Around the world, the Netherlands has a respectable reputation when it comes to water management, with other countries applying best practices to their own water related challenges. This reputation of the Netherlands has been a result of a decade long tradition of living with challenging water conditions. This has resulted in a highly cultured polder landscape that is iconic to the Dutch identity. This research report will explore how this iconic landscape and its buildings will need to adapt to changing climate conditions and how more awareness could be formed for the country’s special relationship to surrounding water. Focus on this transition is important, as the reclaimed land lies several meters under NAP and is also the location that most housing projects in the Dutch Randstad will be situated on. The ultimate aim of the paper is to create an architectonical tactic for Flood Risk Management (FRM) that can add value to Dutch polder areas by increasing awareness regarding the Dutch relationship to water.

Urban areas project high demand for urban spaces to accommodate a wider range of functions associated with social, economic, and physical development, given the rising rate of urbanization and over two-thirds of the human population projected to be urban dwellers by the year 2050. Consequently, cities are rapidly developing into complex and sprawling infrastructure reservoirs, limiting the capacity of vital natural ecosystem services. Development projects face several time-based constraints to find space for public access. In recent decades, brownfield development has directed its focus towards the subsurface, with the onset of initiatives like “net zero land take by 2050” set by the European Union. Expanding the public realm in cities through brownfield underground development can help close the gap between demand and supply of habitable land within cities, especially in urban areas housing contextual heritage.

There are various socio-cultural agents to be accounted for, which influence the experience of the subsurface. With appropriate structuring of documentation and design methods, underground built environments can potentially link diverse uses like transit, work, recreation, and more. The lack of development strategy inclusive of underground spaces poses risk of exploitation by private sector eventually resulting in super-basements that are value-centric. Underground spaces need a strategic spatial vision where the subsurface ecology is considered and developed in coherence with public life, integrating it with existing infrastructure networks.

The Thesis explores the subsurface uses and their potential to supplement demand of public/mobility space from surface in the city of Amsterdam. The applicability of urban underground functions in a delicate Dutch Landscape presents an opportunity to test and benchmark the suitability of subsurface realm for a range of functions. This is done by generating a guiding methodology for context-specific design interventions, followed by their integration with existing underground resources to form a holistic subsurface network that supplements the surface. The research considers the current technological and urban transitions to utilize them tools for developing underground spaces as collective, feasible, and transformative spaces. Research-by-design approach is used to investigate essential parameters of subsurface design at different scales to contextualize prototypical interventions for Amsterdam.

Portcities are at the forefront of transitioning towards a green and circular economy (UN 2019). Especially in transforming former port areas, the integration of nature-based solutions(NBS) is crucial to increase natural capital and support social- and economical ecosystem resilience. This requires further mainstreaming of NBS in urban design and urban planning practices. In this thesis scenario research-by-design methods are used to explore their implications for the Waalhaven.

The Province of South Holland is conducting a heritage project to explore the historical significance of barge canals and their future role in a changing climate. This thesis aims to address the water challenges posed by increased floods and droughts caused by climate change through the implementation of a water buffersystem. The buffer should allow the region to serve as a drainage during storms and retain water during droughts, considering the projected climate conditions in 2100. The study focuses on a large case study area, the heart of South Holland, which is enveloped by barge canals and divided into three water boards. A water balance model, calibrated using existing pump time series, is utilized to simulate water flows at the polder level. The model demonstrates sufficient accuracy for predicting larger spatial and seasonal scales within the jurisdiction of the water boards. Future conditions are simulated in the model by incorporating KNMI scenarios. However, the scenarios underestimate the occurrence of droughts, resulting in an underestimation of polder inlet and an overestimation of outlet. 
An above-average extreme climate change scenario is used to compensate for these biases. Combining the model output with long term statistical storm and drought forecasts, this leads to a more realistic buffer design capacity. If the reservoirs can be operated as prescribed, the primary hydrological purposes of the natural water buffers can complement each other. The first criterion consists of the buffering of the increased inequality of net inflow distribution throughout an average expected year, for which 20 million m³ with an additional top layer of 115 mm would be necessary. The second criterion entails the draining of the increase of intense precipitation events. 7.5 million m³ would be necessary to drain the extra precipitation of a 1000 year return period storm event. Thirdly, the buffers should be able to provide water, compensating for the aggravation of drought conditions. 34 million m³ should suffice to compensate for the aggravation of droughts with a return period of 2 years and longer. As the criteria are conditionally compatible, 34 million m³ is the net minimum required buffering capacity for the center of South Holland. 
The final optimal buffering strategy entails the realization of a large buffer in the Noordplaspolder, connecting the Rotte and the Hoogeveensche Vaart, and of a smaller buffer in Schieveen. It also requires the expansion of the water reservoirs in the Eendragtspolder and Berkel. The larger buffer will feature a deeper canal, permanently submerged, linking the Rotte and the Hoogeveensche Vaart, which in turn will connect to the nearby boezem water network. The Noordplaspolder and Eendragtspolder will buffer the area of the two water boards Rijnland and Schieland and the Krimpenerwaard that are inside the case study area, Schieveen and Berkel will buffer Delfland. The Schie and the Vliet will play important roles as water carriers between Delfland and its neighboring water boards and the Nieuwe Maas. This strategy not only addresses water management but also offers recreational, historical, and ecological opportunities. It revives the functions of old barge canals, the Vliet and the Schie, and restores the connection between the Rotte and the Hoogeveensche Vaart, adding to the solution's historical value.

With combined efforts from water management, architectural and hydraulic engineering students, an interdisciplinary and resilient design is set up for the Paraná Delta. The design relates to all the current environmental, architectural and flood risk challenges - among others, as well as the potential issues in the future since the Paraná Delta is a highly dynamic environment.

How can the Global North oriented and welfare state rooted Sustainability Transitions theories be enriched with the Chinese and communist state rooted Ecological Civilization thinking that has been included in the Chinese constitution since 2007, to make it able to evaluate the making of the direct-controlled municipality Shanghai into an institutional frontrunner of sustainable transitions in urban planning and design with its prime waterfront as exemplary ‘urban lab’? Around this central question, this dissertation examines how Shanghai's coastal and waterfront developments have changed over the past two decades under the influence of shifts in Chinese state capitalism towards what is called an Ecological Civilization. Two cases along the waterfronts of Shanghai – one on former docklands in Shanghai’s Central City, and one on peri-urban Chongming Island ¬– have been examined to test how both lines of thinking can enrich each other, and if a sustainable transition can be done more efficiently and convincingly in a centrally controlled society than in a non-autocratic (liberal) society. What lessons does the Chinese approach in Shanghai offer for elsewhere, and how can different approaches and practices reinforce each other in spatial planning and strategies for a sustainable transition? This dissertation emphasizes that ecological civilization thinking can offer hopeful starting points for sustainable transitions but can only work well if sufficient 'checks and balances’ are included. It gives suggestions to improve the accessibility, inclusivity, and vibrancy of Shanghai’s waterfronts, and to mitigate ecological degradation in the context of an urban delta.@en

Living in the deep polders in the deltaic landscape of the Netherlands poses large-scale challenges. Biodiversity decline, weather extremes, sea level rise, salination, the housing crisis, and subsidence affect large parts of the Netherlands. These challenges should be tackled together through the integral question of ‘what does the area need?’ instead of the more contemporary idea of adding one aspect and the rest will follow. This thesis argues that the territory-oriented approach in relation to current functions and natural and cultural value support urban development to create value in low-lying Dutch polders. In this project, a design for the Benthuizer Noordpolder is created with the use of the territory-oriented approach that regards several aspects of the project, such as urban development, water management, agriculture, and recreation. Through the investment in time, cultural and natural values, integral design, and adaption a design is created that takes a proactive stance toward the current climatic and societal challenges.

This is achieved by using water as a carrier. The hypothesis of a new waterway functions as the backbone of the transition of the area. This transition allows for the reconstruction of a landscape that is related to the natural cultural landscape. Through several steps towards 2100, the vision creates a new type of urban ecosystem that has a beneficial relationship with the landscape. Infrastructure, housing, and open spaces are reconfigured to enhance the system. Through the addition of floodable housing typologies and infrastructure, a new perspective is given on the relationship with the delta which argues for a shift from extreme water management to the creation of boundaries in which the water is allowed its natural rhythm. Through the territory-oriented approach and the use of the physical conditions of the site, the landscape is transformed from barren agricultural landscape to a multifunctional landscape in which there is space for agriculture, living, and recreation. With this design, the argument is made that it is possible to propose urban development in the low-lying polders.

The project’s progression from today until 2100 is not without limitations. Questions have been put about the justness, the involvement of stakeholders, and water management specifications. This design for the area of the Benthuizer Noordpolder conveys that future value can be created by reimagining infrastructure, housing, and open spaces through long-term investment.

Flooding is one of the most destructive climate disasters. Since the 21st century, the United States, Thailand, China, and many other countries have been hit by flash floods, which not only exposed the vulnerability of the urban system expansively but also serves as an opportunity to promote resilient city construction. The research begins by reviewing the major policy and project progress in the field of flood mitigation. It turns out that most countries rely heavily on engineering facilities for flood control to hold back floods, ignoring the uncertainty caused by climate change and urban expansion, which is not a long-term effective solution to the flooding problem.
Given the literature review of flood resilience, the result shows that it remains largely unpracticed in contemporary urban planning and design, mainly manifested in the insufficient participation of spatial planning science in flood risk management. Based on Dutch policy systems and planning approaches, the project will evaluate existing flood risk management frameworks, develop mechanisms for stakeholder engagement, explore the most efficient flood adaptation strategies, and provide guidance on how to establish urban flood resilience using design tools and planning approaches. Finally, areas along the Meuse and inland will face climate change with greater confidence.

Bangkok is located on the low-lying deltaic soil near the mouth of Chao
Phraya River. Like many coastal and delta cities, it has faced many floods
and environmental challenges due to human’s extensive alteration of the
landscape and consumption of natural resources. With climate change,
these cities are threatened by more destructive climate catastrophes which
can cause even more tremendous economic loss and deteriorated livelihood.

This graduation project “Amphibious Bangkok” aims to tackle these issues
by exploring the application of a resilient landscape framework to increase
landscape capacity in coping with current flood problems and future climate
uncertainties. The study draws on the historical human-water symbiotic
relationship to create the new landscape design and planning proposals.
These plans will integrate the top-down and bottom-up approaches and
provide the multi-scale amphibious landscape networks as the basis for
more sustainable urbanisation.
Landscape Resilience is employed as the theoretical framework. It consists
of two research and design approaches. The Landscape-based Regional
Design approach, which guides the overall project’s research and design
process (Nijhuis, 2022), and the Safe-to-fail Adaptive Design and Planning
approach (Ahern, 2011), which proposes five strategies to increase urban
resilience capacity. 
The project establishes an adapted Resilient Landscape Design Frameworkfor more water-resilient Bangkok. The key components of the framework
are 1) the design tasks to improve functions of the water systems, 2) the
core water-resilient design principles obtained and adjusted from precedent
case studies and indigenous water practices, 3) the landscape layers
contributing to the tasks, 4) the multi-scalar approach (Regional, District,
and Neighbourhood scales for analysis and design) and 5) strategic phasing.
The framework leads to the design exploration and spatial expression of
the landscape design approach on the strategic sites as a part of the larger
water management scheme. the cyclical research-design iteration allows
knowledge production through design explorations, which can serve as an
example of more water-resilient urbanisation. Ultimately, the framework can
serve as a guideline to understand delta cities in other geographical and
climate contexts.

This thesis addresses the prospected future of climate-induced displacement in the Netherlands; managed retreat as part of a new flood defense strategy for the coastal region.

Climate change, sea-level rise and flood threat are relevant subjects for the Netherlands. However, unlike most delta regions, displacement of parts of the population is not part of Dutch culture anymore. An extensive delta system protects even the lowest parts of the country. Displacement, in this case, is not a direct consequence of sea-level rise, but rather a consequence of how the Dutch government decides to deal with it. The delta strategy is currently in transition, meaning it is unclear what the outcome will be.
The Dutch Delta Programme deals with the uncertainty in sea-level rise predictions by laying out different conceptual scenarios, the most extreme being Move Along. Move Along suggests allowing the ocean to take back parts of the Netherlands. There are more explorative studies on the future of the Dutch coastline. However, none of them incorporate the human aspect in abandoning parts of the country; displacement of part of the population. As sea-level rise is slow-onset, there is time to plan ahead offering opportunity to deal with the displacement in a strategic way.

The project focusses on exploring the potential of combining a strategy for retreat with existing spatial planning goals as a means to deal with the uncertainty of sea-level rise. In addition, this combination creates a shared goal in order to preserve livelihood for the affected population.

The current approach in riverine climate adaptation strategies aims to accommodate all functionalities of rivers into one singular riverbed, but runs into the limitations of an integrated spatial system. The research shows that the different functionalities of rivers, i.e. the different riverine regimes, in synchronization will lead to a decline in performance of these separate regimes.

This thesis project Perspectives on the IJssel explores and illustrates an alternative future for the IJssel, in which an integral approach is paramount but with a methodology build on spatial decomposition rather than spatial integration. The project argues that integrative design through spatial segregation in parallel systems offers a widening of solution space within an integral approach.

An interdisciplinary approach of the building process is needed in order to achieve a more resilient outcome. The aim within this paper will therefore be about the implementation of GreenBlue infrastructure with Open Building to strive for a circular water cycle within the built environment. The following topics have been investigated in order to find out how this can be achieved. Firstly, distinguishing between different levels of decision making in Open Building is brought into connection with the levels that constitute the built environment through which the water cycle circulates. Secondly, the interdependency between the constituents of Open Building and the water cycle is formulated. Thirdly, it is clarified how Open Building can contribute to a high-density neighbourhood and nature inclusive public space. Lastly, the impact of densification on a net positive water cycle is explained and the possibilities of nature inclusive public space to mitigate these effects are given. By structuring the connection of GreenBlue infrastructure with Open Building at different levels of abstraction, a better understanding of the interdependency within planning for urban renewal is put forward. The spatial implications are clarified and substantiated by research through literature study, case study and by design. Eventually, the outcome is analysed/ tested against the thematic research question.

In the United Kingdom spatial challenges are formed due to a significant erosion rate, especially on the southeast coastline, where the soil has a weak resistance to erosion (Masselink & Russell, 2013; Hurst et al, 2016). This erosion causes the soil to be washed away until no soil remains (Dornbush et al, 2006). Ecology, society and urban environments are at risk in coastal cities due to environmental risks. Protection measures, such as sea walls and embankments, are the primary solutions to today’s erosion risks. These protection measures are often expensive, short-term and can have negative influences on other sections of the coastline. The measures influence the processes along the coastline by interruption of longshore sediment transport (Cooper and McKenna, 2007). Currently, cities and their residents are unable to adapt to this increasing erosion and are often exposed to unforeseen and abrupt events that impact their habitat and, therefore, have an influence on the human livability. In the English context, a regional strategy is needed to find a balance between coastal social justice and the continuing risks of Coastal Erosion (Apine, 2011; Alexander et al, 2012; Cooper and McKenna, 2007), which are further investigated and explained in the thesis. This project investigates possible strategies for urban environments to adapt to the increasing erosion rates which is the result of climate change and sea level rise. With the use of mixed methods research, a regional strategy is formulated and implemented in local urban designs. The research method used to achieve the formulation of a strategy is the Data, Opportunities, Challenges & Anecdote (DOCA) method developed by FABRIC (Vafa, 2018). This method uses opportunities and challenges that can be found on a regional scale, but also on the local scale for different coastal cities in the project area. In the thesis this method is used to find local innovation opportunities that can be integrated within a regional urban strategy. This approach considers interdisciplinary and layered approaches with the use of domains that involve defence-resilience, networks, tourism and economy. Within the DOCA method, the six-step approach by Hooimeijer et al (2020) is applied to create a multi-scalar and adaptive planning system. With the use of both these methods, thesis aims to create an urban design as a response to ecological, societal and urban environmental challenges relating to Coastal Erosion effects and spatial planning strategies. The project’s developed regional strategy aims for Regional Resiliency in southeast England with the design of local Sustainable Urban Environments in Bexhill-on-Sea and Hastings.

A sectoral flood safety approach has been the critical condition for Delta Urbanization in the Netherlands until now. But does this have to be the case for future urbanization as well? In the Dutch approach to flood safety, a dilemma appears to exist between (sectoral) flood safety on the one hand and biodiversity and flood resilience on the other. Where pursuit of flood safety, especially in a context of extreme climate scenario’s, might continue at the cost of biodiversity and resilience.

The thesis is on the reconciliation of the anthropogenic and natural systems of the Dutch Delta. It proposes a re-positioning of the relationship between peopel and nature. The concept and understanding of landscape identity is an expression of this relationship. In the case of the Dutch delta, landscape and flood safety are inevitably intertwined, and a certain relationship of human mastery over nature becomes apparent of this intertwining. The Dutch landscape is historically shaped through hydrology, geology, air and climate, however, contemporary landscapes represent severe anthropogenic intervening, enclosing and directing the dynamics of hydrology, geology, air and climate.
This thesis aims to understand the relationship between people and nature, through landscape Identity, the mutual relationship between people and landscape, shaped by and shaping landscape characteristics and individual and collective identity. Subsequently, proposing and testing a method for altering this relationship, based on the following hypothesis: Shifting the technocratic understanding of flood safety to align [again] with the trajectories of hydrology, geology, air and climate, which are both fundamentally shaping the landscape, allows the transition towards a biodiverse and flood resilient delta. Rethinking the relationship between people and nature, through landscape, is therefore essential. The concept of Building with Nature is tested as an approach to align the understanding of flood safety with the dynamics of air, water and soil. Proposing this re-alignment as the new critical condition for delta urbanization in transition towards a biodiverse and resilient delta. Ultimately, proving this apparent dilemma between flood safety on the one hand and biodiversity and resilience on the other, to be void.

What long ago started as a small fishing village, seeking refuge from the Romans, slowly evolved into the city of Venice that we know today. With its unique location came unique problems, most of which were related to the interplay between Venice and its lagoon. By severe measures in the past it has continued to withstand the test of time.
In the decades to come, Venice, once again, has found itself in a difficult situation. Like has been done in the past, drastic measures are required to deal with the current and upcoming difficulties threatening the survival of Venice. These difficulties range from over-tourism to sea-level rise and the subsiding of the city. Acting like the Magistrato alle Acque acted in the past, extreme visions where laid out as possible solutions to these threats.
A workshop week with focus on interdisciplinary design formed the basis for two extreme visions which are laid out in this report. With the aim of answering the main research question: How do flood defense systems influence the spatial aspects of the territory in the context of a high dynamic landscape in the Anthropocene?
The plan for the Perfect Lagoon is one of these, which has focuses on tackling all of the current and upcoming problems were the emphasis lies on preserving and perfecting the lagoon using the building with nature philosophy, while also saving the city from drowning. Preservation is done by solving the sediment budget problems. Due to the constantly eroding system, salt marshes and land is slowly disappearing.
In this plan, drastic actions will be taken to counteract the constant erosion as well as the effect that sea level rise will have on this unique estuary. Drastic measures like redirecting rivers and re-purposing the MOSE contribute towards this goal.
After preservation comes restoration as one of the goals is to restore and increase ecological value, restoration of salt marshes and removal of negative influences like pollution.
As a second vision, the plan of the Symbiotic System deals with the same problems but here the emphasis lies on interconnectedness of Veneto. More attention is paid to mass tourism. The plan aims to turn Venice into a modern interconnected metropolitan area. The city and the lagoon will be treated as two separated system where the focus lies completely on the city of Venice. The lagoon will be left to its own devices in order to find a new, still unknown, equilibrium.
These visions are then further worked out and explained, and for both visions, technical design are made to, step-by-step, bring these visions closer to reality. From these visions along with their technical design we can conclude that flood defence systems have a major influence in the spacial aspects of the territory. Not only in its primary function, but more importantly in the secondary functions. Both primary and secondary functions can be used to create a paradigm shift for the territory. Using the multidisciplinary approach, an integral design can be made for the flood defence, in which the opportunities in a territory can be maximized.