Informal settlements in Greater Cairo house a large portion of the population, who face increasing social inequality and environmental vulnerabilities. Manshiet Nasser, a desert settlement east of Islamic Cairo, is one such area struggling with challenges like environmental hazards and limited infrastructure. The Zabbaleen community plays a vital role in Cairo’s waste management by recycling approximately 80% of the city’s waste, yet their contributions often go unrecognised. This research explores how urban design can achieve environmental justice for the Zabbaleen, focusing on creating a safe, healthy, and clean environment while positioning the community as drivers of change.

The study examines Manshiet Nasser’s connections to Cairo’s broader context, the daily routines of the Zabbaleen, and the perspectives of various stakeholders on the community’s living and working conditions. Findings reveal significant risks from environmental hazards, marginalisation, and conflicting priorities among stakeholders. A pattern language approach was used to design interventions that adapt the urban fabric, support community development, and optimise the recycling chain. These patterns connect findings from analysis and literature to participatory and context-based design strategies.

The proposed urban design addresses key challenges by cooling the urban environment, diversifying waste business opportunities, and reducing health hazards. Stakeholder involvement is essential for translating aspirations into interventions and negotiating conflicts. While achieving environmental justice requires physical upgrades and mindset changes, this research highlights the potential of informal communities to lead change. The project aims to inspire designers and policymakers to envision alternative development pathways for more equitable urban futures.

Left-over spaces within the city present problems on various scales and mediums. While these left-over spaces, named as Urban cracks, are necessary for the city’s structure, they hold untapped potential. This project aims to systematically identify, analyze, uncover, and activate these spaces in Rotterdam, specifically in the Brandgrens area. The objective is to define them as “0th places,” where the space functions as a regulated yet adaptable zone to host site-specific activities and remains flexible to allow for change.
The Brandgrens area was chosen due to its significant history, particularly after the World War II bombings, where new developments emerged adjacent to the old urban fabric. This pattern can occur in any city, as new developments continuously create new urban cracks.
The methods used included Research by Design, Critical Mapping, Fieldwork, Data Mining, Morphological Analysis, Modeling, and Literature Review. The results produced an analytical framework to identify these spaces within the city, understand their various relationships (a map of opportunities), and develop a final detailed design showing different scenarios and a city-scale strategy to extend the intervention’s effects.
The conclusion is that these spaces can indicate problems in their surroundings, if not within themselves. They require further study from different perspectives and approaches to bridge the gap between urbanism and architecture and to enable people to reclaim their space. While the project can be applied globally, the differences in urban fabrics, functions, cultures, social groups, environments, and economic situations mean that urban cracks, their potential, and their necessity will vary. The exploratory approach in this project allows for flexibility in addressing the ambiguities related to urban cracks in different contexts.

Migration within the European Union (EU) is becoming a complex phenomenon driven by various social, political, economic, and environmental causes. While migration is an ordinary event, vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers, refugees and irregular migrants often face significant hardships and risks throughout their journey. In recent years, the EU has grappled with unprecedented pressure of irregular migrants in its external borders, leading to strict border controls and externalisation of migration management with third-world countries. With this, there is severe stress in housing, healthcare, labour markets, and education in individual countries with the sudden increase in population with diverse cultural backgrounds. Discrimination, xenophobia, and political shifts towards far-right ideologies have also posed challenges to the humane treatment of these vulnerable groups. This raises questions about why the E.U. does not want to accept these communities despite its ageing and shrinking society.

This project explores the consequences of migration in the EU, with a particular focus on refugees and asylum seekers. Beginning with an analysis of EU migration policies and attitudes towards refugees, the project focuses on the Netherlands, examining its asylum-seeking process amidst political shifts. The research then aims to imagine the inclusion and integration of refugees living in isolated temporary asylum shelters in cities, using case studies and literature to identify spatial and non-spatial aspects crucial for fostering a sense of comfort and belonging in a new country. By proposing spatial strategies and policies to create opportunities for stronger socio-cultural connections in cities of the Netherlands, the project aims to facilitate stronger bonds between refugees and native citizens. Through a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches, it seeks to reshape formal regulated interactions, fostering informal settings for everyday interactions. The project's outcomes are evaluated to assess its impact on forming a new inclusive society.

This thesis explores the effects of patriarchy in the built environment and investigates solutions to gender inequality in the city. Although gender inequality has been fought against throughout the last century, women and men still do not enjoy equal social positions. One of the biggest manifestations is that of a difference in gender roles, wherein women are still expected to fulfil most - if not all - of the unpaid care labour in the family. The city fails to support activities connected to care labour, both in causing longer travelling times as well as failing to provide the building of community. Theoretical research on the topic of gender mainstreaming, supported by fieldwork in Vienna, a city that has been implementing these principles since the 1990’s, has provided an extensive overview of implementations that support gender equality in the city, which are combined in a pattern language.
The pattern language has been applied in a design for the exemplary location of Katendrecht, where they have been developed into a design for a gender equal neighbourhood. This project shows that design that offers diverse environments, facilitates community, increases the accessibility of public space and amenities, and prioritises slow and shared mobility results in a gender-equal city.

The Netherlands is facing the challenge of population growth and increasing diversity through migration, especially in larger cities like The Hague. These trends put pressure on the built environment and exacerbate social tensions. To address this, the thesis aims is to enhance spatial inclusion and social cohesion by densifying the built environment for the increasingly superdiverse population in the Haaglanden Region. Implementing the theories of an open and just city, as well as aligning this to the concept of space’s social logic and the 15-minute city is key to achieving this goal.

The region consists of many urban density types, each with different potentials for inclusive densification. The Mariahoeve neighbourhood, a typical postwar neighbourhood located on the outskirts of The Hague, offers many opportunities for inclusive densification. The strategies to be introduced for Mariahoeve are the introduction of courtyard typology buildings, a network of urban quality types, and main streets. The main streets expose the neighbourhood’s interiority through their enhanced permeability, and function as places of co-presence, raising awareness and affording interaction among different individuals. In a context of superdiversity, raising awareness through primary visibility is key in enhancing a sense of community.

The thesis concludes with a design proposal that strategically implements density to enhance connectivity, legibility, visibility, spatial diversity, and equity, to create an inclusively densified neighbourhood.

This research investigates the intricate relationship between evolving socio-political dynamics, spatial planning and gender intolerance in Poland, with a specific focus on the
experiences of the queer community. The study addresses the urgent need to bridge societal divides intensified by the rise of anti-LGBT resolutions and divisive political practices. The problem statement underscores the gravity of gender intolerance in Poland and its direct consequences on the marginalized queer community. The escalating social polarisation
serves as a call to action for research. Methodologically, the research critically examines social norms, guided by theoretical concepts such as ‘power’, ‘queering’ and ‘inclusivity’. It explicitly incorporates citizen engagement as a crucial component to enrich the understanding of the
queer community’s spatial experiences in urban environments. The central research question explores how evolving socio-political dynamics and spatial planning can dismantle gender intolerance and promote inclusive communities in Poland. By uncovering the relationships between these dimensions, the study aims to provide insights and tools for designing truly inclusive environments. The goal is to create spaces that are inclusive, diverse, and equitable,
reflecting a commitment to fostering a more just urban landscape.

The increasing effects of commodifying urban structures result in the appearance of smooth environments (Boer, 2023), which lead to static, exclusive environments in which any form of otherness or spontaneity is removed. This in turn affects important democratic processes, for spaces for commononing, negotiating and conflict in the public realm are dimnished or erased.

By exploring theories of urban depth, a solution towards Just Cities can be found in viewing the urban as a sequence of territories that that unlock a variety of spatial conditions that can serve as the spatial framework for otherness to happen. A thorough understanding of the spatial environment as well as local social structures helped inform where strategic design interventions could act as a catalyst to enrich local depth structures in the Jordaan. Consequently, local territorial conditions are met which supports the opportunity for a diversity of norms to simultaneously make a spatial claim in the public eye. As a result, space for counter-narratives are established that help challenge and deconstruct unequal power structures, as well as provide the just spatial conditions required to participate in fair democratic processes that shape ourselves, the city, and society at large.

Cities are responsible for a great amount of CO2 emissions related to transportation (CBS). However, the greatest amount of CO2 is caused by private transport and is mainly associated with peri-urban (the peri-urban area is a common place to live for the natural environment and also near accessibility to city facilities) and rural areas due to the lack of public transport, proximities to Services of General Interest (SGI) and access to jobs. This problem is especially evident in the cross-border regions.
When zooming in on North-West Europe, more specific issues around transport, mobility and battling CO2 arise. The European railway network, which spreads across national borders, is a patchwork filled with gaps around those national borders. Considering that a large share of the European Union’s territory consists of border regions and includes more than one-third of the EU’s population, this fact is rather alarming (European Mobility Atlas, 2021). The spatial vision and strategy presented in this report will focus on the challenge of carbon emissions caused by the transport and mobility sector with a focus on cross-border and last-mile connectivity of peri-urban areas.
The region of Maas-Rijn is used as a case study. This project explores how the region can become a place where what is not in your direct vicinity, is still within reach in the next 30 years. In saying this, the project is not only referring to physical proximity to amenities, services and (infra)structures but also to the possibility of accessing job opportunities, education, social networks, communities and other intangible resources.
Based on our analysis, the relevant trends and values are identified for a region covering three different scales: Local scale within national borders, Cross-border scale, and Multi-nation/ European scale. Key findings emphasize the role of enhancement of short-distance transport trips, the reduction of motorized vehicle use of any kind by promoting development aimed at close proximity to physical and intangible resources and promoting the use of active/ non-motorized modes of transport of any kind. More medium and long-distance/ not daily movements will be replaced by the use of sustainable alternatives, such as EVs, optimized public transport networks and smart sharing systems.

There is an imbalance in the nitrogen cycle, mainly caused by an increasingly intensive agricultural sector. This leads to the degradation of nature and the loss of biodiversity. Measures have been taken at European level to reduce the amount of nitrogen emitted by the agricultural sector, but this has caused a backlash as farmers in many European countries have protested strongly. Many farmers fear for their future and something must be done to safeguard their livelihoods and the quality of Europe's nature.
To address this, we propose a vision for 2150 in which the food system of north-west Europe shifts from intensive agriculture to a regenerative, small-scale and collective farming system. We envision diversified and rotational land use to close nitrogen cycles and thus reduce the burden on the climate, giving the soil space and time to regenerate so that nature can thrive. Food and bio-based materials will be produced locally and seasonally, making food and material consumption more transparent and integrated into the daily lives of communities, transforming peri-urban and rural structures and the way we live in them. This regenerative production system, coupled with new incentives, will provide affordable food for all, while being more circular, organic, sustainable and fit for the future world we envision.
To enable diversified farms, farmers will share facilities, tools and land to enable soil-based crop rotation. This will have an impact not only on the local diet, but also on the food and materials produced. Focusing on local production also means introducing other collective infrastructures that increase local and regional flows. It also means reducing some of our international infrastructure while increasing knowledge flows between countries to empower people in the Global South to process and produce food locally, thus ensuring a more equitable distribution of resources. Finally, at the heart of the strategy is the conservation of nature, which will shape the boundaries of the newly structured peri-urban rural agricultural landscape. The existing boundaries of the built environment will remain, with the emphasis on densifying and transforming our current structures rather than expanding them.
In order to visualise the vision, we selected three pilot projects based on three different typologies and existing infrastructure: Nijkerk (sand, rural, a practical school and a milk processing unit), Utrecht (clay, urban and distribution centres) and Bodegraven (peat, peri-urban and dairy related businesses). These pilot projects show the necessary landscape transformation over time with the introduction of regenerative agriculture, food and material hubs along with food production within city boundaries, working towards a sustainable landscape and local diet.

Portscapes are one of the most important hubs in the global economic system that facilitate the movement of goods and shape the socio-economic conditions of their surroundings. However, in times of climate change, they face unprec- edented challenges to completely transform their current ways of operating and fully reduce their contribution to a linear economy and socio-spatial injustice. These challenges go far beyond purely economic considerations and calls for a closer analysis of their current spatial impacts and system flows.

Despite their significance, the spatial effects of Portscapes and their role in a shift towards sustainability and circularity is rarely the main focus of urban and regional design efforts. Drawing upon key theories such as circularity, decentralisation, socio-spatial justice, and sustainable land use, our approach involves a multidisciplinary analysis of ports and Portscapes in the Eurodelta portlandscape in North-Western Europe. Through analysis we have identified the different functioning of portscapes, the stakeholders they encompass and the spatial dynamics shaping ports, Portscapes and Port Landscapes.

Our goal is to develop a strategy for the future of the European Portscape after a successful transition towards circular and just development to create a sustainable Eurodelta. This is achieved through a set of five objectives; integrating the ports, Portscapes and portlandscapes; increasing the resource efficiency of Portscapes; regenerating Portscapes for humans and nature; embracing technological innovation; facilitating a socially just transition.

The spatial implications of these five objectives should not be neglected, and our strategy outlines what changes need to happen and when. In four Phases of spatial interventions and regulatory frameworks, we propose to build a just and truly circular Portscape, in harmony with the Eurodelta Port Landscape.

This report holds key implications for both academia and practice, as further light is being shed on the spatial dynamics of Portscapes and potential transition pathways. By understanding the interplay of ports with their surrounding environments better, policymakers, urbanists and other related stakeholders can make informed decisions that promote sustainability and resilience. Ultimately, our efforts regarding the creation of more sustainable Portscapes contribute to broader (global) goals of addressing climate change, promoting socio-spatial justice and ensuring inclusive development.

This graduation project explores the implementation of integrated and sustainable land use planning as a crucial strategy for transforming the BPL MD region into a thriving and biodiverse area that benefits both humans and nature. By emphasizing landscape identity, water storage, the livability of meadow birds, and balancing recreational activities, this project proposes a comprehensive design that ensures the long-term health and well-being of both the environment and communities. A new perspective on the open polder landscapes in the metropolitan region of Rotterdam and The Hague in 2070 is created. Creating three zones, with local food and recreation on the outskirts and a nature center at the heart. These zones create water buffers, improve diverse recreation opportunities, and provide quiet zones for meadow birds. This new design for the BPL MD could be used as inspiration for the future of this region. In addition, this research provides new insights into combining climate change and cultural heritage in such a historically significant location.

New York City is one of the most densely populated megacities in the world and specifically Manhattan one of the metropolitan areas with a constantly rocketing population growth. The delirious urbanization is mainly the result of mass migration both internal and international thus forming a society of diverse economic and cultural backgrounds. As climate change emerges, Manhattan constitutes one of the areas with great flood vulnerability due to coastal flooding and storm surge. According to IPCC statistics, New York will experience a sea level rise of about one meter by 2100.

The metropolitan area itself is the epicenter of patterns, from the Grid to the skyscraper. External forces such as the impending housing crisis, social segregation and the emergent flood risk will reconfigure the pattern image of the city in the future. The region has been altered extensively during the years by significant drivers which turned the primitive green paradise into an artificial world of skyscrapers. Natural elements of the past have been covered due to the increasing demand of building industry forming a compact environment. The Grid offered the fast and effective organization of the metropolitan area, however it did not take into account in a great extent the natural landscape.

The graduation thesis explores the possibilities of the Grid into the mitigation of Flood vulnerability while bolstering the Social Inclusion in an aim to reconfigure the pattern image of the city in the future through the unraveling of important elements of Palimpsest Landscape. The flood adaptation of the Grid will question the impact on housing densification strategies for the future of the island. The identity as well as the resilience of the metropolitan area will be reinforced and people will come closer to nature.

The Province of South-Holland is one of the fastest-growing regions of the Netherlands. The metropolitan provides employment opportunities, has an (inter) national mobility network, and houses densely urbanised landscapes. Because of these benefits, the population keeps increasing. This reflects the need for an addition of 200.000 dwellings in the Province of South-Holland.
On the other hand, population growth also influences the economy. The urban qualities create a wished business climate, which is attractive to companies to settle. Currently, the province has some strong economic sectors. However, the economy should shift towards a more circular economy by 2050 which asks space for industry to develop and retain disruptive businesses nearby living environments. This research specifies business ecosystems with a focus on construction materials.

This socio-economic structure results in scarcity of land where the spatial pressure is high. The result is a tension between space for working and living. Innovative approaches to how to use space in a multifunctional way could shape the future of these companies. An underexposed opportunity to realise this multifunctionality is mixed-use strategies at business parks.
However, when creating these environments, liveability needs to be ensured. Nowadays, business parks are inaccessible for pedestrians, have a nuisance due to externalities of the industry, forbid buildings within the zones designated by environmental regulations, and do not provide a wide range of public spaces to meet each other. That is why mixed-use is not yet assigned as a possibility in these transition zones between disruptive businesses and living environments.

Therefore, this report research which spatial qualities and characteristics shape future possibilities for mixed-use strategies in business ecosystems that focus on construction materials. By developing scenarios, the balance between providing a liveable environment and facilitating the circular economy in the Province of South-Holland by 2050 can be investigated.

Through interviews, literature, observations at specific locations, examples of projects, and research by design these future scenarios will come about.

The aim is to realise a strategic framework with guidelines that describes the different compositions of mixed-use possibilities and the role of the business parks in the circular economy on the regional scale. This divides the business ecosystem into places that can be mixed with dwellings and business parks that should remain for the circular economy.
In addition, this report uses example projects to indicate how this can be shaped. The focus lies in explaining how the business ecosystems of construction materials work in the province and at these specific locations. In addition, it creates insight into how to emphasise the urban qualities surrounding the business parks while suggesting site-specific opportunities for a balanced mixed-use area. These conclusions reflect on several scales so that the mixed-use not only affects the neighbourhood but also contributes to the city and even regional scale. The main takeaway message can be found in the infrastructure. By separating different forms of transportation spaces comes available that can be used to transform into another function.
This design is then translated towards a policy recommendation as well, which can be implemented by the Province of South-Holland. These policies are focused on regulating infrastructure, densification and spaces for industries while stimulating knowledge exchange and education.

With the ongoing impact of climate change on inhabitation patterns in the Netherlands, the region of Gelderland will play a crucial role in accommodating a growing population while facing ecological and socio-economic pressures. Proper planning and design practices that prioritize long-term resilience are necessary to prevent the loss of opportunities and qualities in Gelderland. This design project aims to offer an alternative pathway for the future by identifying opportunities outside of the highly vulnerable Randstad region and envisioning potential developments in safer areas. Through the study of urban form across different scales, time frames, and scenarios, the project combines the concepts of resilience and densification, benefiting both Gelderland and the Netherlands as a whole.

The project centres around the shared framework of space in response to the uncertainties that we are faced with. Though these uncertainties impact various processes and elements within complex systems, the spatial conditions of a location play a crucial role in determining the functioning of the systems that are embedded within it. Recognizing the significance of (the alteration of) space offers an opportunity to address processes on different layers and promote resilience in a holistic manner.

By categorizing areas based on potentials and vulnerabilities, and employing different scenarios, the research identifies suitable locations for densification and develops strategies for improving connectivity, efficiency, modularity, redundancy, and diversity in urban environments. The multiscalar approach involves diverse and phased developments to answer to the pressure on space. By designing with higher densities with resilience as a starting point, urban environments can benefit from the transformation and the negative effects of climate change and densification can be mitigated.

North Anhui 6 cities locate at the periphery of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in the eastern part of China. Even though YRD are the country’s most developed region, north Anhui are the most underdeveloped area according to Human Development Index in the region with only 1/5 of the core area’s GDP per capita. Large population outflow and high take-up of primary industry are two key features of the area. All 6 cities are secondary cities (non-capital prefecture-city), with similar GDP total amount and different development momentum. The 6 cities’ geographical location also lays in the middle ground of two urban agglomeration, Xuzhou urban agglomeration and Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Area, giving them opportunities to exploit the development opportunities offered by both.

Currently, the Yangtze River Delta is facing the urgency to transit its current industrial landscape into a carbon-neutral circular economy. A new industrial value chain is about to be implemented throughout the region which can be a chance for the north Anhui area.

The project thus raises the research question: how and to what extend can circular transition help develop peripheral area. By combining Stan Allen’s infrastructural urbanism and Jo Williams’ three pillars of circular development, the project proposes the concept of place-based circular transition which guide the strategy setting towards agro-industrial synergy, regenerative agriculture and distributive justice through designing hard, soft and organizational infrastructures. The project is thus not only a proposition of new way of looking at region development equality, but also discusses a missing yet important spatial aspect of circular transition.

Nature is declining rapidly. Recent research connected the natural decline with the intensive and monocultural way of dairy agriculture that is happening in North-Western Europe. As a result farmers are forced to stop and are left without a vision for their future. A change in the practice of dairy farming is necessary to reach the goals of the European Green Deal, but the current regulations fail to arch the missing link for providing a just transition. This report aims to bridge this gap by providing bottom-up interventions and a clear top-down vision and answer the question: “How can the goals of the European Green Deal be achieved in a fair way to facilitate the transition towards sustainable dairy farming in the non-urban area in N-W Europe?”

The studies in this report discusses a multiscalar strategy that focuses on farmers cooperating, upscaling of regenerative farming practices, crop-livestock rotation and localizing waste and resource loops. This transformation of the farming practice is grounded by the government establishing policies and defining green corridors and natural structures that connect natura 2000 areas. This will set the ground for farmers to join the provided pattern game. In the strategy a pilot project, De Kooi, will be used to convince farmers the transition is beneficial.

Considering the profession's vast environmental, social, and economic impacts, a balance between preserving nature and progressive dairy farming techniques is established by providing farmers with a vision for their future while giving biodiversity space to thrive.

This project aims to address the challenges posed by the transition to renewable energy sources. This will cause an unstable and unreliable energy flow, which does not correspond with the current energy use patterns of society. Different elements of the current energy network are analysed. They have a big role in the transition towards a completely renewable energy system. The proposed solution involves the utilisation of hydrogen as a means to store and transport renewable energy. In order to achieve this, consumption and production patterns in North-western Europe are analysed in relation to existing energy infrastructure that is suitable for carrying hydrogen. With a combination of different data sources and a created algorithm a model is created that is able to generate clusters. These clusters resulted in a continental framework containing 3 typologies of energy landscapes. A centralized, decentralized and a resilient zone; inbetween. These landscapes are characterised by their population, proximity and current land use against societal challenges such as justice, resilience, polarisation, and reliability. Self-made algorithms are used to transcribe the landscapes into a collection of physical energy elements that will be needed in areas. These measurements are visualized to propose what the future “energyscapes” could look like. The project suggests implementations on different scales for the new paradigm in the energy transition where hydrogen contributes to a just and reliable energy system.

Although the industrial release of pollutant substances into North West European river delta has been decreasing over the last decades, The Netherlands still has one of the worst water qualities in Europe. In this strategic regional design we aim to improve the quality, quantity and distribution of water through the concept of sustainable land use. Industrial waste, waste water and increasing demand for land are the main pressures on our river water system. Considering the future risk of flood and drought there is also a big insecurity about our water quantity. There will be a need for more space and fair use of our water system. The goal is to restore the water quality in the North West European river delta and secure a sufficient water quantity for future use, flood protection and a fair distribution of the water available. In this report research by design is used to develop a spatial vision and spatial strategy that will create spatial water justice and with that a healthy river landscape. There are three themes related to spatial water justice: water quantity, quality and distribution. To meet sufficient standards for these three themes there are three important concepts: a circular industrial water system, decontamination and room for the rivers. All of them deal with the broader concept of sustainable land use. Sustainable land use is the fair and balanced distribution of land and environmental resources. This report shows a regenerative decontamination design for the North West European river delta. It is the development of a catalog of interventions that can be used in the whole river basin. Many small changes make a big difference in an interconnected system like a river basin. Every small intervention that will help clean the water, adds to the whole system and changes the whole system into a healthy and just river landscape. Together with this catalog there is a manual where the interventions are connected to spatial qualities of a specific location. The catalog and manual have been implemented for the case of South - Holland / Rivierenland. This example shows how we assure a sufficient water quality, quantity and fair distribution of water in a long-term perspective in the North West European Delta region.

Our world is going through several transitions at the time of writing. One of them is the digital transition. The digital transition changes the way we interact with each other, it gives us new ways to learn, new ways to work. It changes how society functions on a global scale. The digital transition makes people more individualised. It means lack of consensus and uncertainty. This will inevitably also change the role of the urban designer and architect. How we can design for such an individualised ever-changing society? This thesis explores how the digital transition affects both the design process and the design itself. Approaching the changes brought forth by the digital transition from the perspective of the individual. It uses storytelling to give shape to individuals that all have very different needs, but are able to design together through the use of pattern language. It shows how co-design must play a much larger role within our design process. As for the design itself, it breaks the notion of having an end product as design. Design becomes a perpetual cycle that gets adapted by its different individual users over time. Within this cycle, the urban designer, or architect, has the role of mediator, a person who is able to bring forth creative solutions and someone who speculates on future changes that might occur in the design.

This project investigates the potential for social integration, social mix, and social cohesion by densification in post-war neighbourhoods with Den Haag Zuidwest as a case study location. The current status of housing and public spaces in post-war neighbourhoods results in challenges regarding social segregation and social dissolution that are at the moment mostly tackled by the regeneration of entire neighbourhoods with little consideration of the existing population. Additionally, a pressing need for additional housing and densification within city borders with limited available urban space. The project looks for an approach that prioritizes the residents’ interests over systematic demolition and gentrification.

Densification of post-war neighbourhoods has the potential to help achieve social goals by increasing physical and psychological connections between a neighbourhood and the rest of the city, increasing population diversity, and improving social cohesion. Densification can shift the city's focus to currently deprived post-war neighbourhoods which can result in the enhancement of public spaces.

These social goals can be achieved through densification with a set of specific design principles that focus on; better and differentiated physical connectivity to enhance social integration and social mix, spaces for diversity and inclusivity for more social mix and social cohesion, and a more distinct character and composition in the neighbourhood to contribute to social integration and social cohesion. Additionally, densification can provide financial incentives for the renovation of the existing building stock and improvements in the public space.

Current visions and structure plans for Zuidwest and similar post-war neighbourhoods suggest a variety of improvements in the social realm, but they fail to present clear guidelines on how to achieve these goals with spatial interventions. These plans are often vaguely described and do not present specific concrete rules and guidelines which results in a slackening of these plans during implementation, failing to have solved the problems at the end of large-scale interventions.

This project aims to do things differently by starting with a problem statement and a vision for the improvement of the situation in Den Haag Zuidwest. Thereafter, this research provides an elaborated structure plan for Zuidwest as a whole, which proposes improved connectivity and differentiation and an exploration of the potential for densification. Then, where most plans tend to stop, the research presents a design for an exemplary more zoomed-in location with an emphasis on diversity and inclusivity and character and composition in combination with the aforementioned structure plan. To be able to translate the findings from this research and design approach for a specific location within Zuidwest, a set of rules is derived from the design that can be applied in the design of other locations in Zuidwest. Additionally, indications for phasing, stakeholder involvement and financial feasibility are given.

Lastly, a short note of the possibility for transferability to similar post-war neighbourhoods with similar problems is explored to increase this research's relevance.

To conclude, this project explores how spatial design and densification can improve social integration, social mix, and social cohesion in post-war neighbourhoods most of which are lacking. The research focuses on the potential symbiotic relationship between densification and these social goals. In the hope of advocating for more in-depth redevelopment visions and plans for derived post-war neighbourhoods.