The Berlin’s Kitchenlab bridges the gap between highly specialised culinary education and the community. As a school that acts like a social catalyst for its surroundings. The building is located in Otto Park in Alt Moabit, an upcoming area, surrounded by food venues at the end of a public axis. The building consists of a central street with a public program surrounded by other specialised programs, resulting in a building that is easily accessible by the public while still tailored towards the program’s specific needs, like the distribution of food and support functions. All functions are situated on the façade making the building a frame that displays all contents. This makes the culinary university move past a traditional cooking school and become valuable for its immediate and broader surroundings.

This thesis explores the potential of difference and disruption as a productive ground for approaching gentrification in London. Multiple forces are driving the process of gentrification, the focus lies on the aspect of postmodern consumerism. A cultural change in which the individual, through a variety of choices, can meticulously stage their own identity. This causes an erosion of cohesive norms and values. Moreover, the cityscape is changing into enclaves whose coherence with the bigger scheme of the city is diminishing. While the original urban experience, with its complex and uncertain character, is essential to form interfaces between people from different walks of life and therefore truly address intricate problems.
My research is a search for possibilities for an open society in which architecture becomes a medium for negotiation, a domain of confrontation. Approaching this angle requires a critical approach to the reciprocal relationship between architecture and the social. Moreover, in search of differences, places of juxtapositions are derived through selective mapping and research. To fully understand the difference in experiences of the same places and find opportunities for concurrence. Unfortunately, during the research, it turned out that there were too few leads. As a result, the design shifted from wanting to bring together different target groups, to a more activist direction. Namely, providing agency for displaced residents.

Linpan is a unique traditional rural landscape, mainly found on the plains of western Sichuan, China. It is known for its traditional agricultural practices, characterized by a harmonious coexistence between people and nature. The traditional architecture, festivals, lifestyles and the interdependence between human and nature can definitely be viewed as rich cultural heritage, which also provides valuable insights into the historical and cultural aspects of rural life in China.

The worldwide rapid development has led to an unprecedented urbanization process, which has brought numerous challenges and complexities to the rural-urban landscape in many different countries, including Linpan. I try to revisit the Linpan landscape in modern context with the holistic landscape concept, drawing on other rural heritage landscape preservation and reconstruction methods, keeping pace with the times and adapting to local conditions. At the Linpan scale, on the basis of a thorough understanding of the traditional characteristics of the forest, the functional division of the forest, and the wishes of the residents, Linpan will be transformed to varying degrees and in different directions, while at the same time ensuring that the internal and external circulation, which is a main characteristic of Linpan, will be preserved as much as possible. At the regional scale, the blue-green ecosystem network will be reconstructed to enhance ecological resilience, and the community will be categorized and spatially divided according to the situation and function of Linpan.

While preserving the natural ecosystems and revitalizing the traditional way of life in the woodland, I hope this could be a reference example for general rural transformation.

Food has played an important role in shaping our metropolitan regions, such as Westland in South Holland, The Netherlands. The industrialisation and globalisation of agriculture in Westland has prioritised economy and efficiency, creating issues of liveability and sustainability. The market-driven expansion of the agri-food industry has contributed to spatial competition in Westland and has created many spatial consequences, one of the most serious being the fact that according to surveys, areas around agri-food business parks have the lowest liveability scores in the region. These food-related issues are multi-faceted spatial matters that architects can address. The aim of this research is to better understand how the synergistic integration of food system processes with urban functions through architecture can create a more liveable and sustainable development of agri-food business parks in Westland.

First, key strategies towards integrating food systems with urban areas are identified through a theoretical exploration of case-study projects of past architects and planners. Following this exploration, the matters that architects can have an impact on in the food system are determined. Next, a spatial analysis of the selected agri-food business park is carried out to determine spatial factors that are contributing to low-liveability in the area. Missing spatial qualities that can restore liveability are then identified. Based on the result of the theoretical exploration and spatial analysis, a design framework is devised and synthesised in a set of spatial design tools that can be used to create an architectural intervention that can act as a catalyst and disrupt the problematic urban development around agri-food business parks in Westland. The spatial design tools are then interpreted in a design of a master plan and architectural proposal that reimagines a more liveable and sustainable future of Westland’s Honderdland agri-food business park in the town of Maasdijk.

The city area is dense with business activities, public amenities, transport hubs and high-skilled people. Corporations prefer to be located in the city area to gain benefits from the location. However, annoyance occurs because of the real estate decisions of organisations as they neglect urban planning and context and results in inefficient, inflexible, closed and leads to the mono-function problems. The research aims to examine the important variables that encourage the interaction between the corporate office building and the city from the users’ perspectives and the designer’s ideas. The research is divided into two parts, which are the theoretical study and empirical research. A literature review is conducted in the first part to establish a theoretical framework, which will be the guideline for empirical research. Empirical research is carried out based on the three case studies: CIRCL, The Edge and Groot Handelsgebouw. The methods for case studies are documental study, semistructured interviews, user surveys, and direct observation on the real estate objects and people’s behaviour in public space. Results from the theoretical study and empirical research are gathered to conduct a cross-case analysis. The findings of the research determine eight essential variables to enhance the interaction between corporate office building and the city from the user’s perceptions and the designer’s intentions. The eight variables are accessibility, flexibility, function and activity, inclusiveness, aesthetics, openness and transparency, human scale, and sustainability. The findings of the research benefit the three fields. Firstly, the research can be used as a guideline of the corporate real estate development by the real estate manager. Secondly, the research provides knowledge of factors for the interaction in the design field. Lastly, the findings of the research can be included in the urban development plan of the municipalities. corporations and cities, corporate real estate management, urban area development, interaction, CIRCL, The Edge, Groot Handelsgebouw, accessibility, flexibility, function and activity, inclusiveness, aesthetics, openness and transparency, human scale, sustainability.

Recent societal developments, as well as environmental problems like global warming, demand more socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable lifestyles and dwellings. Collaborative housing describes a possible path to meet those demands by sharing spaces and goods. To determine how the concept of sharing in collaborative housing can contribute to more sustainable cities, the following research question is posed: ‘How does the concept of sharing in collaborative housing increase the sustainability of cities?’. It is explored, what the theoretical and practical impacts of sharing in collaborative housing on social, environmental, and economic sustainability are. These questions are answered by an explorative literature review and by studying two cases of collaborative housing in Vienna in detail. Collaborative housing as an umbrella term for different types in the research context is explained, as well as the scope of sustainability within the work. Furthermore, the concept of sharing is introduced in the context of collaborative housing. The findings from literature and the collaborative housing projects are reviewed for their possibility to make urban living, and therefore cities, more sustainable. Sharing in collaborative housing serves as a catalyst for more sustainable cities, not only by its presence, but also as role model and experimental space for housing and urban development projects.

Innovation districts are more and more seen as the answer of cities to the ever changing economy. They can as well be described as urban strategies for economic development and urban competitiveness. Around the world innovation districts pop up and seem to provide the perfect and required environment for an innovation ecosystem to which talent and businesses are attracted. Katz and Wagner define these districts as “geographic areas where leading-edge anchor institutions and companies cluster and connect with start- ups, business incubators and accelerators” (2014, p.1). In theory, the success of urban innovation districts relies on the balance of three types of assets: physical (buildings, parks, plazas), networking (events, workshops) and economical (start-ups, businesses, shops) assets (Katz and Wagner, 2014). Research shows that dense, inner-city locations combine a critical mass of human capital, vital physical conditions, the right amenities and different sorts of proximity for knowledge exchange that enable businesses to innovate and grow (Morrison, 2014).
It is in these districts that working, living and recreating fade off and that horizontal networking between a diversity of people is becoming increasingly important for innovation. Entrepreneurs and start-ups are considered economical assets in this respect and are crucial players in such districts as they tend to influence economic and job growth. Although they often lack the skills and experience, lack of finance, resources and means needed to do the job, they inhibit a great potential to drive and sustain innovation (Nguyen, 2016). To open up the benefits startups can provide, it is essential to understand how urban innovation districts can contribute to the development of startups. This research therefore focuses on the physical conditions innovation districts should provide and how these can facilitate and stimulate their development. This is investigated on in this research by a qualitative comparative case study within the planned Central Innovation District The Hague.