INAUGURAL LECTURE The world is in disarray. Species are extinct, climates are changing, we are becoming unhealthier. To liberate ourselves from this doom scenario we need to take care of ourselves and our environment. The solutions of former generations offer no future solace. Moreover, these caused …

The city is nature. In many ways this bold statement can be contested, but at the same time wildlife is so abundant Rotterdam is called a wilderness park (Reumer, Wildpark Rotterdam. De stad als natuurgebied. Historische Uitgeverij, Groningen, 2014). One can discuss whether this is true or not, but more …

Urbanization around the world has taken a flight towards rapid, sometimes uncontrolled growth. Megacities expanded, whilst erasing the developable area and adjusting the existing landscape to artificial water and nature systems. This rampant expansion often leads to monotonous new neighborhoods, often …

In this chapter we move back in time, to when it was not an usance to base our city designs on the natural systems of water and ecology. By the end of the 1980s the dogma of separation of functions, and dividing the city in areas for working, living, leisure and traffic was slowly abandoned and especially …

Current urban design and urban planning aim to facilitate global, regional and local urbanization programs. This implies most of the planning documents give room to the types of land use that seem to require space ‘here and now’. The amount of new housing, office and other industrial and commercial space, …

This article discusses the question: where to with sustainable urbanism? It includes a historic review of the concept of sustainable urbanism and reviews of recent literature in the field of eco-cities. Through these reviews, it deliberately interrogates new pathways for sustainable urbanism. The result …

In this study, Dutch and Australian planning regimes are examined to determine whether they are ready to face climate extremes. Five different “cultural” facets of spatial planning determine the differences between the two regimes. These planning characteristics are first confronted with current climate …

Swarm planning is a theory and practical approach to deal with uncertain futures. By anticipating scenarios such as a ‘post-carbon’ world and a ‘pre-adaptive’ landscape, it offers an alternative pathway to prepare for medium-term incremental and step changes. The focus is on the regional scale with a …