Given the greater risk of flooding in cities due to climate change, spatial planning systems are increasingly expected to contribute to flood resilience. However, incorporating expanded adaption measures in conventional planning practices remains a major challenge due to institutional barriers. Based on the theories of historical institutionalism in relation to path divergence, this paper aims to understand the factors which determine the fate of innovations and departures from established practice. Using Guangzhou as a case study, the paper traces the history of the city's struggle against flooding from the 1920s onwards, building on documentary analysis, mapping and interviews. The findings highlight a deeply rooted attachment to engineering-based solutions to tackle flood risk. It also indicates that departing from an established path to embed nature-based and non-structural solutions in the planning system is more likely to take place in response to changing socio-economic needs and strong institutional support for changes, rather than in response to major flooding events. These findings provide lessons for policymakers and urban planners seeking to enact new policies to enhance flood resilience in spatial planning.

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This paper analyzes the regeneration process of Central Railway Station area in Utrecht, the Netherlands, through a public-private partnership and points out that public law establishes a flexible and dynamic planning management and control model; and private law promotes government and business cooperation through development agreements. @en

In this essay, the Delft Approach refers to a particular landscape architecture approach to understand and design urban landscapes, which is developed in the Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) since 1947 (Fig. 1-2). The Delft approach focusses on urban landscapes as a scale continuum, employs design research and research through design as important teaching and research strategies, and regards mapping and drawing as important tools for thinking. The typical Dutch geographic context and spatial planning traditions are the foundation for this approach. As head of research of Landscape Architecture in the Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands), Dr. Nijhuis has expertise in landscape-based urbanism, GIS applications and visual landscape research. He was invited to participate in the 2019 International Landscape Architecture Symposium held at Beijing Forestry University. Landscape Architecture Journal is honored to invite him to this inclusive interview to introduce the background and principles of this approach, and illustrate the application of this method with projects.@en

The research aims to provide an understanding of an urbanizing delta in which different scales, times, and domains are related to each other; and to examine how this understanding can be used in a planning and design process in a rapidly urbanizing delta. A mapping method is developed according to the key notions in the understanding of urban deltas, namely its systems, scales, and temporality. The systematic mapping approach was used to organize and analyze both short-term and long-term spatial data during the rapid delta urbanization processes by transforming spatial data via scales, times, and domains. The mapping approach works with insufficient data, which is often the case in a rapidly changing environment, to identify spatial challenges from a long-term perspective. Applied in the Pearl River Delta, the knowledge of the development of the urban landscape had been inventoried, synthesized, and presented in its own spatial-temporal model using maps. Three types of processes (landscape formation, infrastructure extension, and urbanization) were identified according to their speeds. Spatial interactions were illustratively explained on both the delta scale and local scale from 4000 BC to the present with a time extent ranging from 2000 years to 50 years. The intervention of this mapping framework was applied and evaluated in terms of design, decision-making, and education, and the insights gained were used to discover new possibilities and strategies for the delta.@en

Deltaic areas are among the most promising regions in the world. Their
strategic location and superior quality of their soils are core factors supporting both human development and the rise of these regions as global economic hubs. At the same time, however, deltas are extremely vulnerable to multiple threats from both climate change and the rush to urbanization. These include an increased flood risk combined with the resulting loss of ecological and social-cultural values. The urbanization of deltas can be understood as a set of complex social-ecological systems (and subsystems), each with its own dynamics and speed of change. To ensure a more sustainable future for these areas, spatial strategies are needed to strengthen resilience, i.e. help the systems to cope with their vulnerabilities as well as enhance their capacity to overcome natural and artificial threats. In this article we elaborate a landscape based regional design approach for the adaptive urban transformation of urbanizing deltas, taking the Pearl River Delta as a case study. Based on an assessment of the dynamics of change regarding the transformational cycles of natural and urban landscape elements, eco-dynamic regional design strategies are explored to reveal greater opportunities for the exploitation of natural and social-cultural factors within the processes of urban development. Furthermore, adaptive transformational perspectives are identified to ensure reduced flood risk and inclusive socio-ecological design.@en

Urban deltas belong to the most promising regions considering their population concentrations, ecosystems service and economy significance. Meanwhile these regions are facing multiple threats and are extreme vulnerable for increasing flood risk, damage of social and ecological values and substantial economic losses. These challenges are demanding a fundamental review of the planning and design of urban delta landscapes and their spatial networks, in particular in relation to environmental issues and sustainability. Systematic study of urbanized delta landscapes is essential as a basis for future-oriented action and thinking for the sustainable development of these rapidly changing landscapes. This chapter aims to introduce a multiscale approach to understand and represent urbanizing deltas as complex systems composed of subsystems, each with their own dynamics and speed of change. As a system the urbanized delta landscape is a material space that is structured as a constellation of networks and locations with multiple levels of organization at different spatial and temporal dimensions. Map-ping the peculiar form of these systems provides insight into the complexity of the built environment and the related spatial networks – and with that, understanding in important social and ecological relationships. The Pearl River Delta, one of the quickest and most densified large scale urbanizing deltas of the world, serves as a case study how mapping can be used as a powerful tool to reveal relationships be-tween landscape, networks and urbanization. @en

Deltaic areas are among the most promising regions in the world. Their strategic location, combined with the superior quality of their soils, constitute the main factors that have been supporting both human development and the rise of these regions as global economic hubs. At the same time, however, deltas face extreme vulnerability due to multiple threats related to both climate change and urbanization. These threats include an increasing amount of flood risk, combined with the loss of ecological and social-cultural values as a result. The urbanization of deltas can be understood as a set of complex social-ecological systems (and subsystems), each with its own dynamics and speed of change. To ensure a more sustainable future for these areas, spatial strategies that strengthen resilience are needed that can assist the systems to not only cope with their vulnerabilities, but also to strengthen their capacity to face natural and artificial threats. Therefore, this article elaborates a landscape based regional design approach for an adaptive urban transformation in urbanizing deltas, using the Pearl River Delta as a case study. Based on an assessment of the dynamics of change regarding the transformational cycles of natural and urban landscape elements, eco-dynamic regional design strategies are explored in order to provide more opportunities for natural and social-cultural aspects within the processes of urban development. Furthermore, adaptive transformational perspectives are identified to ensure water safety and inclusive socio-ecological design. 针对气候变化和城市化对富饶的三角洲地区带来的洪涝风险、生态、社会—文化价值流失等威胁，提出将三角洲城市化进程视为一系列具有独立动态特征和速率变化的复杂社会—生态系统（子系统），急需为保障该类型区域的可持续发展提供空间战略，以协助修复系统漏洞并增强应对自然和人工威胁的能力，以珠江三角洲为例，针对城市化进程中三角洲区域的适应性城市转型，提出基于景观的区域设计方法。通过对自然和城市景观要素转型性循环的各类动态变化进行评估，得到生态动力型区域设计战略，为城市化进程中的自然和社会—文化发展提供更多机遇。提出保障水安全和全纳性社会—生态设计的适应性转型视角。@en

The Marker Wadden finds a good balance between traditional wisdom and technology advance. On the one hand, based on the polder model, a traditional consensus way of planning and decision-making in the Netherlands, the Marker Wadden project is created by an alliance of both public and private bodies sitting together and their opinions acknowledged. On the other hand, it boldly explores in both philosophy and technique, and a new nature has been achieved by using innovative techniques and natural processes. Marker Wadden will be of great importance in a time of climate change. Wetland design and construction can contribute to sustainable water management, improve local ecosystems, and provide greater resilience of river deltas in storms and floods.@en