Common Ground in Superdiversity
Enhancing public familiarity through urban design
E.H. Geleynse (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
T.N. Broekmans – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
R.J. Kleinhans – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
Y. Chen – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
This research addresses the critical issue that superdiversity is often still treated as a threat to be managed, rather than an opportunity for improvement. To shift this perspective, this research asks: How can urban design interventions enhance public familiarity in a neighborhood with superdiversity? Through an iterative process of research by design, literature review, interviews, and site observation, this research explores how urban design can enhance the conditions to build public familiarity.
A framework of five principles is established: Mixed-Use, Routine Integration, Lifecycle-Proof, Inviting, and Sense of Ownership. First, integrating ‘mixed-use’, ‘routine integration’, and ‘lifecycle-proof’ design creates reasons to go outside, establishes intuitive pedestrian flows, and ensures a cross-generational human presence. Second, ‘inviting’ and ‘sense of ownership’ actively encourage people to linger. These principles build public familiarity by generating repeated encounters and encouraging prolonged stays.
These principles were translated into concrete spatial interventions within the specific context of the Schilderswijk, applied across three scales: the ensemble, the pocket, and the district. This research shows that all five spatial principles are essential by successfully balancing movement and lingering across the three scales. Certain spatial interventions influence multiple principles across different scales, while other interventions are strictly necessary to fulfill a principle at one specific scale. A fundamental catalyst for this transformation is reducing car dominance to free up public space, which must then be designed with a delicate balance of physical openness and programmatic clarity. In conclusion, this research demonstrates that by designing across three spatial scales using the five principles of public familiarity, the well-being of a superdiverse neighborhood like the Schilderswijk can be significantly improved.
In a political climate marked by budget constraints and a lack of political will for large-scale reconstruction, this research offers a strategy of small-scale, gradual interventions. Finally, this research demonstrates that by moving away from threat-based management, urban design can effectively utilize this framework to unlock the true social value of superdiverse communities.