The phenomenon of rural decline in China has long existed, and discussions on rural revitalization are increasingly intense. Facing the vast diversity of Chinese rural areas, this study focuses on villages closely linked to rivers, selecting the upstream region of the Jiulong River in southern Fujian as the case study area. It explores how a river-centric design can contribute to the sustainable rural revitalization of the Jiulong River Upstream region, fostering ecological integrity and socio-economic resilience.
The research delves into the issues facing rural China and summarizes them, using layer approach as the primary method to analyze the entire watershed, upstream region, and specific villages. It identifies ecological challenges such as segmentation of the river system, water pollution, flood risk, soil erosion, and monoculture, as well as social challenges including alienation to the river, underutilized economic opportunities, and low awareness of the ecological and economic importance of the river. In response to these challenges, corresponding strategies and principles were developed, and specific measures were integrated to form a comprehensive strategic framework. Additionally, the framework links ecological and social measures or strategies to explore the integration of socio-ecological systems. Each principle within the strategy framework corresponds to multiple measure options, providing implementers with flexibility and operability, and strengthens bottom-up governance through an analysis of stakeholders. The strategies are spatialized and expressed through designs or plans at three different scales.

Despite relatively progressive policies put forth by the Canadian government to tackle the challenge of climate mitigation, cities and regions across the country are only beginning to address the equally important task of adaptation. This conversation typically focuses on the spatial adaptability of shorelines, dense urban environments, and the enhancement of green spaces. While these measures are undoubtedly important to implement, there is a lack of public awareness regarding how our region’s food systems and the agricultural landscapes that sit on edge of cities across Canada, must also adapt.
Agriculture is a key part of the Canadian economy, both in the export of products grown domestically and the importation of products from the United States, Mexico, and Asia. This reliance on imported food is a standard part of the food supply chain in Canada. However, with a changing climate affecting places like California (where a lot of fresh produce is imported from) and global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, these supply chains are becoming more vulnerable to unexpected disruptions. This, in turn, threatens the food security of all Canadians. This thesis explores the adaptive potential of the local and regional food system in Canada’s only urbanized delta region, the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. As with all delta regions around the world, this low-lying metropolitan region will increasingly face many challenges related to flooding, ongoing urbanization, and the unpredictability of extreme natural disasters that threaten communities and food production. The Lower Mainland is one of the most agriculturally dynamic regions in Canada and is unique as a considerable amount of arable and cultivated land is integrated closely with the urban fabric of the territory. However, with decreasing self-reliance in regional food production and an over-reliance on cheap imported products, the Lower Mainland is at a crossroads when it comes to the future of its food system. The intent of the design proposal is to find ways in which to rebalance regional food cultivation by expanding how and where production takes place. Integrating agriculture tightly within communities and using it as a catalyst for new public spaces, urban development, and agri-tech innovation along a key regional corridor will serve as the basis for the design exploration.
The objective of this thesis is therefore to demonstrate how the spatial and functional organization our food systems can, and must, adapt given the uncertainty of our collective future. Vulnerable supply chains, unexpected disasters and shifts in the global economy significantly risk our ability to adequately feed people. If we take this issue seriously and begin planning for an uncertain future by first addressing what makes us most vulnerable, we can begin to adapt and build the capacity to face these challenges with confidence.

Growth-oriented Development in the Peruvian Amazonia commodifies its biocultural diversity. Thus, inscribed in a path dependence of unfulfilled promises of local development, the Amazon Waterway Project seeks to create an international trade chain connecting produce from Manaus in Brazil to China by dredging the four most important Peruvian Amazonian rivers. In such a complex territory, the execution of the Amazon Waterway Project represents both a risk of widening the territorial unevenness gap and a challenge for creating alternative development. In this regard, the research shows the relevance of spatial planning and design looking upon the talents, opportunities and knowledge of the territory to create new shared understandings for a holistic development. This would pursue social and ecological wellbeing by involving local and global agents, as well as reframing big scale infrastructure projects as integral development opportunities. The main goal is to build a cooperative relationship of Amazonian cities and communities. Therefore, a landscape economy strategy is envisioned at multiple scales as a start for a co-creation process. This includes a series of interventions, guides, protocols and dialogue spaces towards the construction of a New Amazon Pact.

Climate changes, sixths mass extinction, use of naturalenvironment and extreme landscape transformation have beenbringing question of long, sustainable future. Broadly accepted‘growth paradigm’ has been reaching ecological limits on theplanetary level (Steffen et al., 2015). On the local level Szczecincity, with its rural region, localized in West Pomerania Voivodeship(Poland), has been already facing the ecological challenges.More than that, through ‘growth paradigm’ also the internalpermineralization and social exclusion. Broadly accepted strategy,based on neoliberal model of economy, focusing on developingregion on its economical level, what has no direct translation intoquality of living of its citizens. Dependence, lack of resilience andso called developing ‘undevelopment’ (Sowa, 2011) addressingneed of search for strategies ‘beyond growth’ (Ciesiółka, Motek,Kołsut, Stryjakiewicz, & Kudłak, 2017). Focusing on landscapeadaptation and strengthening the regional community, thebioregionalism as a framework, has been opening alternativevision for spatial planning, as field responsible for developmentconcepts. Following project, has been focusing on the explorationof the bioregional approach and its possibilities as the spatialplanning framework. Using the ‘research by design’ methodology,the spatial strategy for Szczecin functional area give a possibilityto answer cross-scale problematic (Carr, 2004): ecological (climateadaptation with biodiversity lost) and social (low social capital,exclusion and lack of social services).

The rapid urbanisation process in China has caused the emergence of much idle rural land, especially homestead land, which constitutes a huge waste of land resource and brings about several social problems. Nowadays, Chinese government has realised this problem and has put forward institutional intervention to rural land, and encourage to use rural leisure development mode to vitalize it. However, spatial planning strategies and design principles are not linked well with on-going institutional adjustment, and relative research is lacking and lagging. From the perspective of rural leisure industry, based on the idle homestead land phenomenon, this project intends to introduce 'long stay rural leisure' new development direction, and offer an adapted layers approach methodology, with sustainable nature-rural-urban integrated strategy that connects urban system, natural system and rural system. This project is aimed to vitalise Chinese idle homestead land in the future, furtherly, to discuss a development path for tomorrow rural land.

This thesis is about improving the workflow for applying the Performative Computational Architecture (PCA) framework to sun shading design. The PCA framework is a design approach consisting of three phases; form-finding, performance evaluation and optimisation. The conventional workflow in regard to sun shading design is defined as a combination of tools for each of the PCA framework phases. The feasibility of this conventional workflow is explored based on an example case. This example case refers to a fictional office high-rise building in a tropic climate with an all-glass exterior, which is optimised on visual and thermal comfort. The selected sun shading system is an adaptation of the egg-crate system, which has an increased potential over other shading systems for this specific building typology in tropic climates. All further assumptions for the fictional example case are based on common trends in architectural design. Based on the optimisation results of the example case using the conventional workflow, the challenges limiting the feasibility of the workflow are identified. Proposals for overcoming these challenges resulted in the development of the next generation workflow. The core concept of this next generation workflow is to split up the workflow in three parts; preparation, execution and interpretation. First tests using the next generation workflow indicated it is significantly faster on a single high-end computer, compared to the conventional workflow. In addition, the next generation workflow offers a solution to some limitations in running sun shading optimisations in grid- and render farm environments.

The history of Taiwan is closely attached to the establishment of transportation infrastructure. The thriving scene of urban Taiwan emerged in the 70s after the establishment of several national level infrastructure projects. They have become the backbone of both Taiwan's past economic glory as well the daily necessity of present society. As the technologies of transportation infrastructure has been advancing with time, it becomes a common trend of Taiwanese municipalities to renew its existing transportation infrastructure systems in order to boost up their city's image and advantage on competitiveness. Common practices of the renewal includes transferring the existing systems to either flyovers or underground.
However, inconsiderate planning practice of transportation infrastructure implementation could induce variety of urban problems. In fact, many of the existing spatial problems in urban Taiwan are the consequences of the implementation of these massive transportation infrastructure projects. Furthermore, many case studies has proven that the inconsiderate planning practice are vulnerable to socio-economic interference. Postponement or conflicts frequently occured as the consequence of fiscal pressure, change of political regime, or failure to include multiple actors in the implementation process. Therefore, it is concluded that the existing transportation infrastructure implementation process is detached with the real need of the urban environment, which is smaller scale of urban regeneration and inclusion of various actors presented in the transportation infrastructure renewal project.
Taiwan Railways Administration Taoyuan Railway Underground Project (shortened as TRA Taoyuan Project) is chosen as the case study of the thesis to further delve on the research of mentioned problem induced by transportation infrastructure. Existing urban problems in spatial, social, and economic aspects induced by the existing railway system will be unfolded. Future vulnerabilities that TRA Taoyuan Project would encounter during the implementation process will be predicted. To tackle the analyzed problems, urban design of the released corridor once occupied by the railway will be utilized as a method to encounter the concluded urban problems and further include the actions of demanded urban regeneration. Moreover, the research and design process conducted throughout the thesis will be documented and examined on its validity and potential to adopt into practice approach.