FR
F. Rizzetto
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35 records found
1
Arctic as Territory
An intrumentalization of offshore urbanization towards Arctic agency
The Arctic is increasingly under pressure from intensifying anthropogenic forces, particularly the expansion of extractive industries and associated infrastructure into previously inaccessible maritime zones, including along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). These developments are accelerating a shift from the Arctic as a largely remote cryospheric system to a strategically integrated corridor of shipping, resource extraction, and geopolitical competition. The rapid and uneven expansion of industrial activity in these waters reflect a broader problem of providing agency to territories beyond the Westphalian system.
Methodologically, the Arctic was conceptually established as a territory beyond Westphalianism through the concept of territoriality by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. From there the material and expressive components of the territorial assemblage were investigated. A biophysically-based counter-force to the anthropogenic intrusion of the NRS was then configured through existing offshore infrastructure.
The main design results from the transit field were 1) a nodal-based border could operate as an Arctic boundary in alignment with its non-Westphalian nature and in collaboration with Westphalian governance systems, 2) a the most effective means of responding to the intrusion of NRS is by confining it close to shore, 3) the establishment of an anti-EEZ from the nodal positions would strengthen the balance along the marine-terrestrial (eco)nomical transect.
These findings open up broader questions regarding the reconceptualization of territory beyond Westphalian sovereignty, and suggest directions for further research into governance models capable of addressing overlapping and multi-scalar territorial regimes across nation states and environmental systems.
...
Methodologically, the Arctic was conceptually established as a territory beyond Westphalianism through the concept of territoriality by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. From there the material and expressive components of the territorial assemblage were investigated. A biophysically-based counter-force to the anthropogenic intrusion of the NRS was then configured through existing offshore infrastructure.
The main design results from the transit field were 1) a nodal-based border could operate as an Arctic boundary in alignment with its non-Westphalian nature and in collaboration with Westphalian governance systems, 2) a the most effective means of responding to the intrusion of NRS is by confining it close to shore, 3) the establishment of an anti-EEZ from the nodal positions would strengthen the balance along the marine-terrestrial (eco)nomical transect.
These findings open up broader questions regarding the reconceptualization of territory beyond Westphalian sovereignty, and suggest directions for further research into governance models capable of addressing overlapping and multi-scalar territorial regimes across nation states and environmental systems.
...
The Arctic is increasingly under pressure from intensifying anthropogenic forces, particularly the expansion of extractive industries and associated infrastructure into previously inaccessible maritime zones, including along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). These developments are accelerating a shift from the Arctic as a largely remote cryospheric system to a strategically integrated corridor of shipping, resource extraction, and geopolitical competition. The rapid and uneven expansion of industrial activity in these waters reflect a broader problem of providing agency to territories beyond the Westphalian system.
Methodologically, the Arctic was conceptually established as a territory beyond Westphalianism through the concept of territoriality by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. From there the material and expressive components of the territorial assemblage were investigated. A biophysically-based counter-force to the anthropogenic intrusion of the NRS was then configured through existing offshore infrastructure.
The main design results from the transit field were 1) a nodal-based border could operate as an Arctic boundary in alignment with its non-Westphalian nature and in collaboration with Westphalian governance systems, 2) a the most effective means of responding to the intrusion of NRS is by confining it close to shore, 3) the establishment of an anti-EEZ from the nodal positions would strengthen the balance along the marine-terrestrial (eco)nomical transect.
These findings open up broader questions regarding the reconceptualization of territory beyond Westphalian sovereignty, and suggest directions for further research into governance models capable of addressing overlapping and multi-scalar territorial regimes across nation states and environmental systems.
Methodologically, the Arctic was conceptually established as a territory beyond Westphalianism through the concept of territoriality by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. From there the material and expressive components of the territorial assemblage were investigated. A biophysically-based counter-force to the anthropogenic intrusion of the NRS was then configured through existing offshore infrastructure.
The main design results from the transit field were 1) a nodal-based border could operate as an Arctic boundary in alignment with its non-Westphalian nature and in collaboration with Westphalian governance systems, 2) a the most effective means of responding to the intrusion of NRS is by confining it close to shore, 3) the establishment of an anti-EEZ from the nodal positions would strengthen the balance along the marine-terrestrial (eco)nomical transect.
These findings open up broader questions regarding the reconceptualization of territory beyond Westphalian sovereignty, and suggest directions for further research into governance models capable of addressing overlapping and multi-scalar territorial regimes across nation states and environmental systems.
Mining Material Resiliency
Designing Frameworks Of Resilient Public Spaces Through Direct Circularity
We are encroaching ever further into an era of globalism that is fraught with scarcity. Cities are experiencing unprecedented volatility with population and demographic shifts becoming unpredictable. Some are growing rapidly, while others are shrinking. These shifts have inadvertently created dependence on the global supply chain, as the landscape of industrialization in cities becomes drastically uneven. Raw materials and building products are being acquired from the global supply chain more often than previous decades, and with global reliance comes risks of scarcity, increasing prices and potential volatility.
Our shifting urban landscapes increase the demand for quality public spaces, to support a healthy and vibrant population. During periods of rapid growth, these spaces are designed and built in the same way as the buildings surrounding them, with raw materials coming from the global supply chain. Ultimately, when volatility occurs, public spaces are at risk of becoming underfunded, leading to the spatial reduction of the space or disrepair.
The rapid growth of our built environment has required spatial territories or re-organize themselves. Buildings are demolished to make way for increased densities, land uses shift from offices towers to residential high rises, renovations occur to bring living spaces up to modern standards. Out of this comes literal tons of excess waste materials. Some of this Is transformed into recycled materials, but far too much of it is sent to the waste stream, and back into the black box of global supply chains.
An opportunity presents itself in connecting these material waste streams to the creation and care of public space. Reducing the reliance on the global supply chain of building supplies and harvesting what has already been brought into the local environment, is an effective way of harnessing more control over the spatial context around us. This not only reduces volatility in the cost of creation and timelines divergences while creating spaces, but it would also be giving community more agency over the space that surrounds them, by filtering materials through the neighborhood first, before being sent back into the waste stream.
...
Our shifting urban landscapes increase the demand for quality public spaces, to support a healthy and vibrant population. During periods of rapid growth, these spaces are designed and built in the same way as the buildings surrounding them, with raw materials coming from the global supply chain. Ultimately, when volatility occurs, public spaces are at risk of becoming underfunded, leading to the spatial reduction of the space or disrepair.
The rapid growth of our built environment has required spatial territories or re-organize themselves. Buildings are demolished to make way for increased densities, land uses shift from offices towers to residential high rises, renovations occur to bring living spaces up to modern standards. Out of this comes literal tons of excess waste materials. Some of this Is transformed into recycled materials, but far too much of it is sent to the waste stream, and back into the black box of global supply chains.
An opportunity presents itself in connecting these material waste streams to the creation and care of public space. Reducing the reliance on the global supply chain of building supplies and harvesting what has already been brought into the local environment, is an effective way of harnessing more control over the spatial context around us. This not only reduces volatility in the cost of creation and timelines divergences while creating spaces, but it would also be giving community more agency over the space that surrounds them, by filtering materials through the neighborhood first, before being sent back into the waste stream.
...
We are encroaching ever further into an era of globalism that is fraught with scarcity. Cities are experiencing unprecedented volatility with population and demographic shifts becoming unpredictable. Some are growing rapidly, while others are shrinking. These shifts have inadvertently created dependence on the global supply chain, as the landscape of industrialization in cities becomes drastically uneven. Raw materials and building products are being acquired from the global supply chain more often than previous decades, and with global reliance comes risks of scarcity, increasing prices and potential volatility.
Our shifting urban landscapes increase the demand for quality public spaces, to support a healthy and vibrant population. During periods of rapid growth, these spaces are designed and built in the same way as the buildings surrounding them, with raw materials coming from the global supply chain. Ultimately, when volatility occurs, public spaces are at risk of becoming underfunded, leading to the spatial reduction of the space or disrepair.
The rapid growth of our built environment has required spatial territories or re-organize themselves. Buildings are demolished to make way for increased densities, land uses shift from offices towers to residential high rises, renovations occur to bring living spaces up to modern standards. Out of this comes literal tons of excess waste materials. Some of this Is transformed into recycled materials, but far too much of it is sent to the waste stream, and back into the black box of global supply chains.
An opportunity presents itself in connecting these material waste streams to the creation and care of public space. Reducing the reliance on the global supply chain of building supplies and harvesting what has already been brought into the local environment, is an effective way of harnessing more control over the spatial context around us. This not only reduces volatility in the cost of creation and timelines divergences while creating spaces, but it would also be giving community more agency over the space that surrounds them, by filtering materials through the neighborhood first, before being sent back into the waste stream.
Our shifting urban landscapes increase the demand for quality public spaces, to support a healthy and vibrant population. During periods of rapid growth, these spaces are designed and built in the same way as the buildings surrounding them, with raw materials coming from the global supply chain. Ultimately, when volatility occurs, public spaces are at risk of becoming underfunded, leading to the spatial reduction of the space or disrepair.
The rapid growth of our built environment has required spatial territories or re-organize themselves. Buildings are demolished to make way for increased densities, land uses shift from offices towers to residential high rises, renovations occur to bring living spaces up to modern standards. Out of this comes literal tons of excess waste materials. Some of this Is transformed into recycled materials, but far too much of it is sent to the waste stream, and back into the black box of global supply chains.
An opportunity presents itself in connecting these material waste streams to the creation and care of public space. Reducing the reliance on the global supply chain of building supplies and harvesting what has already been brought into the local environment, is an effective way of harnessing more control over the spatial context around us. This not only reduces volatility in the cost of creation and timelines divergences while creating spaces, but it would also be giving community more agency over the space that surrounds them, by filtering materials through the neighborhood first, before being sent back into the waste stream.
Ground, in Motion
A Regenerative Framework for the Vietnamese Mekong Deltas Operational Landscape
“The moment of transition is a moment when the past, present and future happen simultaneously.” // Albert Einstein
Climate change risks are increasingly drowning the Mekong Delta, visible through intensified flooding, salinity intrusion, land subsidence, and ecological degradation. Yet what unfolds in the delta cannot be understood as the consequence of the climate crisis alone. Beneath these visible impacts lies a long-standing extractive mindset that has reshaped the delta’s landscapes, waters, and livelihoods over decades.
This thesis argues that the Mekong Delta functions as an extractive operational landscape, a machine, where practices such as export-oriented agriculture, sand mining, and large-scale hydraulic infrastructure have intervened in natural deltaic processes. These interventions have accelerated territorial vulnerability of its landscape and liveliehoodss while integrating the delta into global resource and commodity networks, often at the expense of local ecological resilience and socio-cultural continuity.
Building on this diagnosis, this research aims to develop an adaptive framework that emancipates the deltaic territory and its local inhabitants, whose livelihoods and knowledge are inseparable from the landscape, together with its non-human ecologies, from global demands and post-colonial extractive paradigms.
The project challenges the assumption that progress must follow linear trajectories of growth, intensification, and infrastructural control. Instead, it repositions traditional and situated forms of knowledge as counter-logics to extractive planning, shaped through centuries of living with sediment, flood, and seasonal uncertainty. By engaging the delta as a palimpsest, the research revisits and reactivates suppressed landscape practices as a means to resist the erasure of ecological and cultural memory. ...
Climate change risks are increasingly drowning the Mekong Delta, visible through intensified flooding, salinity intrusion, land subsidence, and ecological degradation. Yet what unfolds in the delta cannot be understood as the consequence of the climate crisis alone. Beneath these visible impacts lies a long-standing extractive mindset that has reshaped the delta’s landscapes, waters, and livelihoods over decades.
This thesis argues that the Mekong Delta functions as an extractive operational landscape, a machine, where practices such as export-oriented agriculture, sand mining, and large-scale hydraulic infrastructure have intervened in natural deltaic processes. These interventions have accelerated territorial vulnerability of its landscape and liveliehoodss while integrating the delta into global resource and commodity networks, often at the expense of local ecological resilience and socio-cultural continuity.
Building on this diagnosis, this research aims to develop an adaptive framework that emancipates the deltaic territory and its local inhabitants, whose livelihoods and knowledge are inseparable from the landscape, together with its non-human ecologies, from global demands and post-colonial extractive paradigms.
The project challenges the assumption that progress must follow linear trajectories of growth, intensification, and infrastructural control. Instead, it repositions traditional and situated forms of knowledge as counter-logics to extractive planning, shaped through centuries of living with sediment, flood, and seasonal uncertainty. By engaging the delta as a palimpsest, the research revisits and reactivates suppressed landscape practices as a means to resist the erasure of ecological and cultural memory. ...
“The moment of transition is a moment when the past, present and future happen simultaneously.” // Albert Einstein
Climate change risks are increasingly drowning the Mekong Delta, visible through intensified flooding, salinity intrusion, land subsidence, and ecological degradation. Yet what unfolds in the delta cannot be understood as the consequence of the climate crisis alone. Beneath these visible impacts lies a long-standing extractive mindset that has reshaped the delta’s landscapes, waters, and livelihoods over decades.
This thesis argues that the Mekong Delta functions as an extractive operational landscape, a machine, where practices such as export-oriented agriculture, sand mining, and large-scale hydraulic infrastructure have intervened in natural deltaic processes. These interventions have accelerated territorial vulnerability of its landscape and liveliehoodss while integrating the delta into global resource and commodity networks, often at the expense of local ecological resilience and socio-cultural continuity.
Building on this diagnosis, this research aims to develop an adaptive framework that emancipates the deltaic territory and its local inhabitants, whose livelihoods and knowledge are inseparable from the landscape, together with its non-human ecologies, from global demands and post-colonial extractive paradigms.
The project challenges the assumption that progress must follow linear trajectories of growth, intensification, and infrastructural control. Instead, it repositions traditional and situated forms of knowledge as counter-logics to extractive planning, shaped through centuries of living with sediment, flood, and seasonal uncertainty. By engaging the delta as a palimpsest, the research revisits and reactivates suppressed landscape practices as a means to resist the erasure of ecological and cultural memory.
Climate change risks are increasingly drowning the Mekong Delta, visible through intensified flooding, salinity intrusion, land subsidence, and ecological degradation. Yet what unfolds in the delta cannot be understood as the consequence of the climate crisis alone. Beneath these visible impacts lies a long-standing extractive mindset that has reshaped the delta’s landscapes, waters, and livelihoods over decades.
This thesis argues that the Mekong Delta functions as an extractive operational landscape, a machine, where practices such as export-oriented agriculture, sand mining, and large-scale hydraulic infrastructure have intervened in natural deltaic processes. These interventions have accelerated territorial vulnerability of its landscape and liveliehoodss while integrating the delta into global resource and commodity networks, often at the expense of local ecological resilience and socio-cultural continuity.
Building on this diagnosis, this research aims to develop an adaptive framework that emancipates the deltaic territory and its local inhabitants, whose livelihoods and knowledge are inseparable from the landscape, together with its non-human ecologies, from global demands and post-colonial extractive paradigms.
The project challenges the assumption that progress must follow linear trajectories of growth, intensification, and infrastructural control. Instead, it repositions traditional and situated forms of knowledge as counter-logics to extractive planning, shaped through centuries of living with sediment, flood, and seasonal uncertainty. By engaging the delta as a palimpsest, the research revisits and reactivates suppressed landscape practices as a means to resist the erasure of ecological and cultural memory.
Genua Liquens
Speculating a Fluid City from the Coastal Interface
This thesis addresses the coastal interface of Genoa as a spatial manifestation of socio-economic tensions between turbulent economic growth and the urban needs of the communities that experience this space. The work begins by contextualising the coastline as an emblematic case of high physical and morphological complexity, marked by a permanent condition of conflict between contrasting logics of growth and development, along which the city, infrastructures and economies compete within an orographically constrained space. These issues become particularly acute and embedded within the territorial palimpsest when coastal development has historically been defined by the dominance of operational, logistical and speculative logics, to the detriment of public, civic, social and ecological dimensions.
This condition is also sustained by a structural governance split between the Municipality and the Port Authority, producing a dual territory in which the port functions as an autonomous city-state regulated by sectorial planning and operational priorities. Stemming from this perspective, the analytical narrative investigate the coastal condition of spatial liminality, fragmentation and sectoralisation, and exposes the deprivation experienced by local communities throughout modern history, produced by the concentration of industrial and infrastructural development along the interface.
To counter this trend, this thesis rejects the logics of modern planning, zoning and functional separation, moving away from the territorial-scale masterplan as the dominant instrument. The project is instead conceived as a political act with strong social value, developed in the form of a speculative framework within which a coevolutionary approach is advanced. In this framework, the material reconfigurations of the coastal interface cannot be decoupled from processes of civic and institutional recomposition, aimed at rebuilding neighbourhood identities, local agency, and collective social networks. The ultimate objective of the project is to return large portions of Genoa’s coastline, today often reduced to liminal spaces and no-man’s lands, to common use. Within this vision, these reclaimed areas become the ground for new urban life, collective commons and new socio-economic ecologies. The project imagines Genoa regaining renewed attractiveness across multiple scales, repositioning itself as a major Mediterranean metropolis. The critique of masterplanning is further advanced by refusing its intrinsic fixity and working instead through scenario-building, six interlinked priority fields of transformation for the systemic scale, and four speculative design focuses which construct radical, situated and plausible new spatial imaginaries.
...
This condition is also sustained by a structural governance split between the Municipality and the Port Authority, producing a dual territory in which the port functions as an autonomous city-state regulated by sectorial planning and operational priorities. Stemming from this perspective, the analytical narrative investigate the coastal condition of spatial liminality, fragmentation and sectoralisation, and exposes the deprivation experienced by local communities throughout modern history, produced by the concentration of industrial and infrastructural development along the interface.
To counter this trend, this thesis rejects the logics of modern planning, zoning and functional separation, moving away from the territorial-scale masterplan as the dominant instrument. The project is instead conceived as a political act with strong social value, developed in the form of a speculative framework within which a coevolutionary approach is advanced. In this framework, the material reconfigurations of the coastal interface cannot be decoupled from processes of civic and institutional recomposition, aimed at rebuilding neighbourhood identities, local agency, and collective social networks. The ultimate objective of the project is to return large portions of Genoa’s coastline, today often reduced to liminal spaces and no-man’s lands, to common use. Within this vision, these reclaimed areas become the ground for new urban life, collective commons and new socio-economic ecologies. The project imagines Genoa regaining renewed attractiveness across multiple scales, repositioning itself as a major Mediterranean metropolis. The critique of masterplanning is further advanced by refusing its intrinsic fixity and working instead through scenario-building, six interlinked priority fields of transformation for the systemic scale, and four speculative design focuses which construct radical, situated and plausible new spatial imaginaries.
...
This thesis addresses the coastal interface of Genoa as a spatial manifestation of socio-economic tensions between turbulent economic growth and the urban needs of the communities that experience this space. The work begins by contextualising the coastline as an emblematic case of high physical and morphological complexity, marked by a permanent condition of conflict between contrasting logics of growth and development, along which the city, infrastructures and economies compete within an orographically constrained space. These issues become particularly acute and embedded within the territorial palimpsest when coastal development has historically been defined by the dominance of operational, logistical and speculative logics, to the detriment of public, civic, social and ecological dimensions.
This condition is also sustained by a structural governance split between the Municipality and the Port Authority, producing a dual territory in which the port functions as an autonomous city-state regulated by sectorial planning and operational priorities. Stemming from this perspective, the analytical narrative investigate the coastal condition of spatial liminality, fragmentation and sectoralisation, and exposes the deprivation experienced by local communities throughout modern history, produced by the concentration of industrial and infrastructural development along the interface.
To counter this trend, this thesis rejects the logics of modern planning, zoning and functional separation, moving away from the territorial-scale masterplan as the dominant instrument. The project is instead conceived as a political act with strong social value, developed in the form of a speculative framework within which a coevolutionary approach is advanced. In this framework, the material reconfigurations of the coastal interface cannot be decoupled from processes of civic and institutional recomposition, aimed at rebuilding neighbourhood identities, local agency, and collective social networks. The ultimate objective of the project is to return large portions of Genoa’s coastline, today often reduced to liminal spaces and no-man’s lands, to common use. Within this vision, these reclaimed areas become the ground for new urban life, collective commons and new socio-economic ecologies. The project imagines Genoa regaining renewed attractiveness across multiple scales, repositioning itself as a major Mediterranean metropolis. The critique of masterplanning is further advanced by refusing its intrinsic fixity and working instead through scenario-building, six interlinked priority fields of transformation for the systemic scale, and four speculative design focuses which construct radical, situated and plausible new spatial imaginaries.
This condition is also sustained by a structural governance split between the Municipality and the Port Authority, producing a dual territory in which the port functions as an autonomous city-state regulated by sectorial planning and operational priorities. Stemming from this perspective, the analytical narrative investigate the coastal condition of spatial liminality, fragmentation and sectoralisation, and exposes the deprivation experienced by local communities throughout modern history, produced by the concentration of industrial and infrastructural development along the interface.
To counter this trend, this thesis rejects the logics of modern planning, zoning and functional separation, moving away from the territorial-scale masterplan as the dominant instrument. The project is instead conceived as a political act with strong social value, developed in the form of a speculative framework within which a coevolutionary approach is advanced. In this framework, the material reconfigurations of the coastal interface cannot be decoupled from processes of civic and institutional recomposition, aimed at rebuilding neighbourhood identities, local agency, and collective social networks. The ultimate objective of the project is to return large portions of Genoa’s coastline, today often reduced to liminal spaces and no-man’s lands, to common use. Within this vision, these reclaimed areas become the ground for new urban life, collective commons and new socio-economic ecologies. The project imagines Genoa regaining renewed attractiveness across multiple scales, repositioning itself as a major Mediterranean metropolis. The critique of masterplanning is further advanced by refusing its intrinsic fixity and working instead through scenario-building, six interlinked priority fields of transformation for the systemic scale, and four speculative design focuses which construct radical, situated and plausible new spatial imaginaries.
Moscow state of mind
From Object to Subject: A Metamorphosis towards Context-Sensitive Urban Futures
This master’s thesis investigates the vulnerability and fragmentation of natural territories in the context of Moscow’s intensive urban expansion. The study critically examines existing urban planning approaches, which rely on large-scale master plans and major development projects that often overlook local natural processes and socio-cultural contexts. The research raises the question of an alternative model of urban development in which natural territories are treated as active actors, possessing agency and the capacity to influence spatial and governance decisions.
The study is based on a critical analysis of historical and contemporary urban planning documents and management tools for Moscow’s natural territories, with the aim of evaluating their effectiveness and degree of implementation. Building on identified gaps in current approaches, the research draws on theories of systems of care and rights of nature, rethinking the management of natural territories through recognition of their vulnerability, local processes, and spatial identity. The theoretical analysis is complemented by spatial interpretation aimed at identifying critical areas for potential interventions.
The anticipated outcome of the research is the development of a conceptual framework that proposes a sustainable alternative to dominant large-scale development models. This approach emphasizes the support of local actors, bottom-up initiatives, and mechanisms of local governance, while unlocking the socio-cultural and ecological potential of territories through spatial solutions grounded in principles of care and restoration.
Keywords:
Urban expansion, Natural territories, Fragmentation, Systems of care, Rights of nature, More-than-human urbanism, Moscow, Urban palimpsest, Morphodynamics, Environmental governance, Non-human actors, Spatial justice, Liminal spaces, Metropolitan regions.
...
The study is based on a critical analysis of historical and contemporary urban planning documents and management tools for Moscow’s natural territories, with the aim of evaluating their effectiveness and degree of implementation. Building on identified gaps in current approaches, the research draws on theories of systems of care and rights of nature, rethinking the management of natural territories through recognition of their vulnerability, local processes, and spatial identity. The theoretical analysis is complemented by spatial interpretation aimed at identifying critical areas for potential interventions.
The anticipated outcome of the research is the development of a conceptual framework that proposes a sustainable alternative to dominant large-scale development models. This approach emphasizes the support of local actors, bottom-up initiatives, and mechanisms of local governance, while unlocking the socio-cultural and ecological potential of territories through spatial solutions grounded in principles of care and restoration.
Keywords:
Urban expansion, Natural territories, Fragmentation, Systems of care, Rights of nature, More-than-human urbanism, Moscow, Urban palimpsest, Morphodynamics, Environmental governance, Non-human actors, Spatial justice, Liminal spaces, Metropolitan regions.
...
This master’s thesis investigates the vulnerability and fragmentation of natural territories in the context of Moscow’s intensive urban expansion. The study critically examines existing urban planning approaches, which rely on large-scale master plans and major development projects that often overlook local natural processes and socio-cultural contexts. The research raises the question of an alternative model of urban development in which natural territories are treated as active actors, possessing agency and the capacity to influence spatial and governance decisions.
The study is based on a critical analysis of historical and contemporary urban planning documents and management tools for Moscow’s natural territories, with the aim of evaluating their effectiveness and degree of implementation. Building on identified gaps in current approaches, the research draws on theories of systems of care and rights of nature, rethinking the management of natural territories through recognition of their vulnerability, local processes, and spatial identity. The theoretical analysis is complemented by spatial interpretation aimed at identifying critical areas for potential interventions.
The anticipated outcome of the research is the development of a conceptual framework that proposes a sustainable alternative to dominant large-scale development models. This approach emphasizes the support of local actors, bottom-up initiatives, and mechanisms of local governance, while unlocking the socio-cultural and ecological potential of territories through spatial solutions grounded in principles of care and restoration.
Keywords:
Urban expansion, Natural territories, Fragmentation, Systems of care, Rights of nature, More-than-human urbanism, Moscow, Urban palimpsest, Morphodynamics, Environmental governance, Non-human actors, Spatial justice, Liminal spaces, Metropolitan regions.
The study is based on a critical analysis of historical and contemporary urban planning documents and management tools for Moscow’s natural territories, with the aim of evaluating their effectiveness and degree of implementation. Building on identified gaps in current approaches, the research draws on theories of systems of care and rights of nature, rethinking the management of natural territories through recognition of their vulnerability, local processes, and spatial identity. The theoretical analysis is complemented by spatial interpretation aimed at identifying critical areas for potential interventions.
The anticipated outcome of the research is the development of a conceptual framework that proposes a sustainable alternative to dominant large-scale development models. This approach emphasizes the support of local actors, bottom-up initiatives, and mechanisms of local governance, while unlocking the socio-cultural and ecological potential of territories through spatial solutions grounded in principles of care and restoration.
Keywords:
Urban expansion, Natural territories, Fragmentation, Systems of care, Rights of nature, More-than-human urbanism, Moscow, Urban palimpsest, Morphodynamics, Environmental governance, Non-human actors, Spatial justice, Liminal spaces, Metropolitan regions.
Time moves tide
Exploring a resilient future for small islands in the Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal system that stretches from the Dutch northern coast to the western coast of Denmark, all alongside the North Sea. The Wadden Sea and its islands are under pressure of climate change and face accelerated rising sea levels, threatening its islands and communities, while current policies often overlook their cultural and livelihood needs. In this study, through a research by design approach, the following question will be looked into: what are the characteristics of a spatial design methodology in which the longue durée is at the base of projecting a climate resilient future for small islands in the Wadden Sea? The theory of longue durée will be used to define the long-term changes and their influence on human behaviour. Influenced by Deltares, three solution directions (protect, seaward and move) are explored and expanded onto the Wadden Sea, to create a preferred alternative solution direction in which more human adaptation is envisioned. This translates to spatial interventions for three island typologies (salt marsh, polder and dune islands) that have been distinct during the research by design process. The preferred solution direction, Islands in Motion, emphasises the notion that people should stop manipulating water and land, and adapt more to it, just like nature does. This solution direction combines adaptive strategies tailored to each island typology, balancing preservation of cultural heritage while stressing the need for people to adapt to the dynamics and longue durée of the Wadden Sea.
...
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal system that stretches from the Dutch northern coast to the western coast of Denmark, all alongside the North Sea. The Wadden Sea and its islands are under pressure of climate change and face accelerated rising sea levels, threatening its islands and communities, while current policies often overlook their cultural and livelihood needs. In this study, through a research by design approach, the following question will be looked into: what are the characteristics of a spatial design methodology in which the longue durée is at the base of projecting a climate resilient future for small islands in the Wadden Sea? The theory of longue durée will be used to define the long-term changes and their influence on human behaviour. Influenced by Deltares, three solution directions (protect, seaward and move) are explored and expanded onto the Wadden Sea, to create a preferred alternative solution direction in which more human adaptation is envisioned. This translates to spatial interventions for three island typologies (salt marsh, polder and dune islands) that have been distinct during the research by design process. The preferred solution direction, Islands in Motion, emphasises the notion that people should stop manipulating water and land, and adapt more to it, just like nature does. This solution direction combines adaptive strategies tailored to each island typology, balancing preservation of cultural heritage while stressing the need for people to adapt to the dynamics and longue durée of the Wadden Sea.
Poldering Between Landscape Layers
A landscape-based urbanism approach for a climate resilient and authentic peat-polder landscape
Peat-polder landscapes are shaped by a long history of human control. Through reclamation and drainage the wet peat landscapes were transformed
into productive and habitable polders. However, this system is becoming increasingly vulnerable. Soil subsidence, water shortage and urban pressure show that the current relation between natural systems and spatial development is no longer sustainable.
This thesis explores how a landscape-based design approach can guide future development in the peat-polder landscapes along the Hollandsche IJssel. The research focuses on the metropolitan peat-polder landscape of the Zuidplaspolder and the Krimpenerwaard. Although these landscapes are different in origin, structure and use, they are connected through the natural layers of the landscape. The thesis therefore approaches the region as a layered landscape in which the abiotic system, human interventions and spatial experience continuously influence each other.
Through layered analysis, the main challenge is defined as a misalignment between landscape systems. Soil and water systems and land use often follow different logics. To guide future transformation, this thesis uses landscape authenticity as a spatial framework. Authenticity is understood as the alignment between natural systems, historical continuity and spatial legibility. This makes it possible to design change without losing the identity of the landscape.
The research results in three landscape conditions: the Deep Polder, the Urban Edge and the Peat Plains. Each condition has its own form of authenticity, challenges and design potential. The regional vision translates these conditions into a future landscape framework based on water, production, living and ecology. Local designs further explore how this framework can be applied through climate-resilient interventions.
The thesis concludes that climate resilience and landscape authenticity are interconnected goals. When spatial development starts from soil, water and landscape structure, adaptation can strengthen the identity of the landscape. The future of the Hollandsche IJssel region therefore lies in working with its underlying logic.
...
into productive and habitable polders. However, this system is becoming increasingly vulnerable. Soil subsidence, water shortage and urban pressure show that the current relation between natural systems and spatial development is no longer sustainable.
This thesis explores how a landscape-based design approach can guide future development in the peat-polder landscapes along the Hollandsche IJssel. The research focuses on the metropolitan peat-polder landscape of the Zuidplaspolder and the Krimpenerwaard. Although these landscapes are different in origin, structure and use, they are connected through the natural layers of the landscape. The thesis therefore approaches the region as a layered landscape in which the abiotic system, human interventions and spatial experience continuously influence each other.
Through layered analysis, the main challenge is defined as a misalignment between landscape systems. Soil and water systems and land use often follow different logics. To guide future transformation, this thesis uses landscape authenticity as a spatial framework. Authenticity is understood as the alignment between natural systems, historical continuity and spatial legibility. This makes it possible to design change without losing the identity of the landscape.
The research results in three landscape conditions: the Deep Polder, the Urban Edge and the Peat Plains. Each condition has its own form of authenticity, challenges and design potential. The regional vision translates these conditions into a future landscape framework based on water, production, living and ecology. Local designs further explore how this framework can be applied through climate-resilient interventions.
The thesis concludes that climate resilience and landscape authenticity are interconnected goals. When spatial development starts from soil, water and landscape structure, adaptation can strengthen the identity of the landscape. The future of the Hollandsche IJssel region therefore lies in working with its underlying logic.
...
Peat-polder landscapes are shaped by a long history of human control. Through reclamation and drainage the wet peat landscapes were transformed
into productive and habitable polders. However, this system is becoming increasingly vulnerable. Soil subsidence, water shortage and urban pressure show that the current relation between natural systems and spatial development is no longer sustainable.
This thesis explores how a landscape-based design approach can guide future development in the peat-polder landscapes along the Hollandsche IJssel. The research focuses on the metropolitan peat-polder landscape of the Zuidplaspolder and the Krimpenerwaard. Although these landscapes are different in origin, structure and use, they are connected through the natural layers of the landscape. The thesis therefore approaches the region as a layered landscape in which the abiotic system, human interventions and spatial experience continuously influence each other.
Through layered analysis, the main challenge is defined as a misalignment between landscape systems. Soil and water systems and land use often follow different logics. To guide future transformation, this thesis uses landscape authenticity as a spatial framework. Authenticity is understood as the alignment between natural systems, historical continuity and spatial legibility. This makes it possible to design change without losing the identity of the landscape.
The research results in three landscape conditions: the Deep Polder, the Urban Edge and the Peat Plains. Each condition has its own form of authenticity, challenges and design potential. The regional vision translates these conditions into a future landscape framework based on water, production, living and ecology. Local designs further explore how this framework can be applied through climate-resilient interventions.
The thesis concludes that climate resilience and landscape authenticity are interconnected goals. When spatial development starts from soil, water and landscape structure, adaptation can strengthen the identity of the landscape. The future of the Hollandsche IJssel region therefore lies in working with its underlying logic.
into productive and habitable polders. However, this system is becoming increasingly vulnerable. Soil subsidence, water shortage and urban pressure show that the current relation between natural systems and spatial development is no longer sustainable.
This thesis explores how a landscape-based design approach can guide future development in the peat-polder landscapes along the Hollandsche IJssel. The research focuses on the metropolitan peat-polder landscape of the Zuidplaspolder and the Krimpenerwaard. Although these landscapes are different in origin, structure and use, they are connected through the natural layers of the landscape. The thesis therefore approaches the region as a layered landscape in which the abiotic system, human interventions and spatial experience continuously influence each other.
Through layered analysis, the main challenge is defined as a misalignment between landscape systems. Soil and water systems and land use often follow different logics. To guide future transformation, this thesis uses landscape authenticity as a spatial framework. Authenticity is understood as the alignment between natural systems, historical continuity and spatial legibility. This makes it possible to design change without losing the identity of the landscape.
The research results in three landscape conditions: the Deep Polder, the Urban Edge and the Peat Plains. Each condition has its own form of authenticity, challenges and design potential. The regional vision translates these conditions into a future landscape framework based on water, production, living and ecology. Local designs further explore how this framework can be applied through climate-resilient interventions.
The thesis concludes that climate resilience and landscape authenticity are interconnected goals. When spatial development starts from soil, water and landscape structure, adaptation can strengthen the identity of the landscape. The future of the Hollandsche IJssel region therefore lies in working with its underlying logic.
Guardians of Nature
A new way of empowering displaced communities
Student report
(2026)
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K. Angelopoulou, M. Ştefănuţ, S. Unda Venegas, F. Willemsen, Rodrigo Viseu Cardoso, F. Rizzetto
Moerdijk is a strategic industrial and energy hub in the Netherlands, where ongoing port expansion due to the energy transition and the need for grid expansion are placing increasing pressure on existing settlements. As a result, the village of Moerdijk is facing relocation, directly impacting the lives of approximately 1,100 residents who are required to leave their homes. This project addresses this spatial and social disruption by proposing a new vision in which displaced communities become active agents in shaping both their future and the surrounding natural landscape.
The proposal reimagines relocation as an opportunity to establish a network of self-sustained settlements embedded within and around nearby Natura 2000 areas. These communities are designed to be mutually supportive and environmentally integrated, fostering a symbiotic relationship between human habitation and ecological systems. Two primary settlement typologies are developed, one that reflects the spatial identity and physical properties of the existing Moerdijk village and another that is in turn closely connected to regional infrastructure, enabling accessibility while maintaining principles of self-sufficiency. Both settlements have as purpose preserving social cohesion and cultural continuity.
Using multiple methods that combine spatial analysis, stakeholder perspectives, and environmental assessment, the project explores how decentralised, community-driven development can respond to large-scale industrial pressures. The vision positions these new settlements as guardians of nature, where human presence actively contributes to the protection and resilience of vulnerable landscapes against further industrial encroachment. The strategic framework is based on the key principles of reinforcing community resilience through collective relocation, integrating self-sustained living within ecological systems, and leveraging human settlement as a protective layer for natural areas. By aligning social, environmental, and spatial objectives, the project proposes an alternative model for managing displacement in industrial regions. This approach could redefine how relocation processes are approached in the context of the energy transition, transforming affected communities into drivers of ecological stewardship and spatial innovation. The Moerdijk region can evolve into a model where human and natural systems coexist in balance. ...
The proposal reimagines relocation as an opportunity to establish a network of self-sustained settlements embedded within and around nearby Natura 2000 areas. These communities are designed to be mutually supportive and environmentally integrated, fostering a symbiotic relationship between human habitation and ecological systems. Two primary settlement typologies are developed, one that reflects the spatial identity and physical properties of the existing Moerdijk village and another that is in turn closely connected to regional infrastructure, enabling accessibility while maintaining principles of self-sufficiency. Both settlements have as purpose preserving social cohesion and cultural continuity.
Using multiple methods that combine spatial analysis, stakeholder perspectives, and environmental assessment, the project explores how decentralised, community-driven development can respond to large-scale industrial pressures. The vision positions these new settlements as guardians of nature, where human presence actively contributes to the protection and resilience of vulnerable landscapes against further industrial encroachment. The strategic framework is based on the key principles of reinforcing community resilience through collective relocation, integrating self-sustained living within ecological systems, and leveraging human settlement as a protective layer for natural areas. By aligning social, environmental, and spatial objectives, the project proposes an alternative model for managing displacement in industrial regions. This approach could redefine how relocation processes are approached in the context of the energy transition, transforming affected communities into drivers of ecological stewardship and spatial innovation. The Moerdijk region can evolve into a model where human and natural systems coexist in balance. ...
Moerdijk is a strategic industrial and energy hub in the Netherlands, where ongoing port expansion due to the energy transition and the need for grid expansion are placing increasing pressure on existing settlements. As a result, the village of Moerdijk is facing relocation, directly impacting the lives of approximately 1,100 residents who are required to leave their homes. This project addresses this spatial and social disruption by proposing a new vision in which displaced communities become active agents in shaping both their future and the surrounding natural landscape.
The proposal reimagines relocation as an opportunity to establish a network of self-sustained settlements embedded within and around nearby Natura 2000 areas. These communities are designed to be mutually supportive and environmentally integrated, fostering a symbiotic relationship between human habitation and ecological systems. Two primary settlement typologies are developed, one that reflects the spatial identity and physical properties of the existing Moerdijk village and another that is in turn closely connected to regional infrastructure, enabling accessibility while maintaining principles of self-sufficiency. Both settlements have as purpose preserving social cohesion and cultural continuity.
Using multiple methods that combine spatial analysis, stakeholder perspectives, and environmental assessment, the project explores how decentralised, community-driven development can respond to large-scale industrial pressures. The vision positions these new settlements as guardians of nature, where human presence actively contributes to the protection and resilience of vulnerable landscapes against further industrial encroachment. The strategic framework is based on the key principles of reinforcing community resilience through collective relocation, integrating self-sustained living within ecological systems, and leveraging human settlement as a protective layer for natural areas. By aligning social, environmental, and spatial objectives, the project proposes an alternative model for managing displacement in industrial regions. This approach could redefine how relocation processes are approached in the context of the energy transition, transforming affected communities into drivers of ecological stewardship and spatial innovation. The Moerdijk region can evolve into a model where human and natural systems coexist in balance.
The proposal reimagines relocation as an opportunity to establish a network of self-sustained settlements embedded within and around nearby Natura 2000 areas. These communities are designed to be mutually supportive and environmentally integrated, fostering a symbiotic relationship between human habitation and ecological systems. Two primary settlement typologies are developed, one that reflects the spatial identity and physical properties of the existing Moerdijk village and another that is in turn closely connected to regional infrastructure, enabling accessibility while maintaining principles of self-sufficiency. Both settlements have as purpose preserving social cohesion and cultural continuity.
Using multiple methods that combine spatial analysis, stakeholder perspectives, and environmental assessment, the project explores how decentralised, community-driven development can respond to large-scale industrial pressures. The vision positions these new settlements as guardians of nature, where human presence actively contributes to the protection and resilience of vulnerable landscapes against further industrial encroachment. The strategic framework is based on the key principles of reinforcing community resilience through collective relocation, integrating self-sustained living within ecological systems, and leveraging human settlement as a protective layer for natural areas. By aligning social, environmental, and spatial objectives, the project proposes an alternative model for managing displacement in industrial regions. This approach could redefine how relocation processes are approached in the context of the energy transition, transforming affected communities into drivers of ecological stewardship and spatial innovation. The Moerdijk region can evolve into a model where human and natural systems coexist in balance.
Brightlines
Towards a bright future for Limburg’s young adults in the energy transition
Student report
(2026)
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C.F. Thunnissen, D.H. Overweel, M. Volford, S. Ramesh, F. Rizzetto, Rodrigo Viseu Cardoso
The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources requires significant infrastructural transformation at the regional scale, with substantial impacts on surrounding communities and landscapes. These spatial impacts are particularly pronounced in energy-intensive clusters such as the chemical industry complex Chemelot in South Limburg. While the transition affects a wide range of communities, this research focuses on local young adults (aged 18-25), a group often underrepresented in decision-making processes despite being in a formative stage of life and therefore crucial to the region’s long-term socio-economic competitiveness. The energy transition is not only a technical and infrastructural challenge but also a socio-spatial one, affecting environmental quality, public health, and regional liveability. Issues such as pollution, infrastructural pressure, and spatial conflicts highlight the need for integrated and inclusive solutions. To achieve just outcomes, the energy transition should not come at the expense of local prosperity; rather, it should aim to enhance living conditions and future opportunities for local citizens and involve them in planning decisions.
Therefore, this research addresses the question: How can the regional landscape of Limburg be designed such that the changes associated with the energy transition of the chemical industries have a positive impact on the urban prosperity of the local young adults (18-25 y/o)?
The project adopts a design-oriented and pragmatic methodology, combining spatial analysis, future visioning, stakeholder perspectives, and research-by-design. It applies a community-informed multidimensional framework of urban prosperity, adapted from UN-Habitat (2013), to structure analysis, vision and strategies. The project proposes a vision and spatial strategy aimed at transforming Limburg into a sustainable and inclusive knowledge region by 2050, in which the chemical industry and local communities have shifted to green energy sources and are more closely interconnected. The findings demonstrate how a community-based and spatially integrated approach can support a just and effective energy transition. The results are relevant for policymakers, urban designers, and planners, offering an alternative future perspective in which infrastructural transformation contributes to environmental quality, regional resilience, and social inclusivity in industrial regions.
...
Therefore, this research addresses the question: How can the regional landscape of Limburg be designed such that the changes associated with the energy transition of the chemical industries have a positive impact on the urban prosperity of the local young adults (18-25 y/o)?
The project adopts a design-oriented and pragmatic methodology, combining spatial analysis, future visioning, stakeholder perspectives, and research-by-design. It applies a community-informed multidimensional framework of urban prosperity, adapted from UN-Habitat (2013), to structure analysis, vision and strategies. The project proposes a vision and spatial strategy aimed at transforming Limburg into a sustainable and inclusive knowledge region by 2050, in which the chemical industry and local communities have shifted to green energy sources and are more closely interconnected. The findings demonstrate how a community-based and spatially integrated approach can support a just and effective energy transition. The results are relevant for policymakers, urban designers, and planners, offering an alternative future perspective in which infrastructural transformation contributes to environmental quality, regional resilience, and social inclusivity in industrial regions.
...
The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources requires significant infrastructural transformation at the regional scale, with substantial impacts on surrounding communities and landscapes. These spatial impacts are particularly pronounced in energy-intensive clusters such as the chemical industry complex Chemelot in South Limburg. While the transition affects a wide range of communities, this research focuses on local young adults (aged 18-25), a group often underrepresented in decision-making processes despite being in a formative stage of life and therefore crucial to the region’s long-term socio-economic competitiveness. The energy transition is not only a technical and infrastructural challenge but also a socio-spatial one, affecting environmental quality, public health, and regional liveability. Issues such as pollution, infrastructural pressure, and spatial conflicts highlight the need for integrated and inclusive solutions. To achieve just outcomes, the energy transition should not come at the expense of local prosperity; rather, it should aim to enhance living conditions and future opportunities for local citizens and involve them in planning decisions.
Therefore, this research addresses the question: How can the regional landscape of Limburg be designed such that the changes associated with the energy transition of the chemical industries have a positive impact on the urban prosperity of the local young adults (18-25 y/o)?
The project adopts a design-oriented and pragmatic methodology, combining spatial analysis, future visioning, stakeholder perspectives, and research-by-design. It applies a community-informed multidimensional framework of urban prosperity, adapted from UN-Habitat (2013), to structure analysis, vision and strategies. The project proposes a vision and spatial strategy aimed at transforming Limburg into a sustainable and inclusive knowledge region by 2050, in which the chemical industry and local communities have shifted to green energy sources and are more closely interconnected. The findings demonstrate how a community-based and spatially integrated approach can support a just and effective energy transition. The results are relevant for policymakers, urban designers, and planners, offering an alternative future perspective in which infrastructural transformation contributes to environmental quality, regional resilience, and social inclusivity in industrial regions.
Therefore, this research addresses the question: How can the regional landscape of Limburg be designed such that the changes associated with the energy transition of the chemical industries have a positive impact on the urban prosperity of the local young adults (18-25 y/o)?
The project adopts a design-oriented and pragmatic methodology, combining spatial analysis, future visioning, stakeholder perspectives, and research-by-design. It applies a community-informed multidimensional framework of urban prosperity, adapted from UN-Habitat (2013), to structure analysis, vision and strategies. The project proposes a vision and spatial strategy aimed at transforming Limburg into a sustainable and inclusive knowledge region by 2050, in which the chemical industry and local communities have shifted to green energy sources and are more closely interconnected. The findings demonstrate how a community-based and spatially integrated approach can support a just and effective energy transition. The results are relevant for policymakers, urban designers, and planners, offering an alternative future perspective in which infrastructural transformation contributes to environmental quality, regional resilience, and social inclusivity in industrial regions.
Power to the polder
Challenging centralised systems through community, energy, and degrowth
Student report
(2026)
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M.A.C. van As, R.R. van den Dool, A. Aristotelous, R.D.C. Hus, Rodrigo Viseu Cardoso, F. Rizzetto
Our research is conducted in and for the newest land in the Netherlands, the Flevoland polder. While the initial focus of our study was on energy distribution and empowerment of non-central areas, we quickly realized that our chosen site plays a far more significant role in the energy chain by supplying to large regions across the country as the Netherlands’ largest producer of green energy, generating a surplus that remains largely underutilized. Drawing on degrowth and postgrowth theory, particularly the concepts of defuturing and localized production (Hickel, 2020; Kallis, 2018), our project frames this surplus as an opportunity to redesign socio-ecological systems that prioritize sustainability, equity, and community autonomy.
Fieldwork for us meant interviews with farmers, energy professionals, researchers, and innovators, as we began to recognise Flevoland’s core identity as a hub of energy production, agriculture, and pioneering spirit. We at this point identified our chosen research community as the next generation of Flevoland pioneers; children of the first farmers only 40 years ago who now manage farmland and seek innovative, sustainable practices.
At the same time, external pressures, such as plans for data centre campuses, create tension and raise questions for the ownership of this energy surplus which the people themselves produce as individuals or as local companies.
In response, our project advises a group of interventions that derive from degrowth principles: establishing a community governance organization with legislative ability; cultivating energy systems that enable household, neighbourhood, and polder-scale independence and utilization of surplus; introducing climate-informed farming techniques; and integrating data centres and hydrogen infrastructure in ways that benefit the local community.
Our interventions are brought together for the people of Flevoland by the people of Flevoland, aiming to reinforce local autonomy, sustainable production, and resource sharing, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem while protecting the polder from external actors seeking to exploit its energy and land. ...
Fieldwork for us meant interviews with farmers, energy professionals, researchers, and innovators, as we began to recognise Flevoland’s core identity as a hub of energy production, agriculture, and pioneering spirit. We at this point identified our chosen research community as the next generation of Flevoland pioneers; children of the first farmers only 40 years ago who now manage farmland and seek innovative, sustainable practices.
At the same time, external pressures, such as plans for data centre campuses, create tension and raise questions for the ownership of this energy surplus which the people themselves produce as individuals or as local companies.
In response, our project advises a group of interventions that derive from degrowth principles: establishing a community governance organization with legislative ability; cultivating energy systems that enable household, neighbourhood, and polder-scale independence and utilization of surplus; introducing climate-informed farming techniques; and integrating data centres and hydrogen infrastructure in ways that benefit the local community.
Our interventions are brought together for the people of Flevoland by the people of Flevoland, aiming to reinforce local autonomy, sustainable production, and resource sharing, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem while protecting the polder from external actors seeking to exploit its energy and land. ...
Our research is conducted in and for the newest land in the Netherlands, the Flevoland polder. While the initial focus of our study was on energy distribution and empowerment of non-central areas, we quickly realized that our chosen site plays a far more significant role in the energy chain by supplying to large regions across the country as the Netherlands’ largest producer of green energy, generating a surplus that remains largely underutilized. Drawing on degrowth and postgrowth theory, particularly the concepts of defuturing and localized production (Hickel, 2020; Kallis, 2018), our project frames this surplus as an opportunity to redesign socio-ecological systems that prioritize sustainability, equity, and community autonomy.
Fieldwork for us meant interviews with farmers, energy professionals, researchers, and innovators, as we began to recognise Flevoland’s core identity as a hub of energy production, agriculture, and pioneering spirit. We at this point identified our chosen research community as the next generation of Flevoland pioneers; children of the first farmers only 40 years ago who now manage farmland and seek innovative, sustainable practices.
At the same time, external pressures, such as plans for data centre campuses, create tension and raise questions for the ownership of this energy surplus which the people themselves produce as individuals or as local companies.
In response, our project advises a group of interventions that derive from degrowth principles: establishing a community governance organization with legislative ability; cultivating energy systems that enable household, neighbourhood, and polder-scale independence and utilization of surplus; introducing climate-informed farming techniques; and integrating data centres and hydrogen infrastructure in ways that benefit the local community.
Our interventions are brought together for the people of Flevoland by the people of Flevoland, aiming to reinforce local autonomy, sustainable production, and resource sharing, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem while protecting the polder from external actors seeking to exploit its energy and land.
Fieldwork for us meant interviews with farmers, energy professionals, researchers, and innovators, as we began to recognise Flevoland’s core identity as a hub of energy production, agriculture, and pioneering spirit. We at this point identified our chosen research community as the next generation of Flevoland pioneers; children of the first farmers only 40 years ago who now manage farmland and seek innovative, sustainable practices.
At the same time, external pressures, such as plans for data centre campuses, create tension and raise questions for the ownership of this energy surplus which the people themselves produce as individuals or as local companies.
In response, our project advises a group of interventions that derive from degrowth principles: establishing a community governance organization with legislative ability; cultivating energy systems that enable household, neighbourhood, and polder-scale independence and utilization of surplus; introducing climate-informed farming techniques; and integrating data centres and hydrogen infrastructure in ways that benefit the local community.
Our interventions are brought together for the people of Flevoland by the people of Flevoland, aiming to reinforce local autonomy, sustainable production, and resource sharing, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem while protecting the polder from external actors seeking to exploit its energy and land.
Rest in Peace?
The Death and Life of Urban Cemeteries
In contemporary cities, death has become increasingly removed from everyday life. Cemeteries are often spatially and socially segregated, limiting opportunities for collective remembrance and reflection. At the same time, urban space is under growing pressure to accommodate multiple functions. This thesis explores how cemeteries can be reimagined as integrated and accessible urban spaces that reconnect death with daily life while supporting social, cultural, and ecological values.
Through a combination of fieldwork, expert interviews, and experiential, historical, financial, legal, and sociological analyses, the research develops a comprehensive understanding of the spatial functioning of contemporary Dutch urban cemeteries. To bridge research and design, a pattern language is developed that can be applied by professionals in the funerary and urbanism fields to both transform existing cemeteries and plan new ones. Based on this framework, six main design strategies are established.
The research then zooms in on four locations in Rotterdam South to explore how the integration of death into daily life can take shape within an existing urban context. First, a transformation strategy for the existing Zuiderbegraafplaats is presented. This is followed by design proposals for three sites where burial is currently not permitted, exploring new spatial relationships between remembrance, everyday use, and the city.
...
Through a combination of fieldwork, expert interviews, and experiential, historical, financial, legal, and sociological analyses, the research develops a comprehensive understanding of the spatial functioning of contemporary Dutch urban cemeteries. To bridge research and design, a pattern language is developed that can be applied by professionals in the funerary and urbanism fields to both transform existing cemeteries and plan new ones. Based on this framework, six main design strategies are established.
The research then zooms in on four locations in Rotterdam South to explore how the integration of death into daily life can take shape within an existing urban context. First, a transformation strategy for the existing Zuiderbegraafplaats is presented. This is followed by design proposals for three sites where burial is currently not permitted, exploring new spatial relationships between remembrance, everyday use, and the city.
...
In contemporary cities, death has become increasingly removed from everyday life. Cemeteries are often spatially and socially segregated, limiting opportunities for collective remembrance and reflection. At the same time, urban space is under growing pressure to accommodate multiple functions. This thesis explores how cemeteries can be reimagined as integrated and accessible urban spaces that reconnect death with daily life while supporting social, cultural, and ecological values.
Through a combination of fieldwork, expert interviews, and experiential, historical, financial, legal, and sociological analyses, the research develops a comprehensive understanding of the spatial functioning of contemporary Dutch urban cemeteries. To bridge research and design, a pattern language is developed that can be applied by professionals in the funerary and urbanism fields to both transform existing cemeteries and plan new ones. Based on this framework, six main design strategies are established.
The research then zooms in on four locations in Rotterdam South to explore how the integration of death into daily life can take shape within an existing urban context. First, a transformation strategy for the existing Zuiderbegraafplaats is presented. This is followed by design proposals for three sites where burial is currently not permitted, exploring new spatial relationships between remembrance, everyday use, and the city.
Through a combination of fieldwork, expert interviews, and experiential, historical, financial, legal, and sociological analyses, the research develops a comprehensive understanding of the spatial functioning of contemporary Dutch urban cemeteries. To bridge research and design, a pattern language is developed that can be applied by professionals in the funerary and urbanism fields to both transform existing cemeteries and plan new ones. Based on this framework, six main design strategies are established.
The research then zooms in on four locations in Rotterdam South to explore how the integration of death into daily life can take shape within an existing urban context. First, a transformation strategy for the existing Zuiderbegraafplaats is presented. This is followed by design proposals for three sites where burial is currently not permitted, exploring new spatial relationships between remembrance, everyday use, and the city.
Reclaiming the Isla
How to remediate and redeveloped the Isla refinery, to benefit Curaçao’s local citizens, ecosystems and economies
This thesis focusses on a method for sustainable brownfield redevelopment of polluted industrial areas, using a phased approach. In a case study, the method is applied to the polluted area of the Isla Refinery site on Curaçao.
Brownfield redevelopment projects typically consist of three main activities: site assessment, site remediation and site redevelopment. In conventional remediation projects, methods like soil incineration and disposal are used, which take a relatively short amount of time to clean-up the soil and water in these areas. However, a growing demand for nature-based solutions in the urban planning field is challenging this paradigm. Phyto technologies are remediation methods that use plants to extract or stabilize pollution particles in soil and water. These less invasive remediation methods need a longer amount of time to clean-up the pollution compared to conventional methods. This changes the typical timeline of brownfield redevelopment projects drastically, meaning the remediation phase will be significantly longer.
This thesis will research how this longer remediation phase can be best approached to increase sustainability during brownfield redevelopment projects. This is done by focusing on increasing the value of people, planet and prosperity (triple bottom line concept) in the case study area. The aim of this study is to inspire decision makers to use a more sustainable approach to brownfield remediation projects. ...
Brownfield redevelopment projects typically consist of three main activities: site assessment, site remediation and site redevelopment. In conventional remediation projects, methods like soil incineration and disposal are used, which take a relatively short amount of time to clean-up the soil and water in these areas. However, a growing demand for nature-based solutions in the urban planning field is challenging this paradigm. Phyto technologies are remediation methods that use plants to extract or stabilize pollution particles in soil and water. These less invasive remediation methods need a longer amount of time to clean-up the pollution compared to conventional methods. This changes the typical timeline of brownfield redevelopment projects drastically, meaning the remediation phase will be significantly longer.
This thesis will research how this longer remediation phase can be best approached to increase sustainability during brownfield redevelopment projects. This is done by focusing on increasing the value of people, planet and prosperity (triple bottom line concept) in the case study area. The aim of this study is to inspire decision makers to use a more sustainable approach to brownfield remediation projects. ...
This thesis focusses on a method for sustainable brownfield redevelopment of polluted industrial areas, using a phased approach. In a case study, the method is applied to the polluted area of the Isla Refinery site on Curaçao.
Brownfield redevelopment projects typically consist of three main activities: site assessment, site remediation and site redevelopment. In conventional remediation projects, methods like soil incineration and disposal are used, which take a relatively short amount of time to clean-up the soil and water in these areas. However, a growing demand for nature-based solutions in the urban planning field is challenging this paradigm. Phyto technologies are remediation methods that use plants to extract or stabilize pollution particles in soil and water. These less invasive remediation methods need a longer amount of time to clean-up the pollution compared to conventional methods. This changes the typical timeline of brownfield redevelopment projects drastically, meaning the remediation phase will be significantly longer.
This thesis will research how this longer remediation phase can be best approached to increase sustainability during brownfield redevelopment projects. This is done by focusing on increasing the value of people, planet and prosperity (triple bottom line concept) in the case study area. The aim of this study is to inspire decision makers to use a more sustainable approach to brownfield remediation projects.
Brownfield redevelopment projects typically consist of three main activities: site assessment, site remediation and site redevelopment. In conventional remediation projects, methods like soil incineration and disposal are used, which take a relatively short amount of time to clean-up the soil and water in these areas. However, a growing demand for nature-based solutions in the urban planning field is challenging this paradigm. Phyto technologies are remediation methods that use plants to extract or stabilize pollution particles in soil and water. These less invasive remediation methods need a longer amount of time to clean-up the pollution compared to conventional methods. This changes the typical timeline of brownfield redevelopment projects drastically, meaning the remediation phase will be significantly longer.
This thesis will research how this longer remediation phase can be best approached to increase sustainability during brownfield redevelopment projects. This is done by focusing on increasing the value of people, planet and prosperity (triple bottom line concept) in the case study area. The aim of this study is to inspire decision makers to use a more sustainable approach to brownfield remediation projects.
To The Next level
Redefining the Common between the Horizontal and Vertical realm
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. ...
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. ...
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.
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.
Towards a Transformative Battery Territory
A Spatial Exploration of Response-able Future Pathways for North-East Hungary
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.
...
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.
...
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.
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.
Fluid Borders
Exploring re-B/ordering the Dutch-Belgian Border at Zeeuws-Vlaanderen
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.
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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.
...
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.
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.
Banishing or Embracing
Adaptive strategies for achieving dynamic water equilibrium in a climate-responsive Rhine basin
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.
...
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.
...
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.
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.
Collectricity
Creating a common energy collective through young farmers in South Limburg
Student report
(2025)
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E.L. Linssen, R.J. Biehrer, W.J.B. Prins, T. Korbar, D.A. Sepulveda Carmona, F. Rizzetto
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. ...
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. ...
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.
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.
Re-Storing Power To The People
Creating a Decentralized and Equitable U16 Region through Energy Storage
Student report
(2025)
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M.F. Bonato, K.C. Dy, W.A. van Elzakker, G.A. Jeuken, D.A. Sepulveda Carmona, F. Rizzetto
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.
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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.
...
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.
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.
Eco flower to power
Opening up Westland into a resilient energy landscape by transforming Westland’s flower industry, using the energy transition as a catalyst
Student report
(2025)
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J.E. van der Velde, E. Breit, P.J. Bardet, S.H. van Houwelingen, N. van der Klaauw, D.A. Sepulveda Carmona, F. Rizzetto
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. ...
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. ...
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.
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.
Performative Landscape
A New Paradigm for Energy Transition Through Farmers‘ Community Engagement and the Transformation of the Zeeland Delta Landscape
Student report
(2025)
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Sarah Mae Tönsmann, Nynke Krabbenborg, Pietro Bernardini, Anastasia Stolyarova, Dr. Diego Andres Sepulveda Carmona, Ir. Francesca Rizzetto
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. ...
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. ...
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.
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.