Urban densification is essential to keep the green spaces surrounding Dutch cities, especially in the Randstad. The current Dutch housing stock, of which a significant portion was built during the 1960's and 1970's, lacks a flexible layer in which people in urgent need of housing can find (temporary) affordable housing. Short-stay housing, which encompasses people living somewhere for a day, up to a couple of years, could provide this flexible layer. Target groups for short-stay housing fare well by social interaction, stimulating integration into Dutch society and opening up new possibilities in their life. This social interaction can be partially provided by introducing the sharing economy into an existing neighborhood, providing sustainable options regarding ownership or mobility.

The project 'Between a Day and a Lifetime' therefore proposes an urban densification strategy in which a short-stay housing concept, based on principles of co-housing and the sharing economy, creates densification in a way that it enriches the lives of the current ánd future inhabitants.

The term biophilia and its implementations in architecture have since its popularisation in 1984 gained in popularity throughout the world. This research attempts to find how this has taken shape in the Netherlands by answering the research question: How has public opinion in the Netherlands shaped the influence of Biophilia on architecture in the period between the 1960s and 1990s. This will be done by reviewing academic papers, journals and newspapers from the Netherlands and a case study project in Amsterdam. Research found that whilst biophilia has a strong evidence based foundation, it only gained traction in the Netherlands after the year 2000. This is the result of Dutch civilian’ wait and see attitude, in which they put responsibilities on the government to create policies on greening. This research adds new values and insights in the way different forces in the Netherlands have shaped the upcome of biophilia in both society and architecture.