The current condition of urban fragmentation in Bogotá
is the result of a long and complex historical process that (due to both external pressures related to the urban planning paradigms of modernity, as well as internal pressures from the Colombian armed conflict) has ended up defining a certain stance in the city’s development, both towards its natural environment and towards the various social groups inhabiting it. On one hand, the constant imposition
of progress models has ended up disintegrating the relationship that
the urban fabric has with ecological structures, generating a city that occurs on the margins of landscape dynamics. On the other hand, within the city planning process, the extensive internal cultural diversity of Bogotá has not been taken into account, resulting from forced displacement generated by the armed conflict, which led during the second half of the 20th century to a growing concentration
of different communities (originating from different regions) of the country in the main cities.
This thesis contemplates a series of strategies, both participatory and urban renewal, aimed at the urban cohesion of Bogotá. Through the implementation of the theory of “Design for the Pluriverse”, social and ecological diversity is embraced as a potential for city planning. This thesis focuses on a historical and spatial analysis of the conditions that led to Bogotá’s current condition through
a literature review and the use of GIS tools, resulting in a two-part proposal. The first part is a Participatory framework (Bottom-Up) to promote community-led land management. The second part consists of an
Urban Design (Top-Down) aimed at rehabilitating the ecosystem in which these communities reside.

This research is about designing for people with dementia. The Dutch population is aging and
double aging, causing an increase of people with dementia. This also causes a growing imbalance between people who need care and people who can provide care. Adding to this are the current living arrangements for people with dementia not sufficient. Therefore the central question in this research is: what living environment features can contribute to the quality of life of people with dementia, and provide them with the care they need.

The aim of this research is to define design guidelines that provide people with dementia with sufficient housing and a qualitative living environment through all stages of dementia. And to see if this can contribute to the efficiency in care, so that people with dementia can still get the care they need.

This research obtains information through literature study, case studies and a fieldwork in an elderly care home to provide an answer to the main question. This research defines four main topics that contribute to the quality of life of people with dementia: distinctiveness, familiarity, independence and biophilic. This research investigates these topics on different scales. First the scale of the dwelling, than the building, and at last the near surroundings. Finally, this research has a chapter from the perspective of the caregiver on the living environment for people with dementia. This results in design guidelines.

It can be concluded from this research that by bringing together the fields of dementia,
dementia care and architecture, a qualitative living environment can be created for people
with dementia with a high quality of life. A higher quality of life will contribute to the efficiency of care and a decrease in the demand for care.

This research delves into the intersection of collective trauma and urban design within the micro-districts of Alytus, Lithuania. It aims to understand how participatory urban design can facilitate the healing of collective trauma while enhancing public spaces. The research focuses on the long-term renovation of buildings constructed during the Soviet occupation, a process impacting 60% of Lithuania's population. Alytus, our case study, has an urban fabric that was marked by the stamp of modernistic prefabricated blocks, that presents a unique challenge and opportunity for addressing collective memory and trauma.

Employing a multi-method approach, this research integrates literature reviews, case studies, spatial analysis, and participatory design exercises to explore the spatial dynamics of trauma recovery. Central to the study is the development of an engagement strategy based on trauma research, and the design of a participatory tool and process to test the initial phase of this new strategy. This strategy emphasizes the need for trust-building, safety, inclusivity, and community connectivity in micro-districts.

Key findings suggest that examining the process of building and public space renovation through the lens of trauma necessitates rethinking and challenging the existing tools and methods used in participatory design sessions involving public, private, and civic stakeholders. The project proposes a new three-step participatory strategy for designing public spaces in micro-districts. In addition to identifying the urban and social issues of the Vidzgiris micro-district, the research presents a vision for transforming public spaces. This transformation proposes a new hierarchy and identity for various public spaces, aiming to facilitate both individual and collective trauma recovery.

The research proposes that reshaping the existing participatory process can aid in acknowledging and recovering from collective trauma caused by the soviet occupation. This participatory process fosters learning, exploring and transforming together, and aims to enhance shared spaces to promote social cohesion among residents. The focus is on three distinct public spaces: the courtyards, the green corridors, and the railway park. These areas are examined for potential spatial interventions aimed at promoting both individual and collective trauma recovery, while also enhancing the spaces through the lens of climate mitigation.

Contributing to the broader discourse on urban resilience, this study offers insights into how cities can address historical traumas through thoughtful urban planning and design. It underscores the potential of urban design as a tool for recovery and community rebuilding, providing a framework adaptable to other post-traumatic urban contexts globally.

The world is facing an escalating environmental crisis marked by major socio-ecological losses. Human-induced environmental threats, like biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution, underscore the onset of the Earth's sixth mass extinction, recently termed ‘ecocide’. Despite the urgent warnings from the scientific community and growing public awareness, inadequate and insufficient action has been taken to address the environmental crisis. In addition, recent research has shown that people are increasingly experiencing anxiety and feelings of hopelessness concerning these environmental issues, which prevents meaningful engagement with these topics. Yet, the role of emotions is often neglected in the Western discourse, impeding public acknowledgement of ecological grief (eco-grief).
This study recognises eco-grief as a legitimate response and the process of eco-grief as a catalyst for true engagement and pro-environmental attitudes, demonstrating how this alternative approach can inform the governance and planning of eco-centric cities. A conceptual framework based on Latour’s cognitive, emotional, and aesthetic virtues, the process of eco-grief and the X-curve for societal transitions is used to understand how people perceive the ongoing crisis.
Rotterdam Noord is taken as a case study, and a survey is used to gather citizens’ perceptions of nature, their experiences of ecological loss and grief, and their attachments to their local environment. In combination with a spatial and a governance analysis, a governance strategy is designed to create both physical and mental space for eco-grief to exist and be acknowledged in the urban context in order to contribute to a societal change towards eco-centric values. The strategy involves three elements focussed on building the relationship with our environment, revealing environmental losses and coping with the corresponding feelings.
This research contributes to debates around eco-grief by providing empirical insights from an urban setting while addressing urban-specific challenges like the “anti-urban bias” and the “shifting baseline syndrome”.

This research addresses the heavy metal soil pollution of the IJmond region caused by the presence of the industry for over a hundred years. Currently, Tata Steel’s steel industry is transitioning towards Green Steel production, which will decrease air pollution significantly; this does not solve the issue of soil pollution that has accumulated over the years within the region. Even though heavy metals in the soil surpass the legally allowed concentration, nothing is being done about it. Heavy metal soil pollution influences human health when interacting with the soil and can indirectly contaminate produce grown on the soil. Due to this decennia-long pollution of the steel industry, the value of the surrounding landscape (the IJmond region) has decreased, limiting the residents’ health and future potential for development. That is why this research will focus on how to return value to the IJmond region in the Green Steel future of the steel industry. This will be done by creating a strategy concentrating on the spatial impact of soil pollution and the societal impact on the residents in working towards healthy soil again.
The revaluing strategy will focus on three sub-values: the current value that should be maintained, the intended value that should be created and the process value of ensuring a just process in revaluing the landscape. The current value is the presence of the steel industry within the region and how it is engrained within the societal structure of the IJmond region. A consequence of the presence of this current value is soil pollution, which causes a conflict with the livability of the region. This is why the intended value is a healthy soil that returns livability and remediates pollution. The process value stresses the need for an inclusive process that creates agency and transparency for residents.
The strategy combines these values by integrating collaborative governance with spatial remediation, both of which are essential to realising healthy soil on a large scale. This is done in four phases that focus not only on planting, maintaining, and harvesting plants that clean the soil through phytoremediation but also on creating stakeholder interaction and engagement.

Accessibility is a fundamental concept concerning urban and transport planning as it is the elementary basis for socio-economic development in cities. It can be described as the potential to reach spatially distributed opportunities. Recent research has identified that excluding person-based features from this analysis might cause inaccurate measurement of accessibility. Age, gender, and income, for instance, are responsible for varying accessibility levels drastically. In addition, studies worldwide have shown that women face different challenges in reaching locations and spatially distributed opportunities. Despite the findings, this research identifies a gap in understanding how a person-based perspective, mainly gender, and other personal characteristics, affect accessibility levels, considering various travel purposes and transport modes. Thus, this research aims to answer the question, ”How do person-based characteristics, mainly gender, can impact accessibility levels?”. The primary objective is to explore how these characteristics influence accessibility metrics, identify the urban groups most affected by the absence of this perspective, and determine the key personal characteristics that significantly impact accessibility levels. To address these objectives, this study considers a combination of quantitative and case-study research approaches. It investigates the Metropolitan Region Rotterdam- The Hague in The Netherlands by applying surveys to obtain perceived accessibility data. In the same region, spatial analysis is conducted by mapping transport networks and points of interest. Then, this study compares spatially calculated accessibility with self-reported accessibility and the presence of mismatches. In addition, cluster analysis identifies the urban profiles most vulnerable to mismatches and their main characteristics. A Binary logistic regression is conducted to determine the variables’ importance in the mismatch occurrence. From the survey answers, it is identified that women have less access to cars than men. In addition, the comparison between perceived accessibility and spatial accessibility uncovers that women present the most critical mismatches to reach activities by car. In other words, several women perceive the car as an impractical option to access points of interest that are spatially considered reachable by car. It raises the hypothesis that the lack of car access highly impacts their accessibility perception. Furthermore, the clustering analysis reveals that foreign women exhibit a higher prevalence of car-related mismatches when compared to other urban groups. Moreover, this research identifies that fathers of young children also encounter greater disparities across all transportation modes. Additionally, the binary logistic regression underscores the importance of safety as a critical factor influencing women’s perception of walking as a viable mode of transportation. This safety importance is also identified from the survey answers. The findings raise new hypotheses that warrant investigation in transport engineering, urban planning, and social sciences. Consequently, this research can contribute to developing more inclusive transport policies and establishing a more equitable transport system.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly being used around the globe as a climate action tool. In the Global South, which faces significant climate risks, higher urbanisation rates emphasise the importance of climate justice. While social valuations and interactions with nature-based solutions have been well researched, the relationships between nature-based solutions and social vulnerability to climate change remain difficult to capture. Furthermore, there exist little support for decision-makers to integrate social vulnerability into NbS planning. In this thesis, a social vulnerability framework to determine ecosystem service demand is presented using principal component analysis (PCA), and used with an NbS matching model to determine the types and locations of NbS to be prioritised, applied to a case study of Cape Town, South Africa. The presented framework allows for leveraging openly available quantitative data sets and incorporating different risk factors, while depending on expert interviews to contextualise the model and emphasize its limitations. Three potential policy considerations are recommended for the city of Cape Town to facilitate climate just NbS implementation: cooperation with conservation, potential for climate adaptation and justice, and the importance of community involvement. Using this method of prioritisation and selection, decision-makers of the city of Cape Town can incorporate climate justice into its urban planning for NbS, while taking consideration of the framework limitations and restrictions.

Tolerance is an essential tool of peaceful coexistence that allows diversity to flourish and a multicultural pluralist society to function. In times of globalisation, digitalisation, and polarization, it is becoming more critical than ever. Nevertheless, tolerance faces multiple issues. As a concept, it is being washed up, belittled, and critiqued either for its extensiveness or narrowness. Consequently, it became a vague notion, posing the question of what it means in contemporary society. Is it emotion, feeling, or attitude? How does it relate to other concepts of inclusivity and justice? In addition, even with an increasing amount of studies, there is still a gap in knowledge about the relationship between tolerance and space. It is still largely unknown how one associate with the other, what forces are affecting this link and how to use it to facilitate tolerance. Moreover, Kaunas, my hometown and choice as a case-study area, has very explicit issues regarding discriminatory but also changing attitudes, making it an optimal location to investigate (in)tolerance and conditions for it. Therefore in this paper I embark on a journey to study this concept, following the main research question: how can spatial and policy planning be used to foster more tolerant attitudes towards difference in everyday Kaunas?
Tolerance is subjective, partly non-representational, and unconscious. For this reason, I chose to use a mixed-methods explorative approach, combining comprehensive theoretical and empirical analyses. I consolidated spatial observations, institutional research, in-depth unstructured interviews, extensive literature and media review, and poetic investigation of artistic mediums. Through these methods, I integrated knowledge from a diverse range of disciplines, from psychology and philosophy to urban planning and architecture.
The fusion of multiple methods and disciplines allowed me to conclude on conceptual and spatial aspects of tolerance. By integrating tolerance into the affect theory, I argue that it is a process which, through encounter, transforms one state of being into another, meaning that tolerant attitudes are in constant flux. I transferred this new definition into the theoretical framework, which guided my empirical investigation in Kaunas. Based on unstructured interviews and an analysis of multiple cases, I uncovered a force affecting people’s attitudes in Lithuania – the Tolerance Event. It is a very active form of encounter that ruptures the passive status quo while at the same time addressing severe socio-cultural issues and allowing people to get to know diversity. Building on this theory, I propose multiple strategies as an example of how to use the Tolerance Event in Kaunas. They involve funding, policy, institutions, design, and planning proposals and are covered by one central vision – to become the Brave Tolerance City, Kaunas needs More Tolerance Events.

As the effects of climate change are more and more materializing around the globe it is ever more important to reduce our reliance on a fossil fuel based energy system. When coupling this to an ongoing trend of urbanization in many places across the world, the energy systems of our cities become of particular interest. However, the transition away from a fossil fuel based system towards a renewable energy based system is a complex sociotechnical process that in part relies on the extent to which households are able to adopt energy efficient technologies. Not all households are equally capable of investing in these technologies, causing some households to have better access to participate in the renewable energy transition. This unequal access to the renewable energy transition causes an unequitable distribution of energy efficient technologies and could potentially lock-in or perpetuate current injustices. To prevent this from happening there is a need for energy policy that supports socioeconomic groups across society, that have inadequate access to the renewable energy transition. In order to design such policy it is essential to first of all identify who these groups are, and secondly where they are located. As the renewable energy transition is still in its early stages, these insights are currently lacking in literature.

Considering the fact that solar PV is a major driver of the renewable energy transition, this thesis in part addresses this knowledge gap by spatially analyzing which socioeconomic groups in the urban environment lack access to solar PV and where these groups are located. Access to solar PV in this context is defined as: the freedom of individuals or households to decide whether or not to adopt residential solar PV energy resources, dependent on the existence of one or more barriers. Secondly, does the research assess how access to solar PV resources spatially intersects with the ability to generate solar energy through these resources. The location that is selected as the area of study for this research is the city of The Hague, Netherlands. A framework is constructed to assess access to solar PV using the Theory of Planned Behavior originating from social sciences, which is frequently used to model adoption behavior of novel energy technologies. To evaluate the technical PV potential of the case-area the ArcGIS Solar Analyst Tool is applied. A K-means clustering analysis is performed to find any meaningful patterns in the distribution of access to solar PV across the area of study.

The key findings of this study are:
•Access to solar PV resources is unequally distributed across the Hague. Large parts of The Hague have unfavorable characteristics for solar PV adoption.
•The highest levels of technical PV potential are found in areas that are considered to have poor access to solar PV. As a consequence, currently the majority of technical PV potential within the case area is likely to remain unexploited due to poor access to solar PV within these areas.
•There is a need for energy policy that focuses on the groups that have poor access to solar PV and are unserved by current energy policy focused on stimulating adoption of solar PV. These groups are non-home owners in the private rental sector, home-owners that share ownership of the roof of a shared building and households that are provided housing by social housing corporations.

Further research could focus on exploring and evaluating policy design that is aimed at supporting socioeconomic groups that currently lack access to the renewable energy transition. This is important in order to ensure that the renewable energy transition makes its way throughout all layers of society.

In the wake of tackling energy poverty by its roots and protecting vulnerable groups, the European Commission introduced the so-called Renovation Wave, aiming to renovate 35 million inefficient buildings by 2050. However, even though the Renovation Wave was aimed to tackle energy poverty, recent studies have shown that renovation policies have failed to address energy poverty as renovation and social policies lack intersectoral integration resulting in the exclusion of vulnerable groups and an increased risk of social inequity. Moreover, various scholars have tried to identify vulnerability indicators that give rise to energy poverty; however, these have only focused on identifying socio-
economic and energy indicators. Consequently, scholars have called to include justice in renovation policies and explore how vulnerable groups can be identified. To address this knowledge gap, the following main research question was formulated:

Using a Case-Study Mixed Methods (CS-MM) approach, how can justice be included in renovation policies considering the socio-spatial vulnerability to energy poverty?

The results showed that by identifying vulnerable groups based on a locally developed index of the socio-spatial vulnerability to energy poverty and acknowledging their vulnerability, recognitional justice can be included in renovation policies. Besides, identifying tailored policy strategies in a multi-stakeholder environment that, on the one hand, focus on the distribution of renovation resources based on the needs and characteristics of the identified vulnerable groups and, on the other hand, on how the vulnerable groups can be included in the decision-making, distributional and procedural justice can be included in renovation policies. Thus, it can be concluded that by deploying the current CS-MM approach, justice can be included. 
The outcomes of the present study are twofold. Firstly, from a scientific perspective, the present study contributes to the current body of scientific knowledge on: (1) how vulnerable groups in need of renovation can be identified, (2) how justice can be included in renovation policies to address energy poverty and (3) how a CS-MM approach can be deployed to research how justice can be included in renovation policies considering the socio-spatial vulnerability to energy poverty. Secondly, from a societal perspective, this study provides insights to improve policy strategies that enable local decision-makers to identify vulnerable groups and include justice in renovation, considering the socio-spatial vulnerability to energy poverty.

Cities around the world constitute complex systems, as sets of sub-components that are connected and interact with each other. Due to this inherent complexity, there are numerous emerging challenges that need to be tackled. In those complex environments, various-interest groups collaborate and compete to achieve their goals and interests, constituting a vital part of urban planning. The advancement of technology and ICT, and the abiding need to keep citizens engaged, marked a critical shift in the way that urban planning confronts the increasingly contemporary complex issues. This advancement has offered citizens a way to digitally participate in urban planning procedures, overcoming certain limitations, while posing, also, challenges related to the level of its effectiveness.
While many methods and tools have been developed over the years, for enhancing citizen engagement and the effectiveness of public participation, there seems to be an evident gap in substantial and two-way collaboration among the (relevant) urban stakeholders. This thesis project aims to hark the perspectives and needs of the urban stakeholders, translating them into a conceptual design of a digital public participation platform. Next to that, except for the importance of the platform itself, as a tool, the focus was also given to participation, as a process, considering that such a platform could and should act as a promoter of effective public participation rather than a stand-alone solution. Consequently, the main research question of this study is: Which characteristics need to be included in designing a public participation platform so that it can enhance citizen engagement and facilitate more effective public participation in urban planning?
For this research, a design science research approach was chosen. A theoretical background was developed on existing theories, methods and frameworks related to public participation and digital platforms. Data collection was conducted using multiple methods, including workshops, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires, while data analysis was conducted inductively, to identify all the emerging patterns and their interrelations.
From the data analysis, five core themes emerged: General findings; (De)Motivational factors for public participation; Characteristics; Technical requirements; Technological features. Retaining these themes, the analyzed results were then critically synthesized, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, to provide a holistic overview.
Combing the obtained results, the main research outputs were developed, providing an overall answer to the main research question. First, a trifold validation of the results, related to the past, present, and future, was conducted, fulfilling the rigor and design cycle of the design science research, and attaining a continuous assessment. Building upon the evaluation results, for the platform as a tool, a conceptual design was developed, based on the different views of the urban stakeholders. For the process of public participation in general, a set of guidelines was developed, providing recommendations on how to enhance citizen engagement and the effectiveness of public participation, based on the different views of the urban stakeholders.
This thesis concludes with some important final remarks, including limitations, recommendations for future research, research relevance, and the author’s final reflections on the research.

As the urban population grows worldwide and cities are becoming increasingly unequal and segregated, Urban Commons emerge as a potential driver of inclusion and resilience for city dwellers. According to Feinberg et al. (2021), Urban Commons can promote social, environmental, and economic resilience, and Park et al. (2020) suggest they can act as a haven for the excluded. Commons could, therefore, become a policy alternative to address the grand urban challenges of the 21st Century.
However, it is still unclear whether the benefits of Urban Commons are ultimately accessible to the culturally and socioeconomically vulnerable. For instance, in a literature review study, Huron (2017) found significant uncertainties in how Urban Commons relate to feminism, race, gender, and ethnicity – factors that could constitute immaterial barriers of access, following Vrasti & Dayal’s (2017) terminology. In fact, while several studies have investigated the commons’ role in promoting urban justice, explorations of whether access to the commons itself is just have been neglected.

This master’s thesis explores what constitutes material and immaterial barriers to accessing Urban Commons to understand whether these initiatives can work, policy-wise, as a driver of social inclusion. 29 Urban Commons in Amsterdam were selected as a case study. A quantitative geo-spatial analysis was conducted to evaluate the material accessibility to each initiative. In parallel, commoners were surveyed about their perception of immaterial barriers and benefits of commoning. Finally, a representative of the municipality of Amsterdam was interviewed to assess the potential challenges and benefits of policies involving Urban Commons.

Concurring with Park et al. (2020), the case study findings suggest commons could indeed promote social inclusion. Moreover, it was also found that the excluded could face, in addition to the initially proposed material and immaterial walls, an ecosystem barrier to access commons. Yet this could be addressed from a policy standpoint with the development of a commons ecosystem that is capable of scaling the benefits of commoning across an entire city.

The results have academic and societal relevance. This study provides a new theoretical framework to research the factors influencing access to commons and also contributes to literature with a unique city-wide case study. It can also function as a reference for policy-makers who wish to learn about the commons landscape in Amsterdam and who interested in understanding the factors that contribute to participation in a commons.

In the wake of more inclusive and sustainable cities, as targeted in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 11, public administrators and urban planners aspire to incorporate the pluralism of public values into decision making. Although theoretical work exists since the 1990, public values and their conflicts are yet to be empirically identified and applied in a context of relational urban space. This study makes use of a case study-mixed methods approach combining a quantitative strand to identify public values and their conflicts from geo-located citizen contributions using natural language processing with a qualitative strand that leverages expert workshops. Integrating the findings from both strands embedded in the case study of Hamburg, Germany, there is evidence for a broader conceptualization of public values. In a new conceptual tool named "public value spheres", the main identified public values of social equity, livability, economic opportunity, ecologic quality, safety, health and conservatism are displayed. A total of nine archetypical spatial public value conflicts were found within Hamburg, among them the newly identified "externality conflict", "dangers of nature conflict" and the "drawback of beauty conflict". The findings provide urban planners and practitioners with a new tool to account for the value-laden nature of relational urban space in future participatory processes. The citizenry itself could profit from a better discourse due to aggregation of voices in participatory tools and a transparent mapping of public values that creates a sense of the pluralism of public values within a city. Future research is needed to expand the conceptual tool of public value spheres with case studies of different cities and to investigate possible constituting socioeconomic factors of public values within urban planning.