation a valuable asset demands the extra step; full facilitation.

The research’s aim is to understand how participation needs to be facilitated to make it worthwhile. Therefore, the following research question is formulated: How can Rotterdam facilitate and structure co-creation in the built environment in an inclusive, supportive, human-oriented and meaningful way? Although the outcome of this research reaches beyond Rotterdam, will Rotterdam be used as research subject.

To answer this research question, current context and good practices are analysed. Additionally, a real-life street experiment in the Old North of Rotterdam has been conducted. The context analyses consist of the current approach of Rotterdam in facilitating participation in the city, interviews about participation with urban and architectural firms in Rotterdam, and current programmes and strategies. Relevant good practices outside of Rotterdam are analysed for valuable lessons and used as input for the design. The experiment consists of the regeneration of a street, in which the process and co-creation were vital elements. The outcome of this research consists of recommendations and a design proposal. The main recommendation for Rotterdam is to communicate more about the process and the assessment of proposals. The design proposes a next step in the appropriation of public space by residents. This appropriation is guided by design coaches connected to the municipality. Currently available, as well as newly created space, is used to demonstrate the strategic design proposal.

Conclusion; facilitating participation in urban developments is strongly connected to actively guiding and initiating processes, good communication and transparency. For the design; to keep it tangible and make people take ownership of their surroundings, process scales should not be larger than the scale of the neighbourhood. Integrating participation into society needs to be done step by step but with complete commitment. Participation is not about saving money, but rather a new way of approaching design processes.

One of the main dilemmas in participation remains not being able to attract unusual suspects. The personal door-to-door approach connected people to the process, but not as active participants. Analysing digital tools will be interesting for follow-up research in this regard. Overall, analyses of existing practices remain an interesting way to learn

The rise in urban stresses has prompted the need for preparedness of urban areas to face precarious circumstances. Consequently, the concept of urban resilience has grown in popularity not only to tackle sudden shocks but also to face long-lasting socio-economic tensions. To implement the arrangements for resilience policy, literature suggests that social factors govern the resilience of urban areas. Communities in which the residents work together and have common goals have a stronger willingness to cooperate. To this end, social cohesion has been proven to be significant for subsistence in the event of a catastrophe. Cohesive communities protect residents against threats, care of others during hardships, and ultimately promote community resilience.


Balanced neighbourhood policies aim to strengthen the cohesion between citizens, communities, and social institutions departing from the assumption that social mix fosters social cohesion. Their goal is to increase the social mix of specific areas to avoid the clustering and segregation of disadvantaged households to, as a result, promote resilient actions. There is, however, literature that suggests that the anticipated effects are rather inconclusive and usually not achieved. Instead, balanced neighbourhood policies would promote segregation by forcing the displacement of groups of residents.


The issue arises whether balanced neighbourhoods trigger resilient actions that are pivotal in resilient communities. In other words, does neighbourhood balance increase resilient action of neighbourhood residents? We took a cross-sectional confirmatory approach to understand the social mechanism that triggers resilient action in balanced neighbourhoods based on Partial Least Squares—Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and spatial econometrics. To this end, the research tests the assumptions on which the municipality of Rotterdam grounds their Resilience Strategy's balanced neighbourhood policy, the Woonvisie, using a 2019 public survey on social development. Rotterdam's definition of a balanced neighbourhood is defined from a set of conditions for the amount of houses in different house price segments. Therefore, the tested model is based on the grounds that geographically connected people become affected by their neighbourhood's balance to promote resilient action. As such, we use the willingness to help friends and neighbours to characterise informal support as resilient action. Here we show that balanced neighbourhoods are associated with less informal support: the higher the balance, the fewer residents are willing to help their friends and neighbours.


The results indicate that social cohesion is the social mechanism that triggers help between friends and relatives and fully acts as the mechanism for resilient actions triggered by the balance in a neighbourhood. From the multiple combinations of houses in different house price segments that the definition of balanced neighbourhoods allows, we distinguish two associations. On one hand, house price distributions which foment a reduction in polarisation (more middle-priced houses) are negatively associated with social cohesion. On the other hand, balanced neighbourhoods which foment polarisation (more low- and high-priced houses) are positively associated with social cohesion. This indicates that our results are in line with Putnam’s homophily principle, i.e. ‘birds of a feather flock together’. This outcome is opposite to the policy discourse of governments in favour of balanced neighbourhoods, including the municipality of Rotterdam, that mixed neighbourhoods foster social cohesion and therefore resilient action.


The testing of the theory is complemented in two ways. First, we show that social cohesion and informal support are not constrained by administrative boundaries, so the social perceptions and actions in nearby neighbourhoods affects the level of the other neighbourhoods. Second, we found no moderating effect of factors related to the demographics and the built environment that can promote or deter social interactions, and thus are aspects of what can be considered a resilient neighbourhood.


The analysis also shows that Rotterdam's definition of balance allows multiple and dispersed combinations of the amount of houses in each price segment, which can result in counterintuitive conceptions of balance. In addition, the results show apparently contradicting results of the relationship between balance and social cohesion depending on whether the distribution foments house price polarisation. As a result, we argue that the definition is under-specified and can be misleading.


Finally, only 2.1% of the possible balance distributions yielded an acceptable goodness-of-fit of our model. This could be indicative that the model needs to be reevaluated. We found that neighbourhood ethnic heterogeneity and house type heterogeneity are directly associated to social cohesion and informal support, respectively. Future research should elaborate on the theory on which the model is grounded and create coherence to the empirical relationships identified. In contrast, the few fitting distributions could otherwise indicate that that social cohesion and informal support cannot be explained by the balance in a neighbourhood and that the policy should be reevaluated. Under this second interpretation, the study has uncovered which are the balance distributions for the city that can actually show the alleged effects of balance.


Based on these findings, a policy advice is formulated. If the objective is to increase social cohesion and resilient actions, we discourage the municipality of Rotterdam to approach this by building balanced neighbourhoods. Nevertheless, we have seen that building social cohesion is a way to build social resilience, so recently developed city programs focused on the development of neighbourhood organisations, which not only provide a space for social cohesion but also to collect and share resources directly, are a step forward from the Woonvisie.

Cities around the world constitute complex systems, as sets of sub-components that are connected and interact with each other. Due to this inherent complexity, there are numerous emerging challenges that need to be tackled. In those complex environments, various-interest groups collaborate and compete to achieve their goals and interests, constituting a vital part of urban planning. The advancement of technology and ICT, and the abiding need to keep citizens engaged, marked a critical shift in the way that urban planning confronts the increasingly contemporary complex issues. This advancement has offered citizens a way to digitally participate in urban planning procedures, overcoming certain limitations, while posing, also, challenges related to the level of its effectiveness.
While many methods and tools have been developed over the years, for enhancing citizen engagement and the effectiveness of public participation, there seems to be an evident gap in substantial and two-way collaboration among the (relevant) urban stakeholders. This thesis project aims to hark the perspectives and needs of the urban stakeholders, translating them into a conceptual design of a digital public participation platform. Next to that, except for the importance of the platform itself, as a tool, the focus was also given to participation, as a process, considering that such a platform could and should act as a promoter of effective public participation rather than a stand-alone solution. Consequently, the main research question of this study is: Which characteristics need to be included in designing a public participation platform so that it can enhance citizen engagement and facilitate more effective public participation in urban planning?
For this research, a design science research approach was chosen. A theoretical background was developed on existing theories, methods and frameworks related to public participation and digital platforms. Data collection was conducted using multiple methods, including workshops, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires, while data analysis was conducted inductively, to identify all the emerging patterns and their interrelations.
From the data analysis, five core themes emerged: General findings; (De)Motivational factors for public participation; Characteristics; Technical requirements; Technological features. Retaining these themes, the analyzed results were then critically synthesized, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, to provide a holistic overview.
Combing the obtained results, the main research outputs were developed, providing an overall answer to the main research question. First, a trifold validation of the results, related to the past, present, and future, was conducted, fulfilling the rigor and design cycle of the design science research, and attaining a continuous assessment. Building upon the evaluation results, for the platform as a tool, a conceptual design was developed, based on the different views of the urban stakeholders. For the process of public participation in general, a set of guidelines was developed, providing recommendations on how to enhance citizen engagement and the effectiveness of public participation, based on the different views of the urban stakeholders.
This thesis concludes with some important final remarks, including limitations, recommendations for future research, research relevance, and the author’s final reflections on the research.

Most contemporary cities are currently unable to adapt fast enough to the constant change in demands. Rapid technological advances have significantly altered the way humanity interacts with its surroundings – with a sedentary lifestyle becoming more common – while climate change and ecological degradation threaten to do unrepairable damage to our urban ecosystems. These trends will – without drastic change – ultimately lead to increased social isolation, more people living an unhealthy lifestyle, an uncomfortable urban microclimate, and a lack of resilience regarding environmental shocks and stresses.

This study aims to determine how urban green – with its different qualities and attributes – can be applied to mitigate these potential future effects and develop a future city that is more liveable, resilient, and biodiverse. In this context, urban green can be defined as all urban land covered by vegetation of any kind – irrespectively of size, function, and ownership.

To effectively research the diverse benefits of urban green, a case study approach was applied, in which the city centre of Schiedam was selected. Additionally, the following research question was chosen: ‘’How can the implementation of urban green in the inner city of Schiedam contribute to resolving issues related to ecological degradation, climate adaptation, social isolation, and vacancy in an integrated and inclusive way?’’

Literary research and case study reviews were conducted to assess the different ways urban green can be implemented, with their subsequent benefits. Furthermore, spatial analysis was conducted to gain a better understanding of how the aforementioned problems are manifested in the case of Schiedam, together with how the literary findings can be implemented in a real location.

The research showed that a multiscalar development strategy is required in order to utilise the concept of urban green to its full potential. On the scale of the inner city, five distinct types of pocket parks were developed that each focus on a specific target group. The goal of these park types is to minimise the barrier for people to come outside – giving them a high-quality social green space for whatever purpose they need within a five-minute radius. Furthermore, pocket parks contribute to creating a continuous ecological network, as well as provide environmental benefits.

On the street scale, an objective evaluation method was developed, which can be used to assess the current social, environmental and ecological quality of any street type. Additionally, an intervention toolbox was developed that provides the necessary tools to redevelop the street types accordingly.

By utilising the different potential qualities of urban green through a multiscalar development approach, the future inner city of Schiedam will become a rich, biodiverse urban territory that promotes social interaction and a healthy lifestyle – all while being resilient and climate adaptive.

The thesis is situated in a contested region at the border between India and Pakistan along a shared basin of River Jhelum. It investigates the impact of rapid urbanization amidst a conflict that strained vernacular-water relationships and evolved over centuries. These local ties of a water-based community called Haenji were the strength and richness of Srinagar City’s heritage. But the situation now is one of abandonment with conflict-created distrust at Jhelum, resulting in a ‘dying water culture’. The Planning gap with vernacular persists due to a top-down planning culture that has proved to be inefficient for the condition of Jhelum and its wetlands to the 2014 catastrophic floods.

The city of Srinagar was analyzed spatially to reveal typical case study wetlands to read this planning and vernacular gap. This followed a field visit and interview with experts regarding the shifting planning perspectives, post-2014 floods towards resilience as presented in the Srinagar’s Master-plan 2035. The analysis led to set of resilience principles and a strategy toolkit that helped develop three Resilience Themes for the City vision. These themes are then tested at the neighborhood pilot at the Jhelum riverfront. The design strategy here aims at a model of vernacular sustainable neighborhood guarding its waters through relationships built on diversity, adaptability and trust.

This thesis proposes a revival of vernacular socio-ecological bonds at River Jhelum in the city of Srinagar, suggesting that sustainable living with water necessitates the inclusion of vernacular practices that evolved to adapt best to surroundings. Theoretically, this borrows from the concept of socio-ecological resilience. It aims at adaptive spatial planning through an advocacy-led approach from local solutions to a city vision for resilience. Building on vernacular water culture serves as a middle ground between planning authorities, wetland ecosystems and residents of the city to develop trust and bridge the planning vernacular gap.

A masterplan, commissioned by the Municipality of Dar es Salaam aims to redevelop the Lower Msimbazi River Basin with new urban development. In the context of rapid urbanisation and sustainable development, uncovering the relationship between public space and resiliency as mediated by urban form is essential to contribute to resilient master planning in developing environments and in this context, a more resilient public space in the redevelopment masterplan in Dar es Salaam. The research departs from an ongoing tension in master planning – how to assess and determine optimal qualities of urban form to enhance resiliency of public spaces. The research aims to define, spatially assess, and explore the relationships of factors influencing public space resiliency in central Dar es Salaam using a combination of a transdisciplinary literature review, geospatial quantitative analysis, ethnographic observations, and in-depth interviews. To inform a more resilient public space in the redevelopment masterplan, the research urges approaching resiliency in terms of ward-based identities and typologies. It recommends improving resiliency through the creation of space by enabling polycentricity, designing for wider conceptions of public space and strategically densifying through the creation of new urban forms. The research opens up possibilities for strategic interventions given further local investigation and site-specific acceptability by residents in Dar es Salaam.

In my graduation project I have researched the relation between built space and open space in the urban context. With the current densification challenge in Utrecht much more built volume is added to the city, increasing the pressure on open space. Open space is of great importance in securing urban liveability and has in particular many environmental values. By proposing redesigns in the neighborhood of Rivierenwijk, both the quantity and quality of open space is improved, enabling a sustainable densification potential. Central in these redesigns are environmental aspects regarding climate resilience and biodiversity and how they can be reinforced in the urban open space. Therefore contributing in the transition of Utrecht to become a more climate resilient and nature-inclusive city.

Chengdu, is a megacity in the west of China with a long history and a population of almost 20 million. It is one of the largest cities in China where the socio-cultural identity stands out with a unique local lifestyle. Also, it is a city facing overall urban regeneration since 2020, when the establishment of an urban regeneration system at the city level was just started.
In the past decade, the TOD redevelopment including the fast construction of metro lines and stations has been one of the core strategies taken in this city. Soon, this will cause a possible rush of urban regeneration in terms of demolishing and rebuilding around the metro stations in the inner city of Chengdu. The local public lifestyle could be threatened not only because of the absence of tools to maintain it in the incomplete urban regeneration system but also because the values of socio-cultural identity can be always easily compromised in the decision-making process for its “less urgent” position.
This project aims to build an integrated strategic framework for extending and flourishing the local public lifestyle in future urban regeneration in Chengdu in the long term, strengthening the socio-cultural sustainability of the city.
In this project, the research consists of four sessions. Firstly, the research about understanding the local public lifestyle, including representative scenes and the supporting factors, has been done. Secondly, the research about the possible influence on the scenes of lifestyle from the business as usual of demolishing and rebuilding has been conducted. Thirdly, the exploration about strategy development to extend and flourish the local public lifestyle in the selected site has been done. At last, the research about how to make those strategies feasible by institutional planning has been done.
It was found that there can be three groups of supporting factors categorized by “people”, “space” and “service” for the local public lifestyle, and eighteen representative scenes have been concluded. Also, the business as usual can generate much more threats than opportunities on the existing scenes identified in the design testing. To avoid the threats and fully use the opportunities, in urban design, to identify the scenes in status quo, analyze how to extend and flourish the scenes and assess the performance of design strategies are important. This can help to inform what needs to be done in demolishing and rebuilding projects. However, to really make sure the intention of extending and flourishing the local public lifestyle can be integrated into the realistic project process, planning tools are also demanded. Therefore, a toolbox containing eight tools has been carried out. At last, institutionalization is demanded to regulate the project process and plug the tools developed into the conventional project process.
To provide better and more practical support in the decision-making process of demolishing and rebuilding projects, further research about the lifestyle model is needed both at the theoretical level and in practice.