Combining insights from urban design theory and political philosophy, this research aims to bridge the gap between public and private spaces in cities. While existing approaches to urban design have successfully enhanced social cohesion at the street level, they fail to address the potential of spaces within and on top of buildings.

This thesis proposes a cross-disciplinary framework for embedding semi-public functions in and around high-rise developments, functions that invite social interaction, inclusivity, and civic presence in the vertical dimension of the city. By integrating perspectives from Urban Management, Urban Planning, and Urban Design, the research addresses both conceptual and operational barriers that inhibit the vertical expansion of public life.

Achieving this ambition requires a shift in how ownership, access, and publicness are understood, alongside practical tools to navigate legal complexities and spatial hierarchies. Through spatial design strategies and organisational models, the research demonstrates how elevated spaces can become legible, accessible, and socially meaningful extensions of the urban commons.

Currently, Hungary is undergoing a rapid (re)industrialisation process, manifesting in the rise of lithium-ion battery manufacturing driven by the economic vision of the government. While framed as an important cornerstone of the energy transition towards decarbonisation, in reality this process deepens resource dependencies and results in spatially and socially uncontextual, unsustainable development - triggering what can be described as a battery manufacturing-induced crisis. The project focuses on North-East Hungary, which has become a key region in this phenomenon, bearing the disproportionate costs of a transition from which it gains minimal long-term benefits.

Therefore this thesis proposes a paradigm shift from transition to transformation, by addressing the research question: ‘How could the current battery crisis be leveraged to enable long-term spatial, transformative change in North-East Hungary?’ Grounded in theories of change and resilience thinking, the research aims to offer a long-term vision for the region that allows for transformability in moments of crisis, at the same time responding to the short-term impacts of unsustainable battery development patterns.

Using a multi-scalar lens, the study combines a territorial capital and a frequency of change analysis to identify static and dynamic regional elements and their transformative potential. Two future scenarios - based on the opposing transformability principles of efficiency and redundancy - are constructed and assessed through a value-based evaluation system. These inform a balanced, flexible long-term spatial framework and a set of transformation pathways that bridge immediate decisions regarding the battery industry with broader transformation goals. By proposing an engagement strategy and a new, landscape-based governance system as well, the project aims to call for action and serve as a catalyst for spatial imagination.

Ultimately, the thesis attempts to provide a future direction to an otherwise disadvantaged region, shifting the narrative of an unsustainable transition towards a flexible, circular, socially just and spatially integrated territorial transformation in North-East Hungary.

This thesis examines the future of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen as a border region within the wider Flemish-Dutch delta, where socio-economic vulnerability and the impacts of climate change converge. Against the background of centuries of struggle against water, and in the face of rising sea levels, this research asks how borders can be redesigned to contribute to a resilient delta.
A combination of literature and spatial research was applied to understand the spatial and administrative impact of territorial borders. It also studied how border regions function in practice and how border residents experience them. The case study is Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, which is cut off from the rest of the Netherlands and Belgium by both the national border and the natural barrier of the Scheldt estuary.
The analytical methods used were translated into three spatial scenarios in which alternative boundary models were tested through design research. These scenarios are based on theories of Re-Bordering (Van Houtum), Borderscapes (Dell’Agnese & Szary) and the State of Exception concept (Agamben), combined with collective management of a Common (Ostrom). From this follows the concept of the Fluid Borderland. The border is no longer a hard line, but a border zone with shared responsibility and more autonomy. The aim is to develop a spatial and administrative design that not only facilitates climate adaptation, but also generates socio-economic opportunities.
The results were translated into an integrated vision of the future in which the border and the Scheldt no longer form barriers. Interventions such as connecting infrastructure, a border park and tidal parks with new, raised primary dykes protect the region from sea level rise. At the same time, connection is created, so Zeeuws-Vlaanderen is no longer approached as a peripheral region. The study invites a debate on the role of spatial planning in border regions and how re-b/ordering contributes to a more resilient, connected and just delta.

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.

With the Green Deal, Europe has the ambition to become the first climate neutral continent in the world in 2050. The current energy system, responsible for 75% of the greenhouse gas emissions, faces challenges including dependency on foreign sources and affordability. Furthermore, the energy system is dehumanized, while people play a pivotal role in the energy transition. The communities and stakeholders of South Limburg are in a constant conflict of space with overlapping functions, yet they are fragmented. The project aims to answer the question ‘How can we achieve a coherent South Limburg through an energy community collective?’ by examining the social, spatial-environmental and energy transition, with a focus on the role of young farming community through the strategy. Interviews with farmers revealed that farmers are open to adopting future-proof practices and emphasized the need for long-term policies and profitable business models.
This project looks at a new energy system which aims to be affordable, resilient and renewable and is integrated in the adapted landscape. Through decentralized energy collectives in the region’s stakeholders and communities will be actively involved in the energy production, distribution, storage and consumption. Farmers will transition to diversified practices which integrate the energy production in their business models. The new energy system requires balancing capitalism and individualism with collectivism and connection, prioritizing the common good over constant growth. Success in South Limburg could serve as a model for other energy collectives across the Netherlands and Europe, significantly advancing the goal of climate neutrality.
In the strategy there is a fine balance between the interconnectedness of the interventions in the strategy and the independence of the project. The interventions have to follow each other, and be connected to form an integrated strategy, but at the same time they have to be no-regret decisions that are valuable on their own. Key projects and policies have an immense value standing on their own and are independent from the rest. However, other interventions add more value to these, to strengthen the strategy as a whole. In the first phase, the collective mainly consists of farmers producing, and consuming energy. Over time residents, industry and others will be added to the collective to slowly establish an independent regional energy system.

The energy transition is advancing, and the share of renewable energy is increasing. The intermittent nature of these energy sources is introducing problems with energy security throughout the day and putting extra pressure on an already heavily congested electricity grid. To alleviate these problems, heavy investments in battery energy storage systems are necessary. But it is important that the energy transition is equitable, and all social classes benefit from it.
This study investigates how we can implement spatial strategies for renewable energy in the U16 region in order to promote an inclusive energy transition. Four communities were identified, and their profile was developed through street interviews, semi-structured interviews and literature review. Through spatial analyses the communities were identified in the U16 region. By connecting different communities in close proximity, clusters were identified which have high potential for collaborative energy strategies. Existing policy and regulation measures to promote sustainability measures were analyzed, and policies were developed to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, alleviate congestion on the electricity grid and kickstart investments in large-scale battery energy storage deployments.
Two scenarios were developed, one scenario to reach the goal of becoming net carbon neutral in 2050, and one for the timeframe after. The scenario until 2050 includes technological strategies like large scale deployment of sodium-ion batteries, and plug-in solar panels to be installed on balconies and facades. Other strategies include investments by public and private parties in battery storage, and policy recommendations like building mandates and incentives for dynamic energy contracts. The interrelationship between communities is the core of these approaches, creating an interplay between the strengths and weaknesses of these groups. After 2050, strategies are suggested to develop large scale hydrogen production and storage to provide seasonal energy storage. Also, the development of an intercontinental energy grid is suggested, to deploy solar installations in countries around the equator. Using these methods, renewable energy can power society, while benefiting all demographics and communities.

To meet the United Nations’ target of global energy neutrality by 2050, a fundamental shift is needed in how we produce and consume energy. Though governments currently focus mainly on adapting, while mostly maintaining systems as they currently are, it becomes increasingly more clear that adaptation alone will not suffice. A systemic, structural transformation that redefines systems and industries is needed.
In the Netherlands, the energy transition is stuck, with political and private actors pointing fingers at each other. This is particularly evident in the horticulture sector, where environmental cost and energy consumption have long reached unsustainable levels. Westland, a municipality where nearly a quarter of Dutch horticulture is located, serves as the focal point in this research project. Within this theme, the focus lies on floriculture in particular, as it represents almost half of the greenhouses in Westland.
This project critically examines the current floriculture system and proposes a future-oriented alternative: a vision in which flower and energy production go hand in hand. In collaboration with conventional greenhouse owners and organic farmers, the project explores how these communities can be brought together to form one unified community of fully organic, energy-positive floriculture.
Methods used in this project include literary review, spatial analyses using QGIS and PDOK, interviews, and research by design. The energy transition is used as an opening for reimagining the floriculture landscape.
The analysis reveals three guiding themes: spatial quality, energy landscapes, and organic floriculture. These were linked to overarching goals of decentralisation, integration, identity and spatial and systematic openness. These inform two visions: one for Westland and one for the province of South Holland. A strategy in three phases outlines the implementation of the vision through policy, funding, agreements and key processes.
By 2060, the envisioned future sees Westland as a global pioneer in innovative and regenerative organic floriculture, where sustainability is not just a goal, but a lived reality.

Zeeland is a land of production of food, energy and resources. Its very nature is deeply rooted in the Dutch people‘s historical ability to reshape the landscape and harness its potential for economic benefit. Today, it faces slow demographic decline, is largely covered by agricultural land and sits at the heart of a thriving transnational port economy and embedded within the Delta region, an area defined by dynamism and uncertainty.

Complex processes driven by climate change - such as sea level rise, soil salinization and the depletion of soil quality - raise urgent questions about the future of many agricultural zones and the rural communities that depend on them. These are farming communities that have inhabited the region for centuries, now thrust into a structural condition of uncertainty, shaped by evolving ecological processes that are often hard to predict or fully understand.
At the same time, they are communities with clear socio-economic needs and aspirations, which sometimes clash with broader environmental pressures and global dynamics. Yet, they also hold significant potential: as landowners, they are well-positioned to convert or diversify their agricultural practices toward renewable energy production, carving out a vital role in the green economy of the future.
“What’s missing is a clear and stable vision for my future and my farm,” says Peter, a Zeeland farmer. That is exactly what Performative Landscape: A New Paradigm for Energy Transition Through Farmers’ Community Engagement and the Transformation of the Zeeland Delta Landscape seeks to offer.

Our team of designers and researchers developed a new long-term vision, ambitious yet grounded, that emerged from an intensive and focused process of research and designs. It aims to sustain regional productivity, reinforce the economic resilience of farming communities, address environmental challenges, and unlock the full potential of the land for renewable energy. It proposes a new model for productive landscapes, rooted in local consumption, circularity, economic autonomy and the integration of agriculture with clean energy generation.

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, people cross the Mediterranean Sea everyday, seeking safety and shelter. Arrival countries like Greece have difficulty to provide all displaced people in their basic needs. One of the most vulnerable among this group are the children. They have experienced war violence, flight dangers and displacement. They arrive at a camp that lacks places to play and develop, is unsafe and unfamiliar. In other words, they lack a sense of home.
This thesis is based on the journey from Syria to The Netherlands, with as transitory space; camp Mavrovouni on Lesvos. The Syrians leave behind a destroyed hometown, a dystopia, and long for a safe refuge, a utopia. Instead they arrive at a camp and have to wait, this place is a heterotopia. The project draws on the parallels between heterotopia and the concept of play, forming the basis for the development of nostopia; a playce that feels like home. This research investigates whether a play-centered approach can transform Mavrovouni into a nostopia.
The three homes along the routes were mapped and analysed to gain insight in their spatial characteristics. Ethnographic research conducted during a field trip to Mavrovouni provided insights into the daily lives of its residents, focusing on their use of space and children’s play behavior.
Findings revealed a pressing need for safety, agency, and belonging. This was broken down into concrete design objectives. By using the objective tree and a conceptual model several visionary scenarios were developed. Patterns were derived from ethnographic insights and further supported by literature, anchoring the scenarios within the spatial context of the camp.
The resulting pattern language is not only accessible to design professionals but also to non-experts through an accompanying game. The initial concepts and requirements for the game are outlined. The scenario maps and pattern language were used to envision an alternate future for Mavrovouni, reimagining it into a playce like home.

This project investigates the challenge of water in the Anthropocene. Due to the accelerating human-induced climate crisis and human actions such as damming, over-extraction, and irrigation practices, the hydrological cycle has been altered, causing an increase in the intensity and frequency of its extremes: severe floods and prolonged droughts. In this Anthropogenic epoch, the world has become heavily globalized and urbanized, leading to critical territories that are exhausted, disconnected, and vulnerable as they are densely built with fixed, impermeable materials and structures. These artificial landscapes cause the detachment of the natural systems from human environments, threatening society’s existence.
Additionally, there is the intangible water challenge of social alienation from water identity: the loss of society’s (ancient) connection with water as an integral part of their way of living. These tangible and intangible water-related challenges are increasingly occurring in the territory of Emilia-Romagna, located within the Po Valley in Northern Italy. This transformation has turned a once wild, dynamic, and rich watery landscape into a humanized, artificial one, resulting in a sinking delta challenged by both sea and riverine floods. Therefore, this introduces the focus area of this thesis project.
There is an urgency to address these challenges by raising awareness and designing solutions for the changing water-related conditions of territories, systems, space, environments, processes, and human behavior. As natural water catastrophes increasingly and interscalarly threaten human daily life, this project argues for a transformative approach to living with water’s uncertainty and dynamics. It aims to answer the research question ‘How to interscalarly design a water-sensitive reality on the human dimensions of daily life in the Northern Italian southeastern Emilia-Romagna region for flood and drought protection while reintegrating water heritage as a way of living?’
The project focuses on Emilia-Romagna using the methods ‘non-linear interscalar design’ and ‘using water heritage as a transformative approach’. Additional methods include ‘critical discourse analysis’, ‘literature review’, ‘historical analysis’, ‘critical mapping of spatial systems,’ and ‘fieldwork’.
Spatial analysis and fieldwork show that Emilia-Romagna’s territory is densely urbanized, with 47% intensive agricultural land, and has lost its natural historical landscape due to land reclamation. The longue durée captures the (historical) transformation from ancient flood-dynamic settlements to completely canalized agricultural land, constantly threatened by floods from the Reno basin and Apennine rivers. Literature reviews reveal the changing societal position of water, from a worshipped living deity and landscape of care to an inconvenient object removed from the daily living environment by the introduction of the car, reflected in urban design and planning. They provide a framework for a healthy watershed by spreading, slowing, collecting, and infiltrating water in up- and downstream landscapes and providing room for the river to restore the natural balance through the various scales. This historical transformation and water identity form the water heritage used as the foundation of the design.
To conclude, the interscalar landscape-urban design uses water heritage, formulated by ancient structures and societal values, to restore the territory through water. Based on the concept of ‘water storage along various landscapes’ and guided by the Santerno River as the main connecting territorial element, Room for the River interventions, along with the interplay of artificial and natural water management through a territorial water reservoir system, demonstrate a possible interscalar framework. This framework contributes to flood and drought protection while increasing spatial quality and improving daily life. A transformative way of living with water in urban, peri-urban, and rural environments is proposed. This approach allows inhabitants to reconnect with their water identity, restore water’s position within society, and raise awareness of the crucial essence of water in providing life in various ways. This is highlighted by the water-sensitive small-scale urban design in the village of Sant’Agata sul Santerno, featuring a water storage square. This interscalar design reintroduces water as a cultural landscape where natural water dynamics freely roam within an artificial framework, ensuring water safety and reframing human daily life.

Global trends in urbanization, industrialization, and intensive agriculture are harming our (local) environment. These activities require significant mounts of resources, energy, and transportation, whilst creating increased waste streams. Poor management of these sites has led to severe soil, water, and air contamination. Currently, Europe has 2.8 million potentially soil-contaminated sites, with around 340,000 in direct need of remediation. Additionally, these activities cause land cover changes, shrinking and fragmenting the natural landscape. The decreased ecosystem connectivity is harmful to ecological processes and biodiversity. Phytoremediation and green infrastructure (GI) planning offer robust nature-based solutions to these problems. Integrating these solutions holds the potential to utilize the same vegetation for both solutions. However, integration of these solutions is challenging due to the scalar gap between the locality of phytotechnologies and the regional scale that is used for GI planning.
This thesis presents a systematic approach to integrating small-scale phytoremediation interventions within regional-scale GI planning. Using a multi-scalar, data-driven framework, this research uses computational simulations, calculations, and assessments to identify optimal design solutions, including traditional GIS mapping, graph-theoretic networks, and neural networks. This integrated approach aims to enhance environmental remediation and ecosystem connectivity and provides a comprehensive strategy for sustainable regional planning.

This research addresses the heavy metal soil pollution of the IJmond region caused by the presence of the industry for over a hundred years. Currently, Tata Steel’s steel industry is transitioning towards Green Steel production, which will decrease air pollution significantly; this does not solve the issue of soil pollution that has accumulated over the years within the region. Even though heavy metals in the soil surpass the legally allowed concentration, nothing is being done about it. Heavy metal soil pollution influences human health when interacting with the soil and can indirectly contaminate produce grown on the soil. Due to this decennia-long pollution of the steel industry, the value of the surrounding landscape (the IJmond region) has decreased, limiting the residents’ health and future potential for development. That is why this research will focus on how to return value to the IJmond region in the Green Steel future of the steel industry. This will be done by creating a strategy concentrating on the spatial impact of soil pollution and the societal impact on the residents in working towards healthy soil again.
The revaluing strategy will focus on three sub-values: the current value that should be maintained, the intended value that should be created and the process value of ensuring a just process in revaluing the landscape. The current value is the presence of the steel industry within the region and how it is engrained within the societal structure of the IJmond region. A consequence of the presence of this current value is soil pollution, which causes a conflict with the livability of the region. This is why the intended value is a healthy soil that returns livability and remediates pollution. The process value stresses the need for an inclusive process that creates agency and transparency for residents.
The strategy combines these values by integrating collaborative governance with spatial remediation, both of which are essential to realising healthy soil on a large scale. This is done in four phases that focus not only on planting, maintaining, and harvesting plants that clean the soil through phytoremediation but also on creating stakeholder interaction and engagement.

The Nitrogen Crisis has become a focal point for the global community, with the related European policy stirring uncertainty in the agricultural sector. This political unrest has been clearly manifested in the Netherlands, while natural areas remain exposed to high emission levels. Society calls for systematic solutions to the nitrogen issue that conserve the existence of farmers, the preservation of nature and the national economy.

This report focuses on the agricultural sector, as it accounts for 52 per cent of emissions (RIVM, 2022). We investigate opportunities to mitigate NH4 and NO3 surplus in soil caused by current agricultural practices and we spatially explore a systemic approach to cut emissions caused by livestock farms and inefficient use of fertilizers within field crop farming in the Eurodelta region.

Through document review and archival research, followed by spatial analysis and mapping, we investigate what changes in agricultural practice can restore balance in the nitrogen cycle. A vision for the Netherlands’ primary agricultural production future is formulated. This vision focuses on sustainable land use, alongside nature protection, research development and community engagement. We elaborate on this through a spatial
strategy, which concentrates on five strategic projects used to assess the interventions on-site and demonstrate their potential to all stakeholders.

Our proposal involves the recognition of natural protection zones in areas where agriculture borders natural habitats. Actions and policies are suggested to facilitate land conversions and support the farmers in this transition. Furthermore, we propose a network of living labs and community centres aimed at applying sustainable farming methods and connecting the city and agriculture.

We conclude that to prevent harm to human health and the environment we need to explore ways to combine the farmers’ and the environment’s interests. The systemic approach requires equitable regulations governing permissible emissions for farmers throughout the Netherlands. However, it should allow farmers to autonomously shape emission reduction initiatives locally.

Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas have provided the vast majority of energy used by our globalising civilisation. The rapid growth in energy use in the past 250 years has led to increasing fossil fuel usage, which has been the primary driver behind the ongoing climate emergency. Policy measures in the Netherlands aiming to reduce the country’s carbon emissions have so far been insufficient because of a lack of visioning and concrete strategies. A primary source of the persistent emissions is the Port of Rotterdam, which acts as Europe’s fossil fuel gateway as well as the most polluting port in the continent, due to the excessive petrochemical activities. The pollution is one of the causes of climate change, which threatens the Dutch landscape with possible extreme sea level rise and weather conditions. The main objective of this report is to imagine a carbon-neutral post-fossil fuel future where the changing water landscape is considered, and the Port-region of Rotterdam adopts a decentralised energy system by 2100.

Historical and social analysis of the ports’ position in the energy system together with the current policies of the energy transition was used to formulate goals and a conceptual framework. By using scenario building for uncertainties and their evaluation, a final vision of an inclusive energy transition was developed. To achieve the desirable systemic shift, this report outlines a set of development strategies through toolkits, new policies, and strategic sites namely in the Port of Rotterdam, Zeeland, Dordrecht, and the Green Heart. A detailed example of Port of Rotterdam is chosen to illustrate how specific actors can define the new energy-inclusive built environment.

This report aims to outline a transition pathway from the polluting and exclusive energy system towards a decentralised, sustainable, and carbon-neutral energy system that empowers communities and individuals in the Eurodelta region. A crucial element of the project is the establishment of a resilient energy system, taking in the consideration of sea level rise and worsening climate situation expected in the next decades. The integration of renewable energy, nature-based water management solutions and redevelopment of obsolete fossil-fuel scapes will transform the ports, urban centres, and peri-urban areas into a dispersed energyscape. This way, the new energyscape is inclusive and adaptive, allowing people to have a voice in their energy production while also being more in touch with nature.

The emission of CO2 is a significant contributor to global warming, with the mobility sector being a major source. The EU has set a goal to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, requiring substantial CO2 reduction efforts, particularly in densely populated regions like the Rhine-Delta (RDR). This region’s extensive mobility network, serving both urban and global trade needs, generates significant CO2 emissions.
To address this, a research initiative aims to make the Rhine-Delta’s mobility network CO2-neutral by 2050 through reimagining its design and operations. The focus lies on peri-urban areas, where urban and rural landscapes intersect. These areas are essential for economic and social functions but are currently reliant on polluting road transportation.
The research identifies the need to rethink connectivity to peri-urban areas for sustainability. Traditional urban-focused transportation concepts often overlook peri-urban needs. Therefore, the initiative proposes developing context-based mobility nodes tailored to peri-urban requirements. These nodes aim to promote sustainable transportation and enhance network efficiency.
The approach involves creating an interconnected network of such nodes throughout the Rhine-Delta region, addressing the specific needs of lower-density areas like peri-urban zones. By considering local contexts, these nodes can effectively serve peri-urban areas, promoting sustainable transportation practices.
To demonstrate the feasibility of this approach, the research zooms in on a representative area within the Rhine-Delta region, focusing on peri-urban patches around Arnhem-Nijmegen. By showcasing how context-based mobility nodes can be implemented in such areas, the research seeks to pave the way for a broader transition towards a CO2-neutral mobility network by 2050.
In conclusion, the research aims to transform the Rhine-Delta’s mobility landscape by making it CO2-neutral through the implementation of sustainable transportation solutions tailored to peri-urban areas. By recognizing and addressing the unique challenges and opportunities presented by peri-urban zones, the initiative seeks to contribute significantly to the EU’s climate neutrality goal by 2050.

The thesis starts with the launch of two national projects in the source of yellow river, which is on top of Tibet Plateau, the most fragile and delicate ecosystem on the earth, is endangering the region. The sky river project, an external imposition that aims to turn the region into a huge landscape machine and the Nation Park plan, an internal separation that denials the indigenous relationship with their land.

My project serves as the negotiation process that gradually brings the land back to its people, respecting their traditional knowledge and engaging local cultures towards a autonomous national reserve of their own through the building of a resilient ecosystem, dynamically maintaining of its unity and actively sustaining its vibrancy that can deal with the future hydrological cycle in multi-scale.

It weaves a tale of an ambitious national environmental initiative in a century where the clarion call for sustainability rings louder than ever. It explores the intimate entanglements of indigenous communities with their ancestral lands, and grapples with the question of how they can harmoniously align with the nation’s aspirations. This narrative unfolds against the backdrop of a world in dire need of sustainable practices, as it bears witness to the profound bonds that tie indigenous peoples to their territories and deliberates on the means to synchronize these ties with the pulsating rhythm of the nation’s dreams.

The phenomena of climate change interacts with the complexity of urban system, which reflect sptially on the process of urbanization. One of the effects of climate change is an increased flooding hazards, and when floods occur this has a severe impact on human lives and comes with vast economic losses. The city of The Hague aims to achieve the goal of becoming a resilient city in 2050. However, the city is under the threat of extreme precipitation and the challenge of urbanization, which affect the liveability in the city. As an important component of achieving resilience, rainproof adaptation can be transformed as an opportunity. By taking the complexity of the social and enviromental vulnerabilities into the consideration, the project discusses the possibility of linking the water management process with the public space design to develop a conversation of the techinical, spatial and social process. The focus of the graduation project is how precipitation flood management can collaborate with public space design to become an opportunity for achieving urban resilience. Taking the case of The Hague, the Netherlands, the project proposes a re-defination of urban development process through public space design with techinical water management approach.

Infrastructure, industry and extraction have greatly reshaped the North Sea over the last five decades. These specific elements played and still play a vital role in the growth and evolution of the North Sea and its adjacent countries. Among all the fishing and oil industry have become highly governmentally influenced machines and are imposing structural injustice on those in contact with its multi scalar impact. Both industries appear seemingly very different from each other however, both take part in the imposition in terms of pollution, territorial claims and impacts on identity and culture. This role has its direct effects on people closely linked to these systems, but also to those far beyond the boundaries of the North Sea. Their lives forever changed, with a low possibility to ever act against. One of the main reasonings behind this imposing role are the detached positions of these industries in relation to their territorial specificities. The lack of integration in terms of site specific entities such as climate, flows and culture are enhanced by its alienated and detached appearance directly result in the separation of man, machine and territory. Unfortunately, these industries are currently indispensable for our present-day lives, without them we couldn’t live as freely and developed as we do now. To act against the structural injustice imposed by the industries a new type of industry must be introduced and by means of it an energy transition. Allowing for maintaining benefits, yet without the imposed disintegration known from our current state of existence. The duality imposed by these industries is clearly notable in Bergen, Norway. Being Norway’s largest centre of sea based extraction, production, transportation, research and education Bergen has greatly benefitted from the extraction of oil and fish however always correlated by strong cases of structural injustice. On the other side of the industry stands Bergen’s unique landscape and its territorial specificities unlike any other city surrounding the North Sea. Together they embody a topography of chance suitable for this new type of industry, which is set to initialise an integrated and coalesced energy transition. Its result is a new approach to an equilibrium between all related subjects and objects, while providing a bodily experience embedded in and exposed to territory, flows and machine. The new type of industry entails a series of interventions linked to a multi scalar energy transition in terms of production and utilisation by means of direct linkage between man, machine and territory. The proposition consists of three main elements: a hydrogen production facility, a fuelling station and a bath house. Each individual element plays a critical role in the integration and coalescence of production, flows and territory to create an integrated and sustainable energy transition. The hydrogen production facility as the manifestation of integrated production and service to the city by means of both product and waste. The fuelling station as the long term solution and the possibility of reterritorialization of fjordic waters by local fishermen. And lastly the bath house as a social proposition of full process exposure, tangibility and integration. These elements make various appearances ranging from: the uncovering of present-day systems to the management of site specificities, use and enhancement of cultural aspects and the utilisation of clean energy and waste. Furthermore, a moment of reflection on the self and the structural injustice imposed by the governmental machines which we currently heavily rely on. Together acting as a statement of minimal intervention to maximise territorial use and therefore the activation of structural justice by means of integration.

In the current geopolitical climate, where Arctic nations are at the brink of conflict in their pursuit for influence and resources, mining has acquired a political character, establishing a delicate equilibrium between resource claims and the protection of the territory. This equilibrium is manifested in the Svalbard Free Zone, where all nations are free to make use of its resources, yet the presence of Norwegian population, and mining as raison d’etre of inhabitation, has acted as the entity of governance and ambassador for the best interests of the region. Nonetheless, with the ongoing end of coal mining in Svalbard, and the demise of Norwegian presence in the archipelago, the ‘free zone’ will face a state of uncertainty, vulnerable to the interests and disputes amongst the Arctic nations. As the ‘free zone’s’ uncertainty threatens the stability of the entire region, mining waste becomes a glimpse of hope towards a new form of political representation. While the Arctic communities face the havocs of such waste, its potential reuse makes it a novel resource and a chance for cooperation to counterbalance both its environmental effects and the political crisis that is about to unfold. Hence, the Embassy of Waste is a political manifesto that introduces the recollection and recycling of mining waste in the decaying mining community of Longyearbyen, Svalbard, in an attempt to become a novel tool towards the governance and self-sufficiency in the region.

Globalisation and global urbanisation are reshaping our world. Life in Central Places is expanding; life in remote territories is vanishing. For centuries, subsistence agriculture sustained rural communities the world over; that raison d’être has now largely vanished. Cities mine the territory for fuel, material resources, food and even population. Simultaneously, our globalised world faces serious challenges as we try to move beyond oil and to a circular economy. The remote island of Flotta in the Orkney archipelago exemplifies these themes, and offers possible visions for a future world in which the remote territory exists in symbiosis with the centralised city. In the coming decade, the Flotta Oil Terminal will close. Flotta’s population is aging, and its vital services are gradually vanishing. There is a small but significant influx of people fleeing the city- looking for an old, but now-vanished way of life in the remote territory. Friction on Flotta is rising as these few, new romantics interact with the pragmatically-minded last generation of Flottarians. Community is not always rosy. The closure of the oil terminal will likely be the nail in the coffin of human habitation of Flotta. Orkney also has a waste management problem- shipping scrap metal to distant, central locations. Simultaneously the Orkney archipelago is ‘the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy’. It already generates much more electricity than it needs, but struggles to export the surplus via a subsea cable designed to transfer power to and not from the islands. Renewable energy is not best suited to central cities- it is Energy at the End of the World. Traversing the island, the Bruck-Mining Saga forms a connection between the point where the Flotta subsea electricity cable lands and the remote edge of a ruined, wartime landscape facing out to sea. It pragmatically mines metal bruck at infrastructural scale, creating new material for export and thus a new economy by using the locally generated renewable electricity surplus. The metal recycling plant occupies the site of an abandoned airfield from the early days of the oil terminal- which constitutes a form of spatial bruck. In time, the oil terminal will also become bruck. The creation of ‘new metal’ in turn facilitates the embellishment/ establishment of a craft metal working/ jewellery making tradition on the island. This draws Flotta into the existent Creative Orkney Trail and brings bruck metal mining to the scale of the human, and indeed even to that of the wearer. These workshops inhabit a series of wartime ruins, which are of course a form of architectural bruck. They preserve and embellish the romantic attraction of this story to visitors of Orkney. Such stories of the remote are vital to humanity: ‘Once upon a time in a land far, far away…’ Where does the community fit in- complete with all its beauty and imperfections? It occupies a point of transition between these two spheres of production, where a series of spaces house the rich tapestry of Flotta stories past, present and future. These subterranean spaces form a modern monument which both record and enable the telling of stories that are crucial to the plural identities of the evolving Flotta community, and which in turn reflect our broader humanity. In doing so, they become simultaneously a museum, community arts space and landmark. More permanent than any infrastructure can or ever should be, they cement a part of our humanity in the remote island territory. They say: ‘We’re still here.’