Regenerative runoff
Highlighting the value of the city, while promoting biodiversity and water management in Nakuru
C.C.F. Blom (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
Nico Tillie – Mentor (TU Delft - Landscape Architecture)
Remon Rooij – Mentor (TU Delft - Spatial Planning and Strategy)
A. Romein – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Education and Student Affairs)
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Abstract
Rapid urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa is placing increasing pressure on ecologically sensitive regions. In Nakuru, Kenya, situated between the Menengai Crater and Lake Nakuru, this growth threatens water systems, biodiversity and overall resilience. Unregulated development, combined with limited green infrastructure and inadequate water management, has intensified urban sprawl, deforestation, flooding and habitat loss.
At the same time, Nakuru’s unique ecological and cultural landscape offers the potential for a regenerative design approach that connects people and nature through multifunctional green-blue systems.
This thesis explores how regenerative urban landscape design can foster a more resilient future in Nakuru, balancing water management and biodiversity restoration. The goal is to develop a systemic approach connecting ecological infrastructure with the water network.
Using a research-by-design methodology, this project analyses the socio-ecological impacts of urban growth, through layered spatial analysis, precedent studies, stakeholder engagement and site-specific observations. The findings are translated to a spatial strategies.
These insights are translated into spatial strategies that structure the city around three hydrological zones: upland (control), midstream (store) and downstream (use).
Grounded in systems thinking and landscape-based urbanism, informed by theoretical framework, the resulting regenerative framework proposes design interventions such as water retention parks, green-blue corridors and multifunctional landscapes including urban agriculture and reforested catchment zones.
These strategies simultaneously address ecological goals (biodiversity, water quality), social goals (health, education, participation), and infrastructural goals (flood control, runoff management).
The proposed framework is site-specific but grounded in transferable principles such as systems thinking, multifunctionality and community-driven stewardship. Ultimately, the project repositions nature from a passive backdrop to an active urban agent; essential for both human and ecological well-being.