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.

This thesis investigates the practical connection between health-promoting evidence and the spatial design of blue spaces. This endeavour aims to develop instrumental resources that facilitate the integration of the health benefits of natural environments into actionable strategies, thereby augmenting the development of design research and enhancing understanding of the nature-health nexus. The research methodically examines three interrelated aspects: understanding the academic contexts and methodological preparation from the design perspective, development of qualitative and quantitative design knowledge for fulfilling health benefits of blue spaces, and applications and reflections on proposed knowledge through design workshops and interviews. Initially, the thesis outlines the relationship between blue space and health from a design perspective, identifying a significant, unexplored gap. It then proposes a methodological framework to translate health-promoting evidence of blue spaces into design knowledge for practices. Subsequently, this thesis employs interdisciplinary techniques, integrating both qualitative and quantitative approaches, to generate varied types of design knowledge, including distilling worldwide precedent cases, summarising diverse geospatial and visualisation tools, and translating site-based evidence using spatiotemporal crowdsourcing data. The effectiveness and usability of the proposed knowledge are evaluated through design workshops, complemented by expert interviews across various fields, providing insights that reflect on the research outcomes and suggest future directions. Overall, by focusing on the interactive relationship between research and design, the principal contribution of this research lies in its attempt to translate theoretical evidence from public health into practical design interventions, exploring the potential of interdisciplinary tools and methods in facilitating this process.@en

My design focuses on creating a community space in Kanarya, Istanbul, with two main goals. The primary goal is to establish a safe space that provides all the necessary tools which are needed after an earthquake disaster. The residents of the neighborhood can come together in the self-sustaining building, which serves as a gathering point (based on the AFAD designated areas) after a disaster to have a safe space, away from the probably destroyed city. Later the building will facilitate the community with its “healing” character and give the community the space to recover after a disaster. The second goal is to use the proposed building before a disaster occurs. The reasoning behind that is so that communities can get familiar with the facilities, and create memories and a sense of belonging to the place. The building design, of a community kitchen, in the neighborhood Kanarya (before the disaster) contributes not only to the daily lives of residents but also to the overall development of the are by creating employment opportunities and facilities that attract people from neighboring localities. The community kitchen aims to provide inhabitants with a daily goal that aligns with the community’s needs. Keeping these requirements in mind, the community kitchen in Kanarya will include a market area and workshop spaces. Here, residents will be able to grow food, cook together, start small crafting projects, such as knitting, and have the opportunity to sell their creations, which aims to provide economic growth within the community. Many design decisions made during the design process are primarily based on the experience of people after the earthquakes on the 6th of February 2023 in Kahramanmaraş. This knowledge was mainly acquired during my work for the Architectural Recovery Team, a foundation created with fellow students to reconstruct long-term housing after the disaster. Besides that, my design decisions are based on the research conducted about disaster preparedness and the psychological influences of space to create a resilient city.

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 thesis critically examines existing dichotomies in the spatial and tem- poral aspects of (elder)care provision ranging from concepts of private and public space, over the family, the welfare state, and the private market as central units of care. Moreover, it actively questions the contemporary spa- tial representations of these three units because eldercare is often hidden in the private household, the nursing home in the urban periphery, or ageing is treated as a lifestyle for the affluent. The theoretical repositioning of these aspects is then reflected in a spatial understanding through the scales: from the regional of the Grand Re- gion Luxembourg to the neighbourhood level in Howald, Bonnevoie, and Hamm. The context shows a highly mobile labour market in general and in the field of health and long-term care. Currently, Luxembourg is dependent on cross-border workers from its neighbouring countries. With the general ageing of European populations, the ageing of cross-borders will be a chal- lenge for the labour market in the region. Next to this challenge, the thesis examines the relationship between care and the private household. More- over, the family as an institution of care is becoming ever more heteroge- neous regarding cultural background, composition, and size, which is often not reflected in policies and models of care provision and housing. Ranging from theory on social reproductive labour, gender, and spatial jus- tice, the thesis uses utopian precedents to imagine new ways of communal life centred around care. It presents scenarios that explore future trends in mobility and technology and their application in care work. These scenar- ios function as imaginaries for a collective future beyond binary concep- tions of care work and offer a new direction in the planning of housing and care provision. By later presenting the personal experience of the caregiver and receiver through speculative storytelling, the study advocates for more agency for both groups alike in planning and governing care.

The Syrian conflict, beginning in 2011, has escalated into a complex crisis marked by the aggressive response of the Assad regime and geopolitical power struggles. Humanitarian consequences, including mass displacement, neoliberal reconstruction policies, and environmental degradation, pose substantial risks. The 2023 earthquake has made the humanitarian situation severely worse. Oversimplification, selective compassion, and a business-oriented research approach hinder comprehensive academic engagement. This multifaceted problem manifests as the appropriation, oversight, and commodification of the Syrian narrative, evoking a sense of a stolen story among Syrians. The thesis will reclaim the Syrian narrative by researching the procedural urban practices that have contributed to the conflict and have led to the worsening of the violations. It will investigate how spatial planning can be a narrative tool to provoke change, provide alternative realities, and bring war-torn societies back together. That is, by first analyzing and mapping the unjust spatial consequences of the authoritarian practices before and after the uprising and, second, embracing the current grassroots movements. As a result, the thesis will provide a framework for change that deals with the political complexity of the context and provides a conciliation tool toward social-political reconciliation. Those different outcomes contribute to bringing justice, freedom, and co-existence back to Syrians.

This research introduces The Forest of the Future, a transformative visionary that reimagines European forests as multifunctional, sustainable spatial structures extending over land and sea. It confronts current environmental challenges, including deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change, by proposing an innovative spatial strategy for the BeNeLux bioregion within a broader European context. The strategy aims to integrate forestation within other land uses enhancing ecological, social, and economic values towards a sustainable future by 2100. Based on conceptual frameworking and a multi-criteria decision analysis, it evaluates current land use, soil quality, climate zones, biodiversity, and the state of marine environments, proposing new forest types and forestry-based regenerative agricultural practices. The envisioned forest network serves not just as a carbon sink but as a catalyst for biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and community well-being.

Achieving this transition requires a multifaceted approach, including policy reform, stakeholder engagement, and the development of a strategic implementation plan that aligns with regional and European sustainability goals. This strategy requires a combination of regulating, stimulating, engaging and capacity building instruments, Additionally, the transition to a forest-based land use system requires a combination of policies tailored to ‘planting the seeds’ in the near future, launching the Future Forest, and ones ensuring the healthy maturation of those ecosystems over the following decades. The research concludes with an evaluation of potential impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, suggesting significant contributions towards Europe’s climate goals of climate neutrality.

Only 1% of the surface water in the Netherlands has been classified as ‘good’, making it the EU member state with the worst quality of surface water (Didde, 2022). Polluted rivers cause problems such as worsened human health, reduced biodiversity, and poor soil fertility. To comply with the Water Framework Directive, there is an urgent need to transform water management in the Netherlands. This report adopts a research-by-design approach to address the issue of water pollution on a pilot project scale, specifically the river Eem in the Netherlands. The policies and interventions implemented in the river Eem area are categorised according to their transferability to different programming areas, namely urban, industry, or agriculture, creating a toolbox that can be used to upscale the same approach in various parts of the Eurodelta. The report answers the following research question: How can the transformation of the Eem Valley turn the river Eem into the healthiest river in Europe as a pilot for the Eurodelta? It catalyses rethinking pollution flows from human activities, industries, and agricultural practices. The goal is to develop sustainable practices for the land surrounding the river and create a synergy between improved soil and water quality. Finally, the report concludes with a toolbox of interventions and policies that contribute to improving river water quality. The toolbox forms the basis for implementing this small-scale approach on a larger scale

Nitrogen is an essential element of planetary life. Yet, human actions create such a surplus of its derivatives like ammonia (NH3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that the naturally occurring amounts doubled, causing a cascade of environmental and societal problems.
Our research studies dairy farming in North-West Europe with a focus on the Netherlands, as this industry is responsible for most nitrogen-related problems. The starting point of the project is the parliamentary letter ‘Nationaal Programma Landelijk Gebied’ (National Rural Area Program), which offers the alternatives of quitting, transforming or relocating dairy farms in areas where the nitrogen surplus exceeds critical loads. We reevaluated this approach using the methods of extreme scenarios, in-depth stakeholder analysis, as well as layering and clustering areas with high nitrogen deposition, pasture lands and socio-geopolitical issues. This led us to the realisation that a substantial spatial and societal transition is needed in order to reach balance again. The goal of this study is therefore to recalibrate the nitrogen cycle by radically changing current dairy production practices. We created a gradient from quitting to transforming farms and pastures, based on the theories of transitional landscapes and socially just transitions, resulting in a toolbox of eight strategic interventions, as well as a thorough policy framework. We choose a multi-scalar approach to test the new typologies, starting from the Netherlands, looking at the Groningen - Friesland - Drenthe region, further zooming in on the municipality of Ooststellingwerf, showing the phasing of the strategy from a human perspective. Essential lessons learned are the importance of collaboration on all scales, as well as the flexibility and openness towards change, whether it is technological or societal. Finally, based on these findings we extended our zoom to the scale of North-West Europe, giving suggestions to regions with similar problems.
This project describes a possible future based on our interpretation of the parliamentary letter, giving an intriguing input to decision makers on what their policies could mean, hoping to change the discourse regarding nitrogen, shifting its perception from pollution to a valuable resource. Welcome to Nitrotopia!

With the rise of all-electric buildings the load on the electrical grid grows. This could slow down the energy transition and densification of existing neighbourhoods as the current grid is not capable to withstand a higher load. This research gathers literature on different peak shaving techniques to create a clear overview and investigates the impact on the load profile when techniques are combined. This new insight in combined techniques will provide a solid basis to develop a more detailed modelling tool to simulate the actual energy use and generation on a daily and annual basis. The load profiles of these techniques are combined with the existing energy demand curve to see how these techniques reduce peak loads that occur during the day. To asses the influence on the annual load curve the ZED-tool was used to simulate peak shaving techniques on a case-study building. The results show that a combination of outside insulation, sun shading and a heat pump flatten the daily and annual load profile significantly. However the implementation of east and west facing façade PV in combination with wind energy decreases the peak loads the most. Finally when all techniques are combined with a battery a building block can become not only energy neutral but almost self sufficient.

These research results were developed into a design for the renovation of a post-war appartmentbuilding in Haarlem Schalkwijk. In the new design other topics like densification, flexibility and climate adaptation were addressed as well to improve the post-war neighbourhood. This design is a base for a bigger renovation strategy that could be implemented in multiple post-war neighbourhoods in the Netherlands.

This work examines the critical theory of public participation through a case study of the post-shipyard area redevelopment in Gdańsk, Poland, interrogating the relevance of such processes in a context where cultural heritage is crucial, but there is also an urgent need for new development. This centrally located, (post)industrial waterfront has undergone multiple restructuring attempts over the past 30 years. The negotiation between a vision for an integrated inner-city district and commemorating its heritage value as the cradle of the Solidarność (Eng. Solidarity) movement have stood in the way of substantial progress.

The narratives of the stakeholders and participants involved revealed the importance of positioning the most recent consultations in the wider history of public involvement in this area. Examining the latest participatory consultations not in isolation, but rather as a consequence of earlier grassroots initiatives, allows to trace their evolution from bottom-up to top-down. The interviews revealed differences in the meaning behind notions such as heritage, naming, values, and conflicts used by the participants, suggesting these discrepancies can influence dialogue in participation. Finally, the work links the findings back to the critical theory of public participation, using the concepts of crossbenching (Miessen, 2010) and agonism (Mouffe, 1999) to describe the mechanisms found in the case study.

Spartacusplan, the transportation plan for the Belgian province of Limburg from 2004, is now turned into the most extensive and ambitious bus rapid transit (BRT) project in Europe. However, the proposed vehicles and network do not correspond well to the region’s highly dispersed, poly-centric structure. Moreover, the dispersed urbanisation patterns and their adverse effects need further measures than Bouwshift to facilitate the spatial transition.

The thesis explores the possible strategy for accelerating spatial transition through the interplay between urban and transportation planning. The thesis takes the lens of mobility justice by Sheller (2018), and seeks alternative paths to facilitating spatial transition without depriving accessibility on “unsuited” areas.

To achieve these objectives, a multi-criteria analysis is conducted to determine the most suitable mix of elements and vehicle automation technology, and its corresponding infrastructural requirements. Trade-offs between accessibility gains through higher levels of automation and increased infrastructure are examined. Additionally, the study categorizes the potential of each location in Limburg based on criteria related to the built environment and accessibility. Through pattern language, the study resulted in urban design patterns and digital tools for transportation planning, providing practical guidance to urban designers and transportation planners for site-specific interventions across the province.

The findings of this study suggest that, considering Limburg’s dispersed and poly-centric spatial structure, the higher infrastructural requirements for achieving level 4 driverless operations within Spartacuslijn are justified. Based on this model of dispersed BRT, the burden of densification can be shared with smaller cores, where the lifestyle is more aligned with rural areas. This can be achieved by providing accessibility and nodality in smaller cores through branch services connected to Spartacuslijn, offering single-seat rides to major destinations.

The proposed approach and strategy presented in this thesis offer a synergetic pathway for regional planning by integrating transportation planning and urban planning. Furthermore, the insights gained from this research can potentially be applied to other parts of Flanders and to dispersed urban areas worldwide.

Kampala is the heartbeat of Uganda’s economy and has driven rural-urban migration over the years as people travel in search of better opportunities (Namwanje, 2022). This has led to rapid urbanisation and unprecedented growth of the informal sector that extends beyond the geographical confines of the city.

Rural areas, acting as spatial extensions of the city, have served as productive landscapes, supporting Kampala’s bustling informal economy and the livelihoods of city dwellers. Over the years, large expanses of uncultivated land in rural areas and natural forests in some cases, have been replaced with monocultural commercial forests causing socio-ecological degradation in Kampala’s city region.

While studying past and current trends in Uganda’s forest governance, as well as the socio-cultural relations between people and forests, the study brings to light the social and epistemic injustices of past and current exclusionary forestry policies and practices. Storytelling is used not only as an investigative tool to understand the lives of the Batwa indigenous forest peoples, but also as an approach to document local knowledges and envision an alternative future outside the realm of western technocratic approaches. Counter-storytelling operates as activism, transcending oppression while fostering emanicipation and transformation of the Batwa people. In so doing, the project seeks to achieve self-determination for a just forest economy in Kampala’s city region.

Forced migration has been a significant struggle in the Netherlands, politically, socially, spatially and culturally. The costs of this struggle are paid by asylum seekers and status holders, living in uncertainty and isolation. This thesis discusses the position of Syrian status holders in the Netherlands, refugees who have obtained a residency permit to stay in the Netherlands.

The aim of this thesis is to explore which role small towns play in the integration of Syrian status holders. A hypothesis was formulated that formed the basis for the fieldwork. The fieldwork consisted of site visits to two towns: Hardenberg and Dalfsen and interviews with Syrian status holders. The fieldwork provided opportunities and lessons that informed the final results.

The result of this thesis is a roadmap to belonging: an overview of the factors: places, identifications, policies and collaborations, that influence the sense of belonging of Syrian status holders. A sense of belonging is defined by three dimensions: economic integration, social integration and the expression of cultural identity.

Three catalysts are proposed to showcase how combining different factors results in complicated but effective strategies to improve the sense of belonging of Syrian status holders, while also offering opportunities to the host community. The catalysts concern employment, entrepreneurship, social interaction and leisure activities.

This thesis provides a new view on the accommodation of newcomers, where benefits for the local society are synergized with a welcoming home for Syrian status holders.

North-western European countries play an important role in the global food system, by providing 80 percent of the whole European production. The current production system is focused on profit, has a yearly emission of 1250 megatons of CO₂ equivalent in North-western Europe and produces pollutants in the soil, water, and air. This results in an imbalance between natural and human activities, which is destroying biodiversity, natural resources and is increasing food access inequality. Therefore, our goal is to reduce CO₂ emission to net-zero in 2050 and to reach food security for all people North-western citizens.
We aim to design a sustainable food production system that is based on three pillars: nature-based, community-based and production for need. We analysed the current system through fieldwork, data analyses and literature reviews.
The concept of the circular economy formed our basis for a vision of an open adaptive system for the food production system. It includes concepts of circularity from the production on the fields, towards the re-valuing and re-purposing of household and industrial by-products. For each of the production steps we have developed a toolbox of innovations, which are integrated following the local context. New ways of production are incorporated in the farming process; management techniques, which reduce CO₂, are implemented in the processing phase; new marketing strategies are applied in retail; in the consumption phase mindset is changed to accept alternative products and meal planning. In terms of disposal, waste is reduced by reusing it as an input for other processes. Lastly, carbon sequestration is improved by recovering and increasing natural areas, leading to an increase in biodiversity and soil health.
This toolbox is implemented as a strategy in the region of South Holland to illustrate the spatial, social, and economic impacts of the new food production system. The circular concept ensures an approachable transition from linear to circular food production systems in North-West Europe. Therefore, it can be used to inform international cooperations, national and regional governments in making policies, and to provide an overview of the spatial implications of this transition on the national, regional, and local scale. Overall, it is a radical shift towards renewable energy sources, incorporating by-products as inputs and using and producing food products with a smaller CO₂ footprint.

A transition is needed within the current agricultural sector. The intensive food production emits a significant amount of greenhouse gases, but also generates a nitrogen surplus. Consequently, biodiversity and soil quality have been decreasing dramatically in recent decades. One way of achieving a more sustainable food system is through regenerative agriculture, which is a nature-based practice where ecosystem services and soil health are central. This research aims to understand how the decentralisation of farming practices can aid a transition to regenerative agriculture in a socially just way. Through research by design, the concepts of decentralisation, regenerative agriculture and social justice were studied separately and layered on the project areas of different scales: Northwest Europe, South-Holland (NL) and Biesbosch National Park. The objective of this research is to develop a vision and strategy for these areas to achieve a socially just transition to regenerative agricultural practices. Based on literature, we propose a set of regenerative agriculture land-use typologies for Northwest Europe (i.e. nature buffer, food-forest, polyculture crop, polyculture crop-livestock mix, urban food parks). Next, we show how we can transition to these new land-uses, employing methods of spatial and systemic (administrative, fiscal, economic) decentralisation. Each transition is qualitatively assessed by its implications for social justice in local communities and its potential to improve soil quality of the region. On a local scale, for the Biesbosch area in the province of South-Holland, a strategy is proposed that is based on our vision for Northwest Europe. Through local strategic interventions and the empowerment of existing initiatives and cooperatives, we show that the proposed land-use patterns and decentralised food chain can mitigate biodiversity loss and foster local agri-food networks that provide food security in a sustainable way.

With an average cheese production of 947 mln kg/year, the dairy industry (in the Netherlands) is responsible for 6.3 % of agricultural/dairy/commodity greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Northwestern (NW) Europe. This report brings the production of dairy and its effects on the spatiotemporal and environmental footprints. By performing a material analysis flow of an everyday consumption product-cheese, a by-product from the milk produced by cattle raised on the vast flat pasture lands in the Netherlands, we determine its harmful role in GHG emissions. Using a mixed-method approach, this study combines qualitative and quantitative analysis methodologies, extensive literature reviews, group discussions, available QGIS datasets, farmers sharing their experiences and knowledge on YouTube channels, case studies and a stakeholder interview. This led us to the formulation of a sustainable polyculture agriculture catalogue and toolbox where the dairy sector shifts from a core polluter and extractor role to a regenerative one. A future for farming is formulated where healthy soil is at the core of agricultural thinking. We outline a cow reduction spectrum resulting in opportunities for NW Europe leading to ecological improvements of the soil. Applying this toolbox to the South-Holland scale led to a multipurpose foodscape using an Integrated Crop-Livestock System (ICLS), where cows play the primary role of fertilisers of the land and secondarily, the role of milk producers. In conclusion, the research proves that the adoption of ICLS can significantly reduce GHG emissions in dairy production territories and optimise the existing land use. Implementing this system requires a shift in mindset and has significant implications for the dairy industry, policymakers and society at large. The strategy and action plan in this research seeks to inform policymakers, urban planners and other stakeholders in the dairy farming industry on how to transition towards a more regenerative and sustainable system that benefits the environment, society and the economy in the long duree. It suggests a socially just transition to the groups of farmers via a symbiotic approach.

The project aims to develop a co-creative approach to participatory urban planning and design for improved socio-spatial justice through co-creation. The project is situated within a broader context of ‘Them vs Us’ conflicts including rigid social hierarchies of coloniality, caste, class, and expertise that limit the extent to which and what types of communities are involved in urban development. More specifically, the project endeavoured to:

1. Reimagine the urbanist as a ‘language mediator’ whereby the urbanist experiments with ways to communicate with and between different stakeholders (inhabitants, migrants, institutions, etc). As such the urbanist becomes multilingual not just in a spoken or written sense, but also in visual and body languages, as well as silence. Together, engaged stakeholders, built trust, and an identifying of needs, wants and worries inform co-creation;

2. Recognize, access and value ‘unconventional’ knowledge and experiences to expand traditional realms of expertise. This aim focuses on the dismissal of ‘othered’ knowledge paradigms that could help in addressing pressing urban challenges;

3. Build inhabitant literacy to facilitate inhabitants not only ‘having a seat at the table’ but also an informed voice when they are there.

These aims intertwine to form the central research question, ‘how can an approach to participatory planning and design use language as a means to engage with different actors, access and value ‘unconventional’ knowledge while also building citizen literacy?’. The project takes place in Rotterdam’s western Bospolder-Tussendijken neighbourhood. In response to the research questions and its Rotterdam context, the research outputs are 4-fold, underpinned by the central theme of what it means to be seen. They consist of (1) a storybook; (2) reflections on co-creative participatory approaches; (3) the report; and (4) the bonus spatial implications of the research for urban design and planning. The outputs allow for the intersectional sharing of multiple stories, exposure to other types of knowledge and experiences, and the unpacking of existing systems and hierarchies that hinder the realisation of socio-spatial justice.

Social cohesion is perceived to be under pressure in the Netherlands, especially in its larger cities. The Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced and deepened the socio-spatial divide between vulnerable urban areas and the rest of the city, which not only affects the residents of the area and of the city, but also starts to affect the cohesion of the society as a whole. In light of the large scale spatial transitions that will also need to take place in these vulnerable urban areas, the Dutch government has issued the National Programme for Liveability and Safety, a long term, integrated and multidisciplinary urban regeneration approach to tackle the liveability, safety and social issues within the vulnerable urban areas. To achieve the overall improvement of the quality of life of the residents, it is stated in the Programme that interventions in the spatial domain should reinforce policy objectives in the social domain and vice versa. The objective of this graduation project is to explore to what extent urban design of physical public spaces in urban areas can facilitate the formation of social cohesion. To do this, literature research was conducted to define social cohesion, and to translate the concept to the local community level into specific urban design objectives. For this, the Social Cohesion Radar of the Bertelsmann Stiftung was taken apart and operationalised into requirements and a description of the ideal situation. From this, it was concluded that the design objectives consist of certain types of social interactions with specific characteristics. Furthermore, using relevant theories from environmental psychology and sociology, it was researched how the environment affects human behaviour. Combined with urban design theories the findings from the theoretical exploration and the operationalisation were used to develop a framework to analyse a physical space from the lens of social cohesion. In this analytical framework, the central point through which urban design interventions connect to social cohesion is through social interactions. Through the design of specific elements the defined social interactions could be directly facilitated, or would be facilitated via the improvement of characteristics of the space. The type of space that is analysed sets the expectations for the interactions that are likely to occur, and sets expectations for the characteristics and elements to be found there. For the implementation of the framework a guideline was developed, as well as an overview of typical settings to be found in Dutch urban areas, and a set of possible design interventions for social cohesion. The use of the framework to analyse a physical public space in an urban area should provide an urban designer with a decent understanding of the potential of the space to facilitate social cohesion, and provide the designer with possible spatial improvements. The framework provides the urban designer with an instrument to develop explicit and specific hypotheses regarding the facilitation of social cohesion through urban design.

The challenges women encounter due to numerous disparities within social superstructures are finally finding their way into mainstream debates. Interestingly, Vienna is the first European city that has been incorporating the concept of gender mainstreaming into urban planning practices since the 1990s, by providing formal platforms for women to integrate their perspectives in the city's development. This research, however, reveals that the dialogue frequently remains trapped under the restricted label of 'feminist' or 'gender-sensitive', while it deserves a deeper, more nuanced discussion. Vienna’s top-down planning leaves little space for informal strategies and hence, abandons the voices of under-represented people, particularly within immigrant communities of Vienna’s outer districts. Therefore, this research dissects the city’s gender sensitivity using a set of conflicts revealing the dissonance between the social realities of vulnerable migrant women in one of the city’s fringe districts, Favoriten, and the efforts of female activists and the city administration. The data collected during extensive field interviews is documented through drawing as a method to showcase that women are less likely to simply ‘be’ in public space. These findings lead to proposal of a discussion-starter role-playing game, which places migrant women as central figures of planning processes. Disrupting the gendered order is a critical examination of how Vienna, the humanist city with a feminist attitude, can transcend beyond its rigid definition of formal urban planning and aim for multi-perspective emancipation, subsequently redefining gender mainstreaming worldwide.