Re-experiencing the Roer Fringes

Abstract

The Roer Valley is increasingly confronted with hydrological extremes caused by climate change, exposing a growing imbalance between water systems, landscape structures, and settlement patterns. Historically, the Roer River and its floodplain shaped the spatial development, land use, and identity of the villages within the valley. Over time, this relationship has weakened as the expansion of the village no longer correlated with the natural functioning of the Roer. The river became a technical system to be controlled rather than an integral part of everyday life. As a result, the perceptual and spatial connection between residents and the Roer through visibility, audibility, and accessibility has largely diminished. This division is most prominent at the village fringes, where settlement meets the floodplain.

This thesis explores how place-sensitive interventions within the village fringes of the Roer Valley can improve the experience and connection of residents with the Roer River by 2050. Rather than focusing on large-scale flood prevention measures, the research explores how small-scale, site-specific interventions can strengthen the relationship between villages and the river while embracing the natural dynamics of the floodplain. Through a research-by-design methodology, the thesis combines hydrological analysis, spatial pattern analysis, and landscape interpretation to establish a framework for adaptive village-fringe design.

The study focuses on two representative village types within the Roer Valley: Sint Odiliënberg, characterised by a direct riverfront relationship, and Herkenbosch, positioned adjacent to the floodplain. By analysing seasonal hydrological conditions and the spatial logic of the villages, a set of place-sensitive intervention principles is developed within the domains of route, space, flow, and flood. These interventions are defined by three key parameters: scale, seasonality, and impact on daily life, ensuring that they remain embedded within the existing genius loci of the villages.

The thesis demonstrates that strategically placed, place-sensitive interventions can reconnect villages to the Roer River by transforming introverted settlement edges into accessible, water-oriented public spaces. The proposed interventions enhance the experiential qualities of the river, strengthen village identity, and create adaptable spaces where urban life, floodplain dynamics, and ecological processes intersect. Rather than proposing a single fixed masterplan, ‘reimagining the Roer fringes’ presents a transferable design approach for villages along natural meandering rivers, contributing to the discourse on water-sensitive urban design and genius loci by imagining a renewed cultural and spatial relationship between inhabitants and water systems.