S.O.S Dense City

Abstract

In the context of population growth and economic development, dense cities can generate significant environmental and social benefits. Although this paradigm provides an essential strategy to confront urban population growth and housing demands, it directly and indirectly affects the well-being of urban life systems. The reduction of trees and urban green spaces that accompanies densification exacerbates the health risks to residents from heat island and urban flooding. At the same time, dense settlements fail to meet the basic needs of human contact with nature, raising issues of spatial justice. On the other hand, habitat degradation of flora and fauna leads to threats to the biodiversity in urban environments. This study provides a spatial intervention from an urban ecological design perspective to improve socio-ecological well-being in dense city contect by enhancing ecosystem services in order to achieve the goal of ecopolis.

Urban space types are classified first to help identify and better utilize the potential green space within dense cities. Then the Green in Dense pattern language is generated, which aims to improve socio-ecological well-being by complementing, enhancing, and maintaining green space. The pattern language provides strategies that can be applied to private and public spaces at four different scales and analyzes their adaptability to different urban space types. Also, in order to explore the process of practical application of the pattern language, the roles of human and non-human stakeholders are analyzed.

The pattern language are applied specifically to the inner city of Bruges. First, a future-oriented overall vision was established, applying large-scale patterns to supplement green spaces and build ecological and spatial networks from multiple layers, while proposing corresponding governance and management recommendations. The overall strategy was divided into four phases, with clear implementation sequences and priorities for projects within each phase. Specific roles and responsibilities were also defined for different types of stakeholders in each phase, forming an operational multi-stakeholder collaboration framework.

At the implementation level, the Eekhoutstraat–Garenmarkt street was selected as the pilot project for the first phase, applying the pattern language in a spatial context. In subsequent phases, three representative projects of different types were selected, each proposing targeted spatial design solutions, demonstrating the method's adaptability and replicability in diverse urban contexts.

This thesis presented a possibility to enhance socio-ecological well-being in dense urban areas by developing a replicable spatial strategy. It also integrates the needs and roles of both human and non-human stakeholders which emphasizes multispecies collaboration. Overall, it offers a useful reference for other historic, dense cities to develop green space strategies.