This research focuses on the renovation and densification of post-war neighborhoods, often characterized by a monoculture in both housing and green spaces. These areas lack variation and connectivity, which not only limits biodiversity but also reduces the quality of life for residents. The main research question is: Which regenerative design principles for the renovation and densification of a post-war
building contribute to the densification of biodiversity within the ecologies of the urban fabric? he aim is to demonstrate that urban densification does not have to come at the expense of biodiversity but instead offers opportunities for synergy. To answer this question, methods such as literature review, case studies, and ecological analyses were employed. By studying urban biotopes and the dynamics between humans and nature, design principles were developed to integrate biodiversity into existing urban structures. Key guidelines include location-specific design, introducing more variation and strengthening connections, or disconnections. The research shows that cities are not inherently detrimental to biodiversity but possess their own ecology where flora and fauna adapt. By applying regenerative principles, cities can be transformed into living environments that support both human well-being and biodiversity. A focus on natural habitats, such as nesting opportunities for birds and bats, makes buildings an integral part of the ecosystem. The conclusion is that urban densification offers an opportunity to combine biodiversity with human needs, provided that flora and fauna are included as key actors from the start of the design process. This research highlights the importance of regenerative designs that redefine cities as dynamic ecosystems. Recommendations include developing methods to measure biodiversity in urban projects and involving ecologists and residents in the design process. This research provides valuable insights for architects, urban planners, and policymakers striving for sustainable and biodiverse urban development.

This graduation comes from a deep interest in understanding why some buildings foster vibrant communities, while others do not. Now that interest in cohousing is rapidly growing, both from grassroots movements and top-down initiatives, grasping the factors that explain why some communities thrive has become increasingly significant. Cohousing may have many advantages from mental health, and informal care to enviromental benefits. Yet it is not simply shared spaces that create these advantages. It is the community itself. The goal of this graduation was therefore to bundle insights on how to design cohousing so that it facilitates community engagement.

A pattern language was developed with the intention of aiding both resident-led initiatives and architects. A pattern language is a network of interrelated design solutions to common problems. After a wide literature review, case studies and in practice testing, a cohousing pattern language was formulated that balances complexity and comprehensiveness. 7 base principles and 40 design patterns explain how architecture can facilitate community engagement. These patterns and principles are integrated into an 8-step framework tailored for the Dutch cohousing development context.

For the design part of this graduation project, the pattern language has been implemented to design an affordable and sustainable floating cohousing building for the Dutch delta. This architectural design addresses the housing and space crisis by exploring the floating frontier of architecture. The floating urban villa may house 5 to 20 people and with minimal adaptions can facilitate a wide range of engaged communities. Up to 7 floating villas can together form a layered cooperative housing community with a layered framework for expression.

There is simple formula or design solution for cohousing so that it facilitates community engagement. Each community, location, and project is unique and requires specific and co-designed solutions. The book may help that process as it has identified abstract principles and concrete patterns that provide valuable guidance for designing spaces that support thriving, engaged communities. These are applicable to a wide range of cohousing lifestyle visions, architectural typologies and contexts. Ultimately, it is up to architects and residents to creatively integrate constraints, principles, context, and patterns to co-create cohousing architecture that facilitates their unique, engaged community.

The idea of home, while uniquely personal and familiar to each person, is somewhat elusive. Despite its intangibility, it captivated my interest. Returning from living abroad, I was figuring out what home means to me, and this made me think about how this feeling of home is reflected in current housing design. My interest in the concept of home deepened, partly due to my research on home ownership in Amsterdam during the first weeks of this graduation studio. As I discovered, ownership can manifest in different things, such as owning property or as a feeling known as mental ownership. It is a tricky concept: how do you turn that intangible feeling of home into something one can grasp and understand? At which scale does the feeling of home operate? Is it primarily at the individual dwelling or building levels, or does it extend to the broader city?

In the context of the current housing shortage, climate challenges, and the growing need to live in harmony with nature again, this design research focuses on improving the post-war neighbourhood of Groot-IJsselmonde in Rotterdam-Zuid. It focuses on different scale levels: the neighbourhood, the building, and the home, using the Biophilic Design concept as a guide. The monotonous, post-war voids have given way to a lively, diverse residential landscape that acts as a connector. The densification and transformation strategies are carefully designed to promote encounters: between old and new, between people and the natural environment, and between people.

During my research, I discovered that the key to social and ecological harmony lies in the connections between the different scale levels—connections that are currently missing in Groot-IJsselmonde. By developing corridors and natural routes, integrating welcoming gardens and lively places of encounter, and creating a diverse mix of households, I was able to add important connecting elements. The overall result is reinforcing the neighbourhood's natural character and qualities: a lively, inclusive and sustainable living environment that enables social and natural harmony.

As housing shortage has to do with the insufficient supply of inexpensive houses and limited capacity for offering qualitative demands of the actual users, there is a discrepancy between what the current housing market provides and how new target groups want to live.
Especially, the existing post-war houses show how they were originally designed solely for the nuclear family, where the currently predominant target groups such as single-person households, young professional, the elderly, and student do not fit in.
One of the reasons is that the meaning of home during the twentieth century, when the post-war residential projects were realized, does not match with the one in the current housing situation.
For example, the meaning of home in the twentieth century was grounded to a physical unit of a ‘house’ where ‘home’ implied the (nuclear) family life apart from social, public, and working life. Consequently, the meaning of the home around the nuclear housing has been strictly divided by the dichotomous logic between home and work and set as the default setting around majority of domestic architecture.
Now, as the meaning of home has become less grounded in the physical space of a ‘house,’ ‘home’ can be defined by emotions, memories, and rituals. Therefore, the meaning of home today is more flexible and ambiguous, from where home can be a place to be productive as an integrated workspace. For instance, the kitchen and the balcony become improvised offices while simultaneously serving the traditional domestic functions. These new forms of productive home-life imply an indistinguishability between work and home.
Despite the radical changes over the last fifty years in living society, the traditional form of the home is still the most prevalent idea. Because the architecture in the housing market still reproduces the existing parameters of which the home is traditionally conceptualized, the architecture perpetuates the tradition in its spatial organization. Therefore, it is significant not only domestically but also societally to examine how this shift of the meaning of home has influenced the residential environment as it lost its initial characteristic as it had.

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 growing concern about a mental health crisis and a looming threat of the loneliness epidemic worldwide that was further escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic forced people into isolation and created a new form of ‘work from home’ lifestyle. Nonetheless, the loneliness epidemic can be traced back to the 19th-century design principles that designed our current cities with reference to industrial tools such as the car instead of the ‘human scale’. Many of these modernist ideals had negative implications on the mental health of the residents in post-war districts. Moreover, with the need to build more homes, the current housing market values densification strategies that are primarily for profit and not for the needs of the people, which continues the pattern of ‘living together apart’. Consequently, there is an urgency to tackle isolation among the inhabitants of Groot-IJsselmonde, specifically Thamerdijk and post-war neighbourhoods being primarily targeted for future densification schemes. Interventions are therefore required to encourage degrees of social encounter. A research-based approach explored within five different lenses, sociological, historical, urban, building and dwelling scale is translated into a design project that could potentially allow for more positive densification for both current and future residents.

In this research, I strived to explore solutions to the question:
How to maintain or enhance a sense of community in post-war neighborhoods undergoing regeneration processes
The outcome of this research provides a guideline for architectural planning, in creating an environment that reflects the importance of a sense of community in the built environment. The outcome can be viewed as a manual for analyzing and retrofitting neighborhoods, focusing on the shared spaces and maintaining or enhancing a sense of community. By focusing on a specific site, and examining its characteristics, I formed a guideline on how to treat specific issues with architectural interventions. I examined theories by various researchers (such as Gehl, Whyte, David Sim, and Bernard Tschumi) as well as architectural drawings of master plans that focus on shared spaces as an integral part of the vision.

This graduation project explores the circulation of materials, people and knowledge, against the threat of poor and toxic living environments, within the design of Social Housing in the Global South. The project's approach to affordable housing development, which is rooted in the concept of assemblage thinking, revolves around the idea of creating spaces relationally, acknowledging that architecture is always already entangled with histories, stories, desires, places, materials, and lives. It challenges the prevailing trend of segregation and homogeneity by embracing a diverse mix of typologies, fostering inclusivity, and mitigating the rigid binary oppositions that characterize the unsustainable and segregated ways of life in São Paulo. The project is an anti-monoculture manifest that follows the flow of matter and ideas while emphasizing the rejection of homogeneous living environments and encouraging the co-existence of difference, dismantling oppressive dichotomies.

In São Paulo, Brazil, the urbanization of workers without education or a steady income has caused a large demand for social housing, with 800,000 families forced to live in settlements and slums without a legal basis. At the same time, the crime rates of the past decades brought forth a standard of ‘enclavement’ of urban blocks, with fences protecting shared outdoor spaces. These add to the segregation of a city that already has immense inequality. Although many have written about creating a safe living environment with architecture in the Western world, applications in the global south are lagging behind. This thesis explores how architectural design can positively influence safety in the periphery of São Paulo, taking into account socioeconomic segregation, local building practices, and social equity. For this, a literature review, a comparative analysis of precedents, a contextual analysis, and research by design are used. The design is made for Parque Cocaía, a greenfield site with environmental restrictions on the outskirts of the city, in Grajaú. It shows how the design of building types that foster the creation of communities, public space that invites life into the streets, and dwelling types that allow watching over the public realm and shared spaces can all contribute to a safer living environment. The design combines lessons learned from Western theory, social housing precedents, and the local context and thereby offers an alternative to enclavement as a means to assure safe living. Future research and design can build on this to prevent further segregation of Brazilian society.

Children are the future. Providing a fostering living environment for the next generation in the favelas of Sao Paulo might enable them to break negative patterns of behaviour, so energy towards crime an violence is redirected towards productive ends for them and their communities. Gaining insight from the field of developmental psychology, this project makes a material parallel to the distinct developmental stages of children, as described by Erik Erikson. The neighbourhood consists of clustered dwelling groups, starting small and protective, but while the development of the child goes on, the further clustering of the dwelling groups provide a more dynamic environment for the child to grow further. A balance between protection and engagement, between order and chaos, will help the child grow up and develop the virtues of; Hope, Will, Purpose, Competency and Fidelity.

Since the introduction of neoliberalism in the 1980s, housing has transformed from a social good to a market commodity, resulting in housing policies’ focus shifting from resilience to efficiency. The shift greatly affected the Global South, where an overwhelming amount of housing was, and still is, required (Syllabus Intro). Several initiatives aimed to counter the issue through approaches solely focused on resilience. These projects were, however, unable to produce the amount of housing needed. Subsequently, several housing experts recently argued that a trade-off between efficiency and resilience is required to challenge this global phenomenon.

The project investigates the balance between resilience and efficiency through a social housing development in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. Despite São Paulo not being a poor city, it has one of the world’s most inequitable distributions of wealth. One of the main symptoms of this inequality is a lack of sufficient housing. The project is in Grajau, one of the city’s periphery neighbourhoods. Heterogenous neighbourhoods, called favelas or irregular settlements, populate the district(Marques and Saraiva 2017, 21). Favelas often consist of dwellings that do not meet adequate housing standards according to Brazilian law. Still, these neighbourhoods provide an opportunity for impoverished families to have a house, presenting somewhat of a solution towards the Brazilian housing crisis.

The research concluded that Brazil’s large socio-economic gap and complicated political history are two of the primary catalyst for the country’s significant housing crisis. The Estatuto da Cidade (City Statute), developed after the fall of the dictatorship, acts as a legal framework to manage and improve the urban development of periphery neighbourhoods. The City Statute includes the Zones Especias de Interesse Social’ (ZEIS, Special Zones of Social Interest). ZEIS identifies areas where infrastructure and degraded properties can be improved, allocates space for public amenities and dedicates unused land for Social Interest Housing (HIS) and Low-Income Market Housing (HMP).

The central concern of the project is the lack of urban integration between Social Housing developments and their surrounding heterogeneous neighbourhoods (favelas and irregular settlements). A combination of fieldwork, theoretical research and comparative analysis, discussed throughout the report, was used to identify the problem. The project challenges the urban segregation between favelas and Social Housing through porous thresholds and careful boundaries. The approach is derived mainly from the work of German philosopher Walter Benjamin, Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck and Brazilian architect Hector Viglecca. The design applies porous thresholds and careful boundaries throughout all design scales, continuously considering the project’s socio-economic, managerial, and environmental impact.

Coinciding with the decline of post-war neighborhoods and the housing shortage in the Netherlands the trend towards individualism and one-person households has emerged since the 1950s. This report investigates the densification and reinvigoration strategies
of these post-war neighborhoods by using co-housing as a strategy. In the past co-hous- ing has been tried as a solution for social injustice and vulnerable groups within a society.
To develop these strategies, case studies of postwar renovation projects have been analyzed as well as co-housing spatial principles and fundamentals to combine into a design strategy for the renovation plan of IJssel- monde. The results are a design approach
for densification of a postwar neighborhood that takes into account the current resi-
dents while providing suitable housing for new residents and connecting them through co-housing.

The Netherlands is facing a housing crisis emblematic of a global phenomena. The growing intensity of the need for housing cannot meet the development and resource availability. Mass standardised housing contributes to this irrevocable cycle of supply and demand. This project is an investigation into participatory design practices as a method for architects to revitalise communities through incentivising collaborative housing within existing urban structures in the suburb of IJsselmonde, Rotterdam. The project aims to show the potential of synthesis and collaboration for the development of new housing solutions.

The case with the housing crisis is that there is not only a lack of housing, but most annual new residents for the housing in The Netherlands are migrants. This comes from the fact that almost all annual increase in population in the Netherlands are migrants. Within the urban densification theme, these migrants will mainly be housed and integrated in the existing neighborhoods in densely urban areas. However, these neighborhoods and housing are currently not designed for this target group. This affects the social integration and the feeling of being at home for these migrants, which adversely affects the livability of neighborhoods for other target groups. Therefore this study examined the social and functional aspects that stimulate social integration. This revealed several architectural and urban design ingredients that stimulate the social integration, such as a communal living room with a shared kitchen, which can be used as activity spaces, collective gardens, social galleries and loggias.

The Netherlands is currently dealing with a housing shortage. Within this housing shortage, there is a specific shortage in suitable elderly housing. With the Reformation of Long-Term Care elderly need to live longer independently at home whereby an explicit appeal is made to the social network of the elderly for the provision of (informal) care and support. If neighbours are encouraged to provide informal care to elderly people in their neighbourhood, they contribute to the possibility of the elderly living at home independently for longer, and the pressure on current informal caregivers is also reduced. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to form a design strategy by answering to following main question: “What design strategy can be used to design independent livings for elderly with a light need of care, integrated into an existing neighbourhood, in such a way that it stimulates neighbours to provide informal care?”

To answer this question first the developments in the history of elderly housing were studied to see what we can learn from it nowadays. This resulted in a timeline with the main development. In addition case studies of historical projects were done, which gave insight into design elements that could be still helpful nowadays. By providing different scales of interaction different places of encounter can be created and form a gradient in socially active places. Providing buffer zones between private, semi-private, semi-public
and public spaces also contributes to this.

Furthermore, the needs and wishes of elderly that stimulates their independence were researched on the scale of the dwelling and the scale of the neighbourhood. Physical, functional and social aspects, could be found. Physical aspects like accessibility, activity and recognition are important. On the functional aspect it is important to make it as easy as possible for elderly to use key facilities. Social aspects like providing a contact rich, and multi-generational living environment are important to create a socially sustainable
environment.

Then there was researched what could stimulate neighbours to provide informal care. Social cohesion plays a very important role in this. Knowing and seeing your neighbour is very important for the willingness to provide informal care. Once people know their neighbour and see the help he or she needs, they are willing to provide it.

Therefore, case studies from recent projects that are designed with the stimulation of social cohesion in mind were conducted. This gave insight in how design can effect the social cohesion and therefore stimulate people to provide informal care. First of all the connection to the surrounding is important.
Furthermore, dwellings should be designed for a mix of households and organized around a shared place. The shared place should still have a feeling of security, so residents feel more comfortable to use them. A balance between public and private is therefore important. Providing for a transition between private, semi-private, semi-public and public plays an important role in the stimulation of encountering each other.

By combining the outcomes of all the sub-questions, a design strategy is created that could be used to design independent livings for elderly with a light need of care, integrated into an existing neighbourhood, in such a way that it stimulates neighbours to provide informal care.

The high prices and housing shortage are significant problems for the Dutch population. Thus, besides a general housing shortage, there is also a shortage of housing aimed at the needs of Empty Nesters. Homes are not always life-course resistant, and alternative housing in the desired living environment is lacking (van Staaij et al., 2021; real estate market, 2022; Dynamis, AM, & Whooz, 2021). The purpose of this research is to create a design strategy for densifying an existing residential area by creating a dwelling concept that is suitable for the Empty Nesters households as an attempt to stimulate the flow of the housing market for younger families. As such, this thesis aims to investigate and answer the following research question: ‘How can new dwelling concepts for Empty Nesters, be integrated into a densification strategy for postwar neighborhoods, to stimulate flow in the housing market for younger families?’ To answer the main research questions, this study uses an approach that complements what was learned from literature research on Empty Nesters, relocation motives, housing requirements, and user needs with insights from both theory and practice of architectural examples. a clear picture emerged about the target group; what characteristics they differ in, what moving motives they have, what housing profiles this group has with connecting housing preferences and what spatial, functional and social qualities they need. By combining the outcomes of all sub-questions, a design strategy was created that could be used to design housing that is attractive and focused on the Empty Nester, integrated into an existing postwar neighbourhood, in order to stimulate the flow of the housing market. Thus, this strategy and the design created by using this strategy answer the central question of this research.

As the Global South continues to rapidly urbanize, finding affordable and sustainable housing solutions is paramount. The Global Housing Graduation studio provides the opportunity to design new housing typologies through environmental and social lenses. São Paulo’s challenges with rapid urbanization and social inequality has left more than a million residents vulnerable to the impacts of water scarcity, lack of public infrastructure, climate, environmental risk, and climate change. Urban expansion during São Paulo’s economic boom in the 1970s led to a considerable increase of illegal land occupations in the city’s peripheries. The development of the informal settlements formed in the peripheries thus superseded the speed at which proper public infrastructure for potable water, sanitation and electricity could be implemented.

Residents in the peripheral neighborhoods occupy open land in areas of varying environmental risk, susceptible to soil degradation, flooding, landslides, and health risks due to waste discharge. They cannot access publicly supplied water or sanitation and must rely on water cisterns, illegal connections or self-made sanitation disposal to acquire the necessary infrastructure to lead a healthy life. These risks, in addition to the future risks of climate change, disproportionally impact those living in informal settlements, due to their social vulnerability and socio-economic status.

Development-induced displacement of residents within informal settlements is enforced by the São Paulo municipal government, to permit the implementation of public infrastructure such as water lines, sanitation, drainage, street paving, and the removal of housing structures in at-risk areas. While the purpose of displacement contributes towards a positive outcome - upgrading neighborhoods with much-needed services, or rehousing residents to safer environments – the social impact of displacement is palpable. Forced displacement may move residents away from their sources of income and social networks, considerably impacting their mental well-being or exposing them to financial precarity. Readaptation to new neighborhoods or lifestyles can also be difficult for residents.


The project seeks to create a balance between social and climate resiliency to address the challenges of environmental risk and resettlement. The project proposes a new social housing system, built on the principles of clustering and the Radburn Plan, to achieve an urban design which integrates public space with rainwater flows, public infrastructure, and housing. The project location, Jardim Campinas in Grajaú, São Paulo, is used as a framework for the urban system to rehouse displaced residents from various communities onto one site. The socio-ecological design approach is implemented at each scale – urban plan, sector, cluster, and dwelling unit. The design aim is a renewal of the urban fabric, by building upon existing social and ecological networks to reinvigorate social connections and relationships between natural and built environment.

São Paulo, like many other urban centers worldwide, grapples with a stark contrast in living conditions and spatial inequity between various income groups. Nowhere is this divide more evident than in the sprawling favela areas, where marginalized individuals face numerous challenges in their daily lives. The existing housing in these areas often lack essential amenities, basic infrastructure, and a sense of community. This spatial inequity and social injustice perpetuate a cycle of poverty and exclusion.

In this context, there is a pressing need to explore innovative architectural design solutions that not only enhance living conditions but also foster inclusive communities within São Paulo’s favela areas. The overarching goal is to bridge the gap between different income groups, create opportunities for marginalized individuals, and address the systemic issues that perpetuate this divide. This research aims to investigate how architecture can be leveraged as a tool for social change, aiming to improve the quality of life for residents in these underserved communities.

To achieve this, the research will delve into various aspects of architectural design, urban planning, and community engagement to identify strategies that can empower marginalized individuals, promote inclusivity, and create environments that are conducive to social and economic advancement. By addressing these challenges through architectural innovation, this research seeks to contribute to a more equitable and just urban landscape in Sao Paulo, offering valuable insights that can be applied to similar contexts worldwide.