This research addresses the critical issue of the poor implementation of sanitation and its effect on community and environmental health in the Global South. To overcome the social, cultural, technical, and financial complexities underlying poor sanitation, the participation of local community members in sanitation planning processes is deemed crucial for the successful development and implementation of sanitation systems.
To engage local stakeholders as decision-makers and improve design freedom, it is proposed to engage stakeholders in determining their demands, needs, and priorities by combining the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) as a participatory decision-making method. The applicability and suitability of this method are assessed through a case study in Hagonoy, the Philippines, in which two parallel design cycles are carried out: one with only local sanitation experts as decision-makers and one with only local community members as decision-makers. A systematic literature review of design criteria applicable to sanitation design processes was conducted to overcome selectors' bias regarding the decision criteria assessed in the FAHP and the FGD. The FAHP data was collected among 60 community members evenly distributed over six neighbourhoods in Hagonoy and six local sanitation experts. Three FGDs were held with local community members, whilst one FGD was held with local sanitation experts. The design cycle based on the defined design scope was limited to the development of a conceptual design, proposing a treatment train capable of treating the produced domestic wastewater such that the effluent satisfies the local General Effluent Standards, specifically for the parameters water volume, Total Phosphorus (TP), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Ammonia (NH3), and Nitrate (NO32-). Wastewater treatment technologies aligning with the demands and needs specified by the stakeholders were obtained from scientific literature, which were combined into a sanitation system configuration that could treat the water sufficiently.
The completion of a sanitation design process without predefining the possible solutions, but by integrating the FAHP + FGD in the systematic derivation of the design scope, demonstrated how a demand- and need-driven design approach allows increased flexibility and sensitivity for the context in the development of a design. The parallel design cycles showed how the FAHP + FGD method could be applied as a systematic procedure to understand how design criteria in sanitation design are preferred and interpreted differently between local community members and local sanitation experts and how this can influence the conceptual design. Altogether, this research contributes to the body of knowledge in community-engaged sanitation design by demonstrating the effectiveness of the FAHP and FGD method in engaging community members in a need-driven design process, overcoming selectors’ bias for technologies and trade-offs, and producing relevant design proposals. However, acknowledging that the FAHP + FGD method was limited to engaging stakeholders only in defining the needs and demands, verification of the designs’ alignment with the perspectives of stakeholders and continuous engagement throughout the entire design process is essential to be further researched in the future.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ’s 2021 report, the recent sea level rate has nearly tripled in the last few decades compared with 1901-1971. It estimates that the sea levels may rise by 20 cm in the next thirty years or up to 80 cm by the end of 2100. The increase in sea levels poses serious questions and challenges to the housing infrastructure in flood-prone areas. Two locations that have been severely affected by the tidal and fluvial floods and typhoons are the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga in the Philippines region. There is a ground level subsidence of up to 5cm per year because of the uncontrolled ground-water level conditions prevalent worsening the floods. The high levels of stagnant waters causes unsanitary conditions in these areas. In 2017, Pieter Ham, co-founder of Finch Floating Homes, developed a floating house model suitable for the Philippines’ climatic conditions. After the prototype construction was proven successful, they are now venturing into creating a floating neighborhood in Hagonany, located on the island of Luzon. This research topic aims to study the urban physics context of the floating homes neighborhood. Alazne Enchaniz Jurado, as part of her master thesis in 2021 at Delft University of Technology, designed resilient coastal neighborhoods for the city of Hagonoy, Philippines. After extensive research on the geographical, social, and cultural context, she designed floating neighborhood models suiting the needs and requirements of the people. However, the urban physics parameters of these concepts are to be further studied to determine the thermal and wind comfort of the occupants in the outdoor areas. This is because of the high-temperature tropical climate present in that region. Therefore, the primary focus of the present project, this MSc thesis, is to understand the role of urban physics in floating community development. It focuses on the influence of vegetation and urban form configurations on the outdoor thermal comfort and outdoor wind comfort of the open spaces, as they serve as the primary gathering locations for the residents. After analyzing the results, it concludes that increasing vegetation decreases the daytime temperatures, thereby improving the comfortability index. Additionally, the urban form also significantly plays a role in influencing the micro-climate of the region.

In 2018, the ‘Deltaplan Ruimtelijke Adaptatie’, has been set up by the National Institute of Health and Environment (RIVM) for the purpose of facilitating the transformation to a climate adaptive living environment. As part of the Deltaplan, municipalities have been asked to perform a heat risk assessment through standardised outdoor thermal comfort maps, formulated in terms of the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). The heat risk assessment has increased awareness of urban heat related issues amongst municipalities, and sparked interest in heat-proof (re)development of urban areas. However, appropriate tools for outdoor thermal comfort assessment in the early stage of urban design are currently not available, as established PET simulation tools come at large computational cost. In response to the absence of appropriate outdoor thermal comfort design tools, this thesis proposes a Grasshopper-based PET simulation tool with an adequate balance between time-efficiency and sufficient accuracy for the early design stage. Additionally, a study into the heat mitigation efficiency of varying Height-to-Width ratio (H/W ratio), street orientation and facade albedo for extreme heat events in the Netherlands provides global rules of thumb for heat-proof urban design.

Through literature review, conditions for appropriate determination of four meteorological input parameters for PET calculation (urban air temperature, mean radiant temperature, urban relative humidity and urban wind speed) have been determined, which have been used to construct the PET simulation model. The PET model has been validated to be sufficiently accurate through both literature and sense-checks and shows a considerable improved time-efficiency in comparison with established simulation tools such as ENVI-met. The model is thus considered suitable for application in the early design stage. Application of the model is limited to (1) cities in Western-Europe, (2) situations of low wind speed and (3) the months of April to September.

Because of its rather quick computation time, the Grasshopper PET simulation model has been used to formulate basic rules-of-thumb for heat proof design through a study into the effects of varying H/W ratio, street orientation and facade albedo. The study has been performed for a representative urban canyon in the Netherlands for an analysis period from 12.00 – 18.00 on an above average warm summer day. Study results show decreased spatially and temporally averaged PET in the urban canyon for increasing H/W ratio. Considering street orientation, highest average PET occurs for streets oriented towards the South-East (SE) and lowest average PET occurs for streets oriented towards the North-East (NE). Varying H/W appears to be the most effective strategy for heat mitigation with a heat mitigation potential of up to 5.6 \degree C, closely followed by varying street orientation with a heat mitigation potential of up to 4.7 \degree C. Default settings for street orientation affect the effectiveness of varying H/W ratio and vice versa: Varying H/W ratio is considered most effective for SE street orientations (heat mitigation potential of up to 5.6 \degree C) and least effective for NE street orientations (heat mitigation potential of up to 3.9 \degree C). Varying street orientation is considered most effective for larger H/W ratios (heat mitigation potential of up to 4.7 \degree C for H/W ratio 1.0) and least effective for smaller H/W ratios (heat mitigation potential of up to 3.0 \degree C for H/W ratio 0.5). From the study results, no firm conclusions can be drawn with regards to the effectiveness of varying between low albedo facades (albedo = 0.3, untreated facades) and high albedo facades (albedo = 0.8, white-painted facades): The results appear to be highly dependent on the number of ambient bounces (ab) of reflected shortwave radiation considered in mean radiant temperature calculation. Depending on the considered number of bounces, either low albedo facades (ab = 2) or high albedo facades (ab = 4) result in lower average PET in the urban canyon. At the time of writing, it is uncertain which number of ambient bounces should be considered realistic for calculation. For both considered number of ambient bounces, however, study results show that the heat mitigation potential of facade albedo is significantly lower than that of H/W ratio and street orientation.

For the considered urban canyon, a combination of H/W ratio 1.0 and SE street orientation results in the lowest average PET (approximately 38 \degree C), whereas a combination of H/W ratio 0.5 and NE street orientation results in highest average PET (approximately 47 \degree C). Dependent on the number of ambient bounces considered, either low- or high albedo facades result in highest average PET. However, the contribution of façade albedo on the mentioned PET values is limited (up to $\pm$ 1 \degree C). An exploration into the effects of ground- and façade material on the obtained average PET results suggests that varying ground- and façade material moderately affects average PET results. Further research is needed to quantify the exact effect of varying ground- and facade material on PET.

For future research, it is additionally recommended to perform a more elaborated validation with field measurements. The focus of a validation study should be on calculation of mean radiant temperature, as the calculation method implemented in the PET model is currently a draft version. Other interesting topics for future research are the implementation of vegetation in the PET model, and improvement of the wind speed calculation for more accurate wind speed modelling.

This thesis aims to provide passive design recommendations to improve the design quality of low income houses in the Philippines, by evaluating the indoor environmental quality of the pilot floating house project. The pilot project is the result of researches carried out by Pieter Ham and Joran Van Schaik to find a solution for the housing backlog, poor living conditions and the seasonal natural disasters in the low lying areas of the Philippines. The thesis focuses on the indoor environmental quality, the thermal comfort of the pilot house. Prior to the field visit, the significant parameters for the in situ measurement and the comfort standards for the region are chosen by literature studies. A systematic measurement plan is made in order to perform in situ measurements and field study. The measurements are done for a period of nine days. In addition to this, one of the objectives of the research is to develop an economical measuring and remotely accessible monitoring device for the thermal comfort parameters. It is achieved by programming Raspberry Pi and DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor. Hypotheses are formulated after the field visit. Then the measured data is sorted systematically and analysed. This analysed data is further studied and the comfort performance of the house is compared with the comfort standards of the region. It is found that the performance is quite satisfactory for all the spaces in the house except the attic space, which has higher temperatures than the upper comfort level. Moreover the usability of the existing doors needs improvement in terms of controlling privacy and air velocity. For the improvements, it is envisioned to have minimal interventions to the existing design and construction. For this two options are put forward. Both the options are compared with the existing design by making DesignBuilder models. The simulation results of the models are compared to find the better performing strategy. Final design is made with the inference from the comparison of the simulation results, and visits to the local architecture. From the final design, the following design improvement recommendations are put forward for the housing type: “openings for ventilation at sleeping height in the attic floor” “openings at top of the roof to enhance stack effect” “collapsible doors with louvered shutters for providing users with more option in controlling air velocity and privacy”

Philippine low-income housing is uncomfortable since it is not built to deal with the hot and humid climate in a passive way. Since local vernacular architecture is known to have a good climatic responsive performance, the aim of this research is to learn how Philippine vernacular design strategies can improve thermal comfort for low-lying, sub-urban and rural, low-income housing. The strategies studied are openings, eaves, stilts, orientation, roof insulation and roof angle.
 Two-day in-situ thermal measurements are used to study the comfort performance of the housing typology. To study the influence of the strategies or combinations of them on comfort, numerical predictions are used consisting of energy and CFD, wind-driven simulations. The numerical models are validated before the strategies are varied on a general case or a case study. The average exceeding temperature (AET) in Kelvin is used to assess comfort. It is calculated by accumulating for every hour of the year the exceeding temperature in Kelvin and divide this by the amount of hours that could be uncomfortable. A conceptual implementation study is performed to take disaster resilient and practical considerations into account. The impact of varying the strategies on the case study resulted in a reduction in AET of about 5 K for openings, 0.7 K for orientation, 0.6 K for eaves, 0.5 K for stilts and 0.1 K for roof insulation. On this basis, it can concluded that applying the guidelines as stated below, comfort increases significantly. More impact can be obtained if the strategies are implemented and combined as described by the passive design guidelines below. • To increase wind driven ventilation in wind direction, openings should be made on the wind- and leeward facade until ground floor, have an opening height (O_h) based on the facade height (F_h) by the rule of thumb: O_h[m]=0.85·F_h[m], include a leeward roof opening and include openings on the remaining facades. • Dependent on the wind direction, the openings should be opened accordingly. If no wind is present, all roof openings should be opened. During typhoons, they should be closed. • As much open area on facades in the main monsoon wind direction is advised. The openings on the other facades should be placed in the middle of the width to increase the performance with wind coming from the other directions. • Hinged eaves with a 15° angle and length calculated by the rule of thumb:  E_l,15°[m]=0.6·F_h[m] should be used. During typhoons they should be folded in to decrease the related pressures.
• Increasing stilts height increases comfort by an exponential decay. To determine the height, a comfort increase of about 0.17 K for 1 meter, 0.30 K for 2 meter and 0.40 K for 3 meter in AET reduction are obtained. Braced, wooden stilts are advised to protect against floods and increase earthquake resilient behaviour. • A roof insulation with an Rc-value of 1 m²K/W is advised to gain about 0.2 K AET. Further research is needed on buoyancy driven ventilation to improve the provided design guidelines.

All around the world floods are a growing problem. Dealing with high water levels in residential areas is of great importance. The delta area of Macabebe, in the Manila Bay, has to cope with daily flooding, caused by the river and the sea. Groundwater is pumped and used for local industry, causing land subsidence and worsening the problems. Where once rice fields were the main source of income, these fields are now fishponds where fish escape during a large flood. Additionally, typhoons strike the region regularly. Due to climate change and the ongoing ground subsidence the problems won’t lessen, so a solution needs to be found. In the Netherlands, multiple organizations are working daily on finding solutions. One of these is Finch Floating Homes, who designed a typhoon resilient, floating home for in the Philippines. This design had to be elaborated on before construction of a pilot project. This report contains the needed changes and advice for the design of the floating home. Through research, local interviews and analysis, the design of the house has been improved on the roof, sanitary system and mooring system and a construction plan has been created for the pilot project.

Based on a revision of the roof shape, the hip roof turned out to be the best shape in a typhoon prone area. During the design, the geometry of the housing unit was slightly changed into a double symmetrical geometry, increasing constructability and simplicity of the house. The design of the roof structure and its connections, consisting of four identical prefabricated frames, is presented. After prefabrication, the frames will be connected on-site, after which the newly designed foldable balconies will be placed in the frames. The material used in the design is corrugated steel roof sheeting.
The final roof shape is used to calculate the rainwater collection. The floating house requires a self-sustaining system that fulfils the needs of drinking water and wastewater treatment. This
system consists of three separate systems: (1) rainwater harvesting, consisting of a drainage system, first flush barrel system and sand filter. (2) Storage of water, capable of storing sufficient water for one-third of the total usage over 80% of the year. (3) Wastewater, based on natural treatment before discharge into the surface water, containing a septic tank and wetland filter.
The water management system within the foundation, the wind load on the house, waves and currents influence the motions of the floating structure and the forces on the mooring system. An analysis of the options for mooring systems leads to the decision of using mooring piles. The total stiffness of the piles influences the horizontal motion and rotation of the platform. The vertical motion is a free behaviour; it is not influenced by the mooring piles. It is needed to choose a specific combination of pile length and bending stiffness, after which the strength of the pile is checked.
The design is used for the project construction plan, focussing on the time, risk and change management of the pilot project. The resources and construction activities and their duration were identified to develop a schedule for controlling the construction phase. Preparations and construction of the pilot will take 13 weeks, but includes several risks. Response strategies for these risks are proposed, to use for a risk mitigation plan. Finally, advice is given on how to manage possible design changes regarding new research, development of design and up-scaling changes after a successful pilot project.

With the use of this report and more detailed research and design, the pilot project will be an optimal test of the floating house in the Philippines.