rius4_01.indd ed ito r ia l 7 editorial geodesign is a gis-based planning and design method, which tightly couples the creation of design proposals with impact simulations informed by geographic contexts. geodesign as such comprises a set of geo-information technology driven methods and techniques for planning built and natural environments in an integrated process, and includes project conceptualization, analysis, design specification, stakeholder participation and collaboration. though the origins of this concept can be traced back to the early1960’s – and without computers to the end of the nineteenth century – from 2005 onwards the term geodesign was introduced in order to (re-)present gis (geographic information systems) as an instrument for planning and design. in fact it is an attempt to bridge the possibilities of geo-information technology and the needs of urban landscape research, planning and design. this is needed because often gis is recognized as a useful tool but the potential of gis is still underutilized in these fields, often due to a lack of awareness and prejudice. geo-design. advances in bridging geo-information technology, urban planning and landscape architecture brings together a wide variety of contributions from authors with backgrounds in urban planning, landscape architecture, education and geo-information technology presenting the latest insights and applications of geodesign. geo-design is here understood as a hybridisation of the concepts “geo” – representing the modelling, analytical and visualization capacities of gis, and “design” – representing spatial planning and design, turning existing situations into preferred ones. through focusing on interdisciplinary designrelated concepts and applications of gis international experts share their recent findings and provide clues for the further development of geodesign. this is important since there is still much to do. not only in the development of geo-information technology, but especially in bridging the gap with the designdisciplines. the uptake on using gis is still remarkably slow among landscape architects, urban designers and planners, and when utilised it is often restricted to the basic tasks of mapmaking and data access. knowledge development and dissemination of applications of geodesign through research, publications r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 8 and education therefore remain key factors. this publication draws upon the insights shared at the geodesign summit europe held at delft university of technology in 2014. all contributions in the book are double blind reviewed by experts in the field. the publication starts with a personal historical perspective by carl steinitz, one of the founding fathers of geodesign. further contributions are organized thematically in three parts. the papers in part 1 focus on advances, applications and challenges of geodesign in spatial planning and design. part 2 treats more specific issues and applications of geodesign related to land use, urban and facility management. part 3 presents some interesting cases of geodesign education. while all the papers address the wider scope of geodesign they also treat synthetic positions that overarch the whole variety of aspects touched upon, either thematically or in a specific place. an effort like this publication is only possible with the help and cooperation of many people. we would like to acknowledge: henk scholten, shannon mcelvany, frank holsmuller, danbi lee, amongst others, for their critical reviews and constructive comments on the papers. and finally we acknowledge tu delft’s faculty of architecture and the built environment for its financial support. – the editors – r iu s 6 : in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 8 editorial currently the world is facing major challenges related to ongoing urbanization. more than half of the global population already lives in cities, and rapid urban growth – whether planned or spontaneous – seems set to continue. the associated large-scale transformation of urban and rural landscapes is turning the spotlight on environmental issues and questions of sustainability. the un’s sustainable development goals (sdgs) and the new urban agenda/ habitat iii provide a framework for a fast urban development by encouraging the integration of social and ecological aspects into urbanism. one important task for urbanism is to “make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. but what does this mean for research, education and practice in spatial design and planning? which emerging research topics can be identified? do we need alternative formats for teaching and for knowledge transfer? this book focuses on inclusive urbanism as one factor of sustainable urban development. inclusivity in this respect means confronting urban segregation in its threedimensional nexus of economic exclusion, social exclusion and an unjust access to urban and environmental qualities and resources, which conspire to maintain the disadvantages suffered by low-power, minor and/or marginalized communities. clearly, inclusivity is strongly linked to urban justice as well as participatory approaches. even before the introduction of sustainable development goal no. 11, there existed a long history of research and literature already addressing the need to foster social urban justice. for example, in the early 1970s, harvey (1973) attempted in his book “social justice and the city” to lay out a paradigm and baseline for the responsibility of urban geography to create inclusive urban structures. harvey’s focus was on the income inequality between richer and poorer urban neighbourhoods, and the implications for the spatial form of the city. he determined that income level is one of the main driving forces not just for inequality but also for the urban segregation of different communal groups. ed ito r ia l 9 in the article “the just city”, susan fainstein argued that democracy, diversity and equity are the three governing principles of urban justice (fainstein 2013). she believes that local policies can make urban life better or worse for people, in particular more integrative/inclusive or more divisive/exclusive. expanding on this view, clearly there are many decisions made at the local level, for example involving housing, transport, and recreation that differentially affect people’s quality of life in respect to inclusion. pearsall and anguelovski (2016) analyzed environmental gentrification, which is the exclusion, marginalization and displacement of long-term residents due to sustainability planning or green developments and amenities, such as smart growth and public park renovations. such gentrification is leading to community homogenization as well as to the exclusion of sections of the local population who do not fit with the remaining, newly streamlined homogenous group. hence, inclusion vs. exclusion is also a prominent aspect of landscape planning and the design of open or green spaces (see werthmann and bridger 2016; tan et al. 2018). pearsall and anguelovski’s evaluation of relevant literature indicates several similarities with inclusivity tactics, including collective neighbourhood action, community organizing and direct tactics. they deduce a need for more research on how activists can better assert the social and political dimensions of sustainability and their right to the city, as well as how green and sustainable cities can achieve justice, equity and inclusion. our book inclusive urbanism not only presents the latest research but also several practical examples of such tactics to enable activists to better assert their claims within social and political urban decision-making processes. research and literature on urban justice culminated in the formulation and adoption of the previously mentioned united nations sdg 11. at the same time, the focus of research and literature has shifted towards the issue of ‘inclusiveness’, in particular its meaning and implication (see e.g. thompsonfawcett 2008, espino 2015 or schreiber and carius 2016). this has created a new and powerful movement sweeping through urban and landscape policies, promoting the aims of inclusive urbanism. this is precisely the topic of our book. inclusive urbanism compiles selected contributions presented at an international conference on ‘urban studies’ held at tu dresden on 15 and 16 november 2018. the conference was jointly organized by the tu dresden, the tu delft, the leibniz institute of ecological urban and regional development dresden, the czech technical university prague and the wrocław university of science and technology. the contributions gathered here offer important observations about the development of social-ecological inclusive theories and r iu s 6 : in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 10 practices in the fields of landscape architecture, urban design and planning from the perspective of research, education and practical applications. we aim to offer a wide range of theoretical insights into the meaning of inclusive spatial design and planning while showcasing new developments at the cutting-edge of research, education and practice. the reader will receive new impulses for urbanism practice through the discussion of professional case studies. noteworthy elements of the book are as follows: -the potential of the term ‘spontaneous’ as applied to informal settlements and structures, whereby spontaneous urbanism is more positively connoted; -an investigation of urban commons to reveal new forms of participation, integration and co-production of public and green space; -the introduction of examples from around the world for resilient, inclusive and sustainable urban/landscape development; -a discussion of new teaching and visualization methods that make use of maps, graphics and various perception techniques. we hope that our book provides a valuable contribution to the challenging question of how to shape and design inclusive urban structures. references espino, n.-a. (2015). building the inclusive city – theory and practice for confronting urban segregation. routledge research in planning and urban design series. fainstein, s. s. (2013). the just city. international journal of urban sciences, 18 (1), 1-18. harvey, d. (1973). social justice and the city. university of georgia press. pearsall, h. & anguelovski, i. (2016). contesting and resisting environmental gentrification: responses to new paradoxes and challenges for urban environmental justice. sociological research online, 21(3),6. schreiber, f. & carius, a. (2016). the inclusive city: urban planning for diversity and social cohesion. in: worldwatch institute (ed.), state of the world: can a city be sustainable (pp. 123-141)? worldwatch institute. tan, p.-y., liao, k.-h., hwang, y.-h. & v. chua (eds.). (2018). nature, place & people – forging connections through neighbourhood landscape design. world scientific singapore. https://doi.org/10.1142/10879 thompson-fawcett, m. (2008). viewpoints – inclusive urbanism. journal of urbanism, 1 (1), 1-15. werthmann, c. & bridger, j. (2016). metropolis nonformal. applied research + design publishing. ed ito r ia l 7 editorial building with nature perspectives this publication offers an overview of the latest cross-disciplinary developments in the field of building with nature (bwn) for the protection of coastal regions. the key philosophy of bwn is the employment of natural processes to serve societal goals, such as flood safety. the starting point is a systems-based approach, making interventions that employ the shaping forces of the natural system to perform measures by self-regulation. initial pilots of this innovative approach originate from coastal engineering, with the sand motor along the coast of south holland as one of the prime examples. from here, the bwn approach has evolved into a new generation of nature-based hydraulic solutions, such as mangrove forests, coastal reefs, and green dikes. as exemplified by the body of knowledge expressed by academic literature (see graph below), the first generation of bwn pilots created valuable links between coastal engineering and ecological development. however, a link with the spatial domain of urban and landscape design remains underdeveloped. this publication aims to contribute to filling this gap. now that bwn has proven itself as a new flood protection strategy, the time has come to investigate the new boundaries between bwn-based hydraulic solutions, ecological, urban and, landscape design to develop a new series of dynamic coastal landscapes, connecting the different disciplines. ecosystem services and nature-based solutions already express this integral potential of bwn, showing that the reinforcement of supporting services (bwn management of f.e. soil and ecology), not only safeguards regulating services (such as flood protection) but also feeds provisioning (f.e. harvest, wildlife) and cultural services, such as recreation and landscape scenery. another characteristic is the time aspect of r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 8 bwn. the employment of natural forces introduces a longer timeframe and certain dynamics to the planning process, creating room for adaptation. this adaptive quality of bwn is overlooked the most in the current debate about sea level rise: doom scenarios only demonstrate the failure of, or the transition to another ecosystem. they deny the resilience of the current system, that can be empowered by bwn to adapt and offer precious time for the development of transitional landscapes. these two characteristics, multiplicity and adaptivity, make bwn a valuable strategy in times of climate change, sea level rise and urbanization; creating new solutions for resistance, response and resilience in urban deltas. figure 1. thematic mapping of building with nature based on academic output from 2010-2016 (vosviewer image: j. van bergen & j. essen). the mapping clearly shows the origins of bwn, starting from a civil engineering perspective, rooted in the netherlands (dark blue). from here, a second generation evolved, including ecology, salt marshes and ecosystem services expressing the multiple benefits of bwn. however, spatial design is on the margins and needs repositioning. bwn ecology spatial design infra structures modelling figure 2. projects and research, divided in four perspectives ed ito r ia l 9 this publication aims to explore building with nature as new dynamic, spatial strategy for coastal regions. it illustrates the main drivers for the next generation of bwn to evolve as well as key factors for its embedding in its physical and societal context; integrating multidisciplinary perspectives to offer more than the sum of its separate solutions. this new way of cross-disciplinary thinking and designing is illustrated by a series of projects and research, divided in four perspectives (figure 2). infrastructures discusses the altered perspective of large-scale infrastructural interventions in the delta, based on the new building with nature approach. these artefacts incorporate forces of nature to deliver ecosystem services for coastal safety or energy, whilst incorporating other services such as nature or recreation. this asks for an interdisciplinary approach, and this chapter discusses various methods to achieve it. with dynamics as a driving force, bwn starts with understanding the system, that reaches from a local to regional (de vries et al) and from a multi-layered to integrated design (brand et al). within this context, the definition of multifaceted design objectives, as well as design roles (klaassen et al) are necessities for addressing the complexity of the bwn systems approach. building with nature creates new dynamic, adaptive landscapes based on a synthetic, engineered and modelled nature. this challenges spatial design to translate and incorporate these landscapes into their socio-economic reality, not just by addressing safety and ecology, but transforming it into a cultural landscape, offering new living environments that mediate between floods and waterfronts. this asks for transitional design, transferring naturebased principles to support new adaptive waterfronts, as illustrated in ‘urban dunes’ by van bergen et al.. van de velde et al. address the link between bwn and landscape architecture. landscape methodologies can support the next generation of bwn projects in the way interpretation or mappings of nature are made; functions are integrated by layering in various spatial, cultural and temporal scales; and narratives can stimulate the social acceptance of bwn. heerema concludes with the role of art in the social embedding of bwn; her ‘satellite’ program offers a cultural community of practice to critically investigate the sand motor; not only for the landscape to become part of the collective memory, but also as a reflective practice towards the artefact and technology itself. the ecology chapter discusses the correlation between bwn, ecological and anthropological regeneration. bwn not only offers engineering solutions, but also reintroduces natural processes back into the delta, creating buffer zones that restore the valuable ecosystems between water and land. this gives r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 10 potential to redevelop a powerful estuary landscape with flexible transition zones between land and water for multifunctional flood protection, for nature and humans, generating new forms of amphibious living and an alternative agriculture. cook discusses the fundaments of the ecological approach by the work of e. odum. it stresses the importance of understanding the ‘nature’ of the system before intervention; including the anthropological perspective. van stiphout illustrates how nature is employed for biodiversity in inhabited landscapes, adding multiple values, beauty and stewardship. modelling discusses the representation of building with nature processes by computer and governmental science. these processes can be represented as algorithms and interactive data in programs and decision models. they have great meaning in the design, prediction and incorporation of bwn solutions. luijendijk discusses how virtual morphodynamic forecasting, crucial for the application of bwn, has benefitted from the real-time and interdisciplinary findings of the sand motor pilot project. the development of process-based landscaping tools can stimulate the further integration of bwn related disciplines. by virtual modelling, spatial & temporal conditions can be simulated, prescribing natural and urban processes for the landscape to evolve. these digital simulations are important for design processes, but still need their physical counterparts to calibrate and bridge the knowledge gaps, as described by wijnberg et. al.. ruijgrok concludes with cost-benefit models for documenting the ecosystem benefits of bwn compared to traditional measures, an important tool for integrated decision making. sandy strategies harvesting sand motor landscape architecture integration benefits bwn system figure 3. mapping of building with nature themes added to the academic landscape based on the scientific contributions from this publication (vosviewer image: j.v.bergen & d.j. ligtenbelt). the mapping shows the clusters of interest, including: continuation of sandy strategies (right); the harvesting of the sand motor (left); the introduction of landscape architecture (top) and shared ambitions for integration and benefits. although connected, the future challenge will be to bring these clusters closer together. altering the bwn perspective this next generation of bwn research has created a body of knowledge for the application and integration of bwn techniques. they not only show the range ed ito r ia l 11 in which bwn solutions develop, but also introduces a new integrated scope for bwn in the spatial domain, as shown by vosviewer-analysis (figure 3). they confirm that sandy bwn solutions will remain one of the major strategies in response to sea level rise. now with the first pilots, like sand motor, operating for almost 10 years, these projects produce vital sets of data to create better understanding of the coastal dynamics involved. furthermore, they show that the gap between bwn and landscape architecture is dissolving. a natural bond, since landscape architecture is based on the understanding and manipulation of natural systems, and offers design tools to embed bwn artifacts in their physical, cultural and societal landscape. with the emancipation of landscape architecture and art as contextual and reflective disciplines for bwn, greater integration can be achieved, raising the benefits and social acceptance of any bwn solution. the publication was concluded with the symposium bwn next (february 2020), collecting, disclosing and evaluating lessons learned from bwn from an interdisciplinary and international perspective to a broader audience and setting a framework for the application of bwn as a spatial strategy for urban delta landscapes. it discussed an outline of the agenda to work on: towards a deeper understanding of the systems involved; from amalgam towards a clear definition of bwn; and the set up of bwn as a learning community for generations to come. we like to thank delft deltas, infrastructures & mobility initiative (dimi), the section of landscape architecture at the faculty of architecture and the built environment, delft university of technology, the department of hydraulic engineering, and the research group infrastructure design and management, both at the faculty of civil engineering and geosciences, delft university of technology for their generous financial support and their commitment to the project. we also like to thank the authors for their valuable and inspiring contributions. special recognition and thanks to james nelson for language polishing, to frank van der hoeven and nienke blaauw for the excellent work on the book layout, the scientific editing, and the publication process. editors: janneke van bergen, steffen nijhuis, nikki brand & marcel hertogh doi: 10.47982/rius.7.122 r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 12 c o n c lu sio n s c o n c lu sio n es 165 conclusions conclusiones luz maría vergara1 & cristián robertson2 1. faculty of architecture and the built environment | delft university of technology 2. escuela de arquitectura | pontificia universidad católica de chile doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3995 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 166 we are facing a paradigm shift in the production of housing, and it is precisely in this transition where contexts as different as the netherlands and chile find a common denominator: the problem of affordability and general discontent in the face of a supply that has strayed further away from the economic capacity and needs of the people. access to housing has become a scarce commodity. in a growing context of demands for the right to the city and for the provision of affordable housing, inhabitants have position themselves as protagonists seeking solutions that cope with the housing problem through collaborative processes. in europe these processes have re-emerged as a reaffirmation of self-determination in response to the commodification and standardization of housing. however, in chile the quest has been driven by the need of collaborative survival, through the dynamics of allegamiento and self-organization in pericentral areas. from this common point of departure, the initial chapters of the book identified collaborative processes, alternating experiences both in chile and in europe. the european case, reviewed from the dutch social housing model and the re-emergence of collaborative housing models, provides three important insights to consider when traditional and consolidated systems face novel and emerging models. first, the opportunity that arises from the hybridization of both systems and cooperation among different actors. second, the importance of having a cultural change, followed by regulatory frameworks, to ensure the implementation and subsequent massification of new models. third, despite the legal and operational barriers, the european experience has shown that self-organized and self-managed models are possible, necessary and effective when housing demands have not been satisfied by the state nor by the market. from the chilean experience, the identification of the collaborative dimention arises from the historical meaning of the collectivity in housing policies and from the review of the particular case of the 9x18 neighborhoods. this situation offers nuances to the debate through perspectives that challenge the theoretical framework of collaborative housing. the chilean experience has its culture of self-organization rooted in the collective mobilization of settlers for the right to housing, paradoxically, single-family housing. under this premise, collective self-organization in neighborhoods such as 9x18 operation site, manifested itself not only in the self-construction of each home, but in the development of family and neighborhood support networks that remain alive to this day. the family and intergenerational cohabitation are currently the engine of what we can understand as collaborative processes that define the management of these neighborhoods. we refer to these experiences as ‘informal’ collaborative housing to demonstrate the need to create normative instruments that support and validate them. in academic terms, the empirical experience gained from the workshop c o n c lu sio n s c o n c lu sio n es 167 nos encontramos ante un cambio de paradigma en la producción de vivienda, y es precisamente en esta transición donde contextos tan distintos como holanda y chile encuentran un denominador en común: el problema de la asequibilidad y un descontento general frente a una oferta cada vez más alejada de la capacidad económica y de las necesidades de las personas. el acceso a la vivienda, se ha vuelto un bien escaso. en un contexto creciente de demandas por el derecho a la ciudad, la provisión de vivienda asequible se ha tornado en una coyuntura tal que ha promovido que los habitantes deban posicionarse como protagonistas buscando soluciones que ataquen el problema de la vivienda mediante procesos colaborativos. si bien en europa estos procesos han vuelto a surgir como una reafirmación de la autodeterminación en respuesta a la comodificación y estandarización de la vivienda, en chile en tanto, la búsqueda ha estado más bien relacionada a medios de sobrevivencia colaborativos por medio de dinámicas de allegamiento y auto-organización en áreas pericentrales. a partir de este punto común de partida, los capítulos iniciales del libro elaboran una identificación de procesos colaborativos, alternando experiencias tanto en chile como en europa. el caso europeo, revisado desde el mo delo de vivienda social holandesa y el re-surgimiento de modelos de vivienda colaborativa, entrega tres puntos relevantes de reflexión cuando sistemas tradicionales y consolidados se enfrentan a modelos rupturistas y emergentes. primero, la oportunidad que surge en la hibridación de ambos sistemas y cooperación entre diferentes actores. segundo, la importancia de que exista un cambio cultural, seguido de marcos regulatorios, para asegurar la implementación, y posterior masificación de nuevos modelos. tercero, que pese a las barreras legales y operacionales, la experiencia europea en su conjunto ha demostrado que modelos auto-organizados y auto-gestionados por sus habi tantes son posibles, necesarios y eficaces cuando las demandas habitacio nales no han sido resueltas ni por el estado, ni por el mercado. desde la experiencia chilena, la identificación de lo colaborativo surge a partir del significado histórico de lo colectivo en las políticas de vivienda y desde la revisión del caso particular de los barrios 9x18, situación que permite ofrecer matices al debate a través de perspectivas que desafían al marco teórico de vivienda colaborativa. la experiencia chilena tiene su cultura de auto-organización enraizada en la movilización colectiva de pobladores por el derecho a la vivienda, paradójicamente, unifamiliar. bajo esta premisa, la auto-organización colectiva en barrios como operaciones sitio 9x18, se manifestó no solo en la autoconstrucción de cada vivienda, sino que en el desarrollo de redes de apoyo familiar y vecinales que se mantienen vigente. la familia y la cohabitación intergeneracional son, hoy en día, el motor de lo que podemos entender como procesos colaborativos que definen la gestión del hábitat en estos barrios. nos referimos a estas experiencias como vivienda colaborativa r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 168 presented and systematized in the book, allows to trigger a direct and sincere dialogue between academics, students, local actors and neighbors. this dialogue seeks to answer questions that show different aspects, cultures and aspirations, but that arise from the need to find new paradigms of housing production and access to the city. an empirical-theoretical approach to these issues was the basis of the workshop and this book, seeking to identify collaborative processes of habitat production from the experience of communities in pericentral neighborhoods of santiago. it was an empirical exercise because it focused on the development of housing and neighborhood projects for a real community based on the collection of first-source information. it was a theoretical exercise because these processes were explained from the concept of collaborative housing developed mainly in europe. finally, the book specifically focuses on the local context and the upcoming challenges that 9x18 neighborhoods will face. the location of these neighborhoods in pericentral areas of the cities, and the shortage of well-located land for new real estate developments put these neighborhoods in an imminent scenario of change, responding to challenges and opportunities on which it is necessary to reflect on. opportunities linked to densification processes, new logics of mobility, accessibility and public spaces must be addressed considering integral neighborhood regeneration processes. from its experimental nature, the main contribution of the book is to question and revisit the concept of collaborative housing based on the reflection and exchange of experiences between north and south, south and north. the generated dialogue has allowed us to look at the problem of social housing from a perspective that dignifies the right of the inhabitants to seek affordable housing while claiming their right to the city, and fulfilling their need to live in a high-quality environment. the exercise of shifting the discussion of housing from the logic of “assistance” and placing it again as a “right” directly influences the focus of this debate. in this iterative process of reflection, the book does not seek to arrive at a unique answer or perspective upon the topic. on the contrary, it seeks to (re)open topics and establish questions of interest to continue researching from the exchange of experiences in european and latin american contexts. questions like: who collaborates and among who they collaborate? what tenure regime do they have? what is the socio-cultural-economic profile of the inhabitants? how are they organized today / how were they organized in the past? what is the reason to collaborate? what dependence/autonomy do they have with the state and local governments? what normative and other mechanisms of collaboration have existed historically? how to trigger neighborhood renewal processes from housing? how to design new building that consolidate the public space and the street? how to design flexible spaces that welcome social diversity (elders, migrants, extended families, etc.)? which c o n c lu sio n s c o n c lu sio n es 169 ‘informal’ en un intento de evidenciar la necesidad de crear instrumentos normativos que las apoyen y las validen. por otra parte, en términos académicos docentes, la experiencia del workshop sistematizada en el libro, permite sobre la base de hechos y fenómenos concretos, desencadenar un diálogo directo y sincero entre académicos, estudiantes, actores locales y vecinos. este diálogo, busca responder a preguntas que evidencian diversas vertientes, culturas y aspiraciones, pero que surgen desde la necesidad de encontrar nuevos paradigmas de producción de vivienda y acceso a la ciudad. esta reflexión fue abordada a lo largo del workshop y de la presente publicación como un ejercicio empírico teórico en tanto busca identificar procesos colaborativos de producción del hábitat desde la experiencia de comunidades en barrios peri centrales de santiago. fue un ejercicio empírico porque se centró en el desarrollo de proyectos de vivienda y barrio para una comunidad real a partir de levantamiento de información de primera fuente. fue un ejercicio teórico, porque estos procesos fueron mirados a partir del concepto de vivienda colaborativa desarrollado principalmente en europa. finalmente, el libro concentra la mirada desde la especificidad de la realidad local y los desafíos próximos que enfrentarán los barrios 9x18. la ubicación de estos barrios en zonas pericentrales de las ciudades, y la escasez de suelo bien ubicado para nuevos desarrollos inmobiliarios, pone a estos ba rrios en un escenario inminente de cambio, desafíos y oportunidades sobre el cual es necesario reflexionar. oportunidades vinculados a procesos de densificación, nuevas lógicas de movilidad, accesibilidad y espacios públicos deben ser abordados con alturas de mira en post de procesos de regeneración barrial integrales. desde su naturaleza experimental, la principal contribución del libro es cuestionar y revisitar el concepto de vivienda colaborativa a partir de la reflexión e intercambio de experiencias entre norte y sur, sur y norte. el diálogo generado ha permitido mirar el problema de la vivienda social desde una perspectiva que dignifica el derecho de los habitantes a buscar una vivienda asequible pero reclamando a su vez el derecho a la ciudad, cumpliendo su necesidad de vivir en un medio ambiente de calidad. el ejercicio de desplazar la discusión de la vivienda desde la lógica “asistencialista” y colocarla nuevamente como un “derecho” influye directamente en el foco desde el cual se aborda el tema. en este proceso iterativo de reflexión, el libro no busca llegar a una visión unitaria sobre el tema, por el contrario, busca (re)abrir temáticas y establecer preguntas de interés para seguir profundizando desde el intercambio de experiencias en contextos europeos y latinoamericanos. preguntas como ¿quiénes colaboran y entre quiénes colaboran?; ¿qué régimen de tenencia tienen?; ¿de qué perfil socio-cultural-económico son los habitantes?; ¿cómo se r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 170 neighborhood elements should be maintained or defended, and which ones should be modified or incorporated? these are all questions that open new discussions and will undoubtedly inspire new research. c o n c lu sio n s c o n c lu sio n es 171 organizan hoy/ cómo se organizaron en el pasado?; ¿cuál es el motivo para colaborar?; ¿qué dependencia/autonomía tienen con el estado y los gobiernos locales?; ¿qué normativa y otros mecanismos de colaboración han existido históricamente?, ¿cómo detonar procesos de renovación barrial desde la vivienda?; ¿cómo diseñar nuevos volúmenes edificatorios que consoliden el espacio público y la calle?; ¿cómo diseñar espacios flexibles que acojan la diversidad social (adultos mayores, migrantes, familias extendidas, etc)?; ¿qué elementos barriales mantener o defender y cuáles modificar o incorporar? son preguntas que abren nuevos flancos y que pueden inspirar sin duda nuevas investigaciones. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 172 challenges of densification in 9x18 neighborhoods desafíos de la densificación en barrios 9x18 maría josé castillo & sebastián gray escuela de arquitectura | pontificia universidad católica de chile doi: 10.7480/ rius.5.3990 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 118 abstract the extension of santiago’s metro line towards pericentral neighbourhods of social housing in 9x18 lots entails a process of densification and gentrification with the challenge of planning urban regeneration with territorial equity and social integration principles. this requires private/public management and investment at national, district and neighborhood scale, that approaches to the neighborhood improvement with maximum standards and high-quality densification that guarantee the permanence of current residents. in this chapter, measures for the development of public space and sustainable mobility are proposed, as well for the rehabilitation and construction of housing for homeowners, extended-households and new residents. keywords transportation infrastructure, quality densification, urban regeneration, neighborhood management, gentrification. c h a llen g es o f d en sific a t io n in 9x 18 n eig h b o u r h o o d s d esa fío s d e l a d en sific a c ió n en b a r io s 9 x 18 119 resumen la extensión del metro de santiago hacia barrios pericéntricos de vivienda social en lotes de 9 x 18 supone procesos de densificación y gentrificación, con el desafío de planificar la regeneración urbana con principios de equidad territorial e integración social. esto requiere gestión e inversión pública y privada, de escala nacional, comunal y barrial, que aborde el mejoramiento con máximos estándares y una densificación con calidad que asegure la permanencia de la población residente. en este capítulo se proponen medidas para el desarrollo de los espacios públicos y la movilidad sustentable; y para la rehabilitación y construcción de vivienda para propietarios, allegados y nuevos residentes. palabras claves infraestructura de transporte, densificación con calidad, regeneración urbana, gestión vecinal, gentrificación. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 120 the announcement of new subway lines reaching areas that were urbanized half a century ago for social housing, typically in lots of 9x18 m and with single-family homes, opens the debate on the processes of densification, speculation and gentrification to which these neighborhoods would become exposed. the new line 7 of the santiago subway would connect, for the first time, communities of the north-west, such as renca and cerro navia, to the city network. we have recorded 5,403 9x18 lots in 143 ha in renca and 17,696 lots in 430 ha in cerro navia (vergara and palmer, 1990). in these neighborhoods, a large part of the built area is due to the efforts of its inhabitants. over time, they have also accommodated, as longterm live-ins, extended family members who have not wished to migrate to the far-off periphery. thus, they have formed family communities within the lots. over the years, inhabitants have also acquired the technical and managerial skills to not only self-build their own dwellings, but to urbanize, densify and improve their neighborhoods (castillo, 2013). ensuring good quality public transport in historically neglected areas improves the lives of its residents regarding accessibility. however, it also places urgency on the regeneration of these neighborhoods to incorporate urban standards, development of public spaces and a sustainable mobility expressed in improvements for pedestrians and bicycle users as a complement to public transport (de manuel and lópez medina, 2017). additionally, this new infrastructure will increase the pressure to densify the land, opening opportunities for those seeking good housing and imposing a challenge for the community. densification should not cause displacement of the original owners; it should improve their living conditions and at the same time allow for the settlement of their extended households (castillo, 2004, díaz parra, 2016). therefore, efforts must be made to tackle the likely gentrification that would occur with the valorization of the surroundings and the speculation of the land market as a result of state intervention in transport infrastructure. in the case of the 9x18 lots, it is essential to incorporate inhabitants/ owners and their live-in extended families who have proclaimed “here we grew up, here we were born and here we want to stay” as agents in a process of urban regeneration based on self-management; a process which improves living conditions and meets the demands that currently exists in these neighborhoods due to overcrowding conditions (castillo, 2013). another mechanism to prevent gentrification is the formalization of cooperatives or collaborative housing based on the communities of families that already exist in the 9x18 lots (rosa jiménez et al., 2016). collective ownership can be a good alternative. it generates communities within the lots, whether merged or not. residents themselves have proposed mutual-aid cooperatives under collective co-ownership, granting the use of dwellings as an alternative to cope c h a llen g es o f d en sific a t io n in 9x 18 n eig h b o u r h o o d s d esa fío s d e l a d en sific a c ió n en b a r io s 9 x 18 121 el anuncio de nuevas líneas del ferrocarril metropolitano hacia zonas urbanizadas hace medio siglo para la vivienda social, típicamente en lotes de 9x18 m y con viviendas unifamiliares, abre el debate sobre los procesos de densificación, especulación y gentrificación a los que quedarían expuestos dichos barrios. la nueva línea 7 del metro de santiago uniría por primera vez las comunas del norponiente, como renca y cerro navia, a la red de la ciudad. se han catastrado 5.403 lotes 9x18 en 143 ha en la primera comuna, y 17.696 lotes en 430 ha en la segunda (vergara y palmer, 1990). en estas poblaciones, gran parte de la superficie construida es obra de los propios habitantes, quienes han acogido además, como allegados a lo largo del tiempo, a las familias de sus hijos que no han querido emigrar a la periferia más lejana, constituyendo así comunidades familiares al interior de los lotes. también a lo largo de los años, los pobladores han adquirido las competencias técnicas y de gestión no solo para autoconstruir sus viviendas, sino que para urbanizar, densificar y mejorar sus barrios (castillo, 2013). asegurar transporte público de calidad en zonas históricamente postergadas mejora la vida de sus residentes con respecto a la accesibilidad, pero coloca urgencia a la regeneración de estos barrios para incorporar estándares urbanos, desarrollo de los espacios públicos y de una movilidad sustentable expresada en mejoras peatonales y ciclistas complementarias al transporte público (de manuel y lópez medina, 2017). además, la presión por densificar el suelo que provocará esta nueva infraestructura de transporte y movilidad, que abre oportunidades para quienes buscan buena vivienda, supone el desafío de que el nuevo poblamiento se lleve a cabo sin el desplazamiento de los propietarios originales y con mejoras en sus condiciones de habitabilidad, y a la vez con la radicación de sus allegados (castillo, 2004; díaz parra, 2016). por lo tanto, hay que hacer frente a la gentrificación que podría producirse con la valorización del entorno y la consecuente especulación del mercado de suelo producto de la intervención estatal en infraestructura de transporte. en el caso de los lotes 9x18, es imprescindible incorporar a los habitantes/ propietarios y allegados que han proclamado «aquí crecimos, aquí nacimos y aquí nos queremos quedar» como gestores en un proceso de regeneración urbana basado en la autogestión, que mejore las condiciones de habitabilidad y también acoja la demanda que existe actualmente en dichos barrios a causa del hacinamiento (castillo, 2013). otro mecanismo para poner freno a la gentrificación, es la formalización de cooperativas o viviendas colaborativas a partir de las comunidades familiares que ya existen en los lotes 9x18 (rosa jiménez et al., 2016). la propiedad colectiva, que genera comunidades al interior de lotes, fusionados o no, puede ser una buena alternativa. los mismos pobladores han planteado las cooperativas de ayuda mutua en régimen de copropiedad colectiva, con cesión de uso de las viviendas, como una alternativa r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 122 with the displacement to the outskirts and the settlement of live-ins in their same districts of origin. the most urgent and complex challenge is to update codes and legal instruments to conduct a process of qualitative densification that respects and values the built heritage of 9 x 18 neighborhoods. in these neighborhoods, spontaneous densification already exists. it is achieved through horizontal and vertical extensions within each lot, increasing built areas but impoverishing the conditions of habitability and security. typical street profiles have been altered by building on front setbacks -including informal commerce and by the massification of the automobile and its parking. however, this type of city retains characteristic features and community relationships as a result of the urban layout and property subdivision (vergara and palmer, 1995). for decades, the densification process has been conceived as a blind process that abides to the rules of the market in a clean-up replacement policy. it now seems necessary to explore the landscape and cultural potential of a densification process conceived from the existing property unit and its multiples, as well as the associative capacity of current owners to set up real estate micro-enterprises. it is necessary to redefine public and private real estate management: regeneration programs and new housing programs with high standards, social integration housing that considers subsidized access for both homeownership and rental models. in a long-term perspective, there is an opportunity to make these neighborhoods equitable urban territories. these pericentral sectors were built under norms that promoted urban conditions of lower standards than the rest of the city, which enjoyed the benefits of the dfl 2 decree of 1959 and the special regulations for social housing of 1984. because in these neighborhoods urbanization was incomplete, today it is necessary to invest decisively in public space and facilities through public investment. moreover, it is also necessary to include mechanisms for the capture of surplus value generated by public investment in infrastructure. it is the right time to redefine street profiles that incorporate pedestrians, cyclists, better trees, etc. integrated strategic planning must be done, ensuring that in 20 or 30 years these neighborhoods will be well integrated into the rest of the city. the regeneration of 9 x 18 neighborhoods into equitable and sustainable urban territories will not be possible without starting from the socio-spatial reality and capacity already within them, nor without contemplating a legal and regulatory framework on qualitative densification, design of public space and property ownership. c h a llen g es o f d en sific a t io n in 9x 18 n eig h b o u r h o o d s d esa fío s d e l a d en sific a c ió n en b a r io s 9 x 18 123 para hacer frente al desplazamiento a las periferias y a la radicación de los allegados en las comunas de origen. el desafío más urgente y complejo es la actualización de instrumentos normativos y legales para conducir un proceso de densificación cualitativa que respete y ponga en valor el patrimonio construido de los barrios 9 x 18. en estos barrios, ya existe una forma de densificación espontánea lograda mediante ampliaciones horizontales y verticales al interior de cada lote, aumentando la superficie útil pero empobreciendo las condiciones de habitabi lidad y seguridad. los perfiles típicos de calles y pasajes se han visto alterados por la construcción en antejardines, incluyendo comercio informal, y por la masificación del automóvil y su estacionamiento. sin embargo, es un tipo de ciudad que conserva una fisonomía y relaciones comunitarias características, fruto del trazado vial y de la subdivisión predial (vergara y palmer, 1995). en lugar de pensar en un proceso de densificación entregado ciegamente a las reglas del mercado en una política de reemplazo a tabla rasa, como se ha hecho por décadas, parece necesario explorar el potencial paisajístico y cultural de un proceso de densificación concebido a partir de la unidad predial existente y sus múltiplos, así como de la capacidad de asociatividad de actuales propietarios para constituir microemprendimientos inmobiliarios. se necesita redefinir la gestión inmobiliaria pública y privada: programas de regeneración y vivienda nueva con estándares altos, vivienda de integración social que considere acceso subsidiado tanto para la propiedad como para el arriendo. en una visión de largo plazo, surge la oportunidad de hacer de estos barrios territorios urbanos equitativos. estos sectores pericentrales se constru yeron bajo normas que fomentaron condiciones urbanas de más bajos estándares que el resto de la ciudad, que gozaba del dfl 2 de 1959 y de la normativa especial para la vivienda social de 1984. como en estos barrios la urbanización quedó incompleta, hoy es necesario invertir decididamente en equipamiento y espacio público de calidad (tal como el nuevo hospital félix bulnes en cerro navia, próximo a la nueva línea 7 del metro) mediante inversión pública, incluyendo mecanismos de recuperación de la plusvalía que genera la inversión pública en infraestructura. es el momento adecuado para redefinir perfiles de calles y pasajes que incorporen a peatones, ciclistas, mejor arborización, etc. se debe hacer una planificación estratégica integrada, que asegure que en 20 o 30 años estos barrios estarán bien integrados al resto de la ciudad. no será posible abordar la regeneración de los barrios 9 x 18, para transformarlos en territorios equitativos y sostenibles de la ciudad, sin desarro llarlos a partir de la realidad socio espacial y a la capacidad ya instalada en los barrios, y sin contemplar un marco legal y normativo sobre densificación cualitativa, diseño de espacio público y tenencia de la propiedad. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 124 references / referencias castillo maría josé (2004). “renovación de las poblaciones mediante la radicación de allegados: una alternativa a la expansión de santiago de chile”, informes de la construcción vol. 56 nº 491: otras rea lidades, otras construcciones, consejo superior de investigaciones científicas, madrid, españa, mayo-junio, p. 7-17. castillo maría josé (2012). “gestión y autogestión de los pobladores, potencial de innovación para la política habitacional”, en fundación superación de la pobreza (2012). tesis país 2011: piensa un país sin pobreza, santiago, p. 36-67. castillo maría josé (2013). “producción y gestión habitacional de los pobladores. articulación con la política de vivienda y barrio. trayectoria y problemática actual”, tesis doctoral universidad politécnica de madrid. de manuel jerez, esteban y lópez medina, josé maría (2017). “dinamizar la regeneración urbana desde la escala barrial: aprendizajes y transferencias del proyecto barrios en transición”, ciudades n° 20, p. 21-44. díaz parra ibán (2016). “política urbana y cambios sociodemográficos en el centro urbano de la ciudad de méxico. ¿gentrificación o reasentamiento?”, territorios n° 35, p. 127-148. rosa jiménez carlos [et al.] (2016). “cooperativas vecinales. una aproximación a la gestión colaborativa en rehabilitación y conservación de barriadas”, wps review international on sustainable housing and urban renewal (ri-shur), vol.1 n° 3, p. 7-21. vergara francisco, palmer montserrat (1990). “el lote 9 x 18 en la encrucijada habitacional de hoy”, facultad de arquitectura y bellas artes, pontificia universidad católica de chile, editorial universitaria, santiago, chile. vergara francisco, palmer montserrat (1995). “santiago y sus periferias populares. el lote 9x18m. y el trabajo inconcluso de sus barrios”; en bannen pedro (ed.) (1995). santiago de chile: quince escritos y cien imágenes, ediciones arq, santiago, chile, p. 139-147. (self) housing management challenges for collective densification (auto) gestión de la vivienda desafíos para la densificación colectiva luz maría vergara faculty of architecture and the built environment | delft university of technology doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3992 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 136 abstract the development of self-organized neighborhoods positions the residents at the centre of the process. they organize themselves to plan, densify and subsequently manage their dwellings collectively. this chapter focuses on defining the type of management that accompanies the housing densification in condominium tenure, and the challenges related to the maintenance and administration of common property areas. housing management is understood as a multidimensional process in which the correct performance of the condominium is defined by organisational, technical and sociocultural aspects. from the identification of challenges for the community and the institutions, this chapter reflects on the need for cross-sector collaboration and institutional support to ensure a sustainable long-term management. keywords housing management; condominiums; self-organization; maintenance; collective administration. (self) h o u sin g m a n a g em en t (a u to ) g es t ió n d e l a v iv ien d a 137 resumen el desarrollo de barrios de manera auto-organizada posiciona a los residentes al centro del proceso, los cuales se organizan para planificar, densificar y posteriormente administrar sus viviendas colectivamente. este capítulo se enfoca en definir el tipo de gestión que acompaña la densificacion de viviendas en copropiedad, y los desafíos asociados a al mantenimiento y administración de las áreas de uso común. la gestión es entendida como un proceso multidimensional en el cual el correcto funcionamiento del condominio está definido por aspectos organizacionales, técnicos y socioculturales. a partir de la identificación de desafíos para la comunidad y las instituciones, el capítulo reflexiona entorno a la necesidad de colaboración intersectorial y apoyo institucional para asegurar una gestión sostenible en el largo plazo. palabras claves gestión habitacional; condominios, auto-organización; mantenimiento; administración colectiva. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 138 the collective production of housing and neighborhoods positions the residents at the centre of the process. this implies defining the new role of society in housing production models as well as rethinking the management processes and the institutional framework that supports these practices. most of the collective production processes have developed spontaneously and stem from family needs of surface and proximity. however, they are also an opportunity to promote an institutional framework that encourages developments that today are understood as informal. an example is the proposal of family condominiums that focuses on the densification of 9x18 pericentral neighborhoods of santiago (tapia, araos, & salinas, 2012). this type of initiatives represent an opportunity to promote collaborative models in which the residents, making use of the existing social capital, self-organize to plan, densify and collectively manage their properties. this article will focus on understanding the type of management that accompanies the densification of neighborhoods, reflecting on the main challenges for both the community and the institutions. housing management has been extensively defined in the context of european social housing, especially from the point of view of strategic maintenance; that is, all the necessary activities to ensure the proper functioning of the building (priemus, dieleman, & clapham, 1999, straub, 2002). besides the technical perspective, housing management can also be defined within broader frameworks, such as the social habitat management. the concept, long discussed in the ibero-american context, focuses on collective social and cultural processes. the emphasis is on the participation of the inhabitants who, together with social and political agents, are involved in the different phases of the housing process (manuel jerez, 2010). in collective housing, which is commonly understood under the fi gure of condominium tenure, the housing management process is led by the co-owners. the decisions, therefore, are closely linked to the financial, cultural and personal situations of the owners and their families. this implies tensions between individual and collective interests that result in a complex decision-making process for the care and maintenance of common property areas (donoso & elsinga, 2016). thus, management can be understood as a multidimensional process in which the correct functioning of the condominium is defined by closely related technical, organizational and sociocultural aspects (vergara, 2016; vergara, gruis, & van der flier, 2019). the management involves all the activities related to the maintenance of the building; the efficient coordination of human and financial resources under internal governance rules; and the interaction of the owners with their built environment, in relation to their collective capacity, will and knowledge to lead this process. in addition to these dimensions, external elements to the condominium such as the regulatory framework and housing policies can be key elements to fa(self) h o u sin g m a n a g em en t (a u to ) g es t ió n d e l a v iv ien d a 139 la producción de vivienda y barrios de manera colectiva posiciona a los residentes al centro del proceso. esto implica definir el nuevo rol de la sociedad en modelos de producción habitacional así como repensar los procesos de gestión y la institucionalidad que ampara estas prácticas. si bien la mayoría de los procesos de producción colectiva se han desarrollado de manera espontánea y desde las necesidades familiares de superficie y proximidad, son una oportunidad para impulsar un marco institucional que promueva desa rrollos que hoy en día se clasifican como informales. un ejemplo es la propuesta de condominios familiares que se centra en la densificación de predios del tipo 9x18 en barrios peri centrales de santiago (tapia, araos, & salinas, 2012). este tipo de iniciativas representan una oportunidad para impulsar modelos colaborativos en los cuales los mismos residentes, haciendo uso del capital social existente, se organizan para planificar, densificar y posteriormente administrar colectivamente sus propiedades. en el siguiente texto nos enfocaremos en entender el tipo de gestión que acompaña a la densificación de barrios, reflexionando en torno a los principales desafíos tanto para la comunidad como para las instituciones. la gestión habitacional se ha definido extensamente en el contexto de vivienda social europeo, especialmente desde el mantenimiento estratégico, como todas las actividades necesarias para asegurar el correcto funcionamiento del edificio (priemus, dieleman, & clapham, 1999; straub, 2002). además de la perspectiva técnica, la gestión habitacional se puede definir también dentro de marcos más amplios como el de gestión social del hábitat. el concepto, largamente discutido en el contexto iberoamericano, se enfoca en procesos colectivos sociales y culturales. el énfasis reside en la participación de los habitantes, que junto a agentes sociales y políticos, se involucran en las distintas fases del proceso habitacional (manuel jerez, 2010). en el contexto de vivienda en propiedad colectiva, comúnmente bajo la figura de tenencia de condominio, el proceso de gestión habitacional se encuentra liderado por los copropietarios. las decisiones, por lo tanto, están estrechamente ligadas a las situaciones financieras, culturales y personales de los propietarios y sus familias. esto implica tensiones entre los intereses individuales y colectivos que se traducen en un proceso complejo de toma de decisiones para el cuidado y mantenimiento de las áreas de propiedad común (donoso & elsinga, 2016). así, la gestión se puede entender como un proceso multidimensional en el cual el correcto funcionamiento del condominio está definido por aspectos técnicos, organizacionales y socioculturales estrechamente relacionados (vergara, 2016; vergara, gruis, & van der flier, 2019). esto implica que la gestión involucra las actividades relativas al mantenimiento del edificio, la coordinación eficiente de recursos humanos y financieros bajo reglas internas de gobernanza, así como la interacción de los propietarios con su entorno construido, en relación a su capacidad colectiva, voluntad y conor iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 140 cilitate management, especially in the long term. challenges for the community and institutions from managerial point of view, what are the social and institutional challenges faced by a process of neighborhood densification in vulnerable contexts? the challenges are multiple, but we will only refer to two challenges for the community and two challenges for the institutions. the first challenge for the community is related to the relationship between the individual and the collective. specifically, the existence of conflicts within the condominium that stem from the use of common property and communal life. informal expansions, land appropriations, inappropriate use of collective spaces are recurrent problems that result in conflicts between residents and affect their cohesion and organizational capacity. in this line of thought, both the design and the internal rules must clearly define the areas of individual and collective ownership to facilitate the administration and maintenance of each. are the collective spaces recognizable by the community? what are the norms established by the residents for a fair use of common property areas in the short and long term? are the responsibilities clearly defined and divided within the community? a second challenge is related to the sense of urgency that accompanies situations of economic precariousness versus the relevance of maintenance in the long term. on the one hand, there is a need to give physical space inside the house to productive activities as well as to the transformations of the family core. on the other hand, a maintenance plan is required to ensure the added value and quality of the built environment. the maintenance and growth plan must be flexible enough and feasible in relation to the characteristics of the residents and their economic reality. what elements should be considered in the management plan to serve as a roadmap for the condominium? in what way are the financial and human resources within the condominium used and combined efficiently and effectively? a successful process of self-management demands plenty from the community in terms of leadership and decision-making to promote and develop the project. however, it also requires institutional support to ensure sustainable results in the long term. an important institutional challenge is the existence of a regulatory framework to promote and consolidate these practices and ensure the availability of the professional services required to meet the established standards. the access to affordable architectural services for a densification project and future extensions, legal advice, support in self-management, mediation in case of conflicts, administration services, are some examples. finally, intersectoral collaboration, especially at a local level, is another important challenge. coordination between the municipality, intermediary organizations and civil society organizations is key to ensure (self) h o u sin g m a n a g em en t (a u to ) g es t ió n d e l a v iv ien d a 141 cimiento para liderar este proceso. además de estas dimensiones, elementos externos al condominio como el marco regulatorio y las políticas de vivienda, pueden ser claves para facilitar la gestión, especialmente en el largo plazo. desafíos para la comunidad y para las instituciones desde el punto de vista de la gestión ¿cuáles son los desafíos sociales e institucionales a los que se enfrenta un proceso de densificación barrial en contextos de vulnerabilidad?. los desafíos son múltiples, pero nos referiremos a dos desafíos para la comunidad y dos desafíos para las instituciones. el primero desafío para la comunidad está relacionado con la relación entre lo individual y lo colectivo, y específicamente la existencia de conflictos al interior del condominio derivados del uso de la propiedad común y la vida en comunidad. ampliaciones informales, apropiaciones de terreno, uso inapropiado de los espacios colectivos son problemas recurrentes que se traducen en conflictos entre los residentes y afectan su cohesión y capacidad de organización. en este sentido, tanto el diseño como la reglas internas deben reconocer claramente las áreas de propiedad individual y colectiva para faci litar su administración y mantención. ¿son los espacios colectivos recono cibles por la comunidad?, ¿cuáles son las normas que los residentes establecen para un uso justo de las áreas de propiedad común en el corto y largo plazo ?, ¿están las responsabilidades claramente definidas y divididas al interior de la comunidad? un segundo desafío se relaciona con la urgencia que acompaña situaciones de precariedad económica versus la relevancia del mantenimiento en el largo plazo. por un lado, existe necesidad de dar espacio físico dentro de la vivienda a actividades productivas así como a las transformaciones del núcleo familiar. por otro lado, se requiere un plan de mantenimiento para asegurar la plusvalía y la calidad del entorno construido. el plan de mantenimiento y crecimiento debe ser lo suficientemente flexible y factible en relación a las características de los residentes y su realidad económica. ¿qué elementos tiene que tener un plan de gestión para que sirva como hoja de ruta para el condominio? ¿de qué manera los recursos financieros y humanos al interior del condómino se utilizan y combinan de manera eficiente y efectiva?. un proceso exitoso de autogestión demanda bastante desde la comunidad en términos de liderazgos, toma de decisiones para impulsar y desarrollar el proyecto, pero también requiere apoyo institucional para asegurar resultados sostenibles en el largo plazo. un desafío institucional importante es la exis tencia de un marco normativo para promover y consolidar estas prácticas, y asegurar la disponibilidad de los servicios profesionales que se requieren para cumplir los estándares establecidos. el acceso a servicios asequibles de arquitectura para el proyecto de densificación y para futuras ampliaciones, asesoría legal, apoyo en la autogestión, mediación en caso de conflictos, servicios de r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 142 sustainable local development and thus, have a greater impact. what type of organizations or institutions are the most adequate to provide the services required by the community? what is the role of the municipality in densification processes? both the process of densifying and the process of maintaining a building in good condition require technical knowledge in design and maintenance, efficient coordination of resources and the existence of collective action capacity of the community despite their social and economic difficulties. institutional support is central to in promoting and facilitating these practices in order to transform scattered initiatives into collaborative models of housing provision and improvement. (self) h o u sin g m a n a g em en t (a u to ) g es t ió n d e l a v iv ien d a 143 administración, son algunos ejemplos. finalmente, la colaboración intersectorial, especialmente a nivel local es otro importante desafío. la coordinación entre la municipalidad, las organizaciones intermediarias y las organizaciones de la sociedad civil son clave para asegurar un desarrollo local sostenible y de mayor impacto. ¿qué tipo de organizaciones o instituciones son las más ade cuadas para proveer los servicios que requiere la comunidad?, ¿cuál es el rol de la municipalidad a nivel territorial en procesos de densificación?. tanto el proceso de densificar como el proceso de mantener esa edificación en buenas condiciones requiere conocimiento técnico en diseño y mantenimiento, coordinación eficiente de recursos y capacidad de acción de la comunidad por sobre las dificultades sociales y económicas. el apoyo institucional es central para promover y facilitar estas prácticas con el fin de transformar iniciativas aisladas en modelos colaborativos de provisión y mejoramiento de vivienda. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 144 references / referencias donoso, r. e., & elsinga, m. (2016). management of low-income condominiums in bogotá and quito: the balance between property law and self-organisation. international journal of housing policy, 1-23. doi: 10.1080/14616718.2016.1248608 manuel jerez, e. d. (2010). construyendo triángulos para la gestión social del hábitat. habitat y sociedad, 1, 13-37. priemus, h., dieleman, f., & clapham, d. (1999). current developments in social housing management. netherlands journal of housing and the built environment, 14(3), 211-223. doi: 10.1007/bf02496678 straub, a. (2002). strategic technical management of housing stock: lessons from dutch housing associations. building research and information, 30(5), 372-381. doi: 10.1080/09613210210150955 tapia, r., araos, c., & salinas, c. (2012). condominios familiares. una alternativa de solución residencial para las familias allegadas en lotes tipo 9x18. in p. u. c. d. c. centro de políticas públicas uc (ed.), propuestas para chile 2012 (irarrázaval, i.; morandé, m.; letelier, m. ed., pp. 101-138). santiago. vergara, l. m. (2016). gestión de la vivienda social. hechos, desafíos y campos de acción. revista ca. ciudad y arquitectura, 152. vergara, l. m., gruis, v., & van der flier, k. (2019). understanding housing management by low-income homeowners: technical, organisational and sociocultural challenges in chilean condominium housing. buildings, 9(3), 65. extended-household as a co-residence strategy the case of santiago de chile allegamiento como estrategia de co-residencia el caso de santiago de chile juan pablo urrutia1, cristian robertson2 & francisco walker2 1. facultad de arquitectura y urbanismo | universidad de chile 2. escuela de arquitectura | pontificia universidad católica de chile doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3991 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 126 abstract extendedhousehold, as a social phenomenon, depends on the value of relationships of support and dependence among the members of a community. when this collaborative relationship occurs between residents of the same dwelling, it is then understood as a situation of co-residence. in the case of santiago de chile, the extended household phenomenon has increased by 510%. data shows that families prefer to sacrifice conditions of habitability, privacy and security to maintain networks of support, location and access to urban goods, rather than migrating to the periphery as homeowners. it is urgent to generate mechanisms that recognize the needs and preferences of those who make up this “chronic” housing deficit, which is shown today as a form of fragile resistance to socio-spatial segregation. keywords extended – household; co-residence; housing deficit; socio spatial segregation. e x t en d ed -h o u seh o ld a s a c o -r esid en c e s t r a t eg y a lleg a m ien to c o m o es t r a t eg ia d e c o -r esid en c ia 127 resumen el allegamiento, como fenómeno social, depende de relaciones de apoyo y dependencia entre los miembros de una comunidad. cuando esta relación colaborativa se da entre residentes de una misma vivienda, se entiende entonces como una situación de co-residencia. en el caso de santiago de chile, el allegamiento ha aumentado en un 510%. las cifras muestran que las familias prefieren sacrificar condiciones de habitabilidad, privacidad y seguridad para mantener redes de apoyo, localización y acceso a los bienes urbanos, antes que migrar a la periferia como propietarios. es urgente generar mecanismos que reconozcan las necesidades y preferencias de quienes componen este déficit habitacional “crónico”, que se muestra hoy como una forma de resistencia frágil a la segregación socio espacial. palabras claves allegamiento; co-residencia; déficit habitacional; segregación socio espacial. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 128 “allegamiento” is understood to be the coexistence of two or more family groups in the same dwelling or land. this coexistence is characterized in a relationship where one of the groups of families becomes a receiver, and the other an “allegado” in a complementary way (mercado 1993; arriagada, icaza y rodríguez 1999, araos 2008). as a socio-cultural phenomenon, the “allegamiento” depends on two structural factors: the need for housing and the value of relationships of support and dependence among the members of one community. therefore, when the benefits of collaboration between residents of the same dwelling are acknowledged, it is precise to refer to this as a co-residence (urrutia, jirón and lagos 2015). it is important then to differentiate the co-residence as a way of living efficiently from a mere lack of housing. “allegamiento” can be both, but public policies have focused on confronting it only as a manifestation of a housing deficit, without considering the value of co-residence strategies. chile has progressively reduced the quantitative housing deficit, going from nearly 1,000,000 requirements in the 1990s to almost 400,000 units nowadays. however, when analysing the structure of the deficit, its component of allegamiento not only has not decreased, but has increased steadily between 2000 and 2017 (urrutia 2019). furthermore, according to data from the casen survey 2017 the increase in this period reaches 290% nationally and 510% in the city of santiago. one of the reasons that explains the increase in the number of people living in santiago is the value that people give to the location of their homes in the city. they prefer location instead of the physical-environmental wellbeing and levels of privacy that the ownership of a property entails. during the last decades, the supply of social housing in chile has been concentrated in the urban periphery because of the value of land as the most determining factor in the development of housing of public interest. another reason that stimulates the increase of “allegamiento” is the social capital that benefits them by sharing housing. this allows the residents to have relations of mutual collaboration between relatives and people close to the family, a situation that they would not enjoy in a house for a single-household family. thus, families have preferred to maintain a situation of allegamiento rather than migrate to the periphery and be homeowners. this is particularly relevant when it involves sacrificing hygiene and privacy standards or increasing the risk of fires and the possibilities of social conflict due to the overlap of uses in small areas. overall, it multiplies vulnerability factors in general. the assessment of urban location at such radical levels constitutes an unprecedented phenomenon in the tradition of housing provision in chile. from this perspective, the “allegamiento” has been transformed into a strategy of resistance against the segregating processes of eradication that tend to lead the most vulnerable citizens to the urban periphery. urrutia e x t en d ed -h o u seh o ld a s a c o -r esid en c e s t r a t eg y a lleg a m ien to c o m o es t r a t eg ia d e c o -r esid en c ia 129 se entiende por allegamiento la convivencia de dos o más grupos familiares en una misma vivienda o terreno, que se caracteriza en la relación entre al menos dos de los grupos de familias que se hacen complementarios, uno de ellos como receptor y otro como allegado (mercado 1993; arriagada, icaza y rodríguez 1999, araos 2008). como fenómeno socio-cultural, el allegamiento depende de dos factores estructurales: la necesidad de vivienda por un lado y el valor de relaciones de apoyo y dependencia entre los miembros de una comunidad por otro. por tanto, cuando se cuenta con los beneficios de la colaboración entre residentes de una misma vivienda es preciso referirse a este como co-residencia (urrutia, jirón y lagos 2015). es importante entonces diferenciar la co-residencia, en cuanto una manera de habitar eficiente, de una mera carencia habitacional. el allegamiento puede ser ambas cosas, pero las políticas públicas se han centrado en enfrentar al allegamiento sólo como manifestación de déficit habitacional, sin recoger de este fenómeno el valor de las estrategias de co-residencia. chile ha disminuido progresivamente el déficit habitacional cuantitativo, pasando de cerca de 1.000.000 de requerimientos en la década de los 90 a casi 400.000 unidades en la actualidad. sin embargo al analizar la estructura del déficit, nos encontramos con que su componente de hogares allegados no sólo no ha disminuido, sino que ha aumentado sostenidamente entre los años 2000 y 2017 (urrutia 2019) y que según datos de la encuesta casen 2017 el incremento en este periodo alcanza un 290% a nivel nacional y un 510% solo en la ciudad de santiago. una de las razones que explica el aumento del allegamiento en santiago es el valor que las personas dan a la localización de sus viviendas en la ciudad, esto por sobre el bienestar físico-ambiental y niveles de privacidad que supone la tenencia de una vivienda en propiedad. durante las últimas décadas, la oferta de vivienda social en chile se ha concentrado en la periferia urbana, esto en función del valor de suelo como factor más determinante en el desarrollo de la vivienda de interés público. otra razón que estimula el incremento de familias allegadas es el capital social que les beneficia por compartir vivienda, ello les permite tener relaciones de mutua colaboración entre parientes y cercanos a la familia, situación que no gozarian en una vivienda para una familia mononuclear. así, las familias han preferido mantener una situación de allegamiento antes que migrar a la periferia y ser propietarios. esto es particularmente relevante cuando implica sacrificar estándares de higiene y privacidad o aumentar el riesgo de incendios y las posibilidades de conflicto social debido a la sobreposición de usos en áreas pequeñas, multiplicándose los factores de vulnerabilidad en general. esta valoración de la localización urbana a tales niveles de radicalidad, constituye un fenómeno inédito en la tradición de provisión habitacional en chile. desde esta perspectiva, el allegamiento se ha transformado en una esr iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 130 (2019) argues that 82% of “allegado”-families do not want to change their current situation or are not doing anything to obtain another home. moreover, 94% from these same families indicate they are comfortable with their location. this significant assessment to the location generates clusters of allegamiento around the urban centres due to the public goods they provide. this is how the pericentre takes centre stage in the study of “allegamiento”. this is an area of the city located around the networks of opportunities and mobility, which makes them highly valuable and also desirable for the real estate market with its natural pressure on the land. considering the abovementioned, it is possible to point out that “allega miento” has become a form of resistance to socio-spatial segregation. it has become a strategy that ensures the right to the city and avoids the problems of homeowners indicated by rodriguez and sugranyes (2004). some reasons that explain this strategy is, for example, the atomization of land ownership and the comparative value that residents place on their current situation versus the offer they could access through the market. much of the “allegamiento” occurs in small and ancient areas of the pericentre, where original owners have given space to their offspring hosting two or three generations of the same family. thus, for a real estate developer who must purchase several lots for a higher density project, it is very difficult to coordinate numerous owners. finally, the inhabitants themselves are aware that despite the surplus value that their land has acquired, selling it is no guarantee of being able to access a market housing that satisfies their location interests. however, this situation of resistance is fragile and can easily become unbalanced, causing the eviction of the historical residents and the surrounding communities. it is for this reason that the clusters of “allegamiento” in the pericentre of santiago should be considered as priority areas for urban regeneration. a regeneration that encourages formal co-residence and increases the housing densities at intermediate scales that allow the micro-location of these families in the land they already own, and with social networks they already belong to. it is urgent to generate mechanisms that recognize the needs and preferences of those who make up this chronic housing deficit of “allegamiento”, otherwise it will continue to increase. addressing this urban phenomenon with a long-term perspective is the key to combat the deficit without further ado. it is also the key to face the new challenges that we have assumed as a country along with the members of the united nations at the habitat iii summit, initiating processes of urban regeneration and social integration that are necessary for sustainability and for the fight against inequality. it is urgent to replace exhausted logics of housing production; to move from massive construction in peripheries to denser ones in central areas; to assume e x t en d ed -h o u seh o ld a s a c o -r esid en c e s t r a t eg y a lleg a m ien to c o m o es t r a t eg ia d e c o -r esid en c ia 131 trategia de resistencia frente a los procesos segregadores de erradicación que tienden a llevar a los ciudadanos más vulnerables hacia la periferia urbana. urrutia (2019) sostiene que el 82% de las familias allegadas no quiere cambiarse o no está haciendo nada por moverse a otra vivienda, y que estas mismas familias, en un 94%, declaran estar a gusto con su ubicación. esta valoración significativa de la localización genera clusters de allegamiento en torno a los centros urbanos gracias a los bienes públicos que estos proveen. así es como el pericentro toma protagonismo en el estudio del allegamiento, áreas de la ciudad situadas en torno a las redes de oportunidades y movilidad, lo que las hace altamente valiosas y apetecibles también para el mercado inmobiliario con su natural presión sobre el suelo. dicho esto es posible señalar que el allegamiento se ha transformado en una forma de resistencia a la segregación socio espacial, una estrategia que asegura el derecho a la ciudad y evita los flajelos de los con techo señalados por rodriguez y sugranyes (2004). razones que explican ello son la atomización de la propiedad del suelo y el valor comparado que otorgan los residentes a su situación actual versus la oferta a la que podrían acceder a través del mercado. gran parte del allegamiento ocurre en terrenos pequeños y antiguos del pericentro, donde propietarios originales han dado lugar a su descendencia, acogiendo a dos o tres generaciones de una misma familia. así, para un desarrollador inmobiliario que debe adquirir varios paños para un proyecto de mayor densidad, resulta muy difícil tener que coordinar a numerosos propietarios disgregados. finalmente los mismos habitantes tienen conciencia de que a pesar de la plusvalía que han adquirido sus terrenos, al venderlos no existe garantía de poder acceder a una vivienda de mercado que satisfaga sus intereses de localización. ahora bien, esta situación de resistencia es frágil y puede fácilmente desequilibrarse ocasionando la expulsión de los residentes históricos y las comunidades allegadas. es por esta razón que los clusters de allegamiento en el pericentro de santiago deben ser considerados como zonas prioritarias para la regeneración urbana incentivando la co-residencia formal y aumentando las densidades habitacionales a escalas intermedias que permitan la micro radicación de estas familias en el suelo que ya poseen y con las redes sociales a las que ya pertenecen. es urgente generar mecanismos que reconozcan las necesidades y preferencias de quienes componen este déficit habitacional “crónico” de allegamiento, de lo contrario continuará en permanente aumento. abordar este fenómeno urbano con altura de miras y perspectiva de largo plazo es la clave no sólo para combatir el déficit sin más, sino para hacer frente a los nuevos desafíos que hemos asumido como país junto a los miembros de naciones unidas en la cumbre habitat iii, iniciando procesos de regeneración urbana e integración social que son necesarios para la sustentabilidad y el combate a r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 132 that families are diverse and not only single-household, where the “allegamiento” could be co-residence, and the dwelling also a city. e x t en d ed -h o u seh o ld a s a c o -r esid en c e s t r a t eg y a lleg a m ien to c o m o es t r a t eg ia d e c o -r esid en c ia 133 la desigualdad. urge reemplazar lógicas agotadas de producción de vivienda, pasar de la construcción masiva en periferias a una más densa en áreas centrales, asumir que las familias son diversas y no sólo mononucleares, donde el allegamiento podría ser co-residencia y la vivienda también ciudad. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 134 references / referencias araos, c. (2008). la tensión entre conyugalidad y filiación en la génesis empírica del allegamiento. estudio cualitativo comparado entre familias pobres de santiago de chile. (master), pontificia universidad católica de chile, santiago. arriagada, c., a.m. icaza y a. rodríguez (1999). “allegamiento, pobreza y políticas públicas”. temas sociales (25). mercado, o. (1993). “allegamiento: operacionalización del concepto y característica relevantes”. en allegados: caracterización y propuesta para una política de vivienda. santiago: ditec/minvu. ministerio de desarrollo social (2017). encuesta de caracterización socioeconómica nacional (casen) 2017. rodríguez, a., & sugranyes, a. (2004). el problema de vivienda de los “con techo”. eure (santiago), 30 (91), 53-65. urrutia, j. (2019). estrategias de co-residencia, tipologías de vivienda informal para familias extensas, santiago de chile, chile: local editores. urrutia, j., jiron, p., & lagos, a. (2016). ¿allegamiento o co-residencia? revista ca. ciudad y arquitectura (152). informal collaborative housing the case of chile and dwellings in 9x18 lots la vivienda colaborativa informal el caso de chile y la vivienda en lotes 9 x 18 rodrigo tapia escuela de arquitectura | pontificia universidad católica de chile doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3988 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 72 abstract the neighborhoods 9x18 emerged from a housing policy promoted in the 60s in chile. they represent today a particular way of collective habitat in relation to their neighborhood scale and to the interior of each plot. they are territories constituted and built by familiar and community networks. in santiago, they are 466 neighborhoods, and 216.000 lots between 160 and 250 m2, with a 38% of public space surface and an excellent pericentral location. here, there is a lot to observe, learn and protect; and a tremendous potential that needs to be explored and imagined from the understanding of their physical and immaterial patrimony and their opportunities for human-scale densification. keywords 9x18 neighborhoods, neighborhood regeneration, collective habitat. in fo r m a l c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g l a v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a in fo r m a l 73 resumen los barrios 9x18, surgidos a partir de una política pública impulsada en los 60 en chile, recogen hoy un particular modo de habitar colectivo, tanto en su escala barrial como al interior de cada lote. son territorios, constituidos y construidos por redes familiares y comunitarias, en santiago suman 466 barrios y 216.000 lotes entre 160 y 250 m2, con un 38% de superficie pública y una excelente ubicación pericentral. hay aquí mucho que observar, aprender y proteger, un tremendo potencial que necesita ser explorado e imaginado, reconociendo su patrimonio físico e inmaterial y sus oportunidades de densificación a escala humana. palabras claves barrios 9x18, regeneración barrial, habitar colectivo. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 74 a public policy developed in chile since 1960 that has been slightly disseminated and examined are the so-called “operations site”, also labelled as “9x18 neighborhoods” by the measurements of the land. it has been slightly disseminated perhaps because of its simplicity and in most cases because it has not been completed with housing buildings. this public policy consisted basically in the distribution of an urbanized single-family land of at least 160 square meters, arranged in a lot with equally sized sites and organized in such a way that they were close to a future green area and local community infrastructure. in these lots, the responsibility of constructing a built space was left to its own residents (giannotti, mondragón, 2017). the question is whether the development of “9x18” lots has been a chilean expression of collaborative housing or, if on a larger scale, these neighborhoods formed by this type of lots can be considered as urban residential spaces generated in a collective way. if we observe the ways of living developed by the residents in these lots over time, an arrangement can clearly be distinguished: one between different family groups to share their daily residential space. this arrangement is collaborative because the inhabitants have agreed to share not only a piece of land but also their lives. there are spaces designed for patios and access, but also for the bathroom, the laundry area, interior corridors, as well as the living and dining room. the dwellings are built by their own efforts and under common design criteria: from the distribution of their rooms to the decision of the construction systems and materials used. this has been possible partly because of the generosity of the size of these lands, which allowed to accommodate different generations within them. the agreements were constituted, most of the time, under family ties or intergenerational cohabitation ties, which is also described as family-allegamiento . the phenomenon of the allegados in chile has not only responded to adverse socioeconomic conditions that can only be solve through cohabitation, nor only to a matter of privileged location within the city; but rather, as a priority to the necessity of being close to the family and supporting each other, and thus constituting this particular way of living (araos, 2008). it is a model of family economy of mutual support, where expenses, payments of accounts, the care for children and elderly, the surveillance of the house, and also an eventual local commerce are shared. but it was not only the private land that was shared. these neighborhoods were configured through the collective effort to build their public space, to fight for the arrival of light and water, to create and take care of their plazas. all in all, to organize to petition and resolve social demands. community life was organized through sports clubs, mother centres and neighborhood associations. these organizations were thought to celebrate children’s day, the neighborhood’s anniversary, christmas, new year or the national holidays. in fo r m a l c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g l a v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a in fo r m a l 75 una política pública desarrollada en chile a partir de 1960 que ha sido poco difundida y examinada, quizás por su sencillez y en la mayoría de los casos, por no haberse completado con edificaciones de vivienda, son las lla madas “operaciones sitio”, también apodadas como “barrios 9x18” por las medidas de sus terrenos. esta consistió básicamente en la entrega de un terreno unifamiliar urbanizado de al menos 160 metros cuadrados de superficie, dispuesto en un loteo con sitios de igual tamaño, organizados de manera de tal que quedaran próximos a una futura área verde e infraestructura comunitaria local, donde la responsabilidad de levantar el espacio construido, quedó en manos de sus propios residentes (giannotti, mondragón, 2017). la pregunta es si lo ocurrido al interior de los lotes “9x18” ha sido una expresión chilena de vivienda colaborativa, o si a una escala mayor, estos barrios conformados por este tipo de lotes, pueden ser considerados espacios urbanos residenciales generados característicamente de manera colectiva. si observamos los modos de habitar desarrollados en el tiempo por los residentes de estos lotes, podemos distinguir con nitidez un arreglo entre distintos grupos familiares para compartir su espacio residencial cotidiano. es colaborativo, porque los habitantes se han puesto de acuerdo para compartir no solo un terreno sino también sus vidas. existen espacios destinados a patios y accesos, pero también el baño, la zona de lavado, pasillos interiores, así como el estar y el comedor. son viviendas levantadas por el esfuerzo propio y bajo criterios de diseño comunes, desde la distribución de sus recintos hasta la decisión de los sistemas constructivos y materiales a utilizar. probablemente esto haya sido posible en parte, también por la generosidad de la dimensión de estos terrenos, que permitieron albergar a distintas generaciones dentro de ellos. la mayoría de las veces los acuerdos se constituyeron bajo lazos de parentesco familiar o de cohabitación intergeneracional, también descrito como allegamiento familiar . el fenómeno de los allegados en chile, no solo ha respondido a condiciones socioeconómicas adversas que encuentra en la cohabitación su única salida, ni tampoco solamente a una cuestión de localización privilegiada dentro de la ciudad, sino más bien de manera prioritaria, a la necesidad de estar cerca de la familia, y apoyarse mutuamente constituyéndose este modo particular de habitar (araos, 2008). es un modelo de economía familiar de apoyo mutuo, donde se comparten gastos y el pago de cuentas, el cuidado de niños y adultos mayores, la vigilancia de la casa y de un eventual comercio local. pero no fue solo el terreno privado lo compartido. estos barrios se fueron configurando a través del esfuerzo colectivo de levantar a pulso su espacio público, de pelear la llegada de la luz y el agua, de crear y cuidar sus plazas, de organizarse para exigir y resolver sus demandas sociales. la vida comunitaria se organizó a través de clubes deportivos, centros de madres y juntas de vecir iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 76 in short, a physical and social territory, constituted and built by family and community networks. although these neighborhoods were originally created under the social pressure of land appropriations or state initiatives to provide a space in the city for young families with lower incomes, nowadays we can find three and four generations living in the same land. despite the years, the precarious housing conditions do not seem to improve, nor do the lack of space and privacy. the housing conditions can even get worse with the aggregation of new housing extensions to accommodate new members. there are clear problems associated with loss of light and natural ventilation, lack of good thermal and water insulation, structural problems, fire risks and overlapping uses. however, the services and transportation have improved, as well as the relative location in the city. their public spaces -not always well enabled and maintainedhave a good surface. in average, more than 38% of the neighborhood’s surface is destined to public spaces (vergara, palmer, 1990). many neighborhoods have spaces for squares and community infrastructure, and some of their urban plots were designed to proportionally divide the opportunities for access to these benefits. but one of its most important advantage is the relevant proportion they occupy in santiago today. there are 466 neighborhoods, consisting of a total of 216,000 lots, ranging between 160 and 250 square meters, and occupying a total of 6,250 hectares (tapia, araos & salinas, 2012). but what are the opportunities and threats we observe? to resettle part of these families to more peripheral areas of the city has serious consequences, even if it is to ensure a decent roof for them. it means breaking these networks, socially disintegrating what it has taken so many years to configure. on the other hand, locating and densifying in average scale would allow to act more sustainably and to stall the expansion of the city. therefore, it would avoid the need to replicate new infrastructures and public networks that already exist and are being used. incidentally, if we act on these well located and exploited pieces of the city, we could initiate processes of urban regeneration that are more respectful with this way of living. this can be done so by focusing resources on these pieces of the city to build new types of housing with high standards and improve the conditions of their public spaces. another threat, already observed in more central areas of the city, is that the real estate sector capitalizes on this neighborhood heritage that has been so difficult to lift; expelling its current residents, through hyper-densified buildings financed by external investors. the challenge would be to give formal accommodation to the applicants of new housing that are already residing in the neighborhood and in the municipality, and at the same time generates incentives to retain the families that have fared better economically. in fo r m a l c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g l a v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a in fo r m a l 77 nos, para celebrar el día del niño, el aniversario del barrio, la navidad, el nuevo año o las fiestas patrias. en síntesis un territorio físico y social, constituido y construido por redes familiares y comunitarias. si bien estos barrios se originaron bajo la presión social de tomas de te rreno o iniciativas estatales para dotar de un espacio en la ciudad a las familias jóvenes de menores ingresos, hoy podemos hallar a tres y cuatro generaciones viviendo en el mismo terreno. a pesar de los años, las condiciones de precariedad habitacional, en muchos casos, no logran ser superadas o empeoran con la agregación de nuevos recintos o unidades para acoger a otros miembros, lo que se expresa en deficitarias condiciones de habitabilidad, en falta espacio y privacidad. se evidencia así problemas asociados a la pérdida de luz y ventilación natural, falta de una buena aislación térmica e hídrica, problemas estructurales, riesgos de incendio y usos superpuestos. sin embargo los servicios y el transporte han mejorado, así como la localización relativa en la ciudad. en tanto sus espacios públicos no siempre bien habilitados y mantenidos, cuentan desde su origen con una buena superficie, teniendo como promedio más de un 38% de la superficie barrial (vergara, palmer, 1990). muchos barrios cuentan con espacios para plazas e infraestructura comunitaria, y algunas de sus tramas urbanas fueron diseñadas para repartir proporcionalmente las oportunidades de acceso a estos beneficios. pero una de sus más importantes ventajas, es la relevante proporción que ocupan en el santiago de hoy. son 466 barrios, conformados por un total de 216.000 lotes, que van entre los 160 y 250 m2, ocupando un total de 6. 250 hectáreas (tapia,araos & salinas, 2012). ¿pero cuáles son las oportunidades y amenazas que observamos? erradicar a parte de estas familias a otras zonas más periféricas de la ciudad, aunque sea con el fin de asegurarles un techo digno, tiene aparejadas otras graves consecuencias. significa romper estas redes, desintegrar socialmente lo que ha costado tantos años configurar. en tanto radicar y densificar a escala media, permitiría actuar más sustentablemente y no seguir expan diendo la ciudad, evitando con ello el tener que replicar nuevas infraestructuras y redes públicas que ya existen y están siendo utilizadas. de paso, si actuamos sobre estos trozos de ciudad bien localizados y servidos, podríamos iniciar procesos de regeneración urbana, focalizando en ellos recursos para construir nuevas tipologías de viviendas con altos estándares y mejorar las condiciones de sus espacios públicos, más respetuosos de este modo de ha bitar. otra de las amenazas, ya observadas en áreas más centrales de la ciudad, es que el sector inmobiliario sea el que capitalice este patrimonio barrial que ha costado tanto levantar, expulsando a sus residentes actuales, mediante hiperdensificaciones financiadas por inversionistas externos. el desafío sería, r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 78 thus, promoting non-forced integration processes among groups of people that have grown together. there is, therefore, much to observe, learn and protect. but there is also a tremendous urban and social potential, which needs to be explored and imagined, recognizing its physical and intangible heritage and its potential for densification on a human scale. a new space in the city for new generations born in the neighborhood and also for new families. in fo r m a l c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g l a v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a in fo r m a l 79 dar alojamiento formal a los requirentes de nuevas viviendas que residen en el barrio y en la comuna, generando también incentivos para retener a las familias que les ha ido mejor económicamente, propiciando así, procesos de integración no forzados entre grupos de personas que han crecido juntas. hay aquí por tanto mucho que observar, aprender y proteger, pero también un tremendo potencial urbano y social, que necesita ser explorado e imaginado, reconociendo su patrimonio físico e inmaterial y sus potencia les de densificación a escala humana. un nuevo espacio en la ciudad para las nuevas generaciones nacidas en el barrio, y por qué no, también para nuevas familias. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 80 references / referencias araos, c. (2016). el allegamiento o la proximidad invisible. aportes etnográficos al estudio del espacio doméstico en contexto de pobreza urbana en chile. catalina siles (ed.), los invisibles. por qué la pobreza y la exclusión social dejaron de ser prioridad, santiago, ies. araos, c. (2008). la tensión entre filiación y conyugalidad en la génesis empírica del allegamiento: estudio cualitativo comparado entre familias pobres de santiago de chile (doctoral dissertation, pontificia universidad católica de chile). giannotti, e., & mondragón-lópez, h. (2017). la inestabilidad de la forma. proyectos para barrios populares en santiago de chile, 1953-1970. bitácora urbano territorial, 27 (1), 35-46. tapia, r., araos, c. & salinas, c. (2012). condominios familiares. una alternativa de solución residencial para familias allegadas en lotes tipo 9x18. propuestas para chile, concurso de políticas públicas 2012, 101-139. vergara, f., palmer, m. (1990). el lote 9x18. en la encrucijada habitacional de hoy. santiago de chile: editorial universitaria. mobility and microaccessability the challenges of public space movilidad y microaccesibilidad los desafíos del espacio público rosanna forray laboratorio 9x18 | escuela de arquitectura | pontificia universidad católica de chile doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3993 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 146 abstract in urban peripheral neighborhoods, mobility is a right yet to be conquered. the residents have to face marginal conditions either in the ‘macroaccesibility’ that leads to long distances, as well as to the ‘microaccesibilty’ that occurs in the proximal space and in the daily life. for this mobility, predominantly female, the most determinant factors are the quality, vitality, and along with it, the safety of the public space. women have to negotiate their right to appropriate, use and transform this space. and they do it throughout the repetitive practice of walking, often under threat. this brings the challenge of thinking the proximal city with them: diverse, safe and well connected. to do so, the public space is the key. keywords mobility; microaccessability; public space; proximal city. m o b ilit y a n d m ic r o a c c essa b ilit y m o v ilid a d y m ic r o a c c esib ilid a d 147 resumen en los barrios de las periferias urbanas, la movilidad es un derecho aún por conquistar. allí los residentes deben enfrentar condiciones deplorables tanto en la “macroaccesibilida” que conduce a las largas distancias, como en la “microaccesibilidad” que se despliega en el espacio de proximidad y en los tiempos de la vida cotidiana. para esta movilidad, predominantemente femenina, los factores más determinantes son la calidad, la vitalidad y con ello la seguridad del espacio público. es allí donde las mujeres deben negociar su derecho a apropiar, usar y transformar el espacio. y lo hacen a través de la práctica repetitiva de la caminata muchas veces amenazada. esto abre el desafío de pensar con ellas la ciudad próxima, diversa, segura y bien conectada. para ello el espacio público es la clave. palabras claves movilidad; microaccesibilidad; espacio público; ciudad próxima. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 148 if we accept that mobility is a right, which in turn allows access to all rights: health, education, housing, recreation, work, exchange opportunities and interactions that the city offers (ascher, 2004); then the mobility right is unequally distributed both socially and spatially (vasconcellos alcántara, 2010). from the perspective of the place of residence, income levels, composition and position in the family, means of displacement, and particularly gender; mobility presents very different types of challenges. this reality is particularly sensitive in the neighborhoods that had their origin in social housing policies, where modest families live in peripheries badly connected to the city and with a limited supply of public spaces. there, (in)mobility is a factor of impoverishment. that is, it is not only a reflection but a producer of inequality (jirón & zunino singh, 2017, le breton, 2005). in those neighborhoods, mobility is a right yet to be conquered. those who inhabit these neighborhoods must face deplorable conditions in what alcântara vasconcellos (2010) calls the macroaccessibility and the microaccessibility. conditions that alter and almost determine their quality of life. with regards to the macroaccessibility, the conditions under which users travel are still deplorable. even though in santiago high-capacity public transport systems gradually expand their coverage to improve mobility from these neighborhoods to distant destinations in the city. access to boarding points, stops and stations, requires long walks or combined means of approach. furthermore, the conditions of services, transfers, waiting times in inhospitable environments, the agglutination in buses and wagons, congestion on the streets, affect the daily travel experience. in this way, users assume, with their time and fatigue, the double cost of distant location and poor travel conditions. from this perspective, the “right to the city” is the right to an accessible city and to a mobility that conduces to it. however, as jouffe (2011) points out, it is not only a question of accessibility. he argues so following lefebvre’s (1969) definition of the right to the city as the ability to appropriate the urban environment and participate. to him, the right to the city is, above all, the right to produce, transform and use the city. this is based on the proximity of neighborhoods. in a neighborhood-regeneration perspective originated in the sixties, microaccessibility is the focus of attention – the topic that summons us. here the physical space conditions the right to the city, as pointed out by muxi martínez, casanovas, ciocoletto, & gutiérrez valdivia (2011). the mobility is not only to transportation means, but to the interior of the neighborhood and the municipality. it is intimately linked to the quality, vitality and the security of the public space that is caused by the quality and vitality. in santiago, walking is the predominant mode of displacement. this mode of transportation reaches up to 75% of the trips in the peripheral municipalities. those m o b ilit y a n d m ic r o a c c essa b ilit y m o v ilid a d y m ic r o a c c esib ilid a d 149 si aceptamos que la movilidad es un derecho, que a su vez permite acceder a todos los derechos, la salud, la educación, la vivienda, la recreación, el trabajo, las oportunidades de intercambio e interacciones que la ciudad ofrece (ascher, 2004), este derecho está social y espacialmente distribuido de manera inequitativa (vasconcellos alcántara, 2010). vista desde la perspectiva del lugar de residencia, de los niveles de ingreso, la composición y la posición en la familia, los medios de desplazamiento, y particularmente el género, la movilidad presenta desafíos de muy diverso tipo. esta realidad es particularmente sensible en los barrios que tuvieron su origen en las políticas de vivienda social, donde habitan familias modestas en periferias mal conectadas a la ciudad y con una oferta limitada de espacios públicos. allí, la (in)movilidad es factor de empobrecimiento, es decir, no sólo es reflejo sino productora de desigualdad (jirón & zunino singh, 2017; le breton, 2005). allí, la movilidad es un derecho aún por conquistar. quienes habitan estos barrios, deben enfrentar condiciones deplorables tanto en lo que alcântara vasconcellos (2010) llama la macroaccesibilidad como en la microaccesibilidad. condiciones que alteran y casi determinan su calidad de vida. en el ámbito de la macroaccesibilidad, si bien en santiago los sistemas de transporte público de gran capacidad poco a poco amplían su cobertura para mejorar la movilidad desde estos barrios hacia destinos distantes en la ciudad, las condiciones en que los usuarios viajan son aún deplorables. por una parte, acceder a los puntos de abordaje, paraderos y estaciones, exige largas caminatas o cambios de medios de acercamiento, por otra, las condiciones de los servicios, los trasbordos, los tiempos de espera en ambientes inhóspitos, el aglutinamiento en buses y vagones, la congestión en las calles, afectan diariamente la experiencia del viaje. de este modo los usuarios asumen, con su tiempo y su fatiga, el doble costo de la localización distante y de las malas condiciones de viaje. desde esta perspectiva, el “derecho a la ciudad” es el derecho a una ciudad accesible y a una movilidad conducente a ella. sin embargo como señala jouffe (2011) el derecho a la ciudad, definido por lefebvre (1969) como la capacidad de apropiarse del entorno urbano y de participar, no es sólo una cuestión de accesibilidad, es sobre todo el derecho a producir, transformar y usar la ciudad, y este tiene su asiento en la proximidad. en una perspectiva de regeneración de los barrios originados en los años sesenta -tema que aquí nos convocaes la microaccesibilidad nuestro foco de atención. aquí el espacio físico condiciona el derecho a la ciudad, como señalan muxi martínez, casanovas, ciocoletto, & gutiérrez valdivia (2011). la movilidad hacia los medios de transporte como hacia el interior del vecindario y de la comuna, está íntimamente ligada a la calidad, a la vitalidad y la consecuente seguridad del espacio público. en santiago, el modo predominante de desplazamiento es la caminata, esta alcanza en las comunas periféricas hasta r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 150 who mainly practice it are women between 21 and 60 years of age, and they do it to go to work, get children to and from school, accompany seniors, make purchases, visit relatives, feed the network of support and assistance relationships relationships that are woven in the neighborhood and sustain the life of the extended family (araos, 2016). it is there, in the space of proximity and in the unfolding of daily life activities where mobility allows to practice the production, transformation and use of space. as fenster (2011) points out, citing de certeau in his book l’invention du quotidien (1984) “the daily activities of the body are part of the process of appropriation and territorialisation of space. the repetitive practice of walking is part of the strategies used to transform and reclaim that space as their own”. however, the author continues, “[for women] to carry out their social and family tasks, they must negotiate their spatial practices of citizenship in order to ensure that they can conduct their right to use [the space]” (2011: 72). this predominantly female micromobility requires negotiations. the quality of the public space, the neighborhood sociability and the security are threatened by thefts, assaults, harassments, intimidation, traffics accidents, among others. this reality causes women to require bid detours to avoid such threats (figueroa & forray claps, 2015). however, diverse elements of the built environment can condition the proximity through the daily practice of walking: the state of the sidewalks, the relation of the house to the street, the presence of neighbors, the presence of shops, the existence or not of blind walls or opaque fences, the dead-end streets, the security at crossings, floods, light and shade, facilities for moving by bicycle, proximity to services, work sources and public transport, among other. all of these elements have a strong impact on the daily experience of mobility, on journeys and breaks, on access to goods and services inside and outside the neighborhoods. female mobility, as well as that of children and adults who travel with them, is a sustainable mobility for its complex or multipurpose displacements of short journeys, on foot or in collective transport (miralles-guasch & dones, 2010). it also plays a central role in the life of the neighborhood. a mobility that through the recurrence of daily practices feeds sociability in the proximity space. in keeping with these practices, identification, knowledge and the transformation of space are being configured. hence, in the line of de certau, muxi notes that “the gender perspective applied to urban planning is understood from experience” (2011, p.109). however, the mobility of women is the most vulnerable (ortiz escalante, 1971) both in terms of macroaccessibility and microaccessibility. within a perspective of regeneration processes of the sixties-generation neighborhoods , which today have a densification potential based on collective housing, mobility opens both an opportunity and a greater challenge. mobility is understood simultaneously as a means of access to the distanced city m o b ilit y a n d m ic r o a c c essa b ilit y m o v ilid a d y m ic r o a c c esib ilid a d 151 el 75% de los viajes, y quienes la practican principalmente son las mujeres entre 21 y 60 años de edad, para dirigirse al trabajo, llevar y traer niños del colegio, acompañar adultos mayores, hacer compras, visitar parientes, alimentar la red de relaciones de apoyo y asistencia que se tejen en el vecindario y sustentan la vida de la familia extensa (araos, 2016). es allí, en el espacio de proximidad y en el despliegue de las actividades de la vida cotidiana donde la movilidad permite practicar la producción, la transformación y el uso del espacio. como señala fenster (2011) citando a de certeau, en su libro l’invention du quotidien (1984) “las actividades corporales de la vida diaria son parte del proceso de apropiación y territorialización del espacio, y la práctica repetitiva de la caminata es parte de las estrategias usadas para transformar y reclamar ese espacio como propio”. sin embargo, prosigue el autor, “[las mujeres] para realizar sus quehaceres sociales y familiares deben negociar sus prácticas espaciales de ciudadanía con el objetivo de asegurar que pueden realizar su derecho al uso [del espacio]” (2011:72). esta micromovilidad, predominantemente femenina, requiere negociaciones. la calidad del espacio público, la sociabilidad vecinal y la seguridad se encuentran amenazadas por robos, asaltos, acoso, amedrentamiento, accidentes de tránsito, entre otros. esta realidad genera que muchas veces las mujeres deban hacer grandes rodeos para esquivar estas amenzas (figueroa & forray claps, 2015). sin embargo, diversos factores del entorno construído pueden condicionar la proximidad a través de la práctica cotidiana de la caminata: el estado de las veredas, la relación de la vivienda con la calle, la presencia de vecinos, la presencia de almacenes, la existencia o no de muros ciegos o cierres opacos, las calles sin salida, la seguridad en los cruces, las inundaciones, la luz y la sombra, las facilidades para moverse en bicicleta, la cercanía a los servicios, a fuentes de trabajo y al transporte público, entre otros factores tienen fuerte impacto en la experiencia cotidiana de la movilidad, en los desplazamientos y las pausas, como también en el acceso a bienes y servicios al interior y al exterior de los barrios. por sus desplazamientos complejos -o multipropósitosde trayectos cortos y a pie o en transporte colectivo, la movilidad femenina, así como la de los niños y las personas adultas que se desplazan con ella, es una movilidad sostenible (miralles-guasch & dones, 2010) y juega un papel central en la vida del barrio. una movilidad que a través de la recurrencia de las prácticas cotidianas alimenta la sociabilidad en el espacio de la proximidad; y a su vez, al compás de esas prácticas se va configurando la identificación, el conocimiento y la transformación del espacio. de ahí que en la linea de de certau, muxi señala que “la perspectiva de género aplicada al urbanismo se entiende desde la experiencia”(2011, p. 109). sin embargo la movilidad de las mujeres es la más vulnerada (ortiz escalante, 1971) tanto en lo que se refiere a la macroaccesibilidad como a la microaccesibilidad. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 152 and as a ‘performative’ practice of the use and transformation of the space of proximity. the opportunity is to think about its transformations from the practices and the daily experience of space. the challenge is to contribute to the production of the walkable city, a well-connected city with diverse neighborhoods with mixed activities and close opportunities, with fewer costs of displacement (miralles-guasch & dones, 2010). a city where public spaces, streets, and squares of proximity are safe, comfortable, attractive, and accessible; a city that welcomes and encourage local life (valdivia, 2017), that values the potentials of their hierarchical urban tissue which is a legacy of the social project that originated them. a city with friendly and safe routes from the house to the neighborhood, and beyond. in short, a ‘friendly’ public space that -in the neighbors’ wishesimproves the daily experience of travel, feeds the sense of belonging and vitalizes social life both within the neighbourhood and in their transition to the city. m o b ilit y a n d m ic r o a c c essa b ilit y m o v ilid a d y m ic r o a c c esib ilid a d 153 en la perspectiva de un proceso de regeneración de los barrios de la ge neración de los sesenta, que hoy presentan un potencial de densificación basada en la vivienda colectiva, la movilidad entendida simultáneamente como vía de acceso a la ciudad a distancia y como práctica ‘performativa’ del uso y transformación del espacio de proximidad, nos abre a la vez una oportunidad y un desafío mayor. la oportunidad de pensar sus transformaciones desde las prácticas y la experiencia cotidiana del espacio. y el desafío de contribuir a la producción de la ciudad próxima, de barrios diversos con actividades mixtas y oportunidades cercanas, con menos costos de dezplazamiento, bien conectada (miralles-guasch & dones, 2010). una proximidad de espacios públicos, calles y plazas seguras, confortables, atractivas, accesibles, que acojan y propicien la vida local (valdivia, 2017), con recorridos amables y seguros desde la casa hasta más allá de los límites barriales. en síntesis, un espacio público ‘amigable’ -al decir de los anhelos de las vecinasque mejore la experiencia cotidiana de los viajes, alimente el sentido de pertenencia y vitalice la sociabilidad tanto en el seno los barrios como en su transición hacia la ciudad. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 154 references / referencias araos, c. (2016). when family lives nearby: kinship, socioeconomic conditions and residential configurations in santiago, chile. (vol. 1). ascher, f. (2004). le sens du mouvement. modernité et mobilités dans les sociétés urbaines contemporaines. in l. j. allemand, sylvain, ascher, françois (ed.), le sens du mouvement (p. 336). paris: belin. de certau, m. (1990) l’invention du qutidien. paris: gallimard. fenster, t. (2011) the right to the city and gendered everyday life. en sugranyez, a. y mathivet, c: cities for all. proposals and experiences towards the right to the city. santiago de chile: habitat international coalition hic, pp. 45-58. figueroa, c., & forray claps, r. (2015). movilidad femenina: los reveses de la utopía socio-espacial en las poblaciones de santiago de chile. revista de estudios sociales no.35, 25, 52–67. https://doi. org/10.7440/res54.2015.04 jirón, p., & zunino singh, d. (2017). dossier. movilidad urbana y género: experiencias latinoamericanas. revista transporte y territorio, 0(16), 1–8. retrieved from http://revistascientificas.filo.uba.ar/index. php/rtt/article/view/3600/3295 jouffe, yves (2011) countering the right to the accessible city: the perversity of a consensual demand. en sugranyez, a. y mathivet, c: cities for all. proposals and experiences towards the right to the city. santiago de chile: habitat international coalition hic, pp. 45-58. le breton, ë. (2005). bouger pour s’en sortir, mobilité quotidienne et intégration sociale. paris: les canets de l’info. lefebvre, h. (1969) le droit à la ville. paris: anthropos. miralles-guasch, c., & dones, i. c. de les. (2010). dones, mobilitat, temps i ciutats. quaderns de l’institut (vol. 14). muxi martínez, z., casanovas, r., ciocoletto, a., & gutiérrez valdivia, b. (2011). ¿qué aporta la perspectiva de género al urbanismo? feminismos, 17, 105–129. ortiz escalante, s. (2014) espacio público, género e ( in )seguridad. en carmen cortés zaborras (coord.) jornadas urbanismo y género. ciudades en construcción. perséfone. ediciones electrónicas de la aehm/ uma, pp. 48-67. http://www.punt6.org/articulos-y-libros-escritos-por-col%c2%b7lectiu-punt-6/ visitado: 15 mayo, 2019. valdivia, b. (2017) calles para todas. revista ecologista, nº 93. https://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/35171/ visitado: 15 mayo, 2019. vasconcellos alcántara, e. (2010). análisis de la movilidad urbana. espacio, medio ambiente y equidad. bogotá, colombia. bogotá: caf. https://doi.org/if7432010202974 public and collective spaces in 9x18 neighborhoods el espacio público y el espacio colectivo en barrios 9x18 elke schlack escuela de arquitectura | pontificia universidad católica de chile doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3994 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 156 abstract in the debate about public space in the urban regeneration of 9x18 settlements, it is relevant to follow the urban space definition that transits from one form of society to another. this definition is used by swekes to describe neighborhoods that were originally informal settlements, and then suffered transformations that were not sensitive to their previous public life. in 9x18 neighborhoods, which were born from informal settlements as well, it is possible to recognise the coexistence of public spaces with patterns derived from their original collective life as well as other spaces that emerged from the subsequent governmental interventions. this chapter describes the characteristics of some concrete public and collective spaces, those which simultaneously give shelter to the collective life among people from the land invasions, and the public life of the neighborhood that was built from new modernising interventions keywords plot of land operation; peripheral urbanisations; public space, collective space; urban regeneration. p u b lic a n d c o llec t iv e sp a c es in 9x 18 n eig h b o u r h o o d s el esp a c io p ú b lic o y el esp a c io c o lec t iv o en b a r r io s 9 x 18 157 resumen en la discusión sobre el espacio público en la regeneración urbana de urbanizaciones 9x18 es pertinente retomar la noción de un espacio público que transita desde una forma de sociedad a otra, descrita por skewes para aquellos barrios, que, formados como campamentos, luego sufrieron transformaciones que no fueron sensible a las nociones de la vida pública de sus inicios. en los barrios 9x18, que igualmente surgieron de campamentos, es posible reconocer la coexistencia de espacios públicos con patrones derivados de la colectividad original, y también otros espacios, de otro orden, surgidos a partir de las intervenciones estatales posteriores. este capítulo describe las características de algunos espacios públicos y colectivos concretos, que simultáneamente cobijan la vida colectiva que se dio entre conocidos surgidos en las tomas de terrenos y la vida pública del barrio que se fue construyendo a partir de nuevas intervenciones modernizadoras. palabras claves operación sitio; urbanizaciones periféricas; espacio público; espacio colectivo, regeneración urbana. . r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 158 the way in which 9x18 neighborhoods build their public life is associated with a particular “way of living” and a sense of community as introduced by rosanna forray in the chapter of this book on “collective housing in chile” (castillo & forray, 2014 castillo, forray, & sepúlveda, 2008). what these neighborhoods show is what skewes describes as “transit from one form of society to another” (skewes, 2005). in the same way that skewes describes neighborhoods settled from slums, these neighborhoods originated in a state of illegal “invaders” that took their place in lands on the outskirts of the city. however, the transition to exist within the system of housing provision in the eighties was based on land already acquired unlike those that underwent towards this new form of society by being resettled and installed as “debtors” in a new site. still, the residents of these 9x18 neighborhoods were not exempt from living this transition under the rules of a modernizing layout, which reordered social relations and public spaces according to criteria of rationality defined by the state. skewes describes the keys of “popular design” and explains that what was at stake in the layout of the informal settlements was a space, a protection mechanism against the situation of illegality in which its inhabitants live. according to him, inside the informal settlement and for the “acquaintances”, the layout of the spaces establishes a very rich community order, which is formed by labyrinths that only its inhabitants know how to travel. in these labyrinths, there is interconnection between the interior spaces of daily collective encounter, particularly in focal spaces such as interior squares. there is also interconnection with exterior spaces, which constitute escape routes in case of danger (skewes, 2005). in this world, open to the neighborhood, the boundaries between the collective and the private are porous. there is no need to protect oneself from the neighbor, but there is a need to protect the entire environment of the neighborhood from the city. the keys to the modernizing urbanization of the state have also been the subject of recent studies. gianotti and mondragón have registered the trajectory of the state in carrying out vast operation site projects between the fifties and seventies. these authors highlight the constant search for the rationality of state management that focused its effort on the definition of efficient sites, while the urban layout was relegated to a secondary role (giannotti & mondragón, 2017). as described by these authors, the urban fabric of santiago was woven with different types of urban layout, with little connection to the city and forming urban islands (giannotti & mondragón, 2017, p.43). from the study of these authors, it is evident how diverse urban layouts were being tested, which, one after another, were defining the morphology of the periphery of santiago. within these routes you can see different types that were implemented in different places of santiago. vergara and palmer include in their detailed account of 9x18 urbanizations a series of sets, where you can p u b lic a n d c o llec t iv e sp a c es in 9x 18 n eig h b o u r h o o d s el esp a c io p ú b lic o y el esp a c io c o lec t iv o en b a r r io s 9 x 18 159 la forma en que los barrios 9x18 construyen su vida pública está asociada a un particular “modo de habitar” y un sentido comunitario tal como introduce rosanna forray en el capítulo de este libro sobre “la vivienda colectiva en chile” (castillo & forray, 2014; castillo, forray, & sepúlveda, 2008). lo que estos barrios muestran es, lo que skewes describe como el “tránsito desde una forma de sociedad a otra” (skewes, 2005). de la misma forma como este autor describe en poblaciones radicadas a partir de campamentos, estos barrios se originaron en una existencia de “invasores” ilegales que tomaron su sitio en terrenos de la periferia de la ciudad. pero en este caso, el tránsito hacia una existencia dentro del sistema de provisión de vivienda de los años ochenta, fue sobre la base de un terreno ya adquirido, a diferencia de los que transitaron a esa nueva forma de sociedad, siendo erradicados e instalados como “deudores” en un nuevo sitio. sin embargo, los pobladores de estos barrios 9x18 no fueron eximidos de vivir esa transición bajo las reglas de un trazado modernizador, que reordenó las relaciones sociales y los espacios públicos según criterios de racionalidad definidos por el estado. skewes describe las claves del “diseño popular” y explica que lo que estaba en juego en el trazado de los campamentos era un espacio, mecanismo de protección ante la situación de ilegalidad en la que viven sus pobladores. según este autor, al interior del campamento y para los “conocidos”, el trazado de los espacios establece un orden comunitario muy rico, que se conforma por laberintos, que solo sus habitantes saben recorrer. en estos laberintos, en efecto, hay interconexión entre los espacios interiores de cotidiano encuentro colectivo en espacios focales como las plazoletas interiores y también hay interconexión con espacios exteriores, que se constituyen como vías de escape en caso de peligro (skewes, 2005). en ese mundo, abierto a la vecindad, los límites entre lo colectivo y lo privado son porosos, no hay necesidad de protegerse del vecino, pero si la necesidad de proteger el conjunto del entorno de la ciudad. las claves de la urbanización modernizadora del estado también han sido materia de estudios recientes. gianotti y mondragón han registrado la trayectoria del estado en realizar vastos proyectos de operación sitio entre los años cincuenta y setenta. estos autores denotan la constante búsqueda de la racionalidad de la gestión estatal que centró su esfuerzo en la definición de sitios eficientes, mientras que el trazado urbano quedó relegada a un rol secundario (giannotti & mondragón, 2017) . tal como lo describen estos autores, el tapiz urbano de santiago se fue tejiendo con diferentes tipos de trazados urbanos, con escasa vinculación con la ciudad, conformando islas urbanas (giannotti & mondragón, 2017, p. 43). del estudio de estos autores consta, como se fueron ensayando trazados urbanos diversos, que, uno tras otro, fueron definiendo la morfología de la periferia de santiago. dentro de esos trazados se pueden observar distintas tipologías que fueron implementadas en distintos lugares r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 160 distinguish grid layouts, gridlines with outdated streets and others with hierarchical plots (vergara & palmer, 1990, pp. 35-49). in particular, the plot of the analysed population -”los acacios”corresponds to a plot where a hierarchical logic appears. there is a mixture of organization criteria in a modernizing layout materialized with structuring streets and main locations, but also gave space to what rodrigo tapia and cristián robertson define as the “intimate city” . thus, the plot of this population is constituted by public spaces and hierarchical streets, where main streets are distinguished because they connect with the city, main squares are located along these and secondary streets structure sections of the neighborhood. furthermore, third-order streets connect only a group of houses and correspondingly private squares that serve ten or more houses. this last area, described as “the intimate city”, seems to correspond to the collective space described by skewes as the elementary space of the slums. the interviews with the nine families of los acacios neighborhood allowed to understand how the spaces found in the neighborhood are interpreted: a diversity of spaces between the public and the private. this is an expression of the fact that there is a calibration between spaces that constitute a stage for an audience of people from the neighborhood and the outskirts, as well as meeting spaces between lifelong neighbors. the main streets, the free fairs and the squares are those that gather the wider audience neighbors of diverse places of the municipality. these are the most public spaces, where there is a scenario for public life. instead, it is in the small squares, in the interior labyrinths of the blocks, and also the premises within community buildings such as the social headquarters, the chapel, the health practice and some small commercial shops, where the meeting between acquaintances, the collective life of the neighborhood takes place, where everyone knows each other. in this specific social network of the inhabitants of “los acacios”, public life is generally circumscribed to the neighborhood and establishes little relationship with the city. the activities and social exchange have a key meaning for public life that is a function of economic subsistence and the articulation of resources and social capital. the spaces of the public sphere are determined by original urban design and morphologies of main spaces and secondary sub-spaces. they are determined also by the particular logics of the daily practices of its inhabitants and by the social networks woven among them. the inhabitants gave meaning to streets, squares, and plazas and to the various enclosures provided successively by the municipality, health service, sports and education. the inhabitants have taken on the role of “space producers” and “space consumers” at the same time. although los acacios neighborhood is a particular case and it is not possible to generalize, it allows to advance in the discussion that skewes raisp u b lic a n d c o llec t iv e sp a c es in 9x 18 n eig h b o u r h o o d s el esp a c io p ú b lic o y el esp a c io c o lec t iv o en b a r r io s 9 x 18 161 de santiago. vergara y palmer incluyen en su detallado recuento de urbanizaciones 9x18 una serie de conjuntos, donde se pueden distinguir trazados en retícula, retículas con calles desfasadas y otros con tramas jerarquizadas (vergara & palmer, 1990, pp. 35–49) . en particular, el trazado de la población analizada “los acacios” corresponde a una trama donde aparece una lógica jerarquizada. acá se materializó una mezcla de órdenes de un trazado modernizador con calles estructurantes y localizaciones principales, pero también se dio espacio a lo que rodrigo tapia y cristián robertson definen como la “ciudad íntima” . así la trama de esta población está constituida por espacios públicos y calles jerarquizadas donde se distinguen calles principales que conectan con la ciudad, plazas mayores ubicadas a lo largo de éstas y calles secundarias estructurantes de tramos del barrio, así como, calles de tercer orden que conectan solo un grupo de casas y correspondientemente plazoletas privadas que sirven a diez o más casas. este último ámbito, descrito como “la ciudad íntima”, parece corresponder al espacio colectivo descrito por skewes como es espacio elemental de los campamentos. las entrevistas a las nueve familias del barrio los acacios nos permitió entender cómo se interpretan los espacios que son posibles de encontrar en el barrio: una diversidad de espacios entre lo público y lo privado. esto es expresión de que hay una graduación entre espacios que constituyen un escenario para un público de personas del barrio y de las afueras, así como, espacios de encuentro entre conocidos, de los vecinos de toda la vida. las calles principales, las ferias libres y las plazas son las que reúnen ese primer público más amplio a vecinos de diversos lugares de la comuna. estos son los espacios más públicos, donde se da una situación de escenario de la vida pública. en cambio, son las pequeñas plazoletas en los laberintos interiores de las manzanas, y también recintos dentro de edificios comunitarios como la sede social, la capilla, el consultorio y los pequeños locales comerciales puntuales, donde tiene lugar el encuentro entre conocidos, la vida colectiva o grupal del barrio, donde todos se conocen. en esta red social específica, de los pobladores de “los acacios”, vida pública se circunscribe generalmente al barrio y establece poca relación con la ciudad. las actividades e intercambio social tienen un sentido clave para la vida pública que está en función de la subsistencia económica y la articulación de recursos y capitales sociales. los espacios del ámbito público están determinados por diseño original dado a la urbanizaciónmorfologías de espacios principales y sub-espacios secundarios, pero también por las particulares lógicas de las prácticas cotidianas de sus habitantes y de las redes sociales tejidas entre sus habitantes. los habitantes le fueron dando sentido a calles, plazas, pasajes y plazoletas y a los diversos recintos provistos sucesivamente por el municipio, servicio de salud, deporte y educación. los habitantes han r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 162 es about residential projects that contribute to incorporate the perspectives of inhabitants in a more sensitive way. a view that is closer to their organizational models from their origin of collective life in slums. this article interprets the urbanization of los acacios as a project that incorporated, in morphological terms, both the logic of the collective spaces of the informal settlement as well as the logic of modernization and the common good. that is, by leaving certain spaces open to self-organization and also with public spaces managed by public entities. p u b lic a n d c o llec t iv e sp a c es in 9x 18 n eig h b o u r h o o d s el esp a c io p ú b lic o y el esp a c io c o lec t iv o en b a r r io s 9 x 18 163 tomado el rol de “productores de espacio” y de “consumidores de espacio” al mismo tiempo. aunque el barrio los acacios es un caso particular y no es posible extrapolar generalizaciones, este caso nos permite avanzar en la discusión que plantea skewes sobre proyectos residenciales que contribuyen a incorporar de manera más sensible la visión de mundo de los habitantes, más cercana a sus modelos organizacionales provenientes de su origen de vida colectiva en los campamentos. este artículo interpreta la urbanización de los acacios como un proyecto que incorporó, en términos morfológicos, tanto la lógica de los espacios colectivos del campamento dejando ciertos espacios libres a la auto-organización –, como la lógica de la modernización y el bien común, a través de espacios públicos a ser gestionados por los estamentos públicos. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 164 references / referencias castillo, m. j., & forray, r. (2014). la vivienda, un problema de acceso al suelo. arq (santiago), (86), 48–57. https://doi.org/10.4067/s0717-69962014000100007 castillo, m. j., forray, r., & sepúlveda, c. (2008). corolarios arquitectónicos. más allá de los resultados cuantitativos, los desafíos de la política de vivienda en chile. quorum, (20), 14–29. giannotti, e., & mondragón, h. (2017). la inestabilidad de la forma arquitectónica y urbana. proyectos para barrios populares en santiago de chile. 1953-1970. bitácora urbano territorial, 27(1), 35–46. https://doi.org/10.15446/bitacora.v27n1.42910 skewes, j. c. (2005). de invasor a deudor: el éxodo desde los campamentos a las viviendas sociales en chile. los con techo. un desafió para la política de vivienda social., 101–122. vergara, f., & palmer, m. (1990). el lote 9x18 en la encrucijada habitacional de hoy. santiago de chile: editorial universitaria. facultad de arquitectura y bellas artes. pontificia universidad católica de chile. 57 3 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n in our contemporary european context ‘landscape’ has become one pivotal topic to be considered by territorial planning at an institutional level. there is a huge concern for the preservation of the rich environmental landscape heritage, the careful integration of the landscape within territorial development processes and the understanding of the cultural and social relation at a perceptual level. in order to analyse and monitor landscape evolution and change, and at the same time to plan and manage territorial transformations, geographers, planners and landscape architects use gis (geographical information systems) as a powerful mapping tool. however, one of the main challenges they face is the mapping and monitoring of landscape taking into consideration its quantitative and tangible nature, together with its qualitative and intangible. both natures of landscape are relevant in order to set planning decisions. gis is a tool that allows the mapping of the spatial qualities of landscape, identifying morphological and geometric properties, evaluating physical changes, allowing the comparison of their differences and analysing the properties of the vision of the physical space (optical axes, visibility fi elds, visual sequences). all of these values are quantitative and tangible. however the mapping of qualitative and intangible values in the environment creates the following problems: how to measure and map the cultural values of landscape and their changes?; how to detect the existence of visual models of reference?; how to know cultural landscape confi gua n a m o y a p e l l i t e r o the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape 58 the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape rations?; how to study the evolution of artistic and symbolic representations in a specifi c territory?; how to acknowledge the sensorial perception of different social groups?; how to understand the communicability of landscape?; what is the response of social groups to landscape threats or improvements?; how to capture and map the subjective emotional responses that involve the experience of landscape such us, tranquillity, fear, claustrophobia, stress, ennui, or the sense of beauty? in order to take into consideration the collective and individual phenomenological experience of landscape, new methods to capture, map and represent qualitative data are needed. the main sources of information for the mapping of qualitative and intangible information are sociological inquiries and surveys. experts are aware of the need to take into account mechanisms of social participation to elaborate landscape catalogues, to measure the evolution and the dynamics of the physical landscape and its perception, to achieve objectives of landscape quality, and to incorporate them into territorial planning. in the sphere of landscape planning and management, a participative methodology, unanimously recognised and tested, does not exist at the moment (nogué, puigbert, et al., 2010: 9). in relation to future research on a new social participative methodology, the following questions arise: how often periodical surveys to collect qualitative data are needed in order to map the evolution of the relation of society with its close environment?; which is the minimum number of surveys that should be collected?; who are the target groups to be addressed?; how many types of questionnaires are needed?; which variety of platforms are required to inform these social groups?; which type of locations and survey technologies are more adequate (workshops, door-to-door, websites, interviews to landscape agents, telephone surveys)? this chapter aims to explore how the qualitative and intangible nature of landscape can be incorporated into the analyses and monitoring typically performed through gis. in order to research a new participative methodology, and to elaborate new ways of mapping the social phenomenological experience of landscape, it is necessary to research the integration of computer mapping applications. these are specifi cally geographic information systems, with digital platforms of collective participation and creation of knowledge, available through social networking sites on the internet. 3 . 2 l a n d s c a p e a n d t h e p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l r e l a t i o n w i t h t h e e n v i r o n m e n t any environment, natural, rural or urban, cannot be only reduced to a physical object that is measured, analysed, monitored, or captured through mapping, human beings also relate to their environment through their beliefs, emotions and senses. this existential relation brings 59 together the objective and the subjective, the physical qualities of the space and its perceptual and sensorial experience, the tangible (quantitative) geographic values and the intangible (qualitative) emotional connotations. the japanese philosopher tetsurô watsuji created a term, fûdosei, to defi ne the intimate union between nature and culture and between the environment and human life (watsuji, 1935). fûdosei represents the life bond of being inside the environment and the climate, and the experience of it. the physical environment is being shaped by culture, however culture is also the result of the existential expression of a society being shaped by the environment. the cultural geographer and orientalist augustin berque translates the term fûdosei, created by watsuji, in the term médiance, which he remarks, has a ’trajectory’ nature, because it is developed in a specifi c historical time and in a particular geographical space. berque asserts that the notion of landscape does not exist at all times, nor in all societies and cultures. the absence or the existence of landscape is based on the way of ‘seeing’ and perceiving the environment as landscape (berque, 1995). there are societies that do not possess the notion of landscape, and therefore they perceive the environment as another type of reality. this is the case with the aborigines in the western desert of australia, who do not possess the notion of landscape. they have related to their natural environment through myths projected into their geography. the tjukurpa (“dreaming time”) is a mytho-ritual structure with multiple expressions (songs, dances, ground and body paintings). the knowledge of their world emanates from tjukurpa, which defi nes networks of social spaces of territorial and ritual knowledge, based on spatio-physical narratives (‘ritual itineraries’ or ‘ancestral tracks’) of the ancestors’ journeys, actions and performances across their land (poirier, 2005: 53). in particular cultural, social and historical conditions, societies have modelled their human relation with the environment, transforming it into landscape. berque makes a distinction between societies that are only connected to the environment by the ‘look’ and other forms of non-aesthetic relation (proto-landscape societiesrelation (proto-landscape societiesrelation ( ), and with societies that appreciate the environment under qualitative ideals and cultural aesthetic modes of expression (landscape societies) (berque, 1995). according to him, all landscape societies present the same fi ve criteria: (1) treatises on landscape; (2) linguistic representations (or different ways to say ‘landscape’); (3) written representations describing the aesthetic and sensorial values of the environment; (4) pictorial representations with the environment as a subject and (5) the existence of pleasure gardens, translating an aesthetic appreciation of the environment and nature (berque, 1994). as such, a landscape epiphany appears in western europe in the sixteenth century, connected to the humanism ‘modern consciousness’ of the world and in china, dating from the han dynasty (206 b.c – 220 a.d.), both comprising their respective cultural zones of infl uence. in our present time and in our european context, landscape planning and landscape urbanism also takes into consideration phenomenological values and the qualitative nature of landscape. the council of europe in the european landscape convention in florence (2000), defi nes landscape as “an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and 60 the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape interaction of natural and/or human factors” (european landscape convention, 2000: 3). the convention aims to promote landscape protection, management and planning, and to organise european co-operation on landscape issues. its scope applies to “the entire territory of the parties and covers natural, rural, urban and peri-urban areas. it includes land, inland water and marine areas. it concerns landscapes that might be considered outstanding as well as everyday or degraded landscapes” (european landscape convention, 2000: 3). each local government should include policies “to recognise landscapes as an essential component of people’s surroundings, an expression of the diversity of their shared cultural and natural heritage, and a foundation of their identity”, and “to integrate landscape into its regional and town planning policies and in its cultural, environmental, agricultural, social, and economic policies, as well as in other policies with possible direct or indirect impact on landscape” (european landscape convention, 2000: 4). in this way landscape planning as a “strong forward-looking action to enhance, restore and create landscapes”, aims to preserve the social links, the sense of belonging and the rich cultural mental bonds deposited into an environment shaped, after all, by culture. this may be any one type of environment; inside the city, in its periphery, in rural areas or natural spaces. we must emphasise that these environments are always perceived by people independently if they are historical or exceptional landscapes, or any everyday degraded space. figure 1 the rural landscape is a fragile cultural heritage. its present physiognomy and the mental bonds to the land are in danger of disappearing, due to the abandonment of family farms, and the introduction of industrial agriculture. la campiña, madrid 61 surveys to understand the psychology of perception of the inhabitants of specifi c geographical areas are needed, in order to be able to apply, into planning policies, the requirements of the european landscape convention. in this fi rst decade of 2000, scholars, architects, urban planners and landscape architects agreed in the emergence of a new hybrid practice, involving urban planning and landscape. landscape, incorporated inside planning, is not only understood as the interest in geographical studies -ecological and cultural, but also the study of landscape in its conceptual scope, as a tool to theorise, design, and organise large urban sites, territories, and systems (ecological, programmatic, infrastructural). james corner in his article, terra fluxus (2006), defi nes landscape urbanism as a hybrid practice that takes into consideration “processes over time”, “anticipates strategic scenarios and operational logics through a wide range of scales”, “reconsiders representational and operative techniques”, by computer mapping applications (gis), visual modelling, and malleable graphics, and “takes in account the phenomenal richness of physical life (social imaginary, collective memory, desires, the tactile and the poetic)”. in his defi nition of landscape urbanism, james corner upholds the importance and relevance of the theme of the social imaginary in landscape in order to approach processes, staging of surfaces and operational methods in landscape urbanism. therefore, the imaginary links organisational methods with phenomenological considerations. in his opinion, in any planning or urban design, it is necessary to consider the collective imagination, stimulated by the experience of the real world. he sees the space and the environment as a container of visual cultural memory and desires. for him, materiality, representation, and imagination are not separate worlds (corner, 2006: 32). 3 . 3 s o c i a l i m a g i n a r y , c o l l e c t i v e i m a g i n a t i o n a n d t h e v i s u a l c u lt u r a l m e m o r y in order to be able to map the intangible values of the landscape, it is necessary to know and understand the psychology of perception of the society that relates with it. it is essential to discover which type of collective imagination shapes the aesthetic criteria that elevates a specifi c environment into the category of a signifi cant landscape. when a person stops in his/her daily routine to look at a set, this fact already indicates that this person is conscious of the existence of this environment and recognises it. this ‘look’ can be impregnated by visual models coming from sources such us painting, literature, cinema, television, publicity, the internet, or video games, among others. in this moment, this the ‘look’ becomes a ‘cultural look’ that transforms a space into a signifi cant place. this cultural look has the power to transform the environment (urban, rural, natural, peri-urban, or any daily and ordinary space) into landscape. in the moment that an individual, a group or a cultural society qualifi es a space as a landscape, and gives this space the name of ‘landscape’ (or other linguistic forms that defi ne the term landscape), means that this environment is charged with a mental signifi cation. henri bergson, in his work matter and memory (1896), asserts that perception is always “penetrated with memory”. he analyses that in the perception of any immediate reality, details of past experiences mix up with the present. many times, memories displace the real perceptions. the real experiences work as ‘signs’ that help to remember old images (bergson, 1986: 81). in bergson’s opinion, memory gives to perception an individual conscience, that is to say, it gives subjectivity to the knowledge of reality. any perception, independently of how short it is, links a process of remembrances; “every perception is already memory” (bergson, 1986: 84). the territory is covered by a layer of memories, individual and collective, gathering together the multiplicity of moments perceived and experienced in the past. the memory of human beings is only awakened in those spaces in the territory, the countryside, the natural or the urban environment, that remind them of a known historical past, while the perception of new environments, much more contemporary, can not become a new focus of attention without a conscious 62 the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape figure 2 when one looks at the mountains in guilin, guangxi region, china, we relate them to the imaginary of chinese landscape paintings. these mountains, inserted in misty and watery environments, are shan shui (mountains and water), terminology that in chinese language expresses the concept of landscape 63 and thoughtful experience. in our information age, society has an experience of the visible that is overwhelming, with the overload of too many images bombarding the senses inside visual mass media and information and communication technologies (icts). this overload of visual information inhibits the recall and recollection of visual models stored in the mind. the overload of visual stimuli disorientates. too much and visual input, and too varying, becomes banal and trivial, rendering ceaseless information boring. for that reason, in our present time, the environment itself becomes the source of a true phenomenological experience, built on physical and sensorial impressions that construct a new awareness without the need of a visual cultural memory. 3 . 4 t h e e n v i r o n m e n t a s a s o u r c e f o r s e n s o r i a l i m p r e s s i o n s society appreciates the arcadian countryside because it follows a pictorial archetype of landscape beauty. however, ordinary places, the daily indistinct environment of the suburban areas, have nothing to say to the majority. there are hardly visual models gathered in the visual cultural memory that can work as a reference for judgment to elevate them to the category of landscapes. according to the defi nition of transparency by henry lefebvre, in transparency by henry lefebvre, in transparency the production of space (1974), a transparent space is perceived as innocent, freed from cultural memory, visual stereotypes and cultivated ‘look’. it is, at the same time, a space of mental relations, of thoughts, of perfect readability, where reality that was hidden becomes visible thanks to the intervention of a mental illumination (lefebvre, 1974: 27-28). “everyday or degraded spaces” are transparent spaces. these spaces have the potentiality to activate in the subject new mental associations, articulating thoughts. these spaces do not need to be readable through images in order to provoke desires, because a space in its own transparency can unleash desires by itself. transparency can unleash desires by itself. transparency there are two perceptual approaches to reality, one by seeing it, the other one by sensing it. the fi rst approach corresponds to a subject that, in order to understand and discover “everyday or degraded spaces”, chooses to stop and look at them. therefore, the act of seeing is moved by a conscious individual choice. the sensing of a space, however, can be motivated by a deep feeling of reverie and body awareness; an unexpected enchantment stimulated by the power of the scene. maurice merleau-ponty states how both, the act of seeing and act of feeling are sustained by the same ‘pure thought’. this pure thought can be described as that which can be proved to be integrated by the rigorous correlation between the individual exploration of the world and the sensorial responses that reality can produce (merleau-ponty, 1964: 48-49). however, there is an essential difference between seeing and sensing. seeing depends on the individual power of thinking. the visual perception is a perception of thought, while the approach to reality by means of the body is linked to the unconscious and the dream, and does not have clear consist64 the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape ency inside reason. to be enchanted by the unexpected, it is necessary to participate in an existential experience, where the perception of the world is replaced by body awareness. 3 . 5 m a p p i n g t h e q u a l i t a t i v e e x p e r i e n c e o f l a n d s c a p e landscape representations contain a space of perception, and do not reproduce only appearances and information, but also a world of experiences that enlarges the knowledge of reality (moya pellitero, 2007: 117). the space of perception of landscape representations using new information and communication technologies (icts), including geospatial technologies has the particularity to be dynamic. gis merges cartography with database technology, combining spatial data (geo-referential information) with non-spatial data. gis has the capability to analyze spatial relationships within the digital stored spatial data, allowing complex modelling, and at the same time, it can interact with data and information created by users. in this way it is possible to examine processes and changes of qualitative order. for example, an extensive metropolitan area, such us istanbul, with over twelve million inhabitants, is a hybrid and comfigure 3 a degraded space in suburbia, such us this wasteland space, in an industrial setting at tianjing, china, cannot be elevated to the category of landscape. only the sensing of the space by a body awareness, can awake a sense of enchantment plex territory, where the urban, the rural and the natural environment cohabit. however, the city itself is also a collective mode of refl ection on the space. this mega-city generates a stratifi cation of complex layers of reality and information in constant change, adapted to a specifi c physical context and cultural perception. in order to be able to comprehend and represent the quantitative and qualitative nature of its landscapes, and how these are perceived and appreciated, fi rst it is necessary to fi nd out which technologies of vision and data collection are needed to adapt to its complex physical and cultural nature. the dutch environment assessment agency (pbl) monitors the perception and appreciation of landscape quality, with the aim to assess strategic policies in the fi eld of environment, nature and spatial planning. hans farjon, nickie van der wulp and leon crommentuijn, in their article monitoring program of perception and appreciation of landscapes in the netherlands (2009), evaluate the results of the fi rst enquiry in 2007. the main objective of the national policies on landscape is to improve by 25% the appreciation of the dutch landscape between 2007 and 2020. therefore, every three years the agency is carrying out a poll based on the spel (scales for perception and evaluation of landscapes), developed by coeterier (2000), after twenty years of interviewing people in order to understand their landscape perception. in this poll, 4,800 persons were interviewed to evaluate 300 areas. together with the poll they also used a glam a gis based landscape appreciation model. they worked on a prediction of an average 65 figure 4 metropolitan area istanbul, turkey 66 the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape appreciation of an area based on its physical characteristics (naturalness, historical identity, absence of urbanisation, absence of horizon, obstruction and age). they observed how gis gives limited information about perception and glam cannot adequately replace questionnaires. the geographic data selected in order to map the concept of attractiveness of landscape was vague, because the subjects that were polled had a wide range of different perceptions about what they considered as naturalness of landscape. they concluded that gis had a limited value when predicting the levels of appreciation of landscape; therefore they agreed that questionnaires were a basic instrument to obtain information on how society appreciates and perceives landscapes. if social questionnaires are still the basic instrument to obtain qualitative information about the landscape, then, there are still many critical gaps, which mean that this methodology is still not reliable. firstly, is the following aspects are not clear; the regularity of repetition of interviews and surveys, the critical number of surveys necessary to acquire enough information, the number of people and target groups addressed, or the variety of platforms required to inform these social groups, including the type of locations adequate for such surveys. all these problems could be solved once integrating the gathering of qualitative data through social digital networks and digital devices, and applying these data information into specifi c data visualisation interfaces working with gis. 3 . 6 g i s a n d d i g i t a l i n t e r f a c e s visual artists, graphic designers, companies that deal with the management of digital information and data, need to map and give shape to the unlimited and variable contents of the internet. data information is alive and participative, built on connectivity, fl ows, inputs, exchange, and relations. the creation of interfaces helps to map this complexity. the visual experience of a complex information system requires, fi rst, a clear structure and the ordering of data, establishing a grid of links and relations. it also requires fl exibility to allow new information to enter the system and expand, in an open structure, where each user shares knowledge and participates. the aesthetic aspects of the interface help the visualisation of these data. the creation of exchange platforms requires the easy understanding of these digital spaces. complexity sciences allow for the creation of an interactive and self-organised information space (topological algorithms, physical models, geometric representations, and geo-referenced information). data visualisation companies are studios that create interactive mapping designs and data interface projects. the website visualcomplexity launched in 2005 by the interaction designer, information architect and design researcher manuel lima, gives a unifi ed resource of the work that is being developed at the moment in the visualisation of complex networks. many researchers (ben fry, valdis krebs, santiago ortiz, w. bradford paley, martin wattenberg, stephen g. eick, among others) are dedicated to data visualisation and the creation of spaces for the collective creation 67 of knowledge. with interactive methods, visual designs and images are linked to contents that can be ordered regarding the interests and the choice criteria of the internet surfers, and simultaneously, the information and the contents relate and interact with each other. in this relation between people and information, the physical body, the corporeal movement and the touch, can also interact and relate with the data in the digital world. new multi-touch technologies allow more than one person to interrelate and communicate, fostering the phenomenological relation with the physical world through the digital space. these interfaces make the use of the data accessible and attractive, in order to facilitate interaction with the contents. qualitative spatial data is built on the infi nite number of contributions of users in the internet, which interact with the physical space through social digital networks and digital devices. in the present information age, digital technologies are able to create an autonomous context, where the gathering of information about any environment can be done through the input of the same users, and at the same time can be distributed, stored and mapped. both digital interfaces and gis could work together in order to map both the quantitative and the qualitative nature of landscape. this dynamic space of information, constantly readapting to the new inputs of users, can create a reliable map of qualitative and intangible values of the landscape in any geographical context. 3 . 7 i n f o r m a t i o n a g e a n d t h e d y n a m i c s p a c e o f p e r c e p t i o n in our information age, many individuals have digital technologies that accompany their lives wherever they go. in this mobile and wireless world, information is associated to places. places acquire the load of the data, the territory (urban, rural and natural) digitalises, charged with referenced geographic information. data and information gathers in places and is associated to any environment. the microprocessors inserted in the objects, and the space with wireless connection to the internet, link and interconnect, simultaneously, places and persons to the physic and cybernetic environment. these digital technologies connect among themselves, with other devices and with the environment. the physical objects, the places and the people are already connected with the shared information in the internet. in the near future, microprocessors will make permeable clothes, objects, buildings, neighbourhoods and the whole territory. at present, the new mobile generation 3g, allows an ‘augmented reality’ through the use of gps, a compass, and a specifi c platform. this platform allows the use of the mobile to interact with the environment. the subject points the mobile in order to frame a scene in front of his/ her eyes. over the real image, a series of visual layers of information opens in the screen, which can be chosen and selected, depending on the personal interest. more information about a location can be acquired such as height, addresses, monuments, transportation, restaurants, etc. currently, it is only possible to display icons and texts, but new advances will allow the adding 68 the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape of a layer of videos and 3d simulations. the relation and interaction with the real environment can also become a playful game where reality mixes with videogames, or with a 3d virtual world. 3g mobiles allow any person to build unique and personal information of the scene in front of his/her eyes. this ‘look’ can be immortalised in a digital image or a video that is sent to friends or is posted on the internet. an intimate experience can be communicated to a group or the worldwide community. the interaction and the response can also be immediate, with comments from friends in facebook, twitter and other digital social networks. twitter and other digital social networks. twitter youtube and flickr allow any person to exchange lived moments in digital video and photography, and share them and discuss them in social networks. it also allows one to select what to see, how and when. google earth allows the virtual ‘touring’ in any geographical context, with the possibility to record virtual geographical trips and go back to them whenever, sharing them with other people. street view transports the subject to cities in virtual street walks. any person can return virtually to a geographical place and share it with a digital community. this information world of data is shared, discussed, compared, made by consensus, created in participation and dialogue. it is a world in which more and more people take part. the physical space cannot be totally understood without knowing what is happening in the digital world. both are interconnected. an action, and ephemeral event in the urban and natural environment, that could go unnoticed and be nonexistent for the majority, acquires a relevant importance for a social network in a digital community. the physical environment, then, becomes part of a communicative discourse, shared by a specifi c collective. in order to analyse and monitor landscape evolution and change, to set landscape management and planning policies, a new participative methodology should take into account these already established social networks inside digital communities. this shared information could be used in the mapping of the social phenomenological experience of landscape, integrating computer-mapping applications with specifi c interfaces of internet data collection. 3 . 8 c o n c l u s i o n going back to the main question: how to map and monitor the two natures of the landscape at the same time, the quantitative and the qualitative, the tangible and the intangible, we should argue that the mapping should include phenomenological information that is constantly expanding and actualising in the internet. this information is outside the subject, and inside a digital environment that can be always consulted, as an external memory. in our present time any space contains mental relations, and articulating thoughts. if we consider a new social participative methodology, we should see the potentials of a digital society that did not loose the physical and phenomenological contact with the environment, 69 on the contrary, this sensorial and corporeal contact has been intensifi ed. the information age does not create isolated individuals in front of a computer, but collectives and groups eager for communication in infi nite social networks. landscape is not only appreciated by the ‘look’ but also by the rest of the body senses. landscape becomes a somatic space where individuals are not outside, taking distance, and ‘looking at’ the view, but inside of it, creating it by the same corporeal action and body awareness. the collective game, based on the cooperation and the self-organisation is not only happening in the internet, but also in the physical space and the landscape. the collective game, unexpected, breaks with the daily banal life. with the play, time stops for a while. this pause in the daily life, with the objective to have fun, can transform reality into a musical, establish new and temporary behaviour rules, provoke transgression, always during a short period of time, to return later to the normal life. for example flash mobs is an action in which a group of people agrees to meet in a specifi c geographical location, to act and perform, and later disperse. these events are organised through the internet and they do not have any purpose, only the game, the entertainment and the collective participation for its own sake. any space in the territory can be transformed into a choreographic space. the body intervenes adding a new layer of signifi cation. in the mapping of the qualitative and intangible values of the landscape, a new social participative methodology should take into consideration, figure 5 the new tripwolf iphone app with augmented reality. frame from you tube advertising (source: tripwolf gmbh, 2010) 70 the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape together with the way society perceives and appreciates the landscape ‘by the look’, also the degrees of social interaction with it, and the layers of exchange of information and communication that the landscape contains. r e f e r e n c e s figure 6 tócame, soy tuyo [touch me, i’m yours] by the artist luke jerram. from march 2010 twenty pianos were left in public spaces in barcelona, for anonymous people to play them during the international music competition maria canals. the location of the pianos in the city and images of anonymous people playing them could be found in the internet baudrillard, j. (1995) the perfect crime. london, verso. bergson, h. (1896) materia y memoria. in: deleuze, g. (1995/1957) memoria y vida, textos escogidos por gilles deleuze. barcelona, altaya. in english: idem. (1996/1896) matter and memory. new york, dover publications. bergson, h. (1907) la evolución creadora. in: deleuze, g. (1995/1957) memoria y vida, textos escogidos por gilles deleuze. barcelona, altaya. in english: idem. (2007/1907) creative evolution. new york, palgrave macmillan. berque, a. (1994) cinq propositions pour une theorie du paysage. paris, champ vallon. berque, a. (1995) les raisons du paisage, de la chine antique aus environnements de synthèse. paris, hazan. corner, j. (2006) terra fluxus. in: waldheim, ch. (ed.), the landscape urbanism reader. new york, princeton architectural press. council of europe (2000) european landscape convention, european treaty series, 176 (10) farjon, h., van der wulp, n., and crommentujn, l. (2009) monitoring program of perception and appreciation of landscapes in the netherlands. in: indicadors de paisatge. reptes i perspectives [landscape indicators. challenges and perspectives]. olot, observatori del paisatge de catalunya. lefebvre, h. (2005/1974) the production of space. oxford, blackwell publishers. 71 merleau-ponty, m. (1964) lo visible y lo invisible. barcelona, seix barral, (1970). in english: idem. (1968/1964) the visible and the invisible. evanston, northwestern university press. moya pellitero, a.m. (2007) the image of the urban landscape. the re-discovery of the city through different spaces of perception. eindhoven, bouwstenen publicatieburo. nogué, j., puigbert, l. et al. (2010) paisatge i participació ciutadana, l’experiència dels ctalàges de paisatge de catalunya [landcape and social participation, the experience of the catalonian landscape catalogues]. olot, observatori del paisatge de catalunya: 9. pourier, s (2005) a world of relationships, itineraries, dreams, and events in the australian western desert. toronto, university of toronto press. watsuji, t. (2006/1935) antropología del paisaje: climas, culturas y religiones. salamanca, sígueme. in english: idem. (1971) climate and culture: a philosophical study. tokyo, hokuseido. from metaplanning to pss 2.0 exploring the architecture of geodesign as a process michele campagna campagna, m. (2016). from metaplanning to pss 2.0: exploring the architecture of geodesign as a process. research in urbanism series, 4(1), 57-70. doi:10.7480/rius.4.819 r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 58 abstract this paper explores the perspective of geodesign as a process. as such, it is argued methods and tools are needed to manage the process complexity, including the definition of the involved parties, of their roles and responsibilities, as well as all the steps to be undertaken to unfold the process, together with their underlying methods and enabling technologies and tools. a metaplanning operational approach based on business process management is proposed to deal with the process complexity and eventually as a means to support the construction of a second generation of process-oriented planning support systems. the overall discussion is supported by practical examples aiming at demonstrating how the business process modelling and notation language can be used to represent the planning processes from high level overview models to detailed ones which can express geodesign methods and enabling technologies. keywords metaplanning; geodesign; planning support systems; business process management; planning process modelling fr o m m e ta p l a n n in g to p ss 2 .0 : e x p lo r in g t h e a r c h it ec t u r e o f g eo d esig n a s a p r o c ess 59 1. introduction: geodesign as a process since the last decade, the concept of geodesign has been attracting growing attention of scholars and practitioners worldwide as a way to achieve more sustainable spatial planning and design practices. while several definitions of geodesign have been given, many of them refer to a process – not necessarily but most likely based on extensive use of (spatial) information technologies – which would enable environmentally sustainable collaborative design and decision-making in the governance of the territorial evolution, limiting the possible negative impacts on the communities and the territories. in most of the definitions, as the name recall, the focus is on the design part of the governance process, which, depending on the scale, may correspond to the creation of spatial plans (e.g. regional planning, local land-use planning, or large-scale development project design). much research have been devoted to formalise methods and enabling technologies for the implementation of geodesign in practice and a growing number of case studies can be found documented in literature (mcelvaney, 2012). however, less research attention has been devoted so far to study geodesign as a process, with the notable exception of the steinitz’s framework (2012). indeed the framework entails the perspective of geodesign as a process consisting of three iterations along which six models are envisioned, designed, and implemented, with the final aim of constructing a spatial plan or design, depending on the scale. the six models are used to represent, study, and evaluate on-going territorial processes, and to design possible change scenarios, to analyse their impacts, and eventually to create consensus about which scenario among them should be implemented. while the steinitz’s framework may offer a general outline of the main steps which should be carried on within a geodesign study, and it may be valuable in guiding a geodesign team in defining how to develop the six models, the latter should be detailed by the participants in each contextual case. unlike it often happens in real world plan-making processes, where the role and the responsibilities of some or many of the participants may be not clearly defined, as well as the underlying workflow which drives it, and the method and tools to be used, steinitz’s framework for geodesign requires in the second iteration to detail the working plan for the process, defining in reasonable details how the six models will be implemented in the third iteration. it should be noted that this definition may remain flexible and blurred, but still this should be a well-considered choice and a documented responsibility. whatever underlying approach is chosen to inform the process, most recent communicative planning theories acknowledge the importance of driving the process according to a roadmap which may be understood and accepted by those involved, and possibly changed along the way if needed (healey, 1993). hence, in order to enhance the communicative rationality of the planning r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 60 process methods and tools for ensuring its comprehensibility, integrity, legitimacy and trustfulness should be put in action. to address these issues, an operational approach to metaplanning is proposed in this paper. 2. from metaplanning to process-oriented planning support systems in broad terms metaplanning can be defined as the design of the planning process. spatial planning in general, and geodesign as specific way to design spatial plans, involves a sequence of activities to which a different set of actors may participate. actors, which may include decision-makers, planners and other experts, as well as other stakeholders, and in some cases the wider public, may play different roles and perform different tasks within the same or different activities. performing a task may require the implementations of different methods, the application of different (analogue or most likely digital in the case of geodesign) tools, and different ways of processing information to produce knowledge and make decisions. as such, plan-making can become a fairly complex process which should be appropriately managed; the objective is to achieve awareness and mutual understanding among the actors on the procedural workflow as well as on the purposes, the objectives, and the outcomes of each activity, and of the overall process. thus, metaplanning should be intended as a preliminary design step which returns an agreed ‘to-be’ model to be used for the management of the planning process. such model should be as flexible as to be iteratively updated along the process life-cycle, if needed. often in spatial planning (e.g. regional planning or local land use planning), no or little attention is paid to concept of metaplanning, and in such cases taming complex multi-actors planning processes and procedures may be confusing. a lack of common understanding among the actors may arise, implying difficulties in collaboration and in reaching consensus; understanding how, why, when, by whom planning decisions are made, may result in being unclear to both the internal participants and the external observers. the latter should be considered not a minor pitfall as both propositions from advances in planning theory (healey, 1993; innes, 1996; khakee, 1998) as well as binding regulations on strategic environmental assessment (sea) require to evaluate, explain and document not only the product (i.e. the final plan) but also the process of plan-making. although not as commonly acknowledged as one might expect, the importance of metaplanning has been advocated in several disciplines spanning from artificial intelligence (bhargava et al.,1997), to management science (emshoff, 1978), to spatial planning (debettencourt et al.,1982). according to bhargava et al. (1997) a metaplanner can be defined as a computational program which, when executed, produces a plan of actions. in a similar vein with regards to spatial planning, metaplanning can be defined as a design process fr o m m e ta p l a n n in g to p ss 2 .0 : e x p lo r in g t h e a r c h it ec t u r e o f g eo d esig n a s a p r o c ess 61 which produces a plan of the (plan-making) process. with more specific regards to urban and regional planning, debettencourt et al. (1982) claimed that metaplanning as a structured process for constructing both responsive as well as ethically sound approaches to planning should be integrated into the planning function to increase its usefulness and viability. central to the operational implementation of the concept of metaplanning is the description of the planning process. several attempts have been proposed by scholars to formalize the description of the planning process for diverse purposes (mcloughlin, 1969; hall, 2002), however these results appear not to have much affected either the planning practices or the design of a planning support system (pss). the latter implication is not of minor relevance, for a pss in broader terms represents information systems which support the planning process. as an information system, a pss should integrate all the enabling technologies for a given workflow, implement geodesign methods and techniques, and offer all the data resources, the interfaces and the processing tools to support the different actors which take part in the process activities. thus the definition of the process and the planning support system architecture should be strictly tied, and the latter should be derived from the model of the process workflow. indeed, undoubtedly, limitations in current pss diffusion may be addressed to lack of flexibility and of adaptability to contextual planning process settings, showing an implementation gap between planning research and practice. the first generation of pss were developed in the last two decades or so on the base of the seminal model proposed by harris (1989) as computer systems able to integrate sketch planning, gis and spatial models as well as visualization tools to support the planning functions. notwithstanding the success of several implementations such as what-if? (klosterman, 1999), criterion planners’ index (allen, 2001), or placeways’s community viz. (kwartler and bernard, 2001) still this first generation of pss, or pss 1.0, faced limited diffusion in the planning practice. indeed if we make reference to the steinitz framework many of them may be used to implement a specific part of the process within the process, the evaluation or the impact models, none of them alone is fully able to support the overall process along the six models and the three iterations. hence, a change in pss design perspectives would be required. according to champlin et al. (2014), pss design should be seen as a socio-technical process involving their users. likewise it is argued here that pss design should be process-driven, rather than methodsor technology-driven, and since metaplanning concerns the design and formalisation of the actual planning process, metaplanning should also inform the design of the information systems for planning support. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 62 to address this challenge, business process management methods and tools have been applied by the author to implement the metaplanning concept in the urban and regional planning, and sea domain, aiming at demonstrating that metaplanning may both improve the process and ease the customization of pss development accordingly: together the latter results entail the concept of a second generation pss, or pss 2.0. hence in this contribution, the author proposes the concept of metaplanning as a formal step to be introduced at the head of the planning and design process, and proposes as original method for its practical implementation the application of business process management (bpm) techniques. the resulting process orientation in pss 2.0 not only would allow the flexible integration of geodesign, enabling technologies for implementing the first five steinitz’ frameworks models – i.e. representation, process, evaluation, change and impact (steintiz, 2012) –, but would also support the management and the evaluation of the decision model, that is the workflow through which decisions are made in the three iterations. 3. implementing metaplanning with business process management: building the framework in line with the above assumptions, metaplanning consists of the task of specifying actors, activities, methods, tools, inputs and outputs, workflows, or, in other words, the ex-ante iterative and adaptive design of the planning process. metaplanning should start at the very beginning of the process and accompany it until the end of its implementation, starting with the proposition of draft ‘to-be’ process models, and following with their consolidation and monitoring along the process life-cycle. for the sake of clarity and to avoid unnecessary complexity, it is assumed here that the process lifecycle starts with the decision to make a plan and ends with the adoption of the plan by the relevant authority. in metaplanning, the process models should firstly be used to achieve consensus on how to proceed and to carry on the activities, then to coordinate the collaboration among all the participants, or actors, and eventually to document how the process developed, which for several respects is a due product within the environmental report in the sea of a spatial plan. if the aims of metaplanning are both the improvement of the process and of its outcomes as well as its management and implementation, hence the needs arise for a representation language which can describe the process with regards to its components and to their relationships, and for a technology framework able to support the integration of the necessary tools into process-oriented pss. business process management (bpm) offers both methods and technical tools which can be used for metaplanning operational implementation, in spatial planning in general, and in geodesign more specifically, given the exfr o m m e ta p l a n n in g to p ss 2 .0 : e x p lo r in g t h e a r c h it ec t u r e o f g eo d esig n a s a p r o c ess 63 tensive use of information communication technology (ict) tools. bpm includes concepts, methods and techniques to support the design and analysis, as well as the administration, the configuration, the enactment of business processes (weske, 2012). in general, the success of the emerging field of bpm is due to the facts that it may both support the improvement of the processes offering design and analysis tools (i.e. business perspective), while at the same time it can also support the integration and deployment of the enabling technology (i.e. it perspective). many business process management systems (bpms) have been developed in the last decade to enable business processes design, analysis, configuration and enactment on the base of explicit process model representations. indeed, the basis for bpm is the explicit representation of processes, or process models, with their actors, activities and execution constraints among them. hence the opportunity to investigate to what extent the bpm approach can be applied to urban and regional planning processes. indeed as demonstrated later in this paper, process models can be built to describe the planning process in terms of its constituting elements including actors, activities, workflows, as well as data sources and processing tools. to this end, business process model and notation (bpmn) thanks to its rich semantics can be used as a standard graphical notation for representing planning processes and sub-processes in form of diagrams. in bpmn the process participants or actors are represented as pool and lanes; the activities are represented as tasks or sub-process, which can be carried on with or without the support of ict services or tools. moreover a variety of executions constraints including gateways, message flows, and other events can be used to coordinate the workflow execution. although bpmn is not primarily designed for data modelling, still it offers a set of notations that allows modelling the data involved in a process. moreover, bpms manage external data sources used as input or output of the activities such as documents, data tables or spatial data layers, and other internal data and parameters used to configure the workflow execution, such as the involved actors’ addresses or preferences information. a major advantage of bpmn is that it is both a humanand machine-readable language, so that it can be used by humans in a socio-technical metaplanning exercise to define the process, and by bpms to enact the process, that is to orchestrate the ict services integration to support the various planning tasks. the latter capability is enabled by process configuration, when settings are defined in a bpms to invoke external digital data (e.g. standard web feature/coverage services, or w f/c s) and processing services (e.g. standard web processing services, or wps) when a task is executed by the bpms workflow engine. most of the off-the-shelf bpms feature a bpmn diagram editor for design and analysis, a repository where models are collected, and r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 64 a process engine which orchestrates the integrated execution of services and serve them to the relevant actor interfaces to support the implementation of planning tasks at run time. in the remainder, some simple planning process examples are presented as proof of concepts, aiming at demonstrating the reliability of bpmn to build planning and geodesign process models, which can be used in metaplanning and may constitute the core of the approach on the base of which the paradigm of process-oriented second generation planning support systems, or pss 2.0, can be implemented. 4. metaplanning in practice: toward second generation pss as introduced in the previous section, planning process modelling is proposed here as main tool for implementing metaplanning in practice. as a first simple example to show planning process modelling with bpmn, let us consider the following excerpt from khakee (1998, p. 364) describing a general rational comprehensive planning (rcp) process model in natural language: “the rational planning […] is based on instrumental rationality, whereby decision-makers decide on goals and put questions about policy measures to professional planners and other experts who then formulate alternative plan proposals.” this very high level description of a rcp process may apply to a number of real world processes. needless to say, a planning process might assume many other very different forms in practice, which in this case will be modelled accordingly. anyway, the rcp process description in natural language specifies a number of actors, activities, a sequence flow, inputs, and outputs of the process. rational comprehensive planning (rcp) 01 p u b lic a u th o ri ty p la n n er (p ) planner (p) formulate alternative proposals alternative proposals d ec is io n m ak er s (d m s) decision makers (dms) start process decide on goals put questions about policies choose preferable proposal end process adopt plan goals final proposal figure 1. planning process model of a generic rational comprehensive planning process (as in khakee, 1998, p. 364) represented in business process model and notation language (bpmn 2.0). the planning process model (ppm) shown in figure 1 represents the same process in bpmn. more precisely, with some additional informatifr o m m e ta p l a n n in g to p ss 2 .0 : e x p lo r in g t h e a r c h it ec t u r e o f g eo d esig n a s a p r o c ess 65 on, it shows how the process is carried on by a public authority (i.e. the pool) within which the two main roles or actors, the planner ‘p’ and the decision-makers ‘dms’ (i.e. the lanes) perform their activities or tasks (i.e. rounded rectangles). data or documents (i.e. rectangles with folded corner) can be input or output for certain tasks. the high-level process representation can be further detailed using sub-processes (i.e. rounded rectangles with ‘+’ sign). the diagram in figure 2 shows a possible sub-process – among the many which could be chosen – which can be executed to unfold the ‘formulate alternative proposals’ activity.formulate alternative proposals p la n n er (p ) g eo d es ig n t ea m (g d t) geodesign team (gdt) represent territorial system simulate processes evaluate processes design alternatives assess impacts present alternative proposals goals alternative scenario proposals alternative proposals figure 2. representation of a sub-process of the rcp process model (see figure 1) in bpmn 2.0. in the example, the ‘formulate alternative proposals’ activity model (figure 2) recalls the workflow of a geodesign study involving the creation of representation, process, evaluation, change, impact and decision models (steinitz, 2012). the sub-process decomposition can be further detailed until elementary tasks are defined. thus, process modelling can describe the planning process down to the finest details. evaluate impacts a ss es s im p ac ts d ec is io n m ak er s (d m s) decision makers (dms) impact dashboard [web app] assess impacts for alternative scenarios send results for final decision g eo d es ig n t ea m (g d t) geodesign team (gdt) scenarios [wfs] geodatabase [wfs] select scenario eval impacts air eval impacts water eval impacts soil eval impacts (...) create impact matrix impact matrix visualize impact dashboard figure 3. decomposition of a sub-process of the rcp process model in bpmn 2.0. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 66 in figure 3, the ‘assess impacts activity’ is further decomposed. together with actors, activities, and gateways which describe the sequence flows, data objects (i.e. standard web feature services) and other artefacts (i.e. an impact dashboard web app) are shown in this example sub-process model. as by the model, after alternative scenarios are built in the ‘design alternatives’ activity, a software script selects one by one each scenario from a database, and for each scenario a number of processing models available in a remote server as standard web processing services (wps) are run to evaluate the scenario impact on air, water, soil and all the other natural and anthropogenic subsystems which may have been considered important by the participants. afterwards, the results are saved and visualized for the decision-makers to make their assessments, which will be the base for the final decision. the examples shown in figure 1 to 3, while depicting only one possible way by which a part of a planning process may unfold, show how the bpmn language may effectively represent the process elements needed to fully document both the activity workflows, the role of the actors, and the required enabling technologies. using light-weight bpmn web editors such as signavio (www.signavio. com) or processmapper (www.processmapper.com) process can be designed and analysed in order to avoid inconsistencies. planning process models can be also created collaboratively and stored in repositories for sharing and reuse (e.g. in real world metaplanning exercises, for research purposes, for education and training exercises). moreover, with full-featured bpms, the planning process models can be used for process-oriented second generation pss deployment. indeed, professional bpms after configuration can automatically turn graphical process models into desktop or mobile applications. that is, with reference to the previous examples, when a task is instantiated, the bpms can supply to the responsible users the necessary ict services (e.g. desktop applications, apps, or even atomic web data or processing services) as demonstrated by campagna et al. (2014a, b). 5. one more practical example of planning process modelling as one more example from a real-world planning process, this section proposes the planning process model in bpmn of geodesign workshop held in belo horizonte (br) in 2015. the geodesign workshop process was structured according to the steinitz framework for geodesign (steinitz, 2012) and was supported by the geodesign hub pss (http://www.geodesignhub.com/). the workshop was coordinated by a team led by the author (i.e. the coordination team), and a group of 21 academics, students and public administration officials participated, representing the local stakeholders. the schedules lasted three days within which the participants were firstly introduced to the fr o m m e ta p l a n n in g to p ss 2 .0 : e x p lo r in g t h e a r c h it ec t u r e o f g eo d esig n a s a p r o c ess 67 geodesign approach and to the pss, and then carried on a collaborative conceptual design of future scenarios for the pampulha urban region. the workflow was intense and the sequence of activities sometimes frantic under the pressure of tight schedules within the available time. from the organisational perspective documenting the process in bpmn beforehand was very helpful first to achieve mutual understanding among the coordination team and then to guide the group successfully towards the end, where three future final scenarios were chosen and presented by the participants. the base bpmn workflow of the geodesign workshop is given in figure 4. geodesign workshop v01 g eo d es ig n w o rk sh o p c o o rd in at io n t ea m coordination team preliminary work introduce theworkshop kick-off the geodesign study p eo p le o f th e p la ce (b y gr o u p s) people of the place (by groups) test the pss platform create the first scenario (synthesis) (v01) refine scenario (v0n) negotiate present the final scenarios design diagrams set decisionmodel figure 4. the main activities of the geodesign workshop. in the ppm depicted in figure 4 all the main activities of the geodesign workshop are given in sequence. each of them can be further defined adding details about sub-tasks, data input/output of each activity, and supporting technology adopted. the sequence can also be described with a higher level of details as in figure 5. geodesign workshop v02 g eo d es ig n w o rk sh o p c o o rd in at io n t ea m coordination team start preliminary work introduce theworkshop kick-off the geodesign study decision model parameters manage negotiation support toolsgeodesign hub planning support system scenario comparative assessment matrix p eo p le o f th e p la ce (b y gr o u p s) people of the place (by groups) test the pss platform create the first scenario (synthesis) (v01) refine scenario (v0n) present scenario to others negotiate scenarios with others design diagrams (projects/policies) set decisionmodel check impact model diagrams matrix chose final scenario end figure 5. detailed sequence of the geodesign workshop. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 68 both of the ppm show just one possible way to implement the process and can be used as to-be or as-was model to guide or to document the process unfolding respectively. in both cases, planning process modelling contributes to develop a better understanding of the process among the participants with benefits for the coordination and the transparency. 6. conclusions as discussed in this paper, bpm methods and tools may offer several advantages for the implementation of metaplanning in practice. however, more research should be devoted to test the reliability of the bpm approach to metaplanning and pss 2.0 design and implementation in complex real world planning processes. on the opportunities side, it seems reasonable to expect that the use of bpmn as a semantically-rich graphical language to represent the planning process may be useful both for creating better mutual understanding among the process participants in the plan-making phase, as well as to make the process accountable to the community when the results are presented during the sea information and consultations, or anytime after the plan adoption. ‘to-be’ planning process models in bpmn can also be used to share process templates, such as often happens with regional regulations which define specific actors and phases to be implemented in planning processes at the local level. to further demonstrate these opportunities more on-the-field research should be devoted to compare the communicative power of bpmn with other languages. however, unlike with texts, a process model in bpmn to be valid should have a start, an end, and a sequence flow of activity between them, making easier to detect bottlenecks, deadlocks, or any lack of definition which may undermine the effectiveness of the process instances. early experiments carried on by the author on regional planning regulations and guidelines already demonstrated that the translation of textual process guidelines to bpmn may help to detect possible issues and pitfalls in the process definition which can prevent the achievement of mutual understanding among the different players in spatial government. from an operational perspective, to put metaplanning in practice with bpm, especially in complex planning processes, the full representation of the process would require possibly a high number of models. however, well-structured repositories can be used not only to orchestrate the process, but also after its implementation to share plan-making knowledge. thanks to a powerful query mechanism, model repositories could be used ex-post to understand how tasks were implemented and by whom. such information would broaden the assessment of the decision-making process, which already should be part of sea, but most of the time is limited to such issues as the reliability of data fr o m m e ta p l a n n in g to p ss 2 .0 : e x p lo r in g t h e a r c h it ec t u r e o f g eo d esig n a s a p r o c ess 69 sources for decision-making. this way, not only the effect of data accuracy but also the way data are used to support decisions could be documented and evaluated ex-post. in addition, the planners and the other actors with their organisational roles and skills, as well as the methods and the enabling information technology landscape of the geodesign firm, can be represented accurately, and shared with other actors for re-use for professional, research or education and training purposes. while it has been already demonstrated that simple routine planning tasks can be represented in bpmn, and that those models can be used to enact the automated orchestration of the supporting technology, it would be desirable that more empirical research would be devoted to understand to what extent it is possible to reach similar results and advantages in more complex planning activities, or eventually in the full planning process life-cycle. other underlying issues, which should be more deeply investigated, might also be related to how bpm may deal with possible informal characteristics of a planning process, and on the actual opportunity and willingness to make the planning process as structured as business processes in other domains. to conclude, as concisely claimed in this paper, bpm method and tools can be used both to implement metaplanning with the aim of improving the planning process, and, at the same time, to deploy process-oriented second generation pss. indeed further research is needed to apply this approach to deal with the complexity of real world planning practices, and it should include both the business and the technology perspectives in order to bridge the gap between pss research and practice, and eventually develop robust bpm platform for process-oriented pss deployment. however the foundation seems to be already set to advance metaplanning implementation in practice and second generation pss research. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 70 acknowledgements the work presented in this paper was developed by the author within the research project “efficacia ed efficienza della governance paesaggistica e territoriale in sardegna: il ruolo della vas e delle idt” [efficacy and efficiency of landscape and environmental management in sardinia: the role of sea and of sdi] cup: j81j11001420007 funded by the autonomous region of sardinia under the regional law n° 7/2007 “promozione della ricerca scientifica e dell’innovazione tecnologica in sardegna”. references allen, e. 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(2012) business process management: concepts, languages, architectures. berlin/heidelberg: springer-verlag. 147 6 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n offering people scenic beauty is one of the most frequently mentioned landscape services. in the netherlands it also has become an explicit policy goal: “we want a beautiful country to live and work in” (lnv, 2000: 3). however, instruments to help policy makers and spatial planners to implement this relatively new goal are largely lacking. where do people like the landscape in their living environment and where do they not? and which physical characteristics infl uence this appreciation and to what extent? to provide such information in a cost-effi cient way, a model was developed to map, monitor, and simulate precisely this: the gis-based landscape appreciation model (glam). the model predicts the attractiveness of the landscape based solely on nationally available gis-data on its physical aspects for each 250 x 250 metre cell. in this article, we describe the theoretical background to glam, the attributes in the current version of the model, the fi nal steps in calibrating the model, as well as its validation. we conclude with a discussion on the usefulness of glam for spatial policy. 6 . 2 t h e o r e t i c a l b a c k g r o u n d ever since the 1970s, the attractiveness of landscapes has been an issue in landscape and environmental management. it was one of the driving forces behind the emergence of environmenj a n n e k e r o o s k l e i n l a n k h o r s t , s j e r p d e v r i e s , a r j e n b u i j s mapping landscape attractiveness a gis-based landscape appreciation model for the dutch countryside 148 mapping landscape attractiveness. a gis-based landscape appreciation model for the dutch countryside tal psychology as a discipline. in the mean time a vast amount of research has been conducted in explaining or describing environmental preferences of both experts and lay people (for an overview, see aoki, 1999). different theories have emerged, ranging from strongly evolutionary to more cultural explanations of environmental preferences. a dominant paradigm since the 1980’s has been the cognitive view of landscape perception. it focuses on subjective, psychological categories. most notably is the theory of kaplan and kaplan (1989), with its emphasis on mystery, complexity, legibility and prospect. many studies have focused on the link between these psychological categories and landscape attributes, but this has proven to be rather diffi cult (strumse, 1994). another paradigm, the psychophysical one, has been present in environmental psychology from the start. within this paradigm, preferences for and attractiveness of a specifi c landscape are supposed to be based in its physical attributes. although it does not deny the importance of exploring the psychological mechanism behind these relationships, its focus is very much on the physical landscape. it is therefore particularly suited for modelling landscape preferences using geographic data of the physical landscape (see for other examples e.g. bishop and hulse, 1994; real et al., 2000). from the psychophysical as well as from the cognitive paradigm, a large array of attributes has been evaluated since the 1980’s (ulrich, 1983; zube, 1987; kaplan and kaplan, 1989; purcell and lamb, 1998; strumse, 1994; aoki, 1999). it is from this body of knowledge that we derived attributes for the glam model to predict landscape preferences in the netherlands. the initial glam model consisted of three positive indicators: naturalness, relief, relief, relief historical distinctiveness, and three negative indicators: skyline disturbance, urbanity and urbanity and urbanity noise level. the choice of these indicators was the result of the mentioned literature and previous research results of a prototype version of glam (vries and gerritsen, 2003). one of the changes resulting from this previous research is that ‘variety’, an attribute that is prominently present in the literature (see e.g. hunziker and kienast, 1999), was dropped because of its high correlation with naturalness in the dutch situation. the non-visual attribute noise level was included in the attribute set of our model because studies in the netherlands (goossen et al., 2001) proved noisiness, especially from traffi c, to be a very important factor for the appreciation of the landscape. moreover, noise level may also be considered as a proxy for visual fragmentation and disturbance of an area by (rail)roads. 6 . 3 o p e r a t i o n a l i s i n g t h e g l a m the glam model has been built in a dedicated modelling environment, named osiris (verweij, 2004) that supports the building and running of qualitative spatial models. osiris enables the 149 user to store qualitative expert knowledge in tables with which new grid maps are generated from two or three existing grid maps. it also enables the user to store and run map algebra scripts. it uses arcview version 3.3 for the viewing of grid data and executing the grid algebra scripts. 6.3.1 input data and computations the most important dataset we use, is the digital topographic map 1:10,000 of the netherlands, containing polygons representing e.g. forests, housing blocks, high-rise buildings (higher than 35 metre or 10 storeys), glass houses and water bodies, point elements such as power pylons and wind turbines, and lines of trees and ditches. nevertheless, on pragmatic grounds we use grid maps with a resolution of 250 x 250 metre. grid map computations are faster than vector-based computations, and indicator maps in grid format are easier to combine into one ‘landscape attractiveness’ map (without causing sliver polygons or inconsistencies in results due to differences in polygon boundaries). the grid cell size of 250 x 250 metre is generally viewed as a convenient size for national studies in the netherlands. since in open landscapes larger areas are visible than the grid cell itself, we used neighbourhood operations to take a wider environment into account and to deduce the visibility of characteristics. although specifi c algorithms exist to compute visibility in an accurate way, these tend to be very time consuming. we decided to use focal mean operations to compute to what extent urban areas were surrounded by vertical vegetation, and areas of natural vegetation were surrounded by buildings (see fi gure 1). for the high-rise artefacts of skyline disturbance we computed the openness of the surroundings of the observer, and not of the surroundings of the artefacts themselves. such artefacts are usually higher than the surrounding trees and buildings, and are thus visible from a large distance if the observer has a clear view. in open landscapes with clear weather, visibility of buildings and glass houses can be as far as 5 kilometres and for high artefacts like wind turbines even more than 10 kilometres. however, validation results (comparing maps with different neighbourhood distances with preference ratings by respondents) and fi eld surveys suggested both that a distance of 2 to 3 kilometres is appropriate for skyline disturbance for high artefacts, and 0.5 kilometres for urban areas. for the indicator historical distinctiveness we used neighbourhood operations to merge grid cells containing monuments and nearby grid cells into larger areas that we considered to be of a more historical nature than areas further away from historical monuments. this neighbourhood operation was not only based on visibility considerations, but also on the assumption that the area surrounding a historical feature is more likely to have historical qualities itself. 150 mapping landscape attractiveness. a gis-based landscape appreciation model for the dutch countryside 6.3.2 preference levels per gis-indicator given the broad defi nition of most physical characteristics, encompassing different elements, defi ning indicator levels was not simply a matter of counting the incidence of relevant elements. it had to be decided which (combinations of) elements were preferred or disliked to a similar degree and thus could be combined in one level. so, a given level of an indicator does not indicate mere presence, but an evaluation of this presence in terms of its expected contribution to landscape attractiveness. originally these operational decisions were made based on a literature review, insights gained from previous studies (coeterier, 1996; goossen and langers, 2000; de boer et al., 1999) and interviews conducted during the project. however, glam also has a strong empirical basis. it was developed in interaction with the results of a national survey in landscape appreciation among almost 3000 dutch residents (de vries and van kralingen, 2002), which will be described in more detail later on. each of the six indicators has fi ve levels, ranging from 0 (no or very small presence of appropriate physical characteristics) to 4 (strong visible presence of appropriate physical characteristics). for the positive indicators 0 means ‘least preferred’, and 4 ‘most preferred’, for the negative indicators, 4 means ‘least preferred’. the fi ve levels per indicator should be interpreted as a semi-interval scale. the computation method per indicator is briefl y described below, beginning with for the three positive ones. in table 1 a description of the levels per indicator is given. the visibility of natural vegetation is deduced by calculating the amount of surrounding built-up area within 0.5 km the visibility of urban areas (low buildings) is deduced by calculating the amount of surrounding tall vegetation within 0.5km % of tall vegetation 0.5 km urban area the visibility of high artifacts within 2.5km of the observer is deduced by calculating the amount of tall vegetation surrounding the grid cell of the observer within 0.5 km 0.5 km % of built-up area natural vegetation 2.5 km0.5 km high artifact % of tall vegetation figure 1 neighbourhood operations used for the indicators naturalness, urbanity and skyline disturbance 151 the score for naturalness depends on the amount and type of vegetation, the presence of natural water and the amount of built-up area within 500 metres. the amount of natural vegetation forms the basis. however, if there is less than 5% nature (e.g. heath, dunes, swamp, forest) but over 50% of grassland, the grid cell scores a point extra; grid cells with less than 50% natural vegetation also score an extra point if they contain a shoreline of natural waters (rivers, brooks, pools, lakes, sea). big water bodies themselves are left out of the maps: the model is restricted to landscapes on land. on the other hand, if there is a lot of built-up area and few trees within 500 metres, the grid cell looses 1 point. the resulting score remains within the 0 4 range. the score for relief depends on the presence of the most valued type of relief in the grid cell: the more variety in altitude, the higher the score. for this indicator we used the dutch geomorphology map, indicating different landforms, which we classifi ed from fl at areas to large hills. for historical distinctiveness, the score depends on the presence or vicinity of nationally protected historical (clusters of) buildings or sites. the score for urbanity depends on the amount of built-up area within the cell, within 500 metres from that cell, and the area of trees within 500 metres (because of visibility). glass house areas score less (because they are semi-transparent and generally lower than solid buildings) and (clusters of) offi ce buildings more (these are considered to score the most negative). the calculation is quite complex. a grid cell scores e.g. 0 for urbanity if it contains less than 1% built-up area or less than 10% glass houses. but a grid cell also scores 0 if it contains 1-5% buildings, on the condition that the average built-up area within 500 metres is less than 1%. a grid cell also scores 0 if it contains 5-10% buildings but these are less visible because the average area of trees within 500 metres is more than 50%. at the other extreme, a grid cell scores 4 for urbanity if it contains more than 20% buildings and has less than 10% of trees within 500 metres. a grid cell also scores 4 if it contains only 1-5% buildings but the average built-up area within 500 metres is larger than 10% (these are densely built-up areas) and visibility is not reduced by trees. however, the city centres themselves are left out of the map: the model is restricted to the appreciation of the countryside. for skyline disturbance the score of the focal cell depends on the type of visible man-made artefacts within a 1 kilometre to 2.5 kilometre radius; from the most to the least disturbing these are: high-rise, power pylons, wind turbines. their visibility depends on the amount of nearby vertical vegetation from the focal cell (observer’s position). we realise that these artefacts are not always negative: they can form important landmarks that make the landscape readable and help to orientate oneself, which most often receives a positive appreciation. we also realise that high buildings, for example, may be appreciated because of architectural quality. but no 152 mapping landscape attractiveness. a gis-based landscape appreciation model for the dutch countryside table 1 map legends for the six gis indicators indicator legend of indicator map naturalness 0 < 0.1% nature and < 50% grassland and no natural water 1 0.1-5% nature, or nature < 0.1% and > 50% grassland or natural water 2 5-10% nature and < 50% grassland, or 0.1-5% nature and > 50% grassland or water 3 10-50% nature or 5-10% nature and water 4 > 50% nature (e.g. heath, dunes, swamps, forests) or 10-50% nature and natural water if there is a lot of built-up area visible within 500m, grid cells scoring >1 loose 1 point. relief 0 fl at areas, man-made relief 1 nearly fl at, old man-made mounds (for housing) 2 sloping 3 hilly (or dunes) 4 larger hills historical distinctiveness 0 > 1 km from grid cells with nationally protected historical (clusters of) buildings or sites 1 < 1 km from grid cells with nationally protected historical (clusters of) buildings or sites 2 next to grid cells with single historical buildings / sites or within 500 m of a cluster 3 next to grid cells with clusters of historical buildings 4 grid cell containing nationally protected historical (clusters of) buildings or sites urbanity (negative) 0 1-5 % in grid cell and average <1% in surrounding 500m or <1% built-up area visible in grid cell and average 1-5% in surrounding 500m 1 1-5% visible built-up area in grid cell and average 1-5% in surrounding 500 m or <1% visible in grid cell and average >5% in surrounding 500m. 2 5-10% built-up area visible in grid cell and <5% in surrounding 500m, or 1-5 % visible in grid cell and average >5% in surrounding 500m 3 10-20% built-up area visible within grid cell and average <5% in surrounding 500m, or 5-10% visible in grid cell and average >5% in surrounding 500m 4 >20% built-up area visible within grid cell and average <5% in surrounding 500m or 10-20% visible within cell and average >5% in surrounding 500m visible means here: less than 10% trees in the surrounding 500m of the buildings skyline disturbance (negative) 0 no disturbing high-rise artefacts visible within 2.5 km 1 wind turbines visible within 2.5km or other artefacts not very visible 2 visible power pylons/high buildings > 1km < 2.5km, or < 1km but not very visible 3 visible power pylons < 1km or high buildings < 1km but not very visible 4 visible high buildings < 1km (higher than 35m or 10 storeys) visible means here: less than 10% trees within 500m of the observer noise level (negative) 0 quiet < 35 db 1 not noisy: 35-45 db 2 rather noisy: 45-55 db 3 noisy: 55-65 4 very noisy: > 65 db 153 distinction has been made in this respect; due to lack of data and the fact that these preferences may well differ between individuals. finally, for noise level the score depends on the amount of noise according to a model computing decibels depending on traffi c intensity and type of industry (jabben et al., 2000). the maps of the 6 indicators, including the topographic map we used as input, were checked in the fi eld, using a fi eld computer with gps. while driving through the countryside we could see our movements on the maps, making it quite easy to compare the maps with the real landscape. although we found some inconsistencies in the data (sometimes existing tree lines did not appear on the maps) we found the indicator maps quite accurate. the accuracy of the skyline disturbance map varied strongly with weather conditions: the visibility of the high artefacts change dramatically depending on the amount of moisture in the air. interrelationships between the six gis-indicators were calculated at the grid-cell level for the whole of the dutch countryside (n = 545,652). all correlations (pearson’s) are below 0.30, except the one between naturalness and relief: r = 0.34. this was considered acceptable. the predicted landscape attractiveness was calculated as a linear combination of these indicators, using regression weights. this will be explained later in more detail. more detailed information on glam can be found in roos-klein lankhorst and colleagues (2005). 6 . 4 c a l i b r a t i o n o f g l a m the model generates predictions for each and every 250 x 250 metre grid-cell of countryside in the netherlands (excluding built-up areas and large water surfaces). however, the primary aim of the model is not to predict the attractiveness of the landscape at this detailed level, but rather the attractiveness at the broader level of the landscape surrounding one’s place of residence. this was also the question asked in the survey that was used to calibrate the model: “how attractive do you fi nd the landscape surrounding your place of residence?” in the study, the netherlands was divided into 15 regions that were thought to be reasonably homogeneous with regard to dominant landscape type. within each of these regions the sample was stratifi ed by level of urbanity: non-urban versus at least somewhat urban. within each stratum the chance to be included in the sample was proportional to the size of the postcode area. due to the sampling design, the sample cannot be expected to be representative for the dutch population: the design was focused more on sampling (ratings of) landscapes than on sampling people. the aim was to have about 100 fi lled-in postal questionnaires for each of the strata, with a grand total of 3000 respondents. this goal was reached (n = 3006), with response rates being 154 mapping landscape attractiveness. a gis-based landscape appreciation model for the dutch countryside lower in the more urban strata (21%) than in the non-urban strata (28%). there were no signifi cant differences in response rates between landscape regions. in the fi nal sample males are overrepresented (61%), people below 30 years of age are underrepresented (7%). typically the questionnaire was answered by a head of the household (90%). of the respondents 48% characterises him-/herself as being full-time employed, 10% as part-time employed, 23% as being on retirement, and 14% as full-time homemaker. since no special measures were taken, ethnic minorities are likely to be underrepresented. for more information on this sample, see de vries and van kralingen (2002). no specifi c delineation of the landscape was given: it was left to the respondents what they considered the relevant area to be rated. the model’s predictions can be scaled up by averaging the predicted values for a given area. at fi rst instance ‘the landscape surrounding one’s place of residence’ seems like a rather diffi cult spatial unit to delineate. however, research on the prototype version of glam has shown that in practice this constitutes less of a problem (de vries and van kralingen, 2002). averages were calculated for circles around the midpoint of one’s postcode, with different radii. the correlation between averaged predictions and the (average) rating by inhabitants proved to be remarkably consistent for radii between 2.5 and 7.5 kilometres. therefore we have chosen to use the average of the model values for the countryside cells within 5 kilometres as predictor for the rating by inhabitants. relations between predictions and actual ratings become stronger to the degree the actual ratings are averaged over more respondents judging the same environment: individual differences are averaged out to a larger extent. unfortunately many postcode areas had very few respondents. we decided to use only those postcodes that had at least three respondents to calibrate the glam model (n = 277). the correlations between averaged gis indicator values for 5 kilometre radius circles of the selected postcodes are given in table 2. correlations are especially high for noise and urbanity and for relief and historical distinctiveness. but even in those cases, less than 50% of the variance in one indicator is ‘explained’ by the other indicator, implying there is quite a lot of unique variation left. a rule of thumb is that correlations above 0.80 constitute a serious multi-collinearity problem (gujarati, 1995), which is not the case here. we started the calibration of the glam model with a calculation of the relations between gis-indicators and the averaged attractiveness ratings. all six gis-indicators show signifi cant correlations (p < 0.001) with the averaged overall attractiveness rating of the landscape and all in the expected direction (table 3). the correlations are strongest for naturalness and skyline disturbance. the multivariate regression analysis shows four of the six indicators have a signifi cant unique predictive contribution: relief and noise level do not. together the remaining four indicators ‘explain’ 36% of the variance in averaged attractiveness scores (adjusted r2). the standardised regression weights are similar for urbanity, naturalness and historical 155 distinctiveness, but lower for skyline disturbance. this is a different pattern than observed for the bivariate correlations with attractiveness, in which skyline disturbance has one of the highest correlations. this is likely to be due to the interrelations of skyline disturbance with naturalness (negative) and urbanity (positive; table 2). historical distinctiveness shows a reversed pattern: its standardised regression weight is higher than its bivariate correlation. tracing the stepwise build-up of the regression equation shows that it is only after urbanity has delivered its negative contribution, that historical distinctiveness can make its positive contribution. these indicators have a positive interrelation: historical monuments and features are more likely to be found in or near urban areas. but whereas urbanity in general has a negative effect on the surrounding countryside, historical monuments and historical features do indeed have a positive effect on the environment. table 2 pearson’s correlations between averaged gis indicator values for 5 kilometre radius circles (n = 277) historical distinctive-ness relief urbanity skyline disturbance noise naturalness 0.13 * 0.53 ** -0.11 -0.41 ** -0.12 * historical distinctiveness 0.60 ** 0.38 ** 0.06 0.19 ** relief 0.08 -0.31 ** -0.10 urbanity 0.48 ** 0.68 ** skyline disturbance 0.47 ** * : signifi cant at 0.05-level ** : signifi cant at 0.01-level table 3 relations between gis indicator values for 5 kilometre radius circles and averaged attractiveness rating of surrounding countryside (n = 277) bivariate (pearson’s) correlation standardized regression weight (beta) raw regression weight (b) naturalness 0.45 ** 0.31 0.44 historical distinctiveness 0.20 ** 0.30 0.57 relief 0.34 ** ns ns urbanity -0.32 ** -0.32 -0.81 skyline disturbance -0.42 ** -0.16 -0.21 noise level -0.32 ** ns ns constant 7.36 ** : signifi cant at 0.01-level note: regression weights (all p < 0.01) are from multiple regression analysis 156 mapping landscape attractiveness. a gis-based landscape appreciation model for the dutch countryside predicted attractiveness figure 2 predicted attractiveness, based on calibrated version of glam low (< 6.5) fairly low (6.5 7.5) average (7.5 8.5) fairly high (8.5 9.5) high (> 9.5) cities, water, abroad predicted attractiveness 157 figure 2 shows the attractiveness of the landscape, as predicted by the calibrated version of glam, applying the raw regression weights in table 3 (b’s). note that the map gives results at the grid cell level, while the calibration and validation took place at the level of averages within 5-kilometre circles. 6 . 5 v a l i d a t i o n o f g l a m whereas the calibration shows the fi t of the model, these results could not be used to validate the model, because the weights are optimised for the dataset. to validate the model, independently acquired data from another study on landscape appreciation were used (snm, 2005). although this study was not set up to validate glam, the questionnaire was quite similar to the one that was used to calibrate the model. most of the questions were identical in formulation and answering scale. the study differed on some other aspects. to start with, 52 areas were selected that landscape experts considered being of high quality. that is: the area was considered a good example of a certain type of landscape, or otherwise attractive. the size of the areas ranged between 500 and 9000 hectares. one or sometimes two (4-digit) postcodes were selected in the vicinity of each of these areas. within the postcodes attached to each of the 52 areas 670 unaddressed questionnaires were randomly delivered by mail to residents. the overall response was about 15%, with a range of 42 to 142 respondents per area. respondents were asked to rate the area that was delineated on the provided map on several aspects, among others on its overall attractiveness. to validate the model, average ratings were calculated for each of the 52 areas. averages for overall attractiveness ranged from 7.5 to 9.2 on a 10-point scale. the overall average for the 52 areas was 8.4. this is considerably higher than that observed in the study that was used to calibrate the model (m = 7.9), signifying that the intended selection of high-quality areas was successful to at least some degree. also the average predicted values for the attractiveness of all the countryside grid-cells were calculated, for each area separately. predicted values were based on the regression equation from the calibration phase. the last step was the calculation of the correlation between the predicted attractiveness ratings and the actual average ratings. the correlation coeffi cient was r = 0.69, with an ‘explained’ variance of 47%. note that the level of explained variance now is higher than in the calibration phase (36%), despite the fact that independent data were used. 158 mapping landscape attractiveness. a gis-based landscape appreciation model for the dutch countryside 6 . 6 c o n c l u s i o n s a n d d i s c u s s i o n at the end of the calibration phase it appeared that only four of the six initially proposed indicators make a signifi cant unique predictive contributions: naturalness, urbanity, historical distinctiveness and skyline disturbance. a remarkable fi nding is that the explanatory power of the model (in a statistical sense) was higher in the validation phase than in the calibration phase. this outcome is even more surprising given the fact that in the validation study a restriction of the range may have occurred, due to the selection of high quality and/or attractive areas by experts. the result is likely to be due to the differences in the set-up of the empirical studies used in the two phases. whereas in the calibrations study respondents were asked to rate the countryside surrounding their place of residence, in the validation study the area to be rated was delineated on a map. consequently, ambiguity regarding the area being rated, and therefore individual differences in this respect, may have been smaller than in the calibration study. furthermore, in the validation study the average rating per area was based on a much higher number of respondents than in the calibration study: at least 42 versus at least 3 (and usually not more). so, individual differences were averaged out to a larger degree in the validation study. as for the desirability of averaging out individual differences, we make a distinction between differences in appreciation that are not related to the physical characteristics of the landscape, and those that are. the former (e.g. personal experiences with the landscape) are unlikely to be very informative with regard to landscape monitoring and spatial design. so, from an applied perspective it may not be that important to try and incorporate such differences into the model. that is not to say that such differences are also negligible in the social process evolving around spatial planning, but this is clearly beyond the scope of our model. individual differences that are related to a different appreciation of the physical characteristics (see e.g. dramstad and others, 2006) might be relevant, depending on their size. and although we do not deny the existence of individual differences in landscape preferences related to the landscape’s physical appearance (see e.g. van den berg, 1999), we think in general they are small compared to the differences in appreciation caused by the physical differences between the dutch landscapes themselves. in other words: we would like to argue that there is a substantial amount of agreement in landscape preferences between individuals (see also herzog et al., 2000; palmer and hoffman, 2001), and it is precisely this agreement that allows for the predictive validity of the glam model. at the same time we acknowledge that glam is not only crude in its spatial level, but also in the landscape (features) between which it distinguishes e.g. it mainly distinguishes between natural and agricultural areas, and between areas with signifi cant (recent) human interference 159 (in the form of visible artefacts) and those without. this can be seen within the naturalness indicator, where no distinction is made between different types of nature area, such as forests, dunes, heath and wetlands. at the same time it is known from other studies that even different types of forest are appreciated differently. for example, in general people seem to prefer old mixed forests to young coniferous production forests (ribe, 1989). to a large extent the crudeness of the model in this respect is due to a lack of suffi ciently detailed data on the landscape. it is reasonable to argue that, with further refi nement on the side of the physical appearance of the landscape, also refi nement on the side of individual differences in preferences becomes more relevant. people are more likely to agree on the crude distinctions between landscapes than on the fi ner ones. for example, in the netherlands young people seem to prefer more rugged nature areas than elderly people, which tend to prefer more easily accessible, park-like landscapes (reneman et al., 1999). also the work by tveit and others (2006) on landscape character may prove to be useful, pointing out aspects that are not explicitly included in glam yet, such as stewardship and visual scale. a related aspect is that, besides differences in aesthetic preferences, functional aspects (fi tness for use/suitability) may also play a part in rating the attractiveness of the landscape (see e.g. ribe, 1989; buijs et al., 2006). in other words, the attractiveness may depend on whatever function the individual has in mind when considering the landscape. glam primarily focuses on the pleasure of experiencing the landscape when travelling through or spending time in the area. in as far as functions are involved, this coincides with the landscape as a leisure setting, especially for resource-based recreation. this is probably the dominant function the countryside has for most dutch inhabitants. the other way around, the scenic beauty of a landscape may determine its suitability for certain types of development, e.g. touristic development, and so inform planning (brown, 2006). although we have the desire to elaborate glam, the validation provided quite strong support for the model. does this mean that the model is also suited for use in practical application? we think it is, although only at a regional level. for example, the model does not take the local composition or the design quality of the area into account. so, the model’s predictive capabilities should only be applied at a higher spatial level. but even at the lower spatial level it is likely to be quite useful for monitoring purposes: it can give early signs that the landscape may be changing in a way that makes it less attractive. this might also be one way to evaluate the effectiveness of landscape policies. moreover, the model offers a very cost-effi cient way to get a valid impression of how people (or, more specifi cally, inhabitants) on average appreciate the countryside surrounding their place of residence. two other methods to get such an impression would be a survey among the inhabitants living in or near the area, or to solicit an expert judgement. the survey method would 160 mapping landscape attractiveness. a gis-based landscape appreciation model for the dutch countryside generate valid results, but is costly to perform for the whole of the netherlands. the expert method, on the other hand, is less costly, but is also less likely to generate valid results. what experts consider high-quality, valuable and therefore attractive landscapes does not always coincide with the views of ordinary inhabitants (herzog et al., 2000; daniel, 2001). replacing expert judgements by predictive models such as glam may contribute to what in the policy arena is called ‘democratising landscape’ (see e.g. fairclough, 2002). this may also be considered a reminder that glam represents the opinions of dutch people only. r e f e r e n c e s aoki, y. 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(1999) mensenwensen; de wensen van nederlanders ten aanzien van natuur en groen in de leefomgeving. wageningen/ hilversum, staring centre/intomart (reeks operatie boomhut nr. 6) 161 roos-klein lankhorst, j., vries, s. de, buijs, a.e., bloemmen, m.h.i. van den, and schuiling, c (2005) belevingsgis versie 2; waardering van het nederlandse landschap door de bevolking op kaart. wageningen, alterra (rapport 1138) roos-klein lankhorst, j, de vries, s., van lith-kranendonk, j., dijkstra, h., and j.m.j. farjon, 2004. modellen voor de graadmeters landschap, beleving en recreatie. kennismodel effecten landschap kwaliteit kelk, monitoring schaal en belevingsgis. wageningen, natuurplanbureau vestiging wageningen (planbureaurapporten nr. 20) http://www.wotnatuurenmilieu.wur.nl/nr/rdonlyres/ be00dd2c-51e0-4fb4-85ce-5b63673f07cb/20622/ planbureaurapporten_20_laag.pdf ribe, r. (1989) the aesthetics of forestry: what has empirical preference research taught us? environmental management 13 (1); 55-74 snm (2005) nederland kan zo mooi zijn; onderzoek naar de beleving van 52 gebieden door omwonenden; deel 1: landelijke conclusies en resultaten. utrecht, stichting natuur and milieu. strumse, e. (1994) environmental attributes and the prediction of visual preferences for agrarian landscapes in western norway. journal of environ mental psychology 14; 293-303 tveit, m.s., ode, a., and fry, g. (2006) key concepts in a framework for analysing visual landscape character. landscape research 31 (3); 229-255 ulrich, r.s. (1983) aesthetic and affective response to natural environment. in: altman, i., and wohlwill, j.f. (eds) human behavior and environment: advances in theory and research 6. new york, plenum press, pp 85-126. van den berg, a.e. (1999) individual differences in the aesthetic evaluation of natural landscapes. thesis. groningen, rijksuniversiteit groningen. verweij, p.j.f.m.(2004) osiris manual. w!sl, wageningen. zube, e.h. (1987) perceived land use patterns and landscape values. landscape ecology 1; 37-45 design challenges of multifunctional flood defences a comparative approach to assess spatial and structural integration peter van veelen, mark voorendt, chris van der zwet van veelen, p., voorendt, m., & van der zwet, c. (2015). design challenges of multifunctional flood defences. a comparative approach to assess spatial and structural integration. research in urbanism series, 3(1), 275-292. doi:10.7480/rius.3.841 flo w sc a p es –d esig n in g in fr a s t r u c t u r e a s l a n d sc a p e 276 abstract due to the changing climate and increasing urbanisation delta cities are faced with an increasing flood risk. in the netherlands many of the flood defence infrastructures, such as dikes and flood walls, need to be adapted or improved in the near future, to comply to current or improved safety standards. these improvements directly affect landscape and urban development. in its 2008 report, the 2nd delta committee presented the idea of multifunctional flood defences, which are flood defence structures that deliberately provide opportunities for other functions. since then, spatial designers and hydraulic engineers together delivered a wide palette of designs and concepts, resulting in a rather fluid and indefinable concept of multifunctional flood defences. this paper presents a method to describe the level of multifunctionality, based on two existing spatial and structural assessment methods from the fields of civil engineering and urban planning. the combined method distinguishes four ascending levels of integration, ranging from spatial optimisation to structural and functional integration. the combined classification method is tested on a selection of cases of multifunctional flood defences in the netherlands. based on this test, it is concluded that the classification method is a useful and generic method to describe the level of multifunctionality. some of the selected examples look very innovative and multifunctional at first glance, while the level of spatial and structural integration is limited. other examples might not be very spectacular from a spatial designers point of view, but show that true functional integration of flood protection with multiple other functions is already feasible, depending on the local context. the method helps to bridge the gap between the practices of civil engineering and urban and landscape design. also, it makes clear that flood risk management is part of an overall process of integrated area development, anticipating on what could be described as a multifunctional flood defence zone. keywords multifunctional flood defence; multifunctional dike; integrated flood defence; integral flood design; interdisciplinary design; delta management; design; flood defence design; dike design; delta dike; climate dike; super levee; flood defence zone d esig n c h a llen g es o f m u lt ifu n c t io n a l flo o d d efen c es 277 1. introduction the densely populated dutch delta is vulnerable to both coastal and fluvial floods. a large network of flood defence structures like dykes, dunes, dams and locks protect the major cities of amsterdam and rotterdam and the low-lying polders of the randstad. these structures are gradually incorporated into the urban fabric as a result of rapid post-war urbanisation and – more recently – the transformation of former port areas outside the levee protected areas. here future flood risk management conflicts with the spatial interests and ambitions of local stakeholders. in areas where dykes and the urbanised landscape have almost merged, traditional dyke reinforcement results in an undesirable claim on space, high expenses and an extended planning and realisation process (van veelen et al., 2010). in large urbanised deltas outside the netherlands, whether it be highly developed urban areas such as the new york-new jersey estuary, or developing metropolitan regions such as jakarta and ho chi minh city, the integration of flood risk management with urban developments also presents a challenge. the question is how to improve flood defence structures, while avoiding enormous social costs and uncompromised spatial solutions. both in the netherlands and other urbanised delta regions, concepts of integrating flood risk management structures with other functions are currently being developed and tested. the dutch second delta committee embraced the concept of ‘multifunctional flood defences’ (2nd delta committee, 2008) as an overarching concept describing structures that are designed to integrate flood protection with functions like infrastructure, housing, recreation and ecological spaces. new ideas from research and practice such as the ‘unbreakable’ dyke, delta dyke, and climate dyke were developed. although integrated flood defences have already been planned and realised in many different places throughout the netherlands such as katwijk, scheveningen, rotterdam, dordrecht, tiel and vlissingen, an assessment method that integrates both the design approaches of civil engineering and spatial planning is still missing. in this chapter, a comparative assessment method and classification is introduced that aims to assess both the spatial and structural composition of multifunctional flood defences. this method is based on an integration of the design methods of urban planning and hydraulic engineering, to provide a way of design as an “important and essential approach to intentional change” (nelson & stolterman, 2012) that could help both urban planners and hydraulic engineers to develop a mutual language. it should also enable the link between the strategic level of landscape and flood risk planning with a concrete feasible level of structural design. the proposed method could thus form a useful tool to support both horizontal cooperation on operational level of design and improve communications between the strategic and tactical level of flo w sc a p es –d esig n in g in fr a s t r u c t u r e a s l a n d sc a p e 278 decision-makers and designers. in this way, this approach contributes to a design culture, as proposed by nelson & stolterman (2012), where “it is important for leaders to recognise that their challenge is that of a designer.” to get a grip on the structural design of multifunctional flood defences, the following section first briefly describes the evolution of flood risk strategies and flood defence design in the netherlands. following on from this, the composition of traditional flood defences and some new concepts are explained. then, the assessment method of the structural and spatial integration is introduced, based on an overview of design perspectives. this method is applied to several cases: the dakpark and hilledijk in rotterdam and the noordendijk in dordrecht. the chapter ends with conclusions and recommendations for the spatial and structural design of multifunctional flood defences. although the cases studied in this chapter represent typical dutch flood risk management structures, the assessment method is generic and can be applied in other delta regions where similar integration challenges play a role. 2. towards new flood risk strategies and concepts 2.1 an introduction to the flood management system of the netherlands dutch flood risk management has evolved over time and in recent years has been ever more influenced by societal developments (heems & kothuis, 2012). there are several recent changes to the current dutch flood risk management system that have a substantial impact on the design and layout of flood defences. to understand the impact of these changes it is necessary to introduce some key elements of the dutch flood risk management system and local design methods. the dutch flood protection system is based on closed networks of primary flood defences: so called ‘dyke rings’ that protect both urban and more rural areas along the north sea coast and the main rivers. the traditional design of flood defences was based simply on experience and local conditions. after the catastrophic 1953 flood this deterministic approach was replaced by a flood protection philosophy based upon a cost-benefit optimum analysis wherein the cost of increasing protection is balanced against the reduction in flood risk. because of the availability of statistical data of water levels and the development of an advanced analysis method, the flood risk could be related to the exceedance frequency of a critical water level. flood defences had to be designed in such a way that this critical water level could be resisted. this method is known as the ‘semi-probabilistic design method’ because the strength of flood defences was still considered as a fixed value (taw, 1998). this new approach resulted in flood protection standards that differ per dyke d esig n c h a llen g es o f m u lt ifu n c t io n a l flo o d d efen c es 279 ring, depending on the economic value of the hinterland it protects and character of the local hydraulic conditions. 2.2 towards a risk-based approach in spatial planning, however, flood risk soon proved not to be a determining factor. low-lying polders were urbanised, resulting in a gradual increase of the consequence of a flood. the environmental assessment agency noted already in 2004 that human lives and economic values are less protected than originally intended when the current safety system was introduced in 1960 (ten brinke & bannink, 2004). to address this imbalance between safety standards and growing consequences, these safety standards are currently under discussion. a tightening up of the flood protection standards, however, implies a drastic improvement of flood defences in the urban or rural environment. in parallel, the design method of flood defences is changing. a full ‘probabilistic design method’, where the strength of flood defences is considered as a distribution instead of a fixed value, is a more accurate method than a semi-probabilistic method. recently, numerical methods have been developed to carry out this way of design. in addition to the traditional design criteria based on overtopping and overflow of the structure, also failure mechanisms based on the stability of the structure (for example piping and sliding) are included in the risk calculation. 2.3 new flood defence concepts the advancement in risk analysis together with societal developments has led to a new direction in a multi-layer flood risk approach where risks are not only reduced by preventing measures (layer 1), but also by adapting spatial planning and urban design (layer 2) and by introducing disaster management (layer 3) (ministry of i & m, 2009). although the cost-effectiveness of investments in reducing risk strongly varies per layer and depends on local conditions and the specific nature and probability of a flood (kolen et al., 2011), this new approach offers possibilities for the integration of flood risk management and spatial planning. a change to a risk-based approach has consequences for the design and layout of flood defences. the dutch research institute deltares studied the relative effectiveness of creating ‘unbreachable’ dykes to reduce the mortality rate for each dyke ring area (de bruijn & klijn, 2011). these unbreachable structures can be defined as flood defences that remain stable even when the normative water level is exceeded, reducing the probability of an uncontrolled flood by 10 or even 100 times. this concept of unbreachable flood defence structures forms the basis for different multifunctional concepts that are known under a wide range of names, such as the delta dyke, super dyke, flo w sc a p es –d esig n in g in fr a s t r u c t u r e a s l a n d sc a p e 280 broad dyke, robust dyke and climate dyke (figure 1). the premise is that the concept of unbreachable and multifunctional dykes is more cost-effective than conventional dykes because of real-estate development opportunities and benefits of optimal land use. although some case study research (de moel, 2010, veelen et al., 2010) supports this claim, the cost effectiveness of unbreachable and multifunctional flood defences has not yet been researched in depth. figure 1 cross-section of a multifunctional 10 x stronger dyke: in dark grey profile of a mono-functional river dyke, in light-grey a 10 x stronger dyke and zone for multi-functional use (adapted from: tromp et al., 2012) 3. spatial and structural integration in this section a method is proposed to assess the structural and spatial integration of multifunctional flood defences, based upon combining a classification of the structural elements composing a flood defence, with a classification of dimensions in multiple spatial use. 3.1 structural elements to evaluate the degree of spatial and structural integration of flood defences, it is necessary to understand the geometry and composition of a traditional dyke. the composing elements can be derived from the main characteristic of flood defences: water-retaining elements, elements that provide structural stability and strength, and elements that have a positive (or negative) influence on hydraulic conditions. drawing on the research of huis in’t veld et al. (1986) and venmans (1992), the main elements of a flood defence can be grouped according to their structural role: water retaining elements provide protection against floods through their height and water resistance (impermeability). supporting elements support the water retaining elements by providing additional strength or stability. this element type includes erosion protective elements and transitional structures. objects do not have a flood protection function but are part of the flood ded esig n c h a llen g es o f m u lt ifu n c t io n a l flo o d d efen c es 281 fence and have influence on the strength and stability of the structure as a whole. structural elements that change the hydraulic boundary conditions. the subsoil, which should finally resist all forces acting on the flood defence. figure 2 cross-section of a lake dyke with indication of the structural element types these element types are illustrated in figure 2, which could represent a sea dyke, but the basic components can be recognised in other types of flood defence structures. generally, water-retaining elements (type 1) consist of a clay layer or a wall (sheet piles or a gravity structure for example). supporting elements (type 2) are the core of a dyke and the anchors of a retaining wall, but also the revetment that protects the inner slope of a dyke against erosion due to overtopping waves. objects (type 3) consist of houses, roads, parking garages, etc. often such an object is not currently part of a flood defence, but will become part of it when the flood defence is widened. an example of a structural element that changes the hydraulic boundary conditions (type 4) is an outer berm, which dampens the waves and thus reduces the wave overtopping volume. also, foreland and vegetation can act as elements that influence the boundary conditions. finally, all forces acting on the flood defence and the forces exerted by the flood defence itself (mostly its own weight) have to be resisted by the subsoil (type 5). for hydraulic structures it is typical that a major horizontal load (from the adjoining water) is transferred to the subsoil. by classifying these element types, the degree of integration of objects with the basic elements of a flood defence structure can be determined. 3.2 spatial dimensions of multifunctionality in the context of urban planning, multiple land-use refers to situations where the existing space is more intensively used (hooimeijer et al., 2001). this can be achieved by the morphological integration of functions (the stacking of multiple functions in one building or construction), by mixed space use (multiple functions in a certain defined area) and by temporal shared-use of flo w sc a p es –d esig n in g in fr a s t r u c t u r e a s l a n d sc a p e 282 the same space. the degree of spatial integration used in this chapter is based upon a classification by ellen (2011) and adapted by van veelen (2013), who distinguishes four spatial dimensions of multifunctionality. these dimensions are used for evaluating the degree of spatial and functional integration, with slightly adapted terminology (see also figure 3): shared use. a flood defence structure is (temporarily) used by another function, without any adjustments to its basic structure. it is generally possible to use the flood defence for infrastructure, recreation and agricultural uses, as long as the functioning of the flood defence is not impeded. spatial optimisation. the basic shape of the flood defence is adapted to create space for other structures. these structures are technically not part of the flood defence structure. spatial optimisation is found in many places in the highly urbanised areas of the dutch delta. the most compact and spatially optimal shape is obtained if a vertical retaining wall is applied which replaces a dyke slope or berm, leaving space for housing or other functions. structural integration. an object is built on, in or under the flood defence structure, but does not directly retain water. the concept of structural integration is used in situations where the current dyke is over dimensioned (super dyke) or many times stronger than necessary (unbreachable dyke). functional integration. the water-retaining element of the flood defence also functions as a part of the structure with another function (the ‘object’). although this concept is technically feasible, it is hard to find realised examples of full integration. there are some historically evolved situations in which the dyke is part of a medieval city wall (as seen in kampen) or a row of old buildings (as seen in dordrecht). figure 3 various examples with different degrees of spatial integration d esig n c h a llen g es o f m u lt ifu n c t io n a l flo o d d efen c es 283 3.3 the combined approach the determination of the degree of integration starts with identifying the compositional elements of a flood defence structure. as a first step it should be determined whether an element has a water-retaining function or influences the strength and stability of the flood defence structure as a whole. if this is not the case, the integration is categorised as ‘shared use’, as long as the basic shape of the flood defence is not altered. if the flood defence shape is adapted to allow more spatial compactness, the situation is categorised as ‘spatial optimisation’. if the object, or part of it, fulfils a structural role in the flood defence structure, it is evaluated as ‘structural integration’. if this structural role is retaining water, the category is called ‘functional integration’. this method will be used in the following sections where three multifunctional flood defence structures are evaluated. 4. analysis of existing multifunctional flood defences the described analytical method to determine the degree of spatial and structural integration is tested with help of real cases. these cases are selected based on an overview of existing studies and reports on multi-functional or innovative flood defences. the majority of these cases are briefly analysed in terms of spatial and structural integration based on the available literature. three cases of multifunctional flood defences are analysed in more detail, using urban master plans, original building permits, archival research and interviews with key players during the design process. these cases are selected because they are clear examples of three different dimensions of multi-functionality and because these examples are well documented. the cases are assessed on (1) design criteria (2) spatial integration (3) structural integration and (4) flood defence concept. 4.1 dakpark rotterdam: shared use the ‘dakpark’ is an elevated park on a former railway yard in the delfshaven quarter in rotterdam. the park is located on the roof of a new shopping centre, which includes a parking garage (hence its name: ‘dak’ in dutch means ‘roof’). the park is the largest green roof in rotterdam and one of the largest in the netherlands. the park offers a playground, communal garden and a mediterranean garden with an orangery. the dakpark is 1000 m long and 80 m wide. the park is situated 9 m above street level. the car park has space for approximately 750 cars. the dakpark is combined with a dyke, the ‘delflandse dijk’, that is part of dyke ring 14, which protects the urban area of the randstad. flo w sc a p es –d esig n in g in fr a s t r u c t u r e a s l a n d sc a p e 284 the idea for a large city park is part of a longstanding agreement with residents to add more green space, stemming from the urban renewal process of the surrounding ‘bospolder-tussendijken’ district. the district authority finally decided to designate 80% of the space that became available for ‘green’ purposes. the project developer and owner of the area, the rotterdam port authority, intended to develop a commercial and industrial zone, which was conflicting with the residents’ ideas. ultimately a multifunctional structure has been designed that accommodates shops, offices, and a parking garage on the ground floor and first floor and a park with leisure functions on the rooftop (kennisbank platform31, 2013). important issues that had to be solved were the division of the costs, the presence of objects like stair-cases in the flood defence, and the by-law of the water board which contains regulations regarding building in the vicinity of the flood defence (van der leeuwen, 2008). figure 4 cross-section of the ‘roof park’ rotterdam the original dyke is not integrated into the new structure of the dakpark building itself (figure 4). instead the shopping, office and parking complex is situated next to the old dyke and the space in between the complex and the dyke has been filled out by soil. meanwhile, the crest height of the dyke was raised to make it ‘climate-proof’, which means that a worst-case scenario in terms of sea level rise has been taken into account for the design lifetime of the flood defence. the complex is situated in the outer zone, the ‘influence zone’ of the flood defence according to the definition by the water board. building in this zone is only allowed under exceptional circumstances, but in this case it is compensated by the reinforcement of the park strip. several agreements including those regarding the foundations of the core zone, d esig n c h a llen g es o f m u lt ifu n c t io n a l flo o d d efen c es 285 and ease of inspection, ensure that dakpark will maintain its flood protection function in the future (city of rotterdam, 2008). the dakpark complex itself does not contain structural elements that are part of the flood defence. the additional soil layer on top of the dyke is not considered to contribute to the retaining height because the water board regards the existing profile as the flood defence. this dyke profile has not been adapted to make space for other functions. the dakpark therefore is classified as ‘shared use’. 4.2 hilledijk rotterdam: spatial optimisation the hilledijk in rotterdam is one of the last remnants of the old river dyke that protected the land from flooding from the river maas. the dyke together with an old railway yard currently function as a spatial barrier between the afrikaanderwijk and the new developments of kop van zuid. one of the key principles of the 2004 parkstad masterplan is to dissolve this barrier by redeveloping the railway yard and transforming the dyke into a gradually ascending landscape, visually softening the height difference between the elevated area and the low-lying afrikaanderwijk. this new ‘dyke landscape’ will be used as a base for the development of different building blocks accessed through a new road on the top of the existing flood defence. the area between the buildings will remain accessible for inspection and maintenance (palmbout urban landscapes, 2009). during the process of drafting the parkstad masterplan the hollandse delta water board had scheduled a dyke reinforcement for a section of the hilledijk, to be finished in 2014 as part of the flood protection programme (hoogwaterbeschermingsprogramma) 2. the spatial and temporal coincidence of both developments contributed to public support for a multi-functional solution, where both parties benefit. an important design principle is that the new flood defence is spatially and functionally separated from the new buildings lined up on both sides of the crest. the new buildings are not integrated in the actual water defence, but will be constructed just outside a theoretical profile of the new flood defence. this means that when the buildings will be removed, the flood defence structure remains intact. the flood defence itself will be designed to a design water level corresponding with a 100-year moderate sea level scenario. one of the additional design criteria is that the water defence should resist a flood level corresponding with an average frequency of 1/10.000 per year, although the dyke ring 17 has been standardised to a 1/4000 per year exceedance frequency. although the new buildings are legally not part of the flood defence they will contribute to the strength of the embankment, creating a virtually unbreachable dyke that is many times stronger than actually necessary. the hilledijk can thus be considered as practically unbreachable (figure 5). flo w sc a p es –d esig n in g in fr a s t r u c t u r e a s l a n d sc a p e 286 figure 5 cross-section of the ‘hilledijk’ in rotterdam because the floor levels of the existing houses along the hilledijk are much lower than the desired level of the proposed street, demolition of these building blocks is inevitable (palmbout urban landscapes, 2009). due to the current financial crisis the development of the parkstad masterplan has slowed down and the demolition of buildings blocks has been postponed. the question has arisen whether the interdependence in the design of the flood defence and urban development is a restriction to adapting to changing circumstances. the hilledijk can be classified as a situation of spatial optimisation by using overlay of urban functions, without structural or functional integration. 4.3 noordendijk dordrecht: functional integration after the disastrous flood of 1953 the urbanized part of the noordendijk (north dyke) in dordrecht was reinforced with a cofferdam, to avoid demolition of the historical buildings lined up on both sides of the dyke. in the late seventies this dyke, although sufficiently strong, did not comply with the more stringent height requirements posed by the first delta committee. creating a higher dyke proved to be difficult. the initial plan of the water board consisted of a traditional dyke reinforcement by strengthening the outer-slope of the dyke towards the river slack tide. this required demolition of a row of historical buildings and relocation of a power plant and the last windmill of dordrecht. when in september 1987 all reinforcement projects were provisionally suspended by new plans for a storm surge barrier in the nieuwe maas, the planning process came to a halt (erfgoedcentrum diep). after the realisation of the maeslant barrier in the early nineties the possibility appeared to integrate the reinforcement of the flood defence with an urban renewal project on the south slope of the dyke. a floodwall was realised in sections with insufficient space for a slope. this 500 meter long l-shaped concrete floodwall with a seepage screen (of steel sheet piling) is at some d esig n c h a llen g es o f m u lt ifu n c t io n a l flo o d d efen c es 287 places fully integrated into the structure and the foundation of a new row of single-family homes (figure 6). the retaining wall derives its stability from concrete partition walls that connect the floodwall with the structure of the houses (waterschap de groote waard, 1997). the resulting space functions as a private parking garage, accessible from the low-lying polder level. the roof slab of the parking garage is used as a public space, side walk and bike path (van den merkenhof, et al. 1998). figure 6 cross-section of the ‘noordendijk’ in dordrecht the retaining wall is over-designed with a surplus height of 65 cm to anticipate future climate change. although the concrete structure is designed for a life span of 100 years, no additional provisions have been made in the structure of the houses to allow the functional separation of the two structures, in case of eventual future demolition or renewal (van den merkenhof, et al. 1998). although the floodwall is almost entirely covered by a 3.5 metre elevated built-up waterfront zone, making the wall technically functioning as a soil retaining wall, the hollandse delta waterboard considered the wall as the primary flood retaining structure (waterschap hollandse delta, 2010). the floodwall is owned by the water board, but given that it is situated on private property the water board had to make special arrangements with the homeowners to obtain access rights to the parking garage for inspection and maintenance. additionally, in the purchase contracts binding restrictions are incorporated on making changes in the water retaining walls (koekkoek, 2013). because there is clear evidence of the integration of the water-retaining floodwall with the structure of a row of houses (the ‘objects’) the noordendijk can be classified as an example of functional integration. several other multifunctional flood defences have been analysed using the assessment method. it appears that only a few of them can be classified as functionally integrated, while most of them are examples of structurally integration, spatially optimisation or shared use. flo w sc a p es –d esig n in g in fr a s t r u c t u r e a s l a n d sc a p e 288 5. conclusions and recommendations 5.1 evaluation of the method the aim of the proposed assessment method is to find a way to describe the degree of structural and spatial integration of the flood defence function with other functions. this section discusses the findings coming from the application of the proposed method. the proposed assessment method is tested on a set of cases, of which three are presented in this chapter. in all cases it proved to be possible to distinguish the composing structural parts and to determine the integration category. it also appeared that the method is systematic and transparent and can be generally applied to a wide range of multifunctional flood defences. during testing it turned out that application of the method contributes to a better understanding of the structural composition of the sometimes inconsequently used spatial concepts like ‘super dykes’ and ‘broad dykes’. it also increases insight into the efficiency of the combination of functions: some of the selected examples look very innovative and multifunctional at first glance, while the level of spatial and structural integration is limited. many examples are spatially optimised, but not structurally or functionally integrated. other examples may not be very spectacular from a spatial designers point of view, but show that true structural integration of flood protection with multiple other functions is already feasible, depending on the local context. a better understanding of the integration of functions or structures could also contribute to a better allocation of responsibilities for inspection, maintenance and future investments. after all, a clear understanding of what structural element serves what purpose provides a common starting point for discussions. the main generic conclusion is that the method will help both urban planners and hydraulic engineers to develop a mutual understanding of the various interests from a flood management and spatial development perspective. because of the design-based classification, the method can be applied to discuss spatial integration of multifunctional flood defence structures in different governance contexts. 5.2 design challenges of multifunctional flood defences the cases show that all categories of integration are technically feasible and in compliance with the current safety standards. this does not imply however that the authorities responsible for flood protection have no reservations when it comes to issues of inspection, maintenance and sustainability of multifunctional flood defences. the case hilledijk shows that the strategy of oversizing the flood defence is a promising strategy to increase space for intensive urban use and at the same time to redesign the flood defence into a virtually unbreachable strucd esig n c h a llen g es o f m u lt ifu n c t io n a l flo o d d efen c es 289 ture. especially in highly urbanised areas all over the world where traditional dyke reinforcement would have negative spatial impacts and be an extended and costly process, this concept is a promising strategy to align spatial development with flood risk management structures. although wide and multifunctional used flood defences already can be found at several places (for example maasboulevard and hilledijk in rotterdam, the super levee in tokyo and the boulevard in wuhan, china), the realisation of this approach on a larger scale would imply a complete redevelopment and redesign of the urban waterfront zone, which is not always feasible and applicable. the case noordendijk shows that it is necessary to develop design strategies that are able to deal with dissimilar life cycles of urban and flood risk management structures. in general, flood protective infrastructures have a designed life cycle of at least 50 to 100 years, while urban functions are designed for a life cycle between 20 to 50 years (taw, 2003, nen-en 1990). also uncertainties, caused by demographic changes and climate change, require flexible design concepts. it is necessary to develop construction methods and design that enable easy replacement or adjustment if necessary, with minimal destruction or demolition. 5.3 multifunctional flood defence zones to fully exploit the spatial and functional benefits of multifunctional flood defences, modifications to the regulatory framework are necessary. while considering the degree of integration, for example, it becomes clear that the dutch ledger zones (legal zones that restrict building activities in a certain area) are often not tailor-made for multifunctional flood defences. a striking example of this situation is the noordendijk in dordrecht, where the integrated floodwall has not resulted in a protection zone that matches the actual failure mechanisms of a floodwall. this mismatch between legal protection and structural and spatial state of a flood defence is particularly relevant for oversized multifunctional dyke concepts, where the water boards still lack the legal instruments to appoint the oversized multifunctional zone as a crucial part of the structure. this is also the case for the legal protection of structural elements that influence the hydraulic boundary conditions. forelands, for example, often play a role in wave reduction, but are not included in the dyke height estimation because they are out of the regulatory framework of water boards (i.e. beyond the widest ledger zone). by not considering flood defences as line infrastructures, but more as multifunctional flood defence zones, forelands could become legal elements of flood defences, resulting in more cost-effective designs. the challenge is to deal with these issues and to take them into account during the planning and design phase. the method described in this chapter flo w sc a p es –d esig n in g in fr a s t r u c t u r e a s l a n d sc a p e 290 helps making ideas more specific and easier to discuss. it is therefore recommended to use this method in both national and international contexts. acknowledgements the following people contributed to this article by providing information or linking us to experts. paul ravenstijn and luc verschueren of witteveen+bos, hessel voortman and marco veendorp of arcadis, edwin van son and ahmed boudihe from the municipality of dordrecht, daniëlle wijnen from the municipality of papendrecht, bernd fetlaar and maaike buysse from the zuiderzeeland water board, edwin santhagens of buro sant en co and theo koekkoek from the former de grote waardt water board. all their help is highly appreciated. references ten brinke, w. & b. bannink (2004) risico’s in bedijkte termen, een thematische evaluatie van het nederlandse veiligheidsbeleid tegen overstromen. rivm rapportnummer 500799002 bruijn, k. de & f. klijn (2011) deltadijken: locaties waar deze het meest effectief slachtofferrisico’s reduceren, deltares report 1202628-000-veb-0005 city of rotterdam (2008) bestemmingsplan vierhavensstraat en omgeving delta committee, 2nd (2008) (‘state committee for sustainable coastal development’) samen werken met water. den haag, hollandia printing ellen, g.j., et al. 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(2016). creating a geodesign syllabus for landscape architecture in denmark. research in urbanism series, 4(1), 229-246. doi:10.7480/rius.4.795 r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 230 abstract geodesign provides a conceptual framework through which to understand relationships between geoscience and design. this paper takes its point of departure from the merger of the departments of geography and geology and forest, landscape and planning at the university of copenhagen, and the subsequent approach taken to geodesign as a means to realise potentials within the new academic structure. the aim is to address specifically how an on-going process of transforming the landscape architecture program has begun to integrate giscience in a new way that fosters integration within and between disciplines. the approach to geodesign will therefore be discussed in terms of cross-disciplinary dialogue and curriculum development. emphasis will be placed on the results of the geodesign conference held at ucph in november 2014 at which practitioners and academics came together to present extensive experiences and understandings of geodesign. the conference was also the forum for discussion of the challenges and opportunities offered by geodesign in the context of teaching. keywords geodesign; giscience; landscape architecture; bsc education; university of copenhagen c r e a t in g a g eo d esig n s y ll a b u s fo r l a n d sc a p e a r c h it ec t u r e in d en m a r k 231 1. introduction during the european geodesign summit 2014 at tu delft it became clear that, while the number of geodesign oriented programmes and courses is increasing in the u.s.a, use of the term geodesign at european universities was only just beginning. in this context the work of the university of copenhagen (ucph) with geodesign must be seen as somewhat pioneering and exploratory. this chapter presents the first concrete initiatives of the newly formed department of geosciences and natural resource management (ign) aimed at harnessing the potential of geodesign. these initiatives include the geodesign conference in copenhagen 2014 (geodesign conference, 2014) and the current transformation of the bsc program in landscape architecture at ucph. this paper explores the background and profile of the bsc program in landscape architecture at the ucph, and the development of gis education in denmark generally. the unusual coupling of academic disciplines at ign is explained with the significant potential that it offers for interdisciplinary work. the field of landscape architecture education is ever evolving as the nature of landscape problems and opportunities change over time. the means by which we teach, learn and do landscape architecture are equally evolutionary and the pace of that evolution is ever quickening. the means to tackle complexity through the use of it, for example, have multiplied remarkably in recent years. the consequences of these rapid developments can be hard for even experienced teachers and practitioners to comprehend, and frameworks within which to understand these changes are essential. geodesign is one such framework, offering a conceptual model that can cross disciplines, but it aims consistently at facilitating and understanding spatial change. geodesign brings into focus a range of methods and tools that many landscape architecture educational programs are already using, but significantly geodesign makes communication with other disciplines, and practices possible in new ways. importantly, tom fisher (2010, 2014) identifies a key strength of geodesign as that of critically addressing the consequences and impacts of proposals. he states that traditional design thinking focuses too much on the current and immediate needs of the clients and communities. by addressing the impact of design and planning decisions practitioners are forced to adopt a descriptive stance before returning to a reformulation of their otherwise prescriptive work. the tools and methods necessary for this shift give a common platform of understanding with scientific disciplines where the prescriptive nature of planning and design is often viewed with scepticism. as a relatively new and evolving term geodesign is still at an early, formative stage, and questions of how to organize and structure geodesign education, its curriculum, scope and workflows are being explored by an increasing r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 232 number of academic institutions that are adopting geodesign within existing programs, or establishing new majors with geodesign at their core (paradis, treml, & manone, 2013). the relationship of geodesign to well established disciplines such as landscape architecture and geography remains a focus for a number of academic papers, and almost all summits and conferences organized to date. carl steinitz (2013) in his speech given at the geodesign summit 2013 in redlands, ca, presented options for organizing educational institutions and programs based fully or partially on geodesign. steinitz shared his opinion that a design profession school should combine several design oriented disciplines, e.g. architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning. similarly to fisher (2014), steinitz argues that ‘even the school of design […] does not have all the things that influence it and it influences’. to his mind a favourable situation (also with great geodesign potential) is when such design school is coupled with geographical sciences. at ucph the ambition of combining landscape architecture, planning and geosciences presents itself as achievable due to the unique disciplinary organisation of the university. 2. background  2.1 organizational change at the university of copenhagen the department of geosciences and natural resource management (ign) at the ucph was formed in 2013 after a series of mergers, and reorganisation of research and university institutions. starting in 1991 a department of economy and natural resources (enr) was formed at the royal veterinary and agricultural university of denmark (kvl) by the merger of the small institutes of landscape architecture, urban and rural planning plus forestry, and applied economics. in 1992 a number of danish technical and applied research organizations in forestry and landscape engineering were merged to form the danish forest & landscape research institute (dflri) under the ministry of environment. later in 1996 physical and urban planning, as well as gis were added to the institute’s research profile. in the late 90’s most ministerial research institutions in denmark were transferred to universities. therefore, dflri was merged with enr to form a new department of forestry, landscape and planning at kvl. in 2007, kvl was merged with the ucph. however, the organisation of kvl remained intact as a faculty of life sciences (life). in 2013 a new faculty of science was formed merging parts of life with the ucph faculty of natural science. from the latter the institute of geography and geology was merged with the largest part of forestry, landscape and planning to form the ign. it is now a rather large university department with approximately 450 ftes (including 160 enrolled phd students) and 2000 students. a result of these mergers has been the creation of a significant concenc r e a t in g a g eo d esig n s y ll a b u s fo r l a n d sc a p e a r c h it ec t u r e in d en m a r k 233 tration of gis expertise in both teaching and research at the department. this expertise is found across all five sections of ign: forest, nature and biomass; geography; geology; landscape architecture and planning; and the forestry college. with a range of theoretical and methodological traditions these sections are all engaged in understanding, predicting, planning and managing the spatial domain of human environmental interaction. according to the ign departmental strategy, formulated in the spring of 2013, the merger of diverse departments resulted in “an increasing need for internal cross-program collaboration. in the fields of geography, nature management and landscape architecture, new possibilities should be identified, assessed and pursued, both to ensure efficient use of resources and to develop new potential” (ign, 2013). in this context, geodesign has been seen as a promising framework within which to conceptualize key activities at ign. geodesign would also appear to offer significant opportunities to promote integration and cross-disciplinary collaboration between the scientific domains already present at ign, in particular between the sections of geography and landscape architecture and planning, but also other fields working with hydrology, forestry, climate adaptation, recreational planning, urban livelihood and mobility, and nature management. therefore, ign has chosen to foster geodesign both in terms of research and teaching.  2.2 landscape architecture at the university of copenhagen the current bsc and msc educations in landscape architecture at the ucph have developed from garden architecture teaching at the then kvl in the 1930’s. later in the 1960’s a specific landscape construction education gave rise to what has become denmark’s largest landscape architecture education. by 2000, a strong research tradition was developing in connection with the education and in 2002 a new research and teaching department was formed named forest, landscape and planning. in 2006, the landscape architecture bsc increased student uptake and since then, has offered a specialization in physical planning, now at both bsc and msc level. in the same period, teaching of all masters programs switched to teaching in english and the number of non-danish students and staff increased rapidly. specifically, urban forestry as a subject area fed an interest in urban greenspace planning and management, and now the msc offers specialisations in landscape design, urban planning, and greenspace management. the growth of landscape architecture as an academic endeavour is reflected in a burgeoning phd cohort, and a steady increase in professorships. teaching within landscape architecture at ucph is science-based with the clear sense of design and planning as the interplay of art and science. on the bsc level students are schooled in natural processes in parallel with r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 234 the development of an aesthetic sensibility fostered through creativity. plant, soil science, and water management are, for example, taught through ‘learning by drawing’ techniques, and early design projects address challenges that have clearly defined scientific and aesthetic aspects. the history and current practice of danish landscape architecture, architecture and planning is drawn on extensively in teaching. this, and the students’ a priori awareness of the danish design tradition, contributes to a generally significant aesthetic sensibility amongst students. the vibrant educational environments associated with other danish design and architecture schools in copenhagen also feed into this. in this context, the aim is to negotiate means for engagement with aesthetics, through design, in relation to natural science and human processes. since the expansion of the landscape architecture programs into urban planning, the role of design and aesthetics within the discipline has presented new challenges. not least, because many colleagues from beyond the design disciplines are engaged in teaching on the programs. at the same time a growing number of designers have joined the existing staff, and research in design processes at ucph has been fruitful in recent years. this has been reflected in the teaching in relation to design process and in particular the use of it. however, the latter has been somewhat fragmented and has had a limited reach amongst teaching staff. within the department the research group for landscape architecture and urbanism has taught the bsc course design method and it tools (autocad and adobe), and the msc course terrain and technology in landscape architecture (civil3d). gis has been taught from outside this group and has been only weakly integrated into the bsc and msc programs.  2.3 gis practice and education in denmark gis is well embedded within various educational programs in denmark and a thriving gis-user community exists both amongst academics and practitioners. computer based mapping and handling geographic information emerged in denmark in the 70’s and 80’s with projects relating to utilities (jacobi, 2006), agricultural land-use mapping (platou, 1984) and geological mapping (jørgensen, hermansen, & jensen, 1993). early development of inhouse systems failed to reach a level of maturity, but served to establish the professional discipline and highlighted the need for development, research and education. in the early 90’s a range of universities and other educational institutions, mainly in disciplines relating to architecture, engineering, and geography, became active within the field. in particular aalborg university, the institute of geography of the ucph and the institute of landscape at kvl. in 1991 ugis, a consortium of academics from various universities, was formed (balstrøm, 1992). the intention was to coordinate teaching and research, and c r e a t in g a g eo d esig n s y ll a b u s fo r l a n d sc a p e a r c h it ec t u r e in d en m a r k 235 to exchange experiences and knowledge within the fairly modest number of researchers interested in gis at the time. ugis resulted in an enhanced national network and a range of bookand inter-university teaching activities (e.g. balstrøm, jacobi, & sørensen, 1992, 1999). despite its obvious need, the organization did not sustain. the main reason was that universities due to politically motivated reforms were encouraged to compete regarding fund and students. at present gis is taught at several danish universities. at aalborg university, roskilde university, and the ucph undergraduate education is provided, whereas numerous courses aiming more or less explicitly at geoinformatics are provided by aarhus university, the university of southern denmark, and the danish technical university. in a global context explicit considerations regarding application of gis and other geo-focused technologies to planning range back to the mid-90’s (e.g. batty, 1995). planning support systems (pss) and spatial decision support systems (sdss) have developed to be common terms for “models and methods that inform the planning process though analysis, prediction and prescription [and] provides the driving force for modelling and design” (geertman & stillwell, 2009). traditionally these approaches have been particularly aimed at registration and ex-ante description of the present, and the processes leading to it. geodesign is in addition concerned with ideas and suggestions of what the future could be to cater for observed or foreseen problems or to afford future needs and wishes. accordingly, geodesign adds informed creativity, means/tools for developing/expressing proposals, and ex-post evaluation of potential effects and functionality of proposed designs to assessments of the past/present made by gis (and sdss). in may 2009 national law was enforced as an implementation of the eu’s inspire directive (denmark, 2014; inspire, 2014). the law states that a range of geodata, services and metadata repositories, including data produced by municipal and state authorities, must be made publicly available (danish geodata agency, 2014a). among the many very good things about such open access is that teaching and education relating to geodata can take place on the same data as applied in real-world by private and public organizations.  2.4 the formation of the giscience & geodesign research group with the creation of ign in 2013 the newly formed section for landscape architecture and planning restructured its research groups. a new giscience & geodesign group was formed, aiming to bring together researchers and teachers within the section, and across ign, working with gis in interface with other software. the group offers the benefits of coordinating the teaching of computer based spatial analysis and design, but it also requires a broader perspective, one that is not bound to the use of specific software. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 236 according to steven ervin it is probable in the future of geodesign that “we will no longer need to distinguish between building and landscape, or cad, or gis, or bim [building information modelling], or lim [landscape information modelling]” (ervin, 2012). this understanding of the evolutionary nature of it processes is seen as essential within the group. the group is engaged in comprehending and problematizing the application of it to spatial problems, requiring dialogue and a broad understanding of the possibilities for analysis, planning, and design processes across ign. 3. an approach to geodesign geodesign is seen as a set of tools and methods founded in iterative, explorative and creative design processes. these processes are under constant development as they are challenged, expanded and transformed by the increasing availability, and expanding functionality, of geo-spatial technologies and data management systems. at ucph unique opportunities for collaboration across geo-disciplines create a strong platform from which the aim is to help drive these developments. the task of bridging science and design involves the development of methodologies that harness the power of analysis offered by digital data as a means to open up and expand the possibilities for speculative and exploratory planning and design. for geo-scientists the challenge is to understand the open-ended nature of design processes, while for designers the challenge is to understand the depth and significance of geo-data and geo-data processing. the first phase of this interdisciplinary approach has brought geographers, gis professionals, landscape architects and designers together to begin teaching geodesign on the landscape architecture program. now the potential to broaden the scope of geodesign teaching to engage multidisciplinary student groups, in and beyond the landscape architecture curriculum, is seen as an all-important next challenge.  3.1 the geodesign conference in copenhagen 2014 to kick-off the venture into geodesign at ucph it was decided to arrange a one-day conference with invited international speakers at the forefront of geodesign teaching and practice. the geodesign conference in copenhagen was held on november 11th 2014 with around 110 attendees (geodesign conference, 2014). these ranged from practitioners from private and public sectors, bachelor, master and phd students, and faculty and management from the department. the morning session of the conference was devoted to mapping the concept of geodesign with the focus on background and technologies. the afternoon session focused on curriculum development and establishing geodesign education and training. c r e a t in g a g eo d esig n s y ll a b u s fo r l a n d sc a p e a r c h it ec t u r e in d en m a r k 237 in connection with the conference ign hosted what we believed to be the first geodesign phd course in europe. for attendees of the course, their first day involved attending geodesign conference, helping to frame the concept and put it in perspective. the following days were dedicated to presentations by selected invitees and phd students’ own projects. these presentations and discussion sessions were held in an informal manner where ideas were exchanged freely. the detailed list of speakers and topics discussed during the conference and phd course can be found in table 1. videos of the presentations can be found via the geodesign conference in copenhagen homepage (geodesign conference, 2014). speaker speech title credentials and affiliation morning session thomas fisher the rationale, definition and history of geodesign professor and dean of the college of design, university of minnesota michael flaxman a) geodesign in environmental and regional planning practice b) applying geodesign thinking to ongoing and advanced projects within various disciplines ceo at geodesign technologies, former associate professor at massachusetts institute of technology elliot hartley state of the art and pointers to the future of geodesign technologies director at garsdale design limited afternoon session stephen ervin a) the making of a geodesign proponent: a systems view and personal journey; b) a geodesign syllabus for landscape architecture and urban design c) geodesign as a research area and academic discipline assistant dean for information technology, harvard design school, director of computer resources, and lecturer at the department of landscape architecture, harvard graduate school of design james querry a) transforming a classic landscape architectural education to geodesign b) a geodesign syllabus for landscape architecture and urban design developed at philadelphia university. associate professor and director of the msc. in geodesign program at the college of architecture and the built environment at philadelphia university table 1. conference speakers and presentations. 4. implementing geodesign in the landscape architecture curriculum as of september 2015 the bsc program in landscape architecture at ign adopted a simplified structure with an emphasis on clearer progression and alignment. geodesign methods and concepts play a key role in these developments, helping to bridge diverse disciplines and approaches. geodata and related it tools are introduced in the context of design and planning methodologies with increasing frequency and intensity through the curriculum. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 238 methods and topics will be revisited iteratively, building to allow students to tackle ever-increasing complexity in problem solving. understanding of design processes will be closely coupled to assessment of design tools and their relevant application. geodesign will act as a clearly defined way marker for a ‘spiral syllabus’ (bruner, 1960) and play the key role in initiating this form of learning. the introduction of powerful it offers a relevant impetus for such reflection. to build the foundations of work with landscape architecture the first year of the program focuses on natural and human processes, creative expression and aesthetic sensibility using simple-to-use technologies and methods. at this stage, the tracks will be laid for the development of geodesign with the introduction of key concepts. a start will be made in design work including an introduction to design frameworks (steinitz, 2012). teaching on the first year will include the simple use of online gis map data, both commercial and from public bodies, specifically online repositories of planning-relevant data. apps that students already use or can quickly become proficient in offer other easy means to ‘lay the tracks’. for example blenduko in color theory teaching and minecraft in perspective teaching are already being used. other applications which the students are familiar with, e.g. google maps or the danish planning system (danish planning system, 2014), including the danish natural environment portal (danmarks miljøportal, 2015) and historic atlas (historisk atlas, 2015), provide a basis for the discussion of geo-technology in relation to design methods. the second year is explicitly geodesign-focused with tools such as gis and cad being introduced. here data capturing, storage, analysis and presentation are combined with design projects, and 3d visualizations are developed. the third year, where students specialize in either landscape design or urban planning, there is scope for steady development of geodesign skills and the bachelor thesis offers the opportunity for students to demonstrate their proficiency in the use of tools and methods. by this stage in the education, the aim is to identify the extent to which geodesign thinking informs the students’ approach to their work (table 2).  4.1 the geodesign studio as part of the new curriculum in september 2015 a new geodesign course was introduced in the three year bachelor program in landscape architecture. the course runs halftime throughout the first semester of the second year with 58 students enrolled. it is a studio course where introductions to geo-data, gis and cad inform analysis and design methodologies. students combine a number of methodologies dependent on task, complexity and landscape scale. the study area in 2015 was the municipality of greve, south c r e a t in g a g eo d esig n s y ll a b u s fo r l a n d sc a p e a r c h it ec t u r e in d en m a r k 239 of copenhagen where, in response to periodic flooding, local planners have taken a strategic regional approach that has required numerous local landscape-based solutions. students have analysed this regional situation and planning framework as the context for their own landscape interventions. a site was selected based on situation, accessibility for students and the potential for rewarding landscape design. the site is a shallow valley covering 35 hectares of ex-agricultural land attached to an old agricultural school. the small stream odsbækken runs through the valley and down into the urban areas of greve where flooding has been common. year semester 1 semester 2 1. plan & design 1: studio plan & design 2: studio natural processes 1 natural processes 2 2. geodesign: studio elective courses botany philosophy of science 3. plants & technology 1: studio plants & technology 2: studio bachelor project and bachelor internship or urban design 1: studio urban design 2: studio table 2. outline of the landscape architecture bsc curriculum.  4.2 teaching approach the main focus of the teaching approach is to ensure that the development of technological craftsmanship and structured scientific argumentation and working methods can fuel qualitative creative thinking and ultimately ignite the imagination. likewise domain specific methodologies and knowledge, inferential analytical approaches and insight into the characteristics of existing geo-data are essential components to be tackled with creative sensibility, perception and speculation. this was tackled through a series of design workshops. site visits have been structured to give students an unfolding understanding of both the hydrological region and the locality. by visiting the site early, before doing instructional gis and geo-data exercises in computer laboratories on campus, students could put a landscape to the geo-data they would be handling subsequently. a second visit allowed students to correlate their perceptions and understanding of site in the light of both geo-data and their own first site-design concepts. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 240 figure 1. a spiral approach to teaching geodesign. see the text for details.  4.3 spiral teaching the concept of spiral teaching (bruner, 1960; harden & stamper, 1999), as applied in the present context, manifests itself through the visiting and revisiting of the same location at different geographical scales, assessing different planning and design themes and perspectives, and applying different mediations – quantitative and qualitative, digital and analogue etc. as illustrated in figure 1, the point of departure is the region of the target area moving down towards the target area at a local scale. a core point of the spiral approach to teaching is that it is not unidirectional, i.e. approaches do not only go from coarse to fine scale. the phenomena at hand can, and should, be revisited iteratively during the design process. an example could be evaluation of more or less detailed design proposals in their immediate surroundings (e.g. assessment of visibility of designed objects) or within a larger region – for instance water retention capacity of proposed designs relative to the potential water volumes of the entire watershed. similarly thematic ‘re-visiting’ is part of the spiral. for instance when a design for water retention is proposed, the potential accessibility for local recreational activities could be tested. c r e a t in g a g eo d esig n s y ll a b u s fo r l a n d sc a p e a r c h it ec t u r e in d en m a r k 241 5. discussion with these early initiatives at ucph to promote the concept of a geodesign framework, experience has been generally positive. the approach to addressing geodesign has been broad in its reach, both through the projected changes to teaching, which engages many teaching staff directly, and through the conference format and the communication related to that. this breadth is considered important in terms of establishing geodesign. from being an initially opaque and elusive concept for most colleagues an understanding of geodesign as a useful framing concept has been widely taken up. geodesign has by definition so many points of contact with other disciplines that it has proved remarkably easy to engage colleagues from across ign in a common discussion. it is fair to say that from across disciplines it seems easy for individuals to see themselves in relation to geodesign and this is particularly interesting in the case of declared non-designers. the common use and understanding of gis and other land-based tools is perhaps the key to this. one consequence of the newness of geodesign can be seen in the disappointing attendance at the phd course. despite intensive advertising through social media and professional networks only four students attended. this and experiences shared by fisher and querry leads to the conclusion that, at least for now, geodesign workshops and courses should aim at supporting specific disciplines and/or address specific issues. this relates to a discussion of the extent to which geodesign should be considered a distinct discipline itself that might warrant a separate program of study. at the conference it was explained how philadelphia university has established a specific geodesign focused major, while quite consciously the university of minnesota has implemented geodesign teaching only within the existing curriculum. a concern raised by the faculty at ucph has been that as a stand-alone practice geodesign could develop as an isolated quantitative and computational activity without the ballast of the strong design tradition of, say, landscape architecture. a consensus seems to exist around the idea that geodesign should function within and across existing disciplines and that geodesign should not at this stage be regarded as a distinct discipline. this may change, but for now there seems to be no expectation that the institution will be educating ‘geodesigners’. the potential for cross-disciplinary collaborations with their starting point in geodesign is clear. tackling geodesign through existing programs and courses offers the opportunity to reach a range of disciplines and explore what geodesign means for a range of practices. the situation at ign seems to offer a promising test-bed for geodesign. there is also a clear sense that geodesign in this context will develop differently from geodesign at other institutions. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 242 6. future educational and research perspectives with a strong tradition of cooperation with practice at the ucph the relevance and practicability of geodesign tools will be regularly re-evaluated in that context. however, the specifically pedagogical potential of geodesign thinking is also essential to success in teaching and this will not coincide with the requirements of practice 100%. this potential lack of congruence between tools for practice and tools for teaching and research will be explicitly addressed in future developments of geodesign in copenhagen. with geodesign entering the bsc curriculum in 2015, for year-two students, there will be a relatively rapid uptake of geodesign tools amongst the students. this will mean that in 2017 the intake to the msc will be dominated by students with grounding in geodesign, and here courses will be able to take advantage of students’ skills. it will also be relevant to look at the potential for advanced geodesign courses at this level. the opportunity for students to pursue individual projects is a key part of teaching at ucph and this will allow students, who are particularly motivated, to follow up specific geodesign themes outside the course regime. this ad hoc activity is often a precursor to master’s thesis work and the active promotion of such endeavour is important. querry and fisher, at the conference, gave examples of the nomadic classroom. both explained teaching situations ‘in the field’, where online working and portable devices made this possible. the potential for this will be important in varying teaching styles and tailoring teaching to specific situations. another development that is going on at ucph, is the improvements to model-making facilities and interfaces with digital working. in 2015, vertical data projectors will be installed in the studios at ucph as an aid to design processes. figure 2. representations and the real world. c r e a t in g a g eo d esig n s y ll a b u s fo r l a n d sc a p e a r c h it ec t u r e in d en m a r k 243 other opportunities exist to involve the departments’ model lab. here there are many possibilities to merge or entangle studio and digital model representations in teaching and research. at the same time the ability to bring digital model representation to the field is currently rather limited. accordingly bridging the real world, and representations through studio models and digital models will be a core of future development of geodesign at the department (figure 2). in terms of software and interfaces, improved understanding of programming and gaming, students arrive with will be harnessed. this will become increasingly relevant as game engines further outstrip gis and cad systems, particularly in terms of visualization. this is the case for static images, viewpoint movement, and moving objects (humans, wind turbines, cars etc.), and environments with shadows, clouds and water bodies. for students increasingly used to computer gaming, a game-like approach to design process would seem an obvious area for pedagogical investigation. as suggested by elliot hartley during the conference, the linkage of city engine and lumenrt (2014) appears to be promising. along the same lines, the use of games and apps will also be a continuing focus. minecraft version of the danish land use and terrain model is available (danish geodata agency, 2014b; minecraft 2014) and the use of minecraft in early design training and as a platform for geospatial reasoning and learning should be considered. in the future, interfaces between digital and physical 3d will be further explored. areas of interest include technologies that can scan studio models and create geo-rectified representation that can be imported into cad/gis. these for instance can be indoor lidar, static photogrammetry, and kinect sensors. moreover, technologies will enable students and researchers to bring digital representations (geodata, 3d models etc.) to the field. these technologies include augmentation (2d/3d), location base services, online/on-site gis etc. this investment is a combination of analogue, hardware and software, and will be matched by continued investment in staffing and staff development. as geodesign takes root and understanding of the potentials grows, it is expected that a key aspect of the work of research, and teaching, will be exploring the potentials of technology. being asked new, and sometimes unanswerable, questions will be an important part of this development, and geodesign as a framing concept of teaching and research, will challenge gis as a data model, as analytical tool, as well as a science by itself. research questions raised by these developments at ucph will include issues of data quality, human movement patterns analysis and prediction, sociological data, ecosystem services and sustainable urban drainage and storm water management. in addition to the current bachelor level course the aim is to develop courses at master level. such courses can be extended along the lines drafted r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 244 above – both in terms of design/technology involvement and the integration of digital/studio representation and the real world. through teaching and research that builds on the strengths of the landscape architecture programs at ucph, and increasingly involving colleagues from across the five sections of ign, it is hoped that a distinctive strand of geodesign will begin to develop. at this initial stage, the focus is, perhaps appropriately, on harnessing geodesign as a means of facilitating improved teaching and cooperation internally at the department. this initial impetus is strong, and future stages of the development of geodesign will be discussed and debated vigorously in the coming years. as students and teachers/researchers are picking up digital work methods as a natural part of design processes, it can be expected that such techniques will be absorbed in topics and processes taught throughout design courses of the education. c r e a t in g a g eo d esig n s y ll a b u s fo r l a n d sc a p e a r c h it ec t u r e in d en m a r k 245 acknowledgements the authors wish to thank head of studies susanne ogstrup and associate professor lene fisher for their support with organizing the geodesign conference in copenhagen 2014, as well as the present teachers on the geodesign course associate professor thomas balstrøm and teaching assistant reka németh for their contribution to the curriculum. references balstrøm, t. (1992). universitetssamarbejde på gis-området [gis collaboration between universities]. landinpektøren 2. balstrøm, t., jacobi, o., & sørensen, e. m. (eds). (1992). gis i danmark [gis in denmark]. teknisk forlag. balstrøm, t., jacobi, o., & sørensen, e. m. (eds). (1999). gis i danmark 2 [gis in denmark 2]. teknisk forlag. batty, m. (1995). planning support systems and the new logic of computation. regional development dialog, 16(1), 1-17. bruner, j. s. (1960). the process of education. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. danish geodata agency (2014a). general information on the “basic data programme”. available from http://eng.gst.dk/ danish geodata agency (2014b). danmarks frie geodata i en minecraft-verden [denmarks’ free geodata in a minecraft world]. available from http://gst.dk/emner/frie-data/minecraft/ danish planning system (2014). available from www.plansystemet.dk danmarks miljøportal (2015). available from http://www.miljoeportal.dk/sider/forside.aspx denmark (2014). lov om infrastruktur for geografisk information [law on infrastructure for geographical information]. https://www.retsinformation.dk/forms/r0710.aspx?id=122571 ervin, s. m. (2012). geodesign futures – nearly 50 predictions. speech at dla 2012 conference: geodesign, 3d modeling, and visualisation. fisher, t. (2010). the what and why of geodesign. speech, geodesign summit 2010. redlands, ca: esri press. fisher, t. (2014). on the rationale, definition and history of geodesign. speech at the geodesign conference in copenhagen. geertman, s. & stillwell, j. (eds.). (2009). planning support systems: concepts, issues and trends. in planning and support systems – best practices and new methods (pp. 1-26). springer netherlands. geodesign conference (2014). geodesign conference in copenhagen homepage. available from http:// ign.ku.dk/english/outreach-publications/conferences-seminars/geodesign-conference/ harden, r. m, stamper, n. (1999). what is a spiral curriculum? medical teacher, 21(2). 141-143. historisk atlas (2015). available from http://historiskatlas.dk/. ign, (2013). a strategy for the development of department of geosciences and natural resource management, faculty of science, ucph. available from http://ign.ku.dk/om/organisation/strategi/ign-strategy-2016-eng.pdf inspire (2014). infrastructure for spatial information in the european community. available from http:// inspire.ec.europa.eu/. jacobi, o. (2006). 50 år med landmåling, fotogrammetri og digitale geodata. fra en undervisers univers [50 years of surveying, photogrammetry and digital geodata. from a teacher’s perspective]. geoforum perspektiv, 5(10). jørgensen, j., hermansen, b. & jensen, j. h. (1993). brugervejledning til zeta. miljøministeriets geografiske informationssystem, version 4.0. [zeta user’s manual. min. of env. geographical informationsystem. ver 4.0]. danmarks geologiske undersøgelse, datadokumentation, 17. lumenrt (2014). the communication platform for architecture and geodesign. available from http:// www.lumenrt.com/ r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 246 minecraft (2014). available from https://minecraft.net/. paradis, t., treml, m., & manone m. (2013). geodesign meets curriculum design: integrating geodesign approaches into undergraduate programs, journal of urbanism: international research on placemaking and urban sustainability, 6(3), 274-301. doi: 10.1080/17549175.2013.788054 platou, s. w. (1984). the adk database systems (pads and lads) used in denmark. soil information systems technology. proceedings of the sixth meeting of isss working group on soil information systems, bolkesjø, norway. pudoc wageningen. steinitz, c. (2012). a framework for geodesign. redlands, ca: esri press. steinitz, c. (2013). organizing geodesign for education. speech, geodesign summit 2013. available from http://video.esri.com/watch/2200/geodesign-for-education 261 1 1 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n motorway design is not merely a matter of pure functionalism. naturally, its main purpose is to accommodate effi cient transportation to and from a large number of places. however, aesthetic aspects and landscaping are historically also connected to infrastructure design. especially in the early days of motorway construction, much attention was paid to how it could fi t in with the existing landscape. from time immemorial, people have enjoyed travelling, not in the least because of panoramic views from the road. it can hardly be a coincidence that the relationship between road design and landscaping goes back such a long time (for some international references, see: appleyard, lynch, and myer, 1964; cpre, 1971; enis et al., 1973; fhwa, 1990; jellicoe, 1958; and for the netherlands, see anoniem, 1971; het nederlandse wegencongres, 1964; landinrichtingsdienst, 1991; overdijkink, 1941). us and german motorways are often referred to as examples of design combined with landscaping, and can be traced back to the visual language of english landscape gardening of the 18th century (jellicoe, 1958). these types of motorway networks often offer the combined experience of a fast route to certain destinations and beautiful scenery along the way. in the united states, examples are the motorways in the north american landscape that run to and from national parks. jellicoe (1958) even classifi ed the design of these motorways as one of the m a a r t e n p i e k , n i e l s s o r e l , m a n o n v a n m i d d e l k o o p preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy 262 preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy three great north american contributions to modern landscapes (the other two being national parks and the comprehensive landscape). today, us motorways are still considered as gateways to the north american landscape experience. the us national scenic byways program expresses this promotional role most vividly 1. in germany, much planning effort has gone into providing travellers with a good sense of the landscape that surrounds them (jellicoe, 1958). instead of providing the shortest connection between two points, german motorways were designed to form the most elegant connection possible. the country’s main economic centres were connected directly to nearby cities, while motorways connecting to other main centres passed through open landscapes (rekitte, 2003). in the netherlands, attention was also paid to integrating motorways into the landscape. in 1915, the then minister of water management, cornelis lely, appointed the department for dutch nature reserve management (staatsbosbeheer) as an advisory body for motorway design. its main tasks were to ensure unity in design, and to integrate aesthetic values into the design process. at this time, dutch architect a.h. wegerif also pointed out the aesthetic and idealistic values of motorways. wegerif wanted an advisory committee to be set up, consisting of aestheticians, comparable to today’s commission for architecture and the built environment, which advises on building aesthetics. in 1933, such an advisory committee, named roads in the landscape (de weg in het landschap (wil)) was set up by a private organisation called de bond heemschut, to preserve dutch cultural heritage. its task was to promote good landscape design around the dutch road network, and to improve the already spoiled road landscapes (meurs, 2003). infl uenced by the department of roads of staatsbosbeheer and the staatsbosbeheer and the staatsbosbeheer wil committee, the archetypical dutch motorway was created: a straight line that runs through man-made landscapes, lined with regional vegetation, spatially grafted onto the environment by means of landscape design (meurs 2003: 423). the advice of staatsbosbeheer to the dutch directorate-general for public works and water staatsbosbeheer to the dutch directorate-general for public works and water staatsbosbeheer management was not free of obligations. in the years that followed, it became more and more diffi cult to maintain a certain measure of unity in the design of the dutch motorways. due to reorganisations at staatsbosbeheer, the centrally organised department of roads was dismantled and its tasks redistributed to regionally organised offi ces of the directorate-general for public works and water management. to bring motorway design back on track, the then minister of transport, public works and water management, tineke netelenbos, set up a special professorship in the ‘the aesthetics of mobility’ and awarded this chair to architect francine houben. francine houben tried to rigorously change the functional approach to motorways that had been causing a rapid decay of the attractive dutch motorway views (nijenhuis and van winden, 2007). she coined the concept of aesthetics of mobility, advocating the notion that 263 the infrastructure system had, in fact, become the largest public space within the netherlands, and that this deserved the same effort in planning and design as was being awarded to city squares, parks and the famous dutch polder landscape (houben, 2003). from the 1990s, largescale urbanisation of motorway zones set in, with employment and business-related land use in those areas doubling or even tripling, compared to national averages (hamers and nabielek, 2006). in addition, new housing development sprang up close to motorways, often protected from a motorway’s negative aura by noise barriers. motorways were initially built outside cities, and intended to connect them. nowadays they are an integrated part of the urban landscape. in the dutch context of high-density land use with a scarcity of open spaces, the challenge of motorway design is shifting from attempts to fi t the infrastructure into the landscape towards moulding spatial developments to fi t the motorway. this is presenting policymakers with a challenge, as new motorways are rarely being constructed, while urbanisation is an ongoing process. as early as 1928, professor j.h. valckenier (delft university of technology) wrote about infrastructure’s magnetic effect on urbanisation; the fact that traffi c attracts buildings seems to be a law of nature (meurs, 2003). the question is how to preserve the once so carefully designed and highly valued panoramic views from the motorway. the second section of this chapter sketches the background of this dutch policy dilemma. urbanisations along motorways have led to a cluttered landscape. policymakers, therefore, are attempting to get a grip on urban developments along motorways, to protect the open landscape. the chapter’s third section gives a defi nition of panorama, to provide policymakers with a basis to handle the concept of a motorway panorama. in the subsequent section this defi nition is elaborated, and a practical method is presented for identifying motorway panoramas, using gis techniques. the fi fth section discusses the results of the identifi cation of motorways panoramas in the netherlands. the sixth section describes how motorway panoramas are incorporated in dutch spatial planning. this is followed by concluding remarks. despite the fact that this chapter focuses on the netherlands, the presented method can also be applied in an international context. and although the dutch policy agenda of wanting to prevent spatial clutter across the landscape carries a strong national connotation, the preservation of open landscapes deserves wider attention. 1 1 . 2 c l u t t e r e d l a n d s c a p e s a l o n g m o t o r w a y s : a p o l i c y p r o b l e m the exact moment is diffi cult to pinpoint, but sometime around 2006 a societal debate was started, in which, next to a general dissatisfaction with dutch spatial design, the clutter along 264 preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy motorways was also identifi ed as one of the more urgent problems (see e.g., toorn, 2007). the dutch newspaper de volkskrant, for example, initiated an internet discussion on the dutch spatial agenda 2. in an interview, chief government architect mels crouwel (hulsman, 2007) explicitly named cluttering of the landscape along motorways as one of the problems. the monotonous succession of business parks along these motorways had caused dutch cities to slowly grow into one (corridor formation). although there are undeniable advantages to building alongside the infrastructure, it seemed as though the balance between economic dynamics and human experience had been lost. the magnetic pull of infrastructure had created a ribbon of urbanisation, causing the contrast between ‘city’ and ‘countryside’ to disappear. the time had come for a government vision on urbanisation along motorways and preservation of scenic panoramas. the past defensive tradition of wishing to keep cities compact seems to have had a contrary effect. development along motorways had continued without being based on clear choices. the planning device that reads “decide where development is to take place and where it is not – and do a proper job” (hamers and nabielek, 2006) would benefi t many rural-urban (‘rurban’) areas that are struggling with expanding commercial areas and new housing estates. in line with this device, a planning strategy was developed to protect dutch motorway panoramas (hamers and nabielek, 2006; houben et al., 2002; vrom, 2006; zelm van eldik and heerema, 2003). in taking on the integral task related to motorway environment, the minister for the environment decided in 2006 to develop a structural concept for the motorway environment. this structural concept explicated the generic policy on panoramas and motorway zones in the national spatial planning act (dutch lower house (tweede kamer) 2006/2007, 29 435, no. 187). with the arrival of a new environment minister, the plans for motorway panoramas were incorporated in the policy programme cooperation agenda for an attractive netherlands (samenwerkingsagenda mooi nederland) (vrom, et al., 2007). apart from the development of this structural concept, its support base, the project on route design of motorways (routeontwerp van snelwegen) was also extended 3. this project worked on construction proposals for a number of dutch motorways, on the one hand, and on a coherent (design) approach for the motorway environment, on the other. although different organisations have adopted the panorama concept, there is no common understanding of what a motorway panorama is exactly, nor of how it could be protected or even developed. in order to defi ne a commonly accepted, objective, verifi able and reproducible defi nition of the motorway panorama concept, an integrated project on research and design had to be set up (piek et al., 2007). an important part of the project consisted of the development of a methodology for helping the dutch ministry of housing, spatial planning and the environment (vrom) to create a vision on motorway environment structure. in order to do so, regular meetings were held during the run of this project, between the ministry of vrom, route design of motorways, and the pbl netherlands environmental assessment agency. 265 1 1 . 3 d e f i n i t i o n policymakers were in need of a defi nition of ‘motorway panorama’ for practical applications. a panorama should be recognisable, valued and identifi able on a map. over the years, several research efforts have been made to explore motorway views. the majority of these studies have assessed the scenery preferences of motorway users, local residents and experts on motorway scenery (evans and wood, 1980; wolf, 2003; hartig et al., 2003; parsons et al., 1998; eby and molnar, 2002; ulrich, 1974). although the results from these studies indicate that, generally speaking, vehicle occupants probably enjoy motorway panoramas, the panoramas themselves have never been the focus of these studies, nor do these studies defi ne panorama dimensions (length, depth, time). a totally different approach was taken by the aforementioned francine houben. she developed a method for analysing the daily visual experience of motorists, by using four cameras to record the views as seen from an individual car, travelling along motorways leading into the main cities of the randstad. this covered a distance of 153 kilometres, from delft, to the hague, leiden, amsterdam, utrecht, gouda, and rotterdam, and ending back in delft (houben et al., 2002; houben, 2003). such data collection and processing is very time consuming. therefore, it is unsuitable for identifying motorway panoramas along all the dutch motorways. an operational defi nition of a (motorway) panorama starts with the neologism ‘panorama’ (taken from the greek, meaning ‘all seeing’). panorama refers both to the realistic and the impressive, spectacular effect of immersion – in other words, to the visual experience offered by various media. the main reason why the word ‘panorama’ is used for describing different phenomena is that the term, in fact, denotes a form of abstraction. according to verhoeff: “…the term panorama is primarily used to refer to specifi c characteristics related to vision: the experience of limitless visual perception, wherein the spectator has a wide choice of directions to look in” (ver-of limitless visual perception, wherein the spectator has a wide choice of directions to look in” (ver-of limitless visual perception, wherein the spectator has a wide choice of directions to look in” hoeff, 2007: 9). the car window acts as a screen, giving the viewer a ‘cinematic experience’ (neutelings, 1988). in order to apply the panorama concept to motorways, two conditions must be met. firstly, there should be an unblocked view of certain dimensions. secondly, the view should contain something worth looking at. motorway users will not be able to experience wide panoramic views if geological structures, buildings, trees or other physical barriers are located too close to the road. in order for travellers to experience a motorway panorama, the unrestricted view should have certain dimensions. in their research on workable methods for analysing, classifying and evaluating landscapes, van der ham, iding and van der veer determined different perception criteria for distinguish266 preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy ing landscape elements (e.g. van der ham and iding, 1971; van der ham, 1972; de veer, buitenhuis and van het loo, 1977). a measure used by these researchers for determining the necessary depth of fi eld was derived from research by jacobs and way (1968). this research showed that the average maximum distance for determining a certain landscape type was 1000 metres. to be able to determine specifi c landscape components, 500 metres was the average maximum distance. these criteria apply to a static view of the landscape; their value is limited to the dynamic view of a motorway traveller. not only the depth of fi eld should be taken into account, but also the distance along which the view exists. based on fi eldwork with the use of photographs, taken at 1.30 metres above the road surface (the average eye level of motorway travellers), we were able to confi rm the fi ndings by jacobs and way, which state that the minimum visual depth is 500 metres perpendicular to the road. for the netherlands, with its mostly fl at land surfaces, this covers approximately 80% of the projected landscape. the stretches of motorway along which a visual depth of at least 500 metres is unobstructed, is limited – also due to vehicle speed. assuming safe driving speeds and based on fi eld experience, the minimum ‘visibility time’ for motorway surroundings was set at fi ve seconds. given a maximum driving speed of 120 kilometres per hour, this would equal approximately 175 metres. not every motorway view qualifi es as a panorama; in addition to the minimum dimensions of a view, the scenery should also be impressive. this implies that motorway panoramas can only be identifi ed at local or regional levels. since the landscape determines the panorama, it should be staged at full scale. in addition to features that are ‘indigenous’ to certain landscape types, panoramas may also contain aspects that are foreign to it. examples include wind turbines, works of art, structural works and other eye-catching landmarks. minimum view dimensions vary per landscape type and depend on features unique to that area. large-scale landscapes, such as the dutch polders, require larger ‘stages’ than smaller scale agricultural landscapes that are richly decorated with hedges and clumps of trees. similarly, when the scenery contains a changeover from one type of landscape to another, the dimensions should be large enough to convey this occurrence to the motorway traveller. to offer road users a panoramic view, it is important that both indigenous and foreign landscape features are not only of the right size and composition, but also in the right sequence, relative to a vehicle’s viewing distance and travelling speed, and to each other. in view of all of the above, we defi ned a motorway panorama as an unobstructed view of a discernable landscape of at least 175 metres wide by 500 metres deep, which includes all the features unique to that area. or, put as a conditional proposition: if landscape types and their unique features could be identifi ed within a delimited view, this view is panoramic. in a subsequent step we developed a reproducible method for determining motorway panoramas, based on this defi nition. 267 1 1 . 4 m e t h o d the most diffi cult part of applying this defi nition is that it requires a further delimiting of the exact dimensions of a view. apart from academic research, useful insights about how to delimit a view also can be gained from handbooks and instruction manuals for motorway design. a report that is often cited from the literature on roads and landscaping is visual impact assessment for highway projects, published by the federal highway administration (1990) of the u.s. department of transportation. it details the viewshed or ‘visible area’ that is affected by the construction of a motorway. according to that report, the viewshed is defi ned as the surface area visible from a given viewpoint and/or all the surface area from which the view could be seen. the composite viewshed from a motorway can be mapped by identifying the unobstructed view from successive motorway viewpoints using height information on landform, land cover and man-made development relative to the height of motorway viewpoints. our method has been elaborated on the viewshed analysis as it is specifi ed in the federal highway administration (fhwa) guide. although the 1990 fhwa guide mainly proposes to use the (composite) viewshed analysis to identify the area that is affected by motorway construction, it could also be used to map motorway travellers’ views and panoramas. early viewshed analyses were carried out using paper and pencils. our research, however, turned to gis-based (geographical information system) viewshed mapping to analyse motorway views and the visible time of areas within these views. our approach is more similar to that of the cumulative viewshed (wheatley, 1995). this is like a so-called ‘visualscape’ (llobera, 2003) that results when the viewsheds from multiple cells in a digital elevation model (dem) are calculated and added together (the ultimate cumulative viewshed, where viewsheds from each cell within the dem are added together, is known as the inherent or total viewshed (llobera et al., 2004; lee and stucky, 1998)). in the case of motorway views, viewsheds are calculated at regular intervals along a motorway and subsequently added together to obtain a cumulative viewshed. the delimited view is an important aspect of motorway panoramas. this view is delimited not only in space but also in time, as motorway travellers pass the view at a particular speed. from the results of cumulated viewsheds calculated at regular intervals along a motorway, we were able to calculate what we call the visibilitime of a view (the view as delimited by space and time). to calculate this visibilitime, three parameters need to be taken into account. the fi rst parameter is the physical barriers in the environment, the second is the traveller’s viewing constraints, and the third is the speed at which the view is passed, the time-related viewing constraints. physical barriers in the environment are a combination of buildings, vegetation, noise protection barriers and other objects. together, these make up a 3d landscape of the dutch motorway 268 preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy zone. to create a digital landscape model (dlm) representing this 3d landscape, several data sources have to be combined. ground level data is obtained from the actueel hoogtebestand nederland (ahn) a digital elevation model of the netherlands 4. data on the buildings and vegetation, which might block the view from the motorway, were taken from topographical maps 1:10,000, available from the dutch topographical service of the land registry (topografi sche dienst kadaster, 2005). information on noise-protection barriers was obtained from the avv, the dutch advisory service for traffi c and transport. each type of barrier was assigned a certain height above ground level according to the ahn. in addition, there are human limitations to the motorway traveller’s view. we assumed that motorists would only look straight ahead and to the right when driving, and that the fi rst 20° of their fi eld of vision would be obstructed by other traffi c. the natural fi eld of clear vision of a fi xed eye is 60° (haak and leever-van der burgh, 1980), and as people can turn their heads by no more than 90° in either direction, we assumed a viewing angle of 20° to 120° (90 + 60/2) in relation to the direction of travel. the viewing height from the car was set at 1.30 m, and the line of sight was limited to 7 kilometres (to save on calculation time). in our calculations, atmospheric attenuations have not been taken into account. the distance between two viewing points was set at 5 metres. furthermore, a motorist’s impression of a view is limited by vehicle speed. in the cumulative viewshed, each visible grid cell was ascribed a value, equal to the number of viewing points from which the grid cell would be visible. because even distances were used, we were able to draw conclusions on the length of time that each grid cell would be visible, in relation to vehicle speed. by coupling time to grid-cell visibility, the ‘visibility time’ of a view could be determined. in the gis system, we calculated the spatially constrained view for every 5 metres along a motorway, in the direction of travel. as motorists experience views while driving at certain speeds, this distance of 5 metres could also be expressed in time. the minimum value that can be scored is 1, being given to each grid cell as it is visible from a single point along a particular motorway. at 120 kilometres per hour a motorist covers a distance of approximately 35 metres per second (equal to seven analysed viewshed points). a grid cell with a score of 1, therefore, is within a motorist’s view for one-seventh of a second, but cannot consciously be observed within this time frame. when we verifi ed this method in actual practice we found that an area would need to be in view for at least fi ve seconds in order for the view to be registered. the visible area was calculated and checked from the position of the motorway, as well as from the position of the landscape. in this way, we dissected the fi rst part of the relationship in an objective, controlled and reproducible manner: the delimited part of open space. this allowed us to depict where views, and thus potential panoramas, were located along the entire motorway network. see figure 1, for an example of a visibility map. 269 and then there is the matter of subject; what is seen. in order for a view to be regarded a what is seen. in order for a view to be regarded a what panorama, it must offer something worth looking at. the landscape determines the nature of a view. it consists of generic components and features that are unique to a certain location. generic components are associated with the type of landscape. for instance, peat reclamations are distinctive because of their long, narrow plots of land, the canals and waterways built for drainage, and the rows of trees lining some of the roads. if these components are still in place and visible from the motorway we speak of a recognisable landscape. in our defi nition, the importance awarded to landscape recognition fl ows from the national memorandum on spatial planning (nota ruimteplanning (nota ruimteplanning ( ) (vrom, 2004) and the agenda for a vital countryside (agenda vitaal ) (vrom, 2004) and the agenda for a vital countryside (agenda vitaal ) (vrom, 2004) and the agenda for a vital countryside ( platteland) (lnv, 2004). both these policy documents consider the cultural landscape an important starting point for the (re)design of the dutch landscape (lnv and vrom, 2006). the valuing of what is seen is more arbitrary then the results from gis analyses that determine which part of the landscape is seen and for how long. people consider a landscape worth figure 1 visibilitime of the motorway view between bodegraven and woerden 1 5 sec 5 10 sec 10 15 sec10 15 sec 15 20 sec15 20 sec 20 30 sec20 30 sec 30 40 sec30 40 sec 50 60 sec50 60 sec > 60 sec ‘visibilitime’‘visibilitime’ 270 preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy looking at for several reasons. therefore, to indicate what makes a view interesting, we distinguished fi ve categories. the combination of gis analysis and whether or not a landscape fi ts into one of the fi ve categories would determine if a certain view could be labelled as a panorama. the fi rst category describes a landscape’s uniqueness. an example of this type of landscape is the view from the afsluitdijk, (a dam carrying the a7 motorway), which separates the ijsselmeer from the wadden sea. the second category describes landscape views that are spectacular because of great variation. for example, the hills of limburg and the view from the a348 motorway along the meandering river ijssel. the third category describes landscapes with views that are regarded as highly valuable because they show the transition from one type of landscape into another. an example of this is the view along the a12 motorway, coming from germany, just past the town of zevenaar. on the right-hand side of the road, the view stretches across river bends and riverbanks towards a lateral moraine landscape. the fourth category describes landscape views that can be labelled as ‘special’ because of their context. for example, in strongly urbanised areas, views containing the last remaining open spaces can be awarded a special value. the fi fth and last category describes landscapes that contain specifi c elements, but are not rare. in this type of landscape location-specifi c features can turn views into panoramas. these elements could be indigenous to a certain landscape – such as the row of four (historic) windmills (de molenviergang) that were used to drain the tweemanspolder, south of zevenhuizen. features could also be less historic, such as the large infl atable cows scattered hither and thither across the landscape; a creation by landscape architect adriaan geuze. figure 2 shows the discernable landscape in the motorway view between bodegraven and woerden. the view could be categorised as a panorama in the fi fth category because of the visible characteristics of peat reclamation (with its ditches). furthermore, the view also belongs to the fourth category, as its context is special because of the open connection between the northern and southern parts of the green heart. 271 1 1 . 5 r e s u lt s a n d d i s c u s s i o n s we started our study by determining the number of views of at least 175 metres long that could be found along the dutch motorways. in total, we found 1,753 views of varying dimensions. to determine which of these views could be considered panoramic, we would have had to scale down to each individual view level in order to recognise its particular landscape components. however, because of the large number of views this was unfeasible. instead, we determined which of the views had quality potential, based on the map ‘cultural and natural key landscape qualities’ (snellen et al., 2006). this map provides an indication of whether a certain view is likely to contain a recognisable landscape and its components. according to this map, the netherlands holds 231 of such views, together totalling nearly 440 kilometres in length, which have either highly visible, cultural and natural key landscape qualities, or potentially recognisable landscape components. these views, therefore, are the ones most likely to meet the panorama criteria. most of these cultural and natural key landscape qualities can be found in views along motorways that run through the green heart, south limburg, flevoland and friesland, and along the a7 and a9 motorways in the province of north holland. figure 2 the discernable landscape in the motorway view between bodegraven and woerden motorway visible area (>= 5 sec) discernable landscape (within 500m of the highway)(within 500m of the highway) landscape infl uenced by citylandscape infl uenced by city peat reclamation river region landscape features water buildings church windmill pumping-station 272 preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy apart from matching views and landscape qualities, we also looked at planned building developments within the resulting viewsheds. after all, important in the discussion on landscape cluttering were the corridor formations along motorways, which cause open views to disappear. of the 1,753 views counted in the netherlands in 2003, 880 appeared to be threatened by planned building developments. of these 880, perhaps a third of the development plans could possibly be adjusted as these had not been legally fi nalised yet, and the panorama notion could still be taken into consideration. this became clear after we compared the development plans – both housing and commercial – in the new map of the netherlands (nieuwe kaart van nederland, version of november 2006), to the map of national views (piek et al., 2006: 28). to determine the degree to which potential views would fi t in with government policy, we looked at view locations bearing in mind the existing, so-called national policy categories. dutch government spatial policy has been established in the national memorandum on spatial planning (vrom, lnv, venw and ez, 2006; fi nal, approved version). in this document a number of area categories have been distinguished for nature areas and landscapes of national interest. the number of threatened high quality views that lie within this ‘green’ spatial network, equals that outside of this network. therefore, the national policy that is aimed to protect landscapes, does not seem to cover threatened views. however, if it is the government’s aim to also protect motorway panoramas, the above analysis could lead to a focus on the protection of views with high cultural and natural key qualities outside of this green spatial network. 1 1 . 6 m o t o r w a y p a n o r a m a s a d o p t e d i n p o l i c y the method for identifying (potential) motorway panoramas was used for creating the structural concept for the motorway environment ‘a good view of the netherlands’ (structuurvisie voor de snelwegomgeving ‘zicht op mooi nederland’) (vrom, 2008). this structural concept has a basic, generic function, relating to all motorways; it has to make local and provincial administrators aware of the importance of motorway panoramas. in the fi rst instance, this vision is aimed at the prevention of landscape cluttering along motorways. in addition, ideas from the route design programme are being applied to large-scale motorway maintenance. secondly, the structural concept has appointed nine national motorway panoramas. the ministry of vrom indicated that these nine panoramas had to be located within the different national landscapes named in the national memorandum on spatial planning. in addition to this criterion, community consultation also played an important role in the fi nal selection of the nine national motorway panoramas. in this consultation, citizens were asked to indicate (on273 line) the locations of what they considered were the most appreciated views from motorways (bureau klb, 2007). in support of the spatial demarcation and descriptions of the qualities of the national motorway panoramas, and at the request of the ministry of vrom, the pbl netherlands environmental assessment agency carried out a detailed viewshed analysis to determine the visibilitime for twelve of these panoramas, as selected by citizens. it is not the intention to disallow all spatial development within the national panoramas, but rather that, just as for the other national landscapes, a ‘yes, provided that’ regime is followed. ‘provided that’ refers to the requirement that key landscape qualities are to be maintained or fortifi ed. provincial administrations are to apply and implement these stipulations. beside the qualities indicated by government for all the national landscapes, motorway panoramas need to meet some additional quality criteria. one obvious example of such an additional quality would be an open view of the landscape from motorways. as the nine appointed motorway panoramas are part of national policy, the inspectorate of the ministry of vrom monitors whether spatial developments would go against the ideas of the structural concept. in april 2009, the inspectorate published an overview of plans for developments within the areas of the nine national panoramas (vrom inspectorate, 2009). the maps on visibilitime are the basis for an analysis of whether there are development plans that possibly could damage motorway panoramas. at this time, apart from one exception, none of the plans appear to be damaging, and some spatial initiatives even have been qualifi ed as having a positive effect on their particular landscapes. in addition, a number of small activities still have to be assessed. municipalities also consider these landscapes to be valuable and are in favour of protecting and reinforcing landscape qualities. nevertheless, plans are being made for housing developments, business parks and infrastructural works that could have a negative effect on these national panoramas. central government may need to formulate actions, in cooperation with provinces and municipalities, on how to manage these situations. finally, the inspectorate of vrom has pointed out that developments that take place just outside of the panorama areas as indicated in the policy map, could also have their infl uence on these panoramas. 1 1 . 7 c o n c l u d i n g r e m a r k s in our study we have defi ned motorway panoramas, and developed an objective and reproducible method for operationalising them. this fi tted in well with policy discussions, and the research, to some degree, was used to formulate policy on motorway environments. in the actual practice of spatial developments, however, it has proven diffi cult to manage the landscape quality of ‘openness’. especially close to motorways, where spatial pressures of 274 preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy urbanisation are great. the approach to motorway panoramas is based on the view from the road; it must be noted that this approach is only one of many. there are other interests, such as in commerce, housing, or ecology that affect motorways and their surrounding areas. n o t e s [1] see: http://www.byways.org/learn/ [2] see: http://www.ruimtelijkeagenda.nl/ [3] the project route design of motorways was one of the ‘major projects’ in the architectural document ‘ontwerpen aan nederland’ (designing the netherlands) (ministries of ocenw, vrom, venw and lnv, 2000), and initially focused only on the a12 motorway. see: http://www.routeontwerp.nl/ [4] see: http://www.ahn.nl/english.php r e f e r e n c e s anoniem (1971) weg en landschap, preadviezen congresdag 1971. vereniging het nederlandse wegencongres, the hague. appleyard, d., lynch, k., and myer, j. r. 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(2003) kompas voor het routeontwerp. delft, ministerie van verkeer en waterstaat, dienst wegen waterbouwkunde. 163 7 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n this contribution aims to show the spatial properties for indicating degrees of street life, safety and economical attractiveness in urban areas through analysing the oneand two-dimensional visibility analyses of the space syntax method. the space syntax method is able to calculate the spatial confi guration of built environments and compare it with numerical socio-economic data. the most known method is to calculate how spatially integrated a street is in relation to all others in terms of direction change and degree of angular deviation. it is able to identify the streets’ spatial features for vital shopping areas, crime distribution, various social classes’ spatial preferences when choosing a dwelling area, and the spatial features of the location of various institutional buildings. the space syntax method’s elements are based on visual sight lines. examples from delft and alkmaar will be used for showing the correlations between the spatial analyses and socio-economic data. 7 . 2 t h e o r e t i c a l f r a m e w o r k , m e t h o d s a n d t e c h n i q u e s in the past three decades the space syntax method, developed by bill hillier and his colleagues at the university college london, have been applied to urban studies. this method a k k e l i e s v a n n e s the oneand twodimensional isovists analyses in space syntax 164 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax consists of calculating confi gurative spatial relationships of built environments’ public spaces. in urban analyses, according to hillier, space syntax is three things. firstly, it is a family of techniques for analysing cities as the networks of space formed by the placing, grouping and orientation of buildings. secondly, it is a set of techniques for observing how these networks of space relate to functional patterns such as movement, land use, area differentiation, migration patterns and even social wellbeing and malaise. thirdly, based on the empirical results from the two fi rst things, space syntax has made it possible to make a set of theories about how urban space networks relate in general to the social, economic and cognitive factors which shape them and are affected by them. the techniques have been applied to a large number of cities in different parts of the world. in this way a substantial database now exists of cities, which have been studied at some level using space syntax (hillier et al., 2007). what space syntax measures is the two primary all-to-all (all street segments to all others) relations. on the one hand it measures the to-movement, or accessibility, potential, of each street segment with respect to all others. with other words, it measures the location potentials for various urban centres. on the other hand space syntax measures the through-movement poten-through-movement poten-through-movement tial of each street segment with respect to all pairs of others. to say it differently, it measures the spatial potentials for streets with the highest potential fl ow of movement. each of these two types of relational pattern can be weighted by three different defi nitions of distance. the metric distance measures the city’s street and road network as a system of shortest paths, while the topological distance calculate the city’s street and road network as a system of fewest turns paths. finally, the geometrical distance gives a picture of the city’s street and road network as a system of least angle change paths. each type of relation can be calculated at different radii from each street segment, defi ning radius again either in terms of shortest, fewest turns or least angle paths (hillier and iida, 2005: 557-558). hillier distinguishes between intrinsic and extrinsic properties of space. extrinsic ones determine the way in which spatial units relate to one another. according to hillier, spatial confi guration has its own rules (hillier, 1996: chapter 8). if one intends to understand settlements in terms of these laws they are regarded as sets of spaces. in this perspective primarily topological issues become relevant. volumes, textures and size are not taken into consideration. when regarded in purely extrinsic terms, spaces are shape-free. it is just their inter-relational aspect or structure that counts here. each space has one or more functions either for occupation or movement. extrinsic properties of space concern built form and function (marcus, 2000: 40). while extrinsic properties of space concern invisible, structural relationships, intrinsic properties concern visible ones. they rely on things we can see, such as the shape, the size, the 165 volumes, and the objects placed in space, and the texture of physical objects or built masses (hillier, 1999e: 1). they consist mostly in geometrical properties. describing and illustrating the intrinsic properties of a built environment does not abstract from meaning and intentions external to it. first and foremost, a physical object’s purpose is important at the time it was made. in later contexts it is mostly left out of consideration. in this respect, intrinsic properties of space account for the inter-relationship between built form and social meaning (marcus, 2000: 40). in research traditions belonging to urban morphology and place phenomenology, the concepts of space relate to intrinsic properties of space. namely, they consist of descriptions of building typologies, property patterns, building morphology, forms of squares, and the shapes of built volumes, windows, and doors. as intrinsic properties of space are perceptible and describable rather easily, there exist several writings about them. a narrow street, an intimate square, a large massive building, and a star shaped junction – they can all illustrate how to describe these properties of space in a built environment. on the other hand, however, it is rather diffi cult to describe extrinsic properties of space. concepts like ‘here’ and ‘there’ or ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ are used to refer to seemingly simple spatial relationships. but as soon as one tries to describe whole buildings or towns, our language seems unable to spell out complex spatial relationships. therefore abstract models or maps are often used to present such complex systems of space. describing extrinsic properties of space requires considering the city as a set of spaces. in terms of how we name things, urban space is recognised to be mostly linear. apart from squares, one disposes of several names for the routes between them. examples are alleys, streets, roads, avenues, boulevards, highways, paths, pavements, subways, bridges, stairs, etc. all these kinds of urban spaces shape a grid or network – a potential pattern of movement. the urban grid is defi ned to be “the pattern of public space linking the buildings of a settlement, regardless of its degree of geometric regularity” (hillier, 2001: 02.1). if one looks at city maps most tourist offi ces distribute to visitors, the street grid is the most detailed represented part. important buildings and squares may be indicated, but not in such a detailed scale as a whole street grid. therefore, the urban street grid can be represented as a set of axial sightlines. for more than 20 years ago, most calculations of the spatial relationship between these axes were done manually. later on, several software programs, such as axman, uba pesh, orange box, axwoman, mindwalk, webmap at home, and meanda have improved the possibilities to analyse the complex spatial relationships of the public spaces of whole cities. the depthmap software is able to describe and visualise a built environment’s spatial inequalities, make point depth analyses, isovists analyses, all-lines analyses, and to simulate and trace movement routes of computer-generated agents. the way these agents move is based on research in a present urban context (turner, 2007). 166 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax 7 . 3 s p a c e s y n t a x ’ e l e m e n t s the space syntax method operates with the following three basic elements: convex space, isovist fi eld and axial line. a convex space is defi ned as a space such that “all points within that space can be joined to all others without passing outside the boundary of the space” (hillier 1988: 68). the panoptical view is essential in the defi nition of what a convex space is. it is mostly used for occupation of various functions and place-bound human activities such as standing and sitting. convex maps are used for analysing buildings and the public spaces between a group of buildings in neighbourhoods or smaller villages. in the urban analyses, the point depth and the all-lines analyses have replaced the convex space analysis. an explanation might be the time consuming work to make the convex map. moreover, no software improvement has been done since the 1990’s for the convex space analysis. an isovist fi eld represents the panoptical view a person has from a given point in an urban space. it is used for orientation or way fi nding in the urban fabric. first it was done manually. now one-point as well as all-points isovist analyses can be carried out with the depthmap software. an axial line represents the longest sight line one has in an urban space or street. it represents the way human beings moves in lines through the urban street and road network. during the last two decades the axial line has been the basic spatial element in the methodology and theoretical development of space syntax in urban studies. the main thought behind these three basic spatial elements is that human beings move in lines, interacts in convex spaces and sees changeable panoptical views when moving around in the built environment. the convex space for interaction the isovist field for orientation the axial sightline for movement for person a and b a b a b dd b a c figure 1 example of axial lines, convex space and isovist fi eld 167 7 . 4 t h e o n e d i m e n s i o n a l v i s i b i l i t y a n a ly s e s the basis for the space syntax method in urban studies is the axial map. the street and road network in built environments is represented with the longest and fewest sight lines. therefore, direction changes in terms of visibility are presented. the notion of syntactic step on an axial map is meant to represent a change of direction from one axial line to another. the number of syntactic steps from each axial line to all other axial lines measures a settlement’s topological depth. a global integration analysis implies the calculation of how spatially integrated a street axis is in terms of the total number of direction changes to all others in a town or city. the fewer direction changes to all other streets, the higher spatial integration values. conversely, streets with many direction changes to all others tend to have low global integration values. hence, they are spatial segregated. this simple one-dimensional analysis makes it possible through the depthmap software to analyse whole cities and large metropolitan areas. as research has shown, streets with the fewest direction changes to all other streets in a built environment tend to be the most vital shopping streets with the highest fl ow of human movement (hillier et al., 1993, 1998). conversely, streets with a very high number of direction changes tend to be affected by crime and antisocial behaviour or they tend to be gated communities (hillier, 1996; lópez and van nes, 2007; hillier and shu, 2000; hillier and sahbaz, 2005). figure 2 shows a simple settlement consisting of a main street with some side streets and some smaller back streets. on the right side the town’s street network is represented as a set of fewest axial sight lines. each axis is represented as a public urban space, connected to other public urban spaces. one can thus calculate how each axis is inter-related to all other axes in this system. in other words, one calculates the topological depth of each axis in relation to all other axes. each time one has to change direction one has taken a syntactic step. this basic calculation is also used in the convex space analyses as well as in the all-lines and all-points isovist analyses. figure 2 shows how the degree of spatial integration of the back street (axis number 3) is calculated. every time one changes direction from the street, one multiplies the number of direction change from the street number 3 with the number of streets that can be reached. the total depth from street number 3 to all other streets is 50. when comparing the total depth from back street 3 with the main street, the total depth is 28 (below in fi gure 2). on the left in fi gure 2, the formula for calculating spatial integration is shown. the formula is useful when comparing changes in integration when cities grow, or changes due to new road or street links. 168 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax figure 2 how spatial integration is calculated in a simple settlement 0 x 1 = 0 1 x 5 = 5 2 x 7 = 14 3 x 3 = 9 main street side streetside street back street axial map axial integration analysis depth:depth: sum depth = 28 the number of axes 0 x 1 = 0 1 x 1 = 1 2 x 3 = 6 3 x 4 = 12 4 x 4 = 16 5 x 3 = 15 sum depth: 50 sum depth: 50 calculating axial integration: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 back streetback street main street main street main street side street side street back street back street mean depth for each axe (md): md = sum depth/k – 1 k = number of axes in a system sum depth = the topological depth from each axe to all others dk = diamond value real relative assymetry (rra) = ra/dk = 0.3333333333/0.086 = 3.87596899224806 real assymetry (ra) = 2(md 1)/k 2 = 2(3.3 1)/16 2 = 0.3333333333 integration value of the back street: 1/rra = 1/3.87596899224806 = 0.258 calculating the back street axe: (md) = sum depth/k -1 = 50/16 1 = 3.3 6 9 1013 14 15 16 34 5 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213 14 15 16 1 7 12 1 8 11 2 169 figure 3 shows a global integration analysis of delft. as can be seen in the fi gure, the modern shopping centre in de hoeven area has the most integrated streets (coloured in black). it is the most accessible area in delft in terms of the fewest direction changes from every street to all others. the second best integrated area is the newly established zuidpoort shopping area at zuidpoort shopping area at zuidpoort the edge of delft centre. the most segregated streets (coloured in light grey) are in the tanthof area and some of the post war housing areas. the local integration analysis highlights the various local urban centres. it is done as follows: one calculates how integrated an axis is when changing the direction three times from it. the depthmap software calculates this for every axis in the whole built environment. figure 4 shows a local integration analysis of delft. the various local shopping streets in delft historic centre are highlighted in black. the highest locally integrated shopping street is the binnenwatersloot – nieuwe langedijk connection. 100m the zuidpoort shopping centre the historic marked square de hoeven shopping area tanthof area figure 3 global integration analyses of delft 170 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax during the last 10 years the angular relationship between the axial sight lines have been taken into account. this made it possible to highlight the main routes going through and between urban areas in cities through a pure calculation of spatial interrelationships. a city consists of a very small number of long streets that end up at another long street with an angle close to 180 degrees, and a very high number of short streets, ending up with an angle close to 90 degrees to another street. this visibility property of a city’s street and road network makes it possible for people to guide themselves from the edges towards the city centre with a few direction changes and small angular deviations. in particular in large complex cities, the angular analyses can show how the city’s edges can reach the centre through the network of the main routes. the long lines have thus long visibility properties, and at the junctions one can see how the long lines continues with a small angular deviation to another long line. 100m tanthof area the zuidpoort shopping areade hoeven shopping area the historic marked square the binnenwaterslootnieuwe langedijk connection figure 4 local integration analyses of delft 171 the axial line is still the basis for the angular analyses. when processing the angular analyses in depthmap, the software breaks up the axial lines at every junction. at every junction an angular weighting is made. the fewer direction changes in terms of angular deviation, the higher values of the street segments. one of the critics of the space syntax method was the lack of metrical properties in the analyses (ratti, 2004). now it is incorporated into the calculations. as the results show, the geometrical and topological distances correspond with the pedestrian and vehicle fl ow rates and the location pattern of shops more than the metrical distances. however, when applying metrical radiuses in the angular and axial analyses, some striking results can be seen. figure 5 shows an angular integration of delft with a low metrical radius. the various local vital shopping streets are highlighted. when increasing the metrical radius to a high value, the figure 5 local angular analyses of delft with low metrical radius 100m itanthof de hoeven shopping centre the zuidpoort shopping centre the historic marked square the binnenwaterslootnieuwe langedijk connection 172 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax main routes linking the various urban areas together are highlighted. figure 6 shows a local angular analysis with a high metrical radius. here the binnenwatersloot – nieuwe langedijk axis has the highest values, and the main streets for car traffi c are highlighted. when comparing the results from fi gure 5 and 6, the following can be stated. in traditional urban areas the main routes and the local shopping areas are located adjacent or in the same street, where the street network has high values in both a high and low metrical radius. seemingly, a condition for a vital shopping area is to have a dense inter-connected street network within a short metrical distance in order to catch the local customers. moreover, it needs also to be located on or adjacent to the integrated segments of the main routes in order to catch the through travellers. 100m tanthof de hoeven shopping area the zuidpoort shopping area the historic marked square the binnenwaeterslootnieuwe langedijk connection figure 6 local angular analyses of delft with high metrical radius 173 in post war urban areas, the most integrated areas with low metrical radiuses are not located in the same place as those within the high metrical radiuses. the effect is that inside the housing area there is only one local super market with the necessary food facilities located along street, with high integration values with a low metrical radius. sometimes there are no shopping facilities at all in these areas. car-based shopping centres tend to locate along streets with high integration values with a high metrical radius. in delft the post war urban areas have almost no shops inside their areas. the shopping centre de hoeven serves most of the surrounding post war neighbourhoods. in delft centre, the newly established zuidpoort shopping centre is located adjacent to the fi ne-grained network of local shopping streets, while it is located along a highly integrated road with a large metrical radius. while the traditional global and local integration analyses measures the to-movement potential, to-movement potential, to-movement the angular analyses with metrical radiuses measures the through movement potential. togeth-through movement potential. togeth-through movement er these spatial measurements of the street and road network can show the degree of spatial inequalities on various scale levels. the results from research are useful in order to predict to some extent the socio-economic effect of proposed design interventions for future built environments, as well as understanding socio-economic activities based on the information of the physical form in excavated town or past built environments (van nes, 2009). the visibility component is essential for a human being’s orientation in complex built environments. in a recent fi nished msc thesis about the effects of the tsunami in banda aceh, a correlation was found between the spatial confi guration from the axial analyses and the mortality rates. the more spatially broken up the street grid the lower integration values on the axes, the higher the mortality rates in the neighbourhood. the data about mortality rates was gathered from the local red cross based on neighbourhood levels. it was established from the interviews that people fl ed in the opposite direction of the tsunami. as claimed in the perception psychology literature, people cannot think rationally in the case of panic. the visual orientation plays a role in orientation when people are fl eeing. therefore, highly integrated neighbourhoods on various scale levels are indicators for way fi nding (fakhrurrazi, 2010). 7 . 5 t h e t w o d i m e n s i o n a l v i s i b i l i t y a n a ly s e s on a neighbourhood level several tools exist for taking two-dimensional spatial aspects into account. the isovists analyses are useful for analysing the degree of visibility of the location of important urban artefacts (like towers), or the panoptical view of urban spaces when arriving in a place at the railway station, and how new urban interventions will increase or decrease existing isovists’ views. moreover, isovists analyses are useful in studies on how trees and vegetation can 174 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax block the degree of inter-visibility in parks. it can identify places attractive for junkies to operate, or places where there might be a risk of getting raped. according to benedikt, an isovist is: “the set of all points visible from a given vantage point in space and with respect to an environment” (benedikt, 1979: 47). it visualises the panoptical view from the viewer from a particular standing point in a built environment. the panoptical view’s boarders are defi ned by walls and free standing objects such as trees, bushes and statues located inside a built environment’s spaces. when moving around in built environments, the shape and size of the isovist change. it is thus possible to visualise the sequences of scenes or panoptical view arrows from particular points along the movement routes. the applicability of isovists fi elds is manifold. as fi gure 7 shows, one can choose for a 180or a 360-degree isovist fi eld. the fi rst one is what one sees when one for example enters a park, while the latter one shows what one can see when turning around right on the spot where one is standing. consider person a entering a place, as shown in fi gure 7. he or she is a visitor to this park and wants to have an overview over the area. behind a building person b is standing. b is a junkie and needs a place where nobody can see him or her when operating. person a and b can not see each other. since person a is walking into the park, an isovist fi eld of 180 degree is made. it visualises a’s direct view. person b has to know that few people can see him or her. therefore an isovist fi eld of 360 degree is made from b’s position. the isovist fi eld for person a is larger than person b, because person a is standing at a place in the park with a large overview. person b is hidden behind a building, a fence and some trees which affects his or her isovist fi eld. drawing the isovist from a given point is a way of visualising the spatial possibilities on how children, example on a 180° isovist example on a 360° isovist a b a b figure 7 example on a 180and 360-degree isovist 175 junkies and criminals can hide away from the social control of adults. likewise, it visualises the spatial possibilities from where one can get a maximum view of an urban square. the point depth analyses show the degree of visibility from every point of the public spaces of a neighbourhood. this method is useful to test out where the most visible and less visible areas are in urban squares and post-war housing areas with free standing buildings and the degree of visibility in urban parks. in particular it can describe the spatial properties in terms of intervisibility in the unsafe spaces of parks and squares. the method is useful for testing out how the placement of trees and bushes can affect a park or a square’s degree of inter-visibility. as shown in the previous section, the isovist is a polygon, which contains the perceived visible area from a particular location. by using graph analyses, the software depthmap is able to calculate the degree of integration of each point or isovist’s root in relationship with the others in a built environment. all public spaces in a built environment are rasterised by a grid. one can choose how fi ne-grained the grid can be. the more fi ne-grained the grid is, the more time consuming the analyses is, however, the more exact the results will be. each point for the visibility analyses is taken from the centre of each cell’s square. how integrated each point is in relationship to other points is calculated. the various integration calculations presented in earlier chapters can be used. every time one moves from one cell in the grid to another, one takes a topological step. what the point depth analysis does, is to calculate how each cell relates to all other cells in the grid. obstacles, like walls, fences, trees etc, contribute to increase the topological depth between various cells (turner, 2007). figure 8 shows a point depth analysis of the same park used in the previous example. as can be seen from the fi gure, the large open space in the park is the most integrated one (coloured in black), while spaces behind buildings and trees are the most segregated ones (coloured in light grey). when applying the point depth analyses with isovist properties on the public spaces in delft centre, the canals and the roads outside the centre are the most visible public spaces in delft. most of delft’s signifi cant buildings, richly articulated in their architectural expressions, are located along these highly inter-visible spaces. figure 8 point depth analyses of the park 176 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax while the point depth analyses shows how integrated each point is in a public space, the all lines analyses shows how integrated each sight line is in relationship to all other sight lines. the software depthmap is able to make an all-line map of all the public spaces in a settlement. when preparing the basis map before processing, all obstacles and urban blocks are represented as polygons. all the publicly accessible spaces are represented as one space (penn et al., 1997). as research has shown, the degree of visibility of urban spaces affect the way users behave in these spaces. the higher the inter-visibility, the more it generates a mix of people of different social classes, genders, races and ages in public spaces. when comparing the results from the registration of human behaviour with the all lines analyses, the results comply with the dispersal of the integration values. the more spatially integrated the street is, the more people on streets and the more mix of women and men, age groups and ethnicity can be seen in these highly integrated areas. conversely, the more spatially segregated the streets are, the fewer people on streets and the more the streets are dominated by unemployed immigrant men or groups of youngsters (rueb and van nes, 2009). figure 9 point depth analyses with isovist properties of delft centre 100m the historic marked square the binnenwaterslootnieuwe langedijk connection the zuidpoort shopping centre 177 figure 10 shows an all lines analyses of delft centre. in comparison with the point depth analyses, the most integrated lines are on the binnenwatersloot – nieuwe langedijk axis, brabantse turfmarkt, and wijnhaven. these streets are the most frequented streets and most individual shops are located along these streets. modern urban housing areas are located along the most segregated spaces. while the point depth analysis shows visibility properties, all lines analysis shows accessibility properties. the fi rst one infl uences the architecture of adjacent buildings, while the latter one affects the location of shops. the recent developed agent based modelling in the depthmap software is based on how people in fact orientate themselves through urban areas. through empirical testing of how people orientate themselves through virtual environments with strange angles, correlations between the results from the all lines analyses and point depth analyses are found. the least angular deviation from one’s direction plays a role in how people orientate themselves through built environments (conroy, 2001). therefore, this research’s result can be useful in estimating how urban spaces will be frequented in the future as well as how they were frequented in the past. 100m the historic marked square the binnenwatersloot nieuwe langedijk connection the zuidpoort shopping centre figure 10 all lines analyses of delft centre 178 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax figure 11 shows the traces of 5000 people moving inside delft centre’s public spaces from the agent based modelling in depthmap. when comparing the results with the various spatial analyses, the highest locally integrated main streets comply with the results from the agent based modelling. the recently developed micro scale urban analyses tools are about the relationship of buildings or private spaces and their inter-relationship with street segments. more precisely it is about demonstrating how dwelling openings relate to the street network, the way building entrances constitute streets, the degree of topological depth from private space to public space, and intervisibility of doors and windows between buildings. since no software development is current available for analysing micro scale spatial relationships, microsoft excel and statistical package for the social sciences (spss) software are useful. in a study on space and crime in gouda and alkmaar, 1,168 street segments were registered 100m figure 11 agent based modelling of delft centre 179 manually for the micro scale analyses part. all data were put into spss for comparison in order to run multi variable statistical comparisons between the various spatial parameters. as the results from the spatial analyses in gouda and alkmaar show, both micro and macro spatial variables are highly inter-dependent (lópez and van nes, 2007). the more segregated a street segment is, the lower the inter-visibility between doors, windows and streets is. in other words, the higher the spatial segregation of a street, the more the entrances are turned away from the street. streets with low inter-visibility from windows and doors to streets tend to have high burglary rates (van nes and lopes, 2007). access through the front side access through the back side access through the side access into appartments 100 % intervisibility 80 % intervisibility 60 % intervisibility 40 % intervisibility 20 % intervisibility 0 % intervisibility figure 12 degree of inter-visibility between buildings and streets in alkmaar compared with the dispersal of burglaries 180 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax figure 12 shows the degree of inter-visibility between buildings and streets in gouda’s local area. the black coloured lines illustrate 100% visibility, the dark grey lines illustrate 80% visibility, the grey lines illustrate 60% visibility etc. the very light grey lines show 0% inter-visibility. most intruded homes are entered from the streets or back paths with 0-20% inter-visibility. the two-dimensional spatial measurements depend on the results from the one-dimensional analyses. together they offer at least knowledge about the spatial conditions for different issues, such as vital street life, urban safety, vital shopping areas, social interactions and their interdependence. all seems to depend on various degrees of adjacency, permeability and intervisibility taken into account on different scale levels. in particular results from research contributes to understandings on the socio-economic effects of one’s design proposals when applying these tools in urban design. 7 . 6 t h e t h r e e d i m e n s i o n a l v i s i b i l i t y a n a ly s e s so far, two-dimensional isovist analyses have been applied in urban research and even in strategic planning and design. at present, software capable of analysing three-dimensional isovists have been developed by van bilsen and stolk (2007). in the development of three dimensional measures, the fi rst steps have been taken: spatial openness by fisher-gewirtzmann and wagner (2003), sky opening by teller (2003), real world measurements of the latter by sarradin (2004) and more recently various measures in digital landscape models (dlms) by morello and ratti (2009). however none of these can be considered a general three-dimensional approach. for example, dlms cannot adequately represent cities when it comes to observer experience of inside spaces (roofed) and outside spaces (arches, bridges, etc.). technology used for entertainment games is improving at an exponential rate. this technology is used to obtain large amounts of visibility information on acceptable timescales: full three-dimensional analyses have become feasible (van bilsen, 2009, 2008). the added value of three-dimensional analysis, compared to two-dimensional analysis, is summarised in the following (non exhaustive) list of points (van bilsen, 2009): • the vertical dimension (e.g. building height) is ignored in two-dimensional analyses; • walkable surfaces of cities differ in height, such as on hills and bridges; • incomplete landmark analysis in two-dimensional analyses, if any; • facade analysis, the inter-visibility between facades with regard to privacy, is possible in three-dimensional analyses; • the possibility to relate to concepts relevant to urban design and planning like building density and incidence of sunlight, which are based on three dimensional measures; • comparison of perspectives with regard to safety (e.g. adult and child); 181 • a typology of space based on the full three-dimensional environment; • a connection to cognitive pattern recognition, which occurs in three-dimensional analyses; • discrimination of lighting and cover conditions during night and day, bad and good weather, for navigation and safety. however, due to a lack of research funding, it has never been applied systematically on various types of urban areas and correlated with socio-economic data. seemingly, a three-dimensional isovist analyses can shed some light on to what extent building heights and building topography affect human perception and the social life between buildings. 7 . 7 c o n c l u s i o n s the space syntax method can be applied on a wide scale level in research on built environments – from the organisation of furniture in a room up to the metropolis, making possible, in the fi rst instance comparison of built environments with one another from a spatial point of view. similarly, the method is a useful tool for comparison of the spatial changes in a before and after situation of structural urban changes in an area. however, while the method is a tool for explaining the physical spatial set up of buildings and cities, the interpretation of the results from the spatial analyses must be done in correlation with understanding of the societal processes and human behaviour. space syntax develops constantly. its contribution to theories on built environments and methodology develop at the intersection of natural, social and technical sciences. so far, research projects range from anthropology or cognitive sciences to applied mathematics and informatics and touch upon philosophical issues. the evolution of space syntax asks for communication not just between various cultural contexts, but also likewise between different scientifi c domains. as regards the development of scientifi c theories on the built environment, several credits have to be given to space syntax theory for applying it to research on the space and society relationship in built environments: firstly, the method has a high degree of testability. for it can be used in order to investigate various kinds of settlements belonging to different cultures. the choice of spaces as basic elements for explaining and comparing settlements allows for a rigorous comparison of settlements, independent of their cultural context (hillier, 2001: 02.4). the space syntax method’s context independence makes it applicable on all types of built environments, independent of types of societies, political structures and cultures. therefore it is recognised to be a sustainable solid analyses and research method on built environments on various scale levels of a wide range of different cultures. 182 the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax secondly, the explanatory power of space syntax theory lies in the possibility to derive various effects from urban spatial changes. configurative changes in the street grid are for example a suffi cient condition for a change in according integration values. likewise, a change in the integration values is a suffi cient condition for a number of socio-economic changes. these functions are recognised to decide upon the locations of shops and the fl ow of pedestrian and vehicle movement. the theory thus allows for a high degree of predictability for future economically driven functional changes. thirdly, the theory’s degree of falsifi ability is of great interests. taken in isolation the usage of laws of spatial combinatorics as meta-structures for the built environment is an application of an axiomatic method. in this respect space syntax theory is nothing but an application of mathematics to the built environment. in this way, this empirical theory is stated clearly, developed through 30 years of trial and error, conjectures and refutations. general statements gained through the application of the space syntax method on one type of built environment can be found in other types of built environments. fourthly, the method’s whole key lies in a concise defi nition of space. it has contributed to operational and uniform research methods, which again has contributed to solid theories and generalisations on the relationship of society and space in urban studies. 183 r e f e r e n c e s benedikt, m. l. 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(ed.) new developments in space syntax software, istanbul. 41 2 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n while environmental psychology is a leading discipline in the study of human responses to the visual landscape, various other disciplines contribute to our understanding of the psychological perception of landscape as well, such as human geography and sociology. despite the disciplinary differences, all approaches share, explicitly or implicitly, three core assumptions (jacobs, 2006: 47): (1) the way people perceive landscapes is infl uenced but not determined by physical landscape attributes, (2) a complex mental process of information reception and processing mediates between the physical landscape and the psychological landscape, and (3) various factors can exercise infl uence on this mental process, to be divided into biological, cultural and individual factors (bourassa, 1990, 1991). figure 1 illustrates these shared assumptions, and can be seen as a pre-disciplinary research model for studying the psychology of the visual landscape. disciplinary approaches differ with respect to the aspects of landscape perception under study (e.g. landscape preferences, meanings assigned to places), to the factors studied that infl uence landscape perception, and to the theories employed to explain how those factors infl uence landscape perception. m a a r t e n j a c o b s psychology of the visual landscape 42 psychology of the visual landscape this chapter presents contributions of various disciplinary approaches to the study of psychological responses to the visual landscape. rather than giving a comprehensive overview, which would require a lengthy chapter (see jacobs, 2006: chapter 4, for an elaborated overview), the aims are to present examples of approaches that stress biological, cultural and individual factors to explain the constitution of the psychological landscape (i.e. how landscape perception and experience come into being), to emphasise dutch contributions within this framework, and to discuss the various bodies of knowledge in the face of gis systems that support landscape policy, planning and design. to do so, the next three sections deal with examples of research into landscape perception devoted to biological, cultural and individual factors respectively. in the conclusion, the applicability of the various bodies of knowledge to developing gis based support systems for landscape policy, planning and design will be discussed. 2 . 2 b i o l o g i c a l f a c t o r s the term ‘biological factors’ denotes innate dispositions that are evolutionarily determined and fi xed in our genetic make-up. adherents of the adaptive approach within environmental psychology contend that some landscape preferences are inborn as responses to physical landscape properties that have emerged in the course of biological evolution, because these responses enhanced survival (saegert and winkel, 1990). to appreciate this approach, a little understanding of the working of emotions is crucial. generally, preferences are manifestations of emotions (ledoux, 1996: 53; jacobs, 2009): we tend to like objects or situations that invoke positive emotions (e.g. happiness), and tend to dislike objects and situations that invoke negative emotions (e.g. fear). generic emotion research has demonstrated that many aspects of emotions are innate (darwin, 1872; ekman, 1992, 1999; ledoux, 1996: 113). the innate aspects include some emotional bodily reactions, such as an increased heartbeat or the tendency to freeze in the case of fear. these responses were benefi cial to the survival of organisms, for their adaptive value in dealing with fundamental life tasks (damasio, 2001: 60; ledoux, 1996: 40; ekman, 1999). the tendency to freeze decreases the likelihood of being physical landscape psychological landscapemental process biological factors cultural factors individual factors figure 1 a default pre-disciplinary landscape perception research model 43 spotted by a predator (predators typically react to movement), and the increased heartbeat prepares the body for a fl ight reaction (jacobs, 2009). research has also demonstrated that some stimuli automatically lead to emotional responses, without any previous learning being involved (jacobs, 2006: 171). for example, rats that are being raised in isolation in a laboratory, never having seen a cat, show fear responses when exposed to a cat (ledoux, 1996: 132). the advantage of automatically responding with an emotional reaction to some stimuli is that this response is quick: if an antelope would have to fi gure out the situation when it faces a lion, the antelope would be the lion’s lunch (jacobs, 2009). thus, the emotional system has evolved as an adaptive system that serves survival, and includes automatic responses to some objects and situations. the adaptive approach is concerned with these automatic, innate, quick, emotional responses (ulrich, 1983). since the environment is crucial for survival, it is very likely, within the framework of general evolution theory, that we have innate predispositions related to certain aspects of our environment. genes that predispose us to particular emotional reactions to certain landscape attributes have survived in the course of evolution because those reactions have turned out to be adaptive responses to situations of life importance for human beings. thus, innate landscape preferences are preferences for landscapes that were benefi cial for our distant ancestors (but not necessarily for us, because over the last couple of thousand years, since the advent of agriculture 10.000 years ago, humans have created artifi cial environments at a pace that is much faster than our genetic make-up can adapt to). the fi rst theoretical accounts of biologically determined landscape preferences were based on the arousal theory, a general motivation theory developed by berlyne to explain why people are inclined to stick to certain situations for a longer period of time than to other situations. something (an artwork, a situation, a landscape) has a positive hedonic value if it is pleasant and rewarding to keep in touch with it (berlyne, 1974: 8). for example, landscapes highly preferred by people have a high positive hedonic value. the stimuli that constitute an optimal hedonic value are a mixture of arousal-increasing and arousal-decreasing properties (arousal being the general level of excitement or activation). these stimuli make it cognitively diffi cult to understand the situation, but at the same time make it possible to resolve the problem. thus, an optimal arousal potential trains our cognitive skills to resolve problems, and these are capacities we need to survive (berlyne, 1971). while the complete arousal theory is a lot more complex (berlyne, 1971, 1973, 1974), early environmental psychologists have used the rather simplifi ed version as explained here. wohlwill (1976) compared the results of then published environmental psychological research with berlyne’s theory, and found a relation between landscape preference and the degree of mystery. he also found a relation with the degree to which different landscape features fi t to each other (porteous, 1996: 119; wohlwill, 1976). 44 psychology of the visual landscape kaplan and kaplan assert that landscape preferences are ‘ancient and far-reaching’ (kaplan and kaplan, 1989: 10), and have developed the preference matrix to explain for which landscapes we have innate preferences. the preference matrix globally resonates with berlyne’s theory and describes the conditions that optimise the possibility to gain knowledge of the surrounding landscape. gaining knowledge of a landscape depends on four factors: coherence, legibility, complexity and mystery (kaplan and kaplan, 1983, 1989: 53; kaplan, 1987). according to kaplan and kaplan, we prefer those landscapes that score high values on all four factors. coherence and legibility facilitate understanding a scene. enough complexity makes a scene interesting, and mystery raises the expectation that there is more to learn about the scene. these four factors as such are not biological factors, but refl ect perceptual factors that give the best opportunities to obtain the knowledge that is needed for survival. thus, the biological factor in this theory is the assertion that liking those landscapes that foster obtaining knowledge trains the cognitive system, and thus contributes to survival. kaplan and kaplan (1989) report eleven empirical studies that have tested their theory: coherence and mystery appeared signifi cant predictors of landscape preferences in most of these studies, while complexity and legibility were signifi cant in only one study. the theories of berlyne and kaplan and kaplan share the assumption that we have evolutionary developed preferences because they serve optimal cognitive functioning. this explanation, however, is very problematic in the face of recent progress in generic emotion research. comparative phylogenetic research has demonstrated that the emotional system came into being at a much earlier stage in evolution than the cognitive system did (ledoux, 2000). therefore, the emotional system cannot be an adaptation to exercise cognitive capacities (jacobs, 2006: 199). explanations for innate landscape preferences must be much easier than the ones offered by berlyne, and kaplan and kaplan. we have innate landscape preferences not because certain landscapes contribute to optimal cognitive functioning, but because certain landscapes have features that immediately serve survival. from this perspective, appleton’s prospect-refuge theory is a better explanation for innate preferences. according to appleton (1984, 1996), the relationship of the human subject to the perceived environment is comparable to the relationship of an animal to its habitat. the innate human preference for landscape features is a spontaneous reaction to the landscape as a habitat (appleton, 1975: 70). to put it simply: we prefer those landscapes that offered our primitive ancestors the best chances of survival (appleton, 1975; orians, 1986). we like to see without being seen: we prefer landscapes that allow us to hide, as well as to survey the environment. our ancestors hunters and gatherers needed to be able to hide from large predators. they also needed to be able to survey the landscape, in order to gather vegetables and hunt for prey. appleton’s prospect-refuge theory states that landscapes that provide both prospect and refuge opportunities are highly preferred, because they met the biological needs of our distant 45 ancestors. thus, half open landscapes would be preferred over open landscapes or closed landscapes, an assertion that is corroborated by empirical fi ndings. these empirical fi ndings, however, do not necessarily determine whether appletoń s explanation rings true, as alternative explanations are still possible (e.g. half open landscapes often provide an optimal mix of coherence and mystery). in addition to half-openness, an abundance of vegetation and an abundance of water are thought to be landscape properties for which we have an innate preference (e.g. schroeder and daniel, 1981; ulrich, 1981, 1983, 1993; yang and brown, 1992). these innate preferences are easy to explain: we need water to survive, and the presence of vegetation often indicates the presence of food, water and a place to hide. some scholars have suggested that we have an innate preference for nature (e.g. herzog, 1989, 1992; schroeder, 1991; ulrich, 1993; zube, 1991). however, it is highly unlikely that this hypothesis is true. firstly, it contradicts the fi ndings of historians who revealed that, during the middle ages, people disliked nature (corbin, 1989; lemaire, 1970). secondly, because the hypothesis of an innate preference for nature contradicts basic premises of the evolutionary approach itself. the genetic make-up of humans does not change fast. we must theorise what the benefi t has been for our distant ancestors – i.e. a hundred thousand years ago – to explain innate preferences. in those days, the whole environment was natural. hence, there was no evolutionary benefi t at all for our ancestors to have genes that predispose us to a preference for nature. probably, those who argue that we have an innate preference for nature confl ate nature with vegetation. while natural landscapes often contain more vegetation than human-made landscapes, it is the vegetation, not the naturalness, which triggers inborn mental dispositions to like those landscapes. to conclude, theoretically, it is very likely that we have innate preferences for half-open landscapes, and for landscapes with vegetation and water, as empirical studies indicate. while extensive cross-cultural research is absent, studies in various countries corroborate these assertions. importantly, nobody argues that landscape preferences are solely based on innate dispositions: learning during the course of life affects those preferences as well. 2 . 3 c u lt u r a l f a c t o r s while landscape perception and appreciation are in the end individual mental phenomena, culture exercises great infl uence on the individual mind, and hence, might explain certain experiential dispositions towards landscapes. lehman et al. (2004) conclude in their review study on psychology and culture that “much recent research has demonstrated the strength of culture in infl uencing the perceptions, construals, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of its members”. culture consists of a set of collective views and habits (jacobs, 2006: 143). culture infl uences individual minds by means of public expressions: any material sign that can be 46 psychology of the visual landscape used to convey a message from one mind to another, which include written and spoken words, paintings, videos, body language, et cetera (jacobs, 2006: 151). an individual, living in a culture, is exposed to a perpetual stream of public expressions that might infl uence his thoughts about the object the public expressions expound on. for example, all individuals in western culture get socialised into a certain view on nature by means of public expressions about the way nature works (e.g. texts on ecosystem theory), what nature looks like (e.g. paintings, tv documentaries), and what kind of experiences people have had in natural settings (e.g. poems, conversations) (jacobs, 2006: 152). although many sociological and anthropological studies are somehow related to places (since social processes are often intimately related to places), sociological and anthropological studies and theories are seldom explicitly about place or landscape experiences (gieryn, 2000). this is a logical consequence of the object of the studies conducted by sociologists: social processes and structures. the bond between community and landscape is studied in anthropological work (hirsch and o’ hanlon, 1996). for example, van assche (2004) and duineveld (2006) describe the various bonds between images of places and self-defi nitions of communities. these works focus on discourse, regarded as the production of meaning, that includes images of reality out-there as well as images of self (van assche, 2004; duineveld, 2006). in this approach, landscape experience is seen as dependent on discourse, for in discourse, ideas and meanings are conveyed between individuals. several historians have studied diachronic changes in the way people ascribe meaning to landscape and nature (e.g. schama, 1995; corbin, 1989; pyne, 1998). according to de groot (1999), for our distant ancestors – hunters and gatherers without a permanent residence – nature was taken for granted as the immediate, omnipresent religious universe. trees and stones were thought to be animated. in that time, nature and culture were not separated. as agriculture entered human history, people built permanent settlements. man projected intentions onto places; for example, a place has to be a fi eld to grow corn. nature and culture became divided. nature appeared as a disorderly thread, producing plagues, weeds and vermin. nature was an enemy of man (de groot, 1999). for example, in the middle ages the ocean was regarded as the chaotic domain of the devil, abandoned by god, inhabited by sea monsters and ruled by chaos and death (corbin, 1989). in the modern era, man started to master nature by using technical innovations (de groot, 1999). the fear of primeval nature slowly faded. writers, explorers, philosophers and painters constructed a romantic image of nature. the appreciation of nature, then, is a typical product of modern western culture. 47 historians pay little attention to the diversity of ideas in a particular space of time. moreover, historical research is often limited to the ideas of the upper class, such as writers, statesmen, painters, scientists and explorers. little is known about the ideas of laymen. since the 1990s, several dutch philosophers and sociologists have been investigating images of nature amongst the public. images of nature are complex formations of meanings, functioning as overall frames of mind, that structure the perception and valuation of nature (buijs, 2000; 2009; jacobs et al., 2002; keulartz et al., 2000). this formation of meanings includes a cognitive dimension (what nature is), a normative dimension (how to act towards nature) and an expressive dimension (what the experiential values of nature are) (keulartz et al., 2004). in different images of nature, a particular natural phenomenon can be given different meanings. for example, the ocean can be seen as primeval nature by people who have a particular image of nature. for people who have another image, the same ocean can be seen as space that provides leisure opportunities. buijs (2009) has revealed fi ve different images of nature amongst the dutch public: the wilderness image, the autonomic image, the inclusive image, the aesthetic image and the functional image. people with a wild image of nature regard only nature that is untouched by man to be ‘real’ nature; they consider it not right to exploit nature for human purposes and regard rough nature without traces of human use the most beautiful. at the other end of the spectrum, people who have a functional image of nature consider nature that is highly infl uenced by man nature as well, consider it right to use nature for human purposes and consider nature ordered by man to be the most beautiful. the other images fall in between these extreme images. for example, people with an inclusive image consider everything to be nature as long as it grows spontaneously. in this image, man is allowed to intervene in nature, but not too much. nature that expresses peaceful coexistence between man and nature is regarded as beautiful. the results of other empirical studies (jacobs et al. 2002; keulartz et al., 2004, van den born et al., 2001) resonate with the fi ndings of buijs. based on more than 20 years of landscape perception research in many areas in the netherlands, coeterier (2000) argues that, within local cultures, inhabitants develop a special way of looking at the surrounding landscape. often, a leading theme, which depends on the specifi c landscape, guides this way of looking. for example, in one region he found that the predominant theme for people was to divide the landscape into a front, consisting of paved roads where housing and human activities are concentrated, and a back, unpaved drives where nature and silence were to be found. this leading theme comprises the nature of the landscape as a whole and its function. furthermore, coeterier (1996, 2000) has found that other important attributes that determine landscape perception and evaluation by inhabitants are maintenance, naturalness, spaciousness, development in time, soil and water, and sensory qualities. these attributes are abstract perceptual qualities, and the way people fi ll them in depends on the leading theme. thus, coeterier developed a system of categories that determine a local culture’s way of assessing landscape. 48 psychology of the visual landscape the individual mind is permeated with culture. historical, sociological, and anthropological studies into landscape have demonstrated cultural infl uences on the way people perceive categories of places (e.g. natural places) and particular places (e.g. a specifi c region). individuals are members of different cultural communities on different levels. as members of a global western culture they might be socialised into a general appreciation of nature, as historians have shown. as members of a national culture, they might be infl uenced by national discourse, e.g. the dutch discourse of fi ghting against water, or the polish discourse in which the forest is given a specifi c nationalistic connotation since the forest was the place where resistance to foreign powers started (schama, 1995). as members of a local culture, people might gradually adopt a specifi c way of assessing the place they inhabit. cultural infl uence, then, is a multi-layered set of infl uences. 2 . 4 i n d i v i d u a l f a c t o r s next to biological factors, which point to cross-cultural commonalities in landscape perception, and cultural factors, that indicate meanings assigned to landscape that are shared within a cultural group and which may vary across groups and across time, the way a person perceives landscapes also depends on individual factors: mental dispositions that result from individual previous experiences or differences in personality traits. think of a garden. according to the adaptive approach, someone’s preference for the garden is predictable on the basis of general, non-individual factors, for example because it is a good mix of prospect and refuge opportunities (appleton, 1975) or because it is complex, mysterious, legible and coherent (kaplan and kaplan, 1989). according to the images of nature approach, different people might appreciate the garden differently, dependent on their image. apart from that, the garden can have special meanings for its owner and it can have a particular identity for people who visit it often. during the course of life, people give meaning to particular places and become attached to places (tuan, 1980). previous experiences, and especially recurring patterns in previous experiences, leave traces in the human brain, which is highly plastic (open to change) in nature. psychologically, these traces can be called mental concepts: enduring elementary mental structures, which are capable of playing discriminatory and inferential roles in an individual’s life, in the sense of infl uencing various mental operations (jacobs, 2006: 124). neurologically, these mental concepts are constituted by specifi c neural circuits. the neural mechanisms for acquiring new mental concepts are unravelled by kandel (2001): “our studies provide clear evidence that learning results from changes in the strength of the synaptic connections between precisely interconnected cells”. he demonstrated that learning new concepts is established by the building of new specifi c circuits in the brain. these concepts play a crucial role in perception. perception 49 is the experience of a meaningful image, based on sensory input. while sensations as such are chaotic, we organise the incoming raw information with help of mental concepts (jacobs, 2006: 124). it is of importance that we have many mental concepts – probably millions. we have mental concepts for different categories e.g., for the tree it could be beauty, but also we then have more particular concepts, e.g. for that specifi c tree in your back yard it could be the place you were raised, and then mental concepts that relate to specifi c events, e.g. your tenth birthday. mental concepts are mutually connected. thus, somebody’s mental concept for a specifi c place might become connected with mental concepts that represent personal memories of that place, mental concepts that denote general knowledge of that place, mental concepts that refl ect value judgements, et cetera. thus, people gradually develop networks of place meanings. someone’s sense of place is the specifi c network of mental concepts that is connected to his/her mental concept for a particular place – a network of mental concepts that specifi es a place as a particular place for the subject, one that is distinct from other places. subjects have a sense of place for a particular place as soon as specifi c mental concepts or specifi c combinations of mental concepts for the particular place have been created in their minds. by perceiving the particular place, or by thinking about it, the network of specifi c mental concepts, or parts of it, may be activated, thus contributing to a specifi c experience of place for the subject. not all mental concepts that make up someone’s sense of place are experienced during a particular experience of a particular place. experiences and memories of a place may be different every time for an individual subject. and sometimes hardly any of the mental concepts that make up someone’s sense of place may be part of his experience. it is not necessary at all to receive stimuli from the particular place for the mental concepts that constitute a sense of place to be activated. one may just think about the place while being elsewhere, or a sense of place may play a role in experience when seeing other places that resemble properties of a particular place, even if one is not consciously aware of this association. in human geography, the study of the meanings that people assign to places is often labeled the concept of sense of place (manzo, 2005; patterson and williams, 2005). sense of place – understood as the total collection of meanings that people assign to a particular place (jorgensen and stedman, 2001) – is thus an overarching concept (hay, 1998; shamai, 1991) that includes all meanings an individual assigns to a place. the concept of place meaning is a broad concept that stresses any form in which a person is related to a place, for example, ways of using a place, aesthetic values, feelings of belonging, emotional attachment, memories of a place, or knowledge of a place. importantly, place meanings are properties of subjects; the meanings are assigned to places, or features of places, by people (manzo, 2005). some scholars consider sense of place a holistic concept, and are therefore reluctant to distinguish between its components or dimensions (e.g. relph, 1976; tuan, 1980). others have distinguished sense of place dimensions, such as cognitive, affective, and behavioral or conative meanings (altman and low, 1992). a compatible distinction between attachment to (emo50 psychology of the visual landscape tional bonds with the place), dependence on (perceived behavioral advantage of a place), and identifi cation with (the role of the place in overall self-identity), is used to develop and test a psychometric scale for quantitative measurements of sense of place (jorgensen and stedman, 2001, 2006). these dimensions are based on an abstract theoretical distinction that goes back to plato (ajzen, 2001), who argued that man has three basic psychological faculties, viz. knowing (cognitive domain), feeling (affective domain), and willing (conative domain). in a similar vein, the two components of place dependence and place identity were measured in a psychometric approach to place attachment (williams and vaske, 2003). jacobs and buijs (2010) adopted a different approach to reveal various dimensions of sense of place. instead of a theoretically determined categorisation, they formulated dimensions on the basis of an open, in-depth account of people’s place meanings as elicited in two studies. five categories of abstract place meanings emerged from the data-driven analysis: beauty (place meanings related to aesthetic judgments), functionality (place meanings that express ways of using the landscape), attachment (place meanings that convey belonging relations between subjects and the place), biodiversity (place meanings pertaining to species and nature), and risk (place meanings that articulate worries about current or expected problems). these categories of abstract place meanings, that considerably overlap with categories revealed by other studies (e.g. tunstall et al., 2000; davenport and anderson, 2005), represent aspects of place that stand out to people. apart from individually developed place meanings that guide the way people perceive particular landscapes, individual variation in landscape perception can also result from differences in personality traits. while the effects of personality traits are not yet extensively studied, van den berg and winsum-westra (2010) have demonstrated that a personal need for structure is positively correlated with the perceived beauty of manicured allotment gardens, and negatively with the perceived beauty of wild allotment gardens. 2 . 5 a p p l i c a b i l i t y t o g i s s u p p o r t s y s t e m s the division into biological, cultural and individual factors is not only useful to appreciate various bodies of scientifi c knowledge about the psychology of the landscape, but is also a good basis to discuss gis based instruments for landscape policy, planning and design. note that, related to the subject of this chapter only gis systems that somehow incorporate psychological values pertaining to the visual landscape will be discussed here. theoretically, we can divide all planning support mindscape inclusive gis systems into two types: closed systems, which have a set of fi xed values that represent characteristics of mindscape, and open systems, in which values that represent mindscape properties can be moderated by the users of the system. the gis-based landscape appreciation model (glam) that is presented 51 in chapter six of this book is an example of a closed system. in this model, fi xed values (based on empirical studies), that express average landscape appreciation by the dutch public, are assigned to landscape attributes that are represented in gis databases. closed models like glam can be useful for landscape policy and eventually for large scale landscape planning. when the values that represent appreciation are fi xed, it is possible to produce estimates of landscape appreciation without actually measuring it in each and every different place. these estimates can be used to monitor landscape changes in landscape appreciation over time (based on comparing two gis datasets that represent the physical landscape at different points in time). thus, national policy makers can for example learn whether their efforts are successful in terms of landscape attractiveness. in large scale planning contexts (e.g. the ecological main structure in the netherlands), planners might estimate attractiveness based on gis data that represent the future situation, and thus perform ex ante evaluation, using a closed mindscape inclusive gis instrument like glam. of course, a closed mindscape inclusive gis instrument faces constraints by necessity. because the values are fi xed, only values that refl ect landscape preferences that are pretty similar in most people are suitable. thus, only landscape preferences that are manifestations of either biological factors (more or less the same in all individuals) or high-level (e.g. on the scale of a nation) cultural factors (more or less the same amongst the inhabitants of a country) are useful. landscape preferences that are based on lower level cultural factors (e.g. local communities), or individual factors cannot be catered for by closed systems, since these preferences would vary across small groups or individuals and thus not be feasible to be expressed as average values. as a consequence, closed systems are not useful for planning and designing intermediate or small-scale local spatial interventions, since differences across groups of people and individuals are often at stake. in those situations, an open gis system that can incorporate mindscape characteristics could support planning and design. in an open system, different stakeholders could express their unique special place meanings, bonds with landscape features, or landscape preferences, and assign those mental dispositions as values to specifi c physical landscape attributes represented in gis databases. since an open system is fl exible with respect to assigning values to physical landscape attributes it can cater for different groups of people with different opinions and preferences. such a system could be used in collaborative planning exercises, for example to get a mutual understanding of the consequences of various future scenarios for the mindscapes of different people who are affected, and thus looking for options that most people would be able to agree with. 52 psychology of the visual landscape 2 . 6 c o n c l u s i o n the psychology of landscape – the way the landscape is perceived, experienced and appreciated by the subject – is studied by several scientifi c disciplines, even by disciplines that do no primarily focus on the individual mind, but on culturally shared meanings or images. the preceding sections presented a short overview, in which some dutch contributions are emphasised. the dutch contributions together do not form a separate approach that is distinctive from the international literature. various dutch contributions stress different aspects of landscape perception, without being mutually connected by a shared theoretical framework. this refl ects the study of the psychology of landscape in general, that is fragmented and dispersed across disciplines. a generic body of theoretical and empirical insights that is generally accepted has not emerged. rather, there is an abundance of theories, each carrying little explanatory weight, and cross-disciplinary debate is rare. this probably refl ects the complex underpinnings of perceiving landscapes, in which numerous factors play a role. nonetheless, some insights are shared by most scholars involved in landscape perception research. first, psychological responses to landscape are partly innate. convergent results indicate we have innate preferences for half-open landscapes, and for landscapes with vegetation and water. there are, however, different specifi c explanations that stress why we are evolutionarily inclined to respond to landscapes in certain ways: the arousal theory, preference matrix, and prospect-refuge theory being examples. empirical studies have not yet sorted out convincingly which of the specifi c evolutionary explanations is most adequate. second, learning, both on the cultural or individual level, plays a role in psychological responses to landscape as well. even those who address biological factors often emphasise that learning infl uences landscape perception. which factors are most important, depends on context. in psychological responses toward landscape scenes not encountered before, biological factors probably play a predominant role. for familiar scenes, cultural and individual factors, which result in assigning meaning to landscapes, come to the fore. 53 ajzen, i. 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(1991) environmental psychology: global issues, and local landscape research. journal of environmental psychology 11; 321-224 81 constructive exceptionality spontaneous urbanization and recovered agency in zaatari refugee camp sara al nassir institute of urban and regional planning | technische universität dresden doi 10.7480/rius.6.95 r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 82 abstract in the increasingly urbanized zaatari refugee camp, one prominent market street, al-souq, stands out as contributing to the creation of a camp city, thereby challenging the view of camps as temporary settlements. while the spatial transformation of zaatari is indisputable, there has been little investigation into how such a transformative process has taken place. this paper questions how the interplay between human agency and structure produces space in the camp, and, eventually, the city. to this end, al-souq, the main market street in zaatari, has been chosen as a case study. employing an explorative narrative approach, the main findings denote a constructive exceptionality that facilitates space creation as well as a consequential inclusion of refugees in the camp. furthermore, the spatial construction of al-souq shows that refugees are in fact active agents. therefore, the paper concludes by offering an alternative conceptualization of camps, i.e. that they are not necessarily temporary, as well as refugees, i.e. that they are not aid-dependent victims. these notions contradict traditional humanitarian perceptions. keywords refugee camp, production of space, duality, agency, structure c o n s t r u c t iv e e x c ep t io n a lit y 83 1. introduction agamben (1998) has designated camps as exceptional zones of indistinction, where the discrepancies between inclusion and exclusion are blurred. in his conceptualization, camps are perceived as static zones in which the primary characteristic is the maintenance of bare life. this perception is often extended to viewing refugee camps as an agglomeration of helpless victims. yet the spontaneous urbanization of the zaatari refugee camp (see figure 1) suggests an entirely different situation. today the camp exhibits multiple urban features that materialize the permanent temporariness which defines its character. for example, it features identifiable districts and neighbourhoods; streets are paved and connected to an electrical grid; households are personalized and vary in size; there are makeshift street markets offering a variety of products and services. in view of these factors, the pigeonholing of refugee camps as temporary settlements occupied by idle, helpless victims is restrictive and inadequate, specifically in regard to urban-type refugee camps. figure 1. a satellite image illustrating the location of the zaatari refugee camp near the syrian-jordanian border – provided by google maps (google). the scenario whereby camps gradually transform from tent-exclusive spaces to emergent urban settlements in order to accommodate the needs of refugees, which in turn evolve to reflect the longevity of the camp itself, is neither novel nor uncommon. nevertheless, there is a general tendency – particularly from a humanitarian standpoint – to conceptualize camps as r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 84 temporary, since acknowledging their permanence is misguidedly associated with the promotion of suffering and deprivation. in fact, the policy of the un refugee agency (unhcr 2014) is to pursue “alternatives to camps”; when established, such camps should remain temporary, as they constitute a violation of refugees’ freedom and rights. thus even when camps persist for decades, they continue to be perceived through a paradigm of temporality, which in turn is extended to the perception of refugees and the life they lead inside these urbanized settlements. this recursively produces a culture of dependence (agier 2002; see malkki 1995; sanyal 2014). living in a state of continuous temporariness is inextricably accompanied by the spatial transformation of camps. while these may have some resemblance to urban informalities, they are distinctive in their own political situation, challenges and consideration. hence, we require an alternative conceptualization of camps and refugees (hartmann, laue & misselwitz 2015). sanyal (2017) points out the need for a new vocabulary to formulate our thinking about refugee spaces beyond the mere “language of crisis”. in this paper i argue that by exploring the way camps urbanize and by considering how the resulting spatiality is constituted, we can establish a useful lens to peer into the everyday lives of refugees inside such camps as well as discern how they counter the typical dependence, inactivity and dissociation arising through encampment. this proposition entails an alternative conceptual understanding of the camp as a socially-produced space. more specifically, by tracing the creation of zaatari’s main market street (al-souq), this paper investigates the produced spatiality of the camp, seeking to understand its transformation from an assembly of tents to the produced urbanity it is today. 2. conceiving urban-type refugee camps the standard discourse around refugee camps poses a problem of conceptualization, both as applied to theory and practice. hence, it is necessary for us to discuss how the concepts of the camp as well as space are perceived theoretically. beginning with the first concept, a basic problem in theorizing about refugee camps can be attributed to the grouping of all types of camps into a single category, namely the camp. discussions about detention or concentration camps are thus often extended to urban-type refugee camps, generating an overwhelmingly critical perception of those camps as well as their inhabitants. this lack of conceptual distinction unavoidably leads to shortcomings in the description of how refugees reconstruct their lives after displacement. the common extension of biopolitics to conceptualize camps illustrates the point. while agamben’s (1998) initial thesis was a criticism specific to concentration camps, he nonetheless states that the camp has replaced the c o n s t r u c t iv e e x c ep t io n a lit y 85 city, allowing the adaptation of his biopolitics to a wider range of spaces, most importantly refugee camps (see diken & laustsen 2002; elden 2006; minca 2006, 2015; oesch 2017). within this approach, the camp is perceived as an exception, whose inhabitants are homo sacers, namely individuals stripped of their basic rights and reduced to bare lives. this view is not implausible if we think of refugee settlements, especially during the initial phases of their inception when suffering is the rule. biopolitics and the concept of bare life are also aligned with the humanitarian perception of camps as temporary settlements inhabited by victims. such a view, however, breaks down when we attempt to account for refugees’ productive activities in camps that are urbanizing.1 a criticism of the narrowness of the humanitarian paradigm has been reported in various accounts for this very reason (see also malkki 1995b; agier 2002; sanyal 2014). clearly, we require an alternative approach that recognizes the produced spatiality of the camp. specifically, an approach that brings space to the fore in any investigation of refuge, perceiving this as the basis and result of refugees’ actions (abourahme 2015; abourahme & hilal 2009; see al-qutub 1989; grbac 2013; hartmann et al. 2015; jansen 2016; katz 2015; martin 2015; peteet 2005; ramadan 2013; sanyal 2014). reading camps as socio-spatial phenomena, the aim is to explore the everyday lives of refugees, the way they start over and reconstruct their lives in their new settlements. all these insights are crucial in order to remedy the flaws in our current understanding of camps and their inhabitants. remarkably, this lens is contentious even though displacement is, by definition, about losing one’s place and ipso facto is concerned with issues of replacement, space and place. both biopolitics and socio-spatial considerations are in fact appropriate to describe different aspects of the transformation of refugee camps. while the shortcomings of agamben’s thesis are increasingly criticized in the literature on spatial camps, this criticism still revolves – as oesch (2017) explains – around an “exclusionary paradigm”. specifically, the notion of exception can be read inversely. for instance, while turner (2016) conceptualizes the camp as exceptional, according to him its exceptionality does not produce bare life. fresia and von känel (2015) suggest that normalization follows exception during and not after encampment. similarly, while critical of biopolitics and the term “exception”, sanyal (2014) points out that the “exceptional category of being a refugee” is employed by camp residents to enhance their situation. evidently, the whole picture is too complex to be captured by one or another individual approach. for this reason, i argue here for a re-engagement with agamben’s notion of exception in my exploration of zaatari as a 1 numerous examples of urban-type refugee camps exist around the world. well-known cases of what has been often termed “camp cities” include the dadaab camp in kenya, the palestinian camps absorbed within major cities such as shatila in lebanon and wehdat in jordan in addition to the most recent make-shift camp kutupalong-balukhali for rohingya refugees in bangladesh. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 86 socio-spatial phenomenon, i.e. a constructive exceptionality. turning to the concept of space in relation to camps, we note that it is through the understanding of space as socially produced that the temporary perception of the camp falls short. lefebvre’s (1991) and löw’s (2008) accounts of space are fundamental here, the former for his triad of space and contribution towards the role of everyday life and the latter for her reformulation of giddens’ (1984) concept of duality. it is through lefebvre’s (1991) approach that we understand space beyond the perception of a mere “container” as socially produced through the interaction of three aspects, namely the physical, the mental and the lived. löw (2008) extends the central contribution of lefebvre while placing equivalent weight on the role of action, perceiving space as a duality of action and structure. as löw’s (2008) duality will prove fundamental for our exploration of the production and constitution of space in the zaatari refugee camp, it is valuable to provide a summary here. this duality encompasses an element of agency: repetitive daily action is crucial for the constitution of space and is motivated by knowledgeability (practical and discursive). the fact that space is produced in the camp in a simple bottom-up, unplanned manner helps to portray refugees as active subjects rather than helpless victims. moreover, structure is provided by the rules and resources that are embedded in institutions of action.2 resources (material and immaterial) and rules (formal and informal) enable and restrict space for constitutive action. the two elements of action and structure recursively reproduce each other. finally, along with this premise of duality, löw (2008, p. 36) adds a third symbolic element to identify three dimensions that constitute space: -the routinized paths of action; -the structural dimension of spatiality; -the constitution of places and the development of atmospheres. these space-constitutive dimensions inform the overall investigation and structure of this paper. additionally, by adopting löw’s spatial concept, i perceive zaatari as a problem of agency vs. structure, thereby providing a standpoint from which to investigate the production of zaatari’s main market space: al-souq. 3. site selection and methodology site selection in the large and volatile zaatari refugee camp is far from easy. not only is the size of the camp daunting3 but also the appropriations of space taking place are numerous and diverse in scale. while some of these transformations are harder to trace than others, street markets in zaatari form a physical space that is the sole result of refugees’ actions. this is con2 as originally defined by giddens (1984). 3 the camp covers an area of 5.3 km2 (unhcr 2017b). c o n s t r u c t iv e e x c ep t io n a lit y 87 firmed by the unhcr standardized camp layout, which only specifies one marketplace per 20,000 inhabitants or one per settlement (camp), as opposed to a multi-use market street of privately-owned shops (unhcr 2018).4 zaatari currently has four street markets (see fig. 2). the two main streets forming al-souq (arabic for market) are the central saudi (running left to right) along with the oldest and most famous street known as the champselysées (running top to bottom). all sorts of shops exist in al-souq selling basic foodstuffs, domestic supplies, pet food and even bridal dresses. it is important to note that al-souq is not only a space of transaction; it is the main space of interaction in zaatari, a place where refugees socialize and interact, protest to voice their claims, celebrate eid or ramadan and even go on dates (for more on the significance of street markets, see bork‐hüffer et al. 2016). figure 2. the main market streets in the zaatari refugee camp; al-souq. autocad-generated map of zaatari by the author based on a unhcr map collected during fieldwork. in the following, i employ a narrative approach to explore the way in which al-souq was produced5 (for the connection between space, the everyday and narration, see fischer-nebmaier et al. 2015). the narratives of 44 shopkeepers with stores in both saudi and champs-elysées were collected during a field 4 zaatari has two supermarkets, safeway and tazweed (both run by the world food programme), together known as “the mall”. 5 the narrative approach was chosen for theoretical and logistical reasons, namely in order to obtain the security permit needed to access the camp. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 88 trip in july 2016. the concrete situation in the camp necessitated the application of three interviewing strategies to enable both structureless and semi-structured narratives 6. the aim was to link the individual and collective narratives in order to construct what may (2002) calls a “public narrative” of the whole market. in what follows, i explore the three dimensions that constitute al-souq (as identified by löw) in order to understand how this thriving market came to be, how individual actors chose to sell specific products within clear spatial settings and what facilitated and constrained their actions. 4. from helpless victims to active agents in a broader sense, refugee camps that undergo some spatial transformation tend to follow the same path: refugees acting as agents to reconstruct their identities, agencies and spaces, thereby gradually turning camps into emergent cities. the eloquent description by a unhcr zaatari site planner recorded during my fieldwork recounts how this scenario takes place: “we always follow them. they start the thing and we follow. seeing them digging cesspools outside their houses, we built the whole sewage treatment plant project; they created a street module (each row of houses with a street), and we made a replica of that; they started decorating and drawing on their caravans, and we responded with the graffiti project. they come up with the ideas. essentially, they are way ahead of us, in many ways.” if we consider that al-souq is solely the outcome of refugees’ actions, then its very existence denotes active agents behind its production, challenging the humanitarian and biopolitical perception of refugees as mere victims or bare lives. this lends plausibility to the suggestion that the socio-spatial transformation of the camp inevitably materializes through the presence of certain levels of agency. such a view is crucial in the quest to conceptualize camps. while refugees are initially perceived as an undifferentiated mass of humans in need of help, on the ground they eventually recover their agency and reconstruct their lives. the management of refugees during the emergency period of arrival ignores their individuality since the main concern is to provide urgent humanitarian aid. this inevitably results in a loss of identity and agency, at least temporarily. maintaining the helpless victim as the refugee archetype is, however, self-defeating since it leads to a vicious cycle of dependency, thereby hindering recovery. agier (2002) describes this predicament as “a problématique of identity”, albeit solely focused on identity (the same argument can be extended to agency). 6 the strategies are semi-structured interviews with narrative elements, exclusively narrative interviews as well as narrative interviewing by external interviewers. c o n s t r u c t iv e e x c ep t io n a lit y 89 this initial state of dependency and victimhood is overcome by prospects of recovery through the gradual production of space. in fact, the collected narratives all exhibited a pattern of transition from passivity and helplessness towards activity.7 what starts as a crisis of loss, whether of identity or agency, ends up setting the conditions for their reestablishment. on similar grounds, ghorashi et al. (2018) suggest that refugees be perceived as “sources of agency”, since this facilitates their inclusion in the new environment. moreover, wille (2011) stresses that the acknowledgment of people’s agency is crucial for their integration and to foster a sense of belonging. refugee camps are thus not merely spaces of suffering and marginalization; they are spaces where human agency becomes possible. 5. the structural dimension of al-souq’s spatiality while al-souq is the sole responsibility of the refugees running it – meaning it does not rely on humanitarian aid and donations – it comes as no surprise that its transformation mirrors the changing conditions of the camp. for example, once certain material resources became available in zaatari, the refugees bought or exchanged the same resources to improve al-souq, materializing their permanence each step of the way. the shops were transformed from floor mats (hasira in arabic) to tents, then to zinco8 (known locally as tuti) and finally caravans9. this mat-tent-zinco-caravan transformation, either wholly or partially, is a part of each collected narrative. the transformation was not limited to the structure of the shops; remarkably, the products offered and hence the variety of business types present in al-souq also evolved greatly over time. in the following, we explore the specific resources (material and immaterial) as well as rules (formal and informal) that structured refugees’ actions in creating their shops. 5.1 resources when zaatari was originally established, refugees arriving at the camp had limited resources. this was the spark that ignited al-souq. we can narrate the wider transformation of zaatari’s flourishing market by detailing the specific material and immaterial resources that were drawn upon to produce the individual shops. first, the material resources used to create al-souq were the essential aid packets, distributed debit cards (known colloquially in zaatari as “the visa”), electricity as well as caravans. in fact, results show that these resources worked as a counter-encampment response, as follows: 7 this was identified through the performative analysis of the narratives. 8 a generic term for metal-roofed (or metal-walled) housing (knudsen 2016, p. 443). 9 “caravan” or “karavana” is the term used in the camp to refer to prefabricated housing (prefabs). unlike the common understanding of caravans, these structures are in fact immobile. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 90 aid: counter dependence response initially refugees received aid either as packages of essential items for daily survival or through debit cards with limited funds that could only be used in the wfp supermarkets (“the mall”). it quickly became apparent that neither could meet the evolving needs of refugees. while essential aid packages can ensure survival when emergencies erupt, it is unsustainable to exclusively rely on these over longer periods of time. refugees unanimously reported their aversion to continually eating the same pre-chosen meals. similarly, the debit cards that could be used in “the mall” limited refugees’ budget as well as choices. refugees commercialized their aid items through direct sale or by exchange with jordanian workers in order to obtain essential products unavailable in zaatari at the time such as fresh vegetables and fruit. as a result, the first shops to open in al-souq were small, makeshift convenience stores (dokkanas), where refugees took charge of the basic items that constituted their everyday life, countering the culture of dependence that living on aid generates. electricity: counter idleness response at first there was no electricity in the camp. the original aim of connecting zaatari to a power grid was to facilitate the work of the humanitarian agencies on-site. nonetheless, it proved to be yet another crucial resource, informally supplying energy to refugees’ shelters and, later, to shops. this was done by directly connecting electric cords to streetlights. in fact, at that time, “bring your own cord” was standard advice given to refugees about to move to zaatari. this significantly altered the quality of refugees’ lives and eventually led to the general supply of electricity to all camp residents.10 in addition to the problem of aid dependency, life without electricity in the newly established zaatari camp entailed long periods of inactivity and waiting. the arrival of power countered this state of idleness, creating a demand for electrical devices and encouraging the establishment of shops in al-souq to meet this new demand. makeshift electric appliances shops selling television and satellite dishes were the second in line to appear. furthermore, other household devices could be sold (such as refrigerators, ovens or hairdryers), whose availability then paved the way for the establishment of spice merchants, bridal shops, bakeries and other shops. caravans: counter displacement measure living in tents or zincos entailed certain levels of instability due to their fragile and mobile nature. caravans, on the other hand, are stable and private structures that provide a form of longer-term housing. supplied by donations 10 the informal consumption of electricity left the unhcr with a bill of $8.7 million, necessitating the regulation of electricity inside zaatari (lahn 2015). c o n s t r u c t iv e e x c ep t io n a lit y 91 only, the slowly rising number of prefabs in zaatari gradually transformed the camp. this in turn made prefabs a precious resource for trading and renting; they were even burgled (see ledwith 2014). another significant role played by prefabs was to provide a home-like structure that allowed refugees to administer their own space. refugees modified the layout of their shelters, adding a second space, building a fountain or designed an exterior access to the toilet. the more the prefabs looked like homes, the higher the demand for materials necessary for this enterprise. this resulted in the emergence of makeshift building supplies shops (mahalat sehhiya), fabric shops to furnish the newly established homes and, finally, shops selling domestic supplies (asrounyeh). once these material resources became available, al-souq offered a fertile ground for all sorts of businesses to grow. with these growing opportunities, refugees started drawing on their immaterial resources to start businesses. more specifically, interviewed shopkeepers specified that their previous skills or “schemas”11 were factors influencing their actions in creating a shop (sewell jr 1992). the reasoning is easy to infer: the arrival phase in zaatari was associated with various instabilities, which is why refugees built upon their trusted repertoire of previous skills in reconstructing their lives. interviewed shopkeepers all listed their previously acquired skills (or those of a relative) as an essential motive behind their choice of business type. 5.2 rules in addition to resources, the structural dimension of spatiality is determined by rules. of particular interest to our investigation of zaatari are the formal (man-made) rules that govern the opening of shops or the nature of employment. these rules are merely regulatory (limited to the issuing of permits to allow products inside the camp) and were devised in a general spirit of facilitation. an in-camp and out-of-camp disparity stemming from this attitude has brought challenges to refugees who are non-camp dwellers searching for work outside zaatari. in fact, there exist multiple narratives, included some refugees who have moved from urban settlements to zaatari. such reverse migration seems counterintuitive as the expected flow is in the opposite direction. the possibilities of finding work in non-camp settlements are more complicated. until the establishment of the jordan compact plan in 2016, only 4,000 syrian refugees working in jordan had a work permit, a figure that has since grown to 40,000 (ilo 2017). however, this figure does not represent the actual number of people in work. evidently, many hurdles still exist for newly 11 in his discussion on duality, agency and transformation, sewell jr emphasizes mental structures, which he calls “schemas”. along with rules, he identifies these as functioning like prior scripts according to which an agent acts. as he puts it: “agents become agents because of these mental structures” (sewell jr, 1992, p. 12). r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 92 arrived syrian refugees who wish to integrate themselves into the jordanian workforce. these attempts are usually coupled with protests from pressure groups representing unemployed jordanians. within zaatari, employment is either self-created (refugee-owned shops) or offered by organizations working in the camp. according to multiple unhcr factsheets (2015, 2016; 2015b, 2015a) around 60% of working-age refugees in zaatari generate revenue. no official rules govern the establishment of a privately-owned shop in zaatari; this also means that no work permits are required. while general guidelines do exist to regulate employment with the ngos present in zaatari, their sole purpose is to ensure equality of opportunity (unhcr 2017). that is to say, none of the rules inside zaatari concerned with securing a livelihood and work is related to permission for refugees to work. the fact that such permits are generally assumed eases the overall process of becoming independent and recovering agency. one reasonable question to pose at this stage is why work-related rules are more flexible and productive within zaatari than in the host community? to further illustrate my point, i return to agamben’s (1998) notion of exception. at the same time, i refer to a dissimilar exception, one that facilitates action as opposed to constraining it. more specifically, it appears that the exceptional history of the establishment and development of zaatari as a city of refugees is responsible for the disparity highlighted above. the refugees in zaatari built a city of their own; they constitute the local community as opposed to being the new arrivals amongst jordanian workers outside. while following an overarching system of rules (regarding, for example, safety and good conduct), the camp functions as a separate entity with its own logic and its own specific rules solely concerned with refugees in zaatari. the emergence of some zaatari-exclusive rules is highly distinctive. as mentioned above, work-related rules have proved beneficial to both refugees and the host country. hence, they were selected for. it is important to point out that when speaking of exceptionality, i do not mean to establish a generalizable expectation regarding all camp-related matters. a case in point is the predominance of early marriages inside the camp. thus i do not argue for the uncritical acceptance of zaatarian rules as a whole, but wish to shed light on a facilitating factor that happens to be camp-exclusive in comparison with other non-camp refugee settlements. 6. the atmospheric quality of zaatari the above-mentioned disparity between out-of-camp and in-camp conditions can be extended to a discussion of the refugees’ feeling in this spatial setting. in zaatari camp, refugees expressed a sense of belonging to the place and the community as opposed to the intense feeling of exile experienced outside, where they constantly bear the stigma of being labelled a refugee. c o n s t r u c t iv e e x c ep t io n a lit y 93 therefore, another example of zaatari’s exceptionality can be traced in the last dimension constituting space, namely atmospheres. according to löw (2008), atmospheres are instantiated through perception. evidently, perception is not easily generalizable due to the significant individual variation. however, we can uncover shared ideas, behaviours and experiences of those living in the camp, which, in turn, influence the generated atmospheres. by investigating these atmospheres, it is possible to infer processes of inclusion and exclusion as well as what follows from the identification and dissociation with space (see hasse 2014; löw 2008; schmitz 2012). which expressions of inclusion or exclusion did interviewed refugees have in common? to what can we attribute the development of these expressions, and how does this discussion inform us about refugees’ identification and association with zaatari? i will answer these questions by investigating a translated excerpt from an interview with a refugee: “personally, i am against migrating out [of zaatari]. i had a chance to go to canada, but i didn’t go because we are very well-adjusted here. and i don’t like to go out… outside the borders of the zaatari camp. here i do not feel like an exile! it’s true that outside people are like “our brothers”, but here i feel that i’ve become accustomed to things and have grown to know everybody. it is true that i left syria, but my whole family is around me! all the people are around me. i know that their accent is syrian, their traditions and customs […] what is different for me here is only the weather.” of course, it is unsurprising that an atmospheric quality of home would stem from residing in one place with people from your home country. while home for most refugees in the camp was originally the city of daara ( unhcr 2017b), now it is zaatari. the fact that refugees commonly defend the reputation of zaatari indicates that they feel represented by the camp or belong to a zaatari-specific identity. while dissociation is an expected outcome of displacement, it seems that the spatial transformation of the camp has been accompanied by a reworked sense of identification. once more, zaatari appears as an exception to other refugee settlements. urban refugees generally face various risks associated with being a minority group in an homogenous host community. in zaatari, on the other hand, refugees not only come from syria, but the majority from the same directorate in south syria. interviewees expressed a shared sentiment in the form of a minimal sense of exile inside zaatari. they share an accent, their physical roots, their history as well as a common status rather than being newcomers amongst a host community. in short, zaatari’s exceptionality has also resulted in a counter-displacement or counter-exile atmospheric quality of belonging. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 94 7. on exceptionality two questions arise from the conceptualization of zaatari as an exceptional space: first, am i promoting some political consideration of an autonomous zaatari? the short answer is no. however, the discussion of self-governance is appropriate here. officially speaking, zaatari is under the joint administration of the jordanian government and the unhcr (2018b). meanwhile, various zaatari governance plans have emerged at different times. for example, the syrian refugee camp directorate, (srcd) implemented one plan to improve the inadequate administrative structure existing soon after zaatari’s establishment (unhcr, unicef and wfp, 2014). while ledwith (2014) also reported on a self-governance plan being developed by a netherlands-based association of municipalities, to date there is no follow-up reports on the initiative’s progress. exploring space and its production involves a discussion of refugees’ rights to manage and govern these produced spaces. in a discussion of noncamp refugees, sanyal (2017) makes a similar point about the need to research governance and how it transforms refugee spaces. one point of departure could be bulley’s (2014) model of “governing through community” and his proposal of an ontological shift, whereby the community leads behaviour and enhances both agency and meaning. martin (2015) explains how ensuring refugees’ right to self-administer spaces is key to the development of camps. the residents of zaatari are allowed to modify their spaces, albeit within certain limits, most significantly regarding a ban on the use of cement.12 as explained by abourahme (2015), cement is crucial in that it materializes permanence and signifies a sense of staying. it is also associated with normalcy, something that prefabs and tents do not do. the narrative of one refugee illustrates this by looking at things from the point of view of his two-year old son: “i regret and feel sad when i think of my son husam, who’s a little older than two years. i think that this kid has seen prefabs and tents but never cement. what can he do? i often go online or show him on the television.” second, am i promoting the isolation of refugees in a refugee-exclusive space by conceptualizing zaatari as an exceptional space? this, too, is a hasty conclusion. now six years old, the camp encompasses a growing generation of native zaatarians and has seen the clear establishment of spaces and identities. in this case, dissolving the camp is no longer the humane alternative. thus, what i am suggesting is an acknowledgement of zaatari’s existence 12 while interviewed refugees indicated their desire to build dwellings in cement, it remains prohibited inside the camp, with the exception of flooring or to construct urban furniture. c o n s t r u c t iv e e x c ep t io n a lit y 95 as well as the cooperation it represents with the host country, taking into consideration the benefits afforded by its exceptional position. in fact, it is already true that the camp does not exist in complete seclusion from its surroundings, and some collaboration is already in place. even though zaatari’s geographical location poses a challenge to a scenario whereby it follows the palestinian-camp model, i.e. merging with existing cities, it is already connected through trade to various cities in jordan. interviewed refugees listed mafraq, ramtha, irbid and amman as the source of their goods. the unhcr factsheet (2017) confirms trade-based cooperation between zaatari and the jordanian community. further, refugees commute in and out of the camp for education and healthcare purposes. in this sense, zaatari can be thought of as a gray space13 in which refugees are defying their initial confinement and employing the exceptional nature of their space to recover and reconstruct their lives. 8. conclusion in this paper i have investigated the process by which al-souq was established in zaatari. structuration proved a suitable lens to read the camp’s produced spatiality. the main findings indicate a constructive exceptionality of the camp that not merely facilitates the creation of space but also guarantees a consequential inclusion. furthermore, the very production of space indicates that refugees are active agents and creators as opposed to aid dependent victims, the status commonly attached to them. encampment is ipso facto associated with produced exclusion and dissociation as well as a general state of helplessness. all of these seem to be countered and reworked by the spatial transformation of the camp. as a result, by recognizing the urbanity and exceptionality of zaatari, we can open the door to more context-appropriate measures for improvements to similar camps to better meet current needs and allow for more efficient progress. 13 a term initially coined by yiftachel (2009) to describe the bottom-up processes of spatial production in urban informalities. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 96 references abourahme, n. 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(2009). critical theory and ‘gray space’: mobilization of the colonized. city 13(2–3), 246–263. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 98 281 participatory workshops as a tool for building inclusivity in new towns in africa rachel keeton1, nelson mota2, ekim tan3 1. erasmus governance design studio | eur rotterdam 2. faculty of architecture and the built environment | tu delft 3. play the city doi 10.7480/rius.6.104 r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 282 abstract africa is currently the fastest-urbanizing continent in the world. as part of this rapid growth, new towns are increasingly employed by private developers as a means of providing well-serviced urban environments to middleand upperincome groups. these comprehensively-planned new towns are often seen in contrast to the perceived ‘chaos’ and ‘congestion’ of large african cities. as a result, two urban forms, the highly controlled new towns and the unregulated settlements at their edges, engage in complex social and economic exchanges, but remain spatially segregated and socially exclusive. current research points to the need for an alternative approach to top-down new town planning in africa. participatory workshops are one alternative that can offer planners access to local knowledge that is otherwise difficult to access. this paper explores the potential of short-term reflective, design, and serious gaming workshops by reflecting on the experiences of the authors in four recent workshops. the paper evaluates the effectiveness of these workshops as useful tools to increase inclusivity in african new towns by bringing together stakeholders with competing agendas and supporting open discussion, negotiation, and informed decision-making. the paper concludes that participation from stakeholder groups that would normally be marginalized from the planning process (such as current residents, temporary users, and residents of adjacent unregulated communities), can offer new insights to planning bodies and inform more inclusive new towns across the continent. keywords african cities, inclusive urbanization, new towns, participatory workshops, stakeholder participation p a r t ic ip a to r y w o r k sh o p s a s a to o l fo r b u ild in g in c lu siv it y in n e w to w n s in a fr ic a 283 1. introduction since being introduced as an urgent research topic in 2013, contemporary african new towns have attracted an increasing amount of attention among researchers (watson, 2013). in the years since this first investigation, such new towns have proven to be fertile ground for researchers focused on aspects such as inclusivity (bhan, 2013; van noorloos and kloosterboer, 2017; côté-roy and moser, 2018; marcinkowski, 2017), housing (alaya, van eerd, and geurts, 2019), economic significance (murray, 2015b), and governance (murray 2015a) in african new towns. many of these studies look to specific case studies or take a comparative approach, while other studies take an overarching, continental perspective (grant, 2015; van noorloos and kloosterboer, 2017; keeton and provoost, 2019). distinguishing between new towns developed by national governments and those led by private developers, these studies build a profound critique of contemporary, privately-developed new towns across africa as isolated, exclusive pockets of infrastructure and services. this is seen as partially the result of the top-down planning processes that characterize most privately-developed new towns in africa (van noorloos and kloosterboer, 2017; keeton and provoost, 2019). however, there is growing consensus among researchers that neither exclusively top-down nor exclusively bottom-up development can succeed in the long-term (grant, 2015; keare, d.h., 2001; provoost, n.d.). recent literature points to the need for alternatives to the current new town planning paradigm; alternatives that bring previously marginalized stakeholder into the planning process (grant, 2015; keeton and provoost, 2019). this paper argues that participatory workshops that bring together diverse stakeholders can be useful tools to stimulate negotiation among groups, thereby not only increasing the diversity of voices in the planning process, but also building empathy and understanding between groups with conflicting priorities. by creating multi-stakeholder forums that support access to different types of information, “different interest groups can be brought together to successfully collaborate on planning for and managing cities, and more appropriate local strategies and projects can be developed and implemented” (smit, 2018: 77). using four examples of recent, experimental workshops aimed at influencing the planning of contemporary african new towns, this paper is a reflection by the workshop organizers on the experiences and outcomes of these workshops. as discussed in section 4.1., workshop a was organized by rachel keeton at tu delft, the netherlands, with a group of international, multidisciplinary participants. workshop b (see section 4.2.) was organized by the international new town institute in tatu city, kenya, bringing together local planners with a team of dutch planners and architects. the third workshop, discussed in section 4.3., was organized by play the city, a private game der iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 284 velopment company, and took place in khayalitsha, south africa with a group of local and regional participants. workshop d (see section 4.4.) was organized by faculty from tu delft and executed in rotterdam, the netherlands. although much has been written on the individual subjects of participatory planning and new towns, there is not yet much available literature that brings together these two streams. this article aims to do so by first describing the theoretical background of these concepts, focusing on interactive workshops as tools to facilitate participatory planning. the main research question is: ‘what issues influence the effectiveness of participatory workshops on african new town planning?’ following this, the article discusses the setup, ambitions and experiences of four workshops that aimed to promote public participation in the development of african new towns. finally, the article concludes by offering recommendations for future research and summarizing the conclusions made in this paper. 2. participatory planning alternatives for new towns in africa? new towns can be understood as new, planned urban developments built on previously undeveloped (greenfield) sites. keeton and provoost define contemporary african new towns as comprehensively planned, mixed-use, intended for more than 10,000 residents and displaying some degree of political autonomy (2019). in different parts of africa, comprehensively-planned cities that meet this criteria have been deployed as an urbanization strategy since ancient times (although these remain exceptional and smaller villages were a much more common form of development) (smith, 2007; ozo, 2009; ross and bigon, 2018). there is a lack of data available on the planning processes used in these earliest new towns, but in their analysis of twentieth-century planned capital cities in africa, abubakar and doan write: “each of these new towns was designed and implemented by foreign consultants with little involvement of the local community. this is not surprising because the modernist model is top-down, context-independent and based on scientific but not local knowledge” (2017). in contemporary examples, this modernist approach continues to be employed, although the design results may stray significantly from the functionalist models associated with modernist urban design. 2.1 a top-down project is not a city the latest generation of new towns in africa repeats the top-down modernist development model, although the majority of contemporary new town development in africa is now initiated and led by private developers rather than national governments (keeton and provoost, 2019). unlike government bodies who maintain long-term management of new urban developments, private developers may see their role in the development process as more p a r t ic ip a to r y w o r k sh o p s a s a to o l fo r b u ild in g in c lu siv it y in n e w to w n s in a fr ic a 285 limited and temporary. because of this, many private developers tend to look at new town development as the creation of a finite product, or a project to complete and then sell. this approach does not sufficiently allow for flexibility or adaptation over time, and does not accommodate the needs of a pluralistic society. as chris marcinkowski writes, “what is at issue with this particular format [private new towns] is that much of the housing being produced is simply inaccessible to the general population from a financial point of view without substantial government subsidies that many of these countries simply cannot afford to provide” (marcinkowski, 2017). indeed, un-habitat estimates that over half (61.7%) of the urban population of africa is made up of slum-dwellers (2012). developers and decision-makers commonly see the urban poor and unregulated settlements as a reflection on the failure of urban policies, when comparing their cities with international standards. with this in mind, they may lean towards eviction and slum clearance or prohibition rather than looking for new ways to integrate the urban poor into the planned city (klopp, 2008). however, researchers point to the need for more participatory planning processes in order to create new towns and cities that are more inclusive and reflective of local realities (scott, 1998; myers, 2011; abubakar and doan, 2017). as warren smit argues, the urban governance landscape in africa is complex and often difficult to navigate: “key urban governance stakeholders… need to be brought together in collaborative processes to jointly develop and implement new strategies that are based on a broader range of interests and meet a broader range of needs” (smit, 2018). 2.2 academia versus practice rendeavour is currently one of the largest private developers of new towns in africa, with projects in five different countries. tim beighton, head of marketing & communications for rendeavour, calls african new towns an “academia-defying subject” (personal communication 11 april 2018). his critique reflects the view that academic literature on this topic tends to vilify private new town development without acknowledging the complexities developers face in the drawn-out process of attempting to secure land, commissioning various studies and master plans, and finally contracting construction companies. while academics may be guilty of simplifying the challenges of implementation, their critique of contemporary new towns across africa as exclusive enclaves deserves acknowledgement. many developers are unwilling to address this issue with any real commitment, excusing their developments as housing that meets market demand. despite this disconnect between academia and practitioners, there are opportunities for researchers to engage directly with developers. short term workshops are one way to create a forum in which different voices can be r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 286 heard. this has benefits for all participants, as it may be the first time they are brought into contact with each other and (perceived) power differentials may be temporarily reduced or removed, allowing for real negotiation. in the context of contemporary african new towns, this form of direct participation may help address the problem of top-down development that prioritizes one form of urban development over the needs of the majority. as richard grant concludes: “the core ideas of these opposing camps [academics and developers] are the antithesis of each other. a more productive way forward is to pursue a dual track that allows for showcase and iconic new urban projects while focusing special attention on slum urbanism and creative thinking that links the two approaches and situates urban projects within a sustainable development paradigm.” (2014: 294). 2.3 participatory workshops as planning tools since the term ‘design participation’ was introduced fifty years ago at the 1971 design research society conference in manchester, participatory planning and design have gained traction as accepted working methods (cross, 1972). in their book routledge international handbook of participatory design (2013), editors jesper simonsen and toni robertson connect the shift towards collaborative design processes to the collective actions and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s (2013: 2). today, participation in the planning process is increasingly seen as a requirement by both private industries and public bodies engaged with planning and development. jenkins (2006) even refers to a ‘participatory culture’ of the current climate, as illustrated by new types of media and social engagement through digital forums. in this context, short-term, multi-stakeholder workshops are widely acknowledged as a participatory tool in the ‘design participation’ toolbox to catalyze stakeholder communication and negotiation. as planning tools, workshops have the potential to create environments of democratic decision-making and transparency that can achieve results that other planning tools cannot. by giving stakeholders ‘equal’ voices in the design or decision-making process, a workshop may be able to bring new ideas, connections, needs, desires, and networks to the foreground. at their best, such participatory approaches can “enable collaboration, negotiation and the co‐construction of knowledge” (wynne-jones, s., north, p., and routledge, p. 2015: 218). despite their current popularity, however, participatory workshops face considerable threats. because they are a function of interpersonal communication and relationships, there is no way to fully control these events. researchers have pointed to highly subjective tensions such as trust, loyalty, guilt and discomfort as “complicating ingredients” in participatory design (wynne-jones, s., north, p., and routledge, p. 2015: 219). for workshop orp a r t ic ip a to r y w o r k sh o p s a s a to o l fo r b u ild in g in c lu siv it y in n e w to w n s in a fr ic a 287 ganizers operating outside of a familiar cultural context, complications can quickly multiply. 3. methodology the analysis of the workshops in section 4 is based on the first-hand participation and organizational experiences of the authors, as well as their extensive experience with african cities and planning process. to make this assessment, the authors have compiled and analyzed reports of the workshops, reviewed empirical evidence, interviewed workshop participants, and evaluated published results from secondary data such as newspaper articles, press releases and participant websites. the scope of this analysis is limited to four workshops in which the authors were involved, all of which took place between 2014-2019 with the stated ambition of improving participatory planning in african new towns. the four workshops were also selected to illustrate a diversity of organization, intention and outcomes. public participation events generally occur because planning bodies or decision-makers lack knowledge, capacity or resources (fung, 2018). deciding who participates in workshops has a direct impact on whether these deficiencies will be appropriately redressed, and requires consideration of workshop goals as well as workshop constraints. one may ask, “are [the participants] appropriately representative of the relevant population or the general public? are important interests or perspectives excluded? do they possess the information and competence to make good judgments and decisions? are participants responsive and accountable to those who do not participate?” (fung, 2006:67). designing a successful workshop therefore begins with matching participant selection to established goals. as elaborated in section 4, workshop a was organized with selectively-recruited participants based on individual expertise, while workshop b was organized with professional stakeholders. workshop c brought together lay stakeholders and professional stakeholders, while workshop d allowed for self-selected participants among attendees of a larger international conference on future african cities. in his seminal article “varieties of participation in complex governance”, fung outlines three dimensions along which mechanisms of participation vary: “[1] who participates, [2] how participants communicate with one another and make decisions together, and [3] how discussions are linked with policy or public action” (fung, 2006). short, intensive workshops can be a useful way to bring together diverse stakeholders (whether selectively recruited or self-selected), structure the interaction and communication between these groups to achieve specific goals, and move the planning process forward efficiently. as a precursor to workshop organization, stakeholder analysis should be done in order to establish the ambitions, resources, and r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 288 interdependencies of various groups (freeman, 1984; bryson, 2004). the goal of a workshop may vary. examples in section 4 include workshop a, which attempts to translate the expertise and opinions of 21 multidisciplinary experts into a single, coherent set of planning principles for african new towns, and workshop b, which attempts to bring together professional planning experts to contribute to an existing master plan design. in both cases, the workshops were designed to achieve maximum cooperative potential and to reduce threats of obstruction (fung, 2006). 4. reflective, design, and serious gaming workshops for african cities this section describes four workshops that share the central aim of contributing to more socially and environmentally sustainable new towns in africa. as described in the first example in this section, reflective workshops may be used to refine existing proposals or specific aspects of plans among a multidisciplinary group of experts, providing an expert review. design workshops may be used to evaluate or develop an alternative to an existing design. in the second example in this section, a design workshop was used to give an alternative perspective on an existing master plan for a new town. reflective and design workshops are more practical in nature, while serious gaming workshops are informed by a more robust theoretical background, as illustrated in the final two examples. serious gaming has developed a rich theoretical underpinning over the last decades and can provide a systematic and collaborative approach to problem-solving that meets the needs of different city makers, whether designers, politicians or other relevant agents (dorner et al., 2016). ‘city gaming’ is a specific form of serious gaming that encompasses application to urban issues. in city gaming, participants come together in environments designed to minimize the obstructions, opposing values, or power differentials that may inform communication outside of the game. this environment, which is designed by the game developer, allows participants to exchange institutional and individual knowledge, strategize and (sometimes) come to collective agreements. “by transforming serious issues into a playful and engaging (although no less serious) experience, city gaming unlocks difficult conversations and helps to build communities in the long term. the urban design, policy and action plans generated collaboratively through gaming will increase social coherence and local agency, as well as cutting costs and time in urban development processes” (tan, 2014). city games thus function as a tool to support the integration of top-down and bottom-up ambitions. p a r t ic ip a to r y w o r k sh o p s a s a to o l fo r b u ild in g in c lu siv it y in n e w to w n s in a fr ic a 289 4.1 workshop a: “urban lab: imagining adaptive planning for african new towns” by tu delft (2017) the “urban lab: imagining adaptive planning for african new towns” took place on 8 june 2017 at tu delft. this event was organized by rachel keeton in collaboration with the international new town institute and with financial support from the delft global initiative.the workshop was a parallel event within the urban thinkers campus on education at tu delft from 7-9 june 2017. the twenty-one workshop participants were selectively recruited experts from a range of backgrounds, including academia, urban planning, government, and environmental analysis. figure 1. workshop participants discuss and evaluate the proposed planning principles to reach consensus during the urban thinkers campus in delft, the netherlands. image © rachel keeton 2017. the aim of the workshop was for participants to critically examine a proposed set of planning principles from multidisciplinary perspectives, and ultimately build a set of coherent adaptive planning principles that meet the diverse criteria brought into discussion during the workshop. by employing deliberation and negotiation mechanisms, and taking a holistic view of the urban challenges related to african new towns, the participants collectively arrived at an equitable set of principles (crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries) to drive inclusive, adaptive planning forward through effective urban design. application of these principles and their spatial implications was explored in later workshops. the workshop was successful in achieving r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 290 the goals of the organizers partly because the invited experts were engaged in the topic and acknowledged the urgency to challenge the current planning paradigm (keeton, 2017). 4.2 workshop b: “new town lab: tatu city” by the international new town institute (2018) the new town lab at tatu city, kenya, was co-organized by the international new town institute, a “think and do tank” based in the netherlands, and kuwa, a nairobi-based research and urban planning office, at the request of rendeavour, the private developer behind tatu city. a new town lab is a rapid planning workshop in which a selected group of international and local experts work together for one week with the aim of finding a convincing and innovative concept for urgent planning issues. the lab took place from 9-14 september 2018 and brought together dutch experts on urban planning, water management, circular economy and spatial design, staff from rendeavour including kenya country head, senior development manager, urban infrastructure manager, head of development control, and community lead, among others. additional kenya-based professionals and local residents also participated in the workshop. figure 2. area chiefs reflect on the local needs of residents near the new town development of tatu city, kenya. image © christine waithera 2018, used with permission. p a r t ic ip a to r y w o r k sh o p s a s a to o l fo r b u ild in g in c lu siv it y in n e w to w n s in a fr ic a 291 in tatu city, the workshop addressed the main question: “how can we create a connected network of green and blue spaces that acts as a sustainable and resilient backbone for tatu city?” the workshop built on previous site research conducted by kuwa that provided valuable insights into the social, economic, spatial and ecological aspects of the surrounding context. workshop participants spent the first part of the week gaining a deeper understanding of the new town and its context, while the second part was spent designing an alternative vision for the green and blue network in tatu city’s existing master plan. finally, a public presentation of the results was made and participants discussed potential ways forward. according to rendeavour head of country nick langford, the results of the workshop supported a main goal of the tatu city team: “we are keen to focus on building a cohesive city that embraces not just our residents’ use of public space, but also the use by communities living around tatu city” (rendeavour, 2018). 4.3 workshop c: “play khayelitsha” by play the city (2014) in february 2014, the city of cape town’s planning office met with play the city to discuss a city gaming approach that would help bring new ideas to the table for the centre of cape town’s second-largest township. adapting play the city’s established methodology to the local goals and context, the game design team created a prototype to be tested during the ‘department of design’ (a three-week co-creation event) in july 2014. the first iteration of the game attracted about 60 players, including members of the cape town municipality, vpuu, and residents of khayelitsha from various backgrounds. by playing the prototype, play the city was able to gain feedback and insights that allowed for improvement to the game. the second iteration was played by informal traders, local entrepreneurs, and government representatives. primarily, the goal of the game was to help local traders who have worked in the centre for decades to compose a future vision for their township. “play khayelitsha” addressed the area’s acute infrastructural, governance and programmatic needs through a negotiation game designed to help transform the township centre into a more inclusive public space. one unexpected result was the local traders’ expression of their longterm interest in land ownership. many of the government representatives and others around the table had never heard of this desire, which ultimately became a major point of negotiation throughout the rest of the game. the idea of setting up a ‘traders’ co-operative’ emerged from discussions during the game as a way of increasing the traders’ bargaining power by collectivizing their interests. this outcome was further explored through spatial designs that would support such the new organization. the game was therefore successful in achieving the goal of supporting long-term transformation of r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 292 khayelitsha’s urban centre by catalyzing discussion and negotiation among different stakeholders. 4.4 workshop d: “afropolis” by tu delft (2019) “afropolis: co-creating sustainable solutions for affordable housing in africa” was held on 8 april 2019 at the van nelle fabriek, in rotterdam. this workshop was organised by nelson mota, brook teklehaimanot, sophie oostelbos, and gonzalo zylberman (tu delft) and included in the programme of the 2019 africa works! conference, organized by the netherlands-africa business council. afropolis was one among fourteen workshops and round-tables offered to the attendees of the conference. the workshop was organised twice, with one occurrence in the morning and another in the afternoon. in the morning session, there were six self-selected participants and in the afternoon session fourteen. in both cases, there was a wide range of backgrounds, including academic researchers, teachers, corporate individuals (e.g. working for developers, contractors and banks), members of ngos, as well as design and planning professionals. figure 3. participants ‘play’ the serious game afropolis as a side event at ‘africa works! 2019’ conference in rotterdam, the netherlands. image © nelson mota 2019. p a r t ic ip a to r y w o r k sh o p s a s a to o l fo r b u ild in g in c lu siv it y in n e w to w n s in a fr ic a 293 the initial set-up of “afropolis” was inspired by the “jogo do estatuto da cidade” (game of the statute of the city), developed in brazil in 2002 by renato cymbalista, raquel rolnik, paula santoro, and uirá kayano nóbrega (cymbalista et al., 2002). these authors created a role-play game to raise awareness of people’s civic and legal rights safeguarded in brazil’s “statute of the city”, a federal law passed in 2001 to promote fair and equitable cities. using the format of a board game, the participants of “afropolis” used a toolkit based on two components: “actors” and “urban elements”, to solve the “case”. the “case” was a hypothetical housing project to be developed in a district of a fictional african city, materialised in a 100x100cm aerial view photograph at the scale 1:1000. each participant performed the role of one of the “actors”, a typical stakeholder in slum upgrading/redevelopment (e.g. local politician, developer, architect, slum dweller). the group of different actors was encouraged to implement their fictional agendas (both open and hidden) while simultaneously creating synergies to reach consensus in the design-decisions necessary to develop the project. to simulate their planning strategy, the players had scale models of three different “urban elements” at their disposal: (1) housing types: (isolated houses, row-houses, slabs, tower blocks); (2) amenities (resource centre, kindergarten, temple, commercial block); (3) open spaces (playground, garden, square, sports field). the goal of “afropolis” was to raise awareness of the spatial and societal implications inherent in design-decisions related to the production of housing. the use of scale models reproducing familiar housing typologies and amenities allowed both design professionals and lay(wo)men to be aware of the social and spatial consequences of their planning strategies. manipulating the scale models on the aerial view depicting an urban district created tangible scenarios of the consequences brought about by the different design-decisions. the workshop aimed to illustrate the creative potential of conflicts in participatory design. as the game evolved, participants gradually realised the need to engage in a process of co-creation, to achieve a win-win situation where the different actors’ agendas could be negotiated and conciliated to solve the “case”, rather than dominating the other players (win-lose situation). the workshop achieved its main goal of raising awareness of the importance of design-decisions in tackling the pervasive housing challenges in african cities. it demonstrated that while governance and management are important aspects in the implementation of housing programmes, design cannot be overlooked if the goal is to create solutions for inclusive and sustainable development. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 294 5. analysis whether such a workshop achieves the goals laid out by its organizers can be influenced by the decisions the organizers take long before the workshop beings. in this section, a qualitative assessment of the effectiveness of the workshops described in section 4 addresses four influential factors identified by the authors and workshop organizers. these include: workshop location (section 5.1), participant selection (section 5.2), workshop organizer (section 5.3), and workshop goal (section 5.4). as elaborated in this section, analysis of these individual factors indicates that the effectiveness of a workshop in achieving its goals is the result of an interrelated and hybrid network of factors that may receive varying levels of attention from workshop organizers. 5.1 where is the workshop? two of the workshops discussed in the previous section took place in the netherlands (workshops a and d), while three took place in african contexts (workshops b and c). the location of a workshop can have a major impact on the effectiveness of a workshop. for workshop organizers working in cultural contexts different to their own, the geographic location may limit the participant pool, complicate logistics, or create language and cultural barriers or misunderstandings (unemoto 2001). these considerations must be taken into account whether a workshop is organized locally or remotely. workshop a, for example, was able to effectively bring together multidisciplinary and international experts by combining the workshop with a larger event (urban thinkers conference at tu delft), and having the budgetary possibility to cover travel costs for participants from abroad. not only geographic location, but also the workshop venue itself can influence the effectiveness of a workshop. in workshop b, the weeklong workshop was held in the rendeavour offices, which allowed for both formal and informal exchanges among participants and fostered interpersonal interactions that benefited the design process. alternatively, a venue that reinforces perceived hierarchies may stifle open exchanges among participants. 5.2 who participates in the workshop? in all four workshops described in section 4, participant selection played a major role in the effectiveness of the workshops. participant selection is closely related to the goal of the workshop. in workshop d, for example, all participants were attendees of a conference (africa works! 2019). the workshop was one of many side events that were open to all conference attendees and as a result the participants were voluntarily self-selecting. workshop d was run twice during the conference, with very different results. the workshop organizers attribute this to the varying backgrounds of the participants p a r t ic ip a to r y w o r k sh o p s a s a to o l fo r b u ild in g in c lu siv it y in n e w to w n s in a fr ic a 295 and the number of ‘players’ engaged in the serious game. as short term workshops related to new town development in africa, the choice of ‘who participates’ may proceed from different ideological approaches. an inclusive approach may seek to invite a diverse range of participants including representatives of marginalized groups as well as recognized decision-makers. a ‘bottom-up’ approach may prioritize (future) resident engagement over powerful institutions. partnering with local institutions can help workshop organizers gain access to groups whose participation is desired. 5.3 who organizes the workshop? in the workshop examples discussed in section 4, two of the workshops were designed and organized by academics (workshops a and d), one was developed by a non-profit institute for a private developer (workshop b), and one was developed by a private company for a public body (workshop c). based on these experiences, the organizers may influence the effectiveness of the workshop when organizers are unable to connect with the participant group, or when co-organizing groups exhibit different or competing interests. public and private organizing bodies may also prioritize different values, which may compromise the workshop’s ability to meet its goals. in workshop b, for example, the international new town institute (inti, a non-profit ‘think and do tank’), was invited to organize a ‘new town lab’ for rendeavour (a private new town developer). this combination resulted in differing expectations for the workshop results, which may have contributed to the lack of follow-up between the partners. 5.4 what is the goal of the workshop? the goal of a short term workshop must match the duration of the workshop, the capacities of the workshop participants and organizers, and the location of the workshop. the goal, or goals must also be clearly communicated to the participants. in workshop c, for example, the primary goal of the serious game was to support and facilitate local traders in composing a future vision for their township. during “play khayelitsha” the idea of a ‘traders’ co-operative’ emerged and was further explored through spatial design experimentation during the game. in this way, the game was successful in achieving the goal of enabling transformation of khayelitsha’s urban centre by triggering discussion and negotiation among the workshop participants. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 296 5.5 conclusion a number of factors determine whether a workshop is able to effectively meet the goals set out by organizers. from the examples discussed in section 4, the authors and workshop organizers identified four factors with perceived influence on the workshop’s effectiveness: location, participant selection, organizers and goals. while these factors may individually impact the effectiveness of a workshop, they are also related to each other in complex ways. a workshop that effectively meets the goals set out by the organizers must therefore appropriately address these factors while the workshop is in the planning stages. failing to adequately consider any of the four factors elaborated in this section can threaten the workshop’s effectiveness. 6. conclusions and recommendations in their book “to build a city in africa: a history and a manual”, keeton and provoost build the case that contemporary african new towns are generally planned in a top-down way, whether by public or private bodies (2019). especially in the case of private new town development, the current planning paradigm is not inclusive, and tends to forego participatory processes in favor of streamlined production. this approach may fail to give voice to marginalized stakeholder groups, and may insufficiently incorporate local knowledge, capacities, cultures, and heritages (de satge and watson 2018). there is general agreement among researchers that this approach does not result in inclusive cities, and there is a need for participatory alternatives (watson, 2013; grant, 2015; marcinkowski, 2017; abubakar and doan, 2017; keeton and provoost, 2019). as smit concludes: “collaborative governance can be messy and conflictual, but only through facilitating engagement and collaboration between different urban governance actors can urban challenges in africa be effectively addressed” (smit, w., 2018). one alternative approach is incorporating participatory workshops into the planning process. through four recent examples that specifically address african new towns, this paper has shown that such workshops can be a useful tool to stimulate negotiation among stakeholder groups, thereby increasing diversity, sharing knowledge, and building empathy during the planning process. however, as sun, tai and yen (2019) point out, planning training before the actual workshop would increase non-experts’ understanding of planning-related concepts and potentially increase their ability to productively contribute to short term workshops. some limitations of this study are the small size of the sample, and the lack of quantitative evaluation techniques to measure their effectiveness. while workshop a succeeds in achieving its goal of bringing together disparate viewpoints into a single document, it is unknown whether the design results of workshop b will be implemented or have any real effect on the exp a r t ic ip a to r y w o r k sh o p s a s a to o l fo r b u ild in g in c lu siv it y in n e w to w n s in a fr ic a 297 isting master plan for tatu city. workshop c was seen as an effective as a tool for forging new alliances and negotiations, while workshop d allowed for knowledge-sharing and built empathy, but did not have any discernable effect on african cities. these conclusions are interpretations by the authors and workshop organizers based on qualitative analysis of the workshop results. future scholarship should develop workshops as tools for participatory planning in african new towns by including quantitative measures of their effectiveness and focusing on implementation of their results. the authors have been invited to test this new direction by co-organizing a serious gaming workshop in zanzibar in september 2019. the zanzibar department of urban and regional planning (dourp) needs new alternative methods to engage relevant stakeholders in planning decision-making process, and hearing of workshop b at the future of the african city conference in leiden, the netherlands, approached the lead author to organize a similar workshop locally. the workshop in zanzibar brings together the serious gaming methodology developed by “play the city” and illustrated by workshop c with the planning principles developed during workshop a. while it is clear that more public participation is necessary to foster inclusivity in african new towns, it is not always obvious which forms of participation can best achieve the specific goals of planners or decision-makers. participatory workshops can be one way to bring together diverse stakeholders in the planning process. as fung reminds us, “specifying and crafting appropriate roles for participation… demands forward-looking empirical sensitivity and theoretical imagination” (fung, 2006: 74). as workshops become more common practice in new town planning, it will become possible to evaluate the impact of these short-term events on the spatial results. until then, they remain a useful tool to catalyze negotiations, build consensus and share information – critical aspects of any new town planning process. acknowledgements this paper was written as part of a phd financially supported by a fellowship from the delft global initiative, and co-funded by the international new town institute. the authors received no 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(2015). practising participatory geographies. area, 47, 218-221. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12186 r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 300 263 strasbourg’s inclusive policies for migrants and the iba urban developmental paradigm tristan siebert école nationale supérieure d’architecture de strasbourg doi 10.7480/rius.6.103 r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 264 abstract the issue of limiting motorized traffic can sometimes generate unexpected problems. for example, the city centre of strasbourg is crossed by a major motorway, which is constantly congested and polluted. this source of irritation is now at the heart of debates on urban planning. the public authorities wish to transform the route into a boulevard as well as to develop surrounding areas. currently, the numerous vacant spaces around the transport infrastructure are used by various associations, whose right of residency is relatively unsettled. an increasing number of small illegal settlements can also be found here as well as in adjacent neighbourhoods. while the city council is implementing inclusive policies towards migrants, how can these issues be translated locally into urban planning tools? strasbourg is an important transit point for migrants between france and germany. further, due to its border location, the city has always been an important hub for the exchange of ideas; in particular, new concepts of urban planning find fertile ground here. in order to transform the motorway, the public authorities intend to implement the german urban development tool known as the international building exhibition (german: internationale bauausstellung or iba). in the following, we examine the ibas of hamburg and berlin in order to try to identify good practices which could inspire french town planners and elected officials. this study is conducted through the prism of henri lefebvre’s book the right to the city (1968). keywords iba, strasbourg, inclusive policies, migrants s t r a sb o u r g ’s in c lu siv e p o lic ies fo r m ig r a n t s a n d t h e ib a u r b a n d e v elo p m en ta l p a r a d ig m 265 1. introduction according to the commission on social inclusion, participatory democracy and human rights of the united cities and local governments organization (towards a world of inclusive cities 2013)1: “inclusion policies must guarantee universal access to basic services and the safeguarding of citizens’ rights; they must be oriented towards the transformation of the social reality as dictated by the values of equity, solidarity and respect for differences.” this organization defends the interests of local governments internationally by advancing a vision of urban development based on the principle of the right to the city while reconciling the “recognition of differences with the promotion of a coexistence based on common civic values.”2 in france, this concept appeared almost 50 years ago when henri lefebvre, who taught sociology in strasbourg from 1962 to 1965, published his book le droit à la ville (1968). today we are witnessing renewed interest in this work as the paradigm of the neo-liberal city asserts itself. of course, the world has changed a great deal since the 1960s, and urban planning is no longer solely the business of powerful public authorities; yet many of the questions raised in this famous essay are still highly relevant. indeed, some specialists such as laurence costes invite us to re-read this work. in an article published in 2010 in the journal espace et sociétés entitled “le droit à la ville de henri lefebvre: quel héritage politique et scientifique?”, she asserts that lefebvre’s work delivers an anticipatory vision. indeed, the great sociologist developed an analysis that has on occasion proved perfectly correct. firstly, he rigorously asserted that socio-spatial segregation would increase and cities would experience the growth of marginalized sectors. secondly, he expected that new urban projects, and especially public spaces, would increasingly reflect standardized and codified uses. to face these challenges, the french philosopher and sociologist argued in favour of three rights. the first is the right to difference, meaning that several populations with disparate social and geographical origins can cohabit within the same neighbourhoods. their presence, which should not be questioned by others, will necessarily lead to the mutual recognition of groups and balanced participation in public debate. secondly, all inhabitants should enjoy a right to centrality. this means that everyone, especially individuals from the most deprived groups, has equal access to places of social, professional and intellectual opportunity. here the main objective is the emancipation rather than the homogenization of society as well as to ensure that no one is subject to alienation. thirdly, the author argues that we must challenge the understanding of urban planning as a matter for specialists, elected officials and special interest groups. this implies a right to participate in the debate on 1 united cities and local governments (2013), towards a world of inclusive cities, uclg committee on social inclusion, participatory democracy and human rights, p. 11. 2 ibid. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 266 the future of cities, in parallel with the development of a science of the city. everyone must be able to get involved in the future of the city. in his theory, the author considers this right to be inseparable from the two previous ones. situations of confinement can be observed if these principles are not respected: some inhabitants find themselves trapped not only in their local neighbourhood but also by their social condition. such conditions have been exacerbated in recent years as european countries have faced an influx of migrants, particularly into urban areas. reception facilities have been overwhelmed, and the necessary conditions for development and emancipation are rarely met. while some local and regional authorities have endeavoured to assert their own humanist values, their actions have at times been complicated or even countermanded by other political decisions. through the study of a practical case of the exclusion of migrant populations in strasbourg, we will try to understand elements of this phenomenon. just what are the dynamics of evolution, the risks and opportunities that make the city more inclusive for its new and marginalized inhabitants? on 25 march 2019, some fifty years after the publication of the right to the city, the city council of strasbourg adopted a “manifesto for a dignified reception of vulnerable migrants”. in so doing, this official seat of the european parliament wished to draw attention to an important issue. for the past few years, the city’s ambition has been to embody the role of a “capital for human rights”. the world summit on democracy is one of the spearheads of this ambition, reflecting the presence in the city of the european court of human rights. currently, the eu is facing major difficulties due to increased migratory pressures, exacerbated by the rise of far-right political parties. while some politicians seem to prefer to build walls, various cities leaders have affirmed their willingness to do the opposite. but just which concrete actions can be taken in the field of urban planning to realize these good intentions? today, there are a number of illegal migrant camps near the central motorway of the strasbourg conurbation. in the medium term, it is planned to transform this transport route into a boulevard and to develop its surroundings into parks and new residential districts. here, the important question is: how can we transform these marginalized sectors in an ethical and inclusive way? the municipal authorities are considering implementing project methods inspired by germany’s tradition of ibas (international building exhibitions). but how can this urban planning tool be aligned with the desire to function as a european capital of human rights? further, to what extent and how can the local authorities draw inspiration from previous ibas for their own needs? in the following, we first discuss the challenges and actions undertaken by the city of strasbourg in its policies towards disadvantaged migrant populations. we then consider the extent to which the project to set up an international building exhibition questions initiatives in favour of an s t r a sb o u r g ’s in c lu siv e p o lic ies fo r m ig r a n t s a n d t h e ib a u r b a n d e v elo p m en ta l p a r a d ig m 267 inclusive city. then we will try to identify which types of feedback (iba berlin and iba hamburg) could potentially be useful to strasbourg. as the studied topic is at an early stage of development, we finally ask ourselves: what are the prospects for the city of strasbourg? figure 1. image on the walls of the so-called “city of human rights”; rue st-michel (own picture) 2. strasbourg: portrait of an ambition to realize inclusive policies for migrants in precarious situations at first glance, strasbourg can be considered a city with many assets. it is one of the administrative hubs of the european union and is integrated into the famous urban corridor known as the “blue banana” megalopolis. many positive indicators confirm a burgeoning local economy. in addition, it is one of the main french regions “for jobs created by foreign investment”. the university is also recognized as the “second in france for the attractiveness of foreign researchers and scientific publications.”3 however, if we take a closer look, we see that this european capital is not free of the phenomena of exclusion. indeed, an important issue is the marginalization of migrant populations. 3 according to eric pilarczyk (2015), strasbourg, capitale européenne, city of strasbourg url : https:// www.strasbourg.eu/documents/976405/1066267/0/2d9e9172-e58d-7564-ae0b-ba0d41718bff r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 268 located at the border to germany, strasbourg is a major entry point to france.4 while there has always been a certain number of asylum seekers here, the metropolitan region saw a significant increase in the number of asylum applications in the period 2014-2018.5 some official figures show an increase from 1,800 per year to 4,000. recent data for the metropolitan region of strasbourg (département du bas-rhin) showed nearly 3,462 refugees6 being cared for by state services7, most often in hotels or emergency accommodation. it should be noted that the city is confronted with the growth in informal settlements and migrant squats on its territory. two new sites arose in the 2019, one of which is a migrant camp for eastern europeans located in the cronenbourg district (see figure 2), where 190 people (including more than 60 children) found refuge in less than a month.8 to relieve pressures on such sites, the state services carry out periodical evacuations. however, this is only possible if alternative accommodation is available. one such evacuation took place in october 20199, after which the processing of asylum applications continued. in general, some people are escorted back to the border, while others are placed in detention centres before being evicted. for those who can stay, it is often the beginning of a long administrative process, and a succession of relocations. more recently, another phenomenon has appeared, 4 before continuing, it is necessary to give a definition of the term “migrant”. according to the united nations, this is “any person who has resided in a foreign country for more than one year, regardless of the causes, voluntary or involuntary, of the movement, and regardless of the means, regular or irregular, used to migrate.” (united nations website https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/fr/d%c3%a9finitions) there exist some particularities in the french case. while the government issues estimates of the number of people without a residency permit as well as the number of naturalized persons, it has been strictly prohibited since the end of the second world war to gather statistics on the basis of ethnicity. 5 figures provided by regional tv broadcaster fr3 on its website, marie-christine lang, 02/10/2019, url:https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/grand-est/bas-rhin/strasbourg-0/strasbourg-campements-migrants-se-multiplient-hebergement-urgence-ne-suit-pas-1731081.html). 6 in 2019, the state allocated more than 23 million euros to help migrants; communiqué de la préfecture du bas-rhin (22 /10/2019), strasbourg: le campement des ducs d’alsace démantelé, la préfecture promet des solutions adaptées à chaque personne, dna, url : https://www.dna.fr/actualite/2019/10/22/ strasbourg-le-camp-des-ducs-d-alsace-a-nouveau-demantele. 7 alongside the different public services, there also exists: direction départementale de la cohésion sociale (ddcs) and the office français de l’immigration et de l’intégration (ofii). the different roles are to “take care of the integration of migrants during the first 5 years of their stay in france. the ofii’s other tasks include managing professional and family immigration procedures, managing the national reception system for asylum seekers, providing return and reintegration assistance as part of solidarity development, and combating illegal work.” ofii website url : http://www.ofii.fr/qui-sommes-nous/ nos-missions. 8 marie-christine lang, strasbourg : les campements de migrants se multiplient, l’hébergement d’urgence ne suit pas, fr3 alsace, 02/10/2019, url : https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/grand-est/bas-rhin/ strasbourg-0/strasbourg-campements-migrants-se-multiplient-hebergement-urgence-ne-suitpas-1731081.html. 9 ibid. communiqué de la préfecture du bas-rhin (22 /10/2019). s t r a sb o u r g ’s in c lu siv e p o lic ies fo r m ig r a n t s a n d t h e ib a u r b a n d e v elo p m en ta l p a r a d ig m 269 namely citizen’s initiatives providing assistance to migrants. activists have illegally occupied buildings (often abandoned for several years), thereby confronting the city authorities with the issue of squatting. for instance, we can mention a case study concerning the former grüber breweries. after these buildings were purchased by the city to provide public services, construction work was delayed. in the koenigshoffen district, a non-registered charity transformed one former brewery building into a reception centre that also provides some services.10 the site, which offers accommodation to homeless people, is regularly targeted by racist slogans on the walls. in addition to the provision of public services, the city of strasbourg is not passive in the face of these various challenges. many ngos and public institutions are working together to welcome and integrate migrant populations. for example, the university is helping to teach the french language in order to facilitate the immigration process. nevertheless, the large number of partner structures is significant. for the city, the overall management of the migrant population is complex. it is necessary to coordinate many different activities. in order to try to improve the collaborative work of 36 different actors11, the municipality decided to implement a common charter of values and an action plan for public services. in addition to the passage of migratory flows, the city is also a place of settlement. in this regard, the municipality has decided to consolidate all its actions aimed at welcoming vulnerable migrant groups. when the manifesto presented to the strasbourg city council in march 2019 was adopted, a number of points were discussed. the charter is organized along several axes, including commitments to meet basic needs (food, housing and health) as well as to raise awareness among residents of the challenges of migration such as the dangers of illicit border crossing. the keyword of this strategy is social inclusion, which constitutes a major pillar of urban policy. according to the european commission, social inclusion is a process “enabling people at risk of poverty and social exclusion to benefit from the opportunities and resources necessary to participate in economic and social life, enjoying a lifestyle considered normal in the society in which they live.”12 to achieve this objective, a series of concrete measures are being taken. in particular, the city is committed to ensuring that non-french speakers have a dedicated interpreter in order to promote access to legal assistance and food as well as to provide information on hygiene and health. several actors are involved, for example médecins du monde and migrations santé alsace for healthcare, the service intégré d’accueil et d’orientation for shelters and the cimade, which provides legal assistance to foreign refugees. in addition, the city wishes to 10 hélène janovec, (31/07/2019), la vie s’organise au nouveau squat gruber, rue 89 strasbourg, url: https://www.rue89strasbourg.com/la-vie-sorganise-au-nouveau-squat-gruber-deja-complet-158391. 11 city of strasbourg (march 2019), manifeste pour un accueil digne des migrants vulnérables strasbourg, ville-hôspitalière, p. 13. 12 idem. p. 7. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 270 promote the social and professional inclusion of migrants (migreval project) by offering university scholarships to young people without diplomas as well as to provide civic education. a further action is to implement measures to raise the general awareness among ordinary citizens of the problems faced by these vulnerable groups. another interesting measure can be mentioned, namely a call for projects aimed at encouraging bottom-up initiatives. here the term “bottom-up” implies that such initiatives are not implemented by public authorities. projects can be eligible to receive funds of up to 50,000 euros.13 particular measures are, for example, a project to improve refugee accommodation with the support of associative actors and hosted by a landlord. figure 2. around the motorways, i.e. between the city centre and district of koenigshoffen, important vacant spaces are served by a “charity cluster” composed of a network of associative structures (own map). 13 city of strasbourg, diair, (2019), appel à projets “mobilisation citoyenne pour valoriser la place des personnes bénéficiaires d’une protection internationale dans la ville de strasbourg”, p. 5. s t r a sb o u r g ’s in c lu siv e p o lic ies fo r m ig r a n t s a n d t h e ib a u r b a n d e v elo p m en ta l p a r a d ig m 271 in a similar vein, the city wishes to promote volunteer work by strasbourg residents. a further aspect is the implementation of inclusive measures to encourage professional, artistic and sporting encounters between residents and refugees. as this process is recent, there is as yet no assessment on the efficiency of the realized actions. however, in the following we will try to understand how these could influence other areas of public action. as an example, we take planning processes for urban projects. the actions taken by the city of strasbourg are commendable in creating a welcoming city for migrants. however, it must be understood that the question of lefebvre’s right to the city goes further.14 it is not just about organizing calls for projects and public consultations; fundamental is also the ability of the most vulnerable people to grasp the issues at stake in the public debate. we will investigate the phenomena of marginalization near strasbourg city centre and determine which potential resources and non-governmental actors could provide a basis for an inclusive strategy aimed at integrating migrants. 3. the surroundings of the urban motorways: areas of marginalization or of opportunity? in addition to discussing the policies carried out by the city authorities, it is first necessary to comprehend the location of migrant camps and squats as well as the places where the homeless gather, all of which are located near strasbourg’s various urban motorways (see figure 2). these sectors and surrounding neighbourhoods host a large number of migrants, both legally and illegally. due to its status as a border city (formerly surrounded by medieval ramparts), many interstitial zones long remained unbuildable in strasbourg. a series of motorways was built in these vacant spaces from the 1960s onwards. in addition to creating a physical barrier between inner-city neighbourhoods, these developments generated many residual spaces in the immediate vicinity of the city centre. according to researcher catherine sélimonovski, such transport routes are markers of exclusion. in an article entitled la frontière de la pauvreté à strasbourg15 published in 2004, the geographer already highlighted the significant income disparities between residents in the core urban area and those in peripheral sectors. in particular, it is possible to superimpose the location of the previous fortifications (replaced by the a35) onto maps showing differences in income and access to jobs. lower-class districts close to the transport infrastructure are “landlocked” and suffer high levels of pollution. however, the existence of such residual spaces also brings some benefits. specifically, they constitute resources for a more inclusive city, encour14 note that while migrants were certainly not central to the demands in the 1960s when lefebvre formulated his thesis, today they can be assimilated to vulnerable populations. 15 sélimanovski c. (december 2004), la frontière de la pauvreté à strasbourg (the border of poverty in strasbourg). in: bulletin de l’association de géographes français, 81e année. les frontières dans la ville / problématique urbaine en suisse, sous la direction de jean-luc piermay et rita schneider-sliwa. pp. 498-508, doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/bagf.2004.241 r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 272 aging local charities to settle due to the practical location near the inner-city. the most attractive feature, however, is the low rents of these public plots of land (mostly owned by municipality). here we can find charitable restaurants (such as resto du cœur) as well as housing for the homeless. another important example is the urban agricultural association jardins de la montagne verte, which employs people who are marginalized and excluded from the labour market; these are often migrants, hired for the market gardening of organic fruit and vegetables in the city as well as for canning and carpentry. over one decade, around 1,800 people have benefited from an integration contract.16 at the same time, the financial situation of such associations is not easy: in 2010 a major social movement (of about 1,000 to 1,500 people) expressed dissatisfaction with the decline in state subsidies17 ; many members of local associations were present. for the past few years the situation has changed. in particular, there is now a general appreciation of the need to transform the motorways in order to reduce the level of pollution and traffic as well as to bridge the gaps between the various districts of the alsatian metropolis. every day 160,000 vehicles cross the city via the motorway system.18 because of frequent urban congestion, the metropolitan council members wish to reduce the traffic load by turning the motorway into a metropolitan boulevard.19 beyond the problems of pollution and traffic jams, the a35 acts as a barrier between the different parts of the urban settlement. one possible (negative) repercussion of improving living conditions in those sectors would be to encourage the process of gentrification. will the poor inhabitants of these neighbourhoods, especially the homeless and migrants, be chased away by rising land prices? such transformative processes could potentially have huge impacts on such areas of the city. the main question is to determine whether associations can continue their work to integrate people suffering exclusion. the sale of their premises, which are very close to the city centre, could potentially offset the cost of infrastructure transformation. clearly, this important aspect should not be ignored in the inclusive policies already drawn up by local decision-makers. while this project is still in the exploratory phase (and 16 poure, c. ruiz suri, v. biehler, c. (29/06/2013), les jardins de la montagne verte : 10 ans au service de l’insertion, fr3 alsace, https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/grand-est/2013/06/29/10-ans-de-reinsertion-aux-jardins-de-la-montagne-verte-279621.html. 17 w. p (01/12/10), des chantiers d’insertion échaudés par le gel des aides, 20 minutes. 18 the expressways are twenty minutes’ walk from the cathedral spire. website of the local newspaper www.dna.fr, 1 march 2013, url: https://www.dna.fr/economie/2013/03/01/l-a-35-a-strasbourg-160000-vehicules-par-jour-10-de-poids-lourds. 19 the main topic of this initiative is to turn strasbourg’s main motorway, the a35, into a boulevard. this project aims to reduce the level of fine particles in the atmosphere, which is substantial in the city and its periphery due to the large flow of trucks crossing alsace every day. following the construction of a controversial road bypass, the municipality also intends to explore other ways of reducing the flow of private traffic. as the project is very complex, it will be subject to widespread consultation with all the stakeholders. s t r a sb o u r g ’s in c lu siv e p o lic ies fo r m ig r a n t s a n d t h e ib a u r b a n d e v elo p m en ta l p a r a d ig m 273 in any case will only be implemented after the 2020 elections), it is timely to investigate the implications for specific areas in the metropolis. figure 3. areas near the motorway that formerly hosted illegal camps are now fenced off to prevent new settlements (own picture). 4. an iba to transform the motorways and their surroundings? it is important to consider which methods the city will use to transform the transport infrastructure and surrounding areas. in 2017 a budget of nearly 204,350 euros was approved20 to finance a study on the accompanying measures required to transform the a35 into a boulevard. according to the city council’s decision of 3 march 2017, the purpose of this urban development study is to “reflect on the proposed project to transform this infrastructure in order to facilitate its urban integration and limit its disturbance in terms of noise and pollution.” this financial commitment also officially marks the launch of a period of reflection on the opportunity to implement a multi-year urban process inspired by germany’s ibas (international bauausstellung). widely known in germany, the urban development tool of the iba has drawn attention around the world. as town planning practitioners around the country face calls for change, strasbourg is not the only french city to be inter20 budget agreed by the deliberation at the eurometropole council held in strasbourg on 3 march 2017; the sum includes an expected 50% subsidy from the national government. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 274 ested in establishing an iba. in the context of decentralization, some local authorities have been inspired by federal countries such as germany to set in motion a reform agenda aimed at fostering sustainable development. for example, the dgaln21 set up the ecocités programme (originally a government initiative that arose within the “grenelle de l’environnement” multi-party debate). here the aim was to promote and subsidize the implementation of sustainable development strategies in french urban areas by setting up exemplary ecodistrict projects. while these initiatives are still mostly ecological projects, a social dimension is not excluded. according to the urban planner bruno yvin, we can go further and “draw a parallel with the german international building exhibition (iba), which is also an instrument for financing innovative projects within a strategic framework similar to that of ecocités.”22 it should be said that this idea of setting up an iba is not completely new. at least a decade ago the idea of a potential implementation became increasingly attractive for some urban planning theorists and practitioners. one of the first articles on this topic was published during international consultations for the major development project le grand paris (lecroart, palisse & beltrando 2009).23 the limited time for action was particularly highlighted. furthermore, the authors extolled the idea of coordinating diverse projects driven by the same philosophy. in their report, the urban planners also mentioned that it would help french cities to stimulate their local dynamic forces. the aim is to build, step by step, a vision of the city’s future that could be shared with a wide group of political decision-makers. on the one hand, the time‐limited steering structure may be viewed as a guarantee of independence from the usual structures of urban planning. ibas can ensure a kind of “escape from monotony” (in german: flucht aus dem alltag) by avoiding conventional ways of conducting town planning. the call for proposals for an iba is the perfect opportunity to set up an independent office to oversee the entire process of selecting, qualifying and supporting projects from the original idea through to implementation. it is expected that this will also generate innovative and creative solutions by means of, for example, forums, safety audits and urban planning workshops. in addition, this process can enable and support horizontal management for the city. indeed, decision-making in most ibas is run collectively with actors and research planners from other countries or regions. this guarantees a certain neutrality for arbitrations. moreover, the executive staff of the iba office can play a mediating role between the different actors to help ensure better coordination between institutional 21 the (national) directorate of housing, town planning and landscapes. there is a partnership with the german ministry of construction to promote the exchange of experience and the tool of the iba. 22 ecocité official website (july 2018), préfiguration d’une approche iba pour les ecocité; retrieved from url: http://www.ecocites.logement.gouv.fr/prefiguration-d-une-approche-iba-pour-les-ecocites-a171.html 23 lecroart, p. palisse j-p. beltrando, y. (july 2009), initier des projets métropolitains: l’iba, une pratique féconde , note rapide, n° 478, iau îdf. s t r a sb o u r g ’s in c lu siv e p o lic ies fo r m ig r a n t s a n d t h e ib a u r b a n d e v elo p m en ta l p a r a d ig m 275 structures and citizen associations. this can prove highly beneficial by taking account of broader themes such as urban planning, art, architecture, the environment, the economy, and social concerns. to conclude this point, we can ask: what are the opportunities and good practices that could be implemented in this territory? what strategies could be put in place to strengthen the city’s action on inclusive policies? in the case of strasbourg, the initiative to transform the motorway presents challenges to the provision of services for vulnerable migrant populations. to better understand these challenges, we will attempt a forward-looking comparison. as the project of implementing an iba in strasbourg is still at the study stage, there are no concrete results to fall back on; rather, we must consider whether the choice of method could potentially bring added value to existing processes. so just what are the good practices that could inspire strasbourg? what can we learn from germany? 5. learning from germany: what are the good practices for an inclusive city project in strasbourg? in his book le droit à la ville (1968), lefebvre claimed that the proletariat would become engaged in urban planning issues and challenge the principles of territorial segregation. yet, according to laurence costes (2010), social demands have subsequently been more concerned with the employment conditions of the working classes, such as expressed during the protests of may 1968. nevertheless, many social experiments emerged in the decades that followed. the processes implemented in west berlin from 1979 to 1987 in the framework of an iba are of particular interest due to the scale of the intervention, the number of implemented measures and the large group of actors involved. for a better understanding, let us consider the origin of these multi‐year urban development processes. the very first iba was launched in the city of darmstadt back in 1901. while these innovative urban renewal projects were for many years restricted to germany, today they are gaining popularity elsewhere; for example, there have been ibas in countries such as austria (vienna), switzerland (basel) and the netherlands (maastricht). more than an architecture biennale, the iba is truly a tool for cities and regional authorities to promote and experiment with new kinds of architectural and urban design. the workings of an iba are interesting because everyone involved develops their own strategies and ways of sourcing funding. every management strategy, site selection process and implementation process is unique. some piloting structures for ibas are run by associations, for example in basel; in hamburg and in the ruhr, on the other hand, we find a public urban development company (gmbh). in the first case, an assistance and consulting structure for project management helps to raise funds for the implementation of r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 276 architectural projects as well as to suggest potential partnerships; in the latter, an urban developer is directly (and financially) involved in the process. these differences are not driven by chance. rather, the working methodology is set by a precise political agenda. the main idea is not to replace existing planning structures but to make them work more efficiently. most importantly, decision-makers should be inspired to imagine more suitable governance structures and tools to transform urban development. when cities or shareholders in metropolitan regions choose to declare themselves initiators of an iba, the underlying motivation may be to increase their prestige. indeed, there is currently a fad surrounding this kind of process, which can be viewed as a form of marketing. the risk here is of making ibas less substantive and innovative. it must be noted that ibas have evolved a great deal over the course of the past century and, in particular, since the west berlin iba that concluded in 1987. during this exhibition, important debates were conducted by planners about the right way to rebuild a city still suffering from the devastation of wwii and reeling under the impact of the berlin wall. it is sometimes forgotten how critical the situation was in west berlin at the end of the 1970s. due to its physical isolation and a lack of investment, many homes were dilapidated and even abandoned by their owners. in fact, marginalized inhabitants, particularly turkish migrants, had illegally occupied squats in kreuzberg; they risked losing everything if their homes were destroyed. facing a lack of resources, the city urgently sought solutions. an innovative strategy was developed under the leadership of the berlin architect and urban planner hardt-waltherr hämer. in parallel with more traditional forms of reconstruction, the principles of “soft urban planning” were formulated (elodie vittu 2005).24 these aimed to keep residents in their own flats by developing forms of funding to allow them to restore their homes. it is interesting to note that a number of tools implemented in the 1980s as part of the iba altbau are still useful today. in particular, we can mention 12 principles of a “soft urban renewal” that were adopted by the west berlin senate in 1983. some of these could be usefully introduced as amendments to the provisions of the strasbourg charter to help foster an open city. two principles are of particular note. the first is that decisions concerning urban renewal in west berlin were drawn up within the framework of a procedure open to inhabitants, including informal settlers. and secondly, there was a recognized right to housing as well as efforts to encourage alternative forms of habitation and co-living. some other principles such as the definition of transformation and relocation schedules are also interesting. perhaps the most striking element in the iba is its mediating role between public authorities, owners and illegal occupants. 24 vittu, e. (2005), l’aménagement d’une place en zone de réhabilitation „helmholtzplatz”, une place pour tous? ifu, dess urbanisme et aménagement, p 60. s t r a sb o u r g ’s in c lu siv e p o lic ies fo r m ig r a n t s a n d t h e ib a u r b a n d e v elo p m en ta l p a r a d ig m 277 of course, the situation is somewhat different in the city of strasbourg. here the number of illegal occupants and squatters is lower than in west berlin of the 1980s. many homeless people and migrants25 are already taken care of by various public agencies and private associations in a “charity cluster” (see figure 2). nevertheless, as we have already seen, some actors feel threatened by the motorway project. the objective must be to avoid stressful situations with regard to deadlines and hazardous relocations, as these could disrupt structures fostering the inclusion of migrants. in this case it would be helpful if a neutral structure were established in strasbourg to play a mediating role. marginalization is not only a question of material resources but also temporal indecision. an uncertain future is a source of anxiety. in this respect, it would be advisable, before launching the iba, to involve local charities as well as residents in discussions. figure 4. a joke on a billboard: “from the motorway to the boulevard metropolitan nightmare” (own photograph). the more recent iba held in hamburg between 2006 and 2013 is also an instructive example of the renovation of a marginalized housing area in a highly cosmopolitan city. this german city initiated collaborative efforts with inhabitants while also making use of studies by local historians. a set of recommendations was produced as a framework for the launch of urban planning and architecture competitions.26 despite these efforts, however, the 25 reminder: 3,000 people in the whole city. 26 lecroart, p. (october 2011) iba hambourg 2013: cinquante projets pour fabriquer la métropole, note rapide n° 578, iau idf. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 278 project did not always succeed in achieving unanimity. the protest campaign iba? nigs da! was partly successful in mobilizing various inhabitants.27 in particular, activists highlighted the risk of gentrification due to new green buildings constructed for the elite. as we saw, strasbourg is caught between contradictory aims, namely the wish to transform the motorway area vs. local policies concerning migrants. the decommissioning of the motorway calls into question the proximity of marginalized groups and local structures that assist them in the city centre. this can be viewed as a stumbling block to lefebvre’s theory, which claims the right to centrality. however, it has to be pointed out that these are not irreconcilable challenges in terms of territorial foresight and respect for commitments to creating a welcoming city for migrants. the possibility of setting up an iba like that of berlin in the 1980s allows us to imagine the creation of a flexible “space for action”. one of the other lessons from the iba berlin is to understand the importance of the right to difference. indeed, the work conducted in the western part of the formerly divided german capital is highly relevant. for strasbourg, the particular aim is to give voice to associations that help the inclusion of migrants and enable them to express their point of view in future challenges for urban planning. further, in his book the right to the city, lefebvre also argued for the implementation of a “science of the city” to encourage public and democratic debate on settlement development. departing from classical planning tools, the iba-facilitated urban planning can create the right conditions for experimentation and debate. similarly, the use of scientific committees to accompany the process can be a useful initiative. but the question remains: will the strasbourg conurbation be able to seize this opportunity? 27 schirg o. (16.6.2013) gentrifizierungsdebatte: wilhelmsburg als vorbild? hamburger abendblatt. s t r a sb o u r g ’s in c lu siv e p o lic ies fo r m ig r a n t s a n d t h e ib a u r b a n d e v elo p m en ta l p a r a d ig m 279 6. conclusion between strasbourg’s city centre and its neighbourhoods to the west, railways tracks and motorways constitute a major barrier: they divide the city. the planned decommissioning of the motorway can be seen as an opportunity to develop a strategy for a more welcoming environment for migrants. at the same time, the metropolitan area of strasbourg faces great challenges in terms of transportation and inclusion issues. here it is necessary to innovate and take control of one’s destiny. the city must experiment in new ways of conducting urbanism. the iba in strasbourg would provide a chance to explore issues of the right to the city and help to integrate actors who are often voiceless in the design processes of urban projects. in particular, certain practices should be adopted across sectors to address various social issues. the german methodology seems promising because it apparently facilitates ambitious projects while ensuring better coordination of diverse site-based policies. furthermore, the “event strategy” of the iba fosters experimental approaches outside the usual framework of urban planning, revealing solutions to new problems for which conventional tools are ineffective. strasbourg’s charter for the reception of migrants could also be strengthened through the inspiration of an iba. clearly, a major highway transformation project raises questions about the inclusive city. although the implementation process of the iba strasbourg has been launched, it is still at a preliminary stage. for this reason, little empirical data is as yet available for analysis. while an iba can bring innovative problem-solving to daily working routines, it seems that this tool may be less formalized and rigid in its application in france compared to previous instances. but will it be possible for urban-planning practitioners to extricate themselves from administrative burdens and stimulate local initiatives in an exemplary way? do the principles of “event strategies”, labelling and limited time approaches imply a more participatory and creative output than traditional methods? the iba will be considered a success insofar as it constitutes more than just a marketing ploy. however, we must view the current popularity of this tool with a healthy degree of scepticism. as an aid to urban planning, it still has to prove its usefulness in resolving the planning challenges of strasbourg. certainly, the iba must be reconciled with the city’s strategies of inclusion, which are not only vital for the interest of the community but also to promote the image and reputation of this so-called “european capital of human rights”. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 280 references berthet, j.-m. (2018, january 3). de l’exclusion à l’inclusion, fils rouges, citoyenneté discrimination conflits de normes publics exclus politiques publiques emploi & insertion chiffres. m3 prospective de la ville de lyon. https://ville-inclusive.millenaire3.com/billets/de-l-exclusion-a-l-inclusion. costes, l. (2010). le droit à la ville d’henri lefebvre: quel héritage politique et scientifique? espaces et sociétés 1-2, 140-141. herrmann, r. (2017). de l’autoroute au boulevard, repenser la métropole, 34e rencontre de l’adeus, discours introductif de la conférence de paul lecroart. l’agence de développement et d’urbanisme de l’agglomération strasbourgeoise. http://www.adeus.org/productions/de-lautoroute-au-boulevard-repenser-la-metropole/files/actes-rencontres_lecroart_web.pdf. kawtar, n. (2017). socio-spatial inequalities in the cities and their recent evolutions: comparison between besançon, mulhouse, and strasbourg. cybergeo: european journal of geography, 808. https:// doi.org/10.4000/cybergeo.27975 lecroart, p. (2011, october 31). iba hambourg 2013: cinquante projets pour fabriquer la métropole, note rapide n° 578, iau idf. l’institut paris region. https://www.institutparisregion.fr/nos-travaux/publications/iba-hambourg-2013-cinquante-projets-pour-fabriquer-la-metropole.html lecroart, p., palisse, j-p., & beltrando, y. (2009, july 9). initier des projets métropolitains : l’iba, une pratique féconde, note rapide, n° 478, iau îdf. l’institut paris region. https://www.institutparisregion.fr/nostravaux/publications/initier-des-projets-metropolitains-liba-une-pratique-feconde.html lefebvre, h. (1968). le droit à la ville. éditions anthropos. sélimanovski, c. (2004). la frontière de la pauvreté à strasbourg (the border of poverty in strasbourg). bulletin de l’association de géographes français, 81(4), 498-508. https://doi.org/10.3406/bagf.2004.2415 vittu, e. (2005). l’aménagement d’une place en zone de réhabilitation „helmholtzplatz”, une place pour tous? dess urbanisme et aménagement. https://e-pub.uni-weimar.de/opus4/frontdoor/deliver/index/docid/1956/file/diplarbeit_vittu_ganz_pdfa.pdf city of strasbourg. (2019). manifeste pour un accueil digne des migrants vulnérables strasbourg, ville-hôspitalière.https://www.strasbourg.eu/strasbourg-ville-hospitaliere-accueil-digne-personnes-migrantes-vulnerables united cities and local governments, uclg committee on social inclusion, participatory democracy and human rights. (2013). towards a world of inclusive cities. https://www.uclg-cisdp.org/sites/default/files/ cisdp_for_a_world_of_inclusive_cities.pdf 35 experiences from a participation process in göttingen osterode design thinking as a target-oriented method for the participation of young people alexandra bradtke research institute for regional and urban development ggmbh doi 10.7480/rius.6.93 r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 36 abstract although young people are equal members of the community, they are generally excluded from municipal planning processes. this problem can be resolved by fostering participation, thereby making them more than mere spectators. young people form a heterogeneous group of individuals who want to be taken seriously, explicitly addressed and motivated. however, it is not easy to reach and motivate youngsters to take part in participatory processes. they frequently have a busy schedule at school, time-consuming leisure activities and long travelling distances in rural areas with inadequate public transport. one approach to sparking the interest of young people, who are constantly online or on their smartphones, is to use the internet. however, methods other than digital participation are required to foster their involvement: we need a dedicated form of participation that takes account of young peoples’ wishes, requirements and ideas in an interesting and attractive way. in the district of göttingen osterode am harz (a.h.), researchers and regional managers have considered various methods to encourage the participation of teenagers, identifying some concrete results that can be achieved in the target group. in particular, they tested the method of design thinking as a form of youth participation. in this paper we consider the background to youth participation and look at how this can be fostered, in particular by investigating the method of design thinking. this is found to be successful in motivating young people to get involved in urban design. keywords participation, design thinking, teenagers, inclusive e x p er ien c es fr o m a p a r t ic ip a t io n p r o c ess in g ö t t in g en o s t er o d e 37 1. introduction and background demographic change in the form of an ageing population is changing the structure of society. furthermore, this trend will reinforce the migratory flow from rural areas to ever more densely populated conurbations. against this backdrop of an ageing society and the problems this brings, it is essential to ensure that the youngest generation of citizens are not neglected but are encouraged to be self-confident and involved in their communities (baden-württembergstiftung ggmbh 2015, p. 9). new opportunities for co-determination are needed, especially for decisions relating to the provision of public services, which are endangered by demographic change. these opportunities have to be adapted to current circumstances. teenagers are playing an increasingly important role in this process. they are not only consumers but also actors with the power to shape events, and thus should no longer be excluded from planning. young people must take on new challenges in helping to design the urban environment as well as public services. a central topic of social development in the 21st century is to foster the participation of citizens, children and young people. hitherto, the focus has generally been on adults rather than young people, who are seen as a difficult target group to reach and motivate. innovative methods to foster their participation are needed. one such method, which has proven to be highly promising, is design thinking. the background to this method is explained in the following, along with details of how it can be applied. a real-world example from the göttingen-osterode a.h. is presented to confirm the success of this method in actually involving young people in the planning process. the aim of the article is to elucidate the use and benefits of design thinking when applied to public planning processes. 2. what is participation? participation is a recurring theme in the political, administrative and public arena. over the years it has attracted varying degrees of interest and popularity (stange 2013, p. 13). clearly, citizens wish to have a say in public planning, in urban developments or projects and in related decision-making process. they demand the right to veto, to protest or propose (nanz & fritsche 2012, p. 9). what remains unclear, however, is the extent to which this involvement takes place or should take place. while some people are satisfied when they are regularly informed about ongoing processes, others want to participate in procedures and exert influence (nanz 2017, p. 9). citizen participation, however, should be seen as a discourse, i.e. an ongoing process that will not necessarily lead to a clearly voiced decision (sommer 2015). it implies an opening of planning and policy processes to civic participation through r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 38 information, participation and cooperation (selle 2004). in germany, legal regulations for citizen participation are specified at all procedural levels, for example in the following ordinances: -§ 3 baugb (building code) -§ 1 para. 3 sgb viii (social code) -§ 8 para. 1 sgb viii (child and youth welfare act) -country-specific municipal ordinances. depending on the viewpoint of the actor, whether politician, public planner or youth welfare officer, participation will be understood in different ways. generally speaking, we can say that participation refers to the active participation of citizens in the handling of common (political) affairs or, indeed, the active participation of members of some organization (a group or association, etc.) in the common (organizational) affairs. it implies the involvement of people in political decision-making processes, in particular in elections and referendums. in a legal sense, participation refers to the involvement of the public in administrative decisions (schubert & klein 2001). in this context, kaase emphasizes the voluntary nature of participation: first and foremost, citizen participation encompasses all activities that citizens undertake on a voluntary basis to influence decisions at different levels of the political system. this is understood as instrumental, goal-oriented action in the sense of participation in the political process of opinion formation and decision making (kaase 1995, p. 521). figure 1: level of participation source: own representation after arnstein (1969, p. 216 ff) e x p er ien c es fr o m a p a r t ic ip a t io n p r o c ess in g ö t t in g en o s t er o d e 39 participation can be broken down into a number of different levels (as shown in figure 1). here we borrow from the eight-step model devised by sherry arnstein to reveal the difference between genuine optimal participation and something that merely masquerades as public participation. the ladder illustrates the power and powerlessness of people: each of the eight rungs corresponds to a different level of citizen power to influence the end product. according to this model, citizen control is the highest level of authority that can be achieved, namely when citizens are fully in charge of a policy or plan. in contrast, the bottom rung of the ladder is described as manipulation, the lowest level of public participation, also called non-participation. here the public and an outside observer are manipulated into thinking that public participation is in progress (cf. arnstein 1969, p. 216ff). in arnstein’s model, only three of the eight specified forms of citizen participation are instances of genuine influence exerted by all participants. accordingly, the other forms merely pretend to pursue this goal. although they enable participants to formulate their own views and ensure that these are heard, they do not guarantee that views and demands are actually taken into account in the decision-making process. these forms of participation thus lack penetrating power, since the decision-making authority is located with the corresponding rulers. only in the three top rungs of the model do participants actually have the opportunity to make their own decisions and exert influence on the final decision-making process. for this reason, the top rungs of participation in this model, namely partnership, delegated power and citizen control, are classified as degrees of citizen power. the possibility of exerting influence is relatively high, even if they do not accord a leading role for citizens (cf. elsmann 2017, p. 115ff). in every participation process, it is unclear whether the aims of the participants will be implemented in concrete decisions. not all citizens can participate in every decision-making process. in large cities, in particular, this is impossible for a range of factors: the expense and time required to ensure participation, the number and distribution of the population as well as their diverse interests, etc. moreover, for a variety of reasons, not all individuals wish to be permanent participants1 (herrmann 2002, p. 16). ultimately, the term citizen participation implies that, through an act of political and administrative will, citizens are given the chance to actively participate in decision-making and planning activities. in addition, it implies that citizens are accorded sufficient power to influence decision-making and shaping processes. especially with regard to child and youth participation, this means that part of the power of sovereignty over one’s own lifestyle is transferred from adults to children and adolescents (fatke & biebricher 2006, p. 26). 1 due to a lack of time, interest or motivation or a (temporary) surfeit of participation measures, etc. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 40 here it is important to stress the relevance of arnstein’s model, which was developed more than 40 years ago. while acknowledging its limitations, we can say that this approach is still relevant today in discussions on participation. indeed, numerous subsequent papers on the topic have referred to arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation, for example cornwall (2008), stout (2010) or collins and ison (2006). this ongoing critical examination of arnstein’s ladder reflects the continued interest in the issue of participation. at the same time, it also confirms that no magic formula has been found to ensure successful and effective participation in decision-making processes in the fields of politics and planning (elsmann 2017, p. 116). 3. state of research in recent years, there have been a number of technical and scientific discussions on the subject of participation as well as research and practical projects (best practice examples are particularly popular). despite the existence of some pilot projects, we can basically say that various theoretical approaches which have been devised have not yet been adopted in day-today practice. there has certainly been no attempt at the structural anchoring of participation. similarly, there is a dearth of independent and coherent general concepts (stange 2013, p. 13). hitherto, participation has been understood as adult participation, especially in urban development research. the participation of different target groups has been viewed as irrelevant not only in practice but also in research. on the one hand, we have scientists, who can contribute their knowledge, (research and professional) experience and expertise. on the other hand, we have citizens, children and young people, who wish to contribute their opinions, expectations, specific experiences and value orientations. scientists can use the knowledge gained in this way to analyze the processes, plans and procedures and, if necessary, further develop, improve or revise these. hitherto, however, these participatory elements of scientific communication have often been rather neglected in germany (science in dialogue 2011, p. 9). the participation of children in science has generally been a rather marginal area, with much research still to be done. indeed, there have only been a few serious attempts to carry out online participation processes with young people (see ertelt 2012, p. 82). the rare instances of children’s participation are currently related to municipal planning, specifically urban planning and (re)development such as traffic planning (the design of traffic routes, cycle paths and the safety of school routes). participation also takes place in schools or in day-care centres. one exemplary area for the participation of younger children is in media and e x p er ien c es fr o m a p a r t ic ip a t io n p r o c ess in g ö t t in g en o s t er o d e 41 cultural work, for example in video projects, on various children’s news channels or the self-organized design of websites by older children. here the focus is on learning effects relevant to pedagogical research that result from such procedures as well as their influence on future development (stange 2010). there is no doubt that this field suffers from a lack of investment in research. young people, in particular, are hardly addressed as a field of research, resulting in large gaps in this topic. 4. participation as a part of ‘inclusive urbanism’ it is important to clarify what we mean by ‘young people’. for some experts and actors, these are simply teenagers, i.e. youngsters aged between 13 and 19 (von alemann 2006, p. 9f). under german law, a young person (ein jugendlicher) is defined as being between 14 and 18 years old (jgg 1974). also the age of majority in germany is 18, as stated in §2 of the german civil code (bürgerliches gesetzbuch [bgb] 2002). the target group in the investigated case is between 15 and 18 years old. clearly, ‘youth’ does not define itself but rather is determined externally by older social groups. this definition becomes increasingly difficult as the social group of young people becomes progressively complicated and multi-layered (von alemann 2006, p. 9f). often we find hidden resistance and reservations on the part of politicians and administrators to the participation of young people. sometimes, however, the level of participation is similar to that of adults: there is the assumption at the political and administrative level that children and young people should and want to be involved in all topics. however, this view is, generally speaking, neither correct nor effective. young people – as well as adults – are not interested in everything around them, especially if they see no direct connection to their lives or if longer periods of time are involved (stange 2012a, p.22). in addition, many decision makers and planners regard young people as more likely to disrupt the technical process than enrich the decision-making basis (fürst & scholles 2008 p. 163). while youngsters are almost always affected by political decisions, they rarely have the opportunity to influence them. it is essential that they be accorded the right to express their positions within the social debate about the future, and play an active role in shaping the community (siefken et al. 2013, p. 1). yet many actors see the participation of young people as a highly costly and uncomfortable exercise. that is why they are so often excluded from the decision making processes around urban planning. where there is participation, it is in the design and planning of nurseries, schoolgrounds or playgrounds. yet it cannot be denied that young people constitute the future of any community. for this reason, they must be encouraged to participate in decision-making r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 42 processes. participation by children and young people is often viewed by adults as a risky endeavour: youngsters generally have their own, sometimes unrealistic ideal of participation in social life (wergin 2000, p. 7). in addition, some experts believe that public actors are afraid of young people. according to ertelt (2012), this is related to the binding nature of participation: actors fear the possible loss of control if young people can express themselves in an uncontrolled and unfiltered fashion. yet the formation of opinion is a continual and daily process. it is essential to try to deal constructively with the loss of control that is evident, among other places, on the internet. an extraordinarily large number of administrative decision-makers are not in a position to do this. because of this fear, they are unwilling to allow procedures to be carried out which actually ask young people for their opinion and which are also immediately accessible to the public. too little trust is placed in young people, and this lack of trust turns into fear (ertelt 2012. this is perhaps the clearest explanation of why youngsters are so little included in public planning. if teenagers see that they are not treated as objects or spectators in their own community, but are respected and valued as well as trusted to take on important tasks, this can be regarded as participation (hüther 2013, p.41). such involvement in planning processes fosters a sense of inclusivity and the desire for further participation. according to a study by the technical university of dortmund, young people participate for a variety of reasons, for example: -to feel up to date: speedy access to information; -due to their own interests or subjective motives: self-concern, financial reward, fun, etc.; -to receive mutual support: mutual assistance, also to counter bullying; -to mobilize participation: draw attention to events and launch appeals; -to experience social relationships: contributing their own opinions and receiving (positive) feedback (kutscher et al. 2015, pp. 149, 164 & 168). 5. design thinking in participation processes using the example of the participation process in göttingen 5.1 what is design thinking? design thinking is an approach intended to solve problems and develop new ideas. it is based on the assumption that problems can be solved in a more satisfactory way if people from different disciplines work together in an environment that promotes creativity. the goal is to find solutions that are convincing from the user’s point of view. it is neither a method nor a process, but an approach based on the three basic principles: team, space and process (website hasso-plattner-institut academy gmbh (2020)). strictly speaking, design thinking is a multifaceted set of methods used to solve complex e x p er ien c es fr o m a p a r t ic ip a t io n p r o c ess in g ö t t in g en o s t er o d e 43 problems and to develop contemporary products. nevertheless, it can also be applied to the improvement of services or to encourage participation (see designthinkingcoach). under this approach, a group of people attempt to jointly solve a problem while considering everyone’s needs and motivations. in this way, concepts are developed and tested at several stages (website yeebase media gmbh (2018)). the design thinking approach is suitable not only for the development or redesign of products, but also for services, strategies and internal processes. in the investigated case, the method was employed to foster the participation of young people in göttingen osterode a.h. design thinking is a combination of understanding, observation, brainstorming, refinement, execution and learning. the process usually consists of six steps: figure 2: steps of design thinking source: own representation according to website hasso-plattner-institut academy gmbh (2020) the respective steps do not form a fixed sequence running from left to right. instead, if a step has been completed and a problem occurs, you can go back to a previous phase. for example, if testing and refining have not been done satisfactorily, it is quite possible to start again with the creation of the persona. the first step is understanding. here values of the brainstorming phase are clearly defined. there are a number of important criteria which have to be adhered to: -be visual, be creative and make sketches; -one conversation at a time – listen carefully; -encourage wild ideas, later you can be more specific; -defer judgement, accept criticism and rework your idea. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 44 observing is a key element. this means that the group or the groups (each consisting of a maximum of six to seven members) has to consider these issues: -who is the target group? -what makes this the target group? -what are the interests, disparities and problems? subsequently, the group has to develop a common standpoint. this can be used to generate ideas, develop a concept and build a prototype, i.e. a model to vividly illustrate what the realized idea could look like. at first the group has to note all kind of ideas without discussion. the ideas are ranked in the next step and assigned different priorities (based on feasibility, effort, prospects of success, demand, etc.). these ideas are fixed in a concept. figure 3: profile template figure 4: template persona for further planning it helps to create a persona, as in this example. a persona is a representation of the people who will in the end visit or use this realized concept. this makes it easier to place yourself in the position of the e x p er ien c es fr o m a p a r t ic ip a t io n p r o c ess in g ö t t in g en o s t er o d e 45 target person (shown in figures 3 and 4). when this is completed, prototypes are developed from the concept. a selection of different materials can be used to construct models, for example lego bricks, cardboard, paper or papier mâché, modelling clay or polystyrene. there are no limits to creativity: the more visually convincing the prototype, the better. when the group decides the prototype is finished, it has to be tested. that means that the group has to introduce the prototype to other groups, people or experts. then the design thinking group(s) get feedback, which is incorporated in the model before presentation to elicit further feedback. this process is repeated until the developers are satisfied. it is important to under stand that the prototype can never be ‘perfect’ and thus the moment has to be chosen when it is considered ‘finished’. the developer should not forget to: -aim for quantity; -stay on topic; -build on the ideas of others. it is essential to ensure that the teams (each with a maximum of six people) are interdisciplinary. people of different ages, social and national backgrounds, educational attainment, etc. ensure a large range of experiences as well as background knowledge. with their different talents and creativity in a wide variety of fields, the problem can be approached from diverse perspectives. creativity is encouraged by concepts for mobile working: standing, running, sitting on dice, writing on whiteboards, etc. everything is possible and allowed (website hasso-plattner-institut academy gmbh (2020)). the method of design thinking takes into account the special needs and means of communication of young people in various ways: -by offering young people a variety of opportunities to develop and present ideas. they can develop their creativity, promote it and show their talents. -by encouraging a lively exchange with other groups of youngsters, all of whom are involved for the same purpose. they have a lot in common and can learn from their differences. -by developing things offline that can later be edited, presented and discussed online. young people today are on the move, both analogue and digitally. this is supported by design thinking. -by giving them the opportunity to discuss their ideas directly with experts. this gives them direct feedback, which they can accept or reject. -by providing some tangible results. other formats merely create sketches, pages of notes or flow charts with illustrations. design thinking creates something that can be presented to everyone in a vivid way. -by encouraging them to have fun. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 46 5.2 youth participation in göttingen with design thinking according to forecasts, all the municipalities of göttingen osterode a.h. will shrink by 2025. only the city of göttingen could emerge unscathed from the process of stagnation: as a major centre, it possesses functions appreciated by the population, who do not wish to be cut off from valuable urban services. the further away a community is from the city of göttingen, the more likely it is to shrink (bertelsmann stiftung [2010], p. 9). it is not surprising that when the total population shrinks, the number of children and young people in the region also decreases. indeed, the impact of the general population decline can hit specific age groups the hardest: here the number of 0 to 10-year-olds is forecast to decrease by an average of 21% and the number of 10 to 18-year-olds by as much as 41% in the period 2010-2025. this can be largely attributed to the shrinking maternal cohort, in particular the first generation of women to have had access to the contraceptive pill (from the second half of the 1960s), resulting in fewer births. this results in the underutilization of infrastructure, a problem which requires municipal action and, ultimately, structural adjustment (waibel 2010, p. 7). therefore, a major concern of the communities in göttingen osterode a.h. is to retain young people in the region or encourage them to return. in order to convince teenagers of the benefits of living in their community, it is necessary to know what their wishes and needs are. this is precisely where approaches to encourage participation, such as design thinking, have a vital role. clearly, participation is the only way to spark the interest of young people and persuade them to remain in their community. the problem with this method, as with most other participation methods, is how to persuade young people to take the initial step to get involved in design thinking. in göttingen, it became clear that schools have to be approached in order to make initial contact and motivate teenagers. specifically, a workshop was offered in a school auditorium. the participating young people thus avoided any extra trips to another location; furthermore, the schoolchildren were exempted from lessons for the duration of the workshop. this proved to be a decisive motivation for them to get involved in the first workshop. once the youngsters became convinced of the method and the participation process, they voluntarily invested their free time. objectives of the participation project in the region, it was found that there are either too few young people who use the municipal leisure facilities or there exist groups of young people who could make use of the facilities but do not want to. while the district of göttingen and city of göttingen are aware of the low utilization rates of the youth centres, the reasons for this remain unclear. in addition, there is no information on the accessibility of leisure centres by young people, what they e x p er ien c es fr o m a p a r t ic ip a t io n p r o c ess in g ö t t in g en o s t er o d e 47 do in their leisure time (or would like to do but cannot) and what they would change in their region. the aim of the participation project was to identify the current leisure and mobility behaviour of local teenagers, especially in terms of accessibility. clearly, in order for municipalities to plan for the future, they first need to know what young people’s needs, wishes and ideas are with regard to leisure facilities. this includes investigating the amount of time youngsters have for participation and the extent to which digital media have gained influence on leisure and mobility behaviour (siefken et al. 2013, p. 1; stange 2012a, p. 51ff). while online participation is currently an important approach, it is not the only one. workshops are suitable for making direct contact with teenagers, clarifying open questions, identifying the persons who are taking care of them and showing that their ideas are well-received. in addition, young people who are less active online attach importance to face-to-face contact. they wish to get to know the people behind the participation project, and thus should be given the chance to participate offline in direct discussions. for this reason, it was decided to run workshops in göttingen. since young people should not just give their input once, but actually contribute to finding a solution, a format had to be chosen which sparked the interest of young people and motivated them to actually deal with the topic on multiple occasions. design thinking seemed optimal for this. according to experts, offline participation should only be carried out in combination with online participation. therefore, it was decided to supplement the workshop format with an online platform. the aim was to interest young people and facilitate the participation of those who were unable to take part in the workshops due to time constraints or because the travel distances were too great. the online participation as carried out in the model region was a complex approach, requiring detailed description. unfortunately, this cannot be done within the framework of this article. furthermore, the online platform can be seen as irrelevant to our particular investigation and representation of the project, and therefore will be ignored in the following discussion. the first workshop the first workshop dedicated to design thinking took place on a tuesday morning in february 2018 at a vocational school in osterode a.h. some of the 19 young people (five girls and 14 boys) were driven by youth workers to the workshop location in the morning and brought back in the afternoon. otherwise, those who go to schools in other communities would have found it difficult to reach the venue, as public transport in rural areas of the region is poorly developed. the fact that school principals exempted these teenagers from classes proved to a great motivation to participate. initially, the participants were given some information as well as an outr iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 48 line of the goal by a regional manager and the author of this article. the aim was to help the young people understand the problems in the region, point out how they can get involved and exert influence as well as what contribution they can make to improve the leisure facilities and their accessibility. in addition, they should develop a general awareness of the problem of accessibility and the needs of their leisure facilities. as a result, three groups were formed to develop concepts, resulting in the following main ideas: -to establish a cinema for foreign-language films in osterode a.h.; -to change the bus times to better suit the school schedule and introduce a new tariff structure; -to create an official cycle route for mountain bikers. the ideas were elaborated by means of a specific concept and the construction of a prototype, as shown in figure 5. figure 5: prototypes and concepts] upper row: concept and prototype cinema; lower row: prototype bus connection, represented by a bus stop as well as the mountain bike route. source: own pictures the typical feedback steps of design thinking aimed at criticizing the concepts were conducted in a balanced and constructive fashion. the participants enjoyed developing concepts, building prototypes and talking about these. moreover, they took criticism seriously, revising their concepts and prototypes in preparation for the second workshop. the approach of design thinking was very well-received by the participants as well as by decision-makers such as the mayors of osterode a.h. and bad grund, who were invited to attend e x p er ien c es fr o m a p a r t ic ip a t io n p r o c ess in g ö t t in g en o s t er o d e 49 the later workshop and expressed their approval of the developed ideas. one mayor, an enthusiastic cyclist, promised the young people his support. after the workshop, he invited the youngsters to his office to discuss possible routes, land ownership, financial issues as well as likely hurdles and next steps (protocol workshop on leisure behaviour and mobility 2018, osterode am harz). the second workshop another workshop took place in april 2018 in dransfeld community centre to discuss the feasibility and implementation of the prototypes with experts. also held on a tuesday morning, some of the young people were once again brought by car by local youth workers. travel time from the youngsters’ homes to the workshop locations was one hour in certain cases. it would have been even more complicated to make the trip by public transport. 12 youths (two girls and ten boys) from the first workshop took part in this second workshop; the other seven did not take part due to time constraints or because they were no longer motivated or interested in the topics. experts, youth workers, municipal representatives and an external moderator were also present. the author of the article also supported the young people at this workshop. in this case, the invited experts were persons with particular knowledge of the developed topics, in particular with experiences from previous projects or their professional activities. a representative of the zweckverband südniedersachen as well as a representative of the bikepark bad salzdetfurth and local youth welfare officers took part in the workshop. the young people discussed their concepts with the invited experts. even though some of the latter made critical comments, the young people were happy to engage in discussion. at the same time, the experts made suggestions as to how negative aspects could be resolved, named contacts and treated the young people as equals. discussions among the young people were also fair and objective. in the meantime they had become well acquainted, and were very friendly and respectful towards one another. there was no one left who showed such a lack of interest that it seemed he or she was only present because of the cancelled school lessons. the young people were encouraged by the experts’ praise for their mostly well thought-out concepts, which made them want to continue working after the workshops (protocol on workshops on youth leisure behaviour and mobility 2018, dransfeld). results from the workshops the workshops were an interesting and successful experience for all teenagers. they learned that if their ideas are worked out concretely, are rethought and well presented, they can exert influence and foster change. they noticed that their role in the municipality had previously been small and r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 50 largely ignored. in this way they felt excluded. nevertheless, the workshops showed them that when they come together and bring adult actors on board, they can really make a difference. cinema with foreign-language films: this group was forced to abandon the project due to the burden of schoolwork and the difficulty of the topic. despite the support of the göttinger youth welfare, the two young people were unable to implement their concept. change of the bus times: this group developed a proposal for a new tariff structure for the local transport network and submitted it to the responsible zweckverband südniedersachsen (zvsn). price proposals flowed into scenarios and measures of the new tariff report at the zvsn. the corresponding report was published in the summer of 2019. official cycle route for mountain biking: this group continued to pursue its developed concept. the participants were supported by the local mayor as well as by the newly founded mountainbike-schul-ag. among other things, a cyclist lobby has already been established and some routes have been planned. in the meantime, however, these young people have finished their schooling and will soon graduate. therefore, they have no more time or interest to work on their project (status: 4/2018) 6. conclusion participation is a very important theme and a necessary citizens’ right (eisel [no year], p.271 ff). nonetheless, youth participation is an unpopular subject in public planning. the involvement of children and young people is often seen as risky by adults, who have their own, at times unrealistic, idea of the correct level of participation of youngsters in social life (wergin 2000, p. 7). young people are excluded from public planning processes for a variety of reasons such as fear of their input or because of limited budgets, time or personnel. in addition, teenagers are often not trusted to be able to develop ideas for the public sphere that can actually be put into practice. however, the case study of youth participation in göttingen osterode a.h. shows how the approach of design thinking can be used to encourage young people express their ideas in a creative, structured and involved way. in this case the teenagers developed well thought-out concepts, which they were happy to revise and which proved highly realistic. these concepts were built as prototypes and discussed with experts. subsequently, the prototypes were adapted until they were actually worth implementing. e x p er ien c es fr o m a p a r t ic ip a t io n p r o c ess in g ö t t in g en o s t er o d e 51 the attendance by mayors at one workshop gave a clear indication how this type of participation is received by key players: the mayors were not only impressed by the ideas of the young people but also by how the collaboration was so structured, thoughtful and respectful. there was a calm, pleasant atmosphere in which criticism was expressed and accepted. due to limited time and the approaching graduation from school, one project ground to a halt before it could progress to the final stages. yet there is little doubt that design thinking is a very good method to foster the participation of young people. initial ideas can be generalized, discussed and revised until they are ready to be presented to municipal authorities in a comprehensible manner. design thinking is a target-oriented method to get young people involved in urban design. it allows participants to develop, present, critically discuss, revise and implement ideas within a short period of time. these are working steps that have previously not been entrusted to young people. the workshops in göttingen osterode a.h. persuaded core actors from the administration that they do not need to be afraid of young people and their ideas. in order for design thinking to be utilized effectively in public participation processes, it is necessary that the method and its application be well understood. currently, this know-how is only available in a few municipalities. it must also be recognized that, despite effective participation methods, young people must be taken “by the hand” and given sufficient support. they cannot implement their ideas on their own. yet the participation of teenagers must be encouraged if they are to remain in their local communities: involvement not only generates ideas but also encourages participants to view their place of residence positively and develop or increase a sense of home. in this way, the mentioned challenges of emigration, undersupply, demographic change, etc. could be overcome by many municipalities. future research projects on design thinking should primarily focus on how to increase motivation to participate and make contacts. clearly, it is a huge problem to reach and motivate young people, who often have many interests and limited free time. here the involvement of schools in participation processes can be a great help, as pupils spend more than half of their day in school. they will not lose any of their valuable free time if participation projects are organized during school hours. however, it can be a problem to convince schools to cooperate. therefore, the question remains how young people can otherwise be contacted and motivated. based on the experiences from göttingen, the following recommendations can be made for the further application of design thinking: -as part of the participation method, it is important to foster good relations and exchange between young people. they should have sufficient long breaks, during which they can have informal conversations with each other. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 52 -good moderation may be required in those cases where there is not an even balance between extroverted and introverted youngsters. otherwise, it can happen, for example, that self-confident boys can dominate the conversation at the expense of quieter girls. -it is vital to get schools on board. if young people are enabled to participate in school and during class time, this will boost motivation enormously as they do not have to give up any of their leisure time and have no extra trips to make. -young people have to be met at eye level and are very results-oriented. if some ideas are entirely unfeasible, the youngsters must be given a comprehensible reason why they cannot be implemented. of course, some ideas can simply be revised, whilst others have to be replaced. -under design thinking, every participation process is unique. young people are such a heterogeneous target group that each participation process must be considered individually. the results will depend on the age of the youngsters, their social environment, the type of school, the gender balance, the level of creativity, the balance of introverted or extroverted individuals, the general mood, the developmental level, etc. flexibility is called upon to deal with the range and variation of factors in the participation process. references arnstein, s.r. (1969). a ladder of citizen participation. jaip, 35 (4), (no information) reprinted by permission of the american planning association.doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01944366908977225 baden-württembergstiftung ggmbh (eds.). (2015). in zukunft mit uns! – jugendbeteiligung in der kommune; handreichung nr. 2. in zukunft mit uns! – qualifizierung jugendlicher in beteiligungsprozessen (p. 9). e.kurz+co. druck und medientechnik gmbh. bertelsmann stiftung (eds.). (2010). kinderund jugendbeteiligung in deutschland. entwicklungsstand und handlungsansätze; 1. auflage 2010. bielefeld. bertelsmann stiftung elsmann, d. (2017). regional railway governance akteursnetzwerke im regionalen bahnsystem im internationalen vergleich [phd thesis]. fakultät für georessourcen und materialtechnik der rheinisch-westfälischen technischen hochschule aachen. eisel, s. 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(2017). entwicklungen der partizipativen demokratie in europa. zeitschrift für gemeinschaftskunde, geschichte, deutsch, geographie, kunst und wirtschaft, deutschland & europa; bürgerbeteiligung in deutschland und europa heft 65 –2013, 12. nanz, p., & fritsche, m. (2012). handbuch bürgerbeteiligung. verfahren akteure, chancen und grenzen. bundeszentrale für politische bildung. schubert, k., & klein, m. (2013, april 22). stichwort „partizipation“. http://www.bpb.de/lernen/grafstat/partizipation-vor-ort/142534/m-01-08-definiton-von-partizipation siefken, a., dwertmann, a., gerstmann, m., lidice haus jugendbildungsstätte bremen ggmbh (eds.). (2013). stadtteilcheckerin. handreichung zum projekt „stadtteilcheckerin“. bremen. stange, w., (2010). partizipation von kindern. politik und zeitgeschichte 38, (pp. 1). stange, w., (2012december 17). was ist partizipation? mitreden – mitplanen – mitmachen. kinder und jugendliche als mitbürger [lecture]. https://www.townload-essen.de/fileadmin/downloads/pdf/infozone-politik-mitwirkung-was-ist-partizipation-waldemar-stange.pdf stange, w. (2013). partizipation von kindern und jugendlichen. in lag mobile jugendarbeit / streetwork brandenburg e.v. (eds.), mitmischen. warum demokratie zum aufwachsen gehört. erfahrungen und erfolge von kinderund jugendbeteiligung in brandenburger kommunen (p. 13). von alemann, u. (2006). ist politik jugendfrei? in u. von alemann, m. morlok, t. gode-werth (eds.), jugend und politik. möglichkeiten und grenzen politischer beteiligung der jugend. schriften zum parteienrecht und zur parteienforschung 34 (p. 9 et seq.). nomos verlag. waibel, m. (2010). endbericht zur projektstudie demographischer wandel im landkreis göttingen. prognose 2025. geographisches institut, abteilung wirtschaftsgeographie universität hamburg. wergin, c. (2000, march 20-22). konzepte zur partizipation und beteiligung von kindern und jugendlichen aus landesplanerischer perspektive [conference paper]. in verein für kommunalwissenschaften e.v. (eds.), mitwirkung und beteiligung von kindern und jugendlichen hindernisse, probleme, erfolge; aktuelle beiträge zur kinderund jugendhilfe 24. seminar des deutschen instituts für urbanistik in kooperation mit dem verein für kommunalwissenschaften e.v. im ernst-reuter-haus in berlin. wissenschaft im dialog ggmbh (eds.). (2011). mitdenken. mitreden. mitgestalten. abschlussbericht forschungsprojekt »wissenschaft debattieren! studio grau grafikdesign. interviews ertelt, jürgen (2018): social and media pedagogue and realizes as web architect concepts for educational work with networked digital media; project coordinator at jugend.beteiligen.jetzt; coordinator at ijab – fachstelle für internationale jugendarbeit der bundesrepublik deutschland e.v.; interview, ils dortmund 09.04.2018; 11:00-12:00 uhr laws bürgerliches gesetzbuch (bgb) in the version promulgated on 2 january 2002 (bgbl. i p. 42, 2909; 2003 i p. 738), as amended by article 1 of the act of 28 april 2017 (bgbl. i p. 969) jugendgerichtsgesetz (jgg) in the version published in the notice of 11. december 1974; bgbl. i p. 3427 r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 54 webpages designthinkingcoach (2020): design thinking https://designthinkingcoach.de/ last visited: 04.05.2020 hasso-plattner-institut academy gmbh (2020): hpi-academy https://hpi-academy.de/design-thinking/was-ist-design-thinking.html last visited: 04.05.2020 yeebase media gmbh (28.11.2018): t3n digital pioneers https://t3n.de/news/wie-funktioniert-design-thinking-1128592/ last visited: 04.05.2020 detecting spatial features from datamaps the visual intersection of data as support to decision-making elena masala, stefano pensa masala, e., & pensa, s. (2016). detecting spatial features from data-maps: the visual intersection of data as support to decision-making. research in urbanism series, 4(1), 93-110. doi:10.7480/rius.4.827 r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 94 abstract the assessment of spatial systems can be supported by the analysis of data coming from different sources and describing different aspects such as economic, social, environmental, energy, housing or mobility issues. nevertheless, the analysis of such a large amount of data is difficult. in order to improve the readability of data also with non-technicians, new methods of communication are needed, which could facilitate the sharing of information among people with different skills and backgrounds. in this context, the paper shows the developments in geo-visualisation to support and improve the processes of planning and decision-making. first, the use of a mapbased visualisation is suitable for intuitively understanding the location and distribution of specific elements. second, the graphic interface can be used to drive users in the investigation of data. it can provide a linear method that is more comprehensive to the human mind in dealing with the complexity of spatial systems. in addition, the possibility to select and filter data by single attributes allows databases to be explored interactively and read by differently skilled users. the intersection and overlapping of information enables users to discover the relationships between data, the inefficiencies and critical areas, thus providing suggestions for further reasoning in planning and decisionmaking. furthermore, collaborative and participatory sessions require quick answers and simple readability. thus, the real time response to simple queries widens the opportunities for improving the discussion. a case study describes the methodology used for sharing the data collected during an interreg ivb nwe project named “code24” (interreg ivb nwe, 2005; erdf european territorial cooperation 2007-2013, 2010). by the use of a web-gis visualisation tool, namely gisualisation, the project partnership was allowed to explore the data concerning the railways and train typologies along the genoa-rotterdam corridor. despite the high factor of usability of the tool, it was not employed much by participants to the project so that further reasoning is needed to evaluate how digital tools are perceived by professionals. keywords gisualisation; invito; geovisualisation; data analysis; code24 d e t ec t in g sp a t ia l fe a t u r es fr o m d a ta -m a p s: t h e v isu a l in t er sec t io n o f d a ta a s su p p o r t to d ec isio n -m a k in g 95 1. introduction a massive change in the availability of data is occurring. until a few years ago, data were provided by authorized institutions or agencies in charge of monitoring specific elements. nowadays, official data are just a small part of available data. sensors distributed across the urban space gather information on traffic and pollution while satellites monitor the earth. however, huge numbers of records are constantly produced by conscious and non-conscious users who act in their own daily life (grauwin, sobolevsky, moritz, gódor, & ratti, 2015; chicago architecture foundation (caf), 2014; kokalitcheva, 2014; ibm, 2014). while most of these data are private, a large part is open and can be accessed by the use of free web apis. this can offer great opportunities for obtaining information about cities and other built environments, providing interesting descriptions of economic, social behaviour, environmental, energy, housing, transport or mobility issues. furthermore, a large part of these data is geo-referenced, so that it can be easily gathered and localised on a map. the analysis of such data can provide focused studies on a specific area, generating information on localised dynamics and activities and by improving the assessment of a spatial system and its quality of life (szell, grauwin, & ratti, 2014; resch, summa, sagl, zeile, & exner, 2014; chua, marcheggiani, serrvillo, & vande moere, 2014; goodspeed, 2011; 2012; neuhaus, 2011; bawa-cavia, 2010). very detailed statistics can be captured by monitoring real activities, offering outcomes which can often be competitive with the output of traditional complex models. in this context of a huge amount of information, spatial planning demands innovative methods. the paper shows the developments in geo-visualisation as a support to improve the processes of planning and decision-making. opportunities and needs are discussed, presenting possible methods for new developments. a case study describes the methodology used for the sharing of data collected during the evaluation of the network along the trans-european railway axis (ten-t) 24 genoa-rotterdam (arnone et al., 2016). the study is part of an interreg ivb nwe project named “code24” (interreg ivb nwe, 2005; erdf european territorial cooperation 2007-2013, 2010). 2. a new tool: theoretical opportunities and practical requirements as in all scientific and professional disciplines, also spatial planning can now exploit the opportunities given by ict for the development of innovative tools and methods. the current state of the art is still a combination of traditional methods, which only occasionally make use of the new digital technologies. the last decades have strongly built up the trust in technology among professionals, so that also new communication and information sharing systems are often perceived too complex to be used in real planning processes. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 96  2.1 the rise and fall of complex spatial models during the last half century, spatial planning has evolved into a multidisciplinary science, which considers and analyses the spatial system as a multitude of heterogeneous elements linked to each other through intricate connections. the mono-functionalism of modern spatial planning, as well as the independent approach of professionals acting within the cities (jacobs, 1961; alexander, 1965), were no longer suitable for the growth of contemporary cities. linear planning theories were substituted by the rising idea of the city as a complex living system. new theories on complexity have generated a large number of visions of the world (allen, & sanglier, 1981; batty, 2003, 2005; portugali, 2011; portugali, meyer, stolk, & tan, 2012; salingaros, 2000, 2006). as a natural consequence, spatial planning grew into a multidisciplinary science, where a large number of professionals contributes with specific expertise and insights into specific fields such as social sciences, environment or transport. in addition, spatial planning also has to consider a wide range of other non-scientific elements such as the interests and goals of both private and public stakeholders who commonly act in spatial systems. therefore, the spatial configuration is the result of the unravelling of intricate knots which tie functions, activities and forms to a specific space. while the reasoning around complexity was growing, the methods and tools for urban planning have been reviewed. in particular, large-scale models have generated a diffused interest within the scientific world. since the sixties, several studies have been produced with which to regulate and measure the planning of cities. many theories have been developed but their outcomes failed to convince professionals. they reached a final peak in 1973, when lee listed their more evident flaws as an obstacle to their usability. nevertheless, during the eighties the progress in computer science and, in particular, the development of graphic interfaces brought a new technological opportunity to continue the reasoning on large-scale models. during the nineties and the first years of the second millennium, a vast production of literature arose on the theme of digital spatial models (harris & batty, 1993; klosterman, 1994, 1999; landis, monzon, reilly, & cogan, 1998; waddell, 2000; waddell et al., 2003; wegener, 1994, 1995; white, & engelen, 1997, 2000; wolfram, 1984). the introduction of powerful technological tools enables the idea of a new digital era able to face the challenges of large-scale models (klosterman, 1994; landis, 2001). studies on the complexity of cities provided a strong theoretical background and support to the development of spatial models. in particular, they justified a general pursuit of translating the full set of qualitative spatial dynamics into an automatic quantitative process. cities, as well as their activities, dynamics and behaviours, have been analysed through a wide number of data, variables, parameters and indexes, d e t ec t in g sp a t ia l fe a t u r es fr o m d a ta -m a p s: t h e v isu a l in t er sec t io n o f d a ta a s su p p o r t to d ec isio n -m a k in g 97 using several methodologies which increased the common need for detailed, precise and complete data. the search for good quality data became an incessant challenge for implementing, calibrating and validating models. therefore, the studies on large scale models developed into very complex instruments, whose structure was conceived to include different elements such as land-use and transport (also known as luti models), social, environmental or economic factors, considered statically and in their possible evolutions in time. as a result, this approach resulted in tech-oriented research, which forgot the ultimate goal of improving the spatial planning processes. large scale models increased their performances but remained “hyper-comprehensive, gross, data hungry, wrongheaded, complicated, mechanical and expensive” (lee, 1973), while their transparency, assessment abilities, suitability to particular needs, and simplicity were not improved as expected. persistent attempt of reproducing the real world in order to automatically generate forecasts and solutions for a living system, deeply undermined their inner usefulness. according to borges (1960), a 1:1 scale map of the empire is useless. models should be an abstract selection of reality (farinelli, 2007), which may be of practical use for obtaining information, knowledge and awareness about specific issues. nevertheless, many tools are still overly complex. non-technicians are generally limited in the process of data exploration, while too often technical expertise is required for both the production and understanding of maps. the need for tools based on linear logic is now recognised. today criticism of spatial models and their counterparts referred to as planning support systems (pss) or spatial design support systems (sdss), confirms the point of view of lee (1973) and points out the common need for simplicity, user-friendliness and transparency in order to be usable by a large variety of users (uran, & janssen, 2003; couclelis, 2005; vonk, geertman, & schot, 2005; vonk, 2006; geertman & stillwell, 2003, 2009; te brömmelstroet, 2010). some discussions have arisen in the last years in order to highlight the differences between complex and simple models (klosterman, 2012; hoch, zellner, milz, radinsky, & lyons, 2015). however, information and communication technologies (ict) significantly changed the perspectives and possible uses of automatic processes within decision-making processes. from the misconception of spatial models as a crystal ball, able to provide forecasting and spatial solutions, the study of living systems is moving towards the use of simpler frameworks and more user-friendly interfaces.  2.2 data analysis as new approach to spatial planning tools with big data on one side and the need for more linear methodologies on the other side, spatial planning is being pushed towards a data-driven approach (kamenetz, 2013; lanzerotti, bradach, sud, & barmeier, 2013). subr iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 98 sequently, systems of spatial and/or visual analysis are being investigated to find new methods which could increase the readability of information contained in data (grauwin, sobolevsky, moritz, gódor, & ratti, 2015). historically, human minds use analysis as a learning method, demonstrating how cognitive processes are facilitated by the use of a simple and linear approach. in fact, according to the etymological definition, analysis is the deconstruction of a whole in its simplest elements. the consequence is a linear process which implies the investigation of three main issues: the identification of each single part; the definition of the relationships and hierarchy between the parts; the definition of the relationships between the parts and the whole. analysis can provide information regarding location and the order of things on earth (schmitt, 1950), providing all the elements necessary for knowing a spatial system through a hierarchical and logic sequence. the analysis of flows of data can provide alternative applications to complex spatial models, offering a linear approach to spatial studies. in particular, geo-data analysis is currently characterised by the use of interactive and visual tools, namely geo-visualisation tools (andrienko, & dykes, 2011). based on dynamic maps, geo-visualisation aims at sharing geographic information in order to improve the knowledge of spatial issues among different kind of users. therefore, the exploration of data becomes a way for analysing huge amounts of data through a simplified visual interface. this has been shown to be particularly suitable for improving the comprehension of spatial issues by both people with no particular expertise or technical skill.  2.3 requirements for data readability and usability data including geographic information are known as gis data. they are collected in spreadsheets where each line corresponds to a geo-referenced geometry, and each column, namely field, contains an attribute of the geometries. although these files can include a high level of information, their representation is generally provided by maps which show few fields of attributes. thus, the resulting maps generally omit many elements which could be useful to their interpretation. these kinds of maps, also known as data-maps, show the spatial distribution of values, but do not reveal the hidden connections among data. therefore, the message given by data-maps is often too simple and does not provide a relevant insight into the spatial features. today, geo-visualisation technologies, such as web-gis tools, provide many opportunities for the development and customisation of mapping instruments. common users can choose a large variety of tools from both commercial and open products, through a large variety of tools. applications of d e t ec t in g sp a t ia l fe a t u r es fr o m d a ta -m a p s: t h e v isu a l in t er sec t io n o f d a ta a s su p p o r t to d ec isio n -m a k in g 99 such instruments are available worldwide and concern a number of fields. nevertheless, only a limited number of existing tools are usable in real-life planning contexts. generally, the reason is due to a misconception of tools. frequently, the use of visualisation is oriented to eye-catch the users, rather than to improve their learning process on specific fields. thus, the exploration of spatial data is often limited to a barren overlay of different maps. furthermore, planners and decision-makers have to share their expertise, interests and opinions with people with different levels of expertise and skills. thus, the readability of data should deal with the skills of people involved in the process of planning and decision-making. data readability demands new instruments to help prevent misunderstandings, facilitate the sharing of information and enhance the communication value of analytic processes. policy-makers, professionals and stakeholders should be informed about all project issues before the conclusion of the decision-making process. in particular, they need to be aware of all the possible consequences to their choices. the opportunities given by ict can aid their activities, especially by simplifying the processes of information sharing and by enabling the exploration of data. furthermore, interaction can improve not only data readability, but also the usability of tools (andrienko & dykes, 2011; andrienko, et al., 2007, 2011). usability is now a keyword in the conceiving of support systems. both expert and non-expert users are increasing their interest in data exploration systems working in real time. even if the attractiveness of new technologies can play an important role in the diffusion of this trend, two main reasons can be noted in the opportunities provided by interactive systems. first, only a few tools are conceived to cut across various disciplines and uses, so that their usability is confined to a very limited number of applications. second, the interaction with data improves the direct dialogue between users and data. instead of trusting on time-intensive calculations made by black box systems (latour, 1987), users prefer to personally investigate the information contained within data. thus, the learning process is facilitated by the personal construction of possible connections and hierarchies between the parts. furthermore, the dialogue with data increases the respect for the human experience in front of calculations given by automatic processes. often, experts do not trust the outcomes of complex calculations because of the low transparency of processes. avoiding black boxes reduces suspicions concerning digital tools. a number of workshops supported by the use of map-based tools have shown that experts often look for problem explanations instead of problem solutions (abastante, et al., 2014; masala, pensa, & tabasso, 2014). the absence of complex mathematical formulas and the direct comparison between the attributes of data can be a simple way to represent the information included in data. by using interactive and user-friendly r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 100 interfaces, users can find their solution through a process of self-learning, which exploits the value of personal experiences enhancing the strengths of individual skills.  2.4 the development of a new tool the research presented in this paper was looking for the integration between gis technologies, spatial decision-making and communication. a new tool, namely gisualisation, was developed in order to satisfy specific requirements of usability in decision-making processes. based on open web-platforms and applications, the tool is a geographical data viewer aimed at facilitating the reading, understanding and sharing of data. its main goal is not to provide definitive solutions, but to help users identify elements corresponding to specific parameters and the relations between elements. new ways for using spatial data have been investigated in order to improve the process of communication and knowledge of cities and territories. in order to explore data, the tool works on dynamic maps, created by the use of free mapbased web applications. maps containing geo-referenced data can be easily explored, as with traditional webgis tools, but data can be filtered along different levels of details. on a lower level, information can be grouped in macro-categories such as layers or fields, while on a higher level, databases can be investigated on the basis of single records. thus, geo-data can be analysed record by record, filtering data and locating their attributes. in order to overcome the low information value of data-maps, one possible solution was found in the intersection of attributes from different fields. by applying filters to the contents of one or more fields, map-users can obtain information about each single attribute and relate it to other elements such as its location on a map or the values of other geometries. the exploration of these relationships between data can allow people to deepen their knowledge on displayed data. furthermore, the possibility of interacting easily with large databases could provide a support for planners and decision-makers to detect factors of inefficiency, ineffectiveness or critical areas which need further reasoning concerning their planning or design. information can be freely interpreted by the actors involved within planning processes, who can use their personal experience to analyse data and look for common and shared solutions. in this sense, the development of gisualisation has favoured human skills over technological power and automatic processes, attributing a new value to the presence and participation of people. new methods of communication were investigated to improve opportunities for the sharing of information and learning. benefits for improving the knowledge process can come from the use of the graphic interface as a fil rouge for guiding the user in the exploration of data. the interface d e t ec t in g sp a t ia l fe a t u r es fr o m d a ta -m a p s: t h e v isu a l in t er sec t io n o f d a ta a s su p p o r t to d ec isio n -m a k in g 101 was conceived as simple as possible. a vertical menu on the left side of the screen hosts all the instruments for data filtering, such as sliding cursors, scroll-down menus or checkboxes. the remaining area of the screen displays a dynamic map. these two elements form a necessary and sufficient condition for supporting the spatial decision-making processes. in fact, data can be grouped by users on the basis of families or ranges and visualised on the map. this combination between a phenomenon and its localisation produces a strong conceptual relationship, which is essential in understanding spatial dynamics (dodge, 2005). through an easy-to-use interface, both experts and non-experts can follow the sequence of filters, explore the interrelations between data, and collect visual information on cities and territories. thus, data visualisation increases the intuitiveness in data reading, improving comprehension and increasing benefits for decision-making processes. 3. case study: the development of the genoa-rotterdam corridor the flexibility of gisualisation has been proved through a number of applications, ranging from the investigation of inefficiencies in the public transport system of the piedmont region in italy (pensa, masala, arnone, & rosa, 2014; isabello, pensa, arnone, & rosa, 2014), to the analysis of health of urban population, from the study of pedestrian paths in urban areas, to the evaluation of social housing projects. in particular, this paper describes a further project concerning the study of the trans-european railway axis (ten-t) 24 genoa-rotterdam (arnone et al., 2016). the code24 project focused on the european railway network connecting the ports of genoa, italy, and rotterdam. the international scope of the project required a geographical diverse partnership. project members represented all the nations crossed by the corridor: netherlands, germany, france, switzerland and italy. the same diversity was required from disciplinary backgrounds and skills. since the main purpose of the code24 project was the interconnection of spatial, transport, economic and ecological development along the railway services, the disciplinary fields of members were varied. as a consequence, the communication between the partners was complicated by the presence of several typologies of languages. thus, a common platform was needed for information sharing. a first gis platform hosted by the eth of zurich was used, after which all data concerning the code24 project were moved into a gisualisation project.  3.1 data collection and representation data about the corridor 24 genoa-rotterdam project were gathered from different sources and collected in a number of databases. in order to share the information among the partners of the project and public users with different skills and backgrounds, databases were structured to be displayed in the simplest of interfaces. four main typologies of data were identified: r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 102 quantity grouped by nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (nuts); typology of railway tracks along the corridor; origin-destination (od) lines; integrated services. each of these typologies of data was uploaded in gisualisation, through which it can be explored at different levels of detail (figure 1). figure 1. screenshot of code24 project within gisualisation, representing an example of data visualisation and map overlapping. the first typology is conceived to show the territorial context in terms of the number of inhabitants and the number of passengers per year. data are grouped into territorial units for statistics (nuts) and are visualised by means of a colour gradient scale. through a slider cursor, users can select are as corresponding to a specific range of values, so as to customise the views and to provide the possibility to visually inter-relate this data with other information (figure 2). d e t ec t in g sp a t ia l fe a t u r es fr o m d a ta -m a p s: t h e v isu a l in t er sec t io n o f d a ta a s su p p o r t to d ec isio n -m a k in g 103 figure 2: figure 2. the comprehensive data concerning the number of inhabitants along corridor 24 (on the left) and the selection of regions within a specific range of population (on the right). the second typology of data cannot be filtered but it is useful in understanding the route of trains along the corridor on the basis of their speed, that is, lower or higher than 200 km/h. the third typology concerns the origin–destination (od) lines, and has been provided by etis+ project (etis plus, 2010). in this section, users can decide to display data by applying a number of filters, such as origin town, typology of direct services as one direction or sum of both directions, national or transnational services, number of passengers per year and distance in km (figure 3). figure 3. on the left, the figure shows all the od lines along the corridor. on the right, data have been filtered in order to show the situation in the city of frankfurt, by considering selected ranges of data. the fourth and last typology is designed to investigate the integration among the different railway services (e.g. high speed (hs) and long distance r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 104 (ld), or interregional (ir) and local (l) trains) through several stations along the corridor. this section takes in consideration data concerning trains arriving in each station from 8.00 to 9.00 a.m. and provides information for all possible destinations that can be reached combining hs/ld with ir/l services within a specific transfer time frame (figure 4). figure 4. selection of integrated services at the station of frankfurt hbf, with a transfer time ranging from 12 to 45 minutes, overlapped with nuts areas with more than 85.000.000 passengers per year.  3.2 visual analysis and collected information the visualisation provided by the use of such webgis tool increases the opportunity for discovering the hidden information included in the records of a dataset. charts, tables, filters and maps enable the visual analysis of data. at the same time, users have the possibility to overlap different maps and see the combination between several typologies of data (figure 5). figure 5. overlapping of different maps to see the combination between several typologies of data and to investigate the spatial distribution of services. d e t ec t in g sp a t ia l fe a t u r es fr o m d a ta -m a p s: t h e v isu a l in t er sec t io n o f d a ta a s su p p o r t to d ec isio n -m a k in g 105 in particular, data can always be related to their spatial location, thus allowing users to understand the connections between data and their spatial influence. for example, users can easily understand the distribution of railway services along the corridor genoa-rotterdam. first, the different sets of data, and their sequence in the menu on the left side of the graphic interface, work as a guideline in the exploration of data, facilitating users in choosing the element to be investigated. second, the use of maps makes it easy and intuitive to understand the localisation and distribution of areas with the highest and lowest levels of railway facilities. the map can show the density of connections between the northern and southern parts of the corridor, but they can also show if these connections are used. in fact, some slider cursors allow the user to customise the data visualised and to determine the values of parameters such as the number of passengers per year, the lines supporting high-speed trains or the integration between different trains in the stations of major cities along the corridor. in this case study, the visual analysis of data has been applied to study the railway infrastructure and facilities along the corridor. although it does not provide calculations, nor quantitative values, its outcomes can be used for the construction of a rationale, which can be shared on a common platform with all the actors involved in the process. such a visualisation can be used later as the basis for the discussion of possible strategies or planning solutions. therefore, the use of a dynamic visualisation tool proved effective in highlighting some issues in the european railway system that can be discussed with the partnership of the code24 project. 4. conclusions and outlook through the visual analysis of spatial data, gisualisation offers a new approach to actors involved in the planning process, tasked with detecting critical areas and improving the urban planning process. spatial data can be investigated and visually analysed so that users can perceive the direct relationship between data by their own visual experience, thereby reaching a new awareness of the information visualised. the visualisation of data can be organised on the basis of specific requests in order to meet the goals of a planning issue as far as possible. its interactive interface removes the waiting times during collaborative meetings such as workshops or decision-making sessions, thus offering a dynamic platform for building shared knowledge. in fact, the visualisation acts as a common element on which discussions can be based, so that it can aid real time exploration of “what if” scenarios requested by the different actors. in some cases, gisualisation can offer a valid substitute of spatial models, especially when the overlapping of geo-referenced data can provide exhaustive responses to the planning issue on its own. the visual analysis of the r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 106 values of a specific element, also in its temporal evolution, can provide users with a large amount of information, so to enable users to apply their personal experience and skills in understanding trends, critical and robust areas, as well as possible planning solutions. in this way, users are supported in exploring and intuitively understanding spatial data, while, at the same time they are involved with the whole suite of their professional experiences in the reasoning about the future of an area. in other words, the tool can show the single pieces of a complete puzzle, but the responsibility of re-composing the final form is left to the human knowledge of the planners. gisualisation is a tool for the visualisation of data. this means that it can work as a common platform for the sharing of information between people, especially in collaborative and participatory sessions, where the need for a homogenous form of communication is essential to improve the awareness of participants. the tool is now facing a new implementation concerning the graphic interface, the back-end interface and its user-friendliness, which should increase usability by non-expert users. further developments concern the integration of gisualisation within the interactive visualisation tool (invito) (pensa, masala, & lami, 2013; pensa & masala, 2014). gisualisation is now the data-filtering component of invito. this combination with a multi-criteria analysis tool strengthens the capabilities of the web platform. today, their combination empowers users to manage and explore data concerning cities and territories, while also providing a method for applying mathematical curves in the visualisation of sets of data. depending on the type of case study, the tool can be adapted and customised to visualise different type of data, ensuring the possibility to explore the relationships between data. to conclude, gisualisation does not have the capability of replacing a large-scale model, but aims at opening the gaze on data-oriented landscapes which concern the management of a huge number of data sets, and the common need for simplicity and user-friendliness. its purpose is to alleviate the daily practice of many planners who deal with large amounts of data which are often incomplete or unsuitable as an input in complex models. furthermore, it offers a human-centred tool, which, while not providing a solution, supports planners in improving their idea and sharing it with the other stakeholders. thus, a new approach to geo-referenced data in planning can be useful in finding new and simple systems which stand to improve the planning practice and the role of the planner itself. the usability of the tool has been proven during a number of workshops and meetings. nevertheless, additional considerations could be developed on how professionals, decision-makers and stakeholders perceive the usability and utility of digital tools. if individual technical skills affect the ease of approaching such instruments, a general mistrust manifests itself when the use d e t ec t in g sp a t ia l fe a t u r es fr o m d a ta -m a p s: t h e v isu a l in t er sec t io n o f d a ta a s su p p o r t to d ec isio n -m a k in g 107 of a tool is not adequately presented. this experience showed that single users do not autonomously use spatial support tools. their utility is recognised 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(1984). cellular automata as model of complexity. nature, 311, 419-424. 205 9 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n today’s fast changing society and environment resulted in the creation of new cultural and natural landscapes and in the deterioration of traditional landscapes (antrop, 2005). new developments such as urban and infrastructure projects and the industrialisation and expansion of large-scale agriculture are resulting in new landscapes which are superimposed on traditional landscapes. the main difference between new landscapes and traditional landscapes is expressed by dynamics in speed and scale, as well as the changing perceptions, values and behaviour of their users (antrop, 2005). as a result, the visual appearance and peoples perceived quality of landscapes are changing (nohl, 2001; antrop, 2004). as a consequence the extent to which people identify with the landscape may decrease and therefore people’s well-being is at stake. this is not limited to landscapes with outstanding beauty, but in particular applies to everyday landscapes where people live and work (council of europe, 2000). without interference of policy makers or planners, the visual quality of everyday landscapes will decrease because landscape changes are mainly economy-driven (bell, 1999). the need to protect and enhance landscape quality is now widely recognised and has been put on european and national political agendas (council of europe, 2000; wascher, 2000; piorr, 2003; antrop, 2004; dramstad, tveit et al., 2006). there is an increasing demand for decision support systems that offer information on the visual quality of landscapes in order to monitor and evaluate the impacts of ongoing developments (tress, tress et al., 2001; scott, 2003). g e r d w e i t k a m p mapping landscape openness with isovists 206 mapping landscape openness with isovists although a signifi cant amount of scientifi c research has been done on visual landscape issues, policy makers are still calling for information that is more useful and relevant to policy-making processes and that can make these processes more effective (mcnie, 2007). as mcnie (2007) has indicated, there is often a mismatch between the information that is produced by scientists and the information that is required by policy makers. in particular, policy makers may need information that is not available or not useful, or they may not be aware of existing information that is of use to them. so what do policy makers require from decision support models for monitoring and evaluating visual landscape quality? two recent developments are of particular interest. the fi rst is that policy makers have come to realise the need to include the perception of people in the decision-making process. this aspect of visual landscape assessment is included in the defi nition of landscape in the european landscape convention: “landscape means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors” (council of europe, 2000). this defi nition implies that people’s perception of the landscape should be included in policy making. the second is the increasing dependency of environmental policy making on a third wave of geographic information systems (gis) (roche and caron, 2009), which can combine and analyse many datasets in a transparent way. these developments have created a demand for a new generation of decision support tools that are both realistic and technologically advanced. in recent decades, signifi cant advances in computers and increasing access to high-resolution geodata have led to an increasing deployment of gis in assessing visual landscape variables, using reproducible methods, over wide areas. some of the fi rst examples of mapping visual qualities using gis are presented by steinitz (1990) and bishop and hulse (1994). mapping the environment based on people’s perception poses interesting challenges for geographical information science because it requires expertise in both gis analyzing techniques and the psychology of how people experience landscapes (brabyn, 2008). the ability of gis to represent individual views of landscape introduces the opportunity to explore subjective and personal views within a spatial environment, potentially coupling the quantitative processing capabilities of gis with a wide range of social and psychological methods (aspinall, 2005). geographic information systems (gis) provide a way of representing large amounts of data on landscape in a comprehensible format. as such, gis enables the assessment and analysis of landscape quality in a scientifi cally sound, and practically useful manner (o’shea, 2006). in particular, gis provides the possibility of making the decision-making process more transparent, standardised, and replicable (o’looney, 2000). in order to be useful for decision makers, gis tools need to be fl exible, easy to use, and adaptable (geertman, 2002). because of the tremendous growth in accessible and affordable geo-data, the role of gis has increased within the decision-making process. 207 the present research is aimed at developing a procedure to describe the visual landscape, which takes advantage of improvements in measurement techniques, developments in gis and availability of high-resolution topographic data. the procedure is developed for policy making and spatial planning purposes, and provides information about one specifi c aspect of the visual landscape, landscape openness. in the remainder of the chapter, fi rst the concept of landscape openness is explained, then a method to model landscape openness is proposed. subsequently, a procedure to use this model for policy making purposes is demonstrated. finally the results of an evaluation of the procedure with policy makers are discussed. 9 . 2 l a n d s c a p e o p e n n e s s openness is an aspect of the visual landscape that is strongly emphasised in theories relating to perceived visual quality and landscape preference (herzog, 1987; coeterier, 1996; tveit, ode et al., 2006). the quality of openness depends on biological, as well as cultural and personal factors. theories emphasising the biological aspect are evolutionary theories such as the prospectrefuge theory (appleton, 1975), in which prospect is the degree to which the environment provides an overview, which is directly related to landscape openness. according to this theory, people display a preference for certain confi gurations that combine enclosure and openness. due to their evolution in the savannah, humans tend to prefer environments that offer various options for cover while at the same time allowing an overview of large spaces. thus, a balance between open and enclosed landscapes appears to be preferred to either confi ned or exposed spaces (strumse, 1994; buijs, jacobs et al., 1999; hagerhall, 2001). another evolutionarybased theory is the preference model developed by kaplan et al. (1989). the model assumes people will be attracted to the landscape if human abilities to process information are stimulated. the model consists of four components: coherence, complexity, legibility, and mystery. openness is a key aspect of the components (herzog and kropscott, 2004) and was found to be a predictor of landscape preferences. kaplan et al. (1989) compared four domains of predictors of landscape preferences. they found that openness, which was rated by respondents based on photographs, was one of the most powerful predictors. notably, in the study by kaplan et al. (1989) openness was found to be negatively related to landscape preference, whereas other studies have revealed positive relations between openness and landscape preference (e.g. rogge, nevens et al., 2007) the quality of openness not only depends on biological factors, but also on other factors such as shared cultural values and personal learning experiences, which guide and fi lter people’s perceptions (gifford, 1987; bourassa, 1990). the preferred degree of openness may differ across various dimensions. for example, from a general user perspective, half-open landscapes tend to be most preferred because these provide opportunities for understanding as well as exploration (appleton, 1975). from a cultural 208 mapping landscape openness with isovists perspective, however, extreme degrees of openness or enclosure can be highly valued because these are markers of cultural values such as uniqueness and historical importance. policy makers often take cultural values as a starting point for planning and decision making. they take a point of reference in the past to determine the current cultural value of landscapes. in the netherlands for instance, 1900 has often been taken as reference year because it pre-dates the large-scale landscape developments of the twentieth century, such as urban sprawl, heath land reclamation, and land consolidation (koomen, maas et al., 2007). based on such a reference year, a high degree of openness is preferred for one landscape type and a low degree of openness for another. an example of varying preference is the landscape of the netherlands, where one of the core qualities is a certain degree of openness. 9 . 3 m o d e l l i n g l a n d s c a p e o p e n n e s s by making use of advances in gis and high-resolution geodata, physical objects can be modelled in detail. models of openness have been developed based on physical objects, but here a perception-based approach is presented. the meaning of ‘perception-based’ in this chapter is that in contrast to a model constructed with objects alone, a subject or perceiver is added, on which the output of the model for openness is based. more precisely, the model is based on visual perception. to model landscape openness, the visual landscape – in particular the visual space – is simulated with the visible space. one way to model openness, which links perceptual factors with spatial information, is provided by the concept of the isovist, which has had a long history in architecture and geography, as well as mathematics. tandy (1967) is generally acknowledged to be the originator of the term isovist. an isovist is the space visible from a given viewpoint with respect to an environment. benedikt (1979) has further developed the concept of isovists and introduced a set of analytical measurements of isovist properties. the appeal of the concept of an isovist is that it provides an intuitively attractive way of thinking about a spatial environment, because it describes the space ‘from inside’, from the point of view of individuals, as they perceive, interact with, and move through the space (turner, doxa et al., 2001). a similar concept has been developed in the fi eld of landscape architecture and planning, using the term viewshed. although there are various methods to calculate both the isovist and viewshed, a typical difference between the two concepts is that the isovist represents the space that can be ‘overviewed’, while the viewshed represents (parts of) objects that are visible. other differences, such as taking into account the vertical viewing angle and terrain height, which are typically only included in the viewshed, are no limitations for isovists per se. the possibilities of isovists and viewsheds have been investigated by many scientifi c studies for various purposes (fisher, 1991, 1996; batty, 2001; llobera, 2003; franz and wiener, 2005; stamps, 2005). 209 in this research arcgis and isovist analyst are used to measure the visible space by calculating isovists (rana, 2002). the software calculates isovist polygons from two input datasets: a point layer, which represents locations of observer points, and an obstacles layer, which represents the physical environment (fi gure 1a and b). visual limitations are simulated by parameter values, which limit the size of the isovists. figure 1c shows the possible visible space from one viewpoint, based on the terrain height, the landscape elements and the observer height. besides the location and the eye level of the observer, other characteristics like the angle of view also determine the visible space. this probable visible space (fi gure 1d) is related to the context and viewing characteristics of people during various activities. the limitations on the fi eld of view may be different for each activity. the isovist polygons for each observer point are constructed by fi rst calculating a number of radials, which are straight lines from the observer point to the fi rst obstacle and therefore represents lines of sight. the radials are calculated every n degrees. a disadvantage of this calculation method is that only the horizontal viewing angle is taken into account, and therefore does not detect a difference between for example a house of 7 metres high and a tower of 50 metres, while this difference is expected to affect the degree of openness. a solution for this limitation would be the calculation of three dimensional isovists, such as proposed by culagovski (2007). 9.3.1 validation the isovist and related concepts are applied in many situations, for example for landscape planning and policy making (weitkamp, bregt et al., 2007). in general, there is a lack of actual validations of such numerical and spatially explicit information to assess openness. although the use of the isovist to estimate perceived openness is an intuitively attractive representation, the many assumptions and simplifi cations when modelling the perceived landscape openness require a validation. figure 1 aspects of landscape and space: terrain (a); landscape elements (b); possibly visible space (c); probably visible space (d) a terrain the height of the terrain is the fi rst input which shapes space. b landscape elements vertical landscape elements such as trees and houses are the second input layer which creates space; they are draped upon terrain layer.upon terrain layer. c possible visible space the possibly visible space is based on previous layers and characteristics of an observer, like location and height. d probably visible space information about the context of observing is used to calculate the probable visible space, like the view in a specifi c direction. 210 mapping landscape openness with isovists three isovist variables were selected to compare with perceived openness, based on the literature (van der ham and iding, 1971; de veer and burrough, 1978; stamps, 2005; tveit, 2009) and based on the ease of detecting their equivalents in the fi eld. the fi rst is the minimum line of sight. the second is the maximum line of sight which emphasises the importance of distance for the perception of openness. the third is the average line of sight, which is strongly related to the size of the fi eld of view. in short, these three isovist variables and their perceived equivalents in the real world can be summed up as: minimum radial and shortest line of sight; maximum radial and longest line of sight; and average radial and average line of sight. a fi eld experiment was carried out to test the correspondence between the three isovist variables and perceived openness in the fi eld. thirty-two dutch students were asked to rate the openness of the landscape for thirteen fi eld locations, which cover the full range of openness in the netherlands. a questionnaire was created in which the participants were asked to rate the openness of the landscape on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high). they were also asked to estimate the average line of sight, maximum line of sight, and minimum line of sight (in metres). one way to examine how the isovist variables are related to perceived landscape openness is to calculate how much of the variation of openness can be explained by a combination of the variables. with openness as the dependent variable and the average radial, maximum radial, and minimum radial as predictors, multiple regression analysis was performed. this resulted in two models. the fi rst, with the average radial as the predictor, with an r2 of 0.84. the second with the average radial and the maximum radial as predictors, with an r2 of 0.91. in general, the minimum radial did not contribute much to the model (the average radial was dominant), but for individual locations, the perception of openness could change with a landscape element close to the observer while retaining similar values for maximum radial and average radial. the relationship between perceived space and measured space is most often described by a power function (wagner, 1985, 2006). the maximum radial and the average radial showed very high correlations with perceived openness, whereas the correlation of the minimum radial was lower. when values of the isovist variables reached above a certain value, further increase did not affect the openness rating. for example, if the maximum radial was higher than 3500 metres or the average radial was higher than 1000 metres, the perceived openness remained fairly constant (on a scale from 1 to 10, between 9.2 and 9.8). again, the minimum radial did not contribute much to the model, but for individual locations, the perception of openness could change with a landscape element close to the observer but with similar values for maximum radial and average radial. the most important difference between measured and perceived distances is that the measured distance only yields one result, whereas perception of distance varies within a group of people. 211 because openness ratings are actually made by individuals, the reliability of individual ratings is an important aspect of the data analysis (palmer and hoffman, 2001). to obtain more information about the variation within the group of participants, the intraclass correlation coeffi cient is calculated. this measured the extent to which participants agreed when rating the openness of the 13 locations. the average of the scores of the 32 participants were highly reliable (the average measure intraclass correlation value was 0.99), suggesting that despite the participants’ individual differences, the scoring process was successful in identifying different levels of openness. the single measure intraclass correlation is the reliability one would get if using just one participant. in this case, this value was 0.76. landscape openness is a descriptive characteristic that can be rated in a fairly objective way and therefore there is high consistency between those rating. the range of openness ratings of the 32 participants is illustrated with a box plot in fi gure 2. the locations with average openness values (between 4 and 7) tended to show more variation than very high or very low rated openness. the three locations with the highest average openness ratings (11, 12, and 13) showed the lowest variation. location 12 had a very uniform 1 fi el d op en ne ss location 10 8 6 4 2 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 * * * figure 2 box plots of rating of fi eld openness by 32 participants for 13 locations. an increasing location number (x-axis) corresponds with and increasing isovist value 212 mapping landscape openness with isovists rating except for two outliers. the locations were predicted to have an increasing value of openness based on the isovist calculations. however, locations 4 and 6 had higher values than location 5, and locations 7 to10. in summary, most of the variation in perceived fi eld openness is explained by the average radial and the maximum radial of the isovist. there are however individual rating differences, but in particular, on group level, there are high correlations between isovist values and perceived openness ratings. when taking into account that differences between landscapes were relatively small (all dutch landscapes), for european landscapes it will be easier to detect differences, and therefore even better correlations are expected. in short, the isovist appears to be a good indicator of perceived landscape openness. 9 . 4 p r o c e d u r e with the use of isovist measurements, a step-by-step procedure was developed for policy makers to simulate landscape openness based on perception and expert knowledge. the design of the procedure is based on a literature study about landscape perception, and conversations with landscape researchers, policy makers and planners. 9.4.1 create the observer layer the fi rst step is to create an observer layer. the observer layer represents the locations from which people may perceive the landscape. since the majority of people perceive the landscape from a road, a road network should be selected. in order to decide where on the road the viewpoints are located, a mode of perception has to be defi ned. this can be either a static or dynamic mode of perception (weitkamp, bregt et al., 2007). the mode of perception refl ects what people can see related to a certain activity. accordingly it includes information about the observer as a subject, rather than as a physical object. three main sampling strategies are distinguished to locate the viewpoints: individual point sampling, sequence points sampling and network point sampling. the fi rst sampling strategy refl ects perception of openness from individual locations, for example from a lookout (fi gure 3, step 1b). this is a static mode of perception. these individual points can be predefi ned by policy makers and planners or randomly selected on the road network. the second sampling method refl ects perception from a sequence of locations (fi gure 3, step 1c). this is a dynamic mode of perception in which people perceive transitions and variations in landscape openness. the chosen distance between the points may depend on the expected perceived intensity of changes of openness: the more complex the spatial confi guration, the shorter the distance between points should be. the distance may also 213 prominence 1 2 3 4 5 a road network b individual point c sequence d network a terrain b topgraphic datase topgraphic datase topgraphic t topgraphic t topgraphic c contour lines a viewing angle b maximum line of sight a b increment radials compute isovist a b c average variant figure 3 step-by-step procedure for measuring visibility the numbers and letters are explained in the main text. a black letter means that the sub-step is required; a grey letter means that the sub-step is optional. a connected box means that the previous step is necessary to execute it; a non-connected box does not need a previous step to be executed. 214 mapping landscape openness with isovists depend on people’s activity in the landscape. for a walking tourist the distance should be shorter than for a person driving to work by car. the third sampling method refl ects perception from a network of roads (fi gure 3, step 1d). these points may be either a collection of individual points (fi rst sampling method) or a collection of sequences of points (second sampling method). the total collection of points does not refl ect the locations visited during one activity, but is a summary of multiple activities. this is in contrast to point sampling and sequence sampling, where there is a direct relationship between perception and locations of points. this sampling method may refl ect a static perception of openness, using predefi ned or random sampling, or a dynamic perception of openness, using regular or irregular sequencing points. 9.4.2 define the physical space the second step in calculating the visible space is to defi ne the physical space by merging a terrain dataset (fi gure 3, step 2a) with a topographic dataset (fi gure 3, step 2b). for each observer point defi ned in step 1, a contour line layer was created (fi gure 3, step 1c). this contour line layer is the obstacle layer input for calculating the isovists (fi gure 3, step 4). the height value of the contour lines is the sum of the value of the height model at the location of the observer point and the eye level value. 9.4.3 identify visual limitations a person’s fi eld of view depends on their mode of perception and activity. for example, the fi eld of view of car drivers is much smaller than the fi eld of view of pedestrians. this limited fi eld of view has been termed the ‘useful visual fi eld’ and has been shown to be smaller than the peripheral visual fi eld (ball, owsley et al., 1993; caduff and timpf, 2008). visual limitations, like viewing angle and maximum line of sight, are inherent to human vision and have an effect on perceived landscape openness (coeterier, 1994). for example, the maximum angle of view in the horizontal plane is about 210 degrees, with 120 degrees binocular overlap without movement of the head or eyes (atchison and smith, 2001). the useful visual fi eld can have smaller values for the viewing angle, depending on the mode of perception. another example is the maximum visual line of sight. many studies relate threshold distances of the line of sight to the foreground, middle ground and background, but with varying euclidean distances (van der ham and iding, 1971; us forest service, 1974; smardon, palmer et al., 1986; bishop and hulse, 1994; baldwin, fisher et al. , 1996). the viewing angle and the maximum line of sight vary with activity, motion speed, and perhaps complexity of the landscape. these parameters are added to the model to increase the accuracy of the visibility measurements for describing landscape openness (fi gure 3, step 3). 215 9.4.4 compute the visible space the visible space is calculated with isovists, using arcgis and isovist analyst (rana, 2002). the software calculates isovist polygons from two input datasets: a point layer which represents locations of observer points (fi gure 3, step 1) and an obstacles layer which represents the vertical landscape elements (fi gure 3, step 2). visual limitations are simulated by parameter values that limit the size of the isovists (fi gure 3, step 3). the isovist polygons for each observer point are constructed by fi rst calculating a number of radials, which are straight lines from the observer point to the fi rst obstacle and therefore represent lines of sight. the radials are calculated every n degrees. the most appropriate increment value for the radials (fi gure 3, step 4a) depends on the desired precision of the calculation and is also strongly correlated to computation time. 9.4.5 select and calculate variables the last step of the procedure is to derive variables from the isovist (fi gure 3, step 5). this is an important step. it adapts the output data better to the phenomenon of landscape openness and turns the output data into a format suitable for landscape policy making and planning. the variables can be derived from three unit types. the smallest unit is a point; the variables are derived from one isovist. the next unit is a line; the variables are derived from sequencing isovists. the last unit is a network; the variables are derived from multiple isovists. three types of (statistical) analysis are proposed to derive the variables from the output data: average, variation and prominence. the average analysis produces one general description of landscape openness for a unit. the variation analysis produces a description that refl ects the variation in openness within a unit. the prominence analysis selects a specifi c line of sight, isovist or sequence of isovists within a unit, which represents the character of landscape openness for that unit. 9 . 5 e v a l u a t i o n the procedure is designed to assess landscape openness in a way that meets the requirements for a good description of landscape openness as well as a generic procedure for landscape policy making and planning. a workshop was organised in which scientists and dutch policy makers were brought together to evaluate the usefulness of the procedure. six actual landscape openness cases, which were provided by the policy makers themselves, were used to present and illustrate the procedure. three of the cases are shown in fi gure 4: ronde venen in the prov216 mapping landscape openness with isovists ince of utrecht, fi gure 5: near winschoten, groningen, and fi gure 6: friese meren, friesland. there are well-established criteria available for evaluating the usefulness of decision support models at the interface between science and policy making. four criteria are selected: relevance to policy (cash, clark et al., 2003; cash and buizer, 2005; jacobs, garfi n et al., 2005; keller, 2009), scientifi c credibility (oecd, 1999; cash and buizer, 2005; jacobs, garfi n et al., 2005; doody, kearney et al., 2009), usability for policy makers (oecd, 1999; park, stabler et figure 4 the case study area of ronde venen, utrecht, is characterised by its polders, which have a high degree of openness. the development of natural habitats will require the construction of dikes to regulate the water table. various scenarios for the location of dikes have been developed, one of which is shown in fi gure 4a. the background shows the height model of the landscape, the whiter areas representing higher height values and the darker areas representing lower height values. the policy question is how the dikes affect the openness of the landscape. the visible space from one viewpoint on the road, in the centre of the polder, is shown for the current situation in fi gure 4b. the viewing angle is 360 degrees and the maximum line of sight is 3000 metres at an eye level of 1.6 metres. in the possible new situation the same viewpoint is located on the planned dike and the visible space is therefore larger than in the current situation (fi gure 4d). however, the visible space decreases dramatically when located on a road next to the dike (fi gure 4c). this example illustrates that the exact location of the viewpoint is important when drawing conclusions about the effect on openness a b dc 217 al., 2004; singh, murty et al., 2009), and feasibility for implementation (oecd, 1999; doody, kearney et al., 2009). the policy makers who participated the workshop were asked to comment on these four criteria for the procedure. figure 5 the case study area of winschoten, groningen, is characterised by a contrast between large-scale open landscapes and enclosed landscapes. the open character is under threat, one of the reasons for this being the relocation of farm buildings from small settlements to the open agricultural areas. figure 5.4a shows an example of recently built farmhouses. the provincial policy makers want to know the effect these buildings have on landscape openness. the calculation of the visible space is based on views from the road along which the buildings are located. to simulate the perception of openness during movement, viewpoints were fi xed at 100 metre intervals along the road in the old situation (4c) and the new situation (4d), with the viewing angle set at 120 degrees in a southeasterly direction. the difference in visible space between the old and the current situation is shown in fi gure 5b. the difference is not big, partly because there were already some buildings and a patch of forest located along the road. the differences in openness at other locations on the road are even smaller because the road starts and ends in an enclosed area. the contrast between the enclosed areas and the open area along the road decreased slightly, but would still be perceived degree of openness low high degree ofdegree of opennessopenness new old distance (m) 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 6 5 4 3 2 1 0o pe nn es s by v is ib le s pa ce (k m 2) lowlow high a b dc 218 mapping landscape openness with isovists 9.5.1 relevance all the participants, including three who mentioned that they already used other methods, felt the need to assess openness. openness is defi ned as one of the core qualities of dutch national landscapes, and many other european countries also consider it relevant to measure openness. it was found relevant that people’s perceptions are explicitly taken into account, and that landscape functions or activities could be linked to perception. the procedure makes it possible to identify perceived openness for activities such as driving a car and enjoying the view from a viewpoint, which is useful for policy making. the functions of modes of perception and visual limitations were generally appreciated by the participants because they make the procedure fl exible enough to be applied to local situations. they also agreed that guidelines based on scientifi c research were indispensable for its proper use. figure 6 the case study area of the friese meren in the province of friesland is characterised by its open landscapes. however, the spontaneous growth of vegetation around the lakes is reducing the openness of the landscape. the effect of the vegetation growth has to be assessed. the exact locations of the vegetation growth were not known, and the top10vector may not show all this vegetation. we selected the vegetation within 50 metres of the shores of the lakes and designated it as spontaneous vegetation (fi gure 6a). we calculated the visible space for every location in the area based on a 100-metre grid. the viewing angle was set to 360 degrees and the eye level was set to 1.6 metres on the land and 1 metre on the water (fi gure 6b). a change in eye level can have a large effect on the openness. for example, the values for openness change dramatically when the eye level on the water is raised to 2 metres (fi gure 6c). the effect of the vegetation on openness can be seen by comparing fi gure 6c with 6d, in which the vegetation has been removed. the difference between the openness with vegetation (6c) and without vegetation (6d) is shown in fi gure 6e a d e b degree of openness low low low low difference openness 6c 6d high high high high degree of openness degree of openness c 219 furthermore the procedure was thought to be relevant because it can be used to develop valuation standards for openness. although the procedure does not provide predefi ned standards for determining whether there is ‘enough’ or ‘too little’ openness, the participants agreed that the procedure would be helpful in developing these. there was a discussion on whether valuations should be included as a standard element in a procedure. this could increase the relevance of such a procedure, but may also decrease its credibility. the procedure supports the communication of information about openness to stakeholders, such as other governmental organisations at different levels. the procedure was also considered to be useful for participatory planning because it is easy to generate visual impressions of openness and the effects of certain landscape changes on openness. 9.5.2 credibility the procedure was considered to be credible because it was clear and transparent. participants considered the procedure much more credible than multi-criteria analysis, for example, which was compared with a ‘black box’. the isovist technique that is used to calculate the visible space was considered to be an intuitively good representation of landscape openness. the input data, the ahn and top10vector, were the best data currently available, but are not yet detailed enough to accurately represent some elements. although some improvement is possible, the participants agreed that the procedure could never entirely replace other methods of collecting information, such as fi eld visits, no matter how accurate and precise the input data. however, because policy makers are likely to differ in their landscape preferences and interpretations from the general public (e.g. vouligny, domon et al., 2009), the use of more representative tools, that can make policy makers aware of their biases, was considered to be very important. some participants indicated that the credibility of the procedure could be improved by including parameters related to people’s cultural background or living environments. these parameters would primarily affect their preference for a certain degree of openness. among the participants of the workshop there was general agreement on the complexity of developing a procedure for assessing preferred openness. 9.5.3 usability the procedure is a usable instrument because of its transparency, which makes it possible to interpret the outcomes in an unambiguous way. the measured visible space is a usable basis for communicating landscape openness with other stakeholders because it is based on a simple and clear concept. the fl exibility of the procedure, which allows for the selection of various modes of perception and other parameters for the visual limitations related to various activities, also contributed much to its usability. however, a guideline on how to make use of these options was considered to be necessary for proper use. 220 mapping landscape openness with isovists 9.5.4 feasibility the procedure employs widely used software and data and fairly simple techniques within gis to make the measurements; this was appreciated by the participants. however, the whole process was not yet automated and ready to be implemented in arcgis, the gis software in use at the organisations where the participants were employed. the participants indicated that there is suffi cient knowledge of gis in their organisations to use the procedure if it could be implemented in arcgis. as their organisations do not have the necessary knowledge about landscape perception, and therefore about parameter values such as the viewing angle and the maximum line of sight, a guideline for the proper use of all the options related to different types of perception is required. the data that was used for the procedure, the ahn and top10vector databases, was available to the participants. if such a procedure were to be used at the european level, data availability would be a major issue, because at this level such high-resolution topographic datasets and elevation models are not available. having enough time and money is also a precondition for the feasibility of the procedure. the participants indicated that this would not be a problem, given that information about openness can be generated relatively quickly and at low cost. this is especially true in comparison with other procedures for including perception in policy making, such as surveys. 9 . 6 c o n c l u d i n g r e m a r k s a systematic gis-based procedure for measuring landscape openness was developed which is explicitly modelled from the perspective of humans. the model provides exact estimates of possible visible space based on biological features of human vision, and physical features of the environment. in addition it estimates probable visible space by specifying modes of perception with corresponding visual limitations. from the perspective of human perception, an important limitation of the procedure is that it is restricted to calculating visible space, and does not include space as it is seen by people. what is seen not only depends on human vision and modes of perception, but also on other dimensions such as cultural values and personal learning experiences. the procedure was found useful by policy makers, in particular its transparency and fl exibility were appreciated. openness manifests itself differently in different cultural landscapes, and the development of prototypical openness values for each landscape type could be used as a guide for plans and policies. at the european level landscapes are typically classifi ed by experts using a top-down 221 approach. a need has been expressed to link these european top-down approaches with more perception-based bottom-up approaches. present research provides a fi rst step in establishing this link by developing a perception-based approach that produces measurable data. this study provides the basis for research and identifi es a number of areas where further research is required. the representation of openness may be improved by 3d isovists. however, validation is needed for indicating the benefi ts of 3d isovists. the three modes of perception also need validation to test how well the sampling strategies refl ect how people perceive openness. another area that needs further research is the implementation in planning and policy making. guidelines need to be developed for the use of variable values. finally, the development of prototypical descriptions of characteristic degrees of perceived openness for cultural landscape types, combined with bio-physical 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(2016). combining gis and bim for facility reuse: a profiling approach. research in urbanism series, 4(1), 185-204. doi:10.7480/rius.4.824 r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 186 abstract lingering vacant facilities deteriorate the condition of an urban environment, and, as a consequence, actuate neighboring companies to leave the area as well. in addition, new development efforts keep depleting scarce land resources. in this paper, a framework is presented to match existing vacant facilities to the requirements of potential customers or owners to promote sustainable redevelopment and reuse. important attributes for facility reuse are identified from literature. to automatically extract these attributes from models and their surroundings, geospatial information and building information models (bim) are combined. in the proposed framework, a profile is created for each existing vacant facility by combining bim and gis attributes. as a result, these profiles can be matched to the desired bim model, which the aspiring users have provided, based on a weighted distance calculation. the framework presents the most suitable vacant facilities to the users in order to promote facility reuse. these facility reuse alternatives are evaluated based on a single monetary metric that represents the effort required to partially or fully accommodate the requirements of the aspiring users, which is reflected in the weighted distance between profiles from existing vacant facilities and the facility desired by the end-user. this framework identifies suitable areas for redevelopment after which a process is started that forms an iterative and comprehensive evaluation dialog between demand and supply parties, on multiple scale levels, including various design alternatives to adapt the existing facility to the desires of the consumer and revitalize the surroundings according to geodesign principles. a proof-of-concept of the framework is presented together with the conceptual system structure. evaluation of the attributes and the technical implementation of their extraction from bim and gis data show the technical feasibility of the approach. keywords facility reuse; geodesign; gis & bim integration; bim c o m b in in g g is a n d b im fo r fa c ilit y r eu se: a p r o filin g a p p r o a c h 187 1. introduction  1.1 problem statement unlike regular urban development planning, industrial area development is mainly led and directed on the level of individual municipalities in the netherlands, with the lack of participation of private real estate investors. the unrealism in new industrial area demand estimation, financial profitability of developing new industrial areas and mutual competition among municipalities all lead to the redundantly large supply of very cheap industrial area land plots (blokhuis, 2010). as a result, a large amount of existing industrial areas are obsolete, with many abandoned facilities. according to the dutch national industrial area database ibis, 1052 industrial areas contain signs of obsolescence, equalling 32,230 gross hectares on january 1st, 2013 (ministerie van infrastructuur en milieu (ministry of infrastructure and environment), 2013). on the contrary, the netherlands is well-known as a densely populated country, where land resources are scarce. therefore, industrial area redevelopment and facility reuse are essential, as it can promote regional economies while using resources more efficiently. in the industrial sector, land and facility reuse is not widespread. a lack of knowledge exists on vacant facilities and their potential for meeting the requirements of aspiring future users. hence, new facilities are built while instead existing ones could have been reused. reusing existing facilities is a more sustainable way for reducing the amount of disused, neglected and abandoned facilities and construction efforts. for a sustainable future, facility reuse needs to be put on the agenda. it can serve as a main driver for land use redevelopment and suitable reuse strategies can democratize the planning process, which would allow private parties to participate and state their interest in a certain facility and its surroundings. besides these advantages, the facility locations in many cases are historical sites, which are located centrally in large cities. due to the spatial development of a given area, these buildings can often be heritage-listed and carry the character of a specific time period. this can be attractive to certain types of customers as it provides a sense of identity. from a financial point of view, it is claimed that reusing existing facilities saves 10%-12% investment over building new ones (shipley, utz, & parsons, 2006). despite of the aforementioned points, land use planners tend to focus on a larger scale with a top-down perspective when dealing with industrial area redevelopment. on such a scale, details about individual facilities easily get lost, as information about this is not easily accessible. recently, more and more detailed building information models get available, due to technological advances as well as legislation required to get building permits. incentives are thriving in countries like singapore (das, leng, r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 188 lee, & kiat, 2011) and south korea (zeiss, 2014). the availability of these models for detailed information about existing facilities enables new methods to stimulate facility reuse. research has been conducted on the usage of geographic information system (gis), building information modelling (bim) and their integration mainly in the domain of facility management (fm). rich and davis (2010) provide a detailed overview of the application of gis for facility management and the integration with other applications, including bim. they conclude that in the field of facility management, combining gis and bim is helpful to ensure requirements are met and data that are needed at various stages of fm are captured. in addition, gis analysis can help to find a suitable location for a new facility (abudeif, abdel moneim, & farrag, 2015; panichelli & gnansounou, 2008; rikalovic, cosic, & lazarevic, 2014; zhang, johnson, & sutherland, 2011). however, the implementation level of bim within existing buildings is limited (volk, stengel, & schultmann, 2014) which can be attributed to the fact that only recently bim technology has become more popular. notable exceptions include attempts to integrate bim and gis for emergency response and lifecycle management of a facility and its surroundings (mignard & nicolle, 2014; shen, hao, & xue, 2012). however, research on bim or gis or their integration is limited within the scope of facility reuse. in this domain, the integration of gis and bim is of importance to connect geospatial information to detailed building level information to make informed decisions about the reuse suitability and possibility of existing vacant facilities.  1.2 scopes and assumptions for facility reuse, the emphasis not only lies on the physical facilities themselves but also on the surroundings. in this article it is assumed that successful selection of a facility for reuse is more likely when geospatial information and building information are both considered. in this way, an entire overview of how one facility functions in its social, geographic and demographic context can be constructed out of regional characteristics, building and encompassing plot attributes. in the scope of this article, a facility is considered to be a commercial or institutional building and its surrounding plot of land. and in one region, there are enough vacant facilities for reuse. in this research, four general types of reuse are identified for an existing vacant facility, namely: occupying the existing facility only partially, occupying it entirely, using the encompassing plot for additional developments and, lastly, rebuilding another facility after demolishing the original (figure 1). the natural resources that have been put into the building itself, makes the building the primary objective for reuse. hence, the redevelopment process as outlined in this framework strives to accommodate facility reuse in the second category: completely occupying an existing facility. one could arc o m b in in g g is a n d b im fo r fa c ilit y r eu se: a p r o filin g a p p r o a c h 189 gue that searching for other existing facilities that match the demand of the aspiring owner more closely can fulfill the objectives behind the other three types of reuse. 1 2 3 4 figure 1. four types of facility reuse.  1.3 geodesign for better facility reuse facility reuse requires creative thinking and an integrated mindset of considering design alternatives for a building in conjunction with its surroundings. as such, it could benefit from principles outlined in the geodesign methodology. geodesign, as flaxman has proposed and ervin has amended, is a design and planning method which tightly couples the creation of design proposals with impact simulations, informed by geographic contexts, systems thinking and digital technology (steinitz, 2012). it is the process of designing in a geospatial environment. design assignments based on the geodesign concept are performed globally (mcelvaney, 2012). an example in an industrial context is the r2g project, which covers the transition of red fields into green fields, or change of abandoned and possibility contaminated areas into thriving public parks (mcelvaney, 2012). in these cases, geodesign processes and techniques helped to break down large and complex problems into components that could be analyzed. furthermore, the geodesign concept and techniques can be used to contribute to a more competitive and user-orientated decision process, which can attract investment and stimulate regional sustainable development. in order to guide this process systematically, steinitz has proposed a practical framework based on empirical research (steinitz, 2012). this framework guides stakeholders by iteratively posing questions about the problem, the area, the process, the assessment results, and consequently creating more informed designs. hence these guidelines are relevant in the context of facility reuse. after all, in order to understand the mechanisms behind its abandonment, the facility and its surroundings should be described along with the factors that drive changes on a geographical level. furthermore, iterative thinking and the evaluation of design alternatives are of vital importance to successful reuse strategies. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 190 however, geodesign is still mainly discussed solely in a geospatial context. no specific attention has been given to incorporate building level information. for facility reuse the building level characteristics are essential to include in the design process. by combining gis and bim information, a better design can be obtained to satisfy stakeholder requirements. in this way, geodesign can be an instrumental tool for planners and facility owners, and can also gain a better understanding of the inner environment of the facility, its site and location within its broader spatial and social context. in addition to the established geodesign methodology, which starts with a specific project area in need of analysis and design, governments could adapt their geodesign procedures by stimulating potential future users first to identify an area of suitable vacant facilities with the combination of gis and bim information. in this way, a collaborative design process, in which the most suitable project area or facility is not always known in advance, can be initiated, and the output of the framework proposed in this paper identifies areas to redevelop. in addition, the framework proposes a singular monetary metric based evaluation method for different design proposal evaluations, which complies with the evaluation guideline of geodesign process proposed by steinitz (2012). to conclude, the geodesign framework and tools help to understand the facility and its surrounding, evaluate possible results for various design proposals and negotiate among stakeholders for a better final design. the proposed method provides a starting point for finding suitable facilities for further analysis and a simple evaluation paradigm for design proposals.  1.4 objectives as discussed in the problem statement, facility reuse is of great potential for sustainable development. in this chapter, a framework is proposed that enables public parties to accommodate facility reuse by private parties. it enables aspiring facility owners to match their criteria with characteristics of existing vacant facilities and discover those that are most suitable for redevelopment or reuse. a literature study has been conducted to find the most influential attributes for facility reuse and their data sources. in order to obtain such a system, data sources from both bim and gis are aggregated to provide stakeholders with a comprehensive overview of the facility and its geographical context. to aggregate different data sources, commonly used formats of gis science and bim are reviewed and possible integration methods are proposed. after data integration, a weighted distance calculation is applied, based on various attribute differences between the desired facility and existing vacant facilities. aspiring owners can select a facility, based on a sinc o m b in in g g is a n d b im fo r fa c ilit y r eu se: a p r o filin g a p p r o a c h 191 gle monetary metric that is composed of the acquisition costs, and a monetary interpretation of the extent to which the existing facility might not meet all criteria set by the end-user. it is this single monetary metric that guides the evaluation of different facilities. likewise, options for adapting the existing facility to meet all requirements can be evaluated iteratively. guidelines from the geodesign concept steer the conceptualization of the requirements. the effort is mainly directed at industrial facility reuse for promoting a regional sustainable redevelopment process to use resources more efficiently and provide economically more viable and desirable facilities to its users. data sources and data integration are discussed. several tools have been identified to extract attribute values from various heterogeneous data sources. however, an implementation and evaluation using real stakeholder data is beyond the scope of this paper. in the following sections, a theoretical background for integrating gis and bim are presented and the framework and its proof-of-concept implementation are discussed. the technical implementation of the extractions shows the viability of the approach. 2. theoretical background  2.1 gis and bim data formats the industry foundation classes (ifc) file format is a commonly used standard in the domain of bim. it is spearheaded by the buildingsmart consortium and has been ratified as an iso standard. ifc describes a building model as an assembly of building products, in which the products are composed of geometrical representations, semantic information stored as key-value properties, and relational information about decomposition and topological adjacency. ifc is based on step and has an express schema definition, which defines the entities along their attributes and relationships that constitute a valid ifc file. ifc files are stored as either ascii or xml files and are therefore human readable. besides the definition of the schema, buildingsmart also standardises on sets of properties, which are plain text, to be used to cover common-use cases. other formats for describing building models exist, for example gbxml , or proprietary file formats which are native to commercial bim applications. the former is primarily intended for use within sustainability analysis and is therefore not considered for inclusion into the system. proprietary file formats, for which automated tools to extract data are not available, are not considered either as they would hamper the development of the system. conversely, in the gis domain, shapefiles are a commonly used option for describing vector features. rather than led by an industry wide consortium, this de facto standard has organically grown out of an initially proprietary r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 192 format. such a gis database consists of a set of binary files. the geometrical information itself is separated over several files based on their types or layers. these geometrical entries define the location or perimeter of a feature in the world. metadata records are stored in separate files that provide the semantics to these features. overlap between, and ways to interlink, the different data carriers can be found on the building and site level, where gis features describe the same building or site in a bim model. an ifc file has a default decomposition structure, which starts with a project and descends into a site, a building, individual building stories, down to individual building elements. typically a building does not have a geometrical representation of its own, but is geometrically defined as the composition of its elements. in the gis domain, the building footprint is represented as a polygonal boundary. attributes can be applied to the polygonal boundary, such as the building height or the functional characteristics of the building it refers to. in ifc the site can have a geometrical representation, but there is no guarantee that it is aligned with any of the footprints in the gis system or in the cadastral records. the ifc standard primarily intends the site to be used for documenting the construction site. as defined by the ifc standard, a site does have an optional definition of a single geographic reference point, specified by its latitude, longitude and elevation. this is a key factor for being able to link a building model to a feature in a gis database, as string-based building identifiers are error prone and context specific. in addition, hybrid formats intended for use on an intermediate scale exist. for example, the citygml format , which is an xml based standard led by the ogc . it lacks the semantic, topological and parametric richness to convey constructed documentation as can be found in an ifc document, but is suitable for documenting urban environments in three dimensions. the use of citygml is currently not considered for this prototype, as public datasets on an urban scale are not available within this project.  2.2 combining versus converting despite the differences in how data are stored in the gis and bim domain, the attributes that are relevant for this prototype system implementation can be extracted into a uniform tabular structure of attributes. this method is different from other strategies found in the literature, for example on building an integrated system by converting one format into the other. the translation from ifc to citygml is discussed in (isikdag & zlatanova, 2009; nagel, stadler, & kolbe, 2007). on a building scale the expressiveness of ifc is richer than citygml in most aspects; such a translation to a large extent boils down to converting the solid volume representation in ifc into merely the visible surfaces for use in citygml and mapping the classes. conversion the other way around is more difficult, due to richer semantics required to constitute c o m b in in g g is a n d b im fo r fa c ilit y r eu se: a p r o filin g a p p r o a c h 193 a meaningful ifc, as has also been reported by (de laat & van berlo, 2011; ei-mekawy, ostman, & hijazi, 2012; isikdag & zlatanova, 2009) and due to lack of solid volumes. as such, in this paper, we combine gis and bim data sources for the purpose of facility reuse without the associated loss of information of converting data formats.  2.3 guidelines for integration the presented approach is based on a combined feature extraction method and therefore does not rely on a shared common denominator between the bim and gis input formats. this results in a modular system in which interdependencies between logic for bim and gis processing can be eliminated and both domains can be queried up to their full potential without information loss. on the other hand, the loose coupling, has urged to come up with guidelines and best practices for modelling seamless inter-linkage between the two input streams in order to reduce manual effort and errors in data curation. the geospatial database is the starting point for implementing the framework. bim models can incrementally be added into the system. in order to be able to associate the bim model with the geospatial information, the building model needs to have a georeferenced point. in this way, the distinct domains can be integrated to enable the coupled feature extraction. this association takes place on two levels. firstly, by means of the georeferenced point, distances to important geospatial features can be computed and land use and other relevant geospatial data can be incorporated. however, in order to link to the attributes related to the gis feature, the bim geospatial reference point needs to be contained within the polygon of this building in the gis. therefore, the link can be established by a point-in-polygon test. if geo-reference is not supplied in the ifc file, interlinking the two needs to be done manually in a graphical user interface. in general the extracted information from the gis and bim domain may need to be curated upon ingesting the information into the system. 3. implementation  3.1 framework the framework suggests existing vacant facilities to potential customers aspiring to acquire industrial facilities. prospective owners are asked to provide detailed information, preferably a bim model, about their ideal conception of a building. the framework then composes a vector of quantitative measures that describes aspects of the building and its relation to geospatial resources. examples of these measures include properties like the floor area and ceiling height of the facility, derived from the document or bim they pror iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 194 vide. furthermore, distance to, for example, public transport hubs and supply chain partners can be derived from gis. lastly, the outcomes of simulation or measurement can be included, for example the indoor lighting levels on working height expressed in lux. thus, within this framework, for abandoned or vacant facilities, a profile is extracted by combining data from bim and gis. these can be matched to the requirements supplied by the prospective owner. a set of the profiles, that resemble the demand vector, can be presented to the prospective users. this set consists of the profiles for which the weighted euclidian distance to the demand profile vector is relatively small, based on predefined thresholds. as such, they represent vacant facilities that closely match the desired facility as sketched by the client. this framework enables a win-win situation in which, on the one hand, the requirements from the potential users are fulfilled and, on the other hand, existing vacant facilities are matched for redevelopment. the profiling approach presented connects supply and demand for a sustainable future.  3.2 attribute identification a list of prominent attributes for facility reuse is identified and presented in appendix a. they are categorized into building-level attributes, building plot and geospatial characteristics and demographic properties. the identification of the attributes is based on a literature review (bottom, mcgreal, & heaney, 1998; geraedts & van der voordt, 2003; glumac, 2012; korteweg, 2002; remøy, 2010; stichting real estate norm nederland, 1992; van der voordt & van wegen, 2005). figure 2. an illustration of the openness of an architectural space, quantifiable by dividing the volume of spatial separation elements (such as walls, columns and beams) by the volume of the spaces itself, to be extracted from the bim. the architectural openness can be seen as a measure for the flexibility of the facility. figure 2 illustrates one of these attributes for two distinct facilities. the objective is that all attributes are unambiguously quantifiable and extracted c o m b in in g g is a n d b im fo r fa c ilit y r eu se: a p r o filin g a p p r o a c h 195 automatically without user interpretation from the building model or geospatial and statistical information sources. additionally, attributes are classified according to their level of measurement, whether they are numeric or nominal. data sources for dutch cases and references to the tools for automatically extracting or calculating these attributes are also provided in appendix a. for implementation into other target areas, this list of attributes will likely have to be tailored to this area.  3.3 distance calculation the vacant facilities span an n-dimensional search space, in which n represents the size of the set of identified attributes. every vacant facility occupies a point in this space, as does the desired facility, presented to the framework by the prospective owner. the vacant facilities that are close to the desired facility are selected and presented to the client as recommendations. the relation between these facilities can be visualized by means of their attribute values. key distinguishing attributes can be represented as an axis in an overview to the user. in such way the user can initiate an interactive negotiation process in which the set of vacant facilities is explored. a graphical depiction of this overview is presented in figure 3. maintenance costs floor area desired facility € 2 300 000 total cost of ownership proposed facility 1 12km from desired location € 1 200 000 total cost of ownership proposed facility 2 8km from desired location € 900 000 total cost of ownership proposed facility 3 13km from desired location € 1 300 000 total cost of ownership figure 3. a schematic representation of the facility selection process in which several axes, representing the attributes at which the facilities differ, are presented to the user together with the renovation costs. the formula used to calculate the distance between the desired facility and the existing facilities is shown below. ! = #$ &$ ' '( ) $*+ where d is the weighted distance between an existing facility and the r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 196 desired facility in the n-dimensional search space, n is the size of the set of identified attributes. each of the identified indicators is assigned with a weight ω_i according to the stakeholder evaluation. x is the normalized difference between the actual facility value and the desired value for each attribute. furthermore, f_i (x) is a fuzziness function (beg & ashraf, 2009; chaudhuri & rosenfeld, 1996; montes, 2007) that can be used to model asymmetry and vagueness inherent to the attributes. this will be explained in the next section.  3.4 fuzzy theory suppose the client requires a minimal ceiling height of 4 m due to regulations and if one were merely using the squared difference (x^2), this would lead to the surprising assumption that a ceiling height of 4.5 m is as preferable as 3.5 m. this is clearly not the case, as the latter violates the regulations. as a second example, suppose the client suggests a minimal floor area of 40 000 sq.m. surely some tolerance is desirable, so that a facility of 39 800 sq.m is still matched. both these aspects, the asymmetry and the imprecision, are modelled by the fuzziness function. note that this function is tailored to the attribute and varies, based on whether the user specifies a minimum or maximum value. in some cases this function can also simply be a constantω fω_i (x)=1. figure 4 illustrates a possible fuzziness function for the ceiling height example, where ω is the standard deviation of the existing vacant facility attributes’ values. as the normalized difference approaches -ω the weighted distance will approach infinity, rendering this facility unsuitable for selection due to the large distance, whereas when the requirement is met, the function trends towards zero, diminishing the weighted distance. difference between actual and desired p e n a lt y v a lu e f(x) = σ x + σ figure 4. a possible fuzziness function for a minimum value attribute. c o m b in in g g is a n d b im fo r fa c ilit y r eu se: a p r o filin g a p p r o a c h 197  3.5 monetary based negotiation as discussed in the previous section, some attribute requirements might not be fulfilled completely by means of the selection process. it is important to realize that the method presented in this paper entails an iterative negotiation process between the demand and supply parties. unmet requirements are not necessarily insurmountable. for example in the case of the attribute sketched in figure 4, it is easy to see that by architectural remodelling the two spaces can be made more equivalent, a transformation that comes with a monetary cost. therefore, the selection process lead by the client can be monetary based, with many of the attribute differences represented as monetary measures. for each of the suitable vacant facilities suggested to the customer, a monetary indicator can be composed that reflects the acquisition, renovation and maintenance costs and can also incorporate costs related to geospatial business risks like crime rates and employment conditions. the redevelopment costs can be tailored to a specific client, industry and spatial context. thus, the prospective owner is able to select amongst the vacant facilities and can compare the associated costs with the projected costs for establishing a newly built facility by means of a unified monetary measure.  3.6 proof-of-concept in order to prove the concept of our system, dutch data sources are explored to give insights to future users where to obtain data (see appendix a). since gis is commonly used in the field of geodesign, calculating and extracting data from arcmap is not discussed here. b-1.1 b-1.2 b-1.3 b-1.4 b-1.5 net floor area restroom floor area architectural openness building height ceiling height 1 79.596 3.752 4.568 3.920 2.300 2 97.270 3.348 5.140 5.530 2.480 3 4648.428 16.727 42.623 12.000 3.800 4 2266.660 102.080 8.303 12.000 3.000 5 909.811 206.849 8.403 10.740 2.780 6 5100.000 245.442 46.331 11.700 3.700 7 11728.758 105.826 16.730 20.000 4.000 8 477.682 54.844 7.294 9.450 3.200 9 6935.799 910.335 13.581 10.250 4.680 10 3582.008 384.390 8.703 7.925 4.267 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 figure 5. a demonstration of automatically extracting attributes from ifc building information models. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 198 in order to demonstrate the feasibility of automatically extracting attributes from ifc building information models, a list of such attributes is presented for a selection of publicly available ifc models . a graphical interpretation of this data is shown as well (figure 5). this plot uses a multi-dimensional scaling algorithm that tries to preserve relative distances of the samples while embedding their multi-dimensional space into the rendered two-dimensional plane. as such, similar buildings are presented close to each other. attributes pertaining to building areas are either to be found in ifcpropertysets on an ifcbuilding level, or if absent, aggregated over the various ifcspaces in the model. ceiling height and building height are deduced from the elevations of the ifcbuildingstoreys. architectural openness is computed from the solid volumes of the ifcrepresentationitems of ifcspaces and ifcwalls, which are computed by an open source software toolkit for ifc files, called ifcopenshell . with the attributes extracted from the confluence of gis and bim, they can be incorporated into the proposed system for selection by end-users. figure 6. a screenshot of the proposed framework outlining the steps involved of using the system. c o m b in in g g is a n d b im fo r fa c ilit y r eu se: a p r o filin g a p p r o a c h 199 figure 6 shows a screenshot of a proof-of-concept implementation of the system discussed in this article. it outlines the procedure that the end-user will follow when using the system to get suggested facilities based on a digital building model of his required facility. at the first step, the potential users are asked to upload their desired facility bim model to the system so that several of the attribute values can be automatically extracted by the system. in case no building model is available, the user can complete the list of attributes manually. if the building model is georeferenced, geospatial and demographic information is extracted from the gis seamlessly, otherwise a geolocation needs to be specified by the user to guide the same process. secondly, the user can apply weights to these identified attributes and curate the extracted values where necessary. the user is able to indicate whether these values signify minimum, maximum or approximate values, which is reflected in the weighting function explained above. based on the combined attributes extracted from bim and gis, the system composes the demand profile and calculates the distance with each of the available vacant facilities by applying the formula outlined above. the most similar vacant facilities are presented. the vacant facility information is provided by the supply party of industrial facilities. this includes building information models and geospatial characteristics. even though policy makers realize the importance of building information models, there is are not many publicly available bim models. conclusively, in an iterative design process the user can evaluate the attributes once more by assessing their impacts on the projected expenses of acquiring the facility and adapting it to match the initial requirements. note that not only costs associated to the building itself are estimated, but differences in the geospatial attributes are reflected in the evaluation as well, as they represent risks associated with the demographic and spatial characteristics of the target area. 4. discussion and conclusions facing a severe vacancy of industrial facilities, a challenge is evident to solve negligent depletion of land resources. in this paper, a framework is presented to match existing vacant facilities to the requirements of potential customers to promote sustainable redevelopment with possible private investors involved. the concept of geodesign acts as a framework for iterative evaluation on multiple scale levels and can be formally initiated after stakeholders have used the proposed framework to identify an area for redevelopment. in order to facilitate the evaluation of attributes that have an asymmetric nature, the framework applies concepts from fuzzy theory. in addition, a simple straightforward monetary based evaluation paradigm is presented for r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 200 the purpose of facility reuse. the proposed framework complements the set of tools that concurrently geodesign professionals have at their disposal. to conceptualize this framework, a literature study has been conducted to identify important attributes for facility reuse, both on building level and on regional level. in this way, geospatial information and building information can be seamlessly combined. these attributes are classified based on their scale, source and type. for integrating geospatial information and building information, a theoretical background is illustrated considering data formats, integration possibilities and the preferred way of integration by extracting relevant attributes without interoperability problems. in the appendix, possible data sources and ways to extract or calculate attribute values for dutch cases are presented. the implementation of extraction proves the feasibility of the approach suggested in this paper. the framework is designed to provide a comprehensive and effective way to stimulate facility reuse. the methodology outlined in this paper is of a general nature and relevant to various situations. nevertheless, several aspects are still to be addressed in future research.the way to determine vacancy of a facility varies based on local situations and regulations. it can be estimated by means of employment rate or the usage percentage of floor area, but general unified measures of required detail are not always present. thus, a pre-consultation with supply parties is essential. in general, at this moment, implementing this framework on a global scale is not feasible due to the fragmentation of data sources and regulations. this is not necessarily detrimental for a further investigation of this concept, as aspiring owners of facilities are likely to have a clear target location in mind to house their facility before consulting this system. from the proof-of-concept implementation presented in the previous section, it can be seen that this framework and system can be modified and applied in other areas once the data are available. therefore, it is possible in future research to verify and validate the applicability by means of a case study in a specific area with actual stakeholders, preferably with the help from supply parties and local governments to acquire the necessary data. moreover, the geodesign concept helps in understanding the facilities and their incorporation in their social and geographic context. following this methodology, the facilities are not isolated from the environment and alternatives are evaluated based on the importance that stakeholders have defined not only on a building level, but also pertaining to the building plot and its geospatial relations. in addition to the monetary evaluation, a more visual representation of the difference in attributes can be presented, based on future research that might appeal more to people with a design background. as have been illustrated, the framework not only initiates the geodesign process by providing possible facilities for reuse, but also provides guidelines for further c o m b in in g g is a n d b im fo r fa c ilit y r eu se: a p r o filin g a p p r o a c h 201 iterative evaluation and assessment of various reuse designs in a geospatial environment. though current evaluation is solely monetary-based, further research can be performed for more holistic evaluation according to future user requirements. as discussed in the section on data acquisition, common guidelines about bim and gis data interoperability can be provided to the future stakeholders so that systems such as these, that build on a combination of the two sources of information, but also other efforts related to bim and gis harmonization, can flourish. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 202 acknowledgements this study is partially supported by the chinese scholarship council. we would like to thank others who have helped us during this 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(2011). a gis-based method for identifying the optimal location for a facility to convert forest biomass to biofuel. biomass and bioenergy, 35(9), 3951-3961. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2011.06.006 r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 204 collective housing in chile a historical reality with a possible future la vivienda colectiva en chile una realidad histórica con futuro posible en europa rosanna forray laboratorio 9x18 | escuela de arquitectura | pontificia universidad católica de chile doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3987 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 54 abstract collective habitat has been part of the housing history in chile through the poor inhabitant’s incursion in the city since more than one century. first, as round rooms, “cites” and “conventillos”, and afterwards as “colectivos”. later in informal settlements that evolved into self-organised and self-built neighborhoods. during the last decades, in social condominiums. this form of co-habitation has adopted different shapes according to their historical moment, the spatial configuration of the places that inhabitants stayed or co-produced, the social and/or political organisation, the political and institutional context in which they were subscribed. ones better than others were simultaneously embracing and configuring a specific model of habitat in which the base of ‘the collective’ is the historical memory, the tradition of organisation, and the parental and neighbors’ networks. today, these collective ways of living remain in our cities opening paths for their consideration in programmes and projects of collective inhabit in the country. keywords collective housing, co-habitation, housing policies, chile. c o llec t iv e h o u sin g in c h ile 55 resumen el habitar colectivo ha estado presente en la historia de la vivienda en chile a lo largo de más de un siglo de incursión de los pobres en la ciudad. primero en la forma de cuartos redondos, cités y conventillos. después en colectivos. más tarde en asentamientos irregulares que evolucionaron en barrios autogestionados y autoconstruidos. en las últimas décadas, en condominios sociales. este cohabitar ha cobrado distintas formas según el momento en que ocurrieron, la configuración espacial de los lugares en que se alojaron o que coprodujeron, la organización social y/o política en que se desenvolvieron, el contexto político institucional en que se inscribieron. unos mejor que otros fueron acogiendo y al mismo tiempo configurando, un modo específico de habitar donde la memoria histórica, la tradición organizativa, los vínculos parentales y vecinales son la base de ‘lo colectivo’. hoy varias de estas formas de cohabitar perduran en nuestras ciudades abriendo pistas para su reconsideración en programas y proyectos de habitar colectivo en el país. palabras claves vivienda colectiva; cohabitar; políticas de vivienda; chile. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 56 collective habitat has been part of the housing history in chile, since the poor inhabitant’s incursion in the city in the early xx century. first, as “round rooms”, “cites” and “conventillos”, and afterward as “colectivos”. later in informal settlements that evolved into self-organized and self-built neighborhoods. during the last decades, in social condominiums. these forms of co-habitation have adopted different shapes according to their historical moment, the spatial configuration of places co-produced by dwellers, the social and political organization, the political and institutional context in which they evolved. along time, they produced specific inhabiting models in which the base of ‘the collective’ is the historical memory, the tradition of organization, and the parental and neighbors’ networks. today, these common ways of living remain in our cities opening paths for their consideration in programs and projects of collective housing in the country. collective housing has been a way of inhabiting by the most modest groups that populated our cities from very early on. it was how peasants made their transition to urbanity since the mid-nineteenth century, first, by living in round rooms where large families lived in one enclosure without water, sewerage, natural light, or ventilation (torres, 1986). little by little, as the demand for housing for unstable workers increased and the land was scarce, this type of room became a privileged model to generate income by renting them. the “conventillos” arose from the subdivision of old houses or from the construction of rows of rooms on one or two floors, that penetrated the interior of blocks. they were aligned around a narrow passage or a common patio equipped with a source of water and hygienic services. the hygienic and living conditions were critical, and rents were abusive. with the law of cheap rooms of 1906, which sought to stop speculative processes, the supply of collective rooms evolves towards the figure of the cité. the cité were units composed of two or three rooms with one bathroom and one kitchen aligned around a private patio (hidalgo, 2002). in the cités, the hygienic conditions and sociability between neighbors improved substantially. as of 1925, in the face of the speculative process that accompanied this model of collective rental housing, new laws and decrees were promoted to activate the construction of new housing and encourage the creation of cooperatives (hidalgo, 1999). in this way, workers, public and private employees supported by unions and parishes could create their cooperative projects for savings and credits to access housing. this led to the construction of condominiums apartments of up to four floors, with gardens and community facilities such as swimming pools or sports-fields and playgrounds. however, unemployed families expelled from the countryside and mines by the crisis of the 30s crowded slums or irregular settlements around the city. the slums, known as “callampas” to describe the speed with which they grew, and the physical forms with which they constituted (skewes, 2005, c o llec t iv e h o u sin g in c h ile 57 la vivienda en colectivo ha sido una de las formas de habitar de los grupos más modestos que poblaron nuestras ciudades desde muy temprano. de hecho, fue el modo mediante el cual los campesinos hicieron su transición hacia la urbanidad desde mediados del siglo xix. primero, viviendo en cuartos redondos donde familias numerosas habitaban un recinto sin agua, alcantarillado, luz natural ni ventilación (torres, 1986). poco a poco, a medida que la demanda de vivienda para pobladores sin trabajo estable aumentaba y el suelo escaseaba, esta figura pasó a ser un modelo privilegiado para generar renta a través del arrendamiento por piezas. surgieron así los conventillos como resultado de la subdivisión de casas viejas o bien de la construcción de hileras de cuartos redondos que penetraban hacia el interior de las manzanas en uno o dos pisos, alineados en torno a un estrecho pasaje o a un patio común dotado de una fuente de agua y servicios higiénicos. allí las condiciones higiénicas y la convivencia eran críticas, y los alquileres abusivos. con la ley habitaciones baratas de 1906, que buscaba frenar este proceso especulativo, la oferta de habitación colectiva evoluciona hacia la figura del cité, compuesto por unidades de dos o tres habitaciones con baño y cocina alineadas en torno a un patio privado (hidalgo, 2002) donde las condiciones de higiene y la sociabilidad entre vecinos mejoraron sustancialmente. a partir de 1925, frente al proceso especulativo que acompañó este modelo de vivienda colectiva de alquiler, se promovieron nuevas leyes y decretos tendientes a activar la construcción de vivienda nueva e impulsar la creación de cooperativas (hidalgo, 1999). de este modo, los obreros, empleados públicos y privados apoyados por sindicatos y parroquias podrían crear sus propios proyectos cooperativos de ahorro y crédito para acceder a la vivienda. esto dio lugar a la construcción de notables proyectos de habitaciones en condominios de hasta cuatro pisos con jardines y equipamientos comunitarios como piscinas o canchas y juegos infantiles. sin embargo, fuera de los circuitos de la obra pública destinada a trabajadores y empleados, las familias sin trabajo expulsadas del campo y de las minas por la crisis los años treinta, se agolpaban en campamentos o asentamientos irregulares en los alrededores de la ciudad. los campamentos, que en su momento recibieron el nombre de poblaciones callampas para describir no sólo la velocidad con que crecían sino también las formas físicas con que se constituían (skewes, 2005, p. 106), son una tercera modalidad de la vivienda colectiva en chile. construido y diseñado a partir de saberes y recursos compartidos, en su configuración espacial el campamento es reflejo de un complejo entramado de relaciones familiares, apoyos e interdependencias, en un espacio común conformado por las viviendas precarias de sus habitantes (skewes, 2005). hacia fines de los años cuarenta la situación se vuelve apremiante, los pobladores deciden hacer ocupaciones ilegales de terrenos a partir de acciones colectivas concertadas y en muchos casos por la fuerza, que serán conocidas r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 58 p.106), can be identified as the third form of collective housing in chile. the slums were built and designed from shared knowledge and resources. in its spatial configuration, the slum reflects a complex network of family relationships, supports, and interdependencies in a collective space made up of the precarious dwellings of its inhabitants (skewes, 2005). towards the end of the 1940s, the situation became urgent. the inhabitants decided to illegally occupy land through collective actions and in many cases, by force, which will be known as “tomas de terreno” or land appropriations (de ramón, 1990). in this way, the housing problem becomes a political issue (angelcos & pérez, 2017; millán, 2016). the residents play a double role: they are inhabitants and producers of their space in the city, as well as social and political actors arising from the land appropriation. they have the capacity for self-construction and social organization, which is reflected in the spatial organization of the slum: the equitable distribution of space by family, services, common areas, etc. as de ramón points out, these informal settlements “were the result of, or gave rise to, a principle of social organization unknown until then, generating social leaders and shaping new ways of living together that would be a predecessor of more perfect forms of organization that would be born in the future” (1999: 12). at the same time, they were the prelude to homeownership and the conquest of a place in the city. the transition from the slum to the neighborhood or single-family housing neighborhood constitutes for us, the fourth form of collective housing in chile. from 1964, the threat of political polarization of low-income dwellers and new families avalanche into the cities will be attributed to the lack of participation and belonging to modern urban society by the “marginals” (angelcos & pérez, 2017; vekemanns, 1969). with the “popular promotion” program, the state will encourage social integration through participation in grassroots organizations such as neighborhood boards, mother centers, unions, and initiatives for cultural, sports, and social training of leaders. the integration to the city will be the transition from the slum to the neighborhood through the site & service program. this program focuses on delivering urbanized land (sometimes including services) to the homeless inhabitants. it is based on their organizational capacity and on their potential to contribute to the workforce in the self-help construction of housing (hidalgo, 2010). the site & service model promotes the idea of access to single-family individual property, which was not owned by low-income families until then, lived collectively in informal settlements. as de ramón points out, “the incorporation of the settlers into the existing financial systems is promoted, which would allow them to become homeowners in the city” (1990: 13). this time, the collective no longer consists of sharing the same floor but the same neighborhood, identity, and a shared history (márquez, 2017). it also consists of the community organization formed by relatively homogec o llec t iv e h o u sin g in c h ile 59 con el nombre de tomas de terreno (de ramón, 1990). de este modo, el problema de la vivienda pasa a ser una cuestión política (angelcos & pérez, 2017; millán, 2016). los pobladores, en su rol tanto habitantes y productores de su espacio en la ciudad como de sujetos sociales y políticos surgidos de las tomas de terreno, cuentan con una capacidad de autoconstrucción y de organización social y partidaria que se refleja en la organización espacial del campamento: la distribución equitativa del espacio por familia, los servicios, los espacios colectivos, etc. como señala de ramón, estos campamentos «eran fruto o daban origen a un principio de organización social que hasta entonces no se conocía, generando líderes sociales y dando forma a nuevas maneras de convivencia que serían el antecedente lejano de formas de organización más perfectas que nacerían en el futuro» (1999:12), y al mismo tiempo eran la antesala de la vivienda propia y de la conquista de un lugar en la ciudad. el paso del campamento a la población o barrio de vivienda unifamiliar constituye, a nuestros ojos, una cuarta modalidad del habitar colectivo en chile. a partir de 1964, la amenaza de polarización política de los pobladores y el peligro de una avalancha popular sobre las urbes serán atribuidos a la falta de participación y pertenencia a la sociedad urbana moderna por parte de los “marginales” (angelcos & pérez, 2017; vekemanns, 1969). con el programa de “promoción popular”, el estado fomentará su integración social mediante la participación en organizaciones de base como las juntas de vecinos, centros de madres, organizaciones sindicales, y en iniciativas de capacitación cultural, deportiva y social de los dirigentes. la integración a la ciudad, se hará con la transición del campamento al barrio mediante el programa de “operación sitio” que se focaliza en entregar suelo urbanizado, en algunos casos dotado de servicios, a los pobladores sin casa, apoyándose en su capacidad organizativa y en su potencial de contribuir con su fuerza de trabajo en la autoconstrucción de la vivienda (hidalgo, 2010). es importante destacar que el modelo de la operación sitio promueve la idea del acceso a la vivienda unifamiliar de propiedad individual que no era propia de los grupos populares que hasta entonces habitaban colectivamente en campamentos. como señala de ramón: «se promueve la incorporación de los pobladores a los sistemas financieros existentes, lo cual le permitiría llegar a ser propietario en la ciudad» (1990: 13). esta vez lo colectivo ya no consiste en compartir el mismo suelo sino el mismo barrio, una identidad y una historia común (márquez, 2017), y en la organización comunitaria formada por grupos relativamente homogéneos que venían del campamento (de ramón, 1990). como señala espinoza «el ‘nosotros’ […] apunta a la calidad de poblador […]», según la cual, «el hecho de compartir determinado hábitat […] imponía condiciones y circunstancias que les eran comunes […] y constituía una categoría de identidad» que los llevaba a movilizarse más allá de la solución individual (1998: 259-260). r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 60 neous groups that came from the slum (de ramón, 1990). as espinoza points out, “the ‘we’ [...] points to the capacity of the inhabitant [...]”, according to which, “the fact of sharing a given habitat [...] imposed conditions and circumstances that were common to them [...] and constituted a category of identity” that led them to move beyond the individual solution (1998: 259 260). the spatial structure of the neighborhood would tend to reproduce the sense of community of popular promotion program (figueroa & forray, 2015). thus, in many of them, the urban fabric organized on groups of blocks arranged around a hierarchy of streets and public spaces would favor different scales of sociability, from the neighborhood to the city. on the minor scale, the squares would host neighborhood venues, micro sports courts, kindergartens or schools. on a great scale, they would enjoy public facilities, schools, health centers, sports fields, and commercial space. this spatial structure is part of the patrimonial inheritance of the site & services programs today, sixty years later, when these neighborhoods are the object of the regeneration project. meanwhile, since the fifties, the state took charge of the construction of housing complexes consisting of four-storey apartment buildings for families of workers with savings capacity known as “colectivos”. the idea of collective housing does not refer in this case to the promotion of shared sociability, or to the possession of communal spaces to use. it alludes to the decision to group several homes in the same building, sharing the same floor and managing co-ownership. the ground was destined to become neighborhood spaces with gardens and communal facilities administered by social organizations, cooperatives, or municipal entities to a greater or lesser degree. however, beyond this destination of the ground. the concern was focused on the provision of single-family housing. in the short period between 1970 and 1973, the standard of social housing improves notably. it is a moment of exploration of building prototypes that will be called again “colectivos” (e.g., colectivo 1010, 1020). these housing complexes are built in well-located coowned properties. here the focus relies on the apartments’ building standards, rather than on the conformation of spaces for common use. in 1973 the state will forbid social mobilization. the houses will grow inwards. parents will host their children’s families. from 1978 on, the state will stop building social housing. it will delegate this function to private enterprises. the state would finance individual access to the property through a range of subsidies complemented with prior savings and bank loans, according to the level of income and the family’s debt capacity to opt for private housing (hidalgo, santana, & link, 2018; millán, 2012; sugranyes, 2005). speculation about the land markets will take control of the locations and confine the lower income population to the outskirts of the city (brain & sabatini, 2006). c o llec t iv e h o u sin g in c h ile 61 el proyecto de promoción popular tenía aparejado un sentido comunitario que se reflejaría en la estructura espacial del barrio (figueroa & forray, 2015). así, en muchos de ellos, el tejido urbano se organizaría en base a grupos de manzanas dispuestas en torno a una jerarquía de calles y espacios públicos que favorecerían distintas escalas de sociabilidad, desde la vecindad hasta la ciudad. en la escala las plazuelas acogerían sedes vecinales, micro canchas deportivas, jardines infantiles o escuelas, en la escala mayor, gozarían de equipamientos públicos, colegios, centros asistenciales, campos deportivos, espacio comercial. esta es parte de la herencia patrimonial de los barrios originados en las operaciones sitio que hoy, sesenta años después, son objeto del proyecto de regeneración de los barrios 9x18. paralelamente, ya desde los años cincuenta el estado tomaba a su cargo la construcción de lo que se conocerá como “vivienda colectiva” para referirse a conjuntos habitacionales compuestos por edificios de cuatro pisos de departamentos destinados a familias de trabajadores con capacidad de ahorro. la idea de vivienda colectiva no se refiere en este caso al hecho de promover una sociabilidad basada en “lo colectivo” ni a contar con recintos de uso comunitario, sino a la decisión de agrupar varias viviendas en un mismo edificio, compartir el mismo suelo y administrar la copropiedad. más allá del suelo que estaba llamado a convertirse en espacios vecinales, con jardines y equipamiento comunitario, en mayor o menor grado administrados por organizaciones sociales, cajas de empleados o entidades municipales, la preocupación se centraba en la dotación de vivienda unifamiliar. en el corto período entre 1970 y 1973, el estándar de la vivienda social mejora notablemente, es un momento de exploración de prototipos edificatorios que serán denominados “colectivos” (eg. colectivo 1010, 1020, etc.). se construyen conjuntos habitacionales en predios de copropiedad, bien localizados, donde la atención se focaliza en la calidad de la construcción y el estándar de los departamentos, más que en la conformación de espacios de uso común. en 1973 el estado paralizará la movilización social. las viviendas crecerán hacia dentro. desde 1978 en adelante, dejará de construir vivienda social y delegará esta función en la empresa privada. financiará el acceso individual a la propiedad mediante una gama de subsidios que se complementan con ahorro previo y crédito bancario, según el nivel de ingreso y la capacidad de endeudamiento de la familia para optar a una vivienda construida por el sector privado (hidalgo, santana, & link, 2018; millán, 2012; sugranyes, 2005). la especulación en los mercados de suelo pasará a regir las localizaciones y a confinar a la población de menores ingresos en las afueras de la ciudad (brain & sabatini, 2006). como señala sugranyes, se llevan a cabo operaciones masivas de erradicación o traslado forzado con el objetivo de “sanear” los campamentos originados en las tomas de terreno de los años sesenta y setenta (2005, p. 31), y de recuperar suelo urbano para fines de mercado (hidalgo, r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 62 as sugranyes points out, massive eradication or forced transfer operations are carried out with the objective of “cleaning up” the slums originated in the land appropriations of the 1960s and 1970s (2005, p.31). these operations also had the objective of recovering urban land for market purposes (hidalgo, 2007; sabatini, cáceres & cerdá, 2001). the slum eradication policy destroyed the support networks and community participation by grouping families of different origins into sets of two or three floors of miniscule dwellings. these sets of houses were increasingly distant and devoid of services and connection to the city (hidalgo, 2010, millán 2012) meanwhile, in the neighborhoods of site & services, the houses are densified to accommodate inside or nearby groundschildren with their families, friends in a precarious situation, or new tenants. this process must be understood considering the impossibility of organizing land appropriations during the dictatorship, and the impoverishment of the population in the middle of the economic crisis of 1983-1986. this cohabitation of the extended-household is a fifth way to inhabit collectively, this time “inside” the dwelling. however, outside the home, the economic constraints that hit the families bring an intense neighborhood organization aimed at mitigating the effects of the crisis and reconstituting community ties lost with the dictatorship (angelcos & pérez, 2017). thus, the basic needs of family life are solved collectively in organizations such as “common pots,” “buying together,” “committees for housing,” among others. at the beginning of the nineties, the subsidiary system and the provision of land with essential services are maintained. both programs were intended for the progressive consolidation of housing by the action of their owners. although now, people can apply collectively to the subsidies and land provisions. for the collective, initiatives for the consolidation of public spaces are launched. such initiatives are implemented with participatory programs for paving streets and for providing public and communal facilities focused on the neighborhoods that needed it the most (millán, 2012; minvu, 2004, p. 266268, sugranyes, 2005). as the urban land becomes scarce, three or four-storey housing complexes devoid of facilities spread. these complexes welcome increasingly vulnerable families on the outskirts of the city. their vulnerability develops because of their economic condition but also because they have been displaced from their parental and communal bonds that make up their support networks (araos, 2005; millán, 2012). because the land used for housing is private, the figure of the “condominium” is used, which consists of a system of individual and collective property that delegates to residents the responsibility of managing the co-property. in these cases, without neighborhood networks and among strangers, the residents cannot manage this collective land that is perceived by the co-owners as a no-man’s land, and therefore, as a source of conflict (donoso & elsinga, 2018). the environment c o llec t iv e h o u sin g in c h ile 63 2007; sabatini, cáceres & cerdá, 2001). la política de erradicación de campamentos destruyó las redes de apoyo y la participación comunitaria agrupando a familias de distinto origen en conjuntos de dos o tres pisos de viviendas de exiguo tamaño cada vez más alejados y desprovistos de servicios y conexión con la ciudad (hidalgo, 2010; millán, 2012) entre tanto, en los barrios de operación sitio, ante la imposibilidad de organizar tomas de terreno en dictadura y debido al empobrecimiento de la población en el marco de la crisis económica de 1983-1986, las viviendas se densifican para acoger ya sea en su interior o en el sitio, a los hijos con sus familias, a amigos en situación precaria o a locatarios. esta cohabitación, que tomó el nombre de allegamiento, es una quinta forma de habitar colectivo, esta vez “puertas adentro”. sin embargo, al mismo tiempo, “puertas afuera” los apremios económicos que golpean a las familias traen aparejada una intensa organización vecinal destinada a paliar los efectos de la crisis y a reconstituir lazos comunitarios perdidos con la dictadura (angelcos & pérez, 2017). es así como necesidades básicas de la vida familiar se resuelven en colectivo en organizaciones como “ollas comunes”, “comprando juntos”, “comités por la vivienda”, entre otras. a principios de los noventa se mantiene el sistema de subsidios y la dotación de suelo con servicios básicos destinados a la consolidación progresiva de la vivienda por la acción de sus propietarios, aunque ahora se puede postular colectivamente. en el ámbito de lo colectivo, se lanzan iniciativas de consolidación del espacio público con programas participativos de pavimentación de calles y pasajes, y de dotación de equipamientos públicos y comunitarios focalizados en los barrios más necesitados (millán, 2012; minvu, 2004, p. 266-268, sugranyes, 2005). a medida que el suelo urbano escasea, se multiplican los conjuntos de viviendas de tres o cuatro pisos desprovistos de equipamientos, que acogen en los extremos de la ciudad a familias cada vez más vulnerables, no sólo por su condición económica sino por haber sido desarraigada de los lazos parentales y comunitarios que conforman sus redes de apoyo en el barrio de origen (araos, 2005; millán, 2012). por tratarse de suelo privado para vivienda, se utiliza la figura del “condominio” que consiste en un sistema de propiedad individual y colectiva que delega en los residentes la responsabilidad de administrar la copropiedad. en estos casos, sin redes de vecindad, entre desconocidos, los habitantes no tienen capacidad de administrar este suelo colectivo que es percibido por los copropietarios como tierra de nadie y por ende fuente de conflicto (donoso & elsinga, 2018). el ambiente se degrada y se generan cierres y apropiaciones, que buscan privatizar en la práctica los espacios colectivos como solución a la dificultad de organización (salcedo, sabatini & rasse, 2009). se manifiesta lo que rodríguez y sugranyes denominaron como “el problema de los con techo” (2004). más tarde, a partir del 2007, para restituir la sociabilidad dañada en muchos de estos conjuntos r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 64 deteriorates, and neighbors appropriate common spaces, as a solution to the difficulty of organizing that arises from this degradation (salcedo, sabatini & rasse, 2009). this manifestation is what rodríguez and sugranyes called “the problem of those with a roof” (2004). later, from 2007 on, the government implements a set of programs in order to restore the damaged sociability in many of these complexes that are considered to be critical. these programs aimed to re-conquer the public space, to manage the co-ownership, and to promote neighborhood organizations within the complexes, such as the socalled “i love my neighborhood” and “social condominiums” (bustos, 2014). after fifty years of the implementation of the site & services neighborhoods, the extended-households have grown, and the quality of housing has not always improved. however, the location in the city has improved. since the end of the nineties, the organization of the villagers is rearticulated in committees of “allegados” around the “movement of settlers in struggle”. it organizes land appropriations to question the subsidized housing supply promoted by the state, not only for its quality but also for its location. it claims for worthy dwellings for the “allegados” in their original places where they were born, where their parents built their homes and in their neighborhoods. not only that, they also deploy a capacity for action, “[...] they cross the territory, identify vacant lots, contact the owners and find out about the regulatory conditions by which they are governed, create self-management companies that empower them to carry out projects and negotiate lands” (castillo & forray, 2014, p.52). they even claim housing forms other than single-family units, recovering collective models of self-management. as an example, in 2007 a committee of allegados created a social real estate self-management entity for the development of a collective social housing project in its neighborhood of origin, based on a participatory process. it culminated in its construction in 2013 (franco, 2015). the collective inhabiting has been present throughout more than a century since the poor arrived in the city. the ways in which cohabitation has taken shape differ according to the moment in which they occurred, the spatial configurations they shaped, and the social and political organization in which they developed. in specific ways, they exist until today, opening the opportunities to reconsider new collective housing alternatives in our cities. the “conventillo” that still endures in the central areas, as vassalli (1993) points out, would allow to conceive an accessible rental housing alternative for lower income tenants who have always lived in the center, the elderly, single women with children, low-skilled workers, and immigrants. according to the author, there is a solvent demand to sustain this housing. the cité, which also persists, is an alternative for young people looking to buy new housing in a group with shared spaces, examples of which exist in the westcenter. organizations of salaried-workers and cooperatives weakened. howc o llec t iv e h o u sin g in c h ile 65 considerados como críticos, el gobierno implementa programas de reconquista del espacio público, de gestión de la copropiedad y de promoción de las organizaciones vecinales dentro de los conjuntos, como los denominados “quiero mi barrio” y “condominios sociales” (bustos, 2014). mientras tanto, los barrios de operaciones sitio cumplen cincuenta años de existencia donde el allegamiento ha crecido y la calidad de la vivienda no siempre ha mejorado, sin embargo ha mejorado la localización en la ciudad. desde fines de los noventa, la organización de los pobladores se re articula en comités de allegados en torno al “movimiento de pobladores en lucha”, y organiza tomas de terreno para poner en cuestión la oferta de vivienda por subsidio impulsada por el estado, no sólo por su calidad sino también por su localización. revindica vivienda digna para los allegados y en sus lugares de origen. allí donde nacieron, allí donde sus padres construyeron sus casas y sus barrios. pero no sólo eso, también despliegan una capacidad de acción, «[…] recorren el territorio, identifican sitios eriazos, contactan a los dueños y averiguan sobre las condiciones normativas por las cuales se rigen, crean empresas de autogestión que los facultan a realizar proyectos y negociar terrenos» (castillo & forray, 2014, p. 52). incluso revindican formas de vivienda distintas a la vivienda unifamiliar recuperando modelos colectivos de autogestión. para ejemplo, en 2007 un comité de allegados crea una entidad de autogestión inmobiliaria social, para el desarrollo de un proyecto de vivienda social colectiva en su barrio de origen, a partir de un proceso participativo que culmina con su construcción en 2013 (franco, 2015). el habitar colectivo ha estado presente a lo largo de más de un siglo de incursión de los pobres en la ciudad. las maneras en que este cohabitar ha cobrado forma son distintas según el momento en que ocurrieron, la configuración espacial de los lugares en que se alojaron o que coprodujeron, la organización social y/o política en que se desenvolvieron. y en cierto modo, todas perduran hasta hoy abriendo pistas a una reconsideración de la vivienda en colectivo en nuestras ciudades. así, el conventillo que aún perdura en las áreas centrales, como señala vassalli (1993), permitiría concebir una alternativa de vivienda en arriendo accesible para locatarios de menores ingresos que siempre han vivido en el centro, adultos mayores, mujeres solas con hijos, trabajadores de oficios, inmigrantes. según el autor, existe demanda solvente para sustentarla. el cité, que también persiste, es una alternativa para jóvenes que buscan comprar vivienda nueva en un conjunto con espacios compartidos, ejemplos de ello existen en el centro poniente. con el debilitamiento de las organizaciones de trabajadores asalariados las cooperativas también se debilitaron, sin embargo, han estado presentes durante gran parte de la historia de chile (bcn, s/f), por lo cual son un recurso potencial a la hora de concebir un proyecto de vivienda en colectivo. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 66 ever, they have been present for a considerable part of chilean history (bcn, nd), so they are a potential resource when it comes to conceiving a collective housing project. on the other hand, throughout sixty years of social and political organization, the inhabitants have produced their space and inhabited collectively with a high capacity for self-management. first in the informal settlement, a community space poured-in to protect itself against the imminence of eviction. then in the land appropriations, a space organized under the custody of social and political leaders. finally, from land invasions to the neighborhoods of operation site, traced by the public actor but self-built. in these neighborhoods, the generous size of the lots allowed families to welcome those close to them in difficult times, and therefore the social networks built a fundamental element of support. it is in here where the “allegados” are reunited with their historic memory, they are reorganized into post-dictatorship social movements to obtain a decent home (angelcos & pérez, 2017) and create self-managed entities to carry out collective housing projects. this is how the neighborhood regeneration processes -via densificationhave the possibility of accommodating them. c o llec t iv e h o u sin g in c h ile 67 por su parte, a lo largo de sesenta años de organización social y política los pobladores han producido su espacio y habitado en colectivo con una alta capacidad de autogestión. primero en el campamento, un espacio comunitario vertido hacia dentro para protegerse de la inminencia del desalojo. después en la toma de terreno, un espacio organizado bajo la custodia de dirigentes sociales y políticos. y de allí a los barrios de las operaciones sitio, trazados por el actor público pero autoconstruidos, donde el tamaño generoso de los predios permitió a las familias acoger a los allegados en tiempos difíciles, donde las redes de apoyo vecinal son un soporte fundamental. es en estos barrios donde los allegados se reencuentran con su memoria histórica, se reorganizan en movimientos sociales post dictadura para obtener una vivienda digna (angelcos & pérez, 2017) y crean entidades de autogestión para realizar proyectos de vivienda colectiva. allí es donde los procesos de regeneración 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(1969) el concepto de marginalidad. en desal (ed.) marginalidad en américa latina: un ensayo de diagnóstico, santiado de chile: herder, p. 15-63. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 70 bringing geodesign to the world in a massive, open, online engagement ‘geodesign: change your world’ kelleann foster foster, k. (2016). bringing geodesign to the world in a massive, open, online engagement: ‘geodesign: change your world’. research in urbanism series, 4(1), 207-228. doi:10.7480/rius.4.1368 r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 208 abstract a mooc titled “geodesign: change your world” demonstrated a unique approach to scaling up awareness about geodesign to a global audience. massive open online courses (moocs) are gaining visibility as a wide-reaching educational trend to provide exposure on topics, theories and techniques in any field. the first mooc on the subject of geodesign was offered in autumn 2014. over 17,000 people registered from 167 countries. the results yielded a unique worldwide conversation about geodesign. this paper discusses how this mooc engaged a global audience of thousands, including the challenges and opportunities experienced with the development and delivery of the mooc. the outcomes illustrate how participants gained appreciation for the role geodesign can play in land planning and design issues in their location. the geodesign mooc course’s dynamic structure breaks from the typical format of moocs. examined here are the innovative course design and delivery mechanisms deployed in this mooc. drawing on recent research about online learning, pedagogical and technological issues important to consider in mooc development are reviewed. keywords geodesign; mooc; distance education; gis; collaboration b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 209 1. introduction there have been nine international conferences (geodesign summits) focused on geodesign in the past five years and each year a growing number of publications mention geodesign, but yet, overall, geodesign is still considered a fairly new term and an emerging field (wilson, 2014). the author is an educator responsible for advancing understanding about this new field; one which our university has invested in by establishing new online graduate programs in geodesign. due to these circumstances, the possibilities of what a mooc could provide were intriguing. mooc is short for massive open online courses. moocs are classified as “virtual, distributed classrooms” (kizilcec, piech, & schneider, 2013, p. 170). they are offered primarily as asynchronous courses and centralize all course resources in the cloud (de waard et al., 2011). moocs are gaining visibility as a wide-reaching casual educational trend to provide exposure to topics, theories and techniques on any subject. a mooc is usually an individual course (versus a series), very large (typically in the thousands), free for anyone, anywhere – that is, the “open” part, offered via the internet, and it is (typically) not awarded college credit. there is no “entrance” requirement other than access to an online connection and standard internet browser software. moocs began in 2008 and started gaining traction in 2011. they were on a grow curve but appear to have levelled out in 2013 (miller, 2014). there are three primary mooc providers: coursera (www. coursera. org), edx (www. edx. org), and udacity (www. udacity. com) (robinson, 2013). universities subscribe to a provider, which means they are buying access to a database of millions of potential students. coursera, for example, has nearly seven million users, worldwide (perna et al., 2014; robinson et al., 2015). mooc courses can vary in length from four to twelve weeks. research shows that participation in moocs slows after the second week and really begins to trail off after four weeks (straumsheim, 2014; perna et al., 2014). the subject of this paper is a geodesign mooc titled: ‘geodesign: change your world’. it is five weeks in length and was offered for the first time august-september 2014. as with any new subject or terminology, the early players to the dialogue can have a strong influence on its future. the potential global reach that a mooc provides served as a strong incentive to the mooc development team to become a larger player in the discourse that is continuing to define and shape geodesign. something similar can also be said with respect to new education mechanisms. though moocs are relatively new, pedagogical and technical issues have been raised regarding mooc participation and effectiveness (yousef, chatti, schroeder, & wosnitza, 2014). the structure and approach to this geodesign mooc sought to address these. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 210 2. geodesign mooc background the geodesign mooc’s sponsoring institution, penn state university, is not new to online course offerings. the university’s world campus has over fifteen years of success in offering courses and degrees solely online (www. worldcampus.psu.edu/about-us). along with the services of a world campus instructional designer with online expertise, within the mooc development team’s home college there is also a resource for creating online courses: the elearning institute. additionally, the new online graduate programs in geodesign are in partnership with the university’s geography department. their long track record of success with an online master of geographic information systems (mgis) degree, and the development of a maps mooc one-year earlier, enabled them to contribute valuable mentorship to the geodesign mooc team. this combination of expertise and resources served as impetus to proceed with preparing a geodesign mooc. penn state university signed on as a coursera partner in february 2013. the university has a limited number of mooc course slots; for that reason, and to monitor the quality of the proposals, there is a competitive two-stage review process to determine who can offer a mooc. the geodesign mooc development team became aware of this opportunity when geography started preparing a maps mooc in 2013. the geodesign mooc is part of the second round of mooc courses authorized from penn state university (figure 1). some mooc courses are purely thought-leadership; some are closely tied to current online degree programs. the geodesign mooc is a combination of both of those reasons for doing the course. figure 1. mooc provider coursera’s list of penn state university courses.  2.1 motivation to pursue a mooc there appear to be no generalizable motives for why a mooc is produced. “motivations vary from philanthropy/altruism to marketing/branding to fub r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 211 ture profit-making” (bali, 2014, p. 44). the geodesign mooc development team’s motivation for creating their mooc touches on these and is centered on three chief purposes. the first is that the term geodesign is still new enough to have a variety of conceptions about it (artz, 2010; flaxman, 2010; mcelvaney, 2013; miller, 2012; steinitz, 2012). the development of the geodesign mooc was based on the team’s strong desire to help shape dialogue regarding this emerging form of land design and planning practice. in particular, the authors of the mooc are in a school of landscape architecture and seek to reinforce recognition that geodesign is a collaborative process, with design as one of its core components (foster, 2015). the geodesign mooc development team believes a mooc affords a unique opportunity to clarify and advance their perspective on what geodesign is (or should be) and what it is not, and to help steer the dialogue in a specific direction. the primary motivation for doing this mooc is to provide thought-leadership about geodesign. the second motivation for undertaking a mooc is to expose new audiences to geodesign. there is a strong interest in exploring the role that technology can play to broaden access to this content (lang, 2014). as a coursera partner, there is potential for this mooc to have a very broad reach. heavy promotion through a variety of channels was also paramount to reaching a diversity of students. due to moocs being low-stakes and free, they provide an excellent way to expand awareness about geodesign to many who would likely have never heard about it otherwise. the third motivation for doing this mooc is to enhance visibility about educational opportunities in geodesign, which includes the sponsoring university’s new online geodesign graduate programs. many online courses for credit target working professionals who seek career advancement without relocating. a mooc expands that audience to include individuals pursuing continued personal growth. research shows that moocs attract life-long learners (de waard et al., 2011; koller, 2012). because there are no entrance requirements, mooc students can be at any stage of a career and from any background (kizilcec et al., 2013). some who take a mooc may be interested in exploring the course’s key concepts further.  2.2 course goals moocs continue to evolve and each course is based on its own underlying priorities (de waard et al., 2011). as discussed above, a key motivation for undertaking this mooc is to provide thought-leadership about geodesign. to support that desire, four key goals were identified to guide creation of the geodesign mooc. the initial focus is the importance of offering this at a very introductory level; the team did not want to lose students in jargon and minute details. we correctly surmised that most students were not aware of geodesign prior r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 212 to the course. the first goal is to create a geodesign “gateway” experience. covering basic concepts about a subject is a common approach for moocs (miller, 2014). the second goal is to raise the level of excitement about the possibilities for positive change in a place. this goal is of personal significance for the course faculty author. it is based on the desire to instil hope in the students. one of geodesign’s tenets is its potential to empower people (mcelvaney & foster, 2014). the course author wants to assist students in understanding how they can participate in advancing desired change in their community. the penn state university geodesign graduate program’s advisory board of national experts highlighted the third goal. they insisted the course must inspire students through real-world examples of geodesign from across the globe. with an anticipated global audience, avoiding being too usa-centric can enable students to find relevance. a diverse set of case study examples were curated and are discussed below. the last goal, related to the others, is the course faculty author’s desire to have this mooc encourage a global conversation about issues surrounding change in a place (figure 2). in particular, the potential to approach how land design and planning challenges can be handled differently – specifically how the geodesign process can facilitate desired change. figure 2. map of geodesign mooc course enrolment numbers by location. 3. components to enhance mooc success increasingly both the conversation and research about what constitutes success in a mooc is shifting. sharp criticism has been levelled that the percentage of student completion rates are too low (de waard et al., 2011; miller, 2014; stenger, 2014; yousef et al., 2014). this perspective is slowly being replaced by other means of assessing mooc success. there is growing understanding that different types of student learners seek different educational experiences and ways of gaining new knowledge – and not all desire an official statement of accomplishment awarded to those who satisfactorily complete all mooc course requirements (de waard et al., 2011; kizilcec et al., 2013; straumsheim, 2014). there are a variety of findings aimed at understanding b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 213 what approaches may yield more effective online teaching. for this paper, those also well suited for mooc instruction are curated and discussed. they are provided to address attaining successful mooc outcomes, defined here as student-identified satisfaction via post-course self-reflection feedback and surveys. these findings are primarily pedagogical issues, with some related to technological issues, which mooc course designers should be mindful of when creating a mooc. the research points to seven pedagogical and platform issues with noted impact on mooc quality and student success: more than lectures as content student motivation & engagement assessment organization & structure differential learning styles & accessibility application of new knowledge online platform issues naturally, several of these are interrelated; however reviewing each reinforces the potential opportunities for overcoming concerns about the mooc educational experience.  3.1 more than lectures as content the original method of instructional delivery for a mooc was the recorded video lecture. many moocs still follow this format; however, relying on video of a standard ‘talking head’ lecture as the primary method of instruction is now recognized as one of the least effective ways to deliver educational content online (koller, 2012; robinson et al., 2015; straumsheim, 2014). videos most certainly can and should be used, but it is best if they comprise only part of the course content and are properly designed. when determining content for a video, course authors should adhere the ‘segmenting principle’, which is a key multimedia instructional tenet (miller, 2014, p. 155). it is particularly beneficial to students who are new to the subject matter to deliver that information by dividing it into shorter segments, preferably about ten minutes in length (miller, 2014; norvig, 2012). providing content in a variety of formats and organized as modules is a best practice, including incorporating active learning (lang, 2014; straumsheim, 2014). for this mooc, in addition to the video lectures, content is offered that highlights geodesign through mapped and hyper-linked case study examples, targeted readings, and interactive activities, such as exploring alternative design scenarios. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 214  3.2 student motivation & engagement free courses are particularly susceptible to student distraction and disengagement. there are plenty of interesting things on the internet – what will keep students motivated to return each week? additionally, large online courses can seem particularly impersonal, so recognizing the social needs of students is an important consideration. for moocs, the course instructional design is paramount to manage for active student engagement (miller, 2014). students respond best to repeated opportunities to review and practice the key concepts (lang, 2014). proper design of assignments and activities, seeded-prompts in discussion forums and fostering voting on peers’ discussion forum posts can contribute to engagement (robinson et al., 2015). this mooc begins with an introductory interactive map as a social connector to help engage students and make it feel less impersonal (head, 2013; robinson et al., 2015). the map immediately immerses students in spatial issues central to geodesign by having each student self-locate and contribute something about themselves related to their interest in geodesign.  3.3 assessment one study clearly showed that “learning analytics and assessment” were key features in mooc effectiveness (yousef et al., 2014, p. 48). providing regular feedback to students on their progress helps them understand and “improve their learning outcome” (yousef et al., 2014, p. 46). this is often accomplished with short, weekly quizzes. with the massive student numbers in a mooc, it can be difficult to provide detailed, personal assessments. a unique way to address this has emerged in form of peer-grading of assignments (luo, robinson, & park, 2014). related to student engagement above is the value in having students become fully engaged in course content through evaluating their peers’ work. along with that desired engagement, the peer assessed assignments also represent a valuable learning strategy because students discover and grow from that experience (koller, 2012; luo et al., 2014). this mooc deployed peer assessment of the final activity, which relates specifically to geodesign – each student submitted their outline of a geodesign challenge. as discussed previously, there is increasing recognition that many mooc learners do not need or seek assessment of their learning progress (de waard et al., 2011; 2014; kizilcec et al., 2013; straumsheim, 2014).  3.4 organization & structure most recognized instructional design approaches stress the importance of a well-organized course to help students frame their learning (miller, 2014; yousef et al., 2014). additionally, the content of lectures and their organization are also found to be an important factor in mooc success (yousef et al., 2014). there is also considerable value in using a graphically visual calendar b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 215 to help students get an overall grasp of the course structure (kizilcec et al., 2013; coil, n.d.). the course’s objectives and schedule must be clearly defined for students from the very beginning of the mooc (yousef et al., 2014), and reinforced again each week. it is important to remember that a mooc should not be treated the same as a traditional classroom course (bali, 2014; straumsheim, 2014). the aforementioned principle of “segmenting” (miller, 2014, p. 155) can also apply to how the course is organized; chiefly: in modules. modules can, for example, introduce a topic in different formats or the same topic divided into different parts (straumsheim, 2014). modules can reinforce each other, but each is also discrete; this means that if a student does not view every module, the goal of introductory exposure to the topic may still be satisfied. this mooc is organized in modules to provide consistent structure each week with diversity of content delivery as discussed above; modules are discussed below in section 4 (outcomes).  3.5 differential learning styles & accessibility the sheer quantity of students and the fact that moocs have no entrance filters means that there will be a wide variety of student abilities, learning styles, facility with language, and accessibility issues. the mooc instructor should be cognizant of accessibility, particularly for students from locations with bandwidth or other online access limitations (kizilcec et al., 2013). people process information in different ways, referred to a “vak: visual auditory kinesthetic” (miller, 2014, p. 150). in other words, some people prefer a graphic modality; some process better via spoken word; and others prefer making activities. in point of fact however, it is how these modalities are combined that is most important (miller, 2014). providing instruction in a variety of modalities enables a wider range of students to learn more effectively. for example, “narration works best when it uses conversational … language”, and it is not verbatim of text on the screen (miller, 2014, p. 154). the aforementioned discussions about video lectures should also be considered related to differential learning styles and accessibility. it is a best practice to include, along with the video, the written text of what is spoken in the video and any included graphics (robinson et al., 2015; yousef et al., 2014). furthermore, the recorded lecture itself should not be just the professor talking, but rather seek to engage visual learners, which is the majority, by incorporating illustrations or graphics that directly support the concept being discussed. and the video and accompanying text can go further by deploying the “signaling principle”, which advocates highlighting key points so they stand out (miller, 2014, p. 155). the goal here is to enable each learner to proceed at his or her own pace (koller, 2012). the fact that a mooc is asynchronous and videos can be slowed down as well as watched multiple times, or read instead of watched, can be an advantage in achieving this. with geodesign rooted in spatial issues r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 216 and place-based design principles, the mooc faculty author could easily address this component through the generous use of graphical examples specific to these issues and principles.  3.6 application of new knowledge a strong concern voiced about moocs is that they typically provide little or no opportunity for students to apply their new knowledge (stenger, 2014). deeper reflection about the subject is desired (bali, 2014). this can be a challenge due to the scale of the class size, the uneven skill level of the students and the typically introductory nature of moocs. there are two instructional techniques that can be used to address this need: thoughtfully detailed discussion forums, and assignments that go beyond basic auto-graded responses. as discussed above in the section on student motivation & engagement and in the section on assessment, there are exciting ways to foster dialogue within the discussion forums that can ask students to think more deeply, and requiring an assignment prepared by the student that is peer reviewed will necessitate that students apply what they have learned.  3.7 online platform issues the mooc providers have a robust platform that scales to accommodate thousands, but that may also mean it is less forgiving in how a course is structured (head, 2013). as mentioned, moocs evolved from a video-biased format. both of these issues may require some creativity to overcome these limitations in order to address issues outlined above. an important distinction in massive online instruction, which can be a huge factor in determining content, is that mooc’s do not fall under the united states’ ‘fair use’ educational standards (smith & mcdonald, 2013). if the provider is a for-profit company, such as coursera, then moocs must receive permission for any content except for direct links. the geodesign mooc course faculty author contacted one publisher for permission to use an paper and the response was to have each student pay individually $2.00 per copy. this counteracts the notion of a free mooc and places students unable to pay at a disadvantage. some publishers may be more understanding (smith & mcdonald, 2013). it is probably best, however, that course authors rely primarily on instructor-generated content or use third-party public domain or open access materials, such as creative commons licensed content. two organizations did grant permission to access and showcase online content specific to geodesign issues, which enabled the course author to provide key information about geodesign that would not have been possible otherwise. b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 217 4. outcomes  4.1 geodesign mooc course design and structure this course was developed by working through a desired set of learning objectives and matching those to logical course content, including outlining seminal introductory-level geodesign topics (table 1). geodesign mooc topic/short outline learning objectives week 1 shared languages (key underpinnings of geodesign) • spatial thinking • creative change • location, location, location 1) identify how geodesign embodies “things”’ that are within vour personal, everyday experience 2) be able to identify and expl ain the potential for change in a problem. 3) begin to explore what geodesign is through interactive mapping (case studies) and readings. week 2 the three 01s of geodesign (geodesign is a design process) • design • decision • data 1) identify the key components and their operations (or functions) that are central to the geodesign process. 2) recognize how these three key components are interrelated. 3) continue to e xplore what geod esign is through interactive mapping and readings. week 3 the three c’s of geodesign (geodesign components in action) • complexity • computation • collaboration 1) recognize the complexities inherent in the geodesign process 2) be able to explain the value of computation and collaboration to geodesign. 3) translate week two’s components into an understanding of how those are put into action to accomplish geodesign. week 4 the influence of context (culture of shaping force) • people of the place • factors and scale 1) recognize that there are myriad factors that influence how a development may impact upon a place. 2) be able to describe the value of local knowledge. 3) gain understanding about the interrel ationships of the physi cal and human aspects that contribut e to how geodesign s trategies are c.omposed. week 5 process and framework (the value of using a proven process) six models as the method to address fundamental questions 1) build awareness that there is an iterativ e process needed to work through a geodesign challenge. 2) distinguish between all the components of the geodesign process and how each one’s role contributes to the process. 3) be able to describe the scope and team members who should participate in a self-sel ected geodesign study. table 1. the learning objectives for each week of the mooc. a five-week structure was established and designed for approximately three to five hours of student engagement per week. the course design designates each week as one lesson that centres on a major theme or key topic. the learning objectives and topics were prioritized from a list the faculty course author assembled based on research during preparation of new graduate course proposals, a review of issues from recent conferences (geodesign r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 218 summits), and as stated previously, the particular perspective this geodesign mooc intended to cultivate. the design and structure of two recent successful moocs at penn state university were also analysed (www.coursera.org/ course/maps, www.coursera.org/course/art). figure 3. example mooc page shows main lecture displayed as text and graphics. to address aforementioned issues deemed to enhance mooc success; the geodesign mooc course is designed as modules to offer consistent structure for each week. the mooc course design team also took the approach that the main lecture video is not the core content; instructional content provided in the other modules is equally valuable. furthermore, to provide an alternative way to access and view the key topic material covered in the video, the lecture content is directly embedded on the coursera page as text and graphics (figure 3). additionally, a companion theme is introduced each week in the form of a “change agent”. geodesign is defined as creative change for a place (mcelvaney & foster, 2014). a change agent theme is identified to provoke student thinking about who or what instigates change in a place. the structure then for each week includes five modules: a key topic, guest lectures, change agent, case study examples, and activities. each module reinforces or complements either the weekly key topic or the change agent. for example, each guest lecture goes into more detail about a concept revealed in the main lecture’s overview of the key topic. the case study examples, on the other hand, reinforce each week’s change agent theme. the weekly structure is announced to the mooc students as a visually graphic outline, shown in figure 4. the moocs discussion forum, which provides a significant means for student engagement, was arranged to include sub-forum discussion areas related to each of the course modules. b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 219 figure 4. example schedule showing five modules included in each weekly lesson.  4.2 geodesign mooc subject matter content was selected to respond to the course goals: to create an introductory-level experience, to inspire attitudes about the opportunities geodesign can provide, and to provide a balanced view of what geodesign is, all while being mindful of the platform and “fair use” limitations discussed above. the primary influences on the details of what to include were the key topic and change agent for each week. these are shown in table 2. the following provides an overview of the subject matter covered within each of the modules each week. geodesign mooc key topic change agent theme week 1 shared languages • spatial thinking • creative change • location, location, location flooding week 2 the three 01s of geodesign • design • decision • data infrastructure week 3 the three c’s of geodesign • complexity • computation • collaboration conversation week 4 the influence of context • factors • scale • people sustainable development week 5 geodesign process and framework urbanisation table 2. the guests provide additional perspective regarding the week’s key topic. to reinforce that the main lecture video is not the sole source of information, guest speakers were selected to provide additional voices, perspective and expertise on the key topic each week. the guest lecturer page in the mooc provides a short biography about each speaker, but unfortunately the video lecture content is not transcribed. most of the videos are however capr iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 220 tioned, offering students the opportunity to read a transcript during the video. future offerings of the mooc hope to rectify this accessibility limitation. the topics covered by the guest lecturers are included in table 3. there are of course thousands of reasons change can happen in a place. change agents can be forces for positive as well as problematic change. the five change agents were selected due to their universal applicability across the global and their representation of how to address both positive and problematic influences in land planning and design contexts. the global design and engineering firm, arup, has published a series of “cards” called “drivers of change” (arup foresight, n.d.). geodesign mooc key topic guest lecturer/topic week 1 shared languages • spatial thinking • creative change • location, location, location prof. aeschbacher: design and change dr. robinson: spatial thinking week 2 the three 01s of geodesign • design • decision • data prof. foster: decision is driver prof. aeschbacher: design: teamwork and iteration week 3 the three c’s of geodesign • •complexity • computation • collaboration dr. flaxman: tour of geodesign tools dr. robinson: analyzing data prof. aeschbacher: collaboration week 4 the influence of context • factors • scale • people dr. lisa mcelvaney: human dynamics dr. anthony robinson: influence of scale week 5 geodesign process and framework or. olson: geodesign -forest lawn creek example mr. palavido & mr. bhargava: using geodesign analysis for sustainable design and planning mr. beck: envisioning utah -meadowbrook station project table 3. the guests provide additional perspective regarding the week’s key topic. permission was granted to include a selection of cards chosen for their relevance to weekly change agent topics. figure 5 shows one example card, which is two sided and provides a concise overview on an issue, thus serving as a unique, graphically engaging way to provoke dialogue at an introductory level. b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 221 figure 5: example change agent “card” addresses week 3 theme: conservation (arup foresight, n.d.). showcasing real-world examples of what geodesign is and can be was deemed an essential component of the mooc. case study examples were curated to reinforce each week’s change agent topic (table 4). geodesign mooc change agent theme case study examples: topic and location week 1 flooding • new national recreation area on the gulf of mexico: texas, usa • growth pattern of taizhou city based on water network landscape: zhejiang province, china • napa river flood protection and waterfront redevelopment: california, usa week 2 infrastructure • exploring options for shale gas pipeline and roadway development: pennsylvania, usa • designing for expansion of a national electricity network: spain • retrofit five-lane arterial into walkable townscape boulevard: arkansas, usa week 3 conversation • model for heritage conservation of a signific ant cultural landscape: shandong province, china • halting river delta decline to protect livelihoods and natural resources: louisiana, usa • uncovering buried stream creates ecological, recreational and economic opportunities: seoul, south korea week 4 sustainable development • working to reduce carbon emissions in small towns: british columbia, canada • land-based strategies rooted in natural terrain that affordably promote development: rwanda, africa • transform brownfield into living filter to create habitat and enhance public health: zhejiang province, china week 5 urbanisation • partnerships foster cooperation to design transit-oriented centers: utah, usa • port transformed into sustainable communities that respect unique heritage: hamburg, germany • flooding challenges to historic town require both offensive and defensive strategies: colorado, usa table 4. case study examples chosen to illustrate the weekly change agent theme. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 222 fifteen case studies were chosen, over half of which are outside the usa and representing seven countries. it was a distinct challenge to find the desired level of detail available for access solely online. these illustrative case studies were interactively mapped via esri’s story maps (http://storymaps. arcgis.com), and each case study example includes web links for further explanations (figure 6). to facilitate accessibility each case study example was also provided as a pdf. permission was granted for these, the most prominent of which is the american society of landscape architects’s extensive website for award winning projects (asla, n.d.). figure 6. case study examples illustrated via a dynamic interactive map. each tab represents a change agent theme. the activities each week included readings and an interactive activity that relates to either the change agent or key topic. these were designed to address the aforementioned issues of student engagement and knowledge application. the students’ final activity is a peer-assessed assignment; they were asked to outline a geodesign challenge upon what they’ve learned. this final assignment reinforces the goal of having the course be relevant to the students and to help them understand positive change possibilities for their area of interest. the assignment requires the student to discuss seven items, six of which tie directly to the mooc’s weekly topics: what type of change (select from the change agent-types); describe why creative change is needed to address the challenge; what scale is most appropriate; who should be the collaborators; what factors will impact the situation; and what types of data are needed. the seventh item is a website address that provides background about the geodesign challenge. students submitted a short pdf addressing those seven items and also ‘pinned’ their challenge location to a class map. figure 7 shows the mapped final assignments, with each colour representing a different type of change agent. b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 223 figure 7. students’ final assignment outlined a geodesign challenge. the location of each challenge is mapped with the “pin” colour selected to signify the challenge’s change agent category.  4.3 student engagement the coursera platform has several analytic tools to measure the reach and level of engagement in the course. the geodesign mooc enrolled nearly 17,600 students, representing 167 countries. this is in line with a typical mooc enrolment size of 20,000 (jordan, n.d.). of those registered, 38% are considered to be from emerging economies. the course attracted at least one visit from 10,368 or 59%, and 7,890 or 45% watched at least one lecture. for the first time offering this mooc, the team is happy to see the goal of beginning to build wider awareness of geodesign met with some success. taking the nearly 8,000 as the ‘maximum’ engagement via videos, the analytics reveal that 20% of that number were still active in the last week by viewing the main lecture video. because of the platform limitations and coursera’s emphasis on video content, we unfortunately cannot easily get statics on visits to, for example, the case study examples pages. figure 8. students’ final assignment outlined a geodesign challenge. the location of each challenge is mapped with the “pin” colour selected to signify the challenge’s change agent category. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 224 familiarity with the penn state university maps mooc enabled the geodesign mooc team to deploy a best practice for early student engagement, a class map (figure 8), which was available beginning the week from before the mooc opened (robinson et al., 2015). students self-locate and share a little bit about themselves, thereby enabling all students to experience a common connection with their peers. as discussed above, the primary place for student engagement in moocs is the discussion forums. due to the large volume of posts, these can be difficult to monitor closely. awarding participation points for merely submitting a post to a forum was deemed too superficial, as our mooc team has no easy way to monitor content. to stimulate student participation, points were awarded if a discussion post receives ‘up votes’ from fellow mooc participants. this empowers each student to weigh in on the relevancy or significance of a post, as well as encouraging students to compose thoughtful posts. one student received 32 up-votes over the course of the five weeks, and nearly 150 students received at least one up-vote on a forum post. there were a total of 2,228 forum posts, but well over 23,600 forum-post views. the difference between views and number of posts seems to validate the previous discussion that some mooc students are primarily there to look at content and browse course resources, which de waard et al. (2011) called the “lurking participant”. the final peer-assessed assignment served as the other primary avenue for student engagement. using 7,890 as maximum participation (watched at least one video), the analytics show that 482 or 6% participated in the final assignment. of those, 451 (5.7%) satisfactorily completed all the mooc course requirements to earn a statement of accomplishment. these numbers fall within the overall completion rates experienced by other moocs (jordan, n.d.). the geodesign mooc was designed for three to five hours of engagement per week. a post-course survey administered by the geodesign mooc team reveals that most of the students hit that target: 35% selected one to three hours, and 48% chose three to six hours per week.  4.4 student feedback there were two post-mooc surveys aimed at better understanding student reaction to the course: both coursera and the geodesign mooc team requested student feedback. one caveat: there is no way of knowing to what extent participation in these surveys overlap, however there is enough distinction in questions to use both. though these received relatively low participation rates (coursera, 1.8%; mooc team, 2.7%), the feedback is none-theless helpful. b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 225 related to the above discussion about hours of engagement per week, 74% of the students felt the course pace was “just right”, while 21% felt is was “somewhat fast”. there are several questions regarding the course design. a solid majority rated the quality of the course materials as “excellent” (48%) and “good” (47%). the question “how relevant do you think the exercises (e.g. quizzes, assignments) are to the rest of the course?” also yielded positive feedback: 50% at “very relevant”, 26% at extremely relevant”. the responses to the next question point to needs in student engagement improvement: “how valuable are the discussion forums … in helping you learn?” 39% said “moderately valuable”, while the same percentage (22%) said “very valuable”/“slightly valuable”, and 7% said “not at all”. the geodesign mooc team is particularly pleased to see the student’s self-assessed learning metric that provides insight into our goal of improving understanding about geodesign, with over 50% stating “quite a lot”. additionally, 28 students provided a personalized written response to coursera’s open-ended “learner stories”, which ask students to share course experiences directly to the mooc instructor. these were wonderful comments to read and came from an astonishing amount of eighteen different countries, ranging from brazil and venezuela, to india and thailand, to saudi arabia and the uae, to morocco and democratic republic of congo, to five european countries and the united kingdom, and the usa. these students reported seeing both specific and broad applicability of the geodesign concepts. 5. conclusion this contribution has described the background, course design and content details associated with offering the first mooc on the subject of geodesign. the author has also provided an overview of pedagogical and technical considerations found to be associated with producing a successful mooc. based on this work several challenges and opportunities emerge. the faculty course author struggled with how best to balance representation of a process as complex as geodesign without oversimplifying it. the results show that nearly a quarter of the participants felt the pace was a bit too fast. this dilemma of how to best address different learning abilities and levels of prior knowledge is shared with resident instruction, but is likely more pronounced in moocs because there are no course entrance standards. techniques need to be researched and developed for how to engage this widerange of users without overwhelming some. another challenge is how to resolve the conflict between research showing students desire to apply newly learned knowledge and the low percentage of students who participated in the assignment that does this best. there appears to be a need to seek other, less intensive ways that enable students to apply knowledge while still being meaningful. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 226 student engagement issues related to the discussion forums appear to point out an opportunity to enhance student interaction. helpful alternative forum engagement strategies, such as those discussed in robinson et al. (2015), can be investigated. a future modification could include the course instructor selecting and “elevating” insightful or helpful forum posts to bring these to the attention of all mooc students, and posing further questions or discussion prompts related to these. the faculty course author’s self-reflection reveals an admittedly surprising sense of connection to these students and an overall feeling of success in achieving the course goals. although there are thousands, those students that chose to share and engage expressed a depth of interest in geodesign not anticipated. and even those that did not share, the fact that thousands watch a video reveals a unique reach well-beyond typical teaching experiences. it was also enlightening to see the diversity of truly inspiring geodesign challenges identified by the students. the students clearly have issues and concerns in their locales for which they see geodesign as a possible way forward. the ability to reach so many individuals across the globe is both humbling and exhilarating. this all reinforces the magnitude of responsibility to prepare a first-rate experience for the students. the mooc format is shown to have great potential for informal and lifelong learning. moocs also have the amazing capacity to reach individuals from around the globe. making use of this unique format for introductory exposure to topics should continue to prove valuable as the desire to reach more audiences and the need to increase exposure to geodesign grows. the survey data and student feedback support utilizing a mooc to build awareness and disseminate information about geodesign. due to geodesign’s complexity, there are certainly possibilities for taking any of the weekly topics and, for example, expounding on those to create five or more moocs, each delving into more detail about those components of geodesign. there is clearly interest, worldwide, and due to the interdisciplinary nature of geodesign, as well as the diversity of scales and issues geodesign can address, it is the author’s opinion that there is abundant opportunity for more to get involved in expanding the dialogue about geodesign. b r in g in g g eo d esig n to t h e w o r ld in a m a ssiv e, o p en , o n lin e en g a g em en t: ‘g eo d esig n : c h a n g e yo u r w o r ld ’ 227 references artz, m. (2010). jack dangermond talks about geodesign at ted 2010. gis and science, february 11. retrieved from http://gisandscience.com/2010/02/11/jack-dangermond-talks-about-geodesign-atted-2010/ arup foresight (n.d.). drivers of change. http://www.driversofchange.com/tools/doc/ asla (american society of landscape architects) (n.d.). professional awards. http://www.asla.org/individualaward.aspx?id=4244 bali, m. (2014). mooc pedagogy: gleaning good practice from existing moocs. merlot. journal of online learning and teaching, 10(1), 44-56. retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol10no1/bali_0314.pdf coil (2015). mooc research cluster meeting discussion; author’s notes. february 18. http://coil.psu. edu/blog/mooc-research-cluster-experience/ de waard, i., koutropoulos, a., keskin, n., abajian, s. c., hogue, r., rodriguez, o., & gallagher, m. s. (2011). exploring the mooc format as a pedagogical approach for mlearning. proceedings from mlearn. retrieved from http://mlearn.bnu.edu.cn/source/ten_outstanding_papers/exploring%20 the%20mooc%20format%20as%20a%20pedagogical%20approach%20for%20mlearning.pdf flaxman, m. (2010). geodesign: fundamental principles. paper presented at the geodesign summit, redlands, ca. retrieved from http://video.esri.com/watch/106/%20geodesign-fundamental-principles. foster, k. (2015). geodesign parsed: placing it within the rubric of recognized design theories. landscape and urban planning (in second review). geodesign summits. the author attended the summits: geodesign summit, redlands, ca, 2012-2015; geodesign summiteurope, 2013, 2014; geodesign summitchina, 2013. there were also geodesign summits, redlands, ca, 2010, 2011. head, k. (2013). inside a mooc in progress. the chronicle of higher education. retrieved from http:// chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/inside-a-mooc-in-progress/44397 jordon, k. (n.d.). mooc completion rates: the data. retrieved from http://www.katyjordan.com/ moocproject.html kizilcec, r. f., piech, c., & schneider, e. (2013, april). deconstructing disengagement: analysing learner subpopulations in massive open online courses. proceedings of the third international conference on learning analytics and knowledge (pp. 170-179). acm. koller, d. (2012). daphne koller: what we are learning from online education. ted talk. [video file] retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education#t-708734 lang, j. (2014). educating minds online – an outstanding new book provides a road map for truly effective teaching with technology. the chronicle of higher education. retrieved from http://chronicle.com/ paper/educating-minds-online/150743/?cid=wc luo, h., robinson, a., & park, j. (2014). peer grading in a mooc: reliability, validity, and perceived effects. online learning: official journal of the online learning consortium, 18(2). retrieved from, http://olj. onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/jaln/paper/view/429 mcelvaney, s. (2013). geodesign – strategies for urban planning. paper presented at american planning association (apa) national conference, chicago, il, april. mcelvaney, l. a., & foster, k. (2014). enhancing stakeholder engagement: understanding organizational change principles for geodesign professionals. in geodesign by integrating design and geospatial sciences (pp. 315-329). springer international publishing. miller, m. d. (2014). minds online: teaching effectively with technology. cambridge, massachusetts: harvard university press. miller, w.r. (2012). introducing geodesign: the concept. redlands, ca: esri press. norvig, p. (2012). the 100,000-student classroom. ted talk, february. [video file]. retrieved from http:// on.ted.com/norvig perna, l. w., ruby, a., boruch, r. f., wang, n., scull, j., ahmad, s., & evans, c. (2014). moving through moocs: understanding the progression of users in massive open online courses. educational rer iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 228 searcher, 43(9), 421-432. doi:10.3102/0013189x14562423 robinson, a. c. (2013). bridging distance in cartographic education. sharing knowledge, 12. retrieved from http://lazarus.elte.hu/ccc/2013icc/skproceedings.pdf#page=17 robinson, a. c., kerski, j., long, e. c., luo, h., dibiase, d., & lee, a. (2015). maps and the geospatial revolution: teaching a massive open online course (mooc) in geography. journal of geography in higher education, (ahead-of-print), 1-18. smith, k. l., mcdonald, s. j. (2013). how will moocs affect fair use and copyright compliance? academic impressions, january 11. retrieved from http://www.academicimpressions.com/news/how-willmoocs-affect-fair-use-and-copyright-compliance steinitz, c. (2012). a framework for geodesign – changing geography by design. redlands, ca: esri press. stenger, m. (2014). the shiny new tech syndrome and what to focus on instead: an interview with kevin guidry. informed. retrieved from http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/where-higher-education-and-technology-intersect-an-interview-with-kevin-guidry/#ixzz3laiiftha straumsheim, c. (2014). all things in modulation. inside higher ed. retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/08/07/its-second-round-moocs-u-wisconsin-madison-embraces-modularity yousef, a. m. f., chatti, m. a., schroeder, u., & wosnitza, m. (2014, july). what drives a successful mooc? an empirical examination of criteria to assure design quality of moocs. in advanced learning technologies (icalt), 2014 ieee 14th international conference on (pp. 44-48). ieee. wilson, m. w. (2014). on the criticality of mapping practices: geodesign as critical gis? landscape and urban planning. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.12.017 277 1 2 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n western european cities like london, paris, rotterdam and frankfurt am main have seen impressive high building developments over the past two decades. this has led them to develop policies for regulating the planning and construction of tall buildings, high-rise buildings and skyscrapers within their territory. so far, these high building developments and policies have received little attention from the academic community. this chapter elaborates a framework for analysing high building development and the visual impact of high buildings on the surrounding landscape with the city of rotterdam as a western european showcase. it presents a systematic approach for analysing high building development in terms of architectural height, year of completion, location and functional use, for use in the comparison of existing buildings with the urban policies that are in place. comprehensive gisc-based viewsheds were used to analyse the visibility of the high buildings, factoring in both meteorological circumstances and the vertical area of the buildings. the showcase city of rotterdam demonstrates that a considerable distance exists between the vision and reality. the city struggles to deliver a consistent and integrated policy for high-building urban areas, while the high building developments themselves seem to be ruled by a remarkable internal logic that is not fully recognised in policymaking. the impact of tall buildings, high-rises and skyscrapers on neighbourhoods, urban districts and cities is widely acknowledged by architects, urban planners, politicians and developers all f r a n k v a n d e r h o e v e n , s t e f f e n n i j h u i s hi rise! i can see you planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam 278 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam over the world. the planning and construction of high buildings is not without controversy. tall buildings, high-rises and skyscrapers have the ability, like no other building typology, to polarise the public debate on architecture and the built environment, to evoke a sense of urban identity or alienation, to represent the economic growth or decline of a city, and even to become the symbolic target in armed confl icts or acts of terrorism. concerns about the appropriateness of high buildings in the (urban) environment, the (iconic) quality of their architecture, and their impact on local real estate markets is increasingly refl ected in municipal and metropolitan policymaking. prominent cities with a longstanding tradition of urban management, building regulations and zoning plans seem to feel the need for additional instruments to control the development of what is described by mcneill as “an extremely complex spatial phenomenon” (mcneill, 2005). there is a tendency in the scientifi c literature, however, “… to neglect the substantial impact of skyscrapers on urban life. yet the signifi cance of these buildings — in terms of height, levels of human occupancy, aesthetic impact and popular representation and use — is in need of careful geographical interpretation” (mcneill, 2005). there are many terms that are used to address high buildings: tall buildings, high-rise buildings and skyscrapers. each of those terms has a specifi c means or connotation, depending on the context or the framework in which it is used. to avoid unnecessary confusion this chapter uses consistently the term high buildings. the chapter starts with placing the developments in rotterdam in its international context: western europe. it then describes the development of high buildings in rotterdam and the city’s successive high building policies. it describes in detail the analysis of the visual impact of rotterdam’s buildings on the surrounding territory by means of gisc (geographic information science), before drawing conclusions on the same. 1 2 . 2 h i g h b u i l d i n g d e v e l o p m e n t i n w e s t e r n e u r o p e within this context, this chapter presents an original approach for analysing clusters of high buildings. rotterdam serves as a showcase. the city represents a prominent european high building city that has a mature (already revised) high building policy in place. rotterdam is part of the emporis top 20 of european high building cities (emporis, 2009), as one of only four western european cities that made it onto this list: london, paris, rotterdam and frankfurt am main. the leading position of the city of rotterdam is furthermore underscored by degw’s report on london’s skyline, views and high buildings (degw, 2002) commissioned by the greater london authority. the london policy document uses the same four european 279 cities to compare established european practices of high buildings policymaking: london, paris, frankfurt and rotterdam. there are many other cities worldwide with a substantial number of high buildings. those in europe, however, make up a special case. the development of tall buildings, high-rise buildings and skyscrapers in europe is embedded in a environment very different to that of america, australia, asia or the arabian peninsula. the european cities and their surrounding cultural landscapes have evolved gradually over centuries, if not millennia. their built heritage, when not ravaged by war, is substantial. the relatively slow pace of development, due to a moderate economic growth rate, provide the time that is necessary for careful consideration. the welldeveloped practice of local democracy allows for the involvement of many political parties, stakeholders and pressure groups in the decision-making process. among them are organisations and individuals that place strong emphasis on the importance of preserving the value and quality of the built heritage that was put in place by previous generations. high buildings have been controversial in the netherlands for years, if not decades. in the 1960s and 1970s, large modernist residential estates were planned and built in the outskirts of many dutch cities and towns. these buildings had a negative impact on the public opinion. it was only after the emergence of a new type of high building development in the inner cities and suburban centres in the early 1990s that this image started to change for the better, not just in holland but also throughout much of europe (sudjic, 2005). even now, high buildings evoke emotions and provoke controversies (taillandier, namias and pousse, 2009). some citizens and politicians seem to reject tall buildings altogether, regardless of the quality of their design, their position in the city or their contribution to the skyline. on the other hand, various enthusiasts and interest groups seem to embrace each new development without much criticism, as long the proposed building is higher than existing high buildings. these controversies may very well explain why a substantial number of towns and cities have felt the need to regulate the planning and construction of this specifi c building type. because all building activities are regulated in the netherlands, policy makers and civil servants need a solid framework that helps them to approve or disapprove a specifi c high building proposal. the policy document that emerged in the dutch context is called hoogbouwbeleid (high building policy) or hoogbouwvisie (high building vision). the high buildings policies bear resemblance to a number of policy documents recently produced in the united kingdom and germany: the guidance on tall buildings by english heritage and the uk commission for architecture and the built environment (cabe and english heritage, 2007), london’s interim strategic planning guidance on tall buildings, strategic views and the skyline in london (mayor of london, 2001), birmingham’s planning policy framework for tall buildings (birmingham city council, 2003), the hochhausentwicklungsplan frankfurt am main (stadtplanungsamt frankfurt am stadtplanungsamt frankfurt am stadtplanungsamt 280 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam main, 2008) and the hochhausentwicklung in düsseldorf rahmenplan (landeshauptstadt düsseldorf, stadtplanungsamt, 2004). in this chapter these policy documents are addressed as ‘high buildings policies’. height regulation is a key component of such policies. height may be measured in many different ways: architectural height, fl oor-to-ceiling height, fl oor-to-fl oor height, highest occupied fl oor height, main roof height, observation deck height, observation fl oor height, roof height and tip height (emporis, 2009). because the architectural height is internationally considered to be the offi cial height for primary ranking purposes (emporis, 2009) this article considers only the architectural height. the architectural height is defi ned as “the vertical elevation from the sidewalk level outside of its lowest exposed fl oorplate, to its highest architectural or integral structural element. these include fi xed sculptures, decorative and architectural spires, ornamental fences, parapets, balustrades, decorative beacons, masonry chimneys, and all other architecturally integral elements along with their pedestals” (emporis, 2009). 1 2 . 3 h i g h b u i l d i n g d e v e l o p m e n t i n r o t t e r d a m over the years, rotterdam has carefully cultivated an image as a ‘city of architecture’. historic architecture is not rotterdam’s strong point. few buildings were left standing after the bombing and fi re of may 1940, and most of those were modern buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. the city had to rebuild its centre from scratch. it seized this opportunity to experiment with architecture and urbanism, which is why the rotterdam city centre now contains numerous monuments and icons from the modern and modernist period, sometimes referred to as ‘reconstruction architecture’. discussions about the appropriateness of high buildings did surface from time to time, but never reached a climax, as they did in cities with historic centres. high buildings are now generally accepted and most are concentrated in the city centre. while rotterdam as a whole uses modern and modernist architecture to promote itself, high buildings are an essential ingredient in the profi le of the city centre: the skyline, including the famous erasmus bridge, has become a true icon of the city (ulzen, 2007). rotterdam’s semi-offi cial history portrays a hundred-year prelude from the late nineteenth century, with the completion of the witte huis (1898; 42 metres) to the so-called ‘fi rst wave’ of high buildings in the mid-1980s. it suggests that at the beginning of the 21st century, the city was on the verge of this ‘second wave’ of high buildings, which would feature super high 281 buildings. some remarkable diffi culties arise with this. to begin with, if one considers the early years of rotterdam’s ‘century of high-rise’ as a prelude to the current high building developments. neither the height nor the location of the high buildings dating from this early period relate to the municipal policy on high-rises. although the fi rst ‘high’ buildings were relatively tall for their time, they fall far short of qualifying as ‘high’ by current standards. the hbu building (1939; 40 metres) is now dwarfed by numerous neighbouring buildings that are almost twice it’s height. even the geb tower (1931; 61 metres) is too small to qualify under the current policy on high buildings, which applies only to buildings of 70 metres or more. similar diffi culties appear when the locations of these buildings are considered. in the four decades, between the construction of the geb tower and the completion of hoboken (1969; 114 metres), almost all high buildings were built to the west of the city centre or in the western part of the centre, among them the characteristic lijnbaanfl ats (1956; 44 metres). it was only in the 1970s that the current high-rise area in the middle of the centre began to emerge. figure 1 weenatoren, rotterdam city centre (106 metres; 1990) 282 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam to get a better understanding of how the development of high buildings has evolved over the years it is necessary to look at some data. data on high buildings can be presented as a simple list or as a scatter plot. this chapter uses the scatter plots because it is a simple but effi cient way to display the relation between two types of quantitative data tagged to a number of specifi c objects. a simple graph of height (y axis) versus time (x axis) can be plotted using data on the architectural height and the year of completion of the high buildings. by including buildings under construction and proposed buildings, a timeline for high building development in a given city emerges. this method to visualise high building development through time and height was used for the fi rst time in a lecture series organised by the slim foundation, initiated and funded by the dutch counsel on tall buildings. the beauty of rotterdam’s scatter plot lies in the clear patterns that emerge. in her book ‘form follows finance’, carol willis explains that the end of a high building wave is typically marked by the construction of the highest building so far (willis, 1995). if that insight is also applicable to rotterdam, then the year in which the tallest building so far was completed could be used figure 2 the hbu building, nowadays dwarfed by the neighbouring high buildings from the 1990’s 283 as the breaking points between ‘high building waves’. four such buildings stand out in rotterdam: the geb tower (1931; 61 metres), the faculty of medicine of the erasmus university, also known as ‘hoboken’ (1969; 112 metres), the delftse poort (1991; 93 and 151 metres) and the maastoren (2009; 165 metres). if the high building history of rotterdam is indeed characterised by waves, then, these buildings are indicative of four such waves, as represented in the scatter plot. the end of a wave is determined by the latest and highest building in a development cycle. the beginning of the next wave is determined by referring to the last high building built immediately prior to an economic downturn, such as the ones in 1981, 2001 and 2008, when the netherlands experienced negative economic growth. the current municipal policy states that a high building is at least 70 metres high. this makes 1969/1970 a true watershed. first hoboken, the building of the faculty of medicine, was completed (1969; 114 metres), followed a year later by the faculty of economics (1970; 78 metres). in the same, year the euromast (a panorama tower) was extended with the addition of the euromast (a panorama tower) was extended with the addition of the euromast space tower (1970; 185 metres). high buildings then sprung up in various locations throughout the city, ranging in height from 50-100 metres. the barrier of 70 metres was broken. al19301930 19501950 19701970 19901990 20120100 200 m 160 m 120 m 80 m 50 m 1st wave pre-wave years of completetion white: residential or mixed-use high building blue: non-residential high building bu ild in g he ig ht 2nd wave euromaseuromast delftse poordelftse poort erasmus bridgerasmus bridgerasmus bridge kpn torenkpn toren space towespace tower figure 3 scatter plot of the architectural height and the year of completion of rotterdam’s high buildings, including optimised height categories and the so-called waves of high buildings 284 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam though there seemed to be no reason to turn back, the construction of high buildings came to an abrupt end in the late 1970s, when the city council imposed a moratorium on the construction of offi ce buildings. ‘rotterdam’ is not eager to acknowledge the fact that its fi rst generation of ‘true’ high buildings appeared in the 1970s. when it speaks of a ‘fi rst wave of high buildings’ they usually mean a later period, starting in the mid 1980s. looking back at this ‘fi rst generation’, it is easy to see why; there is little of which a ‘city of architecture’ can be proud. this fi rst decade of ‘true’ high buildings did not produce many beautiful ones. their architectural quality is mediocre at best, exemplifi ed by the ptt telecom building (1970; 51 metres and demolished in 2007), europoint i, ii and iii (1973/76/79; 95 metres) or the hofpoort (1976; 95 metres). even their contribution to urban life is doubtful, since they are mono-functional building schemes without any public functions at street level. regardless of the quality produced during this period, it was in fact the fi rst period to produce a substantial number of buildings over 70 metres high. furthermore, for the fi rst time, a signifi cant proportion of these high buildings appeared within the current high building zones. all things come to an end, even a moratorium on new offi ce blocks. after years of rapid economic growth, the economy slowed down in the early 1980s and went into recession. the port, which had been the pillar of the rotterdam economy for the last century, was increasingly shedding jobs. it was no longer possible to overlook the high employment potential of the city centre. politicians changed their views on barring offi ce developments and the construction of offi ce buildings picked up with the completion of the world trade center (1986; 93 metres), the maas (1988; 76 metres) and the willemswerf (1988; 88 metres). since 1990, construction willemswerf (1988; 88 metres). since 1990, construction willemswerf of high buildings in the central area has been in full swing: weenatoren (1990; 106 metres), weenacenter (1990; 104 metres), delftse poort (1991; 93 and 151 metres) and the robeco delftse poort (1991; 93 and 151 metres) and the robeco delftse poort tower (1991; 95 metres). the number of high buildings built since the end of the ‘freeze’ was higher than normal, mainly due to postponed demand. this fact alone does not justify talk of a new era or ‘the fi rst wave’. it was already pointed out in this section that the signifi cance of the 1970s as an earlier wave is generally overlooked. perhaps more importantly, there is little or no evidence of a signifi cant change that took place during the mid 1980s. when offi ce building picked up in the mid 1980s, the city did not impose additional regulations on high building development. neither did a shift in the location of new high buildings occur. considering the architecture, evidence, albeit anecdotal, can be found to support the idea that this period is actually characterised by continuity instead of discontinuity. the last offi ce building before the moratorium, the coolse poort (1979, 74 metres) was the work of rob van erk, coolse poort (1979, 74 metres) was the work of rob van erk, coolse poort who also designed the fi rst building after the moratorium was lifted, the world trade center (1986, 93 metres). both buildings have the mirrored glass facades that are so typical of the 285 late 1970s and the 1980s, and they stand just a few hundred metres apart. this is not what one would expect from a radical break. because the fi rst high building wave is now estimated to have begun around 1970, the wave beginning in the late 1980s, early 1990s must be the second one. this second wave is not just defi ned by architectural height only. there are strong indications that a new trend emerged. the periods before and after 1989-1992 display many qualitative differences relating to urban planning policies, architectural design, internationalisation and the actual use of high buildings. in 1993, the rotterdam municipal council launched its fi rst high buildings policy (hoogbouwbeleid) in a structured attempt to steer the development of high buildings in the city (dienst stedenbouw + volkshuisvesting, 2000). the architectural quality of high buildings from the era between 1969 and 1991 is mediocre at best, and for almost two decades, it was dominated by the use of mirrored glass facades. the delftse poort (1992; 93 and 151 metres) was the last design delftse poort (1992; 93 and 151 metres) was the last design delftse poort with such facades. the quality of architecture then improved and designs became more diverse. in a parallel development, foreign architects became involved in the design of such buildings. in the preceding 100 years, no foreign architect had designed a high building in rotterdam, with the exception of som with their three identical europoint buildings (1975/1978; 95 metres). since the mid-1990s, foreign architects have played a major role in high building design in rotterdam. the buildings designed by foreign architects include helmut jahn’s fortis bank (1996; 104 metres), renzo piano’s toren op zuid (2000; 96 metres), wzmh’s millennium tower (2000, 149 metres) and norman foster’s world port centre (2001; 138 metres), hans kolhoff’s de compagnie (2005; 55 metres), alvaro siza’s new orleans (2010; 158 metres) and the list is growing. finally, there has been a marked difference in the use of high buildings. before 1990, most high buildings were offi ce or university buildings. the fi rst partial shift to residential use took place with the construction of the weenatoren (1990; 106 metres) and the weenacenter (1990; 103 metres). the market was a little slow to adapt to this change, but the schielandtoren (1996; 101 metres) and the hoge heren (2000; 102 metres) made the breakthrough. many new high buildings and proposals are now for residential uses (klerks, 2005). 1 2 . 4 a n a ly s i s o f r o t t e r d a m ’ s s u c c e s s i v e h i g h b u i l d i n g s p o l i c i e s with these issues in mind, rotterdam produced its fi rst high buildings policy in 1993 as an integral part of the strategic plan for the city centre. formulating such a policy document is a clear 286 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam characteristic of the second wave, and so it deserves a closer look. the 1993 policy covers both urban design and urban planning. the hoogbouwvisie (high building vision) allowed high buildings only along the ‘urban axis’ formed by coolsingel, schiedamsedijk and the erasmus bridge, along the weena and along the river nieuwe maas (wilhelminapier, kop van zuid). john worthington (degw) advised the city to treat its reconstruction architecture along the boulevards with care. he proposed a setback principle and the city acted accordingly (maandag, 2001). concentrating all the new high buildings along this one axis seriously limited the number of locations the city could provide. within a decade, rotterdam ran out of suitable plots. in a further development, the city faced proposals for buildings much higher than had been previously rotterdam centraal coolsingecoolsingel no height restriction maximum 150 m transition zone kop van zuikop van zuikop van zuikop van zuid parkstad figure 4 map of the ‘offi cial’ rotterdam high building zones 287 allowed. the policy provided no answers on how to deal with the shortages of building plots and the proposals for super high buildings; it was time for an update. almost ten years later, it was again john worthington who gave the city advice on how to act. worthington’s fi rm degw (named after the partners duffy, eley, giffone, and worthington) proposed keeping the architectural heights along the river nieuwe maas relatively low and developing two concentrations of super high buildings at the beginning and the end of the urban axis. the river would then form a ‘valley’. one focal point already existed: the rotterdam central public transport hub. the other had to be developed at ‘parkstad’. the ‘valley’ concept did not make it into the new policy and as a consequence, the wilhelminapier remained a wilhelminapier remained a wilhelminapier prime location for high and very high buildings. in the end, the policy document contained both quantitative and qualitative criteria; the high building zones in the centre were somewhat expanded and the city defi ned three different types of high building zones, each with its own height regulations: • high building zones without height restrictions (weena and coolsingel); • high building zones for buildings between 70 and 150 metres high; • transition zones adjacent to the other two high building zones. according to the municipality these zones shouldn’t be read as locations, but as areas in which locations can be found. the precise sites for high buildings remain to be determined within the framework of the municipal zoning plan. among the qualitative criteria used in that process are public space, wind hindrance, living environment, accessibility, parking, fl exibility, mixeduse, sustainability, construction and place (dienst stedenbouw + volkshuisvesting, 2000). around the turn of the century, proposals emerged that surpassed the height of everything that was built before. the most controversial development concerned a super high residential building, the parkhaventoren (392 metres; never built), next to the euromast panorama tower (van euromast panorama tower (van euromast der hoeven, 2002). the proposal was an important impetus to update the city’s high buildings policy. the original policy did not provide answers regarding how to judge proposals of this scale. just after its revision was published in 2001, the economy stagnated. the demand for offi ce space declined. the wave of super high buildings cooled off. the parkhaventoren was never built and developments at parkstad did not take off. in the end, the city approved the construction of just one ‘super high building’: the coolsingeltoren (187 metres, never built), but even in this case, the developers were not able to fi nd enough occupants to start construction. a new proposal for the site that was 156 metres high was stalled as a result of the 2008 credit crisis (algemeen dagblad, 2008). so far, the maastoren (2009; 165 metres), which is located at the kop van zuid, is the only building that surpasses the delftse poort (1991, 151 metres). it may delftse poort (1991, 151 metres). it may delftse poort very well remain the highest building for some time to come. 288 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam currently, there are no higher buildings or under construction. the maastoren may close off just another wave in the rotterdam tradition and possibly introduce a third wave. no matter how, the development of the rotterdam skyline is at least in its second wave. its fi rst wave did not start in 1986 like the city claims, but already in 1969/1970. the second wave started in 1989/1992, still three to six years off from the city’s ‘offi cial’ fi rst wave. using different waves and height categories may lead also to different conclusions on the extent of the envelops of the clusters of high buildings, but fi rst the visual impact of the high building cluster must be reviewed. 1 2 . 5 g i s c b a s e d v i s i b i l i t y a n a ly s i s the visual impact of a singular high building was successfully reviewed (lörzing et al., 2007) in the case of the proposed ‘belle van zuylen’ tower (262 metres, never built) near the dutch city of utrecht. see also chapter thirteen: visions of belle van zuylen, for some background. the challenge faced in the case of rotterdam is more complex. in question is the collective visual impact of 130 buildings between 50 and 165 metres high. in order to analyse and represent the visibility of the high buildings in rotterdam, a comprehensive gisc-based viewshed method was applied (rød and van der meer, 2009; nijhuis, 2009; germino et al., 2001; nicolai, 1971). the accuracy of this analysis depends on the digital landscape model (dlm), the basis of computational visibility analysis (fisher, 1991 and 1993; riggs and dean, 2007). according to riggs and dean (2007), the average level of accuracy which can be achieved is up to 85%. these fi ndings suggest that it is better to express the analysis results in terms of probability (fisher, 1995 and 1996). however, to achieve the highest degree of reliability, an accurate barrier model or digital landscape model was constructed consisting of a digital elevation model (dem) in combination with topographic data. the basis is a high-resolution elevation model, the actueel hoogtebestand nederland (ahn-1, 1997-2003), which is precise to about 15 centimetres per square metre. the dem’s density, distribution and planimetric accuracy is such that topographic objects with a size of two by two metres can be identifi ed clearly and with a maximum deviation of 50 centimetres (ahn, 2010). the model has been supplemented with recent topographic data: the digital topographic map at a scale of 1:10,000 (top10nl, 2009). all legend items were selected that are higher than eye-level (including ascending elements, buildings and trees and/or shrubbery) based on the defi nitions of the topographical service of the land registry (topografi sche dienst kadaster). the location, architectural height and year of completion of the high-rise buildings were derived from the emporis database (emporis, 2010) and added to the digital topographic map. the resulting digital landscape model was corrected using recent aerial photographs, fi eld surveys and street view imagery (google earth, 2010). 289 a number of parameters infl uence the result of the gisc-based viewshed analysis. especially when it comes to high buildings the vertical size (area of the façade) and weather conditions play a crucial role in prediction of probable visibility (nicolai, 1971). to put it more precisely, the visual range of objects in the landscape depends on: the apparent contrast between the object and its background, the angular size of the object, its shape and vertical area, the contrast threshold at the level of luminance (type of day), the conditions and technique of observing and; the eyelevel and related curvature of the earth (duntley, 1948; middleton, 1952). an important factor for determining the maximum visual range of distant objects is the meteorological optical range at different weather conditions. observations from the royal netherlands meteorological institute (knmi) show that the meteorological optical range by full daylight varies from nearly zero up to several tens of kilometres (knmi, 2010). however, the average ranges of 12 kilometre (50% of the time), 20 kilometre (25%) and 28 kilometre (10%) are typical for dutch circumstances (nijhuis, 2012; nicolai, 1971). for the analysis the maximum visual range of the high-rise buildings was calculated under different meteorological conditions by full daylight and involved vertical area (length-width proportion < 5), vertical shape (rectangular) and contrast value (object-background ≥ 2%). see fi gure 5. the vertical area was calculated by using fi fty percent of the perimeter of the footprint multiplied by the architectural height. visibility of distant objects at different meteorological optical ranges by full daylight (length-width proportion < 5; contrast value object-background 2%) 7.50 10.00 12.50 15.00 17.50 20.00 22.50 25.00 27.50 30.00 32.50 35.00 37.50 40.00 0 10 00 20 00 30 00 40 00 50 00 60 00 70 00 80 00 90 00 10 00 0 11 00 0 12 00 0 13 00 0 14 00 0 15 00 0 vertical area (m2) v is ua l r an ge (k m ) 12km (50%) 20km (25%) 28km (10%) © 2011 s. nijhuis, tu delft building delftse poort nsside (36.23km) building delftse poort nsside (28.10km) building delftse poort ewside (29.20km) building delftse poort ewside (23km) figure 5 visual range of high buildings as a function of the relationship between vertical area, shape and contrast value under different meteorological conditions by full daylight (source: nijhuis, 2012) 290 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building figure 6 visibility of high buildings in rotterdam. visual coverage (where) and the cluster effect (how many)visibility of high buildings in rotterdam. visual coverage (where) and the cluster effect (how many)visibility of high buildings in rotterdam. visual coverage (where) and the cluster effect (how many) 1 1 5 5 10 10 50 > 50 buildings visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building 291 visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building 292 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam the cumulative viewsheds from the analysis show the probable visibility at a meteorological optical range of 20 kilometres and takes into account the curvature of the earth. the analysis results were tested for reliability through fi eld visits and photos. the gisc-based visibility analysis results show two important aspects of visual information with regards to high buildings: visual coverage and cumulative visibility (nijhuis, 2009). the cumulative visibility (nijhuis, 2009). the cumulative visibility output is meant to be descriptive rather than normative. visual coverage is about where you can see high buildings from in the open landscape (tinted: see e.g. fi gure 6) and the cumulative visibility is about how many high buildings you can see. or, to put it like this: it represents the how many high buildings you can see. or, to put it like this: it represents the how many intensity, or amount of high buildings in the skyline of the city (gradual tint; from light to dark means increasing amount of buildings: see fi gure 6). the visibility analysis of rotterdam’s high buildings shows that their combined visual coverage reaches various places out of town at distances of 5 up to and as far as 20 kilometres away. within the city large bodies of open water (river, harbours, lakes) offer similar opportunities to see many high buildings simultaneously. in most of the town however the skyline cannot be seen. this observation questions the relevance of using a winding boulevard (in combination with a setback principle) as an organising design concept for the urban setting of high buildings in rotterdam. the collective visual impact of a high building cluster cannot be seen in the city itself. outside the city, at a distance of 5 to 20 kilometres, the relative position between the individual buildings can’t be assessed by the human eye. whether the high buildings are neatly lined-up or randomly positioned is impossible to tell, unless they are all the same size and shape (which they are obviously not). as a result a skyline appears mostly as a two-dimensional phenomenon. 1 2 . 6 v i s i b i l i t y o f r o t t e r d a m ’ s h i g h b u i l d i n g c l u s t e r to develop a better understanding of the visual appearance of the city’s skyline it is helpful if the geographical coverage of the corresponding cluster is known. to determine this a simple outline can be drawn that links the outer buildings that are supposedly part of the cluster. if a new building is erected within the outline it will not change the width of the city’s skyline, regardless the angle from witch it is viewed. any building erected outside the outline does extend the skyline, as seen from a specifi c angle. three distinctive height categories were identifi ed in rotterdam: below 80 metres, between 80 and 120 metres, and above 120 metres. this means that three of such outlines can be drawn. in the case of most buildings it is clear whether they belong to such a cluster or not due to their proximity to the others buildings. the current rotterdam high building policy assumes that high buildings in the central district, the centre, the 293 nieuwe werk and the kop van zuid are part of one continuous area. the question is if the high buildings west of this area belong to the area that makes up the visual skyline or not: park and europoint. from some angles these buildings west of the centre are visually part of the cluster and from other angles they are not. a simple technique can be applied to visualise this. the areas from which a building appears to be part of the cluster (or not) is determined by drawing two lines that connect the building in question with the two buildings that mark the borders of the cluster. if the angle between the two lines is larger than 90 degrees, then the area in which the building appears as part of the cluster dominates over the area in which it is visually separated from the cluster. the area from which the building doesn’t appear to be a visual part of the cluster can be tinted for clarity reasons. it appears that the buildings in the park area should be considered to be part of the cluster: hoboken (1969; 112 metres) and the euromast (1970; 185 metres). the europoint i, ii and iii euromast (1970; 185 metres). the europoint i, ii and iii euromast buildings (1973/1976/1979; 95 metres) are clearly not part of it. interestingly, if we disregard the buildings at the kop van zuid and the nieuwe werk (all completed in the 1990’s), then both hoboken and the euromast would not be part of the high building cluster. expanding the cluster euromast would not be part of the high building cluster. expanding the cluster euromast in the southward direction did integrate buildings west of the cluster as well. adjacent to the cluster of buildings over 80 metres, additional buildings with a height between 50 and 80 metres can be found. all these buildings were reviewed one by one to assess whether they are part of the cluster or not. a third outline is the result of this action. all three outlines are displayed in the overall map. the offi cial municipal zoning map for high buildings and the area that actually governs the visual appearance of the rotterdam skyline differ markedly. it seems that considerations on the visual appearance of the skyline didn’t make it into the rotterdam policymaking. this is unfortunate as it would be interesting to see a clear and substantiated stance whether to extend or to densify the skyline, to learn about which viewpoints/directions would be dominant in such a decision and figu re 7 the skyline of rotterdam seen from the kralingse plas 294 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam which would not. it would be equally interesting to learn why areas are excluded from the high building zoning that would actually not have an impact on the extent of the skyline. after identifying the rotterdam high building cluster, its visual range can be established. because that cluster is ‘layered’ the role of the three height categories can be assessed in that process. the cluster’s evolution through time can be visualised as well. this can be done by reviewing the development of the outline of the cluster’s envelope(s) and by reviewing the evolving visual impact of the cluster on the city and its surroundings. both directions are explored here. kop van zuid centre europoint euromast park kralingse plas centracentracentracentracentralll districtdistrict figure 8 areas from which the euromast is visually part of the rotterdam skyline and the areas from which it is not (tinted), based on the high buildings built before 1992 295 outlining the high building cluster allows us to look back in time at its development. a fi rst, though minimal, envelope of buildings over 80 metres can be drawn in 1989 after the third building in that height category is build in the city’s centre, the willemswerf (1988; 88 metres). willemswerf (1988; 88 metres). willemswerf a true envelope emerges however only in 1992 after the completion of most of the buildings in the central district, as shown in fi gure 8. this confi rms the analysis by means of the scatter plot that suggests a break over the years 1989/1992. by this time the cluster just contains one building over 120 metres, the delftse poort (1992; 151 metres). an outline for buildings in this height category is lacking for this reason. figure 9 the 2015 multi-layered rotterdam high building cluster kop van zuikop van zuikop van zuikop van zuid nweee wwwerkerk centcentrere europointopoint eurasmus bridgeurasmus bridgeurasmus bridgeurasmus bridgeurasmus bridgeurasmus bridgeurasmus bridgeurasmus bridgeurasmus bridgeurasmus bridge erasmus mcerasmus mcerasmus mc eureuromasomasomasomasomasomasttt park centracentracentracentracentralll districtdistrict kralingse plas 296 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam a fi rst (minimal) cluster of buildings with a height over 120 metres emerges with the construction of the world port centre (2001; 138 metres) that closes the triangle with the delftse poort (1992; 151 metres) with the millennium tower (2000, 149 metres). a true cluster emerges ten years later with the red apple (2009: 128 metres), the maastoren (2009; 165 metres) and new orleans (2010; 158 metres) and is reinforced by the buildings that are completed in the next few years, as shown in fi gure 9. the new erasmus mc (2012; 120 metres) and the euromast (1970; 185 metres) are part of that cluster. the accompanying maps show the visual coverage and cluster effect of the buildings that would nowadays be considered to be part of the cluster, at vital moments in the development of the rotterdam skyline: 1970, 1992 and 2015. see fi gures 10, 11 and 12. the analysis-results show that the visual coverage of high buildings outside the city was more or less established in 1970. the cumulative visibility (amount of visible high buildings) shows that the amount of singular buildings was high (visible coverage by one building). this implies that the 1970 skyline of the rotterdam cluster was dominated by individual and small groups visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building figure 10 the rotterdam cluster: visibility of the high buildings built in 1970 or earlier visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building 1 1 5 5 10 10 50 > 50 buildings 297 of singular tall buildings. as stated before single landmarks are likely to be weak references by themselves. their recognition requires sustained attention. however, in reality this usually does not happen. of course sustained attention is also highly infl uenced by the angular size of the building involved; the further away the building is, the smaller it’s appearance and the smaller it gets, the more it tends to merge into the horizon. there is a slight increase of visual coverage over the years, especially north-west and south-west of the rotterdam agglomeration up to 1992 and onwards. however, the dominance of the cityscape dramatically increased over the years and is expressed by the increasing magnitude of cumulative visibility of high buildings. especially in the last decades the cluster effect of high buildings in the skyline became the dominant development, in comparison with the development of increasing visual coverage. starting north and south of rotterdam in 1970 the visual accumulation of high buildings in the open landscape will develop into a city-embracing pattern in 2015. in summary, in 1970 most of the surrounding territory was visually covered by the city, but from 1970 onwards the skyline of rotterdam visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building figure 11 the rotterdam cluster: visibility of the high buildings built in 1992 or earlier visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building 1 1 5 5 10 10 50 > 50 buildings 298 hi rise! i can see you. planning and visibility assessment of high building development in rotterdam became more important as a cityscape in the surrounding territory. these fi ndings underscore that the fact that fi rst wave of high buildings started in 1970, not just in 1986. another aspect to be analysed is the contribution of the different height categories (<80m, ≥80/<120m and ≥ 120m) to the visual coverage of the region. it is interesting that about approximately 80% of the visual coverage is established by the category 50-80 metres. then the category ≥ 120 metres has more impact (about 3 %) on the visual coverage then the category 80-120 metres (17 %). with respect to the spatial cues: nearness, similarity and singularity, the height categories play a different role in the skyline of the city. based on the visual coverage, the amount and distribution of buildings, we can conclude that the relative big amount of buildings within the category of 50-80 metres tends to merge together (nearness and similarity) and that the singular effect is formed by the higher buildings. however, evidence from future results has to underpin this conclusion. visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building figure 12 the rotterdam cluster: visibility of the high buildings built in 2015 or earlier visibility buildings > 50 meters full daylight: meteorological optical range 20km (25% of the time) in relation to vertical size and area of the building 1 1 5 5 10 10 50 > 50 buildings 299 1 2 . 7 c o n c l u s i o n s the development of high buildings in rotterdam is effectively analysed by considering the historical development in relation to the patterns that emerge from architectural height, year of completion, location in the city, and the functional use of the 130 buildings that measure 50 metres high or more. the height categories that were derived from this analysis are used to determine the visual impact that high buildings have on the city and its surrounding territory, and to determine the extend of the high building cluster that seem to drive the development of the city’s skyline. the fi ndings contradict the concepts of height categories and zoning used in the successive rotterdam policy frameworks that were in place in the last 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(1995) form follows finance, skyscrapers and skylines in new york and chicago. new york, princeton architectural press. 15 building with nature as integrated design of infrastructures nikki brand1,2, & marcel hertogh2 1. delft university of technology, university corporate office, department of strategic development 2. delft university of technology, faculty of civil engineering and geosciences, department of materials, mechanics, management & design (3md) doi 10.47982/rius.7.123 r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 16 abstract many people associate building with nature with its flagship project, the sand motor. this mega-nourishment redefined the role of natural processes in civil engineering projects, demonstrating that instead of ‘do no harm’ as the highest possible supporting goal of coastal infrastructure, the design could incorporate natural processes to attain societal and ecological goals. as such, the sand motor represents a key example of the integrated design of civil infrastructures. in this contribution, we pursue an improved understanding of the integrated design of civil infrastructures, by comparing the illustrative example of the sand motor against a framework based on transport infrastructures and the occasional flood defence. it turns out that application of a framework from one domain to another a conscious act of interdisciplinary learning results in a modification of that framework. although the domain of building with nature fits well with many existing attributes of integrated design for civil infrastructures (the life cycle approach, adaptive design and adding functionalities), its key attribute (dynamics) adds a unique box to the integrality index. this intellectual effort raises two issues. it demonstrates that our understanding of integrated design is rather specific for different infrastructure-domains. second, it is likely that the bandwidth of uncertainty that is key to the incorporation of natural processes in infrastructure design, and the changing behaviour of the structure itself in the maintenance phase, has implications for the governance regime of such infrastructures. keywords building with nature, sand motor, life cycle approach, adaptive design, infrastructures b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e a s in t eg r a t ed d esig n o f in fr a s t r u c t u r es 17 1. introduction despite ubiquitous calls for interdisciplinary research, the conscious, strategic pursuit of such learning is often an exception to the rule (intrepid, 2019). multidisciplinary research packages remain the trend, and measures to integrate learning throughout the research process are established ‘on the go’ (dimi, forthcoming). while on the one hand, multidisciplinary research is often sold as far more ambitious than interdisciplinary research, we suspect it is quite common that many scholars pursue interdisciplinary learning unknowingly. scholars can also make interdisciplinary cognitive connections on an intrapersonal level (pfirman & martin, 2017). interpersonal, collegial connections in team-collaboration within a university department are also systemic, especially among disciplines that are closely related to one another such as urban planning and urban design. such curiosity-driven interactions occur daily and are likely the engine behind the creation of new academic disciplines (lyall, 2008; gibbons et al., 2010), although, as a rule of thumb, integrative learning is not done explicitly (tress et al., 2005). it is possible that interdepartmental, cross-field connections on topics that sit at the intersection of multiple disciplines may be the most challenging type and this is where awareness about the methodology of interdisciplinary learning could facilitate integrative learning. this is especially the case when such problem-oriented research engages multiple stakeholders outside of academia, and a full interand transdisciplinary research project develops (pfirman & martin, 2017; rhoten & pfirman 2007; tress et al., 2005). this chapter therefore aims to explicitly pursue interdisciplinary thinking, with a twofold aim. 1. first, we ask how the application of an integrated design methodology from the domain of civil infrastructure to the concept of building with nature changes the understanding of integrated design. 2. second, by consciously selecting the why and how of an interdisciplinary learning strategy, we reflect on the presumed benefits of such integrative reasoning. the chapter is structured as follows. in the first section, we outline key notions of interdisciplinary research and its presumed contribution to learning. second, we explain integrated design methodology as derived from the topic of transportation infrastructures and the occasional flood defence. in the third section, building with nature’s flagship example of the sand motor will be contrasted with features of different forms of integrated design in the civil infrastructure domain. how does the sand motor fit into our current understanding of integrated design of civil infrastructures and should that understanding be adapted? after a discussion of results, we conclude with the implications of this study, including a reflection on interdisciplinary learning. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 18 2. interdisciplinarity as a means for research interdisciplinary research – which we define as the act of interdependent learning strategies of different academic disciplines – is considered as the key vehicle to pursue knowledge and contributes to the solution of complex (socio-scientific) problems, where one discipline on its own cannot provide an answer (lyall, 2008). despite the increase in availability of scientific knowledge, decisive action regarding persistent, complex problems including climate change, biodiversity loss and related issues such as poverty, security and governance has been very slow (hirsh hadorn et al., 2008). while transdisciplinary research – learning that involves stakeholders – is considered as a means to overcome the mismatch between knowledge production in academia and knowledge requests for solving societal problems (hoffman-riem et al., 2008), interdisciplinary learning targets the knowledge fragmentation that undermines the capacity of society to address its complex problems. the promise of interdisciplinary research is therefore in delivering what has been called ‘systems knowledge’ (proclim, 1997; cost, 2014). however, despite the urgent call for interdisciplinary learning, the organisational barriers for such work within the university’s structures are large (pfirman & martin, 2017), the rate of progress has been slow (national academy of sciences et al., 2005; krull, 2000) and confusion about the state of the art abounds (tress et al., 2005), resulting in the term being used as window-dressing for what, in fact, is multidisciplinary research (cost, 2019). lyall (2008) identified at least seven motivations to pursue interdisciplinary learning, as summed up below: table 1. examples of motivations for undertaking interdisciplinary, policyor practice-oriented research according to lyall (2008) 1 the nature of the object of research is interdisciplinary (e.g. transport, environment) 2 researchers are engaged in transferring knowledge from the laboratory to real world applications 3 the research seeks to break down barriers between science and society and encourage social acceptance of technology 4 the research is ‘user-driven’: either encouraging innovation by connecting technology-based businesses to market demand or involving a practice community, although not necessarily commercially oriented 5 the research may be particularly relevant to policy: many strategic issues can only be effectively addressed by interdisciplinary approaches 6 single discipline research may have encountered a bottle-neck and more than one discipline may be needed to make a breakthrough 7 or, in academically-oriented (mode 1) interdisciplinary research, for more intellectual reasons in order to promote the emergence of new disciplines and modes of thinking. to summarize, interdisciplinarity can therefore be a means of research in four main cases: for (1) particular objects or domains, (2) knowledge transfer to real-life applications, (3) is useror stakeholder-driven (transdisciplinary) work or (4) for overcoming academic obstacles. b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e a s in t eg r a t ed d esig n o f in fr a s t r u c t u r es 19 the objective of this paper fits with the first and the last of these cases. first, the sand motor can be considered as an interdisciplinary research object, that can be addressed by a multitude of disciplines like coastal engineering, ecology, landscape architecture and civil infrastructure design. second, our goal to consider building with nature from the perspective of civil infrastructure design purely for the sake of intellectual reasoning – a better understanding of integrated design of civil infrastructures – is purely academically-oriented. having clarified why the objective of this chapter is interdisciplinary, we can consciously select a learning strategy, again following lyall (2008). table 2. examples of interdisciplinary research, according to lyall (2008) 1 developing conceptual links using a perspective in one discipline to modify a perspective in another 2 using research techniques developed in one discipline to elaborate a theoretical model in another 3 modifying and extending a theoretical framework from one domain to apply in another 4 developing a new theoretical framework that may reconceptualise research in separate domains as it attempts to integrate them from the four options outlined above, this chapter modifies and extends the theoretical framework from one domain – integrated design of civil infrastructures – to the emerging domain of building with nature, with the sand motor as an ‘interdisciplinary object’ or case-study. we can therefore expect the theoretical framework of integrated design to be revalued and perhaps altered, based on its application to the interdisciplinary building with nature-domain; in other words, stimulating ‘new modes of thinking’. 3. integrated design of civil infrastructures in the larger domain of integrated design, many different understandings of the concept exist (hertogh et al., 2018; visser, 2020). in this contribution, we depart from examples of integrated design that were studied in our section – integrated design and management – and were published in a previous publication (hertogh et al., 2018). it is key to note that all of these case-studies are civil infrastructures, and that our perspective is likely influenced by the origins of civil engineering. below, these 6 different forms of integrated design are listed. key to understanding the different notions of integration is the rejection of the notion that infrastructure design in particular can be reduced to a single, sectoral objective with a mono-functional solution for a simplified design problem. to give a better impression of the different notions and their implications, we have included an example project for each form of integrated design and their key attributes. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 20 different forms of integrated design type key attribute(s) example project 1 fit to different scales of design adding design requirements north-south subway, amsterdam 2 decomposition of the design (systems-engineering) effective breakdown of work packages in a mega-engineering project, with individual (design) requirements disciplinary, sometimes geographically high speed line, railway amsterdam-antwerp (hertogh et al., 2008) 3 three-layer model interaction between layers and their timescale adds design requirements: long-term decision-making in spatial planning; sophia rail tunnel with enlarged diameter (stive, 1999) 4 life cycle model incentivises contractor to pursue designs that are costlier to build, but cheaper to maintain design-build-finance-maintenance (dbfm contracts) 5 adaptive design no-regret as a key design requirement section ring road antwerp 6 multifunctional design (visser, 2020) adding design requirements for different functions katwijk flood defense table 3. six different forms of integrated design according to hertogh et al., 2018. all forms of integrated design add design requirements to the design objective, while others seek efficiency in an effective break down of work packages. our working hypothesis is that different understandings of integrated design from the narrow domain of civil infrastructures can be explained, first, from paradigm shifts in design management: most notably the shift from a deterministic perspective to a complexity perspective (hertogh & westerveld, 2010). this paradigm shift puts more emphasis on interrelatedness of design variables, openness, and an acknowledgement that reality is knowable and controllable by a reductionist approach to problem-solving. a second factor that likely determines the differences between notions of integrated design is the design problem that they aim to tackle. do note that with the exception of the three-layer model, all forms target large-scale (public) transportation or flood defences as examples of civil infrastructures. the three-layer model is applied in spatial decision-making processes, where the competition for space between different land uses is mitigated (espon, 2015). rather than delivering a design itself, the layer-model is used to guide policy that informs the design of future infrastructures and land-use development. third, it is key to note here that the three-layer model originates from the discipline of landscape architecture (de hoog et al.,1998), and multifunctional design (of flood defences) is a hybrid between hydraulic engineering and spatial design (voorendt, 2017). interdisciplinary synthesis of knowledge in this domain has thus previously resulted in a different understanding of the integrated design of civil infrastructures. b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e a s in t eg r a t ed d esig n o f in fr a s t r u c t u r es 21 4. the sand motor and the integrality index a key follow-up question is therefore what the theoretical framework for integrated design of civil infrastructures currently looks like. in the previous section, we noted that there is no consensus about what integrated design of civil infrastructures actually is – rather about what it is not – and that the current understanding is that it appears in different forms, representing different attributes of integration within the design. to move forward, we chose a practical solution: we listed the key attributes that distinguish the different forms of such integrated design and presented them as an index, on which the example-case for building with nature the sand motor can be ‘scored’. this flagship project of building with nature is a pilot project in the form of a large sandy peninsula: 21.5 million m3 sand deposited in front of the coastline near the hague in 2011 (van oudenhoven et al., 2019). the pilot monitors the state and the functioning of the coastal ecosystem, after sand nourishment has been implemented as a solution to prevent coastline erosion. while sand nourishment as public flood safety infrastructure has been standard practice in the netherlands since the early 1990s, the sand motor is “…unique due to its size, the design philosophy behind it, and its multifunctionality” (van oudenhoven et al., 2019). five times the size of an average nourishment, the sand motor is expected to disperse along the adjacent coastline using the natural forces of tides, waves and wind. the design philosophy is one of building with nature, an “integrated approach that harmonizes coastal management solutions with the requirements of ecosystems” (ibidem). multifunctionality is sought in the combination of the primary function of coastal protection (or flood safety) with leisure opportunities in the form of a new natural landscape. the sand motor can therefore be seen as a new example of integrated design of civil (flood safety) infrastructure. we can analyse the integrality of the sand motor’s design according to the attributes derived from the existing framework listed below: table 4. six key attributes of integrated design: integrality index for infrastructures sand motor 1 requires different scales for design no, not in terms of higher and lower-scale working packages 2 requires a geographical or disciplinary break down for design x 3 requires scale and speed of change to be involved in consideration of higher-tier layers or functionalities no, not in the sense of over-dimensioning to compensate for inertia in affected tier and to accommodate change in higher tiers 4 considers the maintenance phase explicitly x 5 no-regret as key x 6 functional dominance? x r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 22 the first attribute, different scales of design, can be discarded after some deliberation. the sand motor obviously consists of an enormous number of grains of sand, but different components of the nourishment cannot be designed (or controlled) at different scales. obviously, the sand motor can be broken down in several components (see for example hoonhout, 2019, who noted sand, fine silt and clay fractions, and coarse elements) in its constitution. it can also be broken down geographically, like the intertidal beach, the lower dry beach and the upper dry beach. when the project is compared however to the north-south line example project – where everything is designed from handrail to tunnel – it turns out that the key difference is that the sand motor is not required to meet the design requirements immediately. as wijnberg (2019, 105) stated: “contrary to hard engineering measures, the sand motor is not a static intervention that needs to meet all its goals upon completion when the contractors have finished their work. the sand motor is a dynamic intervention where nature is actually the master builder that should ensure that all goals are met over time.” the project does contain the second attribute – disciplinary break down for design: modelling the behaviour of below-water development, and the above-water development based upon aeolian transport. according to wijnberg (2019), the second was based on past dune growth rates as numerical models predicting above-water development with computer simulations were lacking. third, although the sand motor obviously has a long-term planning horizon (as all engineering measures are designed with a certain life-time in mind) it is not an integrated design in the sense of the three-layer model. the sophia rail-tunnel, for example, was deliberately oversized because of its location in two layers with the lowest pace of transformation in the three-layer model: the substratum and networks (stive, 1999). acknowledging the higher speed of change in the highest-tier layer (occupation) and the relative inertia of the second layer (networks), the tunnel was designed with a larger diameter. this will accommodate stacked transport if the demand arises in the future. the sand motor, when compared with the sophia-tunnel example, is part of the substratum-layer but was not over-dimensioned to accommodate future changes in the first occupation-layer. moreover, the design-life of the sand motor is a mere twenty years, which is shorter than the speed associated with the third, subsurface layer. fourth, the sand motor does match the type of integrality that we associate with the life-cycle model and the example of design-build-finance-maintain (dbfm) contracts used in the construction industry. the key issue of dbm is that they incentivize contractors to pursue designs that are costlier to build, but cheaper to maintain. this is also key for the sand motor, which acknowledges the maintenance-phase explicitly. the project is oversized compared to the traditional coastal nourishment projects (that occur more often), dispersing the sediment along a larger stretch of coastline using the natural forces of tide, waves and wind. nourishment b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e a s in t eg r a t ed d esig n o f in fr a s t r u c t u r es 23 therefore has to occur less often. it should be noted however that the sand motor’s design is not so much driven by the optimisation of maintenance costs, but by harmonisation with the ecosystem and the delivery of ecosystem services (van zanten, 2016). fewer nourishments cause fewer disturbances in the ecosystem. fifth, this flagship building with nature project is a no-regret design. due to its soft-engineering nature, it does not prematurely close off future pathways to other coastal solutions in case of sea level rise or other key factors in flood safety. sixth and last, the sand motor definitely does check the integrality-box for multifunctional design, incorporating flood safety, ecosystem balance and recreation in one design. in its multifunctionality, the sand motor is comparable to katwijk’s flood defence, in that it combines flood safety with underground parking and a more attractive, natural-looking coastline. it needs to be noted here that katwijk also attracts direct financial benefits (parking fees) whereas the economic benefits of the sand motor’s recreational function are indirect. 5. results from the perspective of integrated design, the sand motor, as an example of building with nature, ticks many boxes of the integrality-index. four out of six attributes associated with different forms of our current understanding of integrated design fit with building with nature’s flagship project. the rather dynamic nature of the engineering project, and the fact that the mega-nourishment cannot be broken down in smaller components that can be designed and controlled upon completion of the project, is the attribute that sets this building with nature project apart from the current collection of integrated projects. strikingly, the reason why two boxes in the index are not checked can be found in the new form of integrality that is presented by building with nature: its dynamic nature that changes within a bandwidth provided by natural forces that cannot be forecasted precisely. this does not allow for a breakdown according to scale. the three-layer model’s application to building with nature is somewhat problematic here. in this case, the engineering intervention affects the lowest and, theoretically slowest, layer, the underground, while its lifecycle is so short as not to facilitate permanent settlement patterns. possibly, this would not be the case for building with nature-projects that target another layer, for example tsunami forests that target the highest layer. what unites examples of building with nature (sediment nourishment, oyster reefs and tsunami-forests) is that they often partner with dynamic, natural forces. this raises the question if the notion of scalar breakdown is not incompatible with building with nature-type integrality. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 24 overall, we can conclude that building with nature, when viewed as a particular form of integrated design of infrastructures with the sand motor as an example project, it fits particularly well with the lifecycle approach, adaptive design and adding functionalities. however, we argue that building with nature deserves to add its own box to the integrality-index (rather than being seen as a subcategory of multifunctional design) due to its unique attribute, dynamics. obviously, the dynamics of natural forces represents a different form of functionality than precisely engineered co-functions. when reflecting on the presumed benefit of the interdisciplinary learning strategy followed above, this outcome is not surprising. the purpose of applying an existing framework to a new domain is to evaluate it, and in this case, is adds to the scope of a framework that was initially created for infrastructure in the form of hard engineering measures. 6. implications this explicit interdisciplinary research effort has two implications: one about our expectations of interdisciplinary work, and the second about the management of building with nature projects. in 2019, building with nature approaches hold great appeal for research design projects with cross-disciplinary objectives, as is demonstrated by concepts that include oyster reefs and mangrove forests for flood protection. however, we need to be explicit about how and why we are performing interdisciplinary research, and how the results are different because of it. as a rule, interdisciplinary learning is often used as a window-dressing term for what is, in fact, multidisciplinary learning, undermining the credibility of actual interdisciplinary work. this risks the dismissal of interdisciplinary learning for the wrong reasons. in the above example, where curiosity-driven interdisciplinary learning has been used for intellectual reasons, it has changed the existing understanding of integrated design. moreover, it also raises the issue of how determinative certain research domains are for the theoretical frameworks we use. in this case, our understanding of integrated design came from the domain of civil infrastructures: geared towards transport, and with an occasional multifunctional flood defence thrown in the mix. traditionally, these are all hard engineering measures that have to meet their design requirements upon completion. the upcoming domain of building with nature in the flood safety sector is different in this sense. we expect that the bandwidth of uncertainty that is associated with the incorporation of natural processes in the design of civil infrastructures, and the changing behaviour of the structure itself in the maintenance phase, have implications for the governance of such infrastructures. b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e a s in t eg r a t ed d esig n o f in fr a s t r u c t u r es 25 completion of the construction-phase is the default moment when hard infrastructure is assessed against predetermined and rather strict design requirements. after that, the structure is expected to demonstrate limited change, which can be compensated for by a detailed maintenance regime. such a span of control seems unlikely for building with nature projects. in particular, building with nature projects require commissioners of civil infrastructures to acknowledge and perhaps embrace adaptivity in their policy (including legislation and financial agreements), another nudge in the paradigm shift in design management from a deterministic to a complexity perspective. to conclude, it should be noted that such modes of thinking may become more natural to certain academic disciplines. this may be related to the object of study from which the particular discipline has originated. landscape architecture, in particular, has traditionally worked with large spatial scales, natural processes and longer planning horizons – all attributes that belong to the landscape as the main object of study. a merging of landscape and infrastructure design efforts could therefore be a promising means to successfully organize building with nature projects. we can then again expect a redefinition for infrastructure and an expanded scope for its understanding – as nijhuis and jauslin already argued in 2015, less utilitarian, but as armatures for the facilitation of functional, social and ecological interaction. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 26 references de hoog, m., sijmons, d., & verschuren, s. 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(2005). facilitating interdisciplinary research. the national academies press. b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e a s in t eg r a t ed d esig n o f in fr a s t r u c t u r es 27 nijhuis, s., & jauslin, d. (2015). urban landscape infrastructures: designing operative landscape structures for the built environment. research in urbanism series, 3, 13-34. https://doi.org/10.7480/rius.3.874 pfirman, s., & martin, p. (2017). facilitating interdisciplinary scholars. in r. frodeman (ed.), the oxford handbook of interdisciplinarity (pp. 387-403). oxford university press. http://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198733522.013.47 proclim. (1997, august). visions of swiss scientists: research regarding sustainability and global change – science policy visions of swiss scientists. scnat. http://proclim.ch/id/yzz6d rhoten, d. & pfirman, s. (2007, october 22). women, science and interdisciplinary ways of working. inside higher education. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/10/22/women-science-and-interdisciplinary-ways-working stive, r. j. h. (1999). design features of the sophia rail tunnel in the betuweroute. tunnelling and underground space technology, 14(2), 141–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0886-7798(99)00028-0 van oudenhoven, a., aukes, e., & luijendijk, a. (2019). towards multifunctional coastal management. in a. luijendijk & a. van oudenhoven (eds.), the sand motor: a nature-based response to climate change (pp. 14-17). delft university publishers. van zanten, s.c. (2016). towards engineering the ecosystem services of a mega-nourishment. a forecast of the ecosystem service dynamics of the sand motor [msc thesis]. delft university of technology. visser, j. l. (2020). creating a new perspective by integrating frames through design: an exploratory research into the what, why, and how of integrated design (doctoral dissertation). https://doi.org/10.4233/ uuid:11b45415-5342-4efa-aaf5-69592076cb3f voorendt, m. z. (2017). a method for integrated and sustainable design: five design stages. in b. kothuis & m. kok (eds.), integral design of multifunctional flood defenses: multidisciplinary approaches and examples (pp. 62-65). delft university publishers. wijnberg, k. (2019). improving the above-water design of large sand nourishments: reflections. in a. luijendijk, & a. van oudenhoven (eds.), the sand motor: a nature-based response to climate change (pp. 104-105). delft university press. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 28 < < ı < < ı < < ı < < ı < < < < < < 73 4 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n starting a chapter by this title implies a lot of explanation to the reader. terms like ‘geomatics’ and ‘physiognomic landscape research’ promise a wide interest in a diversity of scientifi c domains, especially when the geomatics component is the main focus. in the pioneer stage of conducting physiognomic landscape studies by use of automated procedures most scientists discerned the limitation of computer capacities and the availability and accuracy of data. however, they affi rm positively the role of computations; geo-information was already mentioned. this chapter surveys the expected role by the key-word geomatics. the geomatics defi nition evolved for the last decennium into “geomatics is a fi eld of activity which, using a systematic approach, integrates all the means used to acquire and manage spatial data required as part of scientifi c, administrative, legal and technical operations involved in the process of production and management of spatial information. these activities include, but are not limited to, cartography, control surveying, digital mapping, geodesy, geographic information systems, hydrography, land information management, land surveying, mining surveying, photogrammetry and remote sensing [url 1]” (roswell and tom, 2009). however, the scope of this chapter is narrowed. for that reason the defi nition of physiognomic research as given in the introduction chapter is a starting point and will be used as a reference. r o n v a n l a m m e r e n geomatics in physiognomic landscape research a dutch view 74 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view the geomatics defi nition from the dutch perspective is given. followed by a stepwise description of the geomatic items: geodata, geodata processing and geodata visualisation. afterwards, geomatics and physiognomic landscape research will be linked again twice, fi rstly, from the geomatics perspective, and secondly, from the physiognomic landscape perspective. the fi nal section concludes the relation between both domains and sets an outlook. however, the chapter is greatly based on the experiences in the netherlands, but references will be made to an international setting. 4 . 2 g e o m a t i c s – a n e x p a n d i n g d o m a i n the current iso defi nition of geomatics shows that the original focus on spatial information/ geodata “a technology and service sector focusing on the acquisition, storage, analysis and management of geographically referenced information for improved decision-making” (canadian council of land surveyors, 2000) has been changed in favour of management and decision-making by integration and systematic approach items. besides, iso uses geomatics and geographic information science as synonyms. a dutch textbook on geographic information systems and spatial research (hendriks and ottens, 1997) presents geomatics as the domain that integrates modelling on the levels of conceptual and logical representation of the spatial reality by developing geo-information methodologies and theory. the analysis of conceptual and logical models, as well as their relations of interest of different application domains, fuels these developments (molenaar, 1997). as we may understand from the more recent defi nitions, and notice from the reported inventions and developments (fisher, 2006), the domain has dramatically changed and is still changing since the early days of canadian gis, cgis [url 2], as did, and does, this sector in the netherlands (bregt and van lammeren, 2000). all these changes have an impact on the dutch physiognomic landscape studies. 4.2.1 data sources in the relation with physiognomic landscape research the acquisition of geodata is still of primary importance, because the nature of the input datasets the scope of the analysis outcome. for that reason, fi rst an overview of present data of interest is shown. second to that, the ways to visualise the input and derived data needs a thorough look, after all we are dealing with the visible landscape. finally, the (automated) functions to analyze these geodata needs will be exploited. 75 a geomatics-time line (fi gure 1), which shows awareness of reported evolutions and is partly infl uenced by the gis timeline [url 3], gives an overview of the change in available geodata. looking at the acquisition of geodata it is obvious that from the study of de veer and burrough (1978) and in line with the cgis setup, the fi rst geodatasets were manually made by a procedure that was very similar to the raster approach as used for physiognomic landscape research. this rasterising way of getting geodata was based on the defi nition of a variable (for example ‘space-mass difference’), the spatial extent and a spatial resolution (the raster-cell size). via a physical overlay of a pellucid paper, with a drawn raster on it, over a hard copy map (“don’t forget the fi ducial marks!”), per raster cell a value related to the variable was written down. 4.2.2 data availability the introduction of vector-based geodata started as early as the raster approach originated by the work of sutherland (2003). however, in contrary to cgis it took a while before it strongly pushed, in a more practical sense, data developments in computer aided design, and as originally developed. however, in the netherlands, the role of vector geodata was serious from 1987 onwards, when the fi rst versions of geopakket in relation to sicad (in 1987) and arcinfo (in 1983) were introduced in the offi ces of the dutch administrations. since that moment the map series of the dutch topographical service of the land registry (topografi sche dienst kadaster) began to become available as geodata (top10vec). also, the early satellite images gave a boost to geodata in the early 80’s, by landsat-tm images [url 4]. 1975 geo data mapmapmap intergraph/esriintergraph/esriintergraph/esri top10vectop10vec fgcdfgcd 3d topology3d topology ahnahn computer visioncomputer visioncomputer visioncomputer vision web 2.0 lbsterrestrial lidarterrestrial lidar crowd sourcingcrowd sourcing raster vector pictures video 1985 1995 2000 2005 2007 2015 cgis top10vectop10vec computer visioncomputer visioncomputer visioncomputer vision figure 1 geomatics events of importance for geodata availability 76 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view since the well-known geodata act of the clinton government (fgdc, 1994 [url 5]) the interest in authorised geodata became globally a serious item. in the dutch ministries in cooperation with their departments, like dutch topographical service of the land registry and census offi ces, started rapidly to develop standardised geodatasets of national concern, that gradually replaced the hard copy maps. the last hard copy topographic map series of the netherlands, scale 1:50,000, dated from 1984 [url 6]. besides the description of position based data was no longer a primarily a real map case, but instead geodata many organisational aspects change gradually. for example, the latest, 2008, dutch act on landscape planning demands the use of geodatasets in the procedure of creating and deciding upon municipality zoning plans (by january 2010, [url 7]). driven by the eu inspire initiative (2009, annexes) more of these enactments will follow. the guiding role of the inspire annexes is interesting in the case of physiognomic studies. what type of geodata has been described, and, may support such studies? as soon as the airborne lidar technology was available, the dutch ministry of public works (ministerie van verkeer en waterstaat) started a campaign with this technology, to map, during the period 1997-2003, the elevation of the dutch land area. this ‘actual state of the dutch land elevation’ (actueel hoogtebestand nederlandthe dutch land elevation’ (actueel hoogtebestand nederlandthe dutch land elevation’ ( (ahn-1)), was the fi rst highresolution digital elevation dataset [url 8]. the national authorities of europe are encouraged by the european inspire directive [url 9], which defi ned 34 spatial themes to develop geodatasets for. a closer look at the appendixes that describe these themes shows that the majority of the themes are about orthogonal two-dimensional geo-referenced (2d) geodata. however, many new developments with respect to cad and 3d visualisation have been initiated to capture and deliver three-dimensional geo-referenced (3d) geodata. experiments in these directions are on-going and are most promising (xu et al, 2010; döner et al 2010). yet, figure 2 point cloud that represents a forest stand (by van leeuwen, 2010) 77 the debate on feasible data structures and fl awless topology rules is still on. especially in relation to the (combination of) airborne and terrestrial lidar (tang et al, 2008; van leeuwen, 2010), 3d referenced data will offer more geometric details of real world phenomena, which may suit physiognomic landscape studies. currently, the translation from point clouds, the measured points of refl ection, into 3d objects for landscape visualisation remains challenging (fi gure 2). 4.2.3 occasional geographic data the internet, on the other hand, has gradually become the main source of data. wherrett (2000) presented the internet as a medium to send out questionnaires in relation to landscape perception studies. particularly the concept of participation and interaction by the internet, as promoted by the concept web 2.0 [10], has brought forward many internet communities who store and share data. mobile phones and digital cameras make it possible to geotag all data types ranging from mobile messages to photographs and videos, and once done, these data objects can be easily tracked by location based services (lbs)(raper, 2007). successively applications like flickr [url 11], panoramio [url 12], locr [url 13], google earth [url 14] and bing [url 15] offer the many dedicated volunteers to geotag their photographs and put these on the internet. the huge amounts of photographs do offer a great ‘crowd source’ of data that may be of use for physiognomic landscape studies (jones et al., 2008). of interest with these photographs is the variety of perspective projections. sometimes orthogonally projected photographs are available. one data type that is not mentioned in the time line is the set of 3d rasters, based on volume image elements, and mostly called voxels. though it started as a promising development in a gis setting (marschallinger, 1996), the interest seems to have faded out. however, in some geological and geomorphologic studies the data type as such is still in use (clevis et al., 2006), as in some remote sensing studies. computer gaming and medical studies, like ct-scan analysis, still favour these data types [url16]. 4.2.4 trend watch with respect to the previous sketch of the geomatics development it is obvious that the variety of available and accessible digital geodata has increased dramatically. this variety does offer many options to be used in physiognomic landscape studies (fi gure 3). yet, drawbacks still exist. geodata can be 2d or 3d referenced and the reference systems can vary. the vgi datasets may be biased. an internet search for photographs of the eiffel tower (keywords in english, german eiffel tower (keywords in english, german eiffel tower and dutch) on july 26th 2010 showed 1,550,000, 256,000 and 24,400 photographs respective78 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view ly. for the hoge veluwe, a dutch national park, the total of available photographs was 65,300. in any case not all datasets are accessible due to commercial or privacy reasons. the role of all previously mentioned data types is to describe current, recent past and present states of the visible landscape and as such it could be useful. it seems that rarely geodata is produced for the function of physiognomic landscape research. consequently available data is not always optimal, and needs to be transformed or interpreted before it can be used in this kind of research. 4 . 3 t w o o r t h r e e d i m e n s i o n a l g e o d a t a the subject of physiognomic studies has been defi ned before as ‘the visible landscape’. visibility in this case meant from the human’s eye perspective. as mark (1999) explained, geodata is merely a representation of the things that exist and represent, in our case, the ‘visible landscape’. comparable with his approach in this text (mark, 1999), the words ‘phenomena’ and ‘entities’ point at the things that exist. the words ‘objects’, ‘features’ and associated words like ‘attributes’ and ‘values’ refer to the representations of phenomena and entities in the formal system of the digital world. y-axis: 3d data defi nition (top) to 2d data defi nition (bottom) x-axis: 3d geo-reference (left) to 2d geo-reference (right) y y x x x x x x x x (x, y, z)da (x, y, z) (x, y, z)dbz y y z z y y z z y y y z z z figure 3 available data types for physiognomic landscape studies 79 4.3.1 digital landscape model attributes the representation of the visible landscape phenomena and entities includes minimally a topographic surface. the surface represents the continuous phenomena elevation. this surface however may include more delineated features like pits, tops, ridges, edges, faults and stream patterns. this representation is known as a digital elevation model (dem). however such a dem is not a representation of the visible landscape. man-made entities like buildings, roads, canals, plantings, as well as natural vegetation, have to be clearly represented as well. gathering and adding these defi nable delineated objects to the dem will generate fi nally a landscape object model (lom) or digital landscape model (dlm). such models may be understood as the representation of the visible landscape (fi gure 4). wassink (1999) labelled the visible landscape by the nowadays old fashioned annotation ‘landscape as a whole’. this label originated from a more static and fi xed physiognomic landscape approach. the different types of geodata, as presented in the second paragraph, could support the representation of the visible landscape in many ways. the 2d or 3d referenced geodata (raster and vector) could offer, for example after an interpolation process, a dem coverage of a certain geographical extent [url17]. for example in a 2d geo-referenced setting the terrain layer (of fi gure 4) can be represented via surface, vector or raster defi nition. besides the terrain layer, the volume layer (of fi gure 4) can also be generated in this way. in a 3d geo-referenced setting the terrain layer as well as the volume layer can be constructed by a 3d geometry and topology of morphologic objects. by adding 2d and 3d referenced objects, like representations of buildfigure 4 a visible landscape representation (source: wassink, 1999) on bottom the dem (terrain layer). successive layers like network (line and area objects) and volume layer (3d objects) put forward a dlm (on top) landscape as a whole the volume layer the network layer the terrain layer 80 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view ings, trees and other artifacts, a dlm will be created out of the dem. for example a 2d georeferenced elevation dataset, like the dutch ahn, can be supported by a selection of vertically extruded 2d objects to generate a dlm out of a dem as presented in fi gure 6. if a ‘complete’ dem or dlm coverage doesn’t exist then many other software functions are available to create these models by a number of processing steps. in many visible landscape studies in which a dlm is used, the spatial resolution or precision of the model that suits the study is problematic. many studies refer to this item as a scale issue. however, this item deals, in fact, with the geometric precision and accuracy of the point, line, area and volume features defi ned in a vector structure, and the granularity of the raster cells and voxels. as well as the geodata representations of the terrain layer, the network layer and volume layer are also problematic, as the relations between these layers is still under exposed. currently, it looks like the only solution to tackle this issue seems to be additional data sampling and adding ancillary geodata. photographs have a number of attributes that are implicitly related to the image. these graphic attributes like colour hue, colour saturation (grey value) and colour brightness are related to the smallest feature of a photograph, the image element (pixel). the combination of such pixels offers patterns and structures. these patterns and structures are cognitively understood by humans. in the domain of computer vision researchers try to mimic algorithmically these facilities of the human brain (szeliski, 2010). videos also have the same basic implicit variables per frame (zhou, 2010), as a video consists out of series of related stills (scene) and series of scenes (video narrative). geodata however consists mostly of geometrically well-defi ned features like points, lines, polygons, volume objects (vectors) and raster cells or voxels. one or many thematic variables can be linked to these features to explain the meaning of the features in terms of characters and numbers. the values, the range of numbers and characters, of the attribute domains are constrained by a measurement scales (gibson et al., 2000; open geospatial consortium inc. [url 18]). in landscape physiognomic studies these graphic and thematic variables fulfi l an important role. 4.3.2 digital landscape model visualisation the previously introduced dlm has many digital expressions. the visualisation of such dlm expressions is the most important interface to discuss landscape physiognomy in most studies. geovisualisation has to be understood as defi ned by dykes et al. (2005): “geovisualisation can be described as a loosely bounded domain that addresses the visual exploration, analysis, 81 synthesis and presentation of geospatial data by integrating approaches from cartography with those from other information representation and analysis disciplines, including scientifi c visualisation, image analysis, information visualisation, exploratory data analysis and gi science.” figure 5 shows how real world phenomena, the visible landscape as perceived in reality, is represented and infl uenced by four different transformations before we can perceive the visualisation of it (lammeren, houtkamp, et al, 2010). the fi gure expresses the importance of transformations. the fi rst transformation has been discussed in the previous paragraph. the second transformation (tii) shows the preparation of the data for visualisation. different combinations of 2d and 3d defi ned objects and layers may need to be generated to fi nally result in a visualisation. all types of fi gure 5 can be combined, for example, google earth examples may illustrate such visualisations by the historical landscape paintings of florence [url 19] and the 3d buildings layer of amsterdam [url 20]. the latter (fi gure 6) shows different 3d house geometries (3d) plus mapped textures (images used to show the ‘realistic’ facades of the buildings). the former shows geotagged images of historic paintings of florence and located into the original view direction. photo’s and paintings like in the example of florence, put forward the subject of atmospheric conditions that’s not yet covered by geodata and only gradually by geovisualisation (daniel and meitner, 2001). we may conclude that the issue of missing and imprecise geodata, in the case of physiognomic landscape studies, can be partly dealt with by including other data types, especially geotagged photographs and videos in the visualisation of such data. the automated processing of such combined datasets is much harder however. real world 3d ti tii tiii tiv 2d 2d 2d 2d 3d 3d 3d geo data geo-visualisation computer display perception figure 5 transformations in the geovisualisation process (source: van lammeren, houtkamp, et al., 2010) ti geodata acquisition; tii geovisualisation defi nition; tiii display rendering; tiv perception triggers in 2d and 3d (parallax and/or depth cues). light grey arrows refer to 3d referenced geodata types 82 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view 4 . 4 g e o d a t a p r o c e s s i n g all geodata types and the options to visualise these have previously been discussed with the meaning to show the variety of options to represent the visible landscape. the sheer variety relates to the fact that that a dataset, which will be used to analyse physiognomic landscape items, must be prepared by pre-processing before the more analytical processing can be performed. 4.4.1 pre-processing pre-processing includes the transformation of geo-references (map projection, 3d into 2d, 2d into 3d), of geodata (like from vector into raster, raster into vector, geotagged images into vector) and of feature classes (for example points into lines, points into areas, points into volumes). it could also include (re-) classifi cation of attributes and attribute domains to better fi t to the physiognomic landscape analysis (like ratio measurement class variable classifi ed as an interval measurement class variable). a very special class of transformation is related to the data of volunteers, also known as voluntary geographic information. these geotagged photographs and videos can be used, thanks to the results in pattern recognition by computer vision research to stitch or construct photogrammetrically multi-facetted scenes like those offered by microsoft photosynth [url 21] and even 3d-models and -scenes [url 22] (snavely, 2006; pollefeys, 2002). these very promising developments must lead to an integration of horizontal and vertical defi nitions of reference. figure 6 amsterdam royal palace without (left) and with (right) 3d models 83 4.4.2 re-classification and interpretation after fi nishing the geodata pre-processing, the processing in line with the physiognomic landscape analysis may be started. depending on the pre-processed data types available these processing steps may be as different as the physiognomic landscape interests. the simplest analysis seen from a computational point of view may be the re-classifi cation of 2dor 3d-geodata layer, geotagged image or video. re-classifi cation could support for example user interpretation and appreciation by ranking or ordering, user understanding of classes of interest for policy making and user labelling of features (e.g. wascher, 2005). such classifi cation may also follow after other types of processing. in more detail the re-classifi cation can comprehend feature classes or thematic class values (chrisman, 2003). 4.4.3 simple geometric analysis as mentioned before, most analysis in the domain of physiognomic landscape research is basically starting with a digital landscape model. besides classifi cations, a number of new attributes may be described and calculated describing visual properties of the landscape model (e.g. ode et al., 2010). geometric attributes of interest that may be used are: location, direction, distance, altitude, size (length, area, volume), shape and topological relation. all these attributes can be calculated for a single object, multiple objects and interrelated objects. besides attributes like spatial density, distribution and variability can be derived as a next step. most algorithms available by geodata processing software will support this type of geometric and topologic analysis functions. 4.4.4 visibility oriented analysis an interesting dispute is always what type of object initiates the data processing. it always means that a second geodataset is involved by which point, line, area and volume objects have been described that will be used as the starting objects for the physiognomic landscape analysis. for example the algorithmic principles of visibility studies, is typifi ed as visibility querying on a digital landscape model (batty, 2001; de floriani and magillo, 2003). before the real querying the continuous visibility mapping by tin (vector) and discrete visibility mapping by raster is started from point objects that represent vantage points. in a raster format the range of local, focal, zonal and global functions, as originally defi ned by tomlin (1990), work in this way. for the voxel format there are comparable classes to be found (marschallinger, 1996; clevis et al., 2006). 84 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view 4.4.5 de veer and burrough revisited current geodata types are, in other words, able to be processed in many ways. if we take into consideration the examples of de veer and burrough (1978), then we may conclude that fi nding ‘concave objects’ is a matter of pre-processing (especially classifi cation) 2d geodata, querying the area objects that represent spaces and ordering afterwards on size and shape of the selected objects. the ‘breadth of view’ approach is able to do this via the isovist fi eld’s concepts of benedikt (1979), which have been implemented. after pre-processing and defi ning the points that represent vantage points, a number of attributes may be calculated like lines of sight, fi elds of sight and derivatives like the shape of the fi eld of sight. also the viewshed techniques could be categorised as such an approach. the third approach, ‘raster’ as they called it, is in fact a combination of classifi cations of attributes belonging to the objects and a transformation from vector based objects into a raster geometry. the resolution of the raster cell size will be a most critical factor in a correct ascribing the intended values to each individual raster cell. many studies still use this approach. 4.4.6 what validity? in this paragraph the main classes of geodata processing have been introduced in short. each class delivers data output by which characteristics of the landscape physiognomy are descriptively explored, quantitatively explained or qualitatively predicted. in the academic research tradition the main question concerns the validity of these results. from the position of this section in this chapter it could falsely be understood that the validity of the results is just a matter of selecting appropriate processing tools, like cross-validation of the used and resulted data. or, on the other hand, the processing tools themselves could be also subject to validation, as has been illustrated by the study of riggs and dean (2007) about viewshed processing. however, as put forward in the previous paragraphs, the variety of geodata that helps to represent the study of landscape physiognomy, are suspects themselves. some geodata is generated by given defi nitions and procedures within the context or praxis of a certain application domain. a formal defi nition of visual landscape entities and phenomena seems an irrefutable issue. fisher (1999) already explained that the nature of uncertainty is based on the well or poor defi ned classes of objects and their spatial delineations. in well-defi ned situations uncertainty is caused by errors and is probabilistic. in poorly defi ned situations uncertainty could be a matter of vagueness (weak defi nition) or ambiguity (confusing defi nition). 85 indeed occasionally geodata has been generated without any given defi nition or procedure. most geotagged photographs and tweets bear this origin. but does it mean that it is vague or ambiguous data? the enormous amounts of such geodata, accessible and available by social networks, do unveil vagueness and ambiguity. perhaps expert validation of physiognomic landscape fi ndings will be followed up by validation via social networks and e-communities. the works of sheppard (e.g. sheppard and cizek, 2009), promoting the ethics of visualisation, also give clues for such more contextbased validation. the conclusion of ode et al. (2010) that “the results show that the different data sources were more or less adequate to use in different contexts and for different purposes”, fuels this perspective. 4 . 5 g e o m a t i c s m e e t s p h y s i o g n o m i c l a n d s c a p e r e s e a r c h from a geomatics perspective the link with physiognomic landscape studies may be based on the extent of the geodata types and related variables to be used as input, to be processed into a certain output variable, and to be visualised. the data types, as introduced in the second section, may be a starting point. the way this data could be combined, processed and fi nally visualised offer a combinatory set of options that may be of relevance for physiognomic studies (fi gure 7). it will show clearly that the methodological soundness is a tough case. 4.5.1 geodata ensembles figure 7 consists of three blocks. the fi rst block, entitled data, shows all data types as introduced in section three of this chapter. the second block, pre-processing, summarises all data pre-processing processing i ii iii iv v vi raster cells a voxels b volumes 3d 3d 3d 3d 3d 3d c 1 1 1 1 1 surfaces 3 3 3 3 3 d 1 1 1 1 1 polygons lines point pictures e video to f vid pic poi lin pol sur vol vox ras from 1 = both, or one figure 7 geodata ensembles dark blue = original data; light blue = created data; box = based on photogrammetric functions 86 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view transformations available to realise a specifi c type of digital landscape model as introduced in section four. the third block, processing, ranges groups of data ensembles that may support physiognomic landscape studies. the ensembles are based on original data types (block one) or originated from the pre-processing results (block two) and take into consideration the processing options as introduced in the fi fth section. 4.5.2 ensemble-related pre-processing the focus of the second block is on transformation options. the x-axis shows the from data and the y-axis the to data. the fi rst column of the block presents the transformation of a video into an image via a frame or still. images can be used in many forms of transformation. as such the pixels of an image may be converted into a grid. however in case of an image made via a perspective projection the geo-referencing may be a diffi cult topic to handle. yet, the many pattern recognition functions, resulting from computer vision research, could support the transformation from specifi c objects of an image into specifi c points, lines and polygons. such derived data may be used for a photogrammetric construction of a 3d-model, which in the fi gure is labelled as volume data (indicated by 3d). transformations of points into lines, polygons and surfaces that fi nally represent elevation, by the terrain and/or volume layer (fi gure 4), as well as lines into points, polygons and surfaces and polygons into points, lines and surfaces, are very common functions in a 2d-reference system. the transformations of these vector-based data types into raster datasets are also common. the transformation of points into volumes is possible in case of 3d referenced point sets. examples of such data are given by terrestrial lidar data, that show transformation is also possible in cases of datasets with line and polygons objects defi ned by a 3d reference. surfaces, sometimes described as 2.5d-referenced because once visualised they give a three-dimensional impression even though the geo-reference is still 2d, offer transformation options into both directions. creating points, lines and polygons in a 2d or 3d reference are possibilities. besides, surfaces could be transformed into a 3d (volumes), voxel and raster model. in fact, the volume data type (3d) offers the same classes of transformations. however these transformation functions have to include the conversion of 3d topology. depending on the algorithm there is not a single result. however that’s often the case in many of these transformations. the seventh column presents the transformation of voxels. the creation of a volume model needs an intermediate step in which 3d referenced points and lines of signifi cance have to be found in favour of the construction of polygons and volumes. the last column presents the transformation of raster data into polygons and surfaces. 87 4.5.3 processing of single data ensembles the third block of fi gure 7 gives an idea of the data ensembles that may be the object of processing options related to physiognomic landscape studies. the fi rst column (fi gure 7: i) of the third block points at the processing of a single data type. examples of physiognomic landscape applications that can be found by studies with raster cells (fi gure 7a) are very familiar with the raster approach of de veer and burrough (1976). a raster cell is, in most of these studies, the location identifi er for a number of variables of interest for a specifi c analysis. these variables may originate from thematic themes and geometric items. for example mcgarigal et al. (2002) introduced landscape metrics; a number of variables originally thought useful for landscape ecology studies. however, the concept of the matrix-patch-corridor model can be understood metaphorically and used in physiognomic landscape studies (kamps and van lammeren, 2001; palmer and hoffman, 2004). voxel analysis (fi gure 7b) is not often found in physiognomic landscape studies. however, if geomorphology clevis et al., 2006) or layered isovist fi elds are included, the so-called minkowski model (benedikt, 1979), then voxel analysis has a lot to offer. the role of volume models (fi gure 7c) is at the moment mainly related to studies of perception and assessment. the lack of well-defi ned data structure and 3d topology blocked the availability of suitable analysis methods, like 3d boolean operators, that offer immediately quantitative numbers of the calculated results. surface analysis (fi gure 7d) is available in many ways, especially for the discovery of height derivatives like contours, slope types, slope aspect, edges and drainage patterns. at the moment the tools to process images (fi gure 7e) and videos (fi gure 7f) are mostly related to perception and appraisal by assessing single, pairs and series of images. such studies are still in line with the studies like schroeder (1988). besides usability, analysis, like navigation and orientation, in relation to the visualisation of the above data types are of interest for physiognomy studies. 4.5.4 processing steps of multiple data ensembles the other columns of the third block (fi gure 7: ii up to vi) show the ensembles that make use of integrated datasets. in all cases the dlm may be based on a surface (2.5d) or volume (3d) data types or a combination of both. the most common combination by now is the one where volume objects are placed on a surface. depending on the physiognomic landscape analysis, in this example visibility, the data model could be extended by: • points, in the case of view point based visibility studies; • lines in the case of route based visibility studies; • polygons in the case of neighbourhood or specifi c landscape unit based visibility studies; • rasters in the case of all previously mentioned types of studies. 88 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view in fact all ‘visualscapes’ analysis tools as introduced by llobera (2003), including isovist and viewshed, are look-a-likes. all of them derive values related to visibility variables from the above mentioned data ensembles. a serious 3d approach is suggested by the viewsphere approach as discussed by yang et al. (2007). recently, new combinations of data show the surplus of options of how geomatics meets physiognomic landscape studies. what seems promising is the integration of surface (2.5d) or volume (3d) data with: • images in case of (semi-) photo realistic renderings via texture mapping or having location based billboards or panoramic views in the digital landscape model for example like streetview [url 23] to capture specifi c visibility items; • videos in case of dynamic renderings of objects or location based video streams also to capture visibility items. 4 . 6 p h y s i o g n o m i c l a n d s c a p e r e s e a r c h m e e t s g e o m a t i c s another approach to show how both domains meet may be given by the four landscape perspectives of antrop (2007). a landscape perspective is defi ned as the way that human are confronted with the landscape. the four perspectives are the vertical, the horizontal, the mental and that of the meta-reality. the fi rst two perspectives are mainly related with the primary cognition and defi nition as a human may sense. the latter two are more related to derivation and inference from the fi rst two perspectives. for that reason the fi rst two are primarily linked to data as input for processing and the latter two as output data of processing (fi gure 8). all derived variables are group-listed in the column furthest right in fi gure 8. meta-reality perspective mental perspective horizontal perspective vertical perspective mindmap shape indicators landscape metrics philosophical-psychological parametrical-reductionistic genius loci landscape characteristics data – input data – output figure 8 physiognomic landscape perspectives (based on antrop, 2007) 89 the meta-reality and mental perspectives are recognisable in the studies of zube et al. (1982) and daniel and vining (1983). 30 years later such an extensive literature review, as they did, could be of serious interest to fi nd out how human-landscape interaction studies have been developed since and how these paradigms have evolved. dutch studies of the past decennia have checked, and it may be considered, that the paradigms (table 1) are detectable and, in each of these applied geomatics, are traceable. 4.6.1 expert approach the expert-ecological approach may be recognised in the dissertation of wassink (1999). the dissertation presents a methodological attempt on a qualitative landscape classifi cation to defi ne landscape form transformations of the dutch landscape. a landscape morphological model has been developed, based on a layered concept (fi gure 5) of terrain forms (digital elevation), network pattern and vertical landscape features like buildings, trees and shrubs. the methodological framework was applied for the brook valley landscapes of the pleistocene areas of the netherlands. the study shows that this multilayered model may visually support the insight in specifi c relations between geomorphology, networks and vertical features in relation to landscape forms. the geodata in case of networks and vertical features were derived from the dutch topographical data. kamps (2001) repeated the analysis of wassink’s study by using raster data and landscape metrics (mcgarigal et al., 2002). steenbergen et al. (2009) made the same type of study for the dutch polder landscapes. the works of wassink (1999) and steenbergen et al. (2009) bridges the expert-ecological approach with the formal-esthetical approach. the latter is much more detectable in steenbergen et al. (2003, 2008), with the use of architectural variables like vista, rhythm, symmetry and order in a variety of landscapes (like italian renaissance villa landscape and dutch polder landscape). kerkstra et al. (2007) analysed vista’s to fi nd a leading architectural design principal for designs of the undulating zuid limburg area in the south of the netherlands. table 1 tentative summary of differences in human-landscape interaction paradigms. context liability sensitivity validity usability expert ecological research preference medium medium medium-low low-medium expert formal esthetic artist view low medium-high low high psychophysical mutually well defi ned high low medium-good medium cognitive psycological differ : cognitive, perceptive, affective high-medium high-medium medium-low medium-high experientialphenomological inside/outsideness low-medium high pm personal local 90 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view 4.6.2 psychological and psychophysical approaches in the psycho-physical approach the dutch research groups show still many interests. these studies still start with defi ning space and physiognomic character by the type and amount of landscape features (werkgroep helmond, 1974; blaas, 2004; roos klein-lankhorst et al., 2002, 2004, 2005; van lammeren et al, 2010; weitkamp, 2004, 2007, 2010). these types of studies are still grounded in an expert tradition but do validate the results by expert and respondent tests. these types of studies also bridge the expert-ecological approach and the psycho-physical perception approach. most of these studies are based on stated references and not on revealed ones (sevenant, 2010). the psychological approach does have some dutch examples. these are still in line with the previous studies of coeterier (1996). especially photo and video montages have been used as input data. the link with geodata is not always the case (tress and tress, 2003). 4.6.3 phenomenological approach the more recent studies, in relation to web 2.0 developments and as promoted by coeterier (2002), which are in line with the humanistic or phenomenological, have been performed. these are especially studies (lammeren et al., 2009) in which an attempt at classifi cation of landscape photographs, which were taken by tourists, has been made, in relation to tourist landscape interest and their in-situ behaviour. in that study volunteer data (geodata as well as geotagged photos) has been used. the web 2.0, including the trends of geotagged photographs and augmented reality, heavily supports the challenging future of this research approach. 4 . 7 t e n d e n c i e s a n d p e r s p e c t i v e s in the previous sections the connection between the expanding domain of geomatics and the variety of physiognomic landscape studies have been outlined. tendencies and perspectives are derived from the dutch studies. one item is very sure and in line with previous writings of ervin and steinitz (2003). the nature of ongoing physiognomic landscape studies is not only dominated by strict ecological, formal-esthetical, psycho-physical, psychological and phenomenological approaches. the studies that show a cross-reference approach are increasing and seem very promising, thanks to geomatics. 91 4.7.1 increase of geodata the increase of geodata as result of institutional, societal and technology developments, show a variety of physiognomic landscape representations and, by creating data ensembles, there are many options to have geodatasets that fulfi l the defi nition of landscape entities and the intended processing results. the most striking trends discovered are the increased precision of data, three-dimensional geometry of objects, data type integration (supported by computer vision), 3d references (horizontal plus vertical references), 3d geo-scenes (due to 3d reference) instead of 2d geodatasets, time series (initiated by digital photography and ground based lidar) and even real-time geodata based on gps tagged photos and video enabled smart phones. these trends will bring forward the need for geodata standards for physiognomic landscape studies including a related ontology. 4.7.2 outcome of data processing geo-computational innovations improved options to calculate many thematic, geometric and topology-based variables, and, even time-series based variables have dramatically increased. besides listing the variables they could be linked to the type of physiognomic landscape studies (fi gure 9). landscape classification landscape manifestation landscape configuration scenery existential meaning spatial configuration based on wassink 1999 based on antrop 2007 viewing conditions personal demographic characteristics landscaping processes natural substratum embedded factors figure 9 physiognomic landscape research and landscape studies 92 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view in relation to the availability of data ensembles the following types of variables are used: • basic vector and raster analysis tools based, including density and distribution variables (description substratum and embedded factors; confi guration, classifi cation); • landscape metrics (confi guration, classifi cation); • dem derived, like slope, aspect, curvature (description substratum and embedded factors; confi guration); • 3d boolean operators that support geometric and topologic variables (confi guration; manifestation; (re)classifi cation); • viewsphere, viewshed and isovist derived variables (manifestation; confi guration, classifi cation); • interface perception variables based on eye tracking, time responses, interface tracking (manifestation; classifi cation). 4.7.3 impact of visualisation important research stimuli came from the many ways to visualise geodata and the variety and simplicity of interfaces. based on the type of physiognomic landscape studies (fi gure 9) that each have their peculiar sets of variables, it is obvious that a high variety of visualisations are in use. these visualisations are primary based on the traditions of cartography. in the perception-oriented studies’ landscape manifestation, geomatics have been used to create (dynamic) landscape visualisations. based on these visualisations derived variables related to usability and affective appraisal have been the subject of studies. the nature of the interface for both, derived variables visualisation and landscape visualisation, have become the subject of studies too. 4.7.4 improving methodologies the increase in data and new variables, the latter as result of processing options, has infl uenced methodology. most striking are the options to compare variables in relation to measured, perceived and simulated data. even (cor)relations between variables can be generated like viewing graphs and visibility paths. in all of them, landscape confi guration, manifestation and classifi cation studies, an increase of variables can be discovered. there is an increased interest in the nature of a data due to the role of volunteers to collect, to review and to respond on landscape data. specifi cally, the demographics of users underpin the fi ndings of studies via demographic group based variables. 93 as noticed by ervin and steinitz (2003), even the so-called “viewer predisposition, or purpose” and the impact of other senses-related variables to measure landscape characteristics and perception, like noise, smell and crowdedness, become part of studies. however one of the most important gains of geomatics is the automated reporting function. this function captures datasets and processing steps by fl ow diagrams and meta-datasets, which supports the discussion of results and makes an easy adaptation of the methodology possible. 4.7.5 meeting previous demands let’s fi nish with the study of de veer and burrough (1978), who asked policy makers and consultants to score applications of physiognomic landscape studies. those days fi ve categories scored high: vulnerability designation (e.g. visibility of a new building, road or power line); suitability designation (e.g. for different recreation activities); public landscape preferences (e.g. as determined by a questionnaire using colour photographs of selected landscapes); landscape evaluation (using parameters such as diversity, rareness, or replacement possibilities) for conservation planning and landscape design (the creation of new, or modifi cation of old landscapes). the main conclusion from the questionnaire was that users’ demands for physiognomic landscape mapping vary enormously, both in terms of mapping scale and map content (de veer and burrough, 1978). with the contribution of geomatics we may notice that the variation of physiognomic landscape studies does increase. applied geomatics in physiognomic landscape research will dramatically increase by the availability of mobile internet services that will support citizens to become more aware of their surrounding environment and to participate in spatial planning procedures. as mentioned by peers from many application domains (tucci, 2010), the contribution of geomatics does not only consist of the application of the latest information technology based data and data processes, but it helps to create new methodological pathways, especially related to data acquisition and processing. alongside that, geomatics proffer new and innovative ways of describing reality, which offers a wider spatial range related to more precision and accuracy of physiognomic features. examples are: the enormous quantities of data relating to a single geographic location and generated at different times (past, present and future), the possible addition of extra variables to each of the representations during the research, the powerful extent to which topology rules spatial analysis, the variety of visualisation options, the fact that data can be created via volunteer sessions and internet services and the acquired data, information and knowledge can be widely disseminated on-line via external databases in the ‘cloud’ and internet sites. 94 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view all together geomatics doesn’t only provide important contributions to physiognomic landscape studies, but it also create more awareness, different appreciation and more sustainable utilisation of landscapes. at least that’s what may be proved in the near future. the dutch-flemish physiognomic landscape research community tends to follow, and sometimes initiate, most of the here fore mentioned global geomatic developments. however this community is not afraid of using data ensembles and variables in line with cross-reference approaches to evolve and challenge physiognomic landscape studies. r e f e r e n c e s antrop, m. 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(2009) the polder atlas of the netherlands. bussum, thoth. sutherland, i.e. (2003) sketchpad: a man-machine graphical communication system. based on the original dissertation (1963). university of cambridge, computer laboratory (technical report nr. 574). tandy, c.r. (1967) the isovist method of landscape survey, in: c.r. murray (ed.) methods of landscape analysis. london: landscape research group, pp 9-10 tang, t., wenji, z., et al. (2008) terrestrial laser scan survey and 3d tin model construction of urban buildings in a geospatial database. geocarto international 23 (4); 259 272 tomlin, d. (1990) geographic information systems and cartographic modeling. prentice-hall 96 geomatics in physiognomic landscape research. a dutch view tomlinson, r.f. calkins, h.w. and marble, d.f. (1976) computer handling of geographical data. unesco natural resources research xiii, paris tress, b., and tress, g. (2003) scenario visualization for participatory landscape planning. a study from denmark. landscape and urban planning 64; 161–178 tucci, g., algostino, f., bucalossi, l., et al. (2010) cultural heritage and sustainable valorization in the governorate of tratous with reference to the euromed iv project: the contribution of geomatics. in: ioannides, m., fellner, d. et al. (eds.) digital heritage. proceedings 3rd international conference, euromed 2010. new york, etc., springer, pp 399-408 van den berg, a. (2009) handboek natuurbeleving en gezondheid. wageningen university (course syllabus, october 2009) van eetvelde, v. and antrop, m. (2009) a stepwise multiscaled landscape typology and characterisation for trans-regional integration, applied on the federal state of belgium. landscape and urban planning 91: 160–170 van der ham, r.j.m., and iding, j.a. 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(1999) beekdallandschappen. een morfologisch onderzoek in de zandgebieden van nederland. wageningen university (phd-dissertation) weir, m.j.c. (1976) landscape evaluation in great britain. a short review. mededelingen werkgemeenschap landschapsecologisch onderzoek 3; 15–20 weitkamp, g. (2004) landschappelijke beleving geparametriseerd. een methode voor het bepalen van vijf belevingsaspecten aan de hand van de top10vector. wageningen university (msc thesis geo-information science grs 2004-28) weitkamp, g., bregt, a., lammeren, r. van, and berg, a. van den (2007) three sampling methods for visibility measures of landscape perception. in: winter, s., duckham, m. et al. (eds.) cosit 2007. new york, etc., springerverlag, pp 268-284 weitkamp, g. (2010) capturing the view: a gis based procedure to assess perceived landscape openness. wageningen university (phd-dissertation) werkgroep helmond (1974) landschapsonderzoek helmond. wageningen, afdeling landschapsarchitectuur hogeschool wageningen. wherret, j.r. (2000) creating landscape preference models using internet survey techniques. landscape research 25 (1); 79-96 xu, w., zhu, q., et al. (2010) design and implementation of 3d model database for general-purpose 3d gis. geospatial information science 13 (3); 210-215 yang, p.p., putra, s.y., and, li, w. (2007) viewsphere: a gisbased 3d visibility analysis for urban design evaluation. environment and planning b: planning and design zhou, g. (2010) geo-referencing of video flow from small low-cost civilian uav ieee. transactions on automation science and engineering 7 (1); 156-166 zube, e.h., sell, j.l., and taylor j.g. (1982) landscape perception: research, application and theory. landscape planning 9; 1-33 97 [1] http://neo.aseanfl ag.com/?option=com_content&view =article&id=65&itemid=55 [2] http://www.igs.net/~schut/cli.html [3] http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/gistimeline/ (time line only available until 1/1/2000 ) [4] http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/history.html [5] http://www.fgdc.gov/policyandplanning/executive_ order [6] http://www.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=d11f4b1863dc-46cc-a71e-14741f67928f&lang=nl [7] http://www.vrom.nl/pagina.html?id=46094 [8] http://www.ahn.nl/ [9] http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ [10] http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html [11] http://www.fl ickr.com/map/ [12] http://www.panoramio.com/ [13] http://www.locr.com/ [14] http://earth.google.com/ [15] http://www.bing.com/ [16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/voxel [17] http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/ [18] http://www.opengeospatial.org/ [19] http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=sho wfl at&number=1323176 [20] see google earth – active layer 3d buildings [21] http://www.photosynth.net/ [22] http://phototour.cs.washington.edu/ [23] http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/help/maps/ streetview/ url (checked july 2010) 15 1 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n the european landscape convention (elc) defi nes landscape as “an area, as perceived by people, which character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors” (council of europe, 2000). thus, the elc clearly emphasises the sensory relationship between the observer and the landscape. the major question here is how do we know and understand the landscape through perception? although ‘perceived by people’ refers to a holistic experience with all senses, very often it is reduced to the visual aspects. this has clearly to do with the ‘range’ of our senses. already granö (1929) 1 made the distinction between the ‘nahsichtmade the distinction between the ‘nahsichtmade the distinction between the ‘ ’ and ‘fernsicht’. the nahsicht or proximity nahsicht or proximity nahsicht is the environment we can experience with all our senses, the fernsicht he called also landscape fernsicht he called also landscape fernsicht and is the part of our environment we mainly experience by vision. as harris and fairchild ruggles (2007) put it: “for most human beings, the primary way of knowing the material world is through vision; the simple act of opening ones eyes and looking at an object, a scene, a horizon. the physiological processes engaged when the lid retracts from the eye are, when not impeded by pathologies, universal among humans. because vision is an embodied experience, it is altered by the infi nite range of the possibilities presented by corporeal performance. the body moves in space – quickly or slowly, the head still or moving side to side, up or down – the eyes view a scene, and a cognitive process begins in which particles of light are assembled by s t e f f e n n i j h u i s , r o n v a n l a m m e r e n , m a r c a n t r o p exploring the visual landscape introduction 16 exploring the visual landscape. introduction the brain to create an ordered image”. this quote exemplifi es that the identifying character of rural and urban environments is, to a large extent, built upon visual perception, which is a key factor in behaviour and preference, and thus important for landscape protection, monitoring, planning and management and design. but how can we comprehend the ‘face of the landscape’ and its perception? and how can we make this applicable to landscape planning, design and management? although these questions are not new 2, we believe that the long tradition and current advances in the fi eld of visual landscape research in the netherlands offer interesting clues for further development in theory, methodology and application. 1.1.1 visual landscape research visual landscape research is the central theme, and throughout the book you will fi nd also terms like landscape physiognomy and physiognomic landscape research. in this book we consider rural, urban and infrastructural landscapes as types of landscape. according to the oxford dictionary (2011a) landscape physiognomy refers to the appearance of the landscape and is derived from the greek physiognomonía meaning ‘judging of man’s nature (by his features)’ based on gnomon ‘a judge, interpreter’. initially, it refers to the human face as in the french ‘visage’, and its meaning has extended to the appearance of features such as landscape (french ‘paysagescape (french ‘paysagescape (french ‘ ’). in the late 1970s scholars like de veer and burrough (1978) adopted this term and introduced the comparable dutch terms landschapsfysiognomie (physiognomic landscape), visueel landschap (visual landscape) and landschapsbeeld (landscape scenery) to refer to the visual landscape consisting of the visible properties of all the landscape phenomena and their structure (de veer and burrough, 1978). we use the initial term landscape physiognomy (or physiognomic landscape) and the more actual term visual landscape as synonyms. physiognomic landscape research refers to visual landscape research that is concerned with mapping the visual landscape. physiognomic landscape mapping or visual landscape mapping (landschapsbeeldkartering) comprises of a wide range of theories, methods and techniques for analysis and visualisation, and which refl ect different approaches to landscape as described for example by sevenant (2010). 17 1.1.2 landscape planning, perception and geographic information science visual landscape research is an interdisciplinary approach important for landscape planning. it involves disciplines such as (landscape) architecture and urban planning and design, psychology and sociology, environmental ethics, and (humanistic) geography, all of which use data and tools offered by geographic information science (gisc) such as computer mapping, spatial analysis, geomatics and (virtual) visualisation. the contributions in this book express this interdisciplinarity and refl ect different perspectives on visual landscape research by their theoretical elaborations, research approaches and practical applications. however, the core of this book is the integration of (1) landscape planning, design and management concepts, (2) landscape perception approaches, and (3) gisc-based methods and techniques in order to map the visual landscape (see fi gure 1). 1 . 2 v i s u a l r e s e a r c h i n l a n d s c a p e p l a n n i n g , d e s i g n a n d m a n a g e m e n t in the netherlands there is a long tradition of visual landscape research starting in the 1960s, which has had an important infl uence on flemish work as we ll. its origins are to be found on one hand in the widely acknowledged dutch system of spatial planning, and on the other, in the academic interest in landscape perception infl uenced by parallel developments in the unitlandscape planning, design and management concepts visual landscape mapping landscape perception approaches gisc-based methods and techniques figure 1 visual landscape research is characterised by visual landscape mapping and determined by the integration of landscape planning, design and management, landscape perception and gisc-based methods and techniques 18 exploring the visual landscape. introduction ed states. nowadays, this rich tradition of visual landscape research continues to develop and fi nd its way in landscape perception research, planning and design oriented landscape research and its implementation in landscape policy. the contributions in this book showcase the latest developments in the fi eld. 1.2.1 visual research as policy-demand the publication of a map called the landscape of the netherlands and bordering regions (het landschap van nederland met aangrenzende gebieden) in the second national memorandum on spatial planning (tweede nota over de ruimtelijke ordening van nederland) (rijksplanologische dienst, 1966) 3 represents an important step in visual research. this map presented the ‘open’ dutch rural landscape as different ‘complexes of open spaces’ (fi gure 2) and addressed the visual landscape as an important issue for landscape planning and policy in the netherlands for the fi rst time. inspired by this more detailed interest in the dutch landscape, several scholars, figure 2 the landscape of the netherlands and bordering regions showing complexes of open spaces (source: rijksplanologische dienst, 1966) 19 from different dutch universities and related research institutes, took the opportunity to develop visual landscape concepts for the purpose of landscape planning, design and management, exemplifi ed by the work of van der ham et al. (1970, 1971), nicolai (1971), koster and de veer (1972), kerkstra et al. (1974), and de veer (1977) (see fi gures 3 and 4). the fi rst overview of developed methods for visual landscape mapping and its applications appeared in de veer et al. (1977), followed by an academic article by de veer and burrough (1978). this article remained until now the only english-language overview of the dutch visual landscape research (including the flemish studies). from the 1980s onwards we see applications of computational methods and techniques in visual landscape mapping appear, exemplifi ed by the work of burrough et al. (1982), van den berg et al. (1985), and dijkstra (1985). from the late 1980s, early 1990s a vast amount of visual landscape studies appear, boosted by policy demands and stimulated by dutch perception figure 3 landscape typology based on visual attributes (source: van der ham and iding, 1971) 20 exploring the visual landscape. introduction studies of e.g. de boer (1979), boerwinkel (1986), coeterier (1987, 1994, 1996), van den berg (1999), infl uenced by the work of berlyne (1971), appleton (1975), ulrich (1981) and kaplan and kaplan (1989). simultaneously advances in gisc in landscape research appeared too, as by buitenhuis et al. (1986), piket et al. (1987), alphen et al. (1994), palmer (1996), palmer and roos-klein lankhorst (1998) and dijkstra and van lith-kranendonk (2000). most of these studies cover the rural types of landscape. 1.2.2 visual research as academic interest parallel to this there was a growing interest for visual research in dutch universities and research institutes involving disciplines such as architecture in urban and landscape domains. these developments are characterised by visual perception research in the urban realm. the studies of wentholt (1968), steffen and van der voordt (1978) and korthals altes and steffen (1988) are important examples with respect to urbanism and are highly infl uenced by the work of lynch (1960) cum suis (see fi gure 5). the use of the enthescoop (camera with periscopic figure 4 visual complexity (source: kerkstra et al., 1974) 21 figure 5 collective image of the city antwerp (source: steffen and van der voordt, 1978) figure 6 computational visualisation of the floriade by m. den ruijter, 1984 (source: personal archive den ruijter) 22 exploring the visual landscape. introduction lens) for means of urban analysis by bouwman (1979) was also infl uential. for architecture the work of prak (1979), steffen (1981) and hoogstad (1990) are good examples, and with regard to landscape architecture the infl uential works of bijhouwer (1954), warnau (1979, 1990), steenbergen (1985, 1990) and reh (1995). however, it is striking to notice that computational methods and techniques hardly found their way in this type of research. early exceptions are to be found in the pioneering work of den ruijter (1978, 1984) and roos-klein lankhorst (1987, 1989) (see fi gure 6). the increasing amount of (inter)national publications, inclusion in academic research programmes and educational curricula of the last decade exemplify the ongoing academic interest in visual research. 1 . 3 r e s e a r c h o n v i s u a l l a n d s c a p e a n d p e r c e p t i o n according to bell (1996), perception refers to “the activity carried out by the brain by which we interpret what the senses receive. it is not merely a factual reporting, but tends to be referenced to associations and expectations already in the mind of the beholder” and is derived from the latin perceptio, from the verb percipere ‘seize, understand’ (oxford dictionary, 2011b). although we use all our senses to analyse the surroundings, mainly vision stands out, because it covers 87% of the sensory perception. so, vision provides the most information, and it is the sense in which we ‘imagine’ and ‘think’ (bell, 1999; snowden et al., 2006). as all senses work together, they add different dimensions to visual perception and can reinforce or confi rm the information. the term visual, derived from the latin visualis and visus ‘sight’, from videre ‘to see’, is used as adjective relating to perception by seeing or sight: visual perception (oxford dictionary, 2011c). 1.3.1 physiology of perception vs. psychology of perception in (visual) perception studies there is a crucial difference between the physiology of perception (the ‘senses’) and the psychology of perception (the ‘brain’) (jacobs, 2006; bell, 1999). physiology of visual perception refers to the processes of sensation and the mechanisms of sight, the structure of the eye, how it receives light, and its limitations. all aspects of physiological perception can be measured in an objective way (sevenant, 2010; jacobs, 2006; bell, 1999). although it is not the scope of this introductory chapter to elaborate on this, it is useful to mention the fi eld of vision, which is an important aspect as it determines the visibility of the elements and their visual properties. humans have an almost 120 degrees forward-facing horizontal, binocular fi eld of vision, allowing depth perception (see fi gure 7). also, the ability to perceive shape (pattern recognition), motion and colour varies across the fi eld of vision. pat23 tern recognition concentrates in the centre of the fi eld of vision and covers about 20-60 degrees of the binocular view (panero and zelnik, 1979; snowden et al., 2006) (for applications see chapter 5). there are also some physiological restrictions to the range of vision, which is the distance from the observer to an object, depth plan, or skyline. the range of vision depends on the position of the observer (altitude, proximity and angular size of the objects), viewing direction and atmospheric conditions (e.g. contrast threshold) (duntley, 1948; nicolai, 1971; antrop, 2007). 1200-1400 metres is a critical distance, further away it is not possible to distinguish optical depth; individual (common) objects are hardly recognizable and merge with their background (nicolai, 1971; antrop, 2007). also, for the recognition of characteristic elements of the landscape, the limiting distance of 500 metres is used (van der ham and iding, 1971) and is a common step in the changing structural density (antrop, 2007) (for applications see chapters 12 and 13). the psychology of perception refers to two different processes: (1) the basically unconscious processing sensory information, and (2) the more or less conscious experience of analysing and interpreting this information (jacobs, 2006). these two processes are complex and include pattern recognition (shape, size, spatial arrangement) and colour discrimination, and are the basis for the identifi cation of objects and their relationships. it also comprises of assigning meaning, defi ning relations, classifying information and memorization. these processes integrate new left right 100 80 60 40 20 figure 7 the fi eld of vision for a person looking straight ahead. the irregular boundaries of the left and right fi elds are caused by facial features such as the nose. the darker area shows the region of binocular overlap (source: ware, 2004) 24 exploring the visual landscape. introduction information with existing knowledge and experience, combining it with personal symbolic and cultural elements. this whole psychological process is individual and thus essentially subjective and determines the experience of the landscape (jacobs, 2006; bell, 1999; coeterier, 1987). finally, this will affect our behaviour and actions (sevenant and antrop, 2010)(see chapter 2 and 3 for elaborations on this topic). 1.3.2 paradigms in landscape perception research in the fi eld of landscape perception research there is a vast amount of theories, methods and applications available. valuable overviews are given by daniel and vining (1983), zube et al. (1982) and arthur et al. (1977) as well as the more recent overviews of sevenant (2010), scott and benson (2002), lothian (1999) and dijkstra (1991). as found in these studies the existing approaches to landscape perception can be divided in four paradigms and two types of models: (i) expert models • expert-approach: evaluation of the visual landscape by experts and trained observers (e.g. landscape architects, geographers), characterised by heuristic methods and the use of systematic descriptive inventories, visual management systems, etc. most of the early dutch studies on the visual landscape can be labelled as expert-approaches (see section 1.2). for recent examples see section 1.4. however, the works of boogert and schalk (1995), wassink (1999) and hendriks and stobbelaar (2003) are worthwhile mentioning here. international references include the classic works of lynch (1960), cullen (1961), appleyard et al. (1964), ashihara (1983), smardon et al. (1986) and higuchi (1988). furthermore, the works of e.g. bell (1996), thiel (1997), dee (2001) and the landscape institute (2003) are good examples of this type of approach; (ii) public preference models • psychophysical-approach: testing general public or selected populations’ evaluations of landscape aesthetics/properties by, for example, environmental psychologists, landscape architects, characterised by the use of photo questionnaires. in these studies the behavioural approach is the dominant methodology. exemplary dutch studies are van de wardt and staats (1988) and staats and van de wardt (1990). international references include appleton (1975) and daniel (2001); • psychological-approach: search for human meaning associated with landscape or landscape properties by environmental psychologists, characterised by mapping landscape experience. as in the psychophysical-approach, the behavioural approach is dominant 4. korthals altes and steffen (1988) and coeterier (1987) are dutch examples. important international references include kaplan and kaplan (1989), bell et al. (2001) and nasar (2008); 25 • phenomenological-approach: research on subjective experience of the landscape (e.g. phenomenologists, psychologists, humanistic geographers), characterised by the interpretation of paintings, poetry, etc. these studies show a humanistic approach. the work of lemaire (1970) is a good dutch example. international examples include: tuan (1974), boyer (1994) and olwig (2002). throughout the book these different approaches are present, although most chapters refl ect typical expert-approaches. the literature guide after the last chapter gives further readings on the different approaches. 1 . 4 v i s u a l l a n d s c a p e r e s e a r c h a n d g e o g r a p h i c i n f o r m a t i o n s c i e n c e the term geographic information science was introduced by goodchild (1992) and is defi ned as: “an information science focussing on the collection, modelling, management, display, and interpretation of geographic data. it is an integrative fi eld, combining concepts, theories, and techniques from a wide range of disciplines, allowing new insights and innovative synergies for an increased understanding of our world. by incorporating spatial location as an essential characteristic of what we seek to understand in the natural and built environment, geographic information science (gisc) and systems (gis) provide the conceptual foundation and synergetic tools to [explore visual landscapes]” (kemp, 2008). for the full breadth of gisc and the background to it see e.g. goodchild (1992) and wilson and fotheringham (2008). geographic information systems (gis) are computer systems for capturing, storing, querying, analysing, and displaying geodata. gis developed from the integration of four different computer applications: image processing (raster-based), image processing (raster-based), image processing computer aided design (cad) (vector-based), mapping/cartography and mapping/cartography and mapping/cartography database management (kraak and ormeling, 2010). introductory database management (kraak and ormeling, 2010). introductory database management works to gis include longley and batty (2003), chang (2010) and longley et al. (2011). useful accounts on geo-visualisation are dodge et al. (2008) and kraak and ormeling (2010). the terms geomatics or geomatic engineering or geospatial technology all refer to techniques for geospatial technology all refer to techniques for geospatial technology the acquisition, storage and processing of spatially referenced information of any kind. it combines tools used in geodesy, photogrammetry, cartography, land surveying, geography, remote sensing, gis and gps. thus geomatics refers to a scientifi c approach focussed on the fundamental aspects of geo-information and is elaborated in chapter 4 (longley et al., 2011). an essential aspect of geomatics for visual landscape research is the elaboration of digital elevation models (dem, the generic term), digital terrain models (dtm) and digital landscape 26 exploring the visual landscape. introduction models (dlm) describing the earth’s topographical surface. basically two types of dems can be recognised: • dtm: digital terrain models only representing the bare ground surface; • dlm: digital landscape models also referred to as ‘envelope models’ representing the earth’s surface including all objects on it (‘obstacles’ such as buildings, infrastructures and land uses). dems can be acquired by different means such as interpolation from elevation points, digitising contour lines or direct measurements using stereo-photogrammetry or lidar (light detection and ranging). they exist in different formats, as raster or vector (tin: triangular irregular network) data. a tin dataset is also referred to as a primary or measured dem, whereas a raster dem is referred to as a secondary or computed dem. all these factors defi ne the accuracy, precision and uncertainty (fuzziness) of the dem dataset, which are important conditions for the analyses and the quality of the results. 1.4.1 trends in gisc during the last forty years visual landscape research has been constrained by computer technology and availability of digital data. the fi rst decennia in using geo-information technology was characterised by problems to acquire useful digital data in appropriate formats and the development of system specifi c software standards. today, the power of pcs allow complex gis-applications, there is a multitude of geodata available from many providers and there is a lot of user’s friendly ‘of the shelf gis-software’ widely available, offering ‘common’ functions and tools for mapping the visual landscape. this will be exemplifi ed by a brief bibliometric survey on the use of gisc in visual landscape research (see fi gure 8). infl uenced by national (ncg, 2010; vrom, 2008) and international initiatives supporting gisc and its applications in interdisciplinary approaches, gisc is likely to continue developing. the following trends can be recognised (craglia et al., 2008): • from practice to theory; • from geo-information application to geo-information infrastructure; • from spatial data structuring to meaningful spatial data integration; • from mapping to dynamic real-time spatial data collection and visualisation; • from technological to socio-technical; • from a few application areas to many disciplines in society. this list represents a rich research agenda and includes applications in space and place, description and classifi cation and temporality. alternative models of space and time (dynamics, 27 movement) will be explored and corresponding specifi c visualisation tools, and languages are being created (fisher and unwin, 2005). especially with regards to visual landscape research the development of a body-centred geography in gisc offers interesting clues for addressing the perceptual space (batty et al., 2005). the trends mentioned before are also found in (academic) education, as can be seen in many recent bsc and msc programmes, where learning goals aim to link academic knowledge and skills in information technology. for example, the list of relevant european teaching subjects in the studies of landscape architecture (eu-teach, 2011) proposed by the european council of landscape architecture schools (eclas), the european federation of landscape architecture (efla) and others, promote learning outcomes in information technology, including gis and three-dimensional visualisation, besides basic learning outcomes of theory and methodology in landscape architecture and participation. 1.4.2 specific methods and techniques based on giscience de veer and burrough (1978) suggested that the core of visual landscape mapping is about distinguishing between space and mass (see fi gure 9). a space is defi ned as an area of the earth’s 0 5 10 15 20 25 publication year re co rd c ou nt 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 figure 8 the diagram is based on a brief web of science literature research (1994-2010) using the key terms ‘visual landscape’ and ‘gis’. 145 references published in this period were found (source: web of science, 2011, 7th of july) 28 exploring the visual landscape. introduction surface, bordered by linear or mass/volume elements higher than the eye level of a standing observer, within which all points are mutually visible. mass or volumes are space-defi ning elements and can consist of vegetation (forest) or buildings or infrastructure (de veer and burrough, 1978). later the concepts of screens and transparency were added (buitenhuis et al., 1979; de veer, 1981; piessens, 1985). based on these defi nitions, de veer and burrough (1978) defi ned three approaches to map the visible landscape: the compartment, the fi eld of view and the grid cell approach (see fi gure 10). these differ mainly by the way they defi ne space and mass and how these can be determined using topographic maps or aerial photographs. the compartment approach considers the visible landscape as a set of concave compartments that can be characterised by size or shape, the type of border and their content. the fi eld of view approach is based on measurements of fi elds of view and mapping sightlines from the observer’s position in the landscape. the grid cell approach samples the landscape by a tessellation of (mostly square) grid cells, for which one or more variables are measured and used to classify the cell density and complexity or to assign a type to it (de veer and burrough, 1978; palmer and roos-klein lankhorst, 1998). methods for operationalising these approaches using geodata are given in studies like burrough et al. (1982) and buitenhuis et al. (1986). the last decennia, the number of processing methods and techniques to map the visual landscape increased, new algorithms were developed allowing the determination of new indicators for the visual landscape. important are stereometric three-dimensional (3d) analyses that complement the planimetric two-dimenfigure 9 space and mass. original map (l) and derived space (white) – mass (black) map 29 sional (2d) ones. referring to the dutch academic context, the following groups of methods and techniques can be recognised: • grid cell analysis: the landscape is subdivided into spatial features that are represented by raster cells or grid-shaped polygons. each feature is described by one of more variables and can be integrated in each cell as integrated indicators, such density or complexity. the origins and background of this ‘raster analysis’ go back to the work of tomlinson et al. (1976) and tomlin (1983, 1991). the map analysis package (map) by tomlin was the fi rst raster based gis and a milestone in the gis development (see e.g. blom et al., 1985; van den berg et al., 1985; van lammeren, 1985) (see fi gure 11). regarding visual landscape assessment using this approach, recent examples are given by dijkstra and van lith-kranendonk (2000), palmer and roos-klein lankhorst (1998) and roos-klein lankhorst et al. (2002). in the international context these studies are comparable with the ones of bishop and hulse (1994) and dramstadt et al. (2006). raster analysis is also used for landscape characterisation at different scale levels (see e.g. van eetvelde and antrop, 2009). the research of bishop et al. (2000) showcases an application in the vertical plane; • landscape metrics: were originally developed for spatial analysis of land use patches in landscape ecology. landscapes are modelled into patches, corridors, matrix and mosaics. landscape metrics are also used to describe the composition and spatial confi guration of these elements (turner and gardner, 1991; li and wu, 2007). the software fragstats (mcgarigal and marks, 1995) had a important impact on the broad introduction of landscape metrics in landscape research. for dutch applications in visual landscape studies see antrop and van eetvelde (2000) and van lammeren and kamps (2001). palmer (2004) and uuema et al. (2009) gave examples of visual landscape studies that use landscape metrics. li and wu (2004) point at the misuse of the landscape metrics because of conceptual fl aws regarding spatial pattern concepts. landscape metrics are two-dimensional and can be applied both on raster and vector data; figure 10 three important approaches in landscape mapping: compartment (l); fi eld of view (m); grid cell (r) 1 5 4 2 8 7 9 10 18 16 22 27 26 19 20 15 21 14 12 30 exploring the visual landscape. introduction • viewsheds: areas that can be seen from a given position. viewshed-analysis is basically a three-dimensional visibility calculation based on raster data (surface analysis). tandy (1967) introduced the term viewshed by analogy to the watershed. the computer program viewit (amidon and elsner, 1968) was an important stimulant in viewshed-analysis, in particular as promulgated by the us forest service in the 1970s and used by many natural resource planners, landscape architects and engineers (ervin and steinitz, 2003). see de floriani and magillo (2003), fisher (1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1995) and riggs and dean (2007) for technical backgrounds. interesting dutch applications in visual landscape assessment are sevenant and antrop (2006), kerkstra et al. (2007), piek et al. (2007) and nijhuis (2010) (see fi gure 12). international references are wheatley (1995), llobera (1996, 2003), germino et al. (2001), bishop (2003), rød and van der meer (2009); • isovists: sight fi eld polygons or limit-of-vision plottings are the vector-based counterpart of viewsheds and address only the horizontal plane. tandy (1967) suggested the application of isovists to “convey the spatial composition from an observers point of view”. later, benedikt connected gibson’s (1979) concept of the ambient optic array to isovists and isovist fi elds for means of architectonic research (benedikt, 1979, 1981). computational generation of isovists are found in depthmap (turner, 2001) and isovist analyst extension (rana, 2002). for technical backgrounds and interesting parameters see batty (2001) and turner et al. (2001). in the netherlands this topic can be found in van bilsen and stolk (2007), nijhuis (2009) and weitkamp (2010). recently the so-called 3d-isovists became of interest e.g. fisher-gewirtzman et al. (2003, 2005), morello and ratti (2009) and van bilsen (2008). “a ‘3d-isovist’ defi nes the three-dimensional fi eld of view, which can be seen from a vantage point with a circular rotation of 360 degrees and from the ground to the sky. in comparison to the defi nition of a 2d-isovist, which considers a plan parallel to the ground, this new defi nition refers to the real perceived volumes in a stereometric reference. adding the vertical dimension helps to better simulate the physical environment observed from the vantage point” (morello and ratti, 2009); • virtual 3d-landscapes: current gis are generally limited to the horizontal two dimensions but utilise three-dimensional visualisation and analysis. gis support 3d-display of terrain models (dems), interactive navigation, 3d-symbols/geometries (including: custom 3d modelling, importing gis data, importing 3d-data, 3d laser scanning), surface analysis (i.e. viewsheds and isovists) and viewpoint and path creation (i.e. fl y-through animations) (kemp, 2008; raper, 1989, 2000). however, the embedding of 3d topology and, consequently, 3d analysis tools to be become true 3d-gis is still under development. see e.g. batty (2008, 2000) and abdul-rahman et al. (2006) on this matter. three-dimensional visualisation (gis-based) offers a wide range of possibilities for means of visual landscape research. for an elaboration see ervin (2001), ervin and hasbrouck (2001) and bishop and lange (2005). degree of reality is an important topic that has to be addressed (lange, 2001). dutch examples of virtual 3d landscapes in visual landscape research include 31 alkhoven (1993) and van lammeren et al. (2003). international examples are ribe et al. (2002), hudson-smith and evans, (2003), paar (2003), rekitte and paar (2006) and hudson-smith (2008). throughout the book the reader will fi nd theoretical and practical applications of these methods and techniques, in particular in part two and three. more backgrounds on gisc in relation to visual landscape research can be found in chapter 4. 1 . 5 t h r e e p a r t s , t w e lv e c h a p t e r s this book is built up of twelve chapters, plus this introduction. the chapters are organised around three themes: (1) theory, (2) landscape research and design, and (3) landscape policy. this practical grouping in parts is derived from the content of the chapters and refl ects the scope and direction of visual landscape research in the dutch academic context. the chapters offer important clues for theory, methodology and application in research and development of landscapes all over the world, exemplifi ed by their particular perspectives on the topic. figure 11 visibility analysis using map2, an early gis developed by dutch scholars and based on tomlin’s map software (source: van den berg et al., 1985) 32 exploring the visual landscape. introduction 1.5.1 part one: theory this part comprises of theoretical elaborations on the psychology and phenomenology of the visual landscape and showcases recent developments in the fi eld of environmental psychology. furthermore it elaborates a perspective on gisc with regard to physiognomic landscape research from a typical geomatics point of view. psychology of the visual landscape (chapter 2) by jacobs introduces the key concepts of psychological perception of the landscape. the chapter introduces biological, cultural and individual factors that determine the mental processes involved in landscape perception. it presents a comprehensive overview of disciplinary approaches to the study of psychological responses to the visual landscape and links it to gis. the phenomenological experience of the visual landscape (chapter 3) by moya pellitero explores how phenomenological approaches can inform landscape planning, design and policy. this chapter elaborates how the qualitative and intangible nature of landscape can be incorporated into the analyses and monitoring typically performed figure 12 analysis of landscape openness relative to the observer by means of viewsheds (by s. nijhuis) openness relative to observer < 1 1 2.5 2.5 5 5 7.5 7.5 10 10 15 15 20 20 25 25 30 30 40 > 40% 33 through gis. it proposes a participative methodology to elaborate new ways of mapping the social phenomenological experience of landscape. geomatics in physiognomic landscape research (chapter 4) by van lammeren introduces the key concepts of geomatics in relation to visual landscape research. it addresses the constituent elements of geomatics: geodata, geodata processing and geodata visualisation. furthermore, the chapter refl ects experiences in the netherlands in the use of gisc in visual landscape research and embeds it in an international context. 1.5.2 part two: landscape research and design this part presents visual landscape research methods and techniques for landscape planning, design and management and comprises of examples in the urban and rural realm. it showcases recent examples of multi-disciplinary approaches in landscape architecture, environmental psychology, urban design, information science and landscape heritage management. visual research in landscape architecture (chapter 5) by nijhuis explores visual landscape research for means of landscape architectonic design. it is about analysis of the visible form of a landscape architectonic composition as it is encountered by an individual within it, moving through it, making use of gis-based isovists and viewsheds. it addresses the basic concepts of visual perception, the role of movement and showcases how gis can reveal the particularities of the perceived landscape architectonic space by computational analysis and its representation. mapping landscape attractiveness (chapter 6) by roos-klein lankhorst et al. introduces a validated model that predicts the attractiveness of the landscape: the gis-based landscape appreciation model (glam). the authors elaborate on the theoretical background to glam, the attributes in the current version of the model, the fi nal steps in calibrating the model, as well as its validation. the chapter concludes with a discussion on the usefulness of glam for spatial policy. the oneand two-dimensional isovists analyses in space syntax (chapter 7) by van nes elaborates on axial lines and isovists as constituent elements of the space syntax method for means of visibility analyses. it showcases how spatial properties derived from these analyses indicate degrees of street life, safety and economic attractiveness in urban areas. virtual historical landscapes (chapter 8) by de boer et al. is about realistic 3d virtual reconstructions of historical landscapes using gis-technology. these virtual historical landscapes let users experience the historical landscape from different viewpoints by browsing and navigating through 3d virtual environments. these virtual environments provide a global, visual context for a detailed presentation of historical and archaeological research data for management of landscape heritage and edutainment projects. mapping landscape openness with isovists (chapter 9) by weitkamp describes a procedure to get a grip on landscape openness using gis-based isovists. it is about the concept of landscape openness as an important aspect of the visual landscape, it describes a method to model landscape openness and a procedure to use this model for policy 34 exploring the visual landscape. introduction making purposes. furthermore, it discusses the evaluation of the results of the procedure with policy makers. 1.5.3 part three: landscape policy landscape character assessment is a key element in landscape management, planning and monitoring and serves as an important basis for landscape policy. this part consists of applications of visual landscape research in the context of policymaking in the urban and rural realm. important themes are landscape openness, the visual infl uence of high-rise buildings and panoramic views along motorways. landscape policy and visual landscape assessment (chapter 10) by nijhuis and reitsma elaborates a landscape planning and design-oriented approach to visual landscape indicators, involving gisc-based methods. it focuses on landscape character assessment addressing visual attributes such as spaciousness, degree of openness and visibility. the province of noord-holland (the netherlands) serves as a case study of how regional authorities can include visual landscape character assessment in landscape policy. preserving panoramic views along motorways through policy (chapter 11) by piek et al. introduces a practical approach towards motorway panora-policy (chapter 11) by piek et al. introduces a practical approach towards motorway panora-policy mas, it provides a defi nition and elaborates a gis-based method to get a grip on views along motorways. the described approach fi tted in well with policy discussions of the dutch government about preventing spatial clutter across the landscape and preserving landscape openness. the research, to some degree, was used to formulate policy on motorway environments. hi rise, i can see you! (chapter 12) by van der hoeven and nijhuis presents a framework for analysing high building development and the visual impact of high buildings on the surrounding landscape, with the city of rotterdam as a western european showcase. architectural height, year of completion, location and functional use, as well as atmospheric circumstances and vertical size are constituent elements of the analysis comparing existing buildings with the urban policies that are in place. visions of belle van zuylen (chapter 13) by lörzing demonstrates that visual landscape assessment can have some tangible impact on a political decision-making process. as pointed out in the case of the proposed (and controversial) belle van zuylen skyscraper, a study into the tower’s visual effects played an important role in the decision process of policy makers such as the chief government architect, providing a solid basis for discussion on this issue of national importance. 35 n o t e s [1] recently republished and translated in english: see granö and paasi (1997). 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(1982) landscape perception: research, application and theory. landscape planning 9 (1): 1-33 229 1 0 . 1 i n t r o d u c t i o n “one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century will be to maintain or strengthen landscapes as expressions of regional identity and sustainability while accommodating regional economic developments.” this observation by the council of europe is echoed by initiatives such as the european landscape convention (council of europe, 2000). this convention strives for the protection, management and planning of all landscapes and for raising awareness of the value of a living landscape 1. from this perspective the individual undoubtedly has a part to play in the preservation of landscape quality, but laying down the general framework for protecting landscape quality is the responsibility of the public authorities. the convention is therefore trying to establish the general legal principles to guide regional and national policies on landscape and international cooperation in this fi eld. concepts related to landscape quality such as coherence, diversity and cultural identity can be effectuated by means of new policy instruments and state-of-the-art landscape assessment and monitoring. targeted economic incentives and modern spatial planning techniques have put these landscape issues within reach, so that they can be incorporated in local, regional, national and international policies (wascher, 2000). 10.1.1 visual character assessment and the province of noord-holland landscape character assessment is a key element in landscape management, planning and monitoring and serves as an important basis for landscape policy. landscape characterisation s t e f f e n n i j h u i s w i t h c o n t r i b u t i o n s b y m i r a n d a r e i t s m a landscape policy and visual landscape assessment the province of noord-holland as a case study 230 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study can be broken down into four main categories of landscape value types: (1) biophysical (form and functioning of the landscape), (2) socio-economic-technical (human infl uence on the landscape form), (3) human-aesthetic (human experience of the landscape), (4) political (opinions and rights of stakeholders) (groom, 2005; wascher, 2000). it has been argued that identifying character is, to a large extent, built upon human perception and therefore landscape character assessment can be questioned with regards to its scientifi c rigour and hence its role as an analytical tool for landscape planning (wascher, 2005). so, capturing aspects of visual landscape character is crucial in this respect. this chapter aims to describe a landscape planning and design-oriented approach to visual landscape indicators, involving state-of-the-art gisc-based methods. it focuses on landscape character assessment addressing visual attributes such as spaciousness, degree of openness, landscape enclosure and visibility. the province of noord-holland (the netherlands) serves as a case study of how regional authorities can include visual landscape character (assessment) in landscape policy. the combination of expert knowledge and gisc-based research methods and techniques resulted in a physiognomic landscape framework for landscape policy, planning and design. this framework was recently adopted by the provincial authority and has been translated into the structural concept of noord-holland 2040 (structuurvisie noord-holland 2040) (province of noord-holland, 2010a) and the policy framework for landscape and cultural history (leidraad landschap en cultuurhistorie) (province of noord-holland, 2010b). 10.1.2 structure of the chapter this chapter provides some background on the current landscape policy in the province of noord-holland and its context (section 2), introduces the recently implemented physiognomic landscape framework and describes the methodology and approach (section 3). subsequently the methods and techniques to determine the form of the landscape (physical space) are elaborated (sections 4, 5, 6), followed by a description of the methods and techniques used to describe and monitor the appearance of the landscape (visible space) (sections 7, 8). finally, the chapter ends with discussion and conclusions. 1 0 . 2 l a n d s c a p e p o l i c y i n t h e p r o v i n c e o f n o o r d h o l l a n d the polder landscapes of noord-holland, as part of the dutch lowlands, are typical westerneuropean landscapes that consist of fl at, open lowland areas with an artifi cial water level, most often partly or fully surrounded by dikes. polders are considered to be one of the most man-made landscapes and are characterised by a very high percentage of pasture and arable 231 land (steenbergen et al., 2009; meeus, 1995). the agricultural sector, formerly the icon of this landscape, is now often seen as a threat precisely because agriculture is becoming increasingly industrialised and is increasing in scale. many see this as a degradation of the landscape. urbanisation (incl. industrialisation), large infrastructures, large-scale wind energy projects, etc. are however increasingly changing the open character of the landscape. the attendant fragmentation and cluttering of the landscape has been the subject of public debate for a number of years and is specifi cally aimed at encroachments on openness (hoogbergen, 2008; boersma and kuiper, 2006). the concept of spatial quality plays an important role in this debate. 10.2.1 national landscape policy in terms of spatial quality in europe, the netherlands has a widespread and well-regulated set of building appearance standards and codes for listed buildings, although this is primarily aimed at architectural quality and is linked to the building permit procedure (nelissen and ten cate, 2009). this happens at the end of planning development, however, when urbanisation itself is no longer part of the discussion on quality. in response to this the dutch government presented the landscape agenda recently (lnv and vrom, 2009). the landscape agenda pushes forward the policy and administrative relationships as set out in the national memorandum on spatial planning (nota ruimteon spatial planning (nota ruimteon spatial planning ( ) (vrom, 2004) and agenda for a vital countryside (agenda ) (vrom, 2004) and agenda for a vital countryside (agenda ) (vrom, 2004) and agenda for a vital countryside ( vitaal platteland) (lnv, 2004). it also highlights the importance of integral spatial planning in order to combat landscape cluttering and the decline of heritage landscapes. alongside this, the new town and country planning act (wro) came into force in the netherlands on 1 july 2008. under the new act, the government and provinces are responsible for protecting the core qualities and reinforcing the spatial quality for landscapes indicated as national landscapes, and also includes world heritage sites, national motorway panoramas and national buffer zones 2. the province of noord-holland includes several national landscapes that cover a large portion of the provincial landscape: low holland (laag holland), the defence line of amsterdam (stelling van amsterdam) and the green heart (groene hart). parts of these landscapes and other designated areas have the exceptional status of world heritage site: the wadden sea, the defence line of amsterdam and the beemster polder. there are very strict requirements in these areas for preserving the current appearance of the landscape. the policy is conservation-oriented and aimed at preserving a number of characteristics of the current landscape appearance. the governmental policy documents underline the responsibility of the province and municipalities to explore how core qualities of landscapes can inspire and give direction to spatial developments in the landscape. the tools to enforce the policy are however still under development. 232 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study 10.2.2 spatial quality as an objective the province of noord-holland recently adopted the structural concept of noord-holland 2040 and the associated policy framework for landscape and cultural history in order to enforce the governmental policy on spatial development. the documents identify spatial quality as a main policy objective. this means that the provincial authority is obliged to ensure and extend spatial quality. but what is spatial quality exactly? a general view (in the netherlands) is that spatial quality is composed of three vitruvian values: functionality (utilitas), beauty (vewadden sea lakebed polder de beemstelakebed polder de beemster low hollanlow holland defence line of amsterdadefence line of amsterdam city centre of amsterdacity centre of amsterdam green heart noord-hollandnoord-holland national landscapes world heritage sites (unesco)world heritage sites (unesco)world heritage sites (unesco) figure 1 the province of noord-holland with the national landscapes and the world heritage sitesthe province of noord-holland with the national landscapes and the world heritage sitesthe province of noord-holland with the national landscapes and the world heritage sites 233 nustas) and durability (fi rmitas) and durability (fi rmitas) and durability ( ). these can be augmented by other aspects of spatial quality: economic effi ciency, social justice, ecological sustainability and cultural identity (hooijmeijer et al., 2000). the province of noord-holland uses the following defi nition: quality = identity = landscape + cultural history (de vreeze, 2007). although usually landscape itself is regarded as an expression of culture, this defi nition demonstrates that landscape and its history are essential from the province’s perspective for defi ning the qualities (characteristics) of specifi c areas and serve as the backbone for their further development. the policy of the province of noord-holland is aimed at preserving the identity of the landscape by focusing on the current cultural and historical values of the landscape. the province intends to achieve this by encouraging densifi cation in urban areas and by discouraging expansion into rural areas. in the case of new developments in the countryside, the initiators (e.g. project developers, municipalities etc.) will fi rst be required to demonstrate the value and necessity of the proposed expansion and include a visual quality plan (beeldkwaliteitplan). if this is convincingly demonstrated, then the plans will be submitted to an independent advisory committee for spatial quality, the advisory committee for spatial planning (adviescommissie ruimtelijke for spatial quality, the advisory committee for spatial planning (adviescommissie ruimtelijke for spatial quality, the advisory committee for spatial planning ( ordening (aro)), which then reports its fi ndings to the provincial executive. the aro uses the policy framework for landscape and cultural history as its assessment framework. 10.2.3 landscape classification as a basis landscape classifi cation is the linchpin of provincial landscape policy and central to the assessment framework for spatial quality. according to zonneveld (1995) landscape classifi cation is a systematic typology that describes landscapes according to their form (morphology). form and typology help in describing changes in time (chronology). classifi cation is abstraction. this implies that from the concrete tangible reality only a few of the many attributes are selected and are used to describe abstract units that are supposed to represent reality. the landscape attributes selected as diagnostic characteristics are chosen because of their ability to be recognised and measured (zonneveld, 1995). so depending on the type of classifi cation and its aim, each defi ned landscape unit (type) can be taken to mean a set of attributes that together explain the character of it. in geography and related disciplines there is a strong orientation towards space and spatial form with regard to landscapes. from this perspective classifi cation is basically an analysis of the landscape’s composition (landscape attributes and their spatial pattern) in which the form of the landscape can be seen as the intermediary between the perception and the spatial organisation of the landscape attributes (wassink, 1999). in a landscape classifi cation, a given landscape can be described in terms of (berendsen, 2000): 1) a specifi c appearance (physiognomy): the visual landscape; 234 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study 2) a specifi c structure and development: the spatial sequence and genetic succession (physical geography, historical geography, soil science, etc.); 3) an internal coherence between the landscape factors (biology, physical geography, landscape ecology, etc.). the landscape classifi cation used in the policy framework characterises landscapes with an emphasis on structure and evolution. it is therefore a historical-geographical and physicalgeographical oriented description of the landscape that implicitly includes visual indicators. in this regard there was a need to develop a method to address aspects of the visual landscape and to make it a more explicit element of the landscape classifi cation involved. 10.2.4 landscape openness and spatial developments openness is a diagnostic characteristic for the landscape of noord-holland, but not uniformly throughout the province. the province of noord-holland considers openness also to be an important indicator of spatial quality. at the same time, this very openness makes landscapes vulnerable to the impact of new developments. preserving the same landscapes means fi nding new, vigorous economic pillars, such as a modernised agricultural sector or ‘red for green’ projects (i.e. where building in open space is allowed in exchange for an investment in the landscape) such as the bloemendaler polder or the bloemendaler polder or the bloemendaler polder wieringerrandmeer lake. in the latter case, new wieringerrandmeer lake. in the latter case, new wieringerrandmeer landscapes are being created. the growth of urban peripheries and high-rise buildings in cities infl uence people’s perception of openness. in addition, noord-holland has ambitions for largescale wind energy projects. these enormous wind turbines are visible from afar. if we want to assess the effect of these goals, some of which may be contradictory, on the openness of the landscape, then we need a more inter subjective, verifi able and reliable framework to study the effect. the output should be descriptive rather then normative, and as a consequence it is about landscape’s visual character rather than visual character rather than visual character quality (ode et al., 2008). the insights gleaned will constitute an important contribution to the public debate on the desirability of developments in the open countryside. the present chapter is a report on the quest for fi nding a physiognomic landscape approach in order to describe, protect and develop the visual landscape and serve as an instrument for landscape policy, planning and design 3. 235 1 0 . 3 t o w a r d s a p h y s i o g n o m i c l a n d s c a p e a p p r o a c h visual attributes of the landscape such as spaciousness and related indicators such as degree of openness, building density and the nature of spatial boundaries are important elements in the perception and preference of a given landscape (nasar, 1998; kaplan and kaplan, 1989; appleton, 1975). according to coeterier (2000), visual aspects are themselves qualities of the landscape, including: • unity: the landscape as a whole, its individuality and clarity of character and boundaries; • spaciousness: the spatial pattern or spatial organisation, the spatial layout; • appearance: the comprehensive set of sensory impressions, especially ‘seeing’. visual perception is therefore the basis for the experience and appreciation of landscapes (preference). so visual perception is an important theme in defi ning and assessing spatial characteristics. although this is widely accepted, in practice we see that this theme is often only implicitly touched upon in policy documents. the assumption is that the visual landscape in itself is seen as an aspect that is diffi cult to deal with in a systematic and transparent way (i.e. it is not measurable), and that it is perceived differently by different people. it therefore can hardly be made explicit, if at all. 10.3.1 methodology and approach the present study is an attempt to make aspects of the visual landscape explicit as a major theme in the province of noord-holland’s set of policy instruments for spatial quality, and to develop the theme further. to do so, a practical expert approach was introduced (zube et al., 1982; dijkstra, 1991) in which the characteristics of the visual spaces (spatio-visual characteristics) of the noord-holland landscape were qualifi ed and quantifi ed using a number of giscbased methods and techniques for physiognomic landscape mapping (de veer et al., 1977; de veer and burrough, 1978; palmer and roos-klein lankhorst, 1998). the methods and techniques that were chosen are scale-dependent and complementary. none of them are new and they are already used in many areas. by cross-linking them, however, a dedicated approach to landscape policy is achieved that is practical applicable. the approach is characterised by a description of the visual attributes and their pattern. essentially the aim is to describe, analyse and map (physical) forms made by spatial patterns composed of open spaces, surfaces, screens and volumes in the landscape (thiel, 1961). it addresses the morphology of space with landscape visibility and appearance as key elements. the potential of ‘being able to see’ is mapped out; this has to do with the plausible and/or probable visible space (fisher, 1995, 1996; weitkamp, 2010). the product is a morphologic description of elements and their position in their surroundings (the objective-intrinsic landscape attrib236 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study utes), removed to the greatest degree possible from symbolic, cultural and personal elements (the subjective-attributed landscape attributes). this suggests two types of aesthetic variables that can describe a landscape: variables concerning the form (shape) of the landscape or variables concerning the content of the landscape. content of the landscape. content these are not black and white categories but rather a continuum. the study of the form of the landscape is often referred to as formal aesthetics or the objectivist approach, while the study of human response to the content is referred to as symbolic aesthetics or the subjectivist approach ( lang, 1988; nasar, 1994; lothian, 1999). attributes of formal aesthetics are: shape, proportion, rhythm, scale, complexity, colour, order, hierarchy, spatial relationships, etc. and are considered to be intrinsic qualities of the landscape. attributes of symbolic aesthetics refer to ascribing meaning and value (nasar, 1994; bell, 1999). in this case the quality of the landscape is determined by the viewer (it is ‘in the eye of the beholder’). the expert approach used here focuses primarily on the form of the landscape and can therefore be seen as a formal aesthetic approach 4. the psychological, psychophysical and phenomenological approaches are complementary to this, but have been excluded to promote workability in this study (ervin and steinitz, 2003). 10.3.2 scale-dependent description physiognomic landscape mapping is scale dependent (vroom, 1986; litton et al., 1974; granö, 1929). it is important for the defi nition of the scope, grain-size and level of abstraction of the analysis. this aspect of scale refers to the size of the object under investigation. scale is also important size of the object under investigation. scale is also important size of the object to the psychology of space (space conceptions). it has an important infl uence on how humans treat spatial information, and as a consequence several scale classes of space exist relative to the human body: e.g. small-scale, middle-scale and large-scale spaces. (montello, 1993; mark, 1993). so depending on their scale, certain systems of elements and spatial relations – relative size, shape and diversity – are explained and classifi ed (tversky, 2007). this aspect refers to the scale of analysis. a unit as described in this study, contains three interrelated levels of space and involves three levels of perception: the provincial unit, the landscape unit and the landscape unit and the landscape unit the spatio-visual unit, each with its own scope. the spatio-visual unit is apprehended from a single perspective (e.g. viewable area). the landscape unit is apprehended by locomotion, but spatial relationships can still be apprehended (e.g. line-of-sight). spatial relationships within the provincial unit cannot be directly observed but must be constructed over time from movement through the region. these units share a hierarchical relationship with one another, and each has its own associated method of physiognomic landscape mapping. the connection between landscape, mapping method and the scale is summarised in the chart below. see fi gure 2. 237 in order to address the morphology of the visual landscape a distinction is made between the description of the form of the landscape (physical space) and the description of the appearance of the landscape (visible space). this is necessary because the physical space is not the same as the visible space. in other words, the landscape is different on the map from what it is in real life (psarra, 2009; rowe, 1976). the appearance is the way the landscape appears to the observer. in addition to form, other conditions related to visual observation also play a role in this regard, such as: position of the observer (altitude, proximity and angular size of the objects), viewing direction and atmospheric conditions (e.g. contrast threshold) (duntley, 1948; nicolai, 1971; antrop, 2007). these aspects determine which forms can ultimately be observed. in addition, there are gisc-based principles available that are very suitable for analysing these two types of space: the physical space (form) and visible space (appearance). landscape unit spatio-visual unit provincial unit i i form (shape) of the landscape (physical space: grid based methods): 1 degree of openness (provincial unit) 2 proportion and size of open space (landscape unit) 3 classification of spatial form (spatio-visual unit) ii ii appearance of the landscape (visible space: viewshed based methods): 4 visible space (spatio-visual unit) 5 visual urbanisation amd cluttering (all units) figure 2 the connection between landscape, mapping method and the scalethe connection between landscape, mapping method and the scalethe connection between landscape, mapping method and the scale 238 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study the physiognomic landscape approach as described is elucidated further based on the following fi ve themes: • degree of openness; • proportion and size of open space; • classifi cation of spatial form; • visible space; • visual urbanisation and cluttering. 1 0 . 4 d e g r e e o f o p e n n e s s the visual landscape consists of many visible expressions that together constitute the image of the landscape (landschapsbeeld). this turns the job of bringing order to them into a seemingly impossible task. nevertheless, there are certain visual concepts that make it possible to systematically name and sort the landscape images using indicators. in ode et al. (2008) nine visual concepts were identifi ed which together characterise the visual landscape. these were: complexity, coherence, disturbance, stewardship, imageability, visual scale, naturalness, historicity, and ephemera (tveit et al., 2006). because of the aims of this study and the available gisc-based analysis techniques, indicators of visual scale were used. indicators of visual scale describe landscape rooms (perceptual units) in relation to their size, shape and diversity, and the degree of openness in the landscape (ode et al., 2008; piket et al., 1987). the degree of openness is directly related to landscape preferences and is therefore an important indicator (hanyu, 2000; nasar et al., 1983). explanations for that can be found in appleton’s prospect-refuge theory (appleton, 1975) where prospect (openness) is used to describe the degree to which the environment provides an overview. this is related to the habitat theory which links aesthetic pleasure to fulfi lment of biological need (ode et al., 2008). mystery, as put forward by kaplan and kaplan (1989), “describes the degree to which a viewer is drawn into a landscape by the intrigue of what lies ahead, which in turn is related to the ability of the viewer to see the landscape and hence a function of openness” (tveit et al., 2006). however, landscape openness has a very low correlation with scenic beauty. so protection of open space through monitoring and management are largely unrelated to scenic beauty per se (palmer, 1996). the degree of openness can be understood as a derivative of patterns of screens and volumes in the landscape. in this regard, openness is an integrated concept. each landscape room has its own characteristic open/closed ratio. this makes it possible to characterise landscapes according to their degree of openness (buitenhuis et al., 1986; dijkstra and lith-kranendonk, 2000). from the perspective of landscape physiognomy, open space is present where elements such as trees, houses, dikes etc. (visual limits) that rise above the observer’s eye level are absent 239 throughout a specifi c surface area. in other words, openness is present where the landscape is ‘empty’ or ‘open’ (de veer, 1977). one method for measuring openness is the grid landscape survey 5. this method has been applied to the landscape of noord-holland on the scale of the province (provincial unit). 10.4.1 grid landscape survey: measuring openness the goal of the analysis is to visualise and quantify physiognomic landscape space, mapping the degree of openness using a grid landscape survey (buitenhuis et al., 1986; palmer and roos-klein lankhorst, 1998; dijkstra and lith-kranendonk, 2000). in doing so, gis was used to quantify and visualise the open/closed ratio by using a horizontal grid of 500 x 500 metres squares over the landscape. this is based on the notion that characteristic elements of a landscape can be recognised within a distance of 500 metres (van der ham and iding, 1971; van der ham et al., 1970). a recently prepared digital topographic map at a scale of 1:10,000 (top10nl, 2009) was employed to achieve accurate results. for the calculations, all items selected for the legend were those that were higher than eye-level (including ascending elements, buildings, trees and/or shrubbery) based on the defi nitions of the topographical service of the land registry (topografi sche dienst kadaster). this selection was corrected where necessary based on recent aerial photography and fi eld visits. gis was then used to automatically calculate the contents of each grid cell to determine how many, and which, ascending elements are present. the results were classifi ed by degree of openness using a classifi cation method developed and tested by palmer (1996) and dijkstra and lith-kranendonk (2000). the resulting maps show the degree of openness and the character of the space defi ning elements. see fi gures 3 and 4. 10.4.2 extremes in size of open spaces in the landscape the landscape of the province of noord-holland is characterised by degree of openness (size and proportion of open space). see fi gures 3 and 4. from large, open areas in the wieringermeer and schermer areas to small-size closed areas with lots of green, space defi ning elements, including het gooi and areas with an urban character. the landscape policy of the province of noord-holland is aimed at preserving the characteristics of the landscape. the degree of openness and the associated extremes are important policy issues in this respect. research into the degree of openness shows that the diversity in size is decreasing. there is currently a general trend towards the creation of mid-size spaces (piket et al., 1987; dijkstra and lith-kranendonk, 2000). the province’s large-size, characteristic open spaces are under threat from encroaching densifi cation. this has a levelling effect on the characteristic differences in open spaces that contribute to the identity of the various landscape units. it follows that areas with a very open character need special protection from advancing visual densifi cation. based on this under240 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study figure 3 degree of openness very open open moderately openmoderately open enclosed very enclosed 241 figure 4 character of the space defi ning elements no space defi ning elements very low level of built-up area and/or vegetation low level of built-up area and/or vegetation moderate level built-up area and/or vegetation high level of vegetation, moderate level of built-up area high level of built-up area and vegetation high level of built-up area very high level of built-up area and vegetation very high level of built-up area mass: very high level of built-up area and vegetation mass: very high level of built-up area mass: very high level of vegetation (wood) 242 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study standing, provincial planning policy offers protection from this densifi cation in the largest and most substantial of the open spaces in the province. these particular open spaces were designated as a result of a political process based on this analysis. see fi gure 5. 1 0 . 5 p r o p o r t i o n a n d s i z e o f o p e n s p a c e as mentioned before, landscape classifi cation is an important element in the present spatial quality assessment framework of the province. in addition, there is a wide variety of landscape units in the province, each with its own characteristics in degree of openness. the size and proportion of open spaces within the landscape units is an important variable in describing landscape identity (farjon et al., 1999; dijkstra et al., 1997). based on this notion, it makes sense to analyse and describe the characteristic open/closed ratio for each landscape unit. this direct link with the existing landscape classifi cation makes a qualitative interpretation of the concept of openness possible on the level of the landscape unit. the form of the landscape is thus not only described in terms of spatial structure or development, but also in terms of characteristic degree of openness. different landscape classifi cations can be used, but the types described in the policy framework for landscape and cultural history have been chosen in order to link directly to provincial policy. see fi gure 6. 10.5.1 quantification of openness by landscape units the goal is to visualise and quantify the degree of openness at the level of the landscape unit. the grid analysis of the entire province as described above served as the basis for this work. using gisc-based overlay techniques, the results of the individual landscapes were assigned and aggregated. the resulting degree of openness and change could then be determined for each type of landscape (dijkstra et al., 1997). as a derivative of the openness analysis that covers the entire province, this method allows the characteristic openness for each landscape to be identifi ed. it provides a valuable tool for describing landscape units more precisely and for future monitoring purposes. by determining the increase or decrease in differences in openness, it is possible to see whether landscapes are becoming more homogeneous or heterogeneous. the result of this analysis is a diagram that shows the openness classes for each landscape unit. see fi gure 7. 10.5.2 landscapes with the largest degree of openness in the quantitative description it is striking that reclaimed land (aandijkingenlandschap) can be classifi ed as a landscape unit with the largest degree of openness and that ice-pushed ridges (stuwwallenlandschap) are the landscapes with the lowest degree of openness. also other 243 reclaimed landscape lake-bed polder landscape young dune landscape boulder clay deposit landscapeboulder clay deposit landscape old sea clay landscape beach barrier landscape ice-pushed ridge landscape peat polder landscape peat river landscape very openvery open open 1. wieringermeer-district1. wieringermeer-district1. wieringermeer-district 2. low holland 3. green hear3. green heart 3 2 1 figure 5 policy protected open areas policy protected open areas policy protected open areas figure 6 landscape classifi cation of noord-holland (source: province of noord-holland) 244 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study landscape units have a high degree of openness, such as peat polder landscapes (veenpolderlandschap), lake-bed polder landscapes (droogmakerijenlandschap), boulder clay deposit landscapes (keileemlandschap) and young dune landscapes (jonge duinlandschap) and young dune landscapes (jonge duinlandschap) and young dune landscapes ( ). so, there are relatively many open landscapes, but they vary widely in terms of composition and appearance. although it is generally possible to characterise landscape units in terms of openness, the difference in form and appearance of the space within the chosen landscape unit makes it diffi cult to use openness alone in a qualitative sense. this may be problematic, especially at a lower level of scale because this description covers aspects of space having to do with patterns, whereas structural aspects of the area are the ultimate determiners. a lower level of scale, the level of the spatio-visual unit, provides better opportunities for analysing and describing structural, three-dimensional aspects of the landscape (wassink, 1999; vroom, 1986). taking these limits into consideration, policy that is geared toward ensuring the characteristic openness for open landscape units should be based on qualitative requirements with regard to densifi cation (buildings and afforestation). further study into the relationship between the degree of openness and the form and appearance of the space will be essential: classifi cation of the spatial form is an important theme. peat polder landscape peat river landscape ice-pushed ridge landscape beach barrier landscape old sea clay landscape boulder clay deposit landscape lake-bed polder landscape young dune landscape reclaimed landscape 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% very enclosed enclosed moderately open open very open figure 7 differences and stratifi cation of openness within the landscape units 245 1 0 . 6 c l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f s p a t i a l f o r m as mentioned previously, openness may be considered to be a derivative of landscape elements, which function as surfaces, screens and volumes. in this regard it is important to ascertain whether these landscape elements also act as space-defi ning elements (spatial boundaries). spatial boundaries include all linear and two-dimensional landscape elements that reach above eye level. these may be hedgerows or woods, wooded banks, ribbon developments, villages, towns, cities and dikes. the natural terrain also plays a role in giving form to space: areas that are relatively higher than the surroundings afford views. the location, orientation and density of the elements that function as spatial boundaries determine the openness of the landscape. this is why openness must also be described in terms of the composition of the spatial elements as well. the key to doing so is to classify the spatio-visual units according to the spatial form in each individual landscape (wassink, 1999; curdes, 1993; thiel, 1961). the spatial form is then described based on the spaces (size and form) as they are determined by the spatial boundaries. 10.6.1 determining the form of space there is no reliable and workable gisc-based method for analysing categories of spatial form. clues can be found in e.g. patch-analyst (mcgarigal and marks, 1994), but this needs further research. expert judgment has therefore been used. this is based on cartographic research, interpretation of aerial photography, fi eld visits and street view imagery (google earth, 2009). space can thus be designated at the level of the spatio-visual unit. the primary resource was the digital topographic map at a scale of 1:10,000 (top10nl, 2009), which also served as the basis for a map of the entire province showing spatial categories. see fi gure 8. it is possible to classify spatial form according to a number of different classifi cations. the classifi cation and description of wassink (1999) is used here by analogy. this is based on the work of thiel (1961), mccluskey (1979) and curdes (1993). wassink arrives at fi ve spatial types, see fi gure 9: • fully confi ned spaces; • bilaterally confi ned spaces (on two sides); • divided spaces; • continuous spaces; • no space, mass. fully confi ned spaces have boundaries on all sides. this means that they are turned inward; they encourage restfulness. the essence of fully confi ned spaces is that there is an ‘inside’ and an ‘outside’, and that the boundary between inside and outside is unambiguous. fully confi ned 246 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study fully confined spaces bilaterally confined spaces (on two sides) divides spaces continuous spaces no space, mass figure 8 the form (shape) of space in the landscape of noord-holland 247 spaces are also called static spaces or space-contained (thiel, 1961; mcclusky, 1979). an example of this is the reclaimed land in the beemster polder. bilaterally confi ned spaces are characterised by being elongated. the beginning and end of the space can often not be seen from a single position. these spaces encourage movement and therefore an outward orientation. the boundary between inside and outside is fi xed in its width but not in its length. bilaterally confi ned spaces are also known as dynamic spaces (thiel, 1961). an example of this is the reclaimed land in the wijde wormer polder. divided spaces are characterised by the space being divided into two sections. there is no inside or outside: space exists on either side of the spatial elements. this space is bordered on just one side. divided spaces are also known as einseitig gefaßte räume (curdes, 1993). an example is the landscape around the schermerhorn peat polder. the hallmark of continuous space is that spatial elements do not confi ne the space. any landscape elements present exist as separate elements in a continuous space. continuous space is also known as vagues or diffuser raum (thiel, 1961; curdes, 1993). polarised spaces known as space attracted can develop around the individual volumes. an example of this is the area west of alkmaar in the polder landscape / barrier dune and plains landscape. finally, certain situations may be distinguished where there is no space, but mass. an example of this is a landscape that is covered with forest. this is of course also dependent on the organifully confined spaces bilaterally confined spaces (on two sides)bilaterally confined spaces (on two sides)divides spaces continuous spaces no space, mass figure 9 the classifi cation of spatial form 248 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study sational level at which the landscape is considered. looking at the forest in detail may reveal paths and open spaces. examples can be found in the woodlands of het gooi; the lateral moraine landscape. 10.6.2 spatial form as structural carrier this detailed classifi cation of spaces within a landscape unit is a useful way of identifying openness more precisely and arriving at a qualitative description of openness. in this respect spatial form is a vehicle to describe, analyse and map the landscape formed by the composition of surfaces, screens and volumes and the resulting spaces. we consider the spatial form as the structural carrier of openness: the spatio-visual structure. the character of an open space could then be described in terms of the shape, size and extent of the visual space. this would make it possible to explain and describe the relationship between the degree of openness and the form of the space. these spatial units could then be used as a basis for continued spatial development. the spatio-visual structure of the landscape can thus be safeguarded (or expressly ignored) when designing new housing tracts, ecological developments etc. in the province of noordholland the way landscape space is managed has certainly become an important guiding principle when it comes to discussing and assessing plans for spatial development. 1 0 . 7 v i s u a l s p a c e visual space is the way the landscape appears to the observer. as previously discussed, visual space is something quite different from physical space. not only the three-dimensional aspects of space play a role in visual space; other conditions related to visual observation are also involved, such as: the position of the observer (altitude, proximity and angular size of the objects), the viewing direction and the atmospheric conditions (e.g. contrast threshold) (duntley, 1947; nicolai, 1971; antrop, 2007). these aspects determine which shapes are actually observed. the observer’s position is an important factor in methods for analysing the appearance of the landscape. space appears to the observer in various ways. dijkstra (1991) distinguishes three ways of analysing the appearance of space to the observer: • analysis from observation points; • analysis from routes; • analysis from areas. 249 viewsheds are a valuable method for analysing the appearance of a space in its current or in a future appearance. viewsheds make it possible to portray a landscape objectively from the perspective of the viewer (tandy, 1967; lynch, 1976; smardon, et al., 1986). 10.7.1 viewsheds: measuring visibility the goal is to analyse and portray the appearance and visibility of physiognomic landscape space. a gisc-based viewshed method may be used for this purpose, in which the observer’s fi eld of vision can be analysed from many different angles (llobera, 1996 and 2003; fischer, 1995 and 1996). the visual landscape can be analysed from observation points covering the entire 360 degrees of the viewing circle or any part thereof. the visible portion of the viewing circle is therefore calculated. the part that is immediately visible to an observer is called the breadth of view, or viewshed. see fi gure 10. viewing angle, viewing distance and eye level (viewing height) may all be set as variables in the analysis. the following assumptions were used: a viewing height of 1.60 metres above ground level and a viewing angle of 360 degrees (the entire viewing circle). the stereographic viewing limit is 1,200 metres; this means that an observer can perceive depth up to 1,200 metres. beyond this distance everything merges together (van der ham and iding, 1971; nicolai, 1971; antrop, 2007). the maximum visual range depends on atmospheric circumstances and is referred to as the meteorological optical range 6. to put it more precisely, the visual range of objects in the landscape depends on: the apparent contrast between the object and its background, the angular size of the object, its shape and vertical area, the contrast threshold at the level of luminance (type of day), the conditions and techniques of observing and, the eyelevel and related curvature of the earth (dunt1. acquisition of accurate topographic data includes heights and terrain heights (dem)(dem) 2. construction of a digital landscape model by combining 3d topographic data and deand demm 3. gis-based viewshed analysis (360° at eye level) figure 10 principle of the viewshed analysis 250 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study ley, 1948; middleton, 1952). it is possible to carry out the analysis from individual positions (viewsheds), from routes (incremental viewsheds) and/or areas (cumulative viewsheds). see boxes 1, 2 and 3 for examples of application. to achieve reliable results, an accurate digital barrier model was constructed consisting of a digital elevation model (dem) combined with topographic data. this is based on a highresolution elevation model, the actueel hoogtebestand nederland (ahn-1, 1997-2003), which is precise to about 15 centimetres per square metre. the dem’s density, distribution and planimetric accuracy is such that topographic objects with a size of two by two metres can be identifi ed clearly and with a maximum deviation of 50 centimetres (ahn, 2010). the model has been supplemented with recent topographic data: the digital topographic map at a scale of 1:10,000 (top10nl, 2009). all legend items were selected that were higher than eye-level (including ascending elements, buildings and trees and/or shrubbery) based on the defi nitions of the topographical service of the land registry. the resulting digital landscape model (dlm) or barrier model was corrected using recent aerial photographs, fi eld visits and street view imagery (google earth, 2009). the viewshed analysis results were tested for reliability through fi eld visits and photos. 10.7.2 visual effects on the landscape image (landschapsbeeld) the viewshed method can be used to simulate the physiognomic space visible to the observer. the observer’s position plays a crucial role and fi eld of vision or visibility can be analysed from specifi c points, routes and areas. this makes it possible to analyse and describe the way in which the landscape appears to the observer on the scale of the spatio-visual unit. also, future interventions can be assessed based on their visual impact as part of a visual impact assessment. the policy of the province of noord-holland now requires that explicit attention must be paid to the visual impact of the intervention in addition to the requisite visual quality plan (province of noord-holland, 2010a). an example of such a visual impact report with regard to the physiognomic landscape approach is the quickscan on the visual impact of the landscape plan bergen (quickscan visuele effecten landschapsplan binnenduingebied bergen) (nijhuis, 2010a), see also box 1. 1 0 . 8 v i s u a l u r b a n i s a t i o n a n d c l u t t e r i n g the term ‘visual urbanisation’ is used when the city, and related objects like wind turbines and communication towers are visible from non-urban areas. strictly speaking, visual urbanisation is the process that creates this visibility, but the term is often used to signify the result of this process (de veer, 1978). cluttering is a concept that is closely related to visual urbanisation. box 1 quikscan on the visual impact of the landscape plan bergen spatial interventions in the landscape usually have a signifi cant infl uence on the landscape image (landschapsbeeld). by portraying these effects systematically and transparently, it is possible to make informed choices that promote spatial quality. a visual impact assessment is a tool that can be used to reliably map the visual impact of planned spatial interventions. this has also been done for the landscape interventions proposed in the visual quality plan for bergen and the associated development plan as an application of the policy described in the structural concept of noord-holland 2040 and the policy framework for landscape and cultural history. the quickscan on the visual impact of the landscape plan bergen (quickscan visuele effecten landschapsplan binnenduingebied bergen) (nijhuis, 2010a) binnenduingebied bergen) (nijhuis, 2010a) binnenduingebied bergen follows the methodology as described in this chapter and addresses the following themes: scale extremes in the landscape, the characteristic open/closed ratio, the space and the visibility/perception of the space. cumulative and individual viewsheds were applied in order to measure the visual impact of the proposed development respectively, shown in the map and chart. see fi gure 11. summary of the results the visual impact assessment shows a densifi cation of 3.5% (total of approx. 54 ha). the majority of the densifi cation (approx. 49 ha) is due to foliage: bushes and trees. in this sense there is hardly any petrifaction because most new construction is covered or shielded by greenery and the number of red elements is relatively small (approx. 5 ha). the character of the open area also changes: agrarian pasture largely makes way for natural grassland, which has a signifi cant infl uence on the perception of the landscape. the new arrangement of the landscape means that the characteristic continuous space is transformed into a number of fully confi ned spaces. correspondingly, the proposed density serves to decrease the relative openness by 108 ha (approx. 4%), which means that the spatio-visual characteristics of the area are signifi cantly impacted as shown on the map and diagram. the characterisation of the open space changes from a ‘varied open space with distant vistas’ into a ‘uniform open space without views’. figure 11 visual impact analysis using cumulative viewsheds (maps) and individual viewsheds (charts) situation 2010 situation 2040 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% visible area 1010 mean = 68.86 std. dev. = 33.20 n = 50 mean = 45.52 std. dev. = 28.49 n = 50 2020 3030 4040 5050 6060 7070 8080 9090 100100 110110 120120 130130 meermeer visible area 1010 2020 3030 4040 5050 6060 7070 8080 9090 100100 110110 120120 130130 meermeer f re qu en cy 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 f re qu en cy < 5 5 10 10 15 15 20 20 25 25 30 30 35 % 249 252 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study it has to do with the deterioration of the landscape (hoogbergen, 2008; boersma and kuiper, 2006). cluttering occurs when elements in the landscape such as housing (high-rise and lowrise), greenhouses, industrial estates, wind turbines, etc. are perceived to be disturbing (van der wulp, 2009; boersma and kuiper, 2006; roos-klein lankhorst, et al. 2002). nevertheless it must also be stated that buildings, urban boundaries, high-rises and elements such as wind turbines can contribute positively to the identity of the landscape and its orientation in space and time (as long as they are thoughtfully designed and positioned). visual urbanisation of the landscape can therefore be perceived positively and negatively. the cluttering of urban boundaries (burrough et al, 1982; nicolai, 1971), the allocation of high-rise buildings ( rød and van der meer, 2009) and the positioning of wind turbines (state advisor for landscape, 2007) are therefore important issues that require extra diligence. mapping the visual impact using sound simulation techniques is a notable principle in this regard (see e.g. smardon, et al., 1986; the landscape institute, 2003). 10.8.1 appearance of visual urbanisation areas exhibiting visual urbanisation generally have an open character and are located near cities or in metropolitan areas. these are often agricultural areas, open water or other natural expanses. the amount of visual urbanisation in the province of noord-holland is increasing. reasons for this include increasing physical urbanisation (intrusion, i.e. lengthening of urban boundaries), and especially, changes to the structure of the city and its boundaries. growing numbers of wind turbines are also being installed. the visual urbanisation of the landscape is generally regarded as undesirable, although there are signifi cant differences of opinion on this topic, depending on the nature and extent of the elements involved and contextual considerations of the landscape (van der wulp, 2009; thayer, 1994). results from environment-reliant research emphasise the resistance to ‘seeing the city in the landscape’ (roos-klein lankhorst et al. 2002; coeterier, 2000). other studies show that high-rise buildings and urban boundaries can play a role in defi ning the identity of areas (e.g. urban parks), or that they can function as landmarks. think of the acclaimed ribbon villages that are such an integrated element in the polders, or of historic townscapes. they can make a positive contribution to the landscape in terms of identity and its orientation in space and time as long as they are thoughtfully designed and positioned. when visual urbanisation has a negative effect on the appreciation of the landscape, various forms of shielding can be considered (such as greenery), but again this must be diligently designed. there are several methods available for analysing visual urbanisation or the city’s sphere of visual infl uence (see e.g. the landscape institute, 2003; burrough et al., 1982; nicolai, 1971). see also chapter twelve for an example. criteria applied include type, height, (vertical) size and location of buildings, the degree of openness of the surrounding landscape, the terrain and box 2 high-rise buildings in the province of noord-holland high-rise buildings have a signifi cant visual impact in the province of noord-holland due to the open character of the landscape (nijhuis, 2009, 2010b). the taller and larger the buildings, the greater the impact. this does not mean that high-rise developments are undesirable or impossible. high-rise buildings can function as markers for certain areas, thus serving as landmarks similar to prominent church towers, smokestacks etc. high-rise buildings can play an important role in the landscape as a point of orientation in time and space. they can also bolster the identity of a landscape. they especially reinforce the character of urban parks when located at their edges; these parks function as regional landscape parks with an emphasis on recreational use. examples of areas where this is the case include amstelscheg in the arena area, omval, the zuidas business district, parts of waterland, the southern part of laag holland, etc. coastal high-rise development can also serve as a landmark, as is the case in zandvoort. see fi gure 12. high-rise buildings can therefore make a positive contribution to the character of the landscape as long as suffi cient consideration has been given to the location and design of the development. high-rise buildings do not always positively impact their surroundings, after all. highrise buildings are likely to have a negative effect on the appreciation of landscapes in areas lacking a metropolitan character, such as in the northern part of noordholland and in the schermer, beemster and zeevang areas. the study on hoogbouw in noord-holland (high-rise in noordholland) was used for locations and height (zandbelt&vandenberg, 2008). see also chapter twelve. 1 1-3 3-6 high building clusters3-6 high building clusters3-6 high building clusters figure 12 visibility of high-rise in noord-holland (now and in the future) 251 box 3 visibility of wind turbines the number of wind turbines in the netherlands is increasing rapidly and the turbines themselves keep getting larger. there is a great deal of enthusiasm for this method of generating power, but criticism is also on the rise. one sees windmills looming in the landscape seemingly willy-nilly. it requires us to pause and ask ourselves what this means for our landscape. the cluttering and degradation of openness are important themes. the latest wind turbines have totally different dimensions than we are accustomed to. they are much taller and they generate more power. this not only presents opportunities but also threats. this jump in scale requires us to refl ect on the consequences that these new wind turbines will have on the visual landscape, the spatial framework and the wind turbines that are currently in use (a large part of which are due to be replaced in the years to come). it is therefore crucial to develop policies for wind turbines that take the landscape into account. design research and research-by-design will be invaluable for determining the best locations for wind turbines and for establishing zones that are apparently turbine-free. as the example illustrates, research methodology into visual effects can play a vital role. the image shows the current situation. the visibility of the 68 wind turbines in the extract has been mapped according to mast height and power generating capacity. this results in turbine visibility of 98,564 ha (47.3% of the extract, excluding large bodies of water). design exercises show that this fi gure can be greatly reduced by careful placement of new wind turbines in conjunction with the replacement or removal of the current generation of wind turbines (uum et al., 2010). see figure 13. figure 13 visibility of wind turbines 252 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study 255 the maximum distance (threshold) where the buildings can still be clearly perceived. as part of this study, a gisc-based viewshed analysis was applied to two examples (nijhuis, 2009, 2010b; uum et al., 2010); see also box 2 and 3. 10.8.2 visual urbanisation as a design brief urban boundaries and high-rises can contribute to the identity of the landscape and to its orientation in space and time (as long as they are thoughtfully designed and located). the cluttering of urban boundaries is an important issue that needs special attention. high-rise development is a hot topic and the subject of on-going research. in this regard it is important that any proposals for high-rise buildings are analysed using scientifi cally sound simulations to determine their visual impact. the examples demonstrate that the viewshed method can be a useful analytical tool, making it especially valuable when it comes to preserving highly sensitive open landscapes from visual urbanisation and cluttering. at the same time, and especially in urban areas, high-rise buildings can bolster the character of a given area and its orientation in space and time. when these kinds of interventions are mapped out, real-world options can be discussed and visual urbanisation becomes a true design brief. 1 0 . 9 i n c o n c l u s i o n the province of noord-holland can serve as an interesting case study of how regional authorities deal with matters of spatial quality in landscape policy. besides the use of other landscape value types (e.g. biophysical, socio-economic-technical, and political) in landscape characterisation and monitoring, the implementation of the physiognomic landscape framework described here offered the province of noord-holland a hands-on approach to elaborate aspects of spatial quality, such as openness. it illustrates that the application of gisc-based methods and techniques in combination with expert knowledge offers governmental authorities new policy instruments and practical landscape assessment and monitoring tools. as we have seen, the province of noord-holland attaches great importance to spatial quality. the parameters for the policy framework for landscape and cultural history are formed by the current landscape when it comes to new developments, preservation and modernisation. the province is using this principle to create a new set of tools to ensure landscape quality. research into the visual effects (e.g. openness) of the changing use of the landscape can have a major impact on the way judgments are formed on this topic, both by government authorities and by members of the public who are involved in the process in one way or another. the use of giscbased methods and techniques provides added value because, on the one hand, it promotes an transparent and systematic approach to problems, facilitates analysis of large amounts of data 256 landscape policy and visual landscape assessment. the province of noord-holland as a case study and paves the way for a smooth exchange of knowledge (resource for design, planning and policy). on the other hand, it makes it possible to visualise research results in a variety of ways (presentation tool). this latter factor is exceptionally valuable as a tool in the public debate on spatial quality especially because of its descriptive, rather then normative, nature. the scale-dependent description of the visual landscape proved to be useful because it organises the scientifi c knowledge available in relation to the gisc-based methods and techniques. although the physiognomic landscape framework as applied is composed of methods and techniques rooted in a wide variety of (international) scientifi c research, there are of course some considerations for the further development of the methodology. due to its applicability, the methodology as presented is primarily a formal, aesthetic approach and it could be easily complemented by psychological, psychophysical and phenomenological approaches. most of the research used to compose the methodology, however, is founded in empirical research (e.g. the openness map legend). the accuracy of the datasets used can be tested more accurately by making use of questionnaires completed by laypeople, rather than depending solely on the assessment of experts. the provincial policy (and especially the assessment of new plans in rural areas) is unprecedented in the area of the administrative preservation of spatial quality and the encouragement of the same. the province is a true pioneer in the way it has envisaged its self-imposed responsibility for spatial quality. until today, assessments like these were reserved for municipalities when they were assessing building permit applications under the auspices of the housing act. in the current period of deregulation, this provincial assessment can be considered to be a counter-movement. time will tell if these kinds of assessments will truly lead to widespread support for spatial quality, which is why this is so very important from a nationwide perspective but also in a european context. by adequately visualising landscape interventions, the debate is opened up to a wide audience, which is a prerequisite for societal involvement. a c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s i like to acknowledge reinoud bakker and corine meijer of the province of noord-holland, and miranda reitsma, provincial advisor for spatial quality noord-holland for making this research possible. miranda reitsma made also an important contribution to the description of the spatial policy of the province of noord-holland in this chapter. 257 n o t e s [1] the text of the european landscape convention was adopted by the committee of ministers in july 2000 and came into force 1 march 2004. for an overview of european landscape policies see wascher, 2000 and antrop, 2007. [2] this is also the purpose of the cooperation agenda for an attractive netherlands (samenwerkingsagenda mooi nederland) (vrom, et al., 2007) and the structural concept for the motorway environment ‘a good view of the netherlands’ (structuurvisie voor de snelwegomgeving ‘zicht op mooi nederland’) (vrom, 2008) which are integral parts of the governmental policy on landscape. [3] the chapter is partly based on: nijhuis, 2008, 2009; province of noord-holland, 2010a, 2010b. [4] although this is an expert-approach intrinsic variables that were used for a landscape perception validation are used. [5] an overview of methods and techniques is provided in the introductory chapter of this book. 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(2016). geodesign the multi-layered water safety. research in urbanism series, 4(1), 113-138. doi:10.7480/rius.4.825 r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 114 abstract this paper aims to frame the multi-layered water safety concept in the context of a systematic, thorough, multidisciplinary and collaborative methodology for complex problems solving, i.e. geodesign. multi-layered safety is an integrated flood risk management (frm) concept based not only on flood probability reduction through prevention (layer 1), but also on consequences’ minimization in the case of a flood through spatial solutions (layer 2) and crisis management (layer 3). it has been introduced in the netherlands in 2009 following the european flood risk directive adopted in 2007. in this study, the multi-layered safety is qualitatively assessed, demonstrating that it rather resembles a parallel system, and that collaboration is required to decide about the most desirable safety measures, which should not only be based on their economic efficiency but also on their social acceptability. in the light of these factors, we attempt to methodologically systematize the multi-layered safety concept by following the geodesign framework. the latter means that, through its implementation, understanding of the current situation of a particular area of interest, which in turn it may support, the allocation of weights regarding the three layers of the multi-tier safety concept is facilitated. furthermore, the geodesign of the multi-layered safety shows that participation and interaction of the safety policy makers, as well as iterations for achieving maximum consensus between them concerning the more balanced safety measures, taking into account their economic efficiency, their impact on the environment, the local circumstances and the values of the people at place, are methodologically enabled. keywords multi-layered water safety; geodesign g eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 115 1. introduction flood risk management (frm) in the netherlands currently focuses on technical flood prevention measures such as levees and dikes (de moel et al., 2014). however, in europe flood management is moving towards an integrated risk management approach where measures about exposure and adverse consequences are considered (büchele et al., 2006). this movement is motivated by the european flood directive (2007/60/ec) which urges eu member states to adopt a risk-based approach that takes into account potential consequences of floods next to their probability (kellens et al., 2013). in the netherlands, the multi-layered safety concept which consists of three layers, i.e. (1) prevention; (2) damage reduction via sustainable spatial solutions, and (3) preparation for emergency response, has been introduced as a reaction to the european flood directive in order to support a flood risk-based management approach (ministry i & e, 2009). nevertheless, the application of this concept is still in its infancy and a focus on preventive measures (layer 1) is obvious (de moel et al., 2014). the implementation of the multi-layered safety concept needs the combination of objectives and funding from various policy domains at different spatial scales and for several temporal horizons, the involvement of various disciplines and the collaboration between stakeholders with several interests and means (e.g. potter et al., 2011). required protection levels may vary between different areas, which may have different flood regimes. the optimal solution for dutch flood safety can be a combination of measures from the three layers that jointly can minimize the overall flood risk (ministry i & e, 2009). without discussion and visualization of the impact of alternative water safety measures, their context cannot be understood so that they reflect local conditions and specificities. furthermore, different stakeholders have different expectations regarding water safety. for instance, residents of a study area may aim to maintain a high level of flood security, irrespective of economic and environmental costs, technocrats may seek to preserve a significant level of water safety by keeping in mind the economic efficiency of the different measures, while public officials may see the same area as a vehicle to implement programs to achieve their political goals. in the context of multi-layered water safety, a single methodological framework which determines the roles of different stakeholders, promotes dynamic visualization and communication of the current situation, enables the comprehension and evaluation of proposals and permits feedback in the necessary phases does not exist. in order to overcome the lack of methodology, the main goal of this study is to orchestrate the multi-layered safety concept in a geodesign framework-oriented decision-making process (steinitz, 2012). r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 116 this study commences its mission by describing the main recommendations for flood safety and practices in europe (section 2) followed by the dutch perspective (section 3). in this context, the multi-layered safety concept is analyzed, attempting to demonstrate the need for a methodological framework which stimulates stakeholders’ participation and active citizenship, experimentation and impact assessment, in order to reach optimal combination of safety measures tailored to the specific characteristics and conditions of an area of interest. the remainder of this paper is organized as follows: section 4 provides definitions of geodesign and outlines geodesign framework and models. section 5, firstly describes data underlying the multi-layered water safety concept and secondly it attempts to theoretically systematize this concept in a geodesign framework. finally, section 6 presents the conclusions of this paper. 2. flood safety in europe floods are the most dominant natural hazards in europe (bakker et al., 2013). according to the european environmental agency (2010), only between 1998 and 2009, europe suffered over 213 major damaging floods, which have caused some 1126 deaths, the displacement of about 500 000 people and at least € 52 billion in insured economic losses. however, by taking the right measures their likelihood can be reduced and their impacts can be limited. the need for developing comprehensive european water legislation was initially identified by the council in 1988, which has resulted in bilateral meetings of officials from france and the netherlands to discuss the integration of european water policy legislation (bakker et al., 2013). following an informal meeting in april 1995 between the netherlands, france, germany, the united kingdom and spain, a joint position paper was drafted which formed the basis for a wider consultation between water directors of all european union (eu) member states. this process led to the adoption of directive 2000/60/ec of the european parliament and of the council of 23 october 2000 establishing a framework for community action in the field of water policy, known as the water framework directive (wfd). although wfd deals with integrated water management, water quality and ecology (eu, 2000), the flood protection is not explicitly faced in it. thus, a european approach to flood protection was put on the agenda resulting firstly in a flood action programme in 2004 and later in the adoption of the directive 2007/60/ec of the european parliament and of the council of 23 october 2007 on the assessment and management of flood risks known as the floods risk directive (frd) (bakker et al., 2013). introduced here are the frd along with the hyogo framework for action (hfa), which form two key recommendations for the protection of those at risk, and the main safety practices in europe are explored. g eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 117  2.1 the main recommendations for flood safety floods cannot be completely eradicated (mostert & junier, 2009) and for this, on the european level, attention has been moved from protection against floods to managing flood risks (e.g. klijn et al., 2008; twigger-ross et al., 2009; hecker et al., 2009; vinet et al., 2008; manojlovic et al., 2008). this fact is reflected in frd, which entered into force on 26 november 2007. frd is the first directive of the eu (mostert & junier, 2009) that deals with floods, requiring from the member states to perform a preliminary assessment of flood risks, mapping the flood extent, assets and humans at risk, prepare flood risk management plans for the regions under significant flood risk, and take adequate and coordinated measures to reduce this risk (eu, 2007). according to the directive, eu member states have to facilitate public participation, reinforcing public rights to access information and related measures about flood risks and to influence the planning process (icpdr, 2012). in addition, eu member states have to coordinate the implementation of the frd with the wfd. the driving force for this coordination is that physical flood protection infrastructures are some of the key drivers for determining the ecological status of waters with regards to hydro-morphological quality elements (santato et al., 2013). in addition, a number of measures which focus on flood risk reduction can have multiple benefits for water quality, nature and biodiversity as well as regulate water flows and groundwater restoration in water scarce areas (brättemark, 2010). in brief, preparation of river basin management plans under wfd and flood risk management plans under frd are elements of integrated river basin management and thus their mutual potential for common synergies and benefits must be used. frm purports to reduce the likelihood and/or the impact of floods on human health, environment, cultural heritage and economic activity (santato et al., 2013). in this context, eu member states should develop, periodically review and if necessary update plans for flood risk management with focus on prevention, protection and preparedness (eu, 2007). prevention will be feasible via a suitable land use practice which prevents floods damage by avoiding construction of houses and industries in present and future flood prone areas, and by adapting future developments to the risk of flooding (ec, 2004). furthermore, according to the european spatial development perspective (1999), flood prevention in the major european river catchment areas can only be made effective through the imposition of explicitly defined conditions and intervention in land uses. hfa along with frd are two key policies for the protection of communities at risk (bakker et al., 2013). “hfa for action 2005-2015: building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters” has been adopted in january 2005 by 168 governments during the world conference on disaster reduction, held in kobe, hyogo, japan and is about building resilience of nations r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 118 and communities to disasters targeting to make the world safer from natural hazards substantially reducing the disaster losses, in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries (unisdr, 2007). hfa is essentially a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction, which provides guiding principles, priorities for action and practical means for achieving disaster resilience for vulnerable communities. it focuses on the development and strengthening of institutions, mechanisms and capacities to build resilience to hazards and it encourages the adoption of disaster risk reduction logic in sustainable development policies and planning as well as in emergency preparedness, response and recovery programmes (unisdr, 2007). for the monitoring of the implementation of hfa, responsibilities are allocated to governments and also to regional and international organizations and partners in the united nations international strategy for disaster risk reduction (unisdr ) secretariat. hfa is related to flood risk management, since floods are one of the main hazards, affecting annually millions of people all over the world (bakker et al., 2013). use by government b el g iu m (f la n d er s) fr a n c e sw it ze r la n d n et h er la n d s g r ea t b r it a in r o m a n ia sl o v a k ia h u n g a r y ir el a n d li th u a n ia c ze c h r ep u b li c sl o v en ia g er m a n y sp a in it a ly fi n la n d a u st r ia lu x em b o u r g p o la n d n o r w a y p o r tu g a l sw ed en la tv ia emergency planning * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * spatial planning (advisory) * * * * * * * * * * spatial planning (binding) * * * * * * * * construction * * * * awareness * * * * * * * * * * * insurance * * flood assessment/ management * * * * * * * table 1. flood maps and their uses for flood safety in european countries (where information is available).  2.2 flood maps and safety practices in europe flood maps are developed by several institutions for a variety of purposes mostly used by the governments for emergency planning (e.g. evacuation) and spatial planning (de moel et al., 2009). at the european level, some countries use spatial planning for advisory purposes and some other have binding legislation to employ flood hazard or risk information. the full potential of regulating land use in flood prone areas is often not reached as in many countries flood zones only serve as guidelines or there are practical problems assog eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 119 ciated with the implementation of binding rules (santato et al., 2013; de moel et al., 2009). except from the planning purposes, flood maps are also utilized in raising awareness, in water management purposes, in flood assessments as well as in the insurance industry. the focus of different european countries in respect to flood safety for which flood maps are utilized is tabulated below (see table 1). 3. the dutch perspective to flood safety for over a millennium, people in the netherlands have been both fighting against and enjoying the benefits of water from the sea, the major rivers rhine and meuse, precipitation and seepage of groundwater (de lange et al., 2014; ven, 1993). the netherlands is considered as one of the safest deltas in the world, largely focusing on the flood prevention through its defense system. however, an evaluation of the water safety policy demonstrated that the country is not prepared for extreme flooding (kolen et al., 2012). in addition, risk analysis for the netherlands in 2008 (bzk, 2008) and 2009 (bzk, 2009) demonstrated that although a flood disaster is “highly unlikely”; it is the disaster type with the most catastrophic consequences in case of occurrence. for this, the multi-layered safety concept, which is currently the dutch perspective to flood safety, is introduced and analyzed.  3.1 the multi-layered safety concept for flood risk management as a response to the eu frd, the netherlands in its national water plan 2009-2015 has introduced the multi-layered safety concept, which bases on the widely adopted recommendations of both the frd and the unisdr’s hfa. in essence, the multi-layered safety concept is a three-tier approach to flood risk management (gersonius et al., 2011),which integrates measures for reduction of probability and mitigation of loss in a flood protection system (tsimopoulou et al., 2013). multi-layered safety reinforces flood protection and operationalizes flood resilience by distinguishing three safety layers: (1) prevention; (2) spatial solutions and (3) emergency response (hoss, 2010; tsimopoulou et al., 2013; gersonius et al., 2011; van herk et al., 2014). it is both a risk-based and a resilience-based approach as it focuses not only on the reduction of the probability of flooding via preventive measures such as dikes reinforcement but also on the reduction of the consequences of flooding (e.g. human fatalities and economic losses) through spatial measures and preparedness for emergency response (e.g. emergency management plans) (rijke et al., 2014; hoss, 2010). such a framework has been developed in belgium’s flanders (cauwenberghs, 2013). in usa and canada (see for instance lopez, 2009; lopez, 2006 and fraser basin council, 2008 respectively) similar approaches are used but called “multiple lines of defense” (kolen et al., 2012). r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 120 figure 1. the three layers of the dutch multi-layered safety concept which reduce the probability of floods (layer 1) and their consequences in case of occurrence (layers 2 and 3) (rijke et al., 2014). the three layers of the multi-layered safety (figure 1), which forms an integrated flood risk approach, are presented below (hoss, 2010; tsimopoulou et al., 2013). the first two layers are physical measures while emergency response focuses on institutional (organizational) measures taken before the event (hoss et al., 2011). layer 1: prevention this is about preventing rivers and seawater from inundating areas that are usually dry by constructing flood defenses or preventing high river discharges. layer 2: spatial solutions these are pro-active measures focusing on the decrease of loss in the case of a flood occurrence by spatial planning, adaptation of buildings and protection of vital infrastructure. solutions include location of urban and industrial land uses in areas with lower flood risk, raise of the constructions’ ground levels etc. layer 3: emergency response this focuses on flood emergency preparedness by setting the organizational framework of the emergency response as well as by developing evacuation plans, early warning systems, temporary physical measures such as sand bags and medical treatment. g eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 121 in the netherlands, multi-layered safety is considered a shift from the past, where attention was traditionally paid on the first layer of flood prevention: the exploration of the potential of sustainable spatial planning and emergency preparedness, whose measures are intended to be tailored to local areas for minimizing the magnitude of the flood damage in case of such an event. however, multi-layered safety makes the task of water security more complex, as it is broader in scope and it requires multi-actor based work across multiple locations (gersonius et al., 2011). while only rijkswaterstaat (directorate-general for public works and water management) and local waterboards are responsible for the first layer of dike rings, the second and third layers involve several parties including provinces, municipalities, safety regions and private parties, which call for a much higher level of coordination. furthermore, the complexity of multi-layered safety lies in the need to account for future changes such as population increase or decrease, changes in economic and spatial developments.  3.2 analysis of the multi-layered safety system the dutch shift from a predominantly prevention policy to multi-layered safety implies alteration of the flood risk management from a serial to a parallel system (hoss, 2010). furthermore, jongejan et al. (2012) mention that multi-layered safety represents the relationships between the different phases or strategies as a parallel system rather than a serial system, which means that the different layers are not as weak as the weakest link fact that is falsely described by the safety chain concept. in this context, multi-layered safety requires interventions across its three layers to effectively reinforce the overall system’s resilience to floods (rijke et al., 2014; gersonius et al., 2011). hoss (2010), concluding that there will never be absolute safety, suggests implementation of multi-layered safety with respect to optimal allocation of resources instead of attempting to achieve maximum security at any price. rijke et al. (2014) state that it is more efficient to invest in the layer(s) with the highest return on investment and to skip or minimize the use of the other(s). r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 122 figure 2. failure of the multi-layered safety concept as a serial vs. a parallel system. (adapted from tsimopoulou et al., 2013). for the description of how the multi-layered safety system will function as a serial vs. a parallel system in case of a flooding, equations (1) and (2) are used and the respective venn diagrams are employed for visualization purposes (figure 2). as layer 1 is about reducing the probability of occurrence of flooding through preventive measures, in the case of flooding, layer 1 de facto fails. in a serial system, if one of its components fails, means that the whole system immediately fails. in a parallel system this fails only if all its three layers fail. in case that one or two out of its three layers fail, the entire system does not fail. however, for multi-layered safety, neither the one nor the other system definition can be valid, while currently a definition regarding this has not been indicated (tsimopoulou et al., 2013). jongejan et al. (2012) justify the latter by the following paradigm: if a levee system were to fail, less or more humans could be saved through emergency response, but the immediate damages could not be undone, nor could crisis response bring the immediate flood victims back to life. in multi-layered safety, if layer 1 fails leading to a flooding, layers 2 and 3 can minimize the consequences of this flood event. however, the measures taken in multi-layered safety should not only focus on the reduction of either the flood probability or the damage in case of flooding, but on both parameters simultaneously. the explicit definition of failure in each safety layer in the form of exceedance of certain thresholds can significantly contribute to the management of multi-layered safety systems, as it introduces safety classification added in a system by means of decrease of flooding probability; reduction of environmental and economic damage and minimization of human fatalities (tsimopoulou et al., 2013). g eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 123  3.3 the need to methodologically frame the multi-layered safety concept the multi-layered water safety concept more closely resembles a parallel system in which jongejan et al. (2012) mention that it is more cost-effective to invest in one component rather than dispersing the available budget over all of them. from an economic perspective, attention should be paid on how the different investment strategies affect the probability of adverse consequences, based on the rational assumption that smaller losses are desirable over greater ones. however, local conditions could lead to different optimal balances between measures corresponding to the three layers of this multi-tier safety concept, i.e. between measures for flood probability reduction and damage minimization in case of flooding. economically speaking, beyond low cost investments in damage mitigation measures, how effective could heavy investments in this direction be? in 2007, taskforce was established to improve disaster preparedness (tmo, 2009), considering strong investments in emergency planning, evacuation routes and equipment. the purchasing and maintenance costs of a fleet of aerial rescue means (helicopters) is enormous, taking into account that they will be rarely used on average to save some people from their rooftops. but even in this case the huge economic impact of a flood disaster and the inevitable injuries and human fatalities are unavoidable. in this situation, the minimization of the probability of flooding would be the more efficient strategy. another example is the case of a flooding in a densely populated area, where an additional investment in prevention is likely to yield a far greater return compared to an additional investment in loss mitigation measures (jongejan et al., 2012). however, in the case of dordrecht city in which historic buildings line the existing flood defenses, hoss (2010), in a comprehensive assessment of the multi-layered safety concept where he has explored how the flood risks can be reduced, identified that the improvement of emergency response preparedness or the flood proofing of buildings could yield better compared to the strengthening of the flood defenses (flood probability reduction). this happens due to the relatively high costs of reinforcing the flood defenses, considering the relatively small size of the area protected by them (jongejan et al., 2012). cost-benefit analysis can be applied for structuring complex decision problems (arrow et al., 1996), including safety regulations. however, the ability of cost-benefit analysis to produce morally relevant outcomes has been challenged, particularly for matters related to health and safety, where factors other than costs and benefits influence humans’ moral judgments (e.g. slovic et al., 2004; slovic et al., 1984; fischhoff et al., 1981). hence, the results of a strict cost-benefit analysis should not be binding for the agency heads (arrow et al., 1996). in this context, the multi-layered safety should not be r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 124 driven only by economic factors focusing on the estimation of some efficient balance between safety and return. since there is no one single multi-layered safety policy, a framework such as geodesign, which takes into account the roles and values of the people at place and the principles of sustainability in a collaborative and interactive process for making balanced decisions, is required. in this context, this paper purports to geodesign the multi-layered safety, having in mind that collaboration and maximum consensus between the involved stakeholders has to be achieved for deciding the most desirable, balanced and sustainable safety measures. in the following sections geodesign is introduced and applied in order to methodologically systematize the multi-layered water safety concept, following a characteristic script of geodesign. 4. methodological framework: geodesign geodesign needs collaboration, which in turn requires organization that asks for a framework around which tasks can be identified and linked (steinitz, 2012). in this context, the methodology of this study, i.e. geodesign is introduced and framed.  4.1 geodesign: definitions the design of land uses in the context of geographic space and natural environment is not a recent concept (paradis et al., 2013). the latterly dubbed geodesign has its roots thousands of years ago, being an interdisciplinary process of place making, where design has been variably affected by surrounding geographies and natural conditions (mcelvaney, 2012). goodchild (2010) supports that geodesign is not new; he states that it represents a re-examination and probably a repurposing of a number of established fields. however, miller (2012) argues that unlike the activity of geodesign, the term is relatively new and only a small number of geo-related businesses have utilized geodesign as part of their name. dangermond (2009) sees geodesign as a systematic methodology for geographic planning and decision making, which employs all the geographic knowledge (layers of information, measurements and analytic models) that users collectively build, maintain and import into a new interactive process where one can design alternatives and acquire geography-based feedback on the consequences of these designs in a timely manner. flaxman (2010a,b) defines geodesign as “a design and planning method which tightly couples the creation of a design proposal with impact simulations informed by geographic context”. steinitz (2012) simply specifies geodesign as changing geography by design, where design related processes are developed and applied towards changing the geographical study areas in which they are utilized and realized. g eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 125 the desire to change geography goes beyond individual buildings, looking at the broader scale plans towards better understanding and effect on the landscape (artz 2010, 21). for the practice of geodesign, interdisciplinary collaboration between the design professions, geographical sciences, information technologies and the people at place is a must (steinitz, 2012). paradis et al. (2013) explore the various definitions of geodesign. they identify that the integration of geographic sciences and geo-spatial technologies with design, which facilitates digital geographic analysis to inform the design processes, is the fundamental characteristic of geodesign. fully leveraging geography during the design process can result in designs that emulate the best features and functions of natural systems, where humans and nature are mutually benefited via a more peaceful and synergistic coexistence (artz 2010b, 16). in this regard, dangermond (2010) sees geodesign as “designing with nature in mind” (artz 2010b, 6). furthermore, ervin (2011) mentions that “geodesign enhances the traditional environmental planning and design activities with the power of modern computing, communications and collaboration technologies, providing on-demand simulations and impact analysis to provide more effective and more responsible integration of scientific knowledge and societal values into the design of alternative futures”.  4.2 geodesign framework and models steinitz’ framework for geodesign is illustrated in figure 3 (steinitz, 2012). it was previously known as framework for landscape planning (steinitz, 1995); it employs six questions that can be answered by six models for the description of the overall geodesign process (steinitz, 2012). figure 3. the geodesign framework (steinitz, 2012). r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 126 the first three questions refer to the past and the existing conditions of the study area within a geographic context, while the last three are about the future more than the past and the present. the first three models, used for answering the first three questions, comprise the assessment process, while the last three models used comprise the intervention process respectively (miller, 2012). the geodesign concept, through its six questions, provide a rapid, holistic, participatory, interactive and adaptive process for developing a more sustainable future (dangermond, 2010). furthermore, it enables the design of various alternatives, their evaluation in terms of impact on the natural environment as well as their utility to the human population, and selection and implementation of the alternative that is projected to achieve the best balance, thus supporting the development of the most educated and informed decisions about the future (dangermond, 2009). during a geodesign study, three iterations of the six questions of the geodesign framework (figure 3) are explicitly or implicitly performed at least once before a decision towards implementation can ever be reached (steinitz, 2012). in the first iteration where the questions are asked in a sequence from 1 to 6, the geographic study area as well as the context and the scope of the study are intended to be identified answering why the study should take place. in the second iteration, where the questions are asked in a reverse sequence, i.e. from 6 to 1, thus making geodesign decision-driven rather than data-driven, the methods of the study are intended to be selected and defined, simultaneously answering to the how questions. in the third iteration, the methodology designed by the geodesign team during the second iteration is carried out and, having data as a central concern, the study is implemented and results are provided. at this stage, the questions are asked from top to bottom, i.e. from 1 to 6, attempting to identify what, where and when. dangermond (2010) sees this iterative design/evaluation process as the way in which the human brain operates, i.e. try something, evaluate the results and move on. in order for the stakeholders to come to decisions, questions must be asked and answered and options for selection must be framed and deliberated. in short, the geodesign framework can be seen as a collaboration facilitator as well as a valuable support in the organization and solving of large and complex design problems, often at geographic scales, ranging from a neighborhood to a city, from the local to the national and even international level. 5. geodesign the multi-layered safety concept: the case of the netherlands firstly, the information needs for the multi-layered safety concept in the netherlands are explored. afterwards, geodesign is theoretically implementg eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 127 ed to present a framework for developing shared understanding of the current situation of an area of interest in terms of flood safety, as well as for achieving collaborative selection of the optimal multi-layered safety measures. the latter is accomplished by taking into account the values of the people at place, economic efficiency and environmental impacts of alternative safety measures in an attempt to achieve maximum consensus between the stakeholders. object information planning citizen information capacity information geo-information mls prediction semi-static info modelinfo figure 4. overview of the information categories needed for the multi-layered safety concept (adapted from acir, 2005).  5.1 information needs in order for a study area to be described, information is needed. the information requirements as described by acir (2005) for the multi-layered safetycan be determined as semi-static and model information. furthermore, these information components are clustered into 6 different categories (figure 4). however, when measures such as preventive organized evacuations are decided in the context of the emergency response layer, their implementation needs dynamic information. this is related to the (simulated) escalating flood and its effect on the incident location and the surrounding environment (geographical awareness), the capacity and the activities of the emergency response organizations to tackle it and normalize the situation. in table 2, an overview of data required for the multi-layered safety concept in the case of the netherlands is provided. almost all of these data have a spatial (geographical) component. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 128 temporal nature data details semi-static topographic data top10nl: open topographic data (street networks; railroad networks [rail, metro and tram lines]; water bodies [rivers, sea, lakes, etc.]; building footprints; terrain [grassland, arable land, etc.]; design elements [noise barriers, trees, pylons, etc.]; relief elements [land contour lines, sea depth lines, etc.]; geographical and functional areas [neighborhoods, campgrounds, etc.]) that can be used at scales between 1: 5.000 and 1:25.000 throughout the netherlands. bag basic registration of addresses and buildings (in dutch: basisregistraties adressen en gebouwen): open geodata about building footprints and addresses. elevation data ahn2 actual height data (in dutch: actueel hoogtebestand nederland): open, detailed and precise elevation data (terrain, building and vegetation information) of 0.5 m x 0.5 m resolution. digital terrain model (dtm) and digital surface model (dsm) can be extracted from ahn2 providing terrain and objects' height information respectively. flood defenses’ specifications location, technical characteristics (e.g. capacity, cross-sections) of primary and regional flood defenses protecting from open (north sea, wadden sea, rivers, ijsselmeer and markermeer) and inland water (lakes, streams, canals) respectively. these include weirs, barrages, sluices and dams, which regulate water levels by water intake or releasing water when needed as well as dikes (floodgates or levees), natural sand dunes and storm surge barriers, which manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. topographic information about the flood defenses at scale 1:1.000 can be retrieved from dtb – digital topographic database (in dutch: digitaal topografisch bestand). soil composition geotop from tno – dutch organization of applied scientific research (in dutch: nederlandse organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek): detailed three dimensional (3d) model of the subsurface of the netherlands, which is divided into voxels of 100 m x 100 m resolution. information regarding stratigraphy, lithology and uncertainty of the voxel appearance is included. it is currently available for the provinces of zeeland and south-holland. for the multilayered safety concept, emphasis is placed on the composition of the primary and regional flood defenses. water bodies data water depths at different locations from the normal amsterdam level (in dutch: normaal amsterdam peil [nap]). nap is also the dutch point for altitude measurements (m). flow rates (m3/s) of water in natural and manmade open channels. flow rate (m3/s) of the seawater. the water services (in dutch: waterdienst) of rijkswaterstaat and the regional waterboards can provide such information. cross-sectional characteristics of the water-bodies. precipitation and evapotranspiration data time series of rainfall (mm) during a day, rainfall intensity (mm/h), evaporation (mm/day), transpiration (mm/day) and evapotranspiration (mm/day) for areas (ha) at different locations. this information can be derived from stowa meteobase, the foundation of applied water research (in dutch: stichting toegepast onderzoek waterbeheer). sewerage system specifications technical and geographical specifications of the system and its components (e.g. drains, manholes, pumping stations, screening chambers, storm overflows). emphasis is placed on the collection of the storm water runoff. regional waterboards and rijkswaterstaat water services can provide such information. flood risk data risk map (in dutch: risicokaart): vulnerable objects exposed to flood hazards and guidelines for emergency preparedness in case of different inundation depths. g eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 129 population numbers for every postcode district. (derived from cbs central bureau of statistics (in dutch: centraal bureau voor de statistiek). inhabitants, density, growth, age, sex, disabled. land uses lgn6 nationwide land uses (in dutch: landelijk grondgebruik netherlands). a grid file which distinguishes 39 land uses with a spatial resolution of 25 m x 25 m). its main classes are urban, forest, water, nature and agricultural crops. derived from cbs. land uses per municipality for different chronologies with their coverage in hectares (ha). emergency capacity number and capacity of rescue means (ground and aerial) and emergency responders, classified per emergency organization (e.g. fire brigade operational staff [professional and voluntary] provided by cbs). location, number and capacity of emergency relief centers categorized by their function (e.g. medical aid, sheltering, catering, animal welfare), as well as by municipal area. financial indicators flood defenses. unit (construction, improvement and maintenance) cost, per type and function. security care. material costs, per emergency response organization. personnel costs (per capita spending), per emergency response organization. model prognosis data land-use forecasts. flood forecasts based on different inputs and model parameters. table 2: flood maps and their uses for flood safety in european countries 2(where information is available).  5.2 implementing geodesign on the multi-layered safety concept in this study, geodesign is used as a theoretical framework in its conceptual form (table 3) to shed light on involving stakeholders in the identification of the most desirable water safety measures, taking into account their socioeconomic and environmental impacts. the utilization of a geodesign framework purports to increase the effectiveness of the multi-layered safety concept, even though effectiveness is a broad concept which can include many aspects. in addition, through its models and iterations it intends to enable communication of stakeholders’ values. in theory, by geo-designing the multi-layered safety concept, integration and exploration of ideas with direct evaluation at the same time is intended to be enabled. furthermore, as geodesign is underpinned by trial and error logic, it increases the opportunity for experimentation and learning by doing (steinitz, 2012). r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 130 geodesign the mls first iteration (why?) second iteration (how?) third iteration (what, where, when?) 1. how should the study area be described? representation models. what is the location of the area of interest (aoi)? how does the hydrologic system function in this aoi? what are the physical, economic and social activities in the aoi? where exactly is the study area and how is it bounded in hydrologic terms? which data are needed? at what scale, classification, and times? from what sources? at which cost? how to be represented? acquire the required data (an overview is provided in table 2). analyze and visualize them over time and space using appropriate technology (multi-scale geographic information systems [2d, 3d, 4d]). organize them according to the needs of the three safety layers. communicate them to the interested mls parties using relevant (geo-) technology instruments (e.g. touch table [see below]). 2. how does the study area operate process models • what are the major hydrological processes in the aoi? how are these processes affected by precipitation and evapotranspiration, infiltration and percolation? • how are the surface and the sub-surface systems linked in the aoi? • how are the flood defenses functioning in the aoi? what is their capacity? • which hydrological processes should be considered in determining mls policies and measures? • at what scale and for which time horizon should the safety measures operate? • what should be the level of complexity of the process models (for describing the aoi) that fit the purpose of the mls study? • implement, calibrate and test the selected hydrologic models (stochastic; process-based models) for the aoi. change the model parameters and run them several times. • explain how the model outputs pinpoint the need to focus on one or more safety layer(s). 3. is the current study area working well in terms of flood safety? evaluation models. have high water depths been recorded in the aoi? why? are there currently problems with the functioning of the flood defenses? why? where? are there developments in zones of high flood risks? how will they be tackled in the future spatial plans? are the people at place aware about these problems? are they prepared? are the emergency agencies prepared to respond? what are the evaluation criteria for the alternative safety measures corresponding to the three mls layers? economic? legal? societal? environmental? what are the measures for evaluation of the success in terms of prevention (flood probability reduction), loss minimization through spatial solutions and emergency preparedness in the case of flooding? evaluate the flood safety condition of the aoi based on defined thresholds. visualize and communicate the results. explain how the local socioeconomic activities as well as environmental factors affect the flood safety in the aoi. evaluate the current safety measures taken in the aoi, identify their effectiveness and classify them according to the three safety layers. identify whether a reinforcement of the current measures or a shift is needed in the context of the mls. 4. how might the study area be altered in order to meet the flood safety requirements? change models. in which of the three safety layers will the weights be placed? what are the alternative scenarios? is visualization needed? how will the aoi meet the flood safety requirements in the future? will it be a shift from the current practice? how? what is the time horizon and scale(s) for the alternative safety measures? are there any assumptions and requirements for them? what change model(s) will they be used to describe the future alternatives in terms of flood safety? will the outcomes be simulated and/or visualized? example of alternative measures that can be visualized. participants can propose more. g eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 131 5. what differences might the changes cause in terms of costefficiency? impact models. what is the impact of the alternatives in terms of cost-efficiency? are measures related to the reduction of flood probability more beneficial compared to measures related to consequences reduction in case of flooding? why? are the economic impacts of the possible safety measures related to the three mls layers regulated by legislation or regulations? how? which impacts even if they are cost-effective should be assessed from a legal and/or environmental perspective? perform a cost-benefit analysis for the alternative measures corresponding to the different safety layers of the aoi. identify and rank the most cost-effective. visualize and communicate the results. compare and explain the impacts of the measures corresponding to the different safety layers in terms of cost-effectiveness. 6. how should the study area be changed in order to meet the flood safety requirements, taking into account moral factors and values of the local society, cost-efficiency of the safety measures and the impact of the measures on the environment (principles of sustainability)? decision models. what is the main purpose of the study? is it more efficient to invest only in the layer with the highest return in economic terms? is it socially acceptable? who are the major stakeholders and what are their positions, if known? are there any binding technical and/or legal limitations for the aoi that must guide the mls study? are there any identified implementation difficulties for any of the measures related to the three layers of the mls? who will make the decisions and how? what do they need to know? what will be the basis for their evaluation? scientific? cultural? legal? ethical? combination of the previous? what should the decision makers consider as failure of the safety layers? are there issues related to the implementation of the safety measures in terms of cost and technology? check whether the more cost-effective alternative measures, corresponding to the three safety layers of the mls, are morally relevant and thus more likely to be socially acceptable. check whether these measures have any side effects on the environment. select a number of safety measures in a multi-disciplinary driven context, taking into account their economic efficiency, the values of the people at place and their environmental impacts and decide upon their suitability: • no, which implies more feedback; • maybe, which means that further study at different temporal and spatial scales is required; • yes, which drives to the presentation of the most suitable safety measures to the stakeholders for their decision and possible implementation. table 3: theoretical implementation of geodesign on the multi-layered water safety concept (mls). the results of framing the multi-layered safety in the context of a geodesign study are tabulated (table 3). at the end of the process, the stakeholders can say no, maybe, or yes to the alternative safety measures. no, implies that the proposed safety measures do not meet their requirements; maybe can be treated as feedback, and calls for changes possibly in the allocation of the weights regarding the three safety layers; yes means implementation of the proposed safety measures. the latter will be used as data in the updates and future reviews of the multi-layered safety measures through the proposed framework. the route for coming into an agreement regarding the most suitable, desirable and balanced safety measures is not straight forward and normally non-linear, as many entries of different types and of different sources may be received, leading to revisit and revision of the decisions. r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 132 moura (2015), based on her empirical study, mentions that the use of geodesign framework has proven to be a system in an open box that establishes steps, presents partial results, composes potential changes and choices, simulates alternative scenarios and possibilities, determines responsibilities, and limits of what is acceptable based on societal values and urge people to decide about their common future, employing a shared way of communications and ideas exchanging. in this line, it can be said that geodesign is not a linear process, as it contains feedback loops for model adjustments towards identifying optimal solutions. stakeholders’ involvement in the identification of the most favourable measures regarding the three layers of the multi-tier safety concept is needed to foster credibility in decision-making. in literature, some authors, including batty (2013), steinitz (2012) and goodchild (2007), discuss how geo-technologies can support stakeholders’ participation in geodesign. in particular, the potential of interactive geodesign tools in decision-making is increasingly acknowledged (steinitz, 2012; dias et al., 2013). for example, an interactive mapping device called “touch table” can be used as stakeholders’ communication platform in the implementation of geodesign on the multi-layered safety concept, similar to previous studies (see eikelboom and janssen, 2015; janssen et al., 2014; arciniegas et al., 2013; alexander et al., 2012). the added value service of a touch table, which includes for instance learning by experimenting, intuitive control and geo-spatial database availability, has been discussed in several articles (e.g. pelzer et al., 2014; pelzer et al., 2013; eikelboom and janssen, 2013; arciniegas et al., 2011). 6. concluding remarks in recent years there has been paid considerable attention to improving the flood protection in europe and beyond. as a consequence, there was a growing need to share information and best practices in the field of flood risk management. in this context, the netherlands has introduced the multi-layered safety concept for flood risk management, which is based on recommendations for flood protection such as the eu flood risk directive and the unisdr hyogo framework. the multi-layered safety concept includes structural and non-structural measures representative of its three layers, which target to reduce the flood risk probability through prevention (layer 1), as well as the consequences in case of flooding, via spatial solutions and emergency response (layers 2 and 3). by analyzing a multi-layered safety system, it can be deduced that such a system resembles more a parallel than a serial one, as failure of the safety measures in one layer does not mean failure of the whole system. however, it is not exactly a parallel system, because when the preventive measures fail, the immediate consequences cannot be undone. the measures corresponding to layers 2 and 3 are able to reduce the damage, but not to completely eradg eo d esig n t h e m u lt i-l a y er ed w a t er sa fe t y 133 icate it. failure of the preventive measures is obvious when a flood occurs. but what is considered failure in layers 2 and 3 has to be explicitly defined, which will support the allocation of weights between the three layers of the multi-layered safety concept. the goal to promote stakeholders participation and collaboration supporting decision making in regards to the most desirable and balanced water safety measures across different spatial and temporal scales has been achieved by theoretically orchestrating the multi-layer safety concept in a geodesign structure. a primary concern for the multi-layered safety concept is the inventory of the required data. decisions, especially for matters related to flood safety, should rest on the firm ground of relevant and of high quality data. in this context, this contribution attempts to provide a first comprehensive overview of the data required for the multi-layered safety concept. however, questionnaire surveys with the participation of the involved to this multi-tier safety concept can shed more light regarding the information requirements of each safety layer. in this way, overlaps in terms of information needs between the three safety layers can be identified as well. in order to develop and select optimal flood safety measures, all the stakeholders involved in the multi-layered safety concept have to develop awareness regarding the current water safety status in an area of interest. in particular, they have to comprehend the current functioning of an area of interest and also the way(s) in which flood safety is presently addressed. furthermore, the stakeholders have to work together respecting each others values, considering local circumstances and searching for the most balanced and sustainable solutions. cost-benefit analysis can extract the measures which can yield better from an economic perspective. however, in matters related to health and safety, human judgments are influenced not only by economic factors but also by ethical values. in this context, the systematization of the multi-layered safety concept, following the geodesign framework, creates surplus value for the local society, economy and environment through its different and iterative feedback-driven processes. the geodesign of the multi-layered safety concept motivates collaboration between the involved to the multi-layered safety parties without losing their identities. it underpins trial and error logic so that all stakeholders can assess the impact of the safety measures resulting from their own points of view. in this way, the stakeholders can identify overlaps in terms of the proposed measures which in turn can create maximum consensus between them, leading to the selection of the most desirable future water safety measures that considers their cost efficiency, their impact on the environment and the values of the people at place. but in order the geodesign of the multi-layered safety concept to be successful, it should be seen as useful by those working with it. if they intentionally deviate from the principles of this framework, the decisions, i.e. the safety r iu s 4 : g eo -d esig n 134 measures can leave the stakeholders unsatisfied, because of which they will reject them. further research is needed towards transferring the implementation of geodesign on multi-layered safety from theory to practice. in particular, the geodesigned multi-layered safety concept should be experimented, tested and experienced in workshop settings and in different contexts for identifying optimal safety measures. furthermore, during such workshops, technology driven tools, which empower society by enabling their participation in the decision-making, should be employed and assessed in the context of practicing geodesign in order to arrive at sustainable arrangements regarding water safety. g eo d esig n t h e m u 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(1993). man-made lowlands, history of water management and land reclamation in the netherlands. international commission on irrigation and drainage (icid), utrecht, netherlands. vinet, f., proverbs, d., brebbia, c. a., & penning-roswell, e. (2008). from hazard reduction to integrated risk management: toward adaptive flood prevention in europe. in 1st international conference on flood recovery, innovation and response (friar), london, uk, 2-3 july 2008 (pp. 113-122). wit press. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 8 introduction this publication is part of an academic collaboration initiative between the pontificia universidad católica de chile and delft university of technology. it seeks to reflect on the development of alternative housing production models that have arisen in response to social, economic and political changes in both contexts. although these experiences have followed different paths and have had different results, they share a common denominator: the search for alternative housing models that are collaborative, affordable and have the potential for regenerating urban neighborhoods. we argue that housing that is produced in a collaborative way satisfies specific demands of the community, which have not been fittingly addressed by the dominant housing production models, both in the chilean and european contexts. the answer to these needs has not been found in the institutions, but in the capacities of the residents who have self-organized and deliberately decided to develop models of collective living. the collaboration between both academic institutions began in the context of the “international workshop (9x18). imagining housing renewal in deprived areas”. the workshop was organized by the 9x18 laboratory in the context of the master programme “mpur” (magister en proyecto urbano). the activity was developed at the school of architecture of the pontificia universidad católica de chile in november 2017. for the occasion, two professors and one phd researcher from the department of management in the built environment of the faculty of architecture of the tud were invited to participate in the workshop as guest lecturers. these became an opportunity for discussion among scholars, students, civil society organizations and the community. as a result of this debate, a number of topics and questions were identified, which form the basis of the conceptual framework of this publication. doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3983 in t r o d u c t io n in t r o d u c c ió n 9 introducción la presente publicación es un trabajo conjunto entre la pontificia universidad católica de chile y la universidad tecnológica de delft que busca reflexionar sobre el desarrollo de modelos de producción de vivienda alternativos los cuales han surgido en respuesta a cambios sociales, económicos y políticos en ambos contextos. si bien se trata de experiencias que han recorrido caminos distintos y han tenido resultados diferentes, comparten un denominador común: la búsqueda de modelos alternativos de vivienda colaborativa, asequible y con el potencial de regeneración urbana de barrios. la vivienda producida colaborativamente obedece a la necesidad de satisfacer demandas específicas de la comunidad que no han sido abordadas satisfactoriamente por los modelos dominantes, tanto en el contexto chileno como europeo. la respuesta a estas necesidades no ha sido encontrada en las instituciones, sino que en las mismas capacidades de los residentes que se han auto-organizado, y deliberadamente han decidido desarrollar modelos de habitar colectivos. la colaboración entre ambas instituciones comenzó en el contexto del “workshop internacional 9 x 18, cómo imaginar la construcción de vivienda en sitio propio” organizado por el laboratorio 9x18, en el contexto del magister en proyecto urbano. la actividad fue desarrollada en la escuela de arquitectura de la universidad católica en santiago de chile en noviembre del 2017. para la ocasión, un grupo de docentes del departamento de management in the built environment de la facultad de arquitectura de la tu delft, fueron invitados a participar en el workshop como profesores invitados. la instancia académica se transformó en una oportunidad de discusión entre académicos, alumnos, organizaciones y la comunidad. fruto de este debate, se identificaron temáticas y preguntas que fueron el inicio del marco conceptual que hemos desarrollado en esta publicación. doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3983 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 10 the book is organized in three parts. the first part, “paradigms in transition: north-south perspectives” provides a brief overview of different housing production paradigms within which collaborative housing models can be understood from the perspectives of the global north and the global south, respectively. this includes a reflection on the historical background that has prompted changes in the way of addressing housing production in both contexts. the section ends with an analysis of these changes in two different contexts. the first is the re-emergence of european collaborative housing through a new wave of housing projects, which are self-managed by their residents. the second focuses on neighborhood densification strategies in 9x18 m1 sites in chile, as an approach to the concept of collaborative housing from the perspective of informality and low-income site-owners, as well as the extended-household2. the second section of the book is entitled “international workshop (9x18). imagining housing renewal in deprived areas”, explains the teaching and research tools that have been developed by the academic team of the 9 x 18 laboratory to address the densification challenges of pericentral neighborhoods in santiago. the methodology focuses on positioning the student at the centre of their learning and connecting him/her with the local reality. the emphasis lies in a strong connection with the territory as a case study , as well as in developing a process of constant reflection. this is achieved by comparing different experiences, sharing lessons learned, and above all, establishing a space of mutual trust between teachers and students. the third section of the book, “reflections on the future”, takes the lessons learned from the workshop as a starting point to establish future perspectives for the chilean case, focused on the neighborhoods under study. these perspectives refer to the new housing densities these neighborhoods will face in the future , the understanding of inhabitants and their opportunities; the relevance of housing management in the development of collaborative models; the characteristics of the public and collective spaces in these neighborhoods; and the impacts on urban mobility. in the final reflection, the book returns to the concept of collaborative housing and its neighborhood impact in an attempt to develop joint thinking on the topic, stemming both from local experiences and from the identification of north-south perspectives. 1 type of neighborhoods as the result of the “operation site” program. this program focuses on delivering urbanized land (sometimes including services) to the homeless inhabitants. 2 extended household is the translation for allegamiento, a concept that refers to the situation where people do not own the land but are sharing the same plot of land with the owners (not necessarily renting). in t r o d u c t io n in t r o d u c c ió n 11 el libro, está organizado en tres partes. la primera parte “paradigmas en transición: reflexiones cruzadas” presenta la descripción de los paradigmas en ambos contextos con el fin de reflexionar sobre el significado de modelos de vivienda colaborativa desde la perspectiva norte y sur. una vez establecido el marco conceptual inicial, se profundiza sobre los antecedentes históricos que han informado la necesidad de cambios en la producción de vivienda en ambos contextos. la sección finaliza con la presentación de estos cambios desde la reemergencia de la vivienda colaborativa europea a través de nuevos conjuntos habitacionales auto gestionados por sus residentes, y desde la densificación barrial en terrenos 9x181 en chile como un acercamiento al concepto de vivienda colaborativa desde la informalidad y el allegamiento2 como principal motor de transformación. la segunda sección del libro “ workshop internacional ‘cómo imaginar la construcción de vivienda en sitio propio’ explica las herramientas de docencia e investigación que han sido desarrolladas por el equipo docente del laboratorio 9 x 18 para abordar los desafíos de densificación de barrios pericentrales de santiago. la metodología se centra en posicionar al estudiante al centro de su aprendizaje y conectándolo con la realidad local. el énfasis reside en una fuerte conexión con el territorio como caso de estudio, y en desarrollar un proceso de reflexión constante, contrastando experiencias, compartiendo aprendizajes, y por sobre todo, estableciendo un espacio de confianza mutua entre profesores y estudiantes. la tercera sección del libro “reflexiones de futuro”, toma los aprendizajes del workshop como punto de partida, para establecer perspectivas de futuro para el caso chileno enfocadas en los barrios en estudio. estas perspectivas se refieren a las nuevas densidades habitacionales que enfrentarán estos barrios, el entendimiento del allegamiento desde sus oportunidades, la relevancia de la gestión habitacional en el desarrollo de modelos colaborativos, las características de los espacios públicos y colectivos asociados a estos barrios, y los impactos en la movilidad de la ciudad. en la reflexión final, el texto vuelve al concepto de vivienda colaborativa y su impacto barrial en un intento de construir aproximaciones al tema de manera conjunta, tanto desde la experiencias locales como desde la identificación de aprendizajes cruzados norte-sur. 1 tipo de barrios como resultado del programa “operación sitio”. el programa se enfocó en proveer sitios urbanizados (a veces incluyendo servicios) a la población sin vivienda. 2 allegamiento refiere a la situación cuando personas no son propietarios del terreno, pero comparten el mismo sitio con los dueños (no necesariamente a través del alquiler). r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 12 as the central theme of this book is developed around collaborative processes, the development of this publication was a collective process of learning and cooperation, which has opened the door for future collaborations and areas of joint research. we are grateful for the support we received from the faculty of architecture, design, and urban studies, and the school of architecture of the pontificia universidad católica de chile; the faculty of architecture and the built environment; and the department of management of the built environment of the delft university of technology. we would also like to thank maria calvo, assistant of the workshop, and of the students: juan carlos barandiarán, michelle berna, maría calvo, antonia correa, leonardo del valle, ricardo diaz, rosario edwards, ural espinoza, ronald godoy, teresa miranda, irisabella moreno, paola ortiz, consuelo polanco, karin ponce, pedro rodriguez, catalina torres, catalina valenzuela, sebastián vanegas. we would like to acknowledge the valuable contribution of the fundación junto al barrio as a facilitator during the workshop. last but not least, we are deeply thankful of the community of la palma neighborhood for opening their homes and their privacy to the students. the knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm of the residents is undoubtedly a fundamental pillar for the training of future professionals. – the editors – luz maría vergara cristián robertson darinka czischke elke schlack rodrigo tapia in t r o d u c t io n in t r o d u c c ió n 13 así como el tema central de este libro se desarrolla en torno a procesos colaborativos, la construcción de esta publicación fue en sí misma un proceso colectivo de aprendizajes y cooperación, que ha abierto la puerta a futuras colaboraciones y líneas de investigación conjunta. no podemos terminar esta introducción sin agradecer el apoyo de la facultad de arquitectura, diseño, y estudios urbanos, y la escuela de arquitectura de la pontificia universidad católica de chile; la facultad de arquitectura y del entorno construido, y el departamento de gestión del entorno construido de la universidad tecnológica de delft. agradecemos también el trabajo de maria calvo, ayudante del workshop y de los alumnos: juan carlos barandiarán, michelle berna, maría calvo, antonia correa, leonardo del valle, ricardo diaz, rosario edwards, ural espinoza, ronald godoy, teresa miranda, irisabella moreno, paola ortiz, consuelo polanco, karin ponce, pedro rodriguez, catalina torres, catalina valenzuela, sebastián vanegas. asimismo, agradecemos el aporte de la fundación junto al barrio como facilitador durante el workshop. finalmente, agradecemos a la comunidad del barrio la palma por abrir las puertas de sus casas, y de su privacidad a los alumnos. el conocimiento, experiencia, y entusiasmo de los residentes, es sin duda, un pilar fundamental para la formación de futuros profesionales. – equipo editorial – luz maría vergara cristián robertson darinka czischke elke schlack rodrigo tapia r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 14 ed ito r ia l 283 reflection building with nature as a cross-disciplinary approach: the role of hybrid contributions 1. expanding the realm of inquiry the incentive for this publication was to expand the realm of enquiry around the topic of building with nature (bwn), for two main reasons. first to gain an interdisciplinary, and therefore deeper, understanding of bwn as an object of study. secondly, but no less important, is an understanding of how different forms of knowledge contribute to our learning regarding bwn. when we understand the contribution of several academic disciplines and knowledge from practice, we may eventually get to the point where we can identify how they can collaborate successfully to contribute to bwn as an interdisciplinary field. finding strategies for successful cooperation is needed for a second generation of bwn to evolve. despite the promotion of interdisciplinary learning at the strategic level of universities, a genuine progress on the operational level has lagged behind. an unwritten consensus in the scientific field of trans and interdisciplinary learning (td&id), is that progress is hindered by two r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 284 main obstacles: bias against interdisciplinary scholars in the recruitment and assessment procedures of academic departments (the operational powerhouse of the university) and key differences in the language, methods, notions of validity, and general culture between disciplines, in particular between the exact and social sciences. different disciplines therefore operate in isolation, which results in a limited, and sometimes even biased, view on a shared subject of study. this knowledge fragmentation undermines society’s regard for academia, and worse, contributes to humankind’s failure to address grand challenges, like climate change and inequality. as showcased by the contributions in this publication bwn is addressed from different disciplinary backgrounds and domains. however, the approaches all feature inter-, multi-, and transdisciplinary characteristics that prove that bwn is a complex knowledge field that needs the cooperation of scientists, engineers, designers, artists, etc. in fact, it shows that bwn is not merely a field that can only be understood from a single point of view, or separate views next to each, but that it entails a more comprehensive and hybrid approach in which natural processes, infrastructure, spatial qualities and societal perceptions are considered part of the same. 2. art, design, and science a useful distinction for types of knowledge relevant to understanding the interaction between the involved disciplines is offered by lee (2011). she distinguished art, design, and science as core knowledge domains that relate to reality in different ways (figure 1). while the nature of art is to question reality, science seeks to explain it. design’s nature is ultimately to change reality. when we consider art, design, and science as knowledge domains of a radically different nature, we can understand and position the contributions in this book and how they relate to each other. science design art understand reality change reality question reality figure 1. the three different knowledge domains and their inquiry according to lee (2011) however, when we apply the framework of lee, it is not to classify or separate the contributions and the related disciplines, but to show the overlap or focus. therefore, we visualised the three knowledge domains as a force field, in which disciplines can operate between different knowledge domains, given a specific focus or discipline (figure 2). ed ito r ia l 285 science design art figure 2. the three different knowledge domains as force field when positioning the contributions of this book in the force field, different clusters of hybridity can be derived from the various approaches to bwn (figure 3). figure 3. positioning of the chapters of bwn perspectives the positioning of the contributions is arbitrary but gives an impression of the nature of the chapters. a first glance at the mapping of the chapters shows that most contributions originate from the exact field of science -explaining reality (chapter 1 and 4). considerable effort is made to gain an understanding of dynamic systems and the control of it, via modelling and management. spatial design (2) of bwn is represented by both landscape design and ecology, with specific contributions making the crossover from science to design. art is under-represented in this publication. as a pioneering field, many art projects arise from the building with nature philosophy, but blossom as an autonomous discipline, separate from academic output. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 286 however, they play an important role in the societal dialogue and embedding of bwn, questioning the new realities that come from large-scale system interventions. when taking a closer look at the contributions within each chapter, certain directions for interdisciplinary knowledge and collaboration can be seen. from the field of science and engineering, two directions for interdisciplinary knowledge can be observed. first of all, there is the movement from fundamental science on bwn (understanding reality) towards the modelling of this complex and dynamic reality. this is represented by the contributions ‘beach-dune modelling’, ‘a novel coastal landscape model’, ‘natural solutions’ and ‘a systematic design approach’, which illustrate the sequential steps from fundamental knowledge (understanding reality) towards the modelling of bwn (representing reality) to the prediction of bwn processes (projecting reality); and finally, to an assessment of bwn solutions (evaluating reality) and a resetting of the values related to bwn (redefining reality). this cycle of understanding, representing and redefining bwn as reality, will not only improve the understanding of bwn as a technique itself, but also makes way for applied science and design, where models are used as key interdisciplinary tools between specialist knowledge, spatial design, and management. secondly, a closer understanding of bwn as a complex system also raises new questions. on the one hand, there is the scaling issue (de vries et al) – redefining bwn as reality. secondly there is the operationalisation of bwn. this involves other types of knowledge, such as the embedding of bwn as infrastructure (brand & hertogh), or interdisciplinary team-roles for the management of bwn (klaassen et. al) establishing building with nature as a learning community. it shows that with the redefinition of bwn, interdisciplinarity is no longer an option, but a necessity. the design perspective in this publication is represented by two chapters: spatial design and ecology. both chapters contain contributions with a direct crossover to science, such as ‘urban dunes’, translating the understanding of sedimentation processes to design principles. the contribution ‘odums dark bottle’ refers back to the early days of ecology research as a systems approach, illustrated by design practice. the contribution of ‘bwn in landscape practice’ shows how ecological understanding has become an integral part of landscape design practice, changing reality. ecological notions are integrated in the design of the human habitat, not just adding functionality, but also generating beauty, another feature of design. ed ito r ia l 287 all three articles state that for bwn to incorporate a full systems approach, the anthropological aspects of bwn should be addressed. this by including communities in the understanding, advocacy, and decision-making of bwn projects and the inclusion of the urban system in future solutions. the need to involve the anthropological layer in bwn is also emphasised by the contributions ‘building with landscape’ and ‘pioneering sand motor’, operating from the art perspective to question the reality of bwn. both raise public awareness for bwn techniques in response to climate change and sea level rise. in ‘building with landscape’, a series of installations at the oerol-festival, on the island of terschelling, were used to first change reality– a clear feature of design. to create the individual installations, anthropological or cultural interpretations and reflections were used as valid input alongside scientific facts – another design-feature. these installations were not only meant to connect the technique within its spatial and social context (as landscape architecture), but also to make it public in events, such as oerol, to discuss its value in an open debate (validation of reality). this induces a second round of interpretation and reflection, that demonstrates the explorative reasoning that lee associated with design. it can also be seen as a different road to understanding, to explain bwn in societal terms – a feature of science. what evolves from these observations is that bwn, as an approach, does not function on the basis of dividing disciplines. they all showcase a degree of hybridity in their approach, whether in their multi-, inter-, or trans-disciplinarity, or through the overlaps of their different knowledge domains. 3. convergences for bwn as an interdisciplinary field ‘convergence’ is the deep integration of knowledge, techniques, and expertise from multiple fields to form expanded and (perhaps) new frameworks for addressing scientific and societal challenges and opportunities (nsf, 2016). ultimately, convergence is a process that aims to streamline different types of knowledge into consensus on the true nature of particular challenges and how they should be dealt with effectively. when looking at the directions of development in the chapters, we can recognise four frontiers for the convergence of knowledge as takeaways for the future development of bwn: the merging of models; expanding the frame of reference; human inclusion, and the integrative role of design. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 288 merging models in the models-section, a shared understanding seems to emerge on how the existing models of sub-systems can be merged in order to get a closer representation of the reality of bwn (‘landscape model’, ‘beach-dune modelling’). this understanding was established by the merging of existing models for subsystems that were created within the discipline of coastal engineering into a ‘seamless’ landscape model, but also by demonstrating how different the resulting decisions are when ecosystem values are over or underestimated (‘eco-system benefits’). this not only enables engineering to assess the impact of interventions to other subsystems, but also to represent and project bwn processes within their context, as an important tool for spatial design. vice versa, within the process of spatial design, valuable testing grounds become apparent, that can be validated by modelling. ultimately integrated models help to fill the gap between specialist knowledge, spatial design, and decision-making as complementary parts of the process. expanding the frame of reference for building with nature a second, less obvious convergence is demonstrated through the perceived benefits of building with nature. this is a tangible shift towards an acknowledgement of both the contextual and cultural dimensions of building with nature – induced by design practice. however, implementation demonstrated that even with dual objectives, building with nature interventions have consequences for elements of the overall coastal system that were not considered. such consequences – in particular the perception and recreational use – could complicate or improve a new generation of building with nature-projects. managing the existing ‘frame of reference’ for bwn was the challenge for the ‘assessment of effectiveness’, ‘ecosystem-benefits’ and ‘scale-resolving’-contributions. human inclusion several contributions point out a knowledge gap in bwn regarding the effects of human occupation in nature-based solutions. as wijnberg et al. (2020) have put it: “a clear mismatch arises from the absence of buildings and human activities in current numerical models simulating morphological developments”. this is the missing step in the modelling for integrated bwn-solutions that serve the interests of nature, flood protection, and society at large. the true nature of bwn is thus more than a matter of understanding different natural processes – as human behavior interferes with these processes, and thus makes the performance of bwn less predictable. secondly, for broader societal acceptance, bwn solutions need to develop from technical artifact to a new generation of coastal landscapes, including ed ito r ia l 289 its cultural layer; as pointed out by ‘building with landscape’ and ‘pioneering sand motor’. this requires a separate dialogue and process for the technique to be perceived and integrated in society. the interdisciplinary understanding of building with nature seems to be that, while existing bwn projects perform rather well (their secondary objectives in particular), human occupation patterns, perception, and use are vital, yet non-operationalised elements, that can determine building with nature’s future success. the integrative role of design overall, the design and art contributions have emphasised the contextual and cultural dimension of building with nature. this contextualisation also features in the contributions from science, albeit less prominently. strikingly, ‘contextualisation’ of building with nature was also observed as a product of the engineering roles in collaborative design-processes (‘engineering roles’). design usability engineering feasibility art reflection systems matter context exploring explaining expressing bwn technology pr od uc tio n ex pr es sio n figure 4. integrated design as an exploratory discipline, connecting with both art as an expressive discipline, and science as an explanatory discipline (after lee, 2011). looking in particular at ‘urban dunes’, it appears that design can expand the scope of our understanding, in this case combining the functionality of urban development with building with nature approaches. ‘urban dunes’ has also offered a point of departure to operationalise human occupation patterns r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 290 in building with nature-models. in ‘on-site installations’, the engagement of cultural values and therefore the harmonisation of coastal protection and public approval, is promised (though no empirical evidence is given). possibly, through its applied nature (‘to change reality’), design can also provide a bridge between science on the one hand and society on the other. by translating and incorporating dispersed specialist technologies into spatial solutions, it opens up bwn to a wider context, and simultaneously provides a contextual and social feedback loop to science, such as the development of waterfronts. the integrative capacity of spatial design will enrich our understanding of bwn since contextual and societal values are added to the scope. to conclude, the field of practical sciences demonstrates a wide range of approaches geared towards converging knowledge production and application. several contributions exist where ‘understanding reality’ is developed beyond a single, universal explanation that can be verified simply as true of false. for example, ‘bwn as integrated infrastructure’, ‘engineering roles’, and ‘odum’s dark bottle’ all aim to explain bwn by re-interpretation of former knowledge. they seek to change our understanding via an explorative narrative, in search of new values that redefine bwn. ‘building with landscape’, (land-) art projects are used as input to learn about man’s perception of (building with) nature, while in ‘bwn in landscape practise’, design-projects are used for a similar purpose. they demonstrate the new layers of understanding bwn to enrich our quest for sustainable coastal landscapes. science, after all, does not have the monopoly on knowledge. editors: janneke van bergen steffen nijhuis nikki brand marcel hertogh doi: 10.47982/rius.7.138 ed ito r ia l 291 references lee, l., south australia department of the premier and cabinet, cabinet, s. a. d. p., & adelaide thinkers in residence (project). (2011). an integrated design strategy for south australia. department of the premier and cabinet. national science foundation (2016). convergence research at nsf. https://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/convergence/index.jsp r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 292 29 a systematic design approach for objectifying building with nature solutions mindert de vries1,2,5, mark van koningsveld3,4,5, stefan aarninkhof4,5, & huib de vriend4,5 1. deltares 2. van hall larenstein university of applied sciences 3. van oord dredging and marine contractors b.v. 4. delft university of technology, faculty of civil engineering and geosciences 5. ecoshape doi 10.47982/rius.7.124 r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 30 abstract hydraulic engineering infrastructure is supposed to keep functioning for many years and is likely to interfere with both the natural and the social environment at various scales. due to its long life-cycle, hydraulic infrastructure is bound to face changing environmental conditions as well as changes in societal views on acceptable solutions. this implies that sustainability and adaptability are/ should be important attributes of the design, the development and operation of hydraulic engineering infrastructure. sustainability and adaptability are central to the building with nature (bwn) approach. although nature-based design philosophies, such as bwn, have found broad support, a key issue that inhibits a wider mainstream implementation is the lack of a method to objectify bwn concepts. with objectifying, we mean turning the implicit into an explicit engineerable ‘object’, on the one hand, and specifying clear design ‘objectives’, on the other. this paper proposes the “frame of reference” approach as a method to systematically transform bwn concepts into functionally specified engineering designs. it aids the rationalisation of bwn concepts and facilitates the transfer of crucial information between project development phases, which benefits the uptake, acceptance and eventually the successful realisation of bwn solutions. it includes an iterative approach that is well suited for assessing status changes of naturally dynamic living building blocks of bwn solutions. the applicability of the approach is shown for a case that has been realised in the netherlands. although the example is dutch, the method, as such, is generically applicable. keywords building with nature, ecosystem services, frame of reference, objectification, design, solutions a s y s t em a t ic d esig n a p p r o a c h fo r o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e so lu t io n s 31 1. nature based design philosophies present-day trends in society (urbanisation, growing global trade and energy demand, stakeholder emancipation, increasing environmental concern) and in the environment (loss of biodiversity, climate change, sea level rise, subsidence, etc.) put ever higher demands on the engineering of infrastructure. mono-functional solutions designed without due consideration of the ambient system are no longer accepted. sustainability, multi-functionality, and stakeholder involvement are required instead. this trend equally applies to hydraulic engineering works and the associated water management system (adger et al., 2005; farber et al., 2006; kamphuis, 2006; van koningsveld et al., 2008; kabat et al., 2009). it triggers awareness that projects should be developed differently, multi-functional, adaptable and in line with environmental and stakeholder interests incorporated right from the start (mcharg, 1995; mitsch and jorgensen, 2004; farber et al., 2006; hallegatte, 2009; misdorp, 2011). traditional approaches tend to focus on realising the primary functionality of the project and minimising or compensating the negative impacts (cf. linde et al., 2013). stepping beyond these reactive approaches, building with nature (bwn) aims to be proactive, utilising natural processes and providing opportunities for nature as an integral part of the infrastructure development process (waterman, 2008; van koningsveld et al., 2010; de vriend and van koningsveld, 2012; de vriend et al., 2014, 2015; laboyrie et al, 2018). similar philosophies have emerged, such as ‘working with nature’ promoted by pianc (pianc, 2011) and ‘engineering with nature’ promoted by the us army corps of engineers (bridges et al., 2014). although the basic idea that engineering infrastructure should be integrated better with the surrounding natural and/or societal system has found broad support, the lack of a method to objectify bwn solutions inhibits a wider mainstream implementation. such a method should turn the implicit into an explicit engineerable object, on the one hand, and specify clear design objectives, on the other. inherent natural variability and a limited understanding of ecosystem behaviour make it difficult to engineer natural components such that a set service level is achieved. furthermore, perceptions of the extent to which one can rely on natural components, given their dynamic nature and inherent uncertainty, may differ implicitly between actors in an infrastructure development process (van den hoek et al., 2014). objectification of such aspects supports a fair comparison of alternatives, thus improving the chances of bwn-alternatives to become a mainstream solution. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 32 in this paper we demonstrate the importance of objectification as an enabler for the design and implementation of bwn solutions, while testing the frame of reference (for) approach (van koningsveld and mulder, 2004; laboyrie et al, 2018) as a means to do so. the general principles of the bwn philosophy and the steps to come to conceptual project designs are described first, followed by a description of the for approach, its application to a practical bwn case and the lessons learned. although the case is dutch, the approach is generally applicable. 2. building with nature (bwn) general principles bwn is about meeting society’s infrastructural demands by starting from the functioning of the natural and societal systems in which the infrastructure is to be realised. the aim is not just to comply with these systems, but also to make the optimum use of them and at the same time create new opportunities. doing so requires different ways of thinking, acting, and interacting (waterman, 2008; de vriend and van koningsveld, 2012; de vriend et al., 2014, 2015). thinking. thinking does not start from a certain design concept focusing on the primary function, but rather from the natural system, its dynamics, functions, and services, and from the vested interests of stakeholders. within this context, one seeks optimal solutions for the desired infrastructural functionality. acting. the project development process requires different forms of acting because it is more collaborative and extends beyond the delivery of the engineering object. the natural components embedded in the project will take time to develop afterwards and one has to make sure they function as expected. post-delivery monitoring and projections into the future are integral parts of the project. this also creates opportunities to learn from such projects than from ones that stop at the delivery of the engineering object. interacting. bwn project development is a matter of co-creation between experts from different disciplines, stakeholders (cf. temmerman et al., 2013). this requires a different attitude of all parties involved and different ways of interaction, in interdisciplinary collaborative settings rather than each actor taking up his task and executing it in relative isolation. a s y s t em a t ic d esig n a p p r o a c h fo r o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e so lu t io n s 33 steps towards conceptual bwn designs project development generally goes through a number of consecutive phases, often in an iterative process. one might distinguish ‘initiation’, ‘planning and design’, ‘construction’ and ‘operation and maintenance’, but other distinctions are equally suitable. an important starting point for any development should be the environment in which a project is to be embedded. a key characteristic that distinguishes a bwn design from other integrated approaches is the proactive utilization and/or provision of ecosystem services (e.g. costanza et al., 2017) as part of the engineering solution. the following five steps can be applied in each project development phase to develop bwn designs (de vriend and van koningsveld, 2012; ecoshape, 2012; de vriend et al., 2015): 1. understand the ambient system beyond the primary objective (including ecosystem services, values and interests). 2. proactively identify realistic alternatives that use and/or provide ecosystem services, involving experts, decision makers and other stakeholders. 3. evaluate the qualities of each alternative, including natural and societal costs and benefits, and preselect an integral solution. 4. fine-tune the selected solution, complying with practical restrictions and governance context. 5. prepare the solution for implementation in the next project phase, making essential elements explicit to facilitate uptake in the next phase. fundamental to the above design steps is a thorough knowledge of how the natural system functions and a correct interpretation of the signals to be read from its behaviour. the latter may indicate in what direction the system is evolving, how to integrate a desired development and how to make use of the ecosystem services available. they may also provide an early warning of adverse developments or indicate an increased sensitivity to natural hazards. investing in a better understanding of the natural system and its inherent variability does not only pay off in the realisation of the project, but also to the system’s overall management (de vries et al., 2020). 3. objectifying conceptual bwn designs with the frame of reference approach the “frame of reference” approach the frame of reference (for) approach (van koningsveld, 2003; van koningsveld et al., 2003; van koningsveld and mulder, 2004) was developed r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 34 to match specialist knowledge with end user needs by making the essential components of a decision problem explicit. in that way, the for approach streamlines discussions between different actors, following an interactive process to achieve ongoing refinement. to make the approach applicable in practice, van koningsveld and mulder (2004) suggest the use of a ‘basic for template’ which contains a limited set of elements that appear to be systematically present in successfully implemented policies. fundamental to this approach is the definition of clear objectives at strategic and operational levels, reflecting key elements of the policy strategy. for the operational phase, indicators are defined to verify whether or not the objectives are met. the operational phase requires specification of the following elements: the quantitative state concept (qsc), a benchmarking procedure, an intervention procedure, and an evaluation procedure. these elements interact as indicated in figure 1. quantitative state concept benchmarking procedure intervention procedure evaluation procedure strategic objective operational objective concept parameters proces knowledge why what how where whendesired state current state a ggregate d etail ok? ok? data figure 1. the ‘basic frame of reference template’ (modified from: marchand, 2010, 2011) it is important to identify, in a specific case, the envisaged authority responsible for the for as a whole, or elements thereof. the definition of elements may depend on the end user, so as to promote future uptake. ideally, all elements of the ‘basic for template’ are made explicit in the end user-specialist interaction. remaining ‘white spots’ represent information gaps for decision making and may become part of a knowledge agenda. a s y s t em a t ic d esig n a p p r o a c h fo r o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e so lu t io n s 35 the for approach has been applied to a variety of projects, bringing together people from different disciplines, nationalities and backgrounds with policy and decision makers. it has been used (implicitly) since the 1990’s in the netherlands for the successful development and implementation of an integrated local – regional scale resolving coastal sediment management policy (van koningsveld and mulder, 2004; mulder et al., 2007; van koningsveld and lescinski, 2007; mulder et al., 2011). it was used in combination with the argus video observation system in beach recreation planning (jiménez et al., 2011), management of dynamic navigation channels (medina et al., 2007) and coastline management problems (kroon et al., 2007). it was used to define management policies for the danube delta coast (stanica et al., 2011), for north-west mediterranean urban beaches (jiménez et al., 2011), for a shingle beach in pevensy (uk) (sutherland and thomas, 2011) and for inch beach in south west ireland (gault et al., 2011). ciavola et al. (2011a, b) applied it to find practical applications of real time flood predictions, that included storm induced morphology change, for coastal zone managers. garel et al. (2014) used it to develop environmental monitoring schemes for offshore renewable energy projects. laboyrie et al. (2018) propose the for approach as a tool for project assessment. application to bwn using the for as a rationalisation method for bwn projects, conceptual designs that emerge from the aforementioned five steps need to be broken down into clearly separated, yet interacting components, which we will call design elements. next to a strategic objective, clearly defined operational objectives of each of these elements are fundamental. the performance of each design element can be assessed using the template of figure 1. once each element meets its operational objectives (the desired state), the design as a whole, consisting of the interacting elements, has to be checked against the strategic objectives. apart from this, fitting the solution into the local governance context is crucial to move it forward to practical implementation. in summary, this leads to the following rationalisation steps: 1. define the strategic objective and break down the solution concept into design elements; 2. specify operational objectives, boundary conditions, per¬formance requirements and limit levels for each element; 3. elaborate on the elements using the quantitative state concept; 4. check if each element achieves its operational objective(s); 5. check if the interacting elements collectively achieve the strategic objective, and 6. check how the designed project fits into the local governance context. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 36 this objectification process can be used in each project phase, as well as for the transfer of crucial information between phases. the next section illustrates this with a practical example. 4. the fort steurgat case part of the ‘room for the river’ program (ministry of transport public works and water management et al., 2006) was to reinstate the noordwaard polder as a floodwater outlet, in order to cope with the increased river flow defined in the update of the regulatory design level river water discharges in the dutch rhine branches after the floods of 1993 and 1995. this meant that the village of werkendam, including the historical fort steurgat, needed new flood protection infrastructure. local stakeholders were against a high dike. therefore, a lower dike design with a wave-attenuating foreshore was chosen (figure 2). figure 2. final design of forest-dike noordwaard (modified from: de vries and dekker, 2009). a s y s t em a t ic d esig n a p p r o a c h fo r o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e so lu t io n s 37 the foreshore is 600m long and has a width of 60m near the edges up to 100m near the bend. it has a bank height of 0.8m above the original polder level in order to keep the roots of nearby vegetation (willow trees) from permanently submerged in water-saturated soil. the willow species salix alba and salix viminalis were chosen because of their ability to cope with long inundation periods, their resistance against extreme storms and their ability to grow in clay soil. trees are maintained by cutting, resulting in a stub from which the branches re-grow. this form of willow forest maintenance has been a common practice for many centuries in this area. the maintenance strategy involves zoning and alternate cutting to ensure sufficient wave dissipation capacity at all times. the willow forest and foreshore can be adapted to cope with changing boundary conditions if need be. 5. rationalising a building with nature concept using the for approach to demonstrate the applicability of for to the rationalisation of bwn projects, we apply the iterative six-step procedure to the case of fort steurgat in the next chapters. in figure 3, the for structure is illustrated and numbers shown indicate the chapters where steps are elaborated. quantitative state concept benchmarking procedure intervention procedure evaluation procedure strategic objective operational objective concept parameters proces knowledge why what how where whendesired state current state a ggregate d etail ok? ok? data 1 2 3 4 5 figure 3. the five steps of the frame of reference provide an iterative link between detail quantification of services delivered (how, where and when) and aggregate level formulation of objectives (why and what) within an iterative process. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 38 step 1: define the strategic objective and break down the solution concept into design elements (figure 3). the strategic objective of the fort steurgat flood protection system was to design, construct and maintain a hybrid flood protection solution that complies with legally required safety levels while delivering additional nature and landscape value, including an as low as possible, grass-covered dike, less construction costs and more stakeholder satisfaction. we adopt this strategic objective and the final design outlined in figure 2 as a starting point to demonstrate the objectification process. figure 4. visualisation of design elements for the foreshore-dike (hybrid) flood defence noordwaard. for any dike, geotechnical stability and crest height are key requirements. the strategic objective of having a low grass-covered dike indicates that overtopping will become the main design criterion and that geotechnical stability in that case requires special attention. two elements of the conceptual design play a key role in achieving the strategic objective, viz. the dike protecting fort steurgat (slope, height, and dike cover) and the vegetated foreshore (width, height, and vegetation cover), see figure 4. step 2: specify operational objectives, boundary conditions and performance indicators for each element. the next step in the process is the specification of operational objectives per design element. (see figure 3). the fort steurgat flood protection system, as a whole, had the operational objective to provide protection against flood and wave conditions with a probability of occurrence of 1/2000 per year, as required by dutch legislation (ministerie van verkeer en waterstaat 2006, 2007) at the time. both design elements play a role in achieving this objective. element 1 (dike) should be able to withstand the 1/2000 per year water level and associated wave overtopping. element 2 (foreshore) should reduce the wave height a s y s t em a t ic d esig n a p p r o a c h fo r o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e so lu t io n s 39 at the toe of the dike to an acceptable level. clearly, the two are interacting, the wave-attenuation that the foreshore needs to provide depends on the wave height the dike can manage, given its crest height, slope, and cover. the ideal combination is to be determined iteratively in a dynamic optimisation process. in the remainder of this analysis, the water level was fixed at the design level and was therefore not an operational objective that could be tuned in the design. focussing on overtopping, this led to the following operational objective for the dike: “to achieve sufficient dike height and wave dissipation on the dike slope to reduce overtopping under design conditions to maximum 2 l/s/m” design parameters are crest height, inner and outer slope, and dike cover. to meet stakeholder wishes, a very mild inner slope was chosen. this allowed choosing the relatively high overtopping discharge of 2 l/s/m. iterations between dike and foreshore design ultimately led to the following operational objective for the foreshore: “to achieve sufficient attenuation of the incoming waves to have a maximum significant wave height of 0.5 m at the toe of the dike” design parameters are the height and width of the foreshore, in combination with height, width, and density of the vegetation. step 3: elaborate the design elements using the quantitative state concept to make the step from objectives to technical design, it is necessary to capture the essence of the operational objectives in a quantitative state concept (qsc) (see figure 3). the dike overtopping rates on a representative dike profile or cross section are legally required to be calculated with pc-overtopping (available via www.overtopping-manual.com). this tool therefore serves as a quantification tool in the qsc for element 1. for the foreshore, wave attenuation was quantified with the spectral wave model swan (booij et al., 1999), extended with algorithms for wave attenuation by vegetation (suzuki et al., 2012). de oude et al. (2010) used this model as a qsc-tool for the design of the willow forest in front of the dike, yielding requirements for stem diameter, drag, and density. once the qscs have been specified it is possible to optimise the design in an iterative process, the benchmarking procedure (see figure 3): fix boundary conditions and design parameters for the element; create a first design of the element; apply the qscs to quantify services delivered by the element design; compare delivered services with required services (the benchmark); if insufficient, adapt the element design; if sufficient move to next step. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 40 if it is not possible to iteratively deliver a technical design that achieves the benchmark, this may trigger a revision of choices made in the previous steps. the problem may arise from poorly defined objectives and/or qscs, but lacking knowledge, data or operational tools might also be the cause. in the fort steurgat case, this process led to a dike crest height of 4.25m above ordnance level (nap) and an outer dike slope of 1:3. such a slope with a closed grass cover on a 0.40m clay layer will withstand waves with hs = 0.5 m for at least 20 hours (van der meer et al., 2012). for the foreshore it led to a required tree height exceeding the designed water level and a minimum vegetation factor (defined as the number of stems per m2 x stem diameter x drag coefficient) of 2.4m-1. note that this factor varies between seasons and with the state of maintenance. step 4: check if each design element achieves its operational objective(s) the final steps in the objectification process are used to evaluate the resulting design (see figure 3). the evaluation should address two levels, viz. the operational objective(s) for each design element and the strategic objective for the design as a whole. also, how it fits within the local governance context should be checked. the evaluation procedure at the level of the design element checks if the resulting design meets its operational objective, i.e. achieves its specified desired state. in the planning and design phase, this may seem like a trivial step, but its true added value emerges when a design is actually constructed, operated and maintained. especially when natural elements are integrated in the design, its effectiveness should be checked regularly to account for inherent dynamics and unforeseen behaviour. this is caused by the inherent variability of such an element as it develops through time, reacting to its environmental and anthropogenic surroundings. step 5: check if the elements collectively achieve the strategic objective evaluation against the strategic objective usually provides the strongest triggers for redesign. in the present case, a logical question would be if the feeling of nature is achieved by the willow forest. it is good to keep in mind here that the local stakeholders’ initial resistance was fuelled by the desire to prevent an unattractive and ‘unnatural’ high dike in front of their houses. contributing to a more natural solution that would fit better into the local context was a main driver for the present design step 6: check how the final solution fits into the local governance context an important final step is a reflection on how the proposed solution fits into the local governance context. this includes identifying the authority responsible (hence the owner of the benefits), but also problems that may a s y s t em a t ic d esig n a p p r o a c h fo r o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e so lu t io n s 41 ensue from new infrastructure. it also encompasses checking whether the proposed solution is financially viable and compliant with existing laws and regulations. in this case, the grass-covered clay dike design, using clay from the foreshore, with optimal design of the willow forest for future mechanical maintenance, resulted in a lower overall cost for the dike section compared to the classical design that included a dike cover consisting of concrete blocks. 6. applicability of the for approach across different project phases the analysis in the previous subsections can be regarded as the outcome of the initiation and planning and design phases. continuously reviewing the resulting for when moving through the other project development phases is an effective way to prevent reduced effectiveness of the final solution or even failure of the solution to deliver the intended outcome. unanticipated practical decisions made during the construction phase, for instance, can influence the effectiveness of the overall scheme. in the fort steurgat case, the for from the planning and design phase specifies the height of the foreshore and type and density of vegetation to be planted thereon. the exact type of material to heighten the foreshore may not have been specified, the types of vegetation to be used may not be readily available, available equipment to profile the foreshore may not deliver the anticipated accuracy, the moment when a proposed ecosystem service needs to be delivered may not have been specified, tree growth could be slower or less dense than expected, etcetera. anything left (un)intentionally implicit introduces the probability that further choices will inevitably reduce the effectiveness of the overall solution. easy access to the project’s objectives and insight in how the proposed solution intends to address these objectives helps to make decisions as much as possible in line with the project’s original intentions. similar considerations apply to the operation and maintenance phase. dynamic behaviour is inherent to nature-based solutions. this means that regular assessments of the functionality of the solution are required. in the fort steurgat case, dynamic issues to consider include timing when the solution should start to deliver its full wave dissipating service and the effect that seasonality, tree mortality, disease, regrowth, succession and maintenance might have on the project’s performance (also see borsje et al., 2011). a complicating issue, especially for projects designed for rare events like extreme floods, is that it may not be possible to test the functionality under design conditions. in the fort steurgat case, for instance, the design relies on swan and pc-overtopping, but given the natural conditions and the 1/2000 r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 42 per year probability of occurrence within the design conditions, it is not very likely that wave dissipation and overtopping can be measured in the field. to overcome this issue, measured stem diameter, stem drag and stem density on the foreshore are used as a proxy. 7. lessons learned from application of the for to bwn based on various applications of the for template, some recurring issues have arisen that may serve as lessons learned. when applying the ‘basic for template’, one can avoid common pitfalls by considering the following lessons learned: (1) check whether each element is filled with the kind of information prescribed in the ‘basic for template’, i.e. try to avoid formulating objectives as actions. in the noordwaard case, the objective is not to build a dike with a vegetated foreshore, but to have a safe situation that is acceptable to the stakeholders. check whether the operational objectives are logically connected to the strategic objective and provide sufficient handles to further elaborate the design. a qsc should not be formulated as an action, it should rather be linked with models or measured data. think ahead, who is the actor that you envisage as the ‘owner’ of the objectives, as well as the underlying decision formula. (2) check the logical coherence of objectives, state concepts and interventions for each step, think about the links with previous and following steps. approach the for from different angles (e.g. demand driven, starting from the objectives; or technology driven, starting from the qsc or the intervention). it may provide new insights into the overall coherence. in the benchmarking step, check whether the proposed intervention method in fact eliminates the problem. consider whether the suggested intervention matches with the actor who ‘owns’ the objectives and with stakeholder interests. (3) take your time to define the desired state in the benchmarking step try to support benchmarks with scientific data. often, literature is available, e.g. what kind of dike overtopping discharges have the potential to cause damage. try to avoid subjective benchmarks. desired states like ‘sufficient naturalness’, for a dune area, or ‘historic atmosphere’, for a beach front, can harda s y s t em a t ic d esig n a p p r o a c h fo r o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e so lu t io n s 43 ly be objectively assessed. this will present difficulties in trying to drive any concept or policy that is based on this for towards the next phase of implementation. (4) make sure in the evaluation step to reflect on the operational objective and the strategic objective; this step provides the main triggers to modify the scheme. with respect to the design and implementation case described in this paper, the for was used a posteriori to quantitatively clarify the chain of required services delivered by the natural elements of this bwn solution. its structure defines a procedure that allows for quantification, benchmarking, intervention, and subsequent evaluation, a requirement for the long-term sustainability of the strategic and operational objectives of the design. although the for was originally applied to more traditional designs, this paper shows that by its stepwise and iterative approach, it clearly provides a foundation for rationalising bwn designs that include natural elements. one valuable step forward is the further elaboration of the qsc’s to better describe the natural elements regarding interactions with the ecosystem (this would require operational objectives that include the services delivered to the ecosystem as part of the design, not the case in the example). better knowledge of natural variability can help to iteratively optimize the for qsc and benchmarking procedure. the used qsc’s describe a static situation of a natural element and therefore can have led to an overdesign (by taking a too extreme worst-case performance as reference) or to an underestimation of risk of temporary underperformance (by not taking sufficient magnitude of variability of service on the long term into account). benchmarking, intervention, and evaluation procedures of the for at least take care of the second issue raised and the application of the for could contribute data and management experience to further optimize the qsc and benchmarking of the vegetated foreshore design element. the for approach has been helpful in identifying design elements, identifying, specifying, and documenting the qsc for the living building block of the solution. it has contributed ex ante to help setup an evaluation protocol and supporting monitoring activity in the operation and maintenance phase to establish the flood safety protection status of the dynamically developing implementation on the project site. it has become clear that the iterative and cyclic process of the for approach is well suited to maintaining operational objectives for a dynamically developing implementation. while it is clear that the specification of solely hydraulic operational objectives could have led to a complete ‘grey’ design, the strategic objective included the value of landscape and nature as important parameters. this could have produced a set of additional operational objectives. however, in the dike design process, those r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 44 natural aspects have been not further evaluated, possibly leading to a underperforming implementation from a ‘green’ perspective. it is expected that the for approach will also be able to provide a complete process for those objectives. both aspects have not been further researched yet. 8. conclusions this paper has shown the use of the for approach to rationally identify and structure physically explicit building blocks of bwn concepts. as such, it provides a valuable addition to the five steps for the design of bwn solutions. the six rationalisation steps enable the translation of abstract design concepts into tangible solutions that may be evaluated objectively. being quantitative and explicit (for instance the ecosystem services the design aims to utilise and/or deliver) aids a fair comparison of bwn and more traditional alternatives, for example in a cost-benefit analysis or an environmental and social impact analysis. the for-based rationalisation approach should be regarded as an investment to enable an implementation of the bwn concept in practice. as a prescriptive tool, the for yields benefits in each of the project development phases. in the initiation and planning and design phases. it helps to define objectives, indicators, reference states, mechanisms for mitigation, and evaluation procedures. in the construction phase. it helps to steer unanticipated, but inevitable practical decisions to maintain conformity with the original design objectives. in the operation and maintenance phase. it helps to design monitoring programmes and maintenance measures that are closely tied to the original design objectives through the well-defined qscs. as a descriptive tool, the for can consequently be used to evaluate existing designs, monitoring programmes and maintenance schemes. as an integrative documenting tool, the for approach also improves the transfer of crucial information between project realisation phases. this helps to reduce the risk of failure or underperformance due to miscommunication or loss of important information. the for method was shown to work for a wide range of problems and disciplines. we believe that the example in this paper illustrates the for’s applicability as a tool for objectifying bwn designs. the complex behaviour of natural elements results in a variability of services delivered. this issue is now safeguarded in the iterative benchmarking, intervention, and evaluation steps of the for. it is acknowledged by the authors that further research into better understanding this variability and the possibility of its management will help to fortify the qsc’s and the benchmarking and intervention steps of the for when working on objectification of future bwn designs and solutions. a s y s t em a t ic d esig n a p p r o a c h fo r o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e so lu t io n s 45 acknowledgements part of the work done for this paper is part of the bwn innovation programme, which was funded jointly by the partners of the ecoshape consortium, the netherlands government, the european fund for regional development, and the municipality of dordrecht. r iu 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(2008). integrated coastal policy via building with nature. opmeer drukkerij. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 50 collaborative housing processes paradigms in transition from a north – south perspective procesos colaborativos de vivienda paradigmas en transición norte sur darinka czischke1 and elke schlack2 1. faculty of architecture and the built environment | delft university of technology 2. escuela de arquitectura | pontificia universidad católica de chile doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3984 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n t ia g o 18 abstract by way of introduction, this chapter explains the main differences and convergences in housing provision paradigms in european and chilean cities. from housing as part of welfare state models, both societies have seen the replacement of the right to housing by the financialization of housing. the chapter highlights a red thread in this book, namely the presence of “cultures of the collective” in the provision of housing, which responds to different traditions and contexts in cities in the global north and in the global south. however, despite these differences, both relate to the essential question on how urban dwellers decide on how they want to live. keywords housing affordability crisis, housing policies in europe, housing policies in chile, collaborative housing, self-organization. c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g p r o c esses p r o c eso s c o l a b o r a t iv o s d e v iv ien d a 19 resumen a modo de introducción, este capítulo explica las principales diferencias y convergencias en los contextos de la provisión de vivienda en ciudades europeas y chilenas. el relato atraviesa momentos de provisión de vivienda por los estados benefactores y momentos de una mayor financiarización del derecho a vivienda. aquí se describe lo que en esta publicación quiere relevar: “la cultura” de lo colectivo en la provisión de la vivienda que, si bien en ciudades del norte y del sur obedece a tradiciones y contextos diferentes, en ambas se expresa la pregunta esencial sobre cómo los habitantes de la ciudad se ponen de acuerdo para decidir cómo quieren vivir. palabras claves crisis de asequibilidad de la vivienda; políticas de vivienda en europa; políticas de vivienda en chile; vivienda colaborativa; auto-organización. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n t ia g o 20 in recent decades, and particularly since the global financial crisis of 2008, the so-called “housing affordability crisis” (wetzstein, 2017; woetzel, ram, mischke, garemo, & sankhe, 2014) has been gaining attention in the discussion about the provision of housing at a global level. this crisis denotes that we are reaching a critical point in the evolution of housing provision, where the supply is largely detached from the economic capacity and the real needs of people. this problem has arisen due to structural transformations linked to the growing financialization of cities (aalbers 2015; rolnik, 2013), as well as economic and administrative variables to which housing programs are subject. not only in europe but also in latin america, and particularly in chile, the provision of housing is facing a situation in which, in many cases, the inhabitants have been taking a leading role in demanding improvements to their residential condition. in both cases – european cities and in chile the provision of housing seems to require a thorough revision to match the available resources, and to recognize the social capital and the new forms of participation that are emerging amongst the inhabitants. although the contexts of housing provision differ significantly between european and chilean cities, the founding paradigms of housing policies coincide in several respects. in both cases, there was a historical moment in which the provision of housing was recognized as a responsibility of the state as a “welfare state”. both the post-war years in europe, and the period between the 1950s and 1970s in chile, were marked by this type of policy. a strong state that led urban policies and programmes to tackle the housing shortage, caused by the destruction of the second world war in europe, and by an explosive rural-urban migration in chile. however, not only urban planning paradigms were decisive in the foundation of this form of housing provision. the “cultures” of inhabiting and conceiving the dwellings by their inhabitants developed in specific ways. in post-war european cities, the social movements of the 1960s provided the background for housing projects based on strong community ties (vestbro, 2000; jarvis, 2013) and collective living forms, giving rise to new visions of cohabiting the city based on solidarity and collective action by residents. similarly, housing construction in chilean cities from the 50s onwards, represented a time of achievement for the “settlers” who, based on the organization of the land appropriations , created a way to conquer new territories in the city (castillo u. a. 2008; espinoza 1988; garcés 2002; márquez 2008). this foundational “epic” is still a reference for current actions by inhabitants, as reflected by certain forms of organization which are still underpinned by “delegates per block”, and by the social capital shared by up to four generations of inhabitants who built their own neighborhoods. thus, “cultures of the collective” in the provision of housing can be found for many decades in both geographical contexts. while pertaining to different c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g p r o c esses p r o c eso s c o l a b o r a t iv o s d e v iv ien d a 21 en las últimas décadas, y en particular desde la crisis financiera mundial del 2008, la así llamada “crisis de asequibilidad de la vivienda” (wetzstein, 2017; woetzel, ram, mischke, garemo, & sankhe, 2014) ha ido ganando atención en la discusión sobre la provisión de vivienda a nivel global. dicha crisis denota que estamos llegando a un punto crítico en la evolución de la provisión de vivienda, donde la oferta está cada vez más alejada de la capacidad económica y de las necesidades reales de las personas. este problema se ha ido produciendo debido a transformaciones estructurales ligadas a la creciente financiarización de las ciudades (aalbers 2015; rolnik, 2013), así como por variables económicas y administrativas a las que están sometidos los programas de vivienda. no sólo en europa, sino también en latinoamérica, y en particular en chile, la provisión de vivienda se encuentra ante una coyuntura, en la que en muchos casos los habitantes han ido tomando un rol protagonista en exigir mejoras a su situación residencial. en ambos casos – ciudades de países europeos y en chile la provisión de vivienda pareciera requerir una revisión profunda para ajustar los recursos financieros disponibles, y reconocer los capitales sociales y las nuevas formas de participación que están emergiendo desde los habitantes. aunque los contextos de la provisión de vivienda difieren significativamente entre las ciudades europeas y chilenas, respectivamente, los paradigmas fundantes de las políticas de vivienda coinciden en varios aspectos. en ambos casos, existió un momento histórico en que la provisión de vivienda se reconoció como responsabilidad del estado, a modo de “estado benefactor”. tanto en los años de post-guerra europeos, como en los años 50-70 en chile, estuvieron marcados por este tipo de políticas, por un estado fuerte, que lideraba las acciones urbanas para resolver la escasez de vivienda, acarreada por la destrucción de la segunda guerra mundial en europa y por una explosiva migración campo-ciudad en chile. sin embargo, no sólo los paradigmas de la planificación urbana fueron determinantes en la fundación de este período de la provisión de vivienda. las “culturas” de habitar y de concebir la vivienda arraigada en los habitantes se desarrollaron de formas específicas. en las ciudades de la postguerra europea, que luego fueron influenciadas por el sentir de las reivindicaciones de los años 60, que forjaron conjuntos de vivienda basados en fuertes lazos comunitarios (vestbro, 2000; jarvis, 2013) y el habitar colectivo dio pie a épicas sobre la formación de una determinada forma de cohabitar la ciudad. de forma similar, la construcción de vivienda en las ciudades chilenas de los años 50 en adelante, generaron una época de logro de los “pobladores” que basados en la organización de las tomas de terreno crearon una forma de conquistar nuevos territorios en la ciudad (castillo u. a. 2008; espinoza 1988; garcés 2002; márquez 2008). esta épica fundacional constituye hasta hoy un r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n t ia g o 22 traditions, these cultures respond to the essential question about how the inhabitants of the city agree and decide together on how they want to live. a radical differentiation in the historical and cultural trajectories of housing provision between european countries and in chile occurred at the beginning of the 1970s. the military regime that ruled chile from 1973 to 1990 brought about substantial changes in chilean urban policies, giving way to the establishment of an exacerbated neoliberal model (aliste 2014; de mattos 2015; morales & rojas 2009). neoliberalism happened abruptly in chile, substituting the previously existing welfare state model and, thus, the self-management of the inhabitants was replaced by a system of individual provision within the market logic. although nowadays the neoliberal paradigm is also pervading european cities, the transition between the welfare state and the subsidiary state has developed gradually in europe and, in many cases, with strong opposition by citizen groups. the housing affordability question, which frames current debates on housing provision paradigms globally, requires us to consider these historical differences when trying to establish parallels between both types of cities. the traditions of building the collective , the relationship with “the common good” and “the role of the welfare state” are key elements to deepen from a comparative north-south perspective. in european collaborative forms of housing provision, the search for shared individualities and for responses to specific needs appear to be at the centre, against a system that tends towards the standardization and commodification of housing. in contrast, in chile, the emphasis is on the “right to the city” and on achieving inclusion alongside other inhabitants (castillo u. a. 2008; hidalgo 2004; márquez 2008). in this sense, the resurgence of forms of collaborative housing is, on both sides of the world, a common project with others; a reaffirmation of collective self-determination (see, for example: lang, carriou & czischke, 2019). in latin american cities like those of chile, the quest is rather to take care of the already existing “culture” of self-organization, in the framework of getting support from the subsidiary state (angelcos & pérez 2017; renna 2015). it could be said that both experiences intersect. while the provision of housing in europe is moving away from the provision of public goods as defined by a welfare state (with little participation of residents), in chile, the notion of housing as a public good is not only valued, but also yearned because of its absence. however, this does not mean that the tradition of the collective is discarded. on the contrary, ways of collectively producing housing and inhabiting it, derived from the experiences of land invasions, remain firmly rooted in the “culture” of housing provision. an important difference between both contexts is the socio-economic group affected by the housing crisis in each case. while in europe the phenomenon touches middle-income groups, in chilean cities the most vulnerc o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g p r o c esses p r o c eso s c o l a b o r a t iv o s d e v iv ien d a 23 referente para las actuales acciones de los habitantes, ya sea porque hasta hoy permanecen subyacentes ciertas formas de organización a través de los “delegados por manzana” o por el capital social que comparten hasta cuatro generaciones de habitantes que construyeron sus propios barrios. así, ambos tipos de ciudades, ya cuentan con una relación o “cultura” de lo colectivo en la provisión de la vivienda que, si bien obedecen a tradiciones y contextos diferentes, responden a la pregunta esencial sobre cómo los habitantes de la ciudad se ponen de acuerdo para decidir cómo quieren vivir. una diferenciación radical en las trayectorias histórico y culturales de la provisión de vivienda en países europeos y en chile se produce a comienzos de los años 70, cuando debido a transformaciones políticas se produce un cambio sustancial en las políticas urbanas de chile, dando paso a la instauración de un modelo neoliberal exacerbado (aliste 2014; de mattos 2015; morales & rojas 2009). el neoliberalismo en chile, sucedió abruptamente al modelo de estado benefactor existente anteriormente y, así, la auto-gestión de los habitantes fue reemplazada totalmente por un sistema de provisión individual dentro de las lógicas del mercado. aunque hoy en las ciudades europeas también observamos una evolución hacia el paradigma neoliberal, el tránsito entre el estado benefactor y el estado subsidiario se ha desarrollado de manera gradual y en muchos casos, con fuerte oposición por grupos ciudadanos. es necesario considerar estas diferencias históricas al tratar de establecer paralelos y similitudes entre ambos tipos de ciudades para preguntarnos sobre la problemática de la asequibilidad de la vivienda. las tradiciones de construir lo colectivo, la relación con “el bien común” y “el rol del estado benefactor” son elementos claves para profundizar en reflexiones cruzadas. en la discusión europea sobre la provisión de vivienda, pareciera ser que, el punto focal está en la búsqueda de individualidad y especificidad de los habitantes frente a un sistema que tiende a la estandarización y a la comodificación de la vivienda. en cambio, en chile el énfasis está en conseguir el “derecho a la ciudad” y lograr la inclusión con los demás habitantes (castillo u. a. 2008; hidalgo 2004; márquez 2008). en ese sentido, el resurgimiento de formas de vivienda colaborativa es, al mismo tiempo, un proyecto común con otros, es una reafirmación de la auto-determinación colectiva (véase, por ejemplo: lang, carriou & czischke, 2019). en ciudades latinoamericanas como las de chile, la búsqueda está más bien en cuidar la “cultura” de la auto-organización ya existente, en el marco de conseguir apoyo en el estado subsidiario (angelcos & pérez 2017; renna 2015). de manera placativa se podría decir que nuestras experiencias se cruzan. mientras la provisión de vivienda en europa se aleja de la provisión de bienes públicos definidos por un estado benefactor el cual lo define todo con escasa participación de los residentes, en la provisión de vivienda en chile, los bienes públicos no sólo son valorados, sino que también añorados, por su ausencia. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n t ia g o 24 able groups are predominantly affected. the latter seek something very elementary: the “right to the city” and accessibility to basic services. in the city of santiago, for example, these groups constitute almost 70% of the population. the capacity of residents for self-organization and self-management has different origins and trajectories in each context. the different forms and motivations that characterise collaborative housing initiatives in each context will be discussed in the next chapters. in line with the above, the housing affordability crisis will be discussed in each context in a differentiated way, from the perspective of the specific “cultures of the collective” in housing. to do so, this book addresses the following questions: what characterizes current collaborative approaches in housing production in european countries and in chile? what are the particularities of collaborative housing in the chilean case, from an european perspective ? what strengths and weaknesses are found in each context? and finally, what are the future perspectives for these ways of inhabiting? c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g p r o c esses p r o c eso s c o l a b o r a t iv o s d e v iv ien d a 25 pero eso no significa que se descarte el acervo de lo colectivo, al contrario, los modos de habitar colectivo derivado de las experiencias de las tomas de terreno están firmemente arraigadas a la “cultura” de proveer vivienda. una importante diferencia entre ambos contextos es también el grupo socio-económico que está implicado en la crisis de vivienda en cada caso. mientras que en europa es un fenómeno de las clases emergentes y medias, en las ciudades de chile han sido predominantemente los grupos más vulnerables buscando algo muy elemental, “derecho a ciudad” y accesibilidad a servicios básicos, que, a diferencia del contexto europeo, constituyen casi un 70% de la población, en el caso de la ciudad de santiago. sin lugar a dudas, la capacidad de autogestión y auto-organización tiene diferentes orígenes y trayectorias en cada contexto. la forma, motivación y origen debido al cual las poblaciones de unos países y otros se inclinan más o menos por estos procesos, es algo que se tratará en los próximos capítulos. como se desprende de lo anterior, la crisis de asequibilidad se discutirá en cada contexto de manera diferenciada, desde la mirada de estas “culturas” ya existentes y específicas de cada lugar. al respecto, este libro explora las siguientes interrogantes: ¿qué caracteriza los enfoques colaborativos en la producción de vivienda actualmente en países europeos y en chile, respectivamente? ¿cuáles son las particularidades de lo colaborativo en vivienda en el caso chileno, desde una perspectiva europea? y por último, cuáles son las perspectivas de futuro para estas formas de habitar, qué fortalezas y debilidades se encuentran en cada contexto? r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n t ia g o 26 references / referencias aalbers, m. b. (2015). the great moderation, the great excess and the global housing crisis. international journal of housing policy, 15(1), 43-60. aliste, enrique 2014. prefacio. apuntes breves para pensar una geografía urbana crítica. in r. hidalgo & m. janoschka, (editores) laciudad neoliberal. gentrificacion y exclusion en santiago de chile, buenos aires, ciudad de mexico y madrid. santiago de chile: geolibros, 33–41. angelcos, nicolás & pérez, miguel 2017. de la “desaparición” a la reemergencia: continuidades y rupturas del movimiento de pobladores en chile. latin american research review . castillo, maría josé, forray, rossana & sepúlveda, camila 2008. corolarios arquitectónicos. más allá de los resultados cuantitativos, los desafíos de la política de vivienda en chile. quorum 20, 14–29. de mattos, carlos a. 2015. revolución urbana: estado, mercado y capital en américa latina. santiago de chile: ril editores. espinoza, vicente 1988. para una historia de los pobres de la ciudad. colección. santiago de chile: ediciones sur. garcés, mario 2002. tomando su sitio. lom ediciones. hidalgo, rodrigo 2004. la vivienda social en santiago de chile en la segunda mitad del siglo xx: actores relevantes y tendencias espaciales. instituto de geografía, pontificia universidad católica de chile 219–241. jarvis, h. (2013). against the ‘tyranny’of single-family dwelling: insights from christiania at 40. gender, place & culture, 20(8), 939-959. rolnik, r. (2013). late neoliberalism: the financialization of homeownership and housing rights. international journal of urban and regional research, 37(3), 1058-1066. lang, r., carriou, c., & czischke, d. (2018). collaborative housing research (1990–2017): a systematic review and thematic analysis of the field. housing, theory and society, 1-30. márquez, francisca 2008. resisitencia y sumisión en sociedades urbanas y desiguales: poblaciones, villas y barrios populares en chile. in procesos de urbanización de la pobreza y nuevas formas de exclusión social : los retos de las políticas sociales de las ciudades latinoamericanas del siglo xxi. bogot: clacsco, 347–369. morales, eduardo & rojas, sergio 2009. relocalización socioespacial de la pobreza: política estatal y presión popular. in a. rodriguez & p. rodriguez, (editores) santiago, una ciudad neoliberal. santiago de chile: olacchi, 123–142. renna, henry 2015. la situación actual de los movimientos sociales urbanos. autonomía, pluralidad y territorialización múltiple. in j. solis, m. valencia, & l. cortés, (editores) vectores de residencia. antología revista diseño urbano y paisaje. 2005-2013. santiago de chile: ceaup, 24–33. vestbro, d. u. (2000). from collective housing to cohousing—a summary of research. journal of architectural and planning research, 164-178. wetzstein, s. (2017). the global urban housing affordability crisis. urban studies, 54(14), 3159-3177. woetzel, j., ram, s., mischke, j., garemo, n., & s. sankhe (2014). a blueprint for addressing the global affordable housing challenge. mckinsey global institute. 51 objectifying building with nature strategies towards scale-resolving policies mindert de vries1,2,5, mark van koningsveld3,4,5, stefan aarninkhof4,5, & huib de vriend4,5 1. deltares 2. van hall larenstein university of applied sciences 3. van oord dredging and marine contractors b.v. 4. delft university of technology, faculty of civil engineering and geosciences 5. ecoshape doi 10.47982/rius.7.128 r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 52 abstract by definition, building with nature solutions utilise services provided by the natural system and/or provide new opportunities to that system. as a consequence, such solutions are sensitive to the status of, and interact with the surrounding system. a thorough understanding of the ambient natural system is therefore necessary to meet the required specifications and to realise the potential interactions with that system. in order to be adopted beyond the pilot scale, the potential impact of multiple bwn solutions on the natural and societal systems of a region need to be established. this requires a ‘reality check’ of the effectiveness of multiple, regional-scale applications in terms of social and environmental costs and benefits. reality checking will help establish the upscaling potential of a certain bwn measure when addressing a larger-scale issue. conversely, it might reveal to what extent specific smallerscale measures are suitable in light of larger regional-scale issues. this paper presents a stepwise method to approach a reality check on bwn solutions, based on the frame of reference method described in a companion paper (de vries et al., 2021), and illustrates its use by two example cases. the examples show that a successful pilot project is not always a guarantee of wider applicability and that a broader application may involve dilemmas concerning environment, policy and legislation. keywords building with nature, ecosystem services, frame of reference, objectification, design, solutions a s y s t em a t ic o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e s t r a t eg ies: to w a r d s sc a le-r eso lv in g p o lic ies 53 1. introduction building with nature (bwn) solutions utilise services provided by the natural system and/or provide new opportunities to that system (de vriend and van koningsveld, 2012). in order for bwn-solutions to be effective, the functioning of the system in which they are embedded needs to be well understood. the bwn philosophy is applicable to engineering infrastructure development in a variety of surface water systems (de vriend et al., 2015, bridges et al., 2018, laboyrie et al., 2018), but also at different scale levels, from a single project to regional-scale strategies. this also means that the system functioning at this larger scale needs to be considered and understood. where bwn solutions are supposed to fit into such a larger-scale strategy, objective evaluation beyond isolated pilot implementations is required to demonstrate the larger-scale functionality of multiple smaller-scale interventions. on the other hand, it is important to establish which smaller-scale engineering solutions are suitable for application at the larger scale (considering the desired overall effect at the system scale, which local solutions are likely to be effective?). important evaluation criteria are the societal and environmental costs and benefits. the frame of reference (for) method described in a companion paper (de vries et al., 2021) provides an explicit framework to streamline the design of water infrastructure and other processes involving complex decision making. it starts from a clear definition of strategic and operational objectives. this method can be equally applied to the development phases of individual projects and to multiple projects at the regional scale. de vries et al. (2021) demonstrate the applicability of this method in a project context. application of the for method across different scales provides an important reality check for the viability of individual bwn solutions and the overall strategy to which they contribute. in that sense, such an assessment can become a key enabler for the wider acceptance of bwn-based strategies. this scale resolving scope, however, has yet to receive the same level of attention as the project/pilot scope. the objective of this paper is to fill this gap by applying the for-method in a step by step process to two cases with different types of measures in different environmental settings, in order to reality-check the benefit of upscaling the implementation of bwn at a regional-scale. subsequently, we consider a broader spectrum of bwn solutions and see what larger-scale strategic objectives they aim to meet. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 54 2. reality-checking regional-scale bwn solutions the “frame of reference” approach the frame of reference (for) approach (van koningsveld, 2003; van koningsveld et al., 2003; van koningsveld and mulder, 2004) was developed to match specialist knowledge with end user needs by making the essential components of a decision problem explicit. in that way, the for approach streamlines discussions between different actors, following an interactive process to achieve ongoing refinement. fundamental to this approach is the definition of clear objectives at strategic and operational levels, reflecting key elements of the policy strategy. for the operational phase, indicators are defined to verify whether or not the objectives are met. the operational phase requires specification of the following elements: the quantitative state concept (qsc), a benchmarking procedure, an intervention procedure, and an evaluation procedure. these elements interact as indicated in figure 1. figure 1. the ‘basic frame of reference template’ (modified from: marchand, 2011) steps for scale resolving application of the for method when applying the for method in a scale resolving management approach, recurring procedural steps are: 1. define the regional-scale strategic and operational objectives and break down the realisation strategy into a number of logical elements (projects). a s y s t em a t ic o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e s t r a t eg ies: to w a r d s sc a le-r eso lv in g p o lic ies 55 2. specify strategic and operational objectives for each project individually. 3. quantify the performance of each project individually in light of these objectives. 4. determine to what extent each project meets its individual objectives. 5. check if the combination of projects (the scheme) achieves the overarching strategic and operational objective(s), using plausible quantitative estimates of the effects. 6. check how the designed scheme fits into the regional governance context. each individual project can be designed as a bwn intervention. the sixstep objectification process proposed in the companion paper by de vries et al (2021) can be used for that purpose. we will follow these steps in the following evaluation of the two example projects. sandy strategies for coastline maintenance (coastal, soft, abiotic) step 1: large-scale strategic and operational objectives, and breakdown of the realisation scheme the sandy shores of the north sea coast in the netherlands have long been eroding as a result of the combined effects of sea level rise, reduced supply of river sediment and ongoing land subsidence. after finalisation of the delta works, attention to countering this ongoing erosion has increased. this materialised into a policy to preserve functions and values in the coastal zone (strategic objective). an extensive study of coastal processes at various time and space scales (stive et al., 1990) revealed that maintaining the coastline requires adding an amount of sand of the order of 10 million m3 per year. therefore, the netherlands government established a sediment management policy aimed at keeping the coastline at its 1990 position, the basal coastline (bkl) (operational objective; see van koningsveld and mulder, 2004). to that end, a volumetric coastline definition was laid down in law. note that this maintenance policy is different from interventions ensuing from the regular coastal safety assessments. the latter focus on dune erosion during a mega-storm event, rather than on the sand volume in the coastal profile. the maintenance policy is presently implemented by means of beach or shoreface nourishments along the dutch coast wherever the coastline recedes beyond the bkl. the design lifetime of these nourishments is generally some 5 years. evaluation of this policy led to the conclusion that this approach meets the objectives as far as the upper shoreface is concerned, but that not enough sediment reaches the lower shoreface to balance erosion there. this led to a second strategic objective: to maintain the lower shoreface (the coastal foundation; see mulder et al., 2007). r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 56 step 2: strategic and operational objectives per nourishment project the operational objective of each maintenance nourishment is to locally prevent structural coastal erosion. the volume of an individual nourishment was typically 1-5 million m3, which was sufficient to achieve the operational objective for a period of 3-5 years. the delta committee (2008), however, anticipated a significant increase in nourishment volumes, from the present 10 million m3/year to 40 85 million m3/year, depending on the rate of sea level rise. this might necessitate larger nourishments and/or new nourishment methods. in line with the bwn-philosophy, the idea emerged to concentrate the regular nourishments in space and time, relying on natural processes (currents, waves) to distribute the sediment over the wider coastal system. as compared with smaller-scale nourishments repeated every 3 to 5 years, utilising this ecosystem service was expected to achieve the operational objective in a more sustainable manner. it was expected to reduce the ecological and co2 footprint of the nourishment policy while creating opportunities for recreation and nature development, thus providing ecosystem services and addressing additional operational objectives. figure 2. the sand motor; left: after placement in 2011; right: in 2017. (source: rijkswaterstaat beeldbank, https://beeldbank.rws.nl/; photos joop van houdt) step 3: quantification of project performance in 2011 an experimental 21.5 million m3 mega-nourishment project called the sand motor was implemented in front of the delfland coast (stive et al., 2013, figure 2). the design process ultimately resulted in a hook-shaped peninsula that would provide space for juvenile dune formation and resting areas for birds and seals, with a shallow lagoon that would provide habitat to juvenile fish and other species. part of the sand would be transported onshore by wind, promoting the dune formation along the beach. the hook-shape was furthermore assumed to be attractive for beach recreation. in anticipation of coastal science and management interest, an extensive monitoring program was carried out including deployment of a video observation tower on the beach. based on pre-project sediment balance and numerical model studies, the project was framed as being sufficient for 20 years of coastal maintenance. a s y s t em a t ic o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e s t r a t eg ies: to w a r d s sc a le-r eso lv in g p o lic ies 57 the overarching objective of the sand engine experiment was to test whether the anticipated benefits of such a concentrated mega-nourishment, viz. auto-distribution by natural processes, the development of habitats and realization of recreation potential, would indeed materialise. this was established via monitoring programs, measuring campaigns and multidisciplinary research programs (see luijendijk and van oudenhove, 2019). step 4: objectives met? although the objectives of the sand motor were not formulated sharply enough to allow for quantitative evaluation (e.g. de weerdt, 2015), luijendijk and van oudenhove (2019) conclude from the results of these efforts that the effects of the sand motor are partly beyond expectation (recreation, biodiversity) and partly less so (ecosystem recovery, aeolian transport into the dune area, juvenile dune formation on top of the nourishment). also, the expectation that in the coastal cell between hook of holland and scheveningen no further nourishments would be needed for 20 years turned out to be unrealistic: nature takes time to distribute the sand alongshore and, in the meantime, areas further away from the sand motor may need intermediate nourishing in the years to come. yet, the number of nourishments in this coastal cell would be significantly less without the sand motor, which means less costs (mob/ demob), less energy expenditure and less co2-emissions. also, because the sand is deposited in a much thicker layer, the environmental impact of the sand motor, in terms of disturbed seabed / benthic organisms, is much smaller as the nourishment footprint scales inversely proportional to its height. table 1 illustrates this observation, showing that the footprint of the sand motor is approximately similar to the footprint of a regular nourishment area. as the regular nourishment has to be repeated another 8 times to realise the same total sand volume, its total impact becomes much larger – especially as the recovery time of benthic communities in the nearshore (~4-6 years) aligns with the return frequency of classic nourishment schemes. volume (106 m3) volume (m3/m) longshore length (m) cross-shore width (m) mean height (m) footprint (106 m2) average regular nourishment 2,4 600 4000 ~300 ~2.0 1,2 sand motor 21,5 10.750 2000 ~650 ~16,5 1,3 table 1. order-of-magnitude estimates of the footprint area of a mega-nourishment and an equivalent volume of regular shoreface nourishments (regular nourishments data from rijkswaterstaat, kustlijnkaarten 2019, period 2009-2018 all in all, the operational objective of maintaining enough sand in the coastal profile is met over a gradually expanding stretch of coast, as well as the additional operational objective of nature-driven distribution alongshore. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 58 little of the nourished sediment is lost from the coastal system, but not all of it is found back on the upper shoreface. this suggests that also the lower shoreface (the foundation) benefits. in that sense, the project has proven to be successful as an experiment and a showcase. the sand motor experiment has also shown that a slightly different design may help to materialise the envisaged additional benefits (luijendijk and van oudenhove, 2019): the rate of ecosystem recovery strongly depends on the sediment composition; if it is the same as before the nourishment, recovery is rather fast; in case of a different composition it takes much longer; aeolian transport into the dune area, as well as juvenile dune formation on top of the nourishment, also depends on the composition of the nourished material; shells, clay and coarse sediment may cause armouring of the top layer if not frequently reworked by wave action; a shallower lagoon would prevent anoxia of the deeper layers, as has been the case after some time in the lagoon of the sand motor; the lagoon would also fill up more rapidly and, with its fertile mud deposits, it would sooner become a green dune area; the lake at the sand motor tends to trap wind-blown sediment, at the expense of juvenile dune formation in front of the existing dunes; the environmental benefits of the hook-shape can be doubted, if it were only because it rapidly evolves to the more natural shape of a gaussian hump and therefore exhibits a very dynamic low biodiverse environment. finally, expectations among stakeholders and the public should be managed by careful framing of this type of high-exposure projects. step 5: overarching objectives met? given this experience, are mega-nourishments the best method to maintain the north sea coast if 40-85 million m3 of sand is needed per year (delta committee, 2008)? in an analysis, ‘before the fact’, mulder et al (2007) conclude on the basis of a numerical model study looking 150 years ahead that: repeated nourishments high on the profile (i.e. the beach or the upper shoreface) are effective in keeping the coastline in place (operational objective), but insufficiently compensate coastal retreat at deeper water; the resulting steepening of the profile leads to an increasing ‘loss’ of sediment to deeper water; from the perspective of the second strategic objective, however, this ‘loss’ is rather a gain, though by itself insufficient to maintain the coastal foundation; maintaining the coastal foundation along with sea level rise ultimately a s y s t em a t ic o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e s t r a t eg ies: to w a r d s sc a le-r eso lv in g p o lic ies 59 reduces coastline retreat; hence a better maintained coastal foundation requires less coastline maintenance in the long run; it can be questioned though whether the reduction of coastline maintenance volumes compensates for the extra sand needed to maintain the coastal foundation. the latter also depends on the exact formulation of the objectives and the definition of the coastal foundation. both the coastline and the coastal foundation profit locally and over a gradually increasing reach from concentrated nourishments. apart from these qualitative conclusions, table 1 shows that 40 million m3 per year would mean roughly 16-17 regular nourishments per year, with a total footprint area of 20  106 m2 and a disturbed coastal length of approximately 67 km. if the whole volume would be realised with mega-nourishments of the size of the sand motor, only 2 would be needed per year, with a total footprint area of 2,6  106 m2 and only 4 km of initially disturbed length. although a comparison of these numbers is probably not fair, they do illustrate the need to prepare for a different nourishment practice utilising larger nourishments. to what extent the benefit/cost ratio of mega-nourishments is higher than that of smaller-scale traditional nourishments depends on the perspective taken. from the point of view of the short-term operational objective of keeping the coastline in place, traditional nourishments may be more cost-effective (immediate return on investment in terms of sand on the coast). yet, the economy of scale works in favour of large nourishments. mobilisation and demobilisation costs are less, as are operational costs, as larger trailing suction hopper dredges can be employed, and less sediment has to be pumped onshore. van der bilt (2019) showed for a regular nourishment project that approximately 60% of the total co2-emissions were associated with pumped unloading. avoiding this significantly reduces the energy expenditure and the co2-footprint. note that changing the preferred nourishment strategy (two 20-million m3 nourishments per year, instead of twenty 2-million m3 nourishments) demands a thorough revision of the present-day planning strategy for coastline maintenance. when taking a strategic, long-term perspective, the additional physical, societal and environmental benefits of mega-nourishments may help turn the balance (oost et al., 2016; brown et al., 2016). to what extent this is indeed the case depends on the local conditions: not every location is suitable along a coast with so many vested interests and so much infrastructure (beach resorts, harbours, marinas, outfalls, landfalls, etc.). step 6: governance context the netherlands government has a clear coastal maintenance policy in r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 60 place, with well-defined strategic and operational objectives at the scale of the dutch coast. prevailing laws and regulations explicitly support the policy of dynamically preserving the coastline with the bkl as a reference, but this is not (yet) the case for the coastal foundation. hence beach and foreshore nourishments have a legal basis and can be enforced, but other types of nourishments, like concentrated mega-nourishment, can be challenged by opponents claiming negative effects. this means that at present, mega-nourishments on the north sea coast require consensus of many stakeholders, which clearly reduces the agility of mega-nourishments as a method of large-scale coastal maintenance. on the other hand, positive side-effects of mega-nourishments increase the number of potentially supportive stakeholders, hence the possibilities for finding additional funding sources. with the lessons learned from the sand motor experiment, application of multiple mega-nourishments seems technically and ecologically feasible, though possibly complicated by the involvement of many stakeholders and vested interests. eco-enhanced scour protection (marine, hard, biotic) step 1: strategic and operational objectives and breakdown of the realisation scheme the north sea is rich in marine resources including fisheries, aggregates (sand and gravel), oil and gas. it is one of the most productive seas in the world, with a wide range of plankton, fish, seabirds and benthic communities. the area contains some of the world’s most important fishing grounds. the deeper northern regions of the north sea have a higher diversity and less biomass than the shallower southern regions. many human activities have an impact on the biodiversity of the north sea. the marine ecosystems are under intense pressure from fishing, fish farming, seaweed farming, invading species, nutrient input, recreational use, habitat loss and climate changes; most notable are the effects of fisheries and eutrophication. as a result, the whole marine ecosystem in the north sea is deteriorating. similar trends are observed in many shelf seas around the world, caused by intensifying exploitation, eutrophication and pollution. (see, for instance, http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/biodiversity_in_the_european_seas#_note-north_sea, http:// reports.eea.europa.eu/report_2002_0524_154909/en). offshore wind farms play an important role in the transition to sustainable energy and much effort and money are spent to develop them. this raises the question to what extent these efforts can be directed to the benefit of ecosystem restoration. commercial fisheries are not allowed in wind farms in the netherlands sector of the north sea (staatscourant, 2018), but this only provides potential shelter and breeding ground to species that easily a s y s t em a t ic o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e s t r a t eg ies: to w a r d s sc a le-r eso lv in g p o lic ies 61 migrate, such as fish. less mobile species, such as crustaceans, reef building worms and shellfish, once removed from the area, do not easily come back via re-colonisation, by lack of larvae sources, favourable biophysical or biochemical feedbacks, and specific habitats. recently, the netherlands government added an extra requirement to tenders for new wind farms in the north sea: ‘to make demonstrable efforts to design and build the wind farm in such a way that it actively enhances the sea’s ecosystem, helping to foster conservation efforts and goals relating to sustainable use of species and habitats that occur naturally in the netherlands’ (regulation 2.15, netherlands enterprise agency, 2018). this nature-inclusive design requirement stimulates engineering consultants and contractors to look for eco-enhancing scour protection methods. it illustrates the government’s additional strategic objective to rehabilitate the north sea ecosystem and make wind farms contribute to it through eco-enhancing measures (operational objective). in the framework of the overarching strategy towards renewable energy, the government has designated a number of areas in the north sea for wind farming (figure 3). figure 3. designated wind park areas in the dutch part of the north sea r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 62 realisation of these wind parks, however, is left to the market, so there is no all-encompassing realisation scheme consisting of envisaged individual wind park projects. moreover, the open formulation of the above requirement does not enforce a coherent overarching realization scheme of eco-enhancing measures. therefore, we will focus on the scalability of a single class of measures, viz. providing suitable hard substrate. step 2: strategic and operational objectives per wind farm project apart from the obvious objective to produce a certain amount of wind energy, the government has introduced an additional strategic objective, namely the requirement to contribute to local ecosystem rehabilitation. this can be realized by creating habitat for a number of designated species (operational objective). depending on the situation, waves and currents may necessitate the seabed around the substructure (mostly monopiles) to be protected against scour, usually by a rock filter (figure 4). the design of these filters used to be based exclusively on technical and financial grounds, but in light of the 2018 requirement it has become attractive to explore how they can contribute to ecosystem rehabilitation. figure 4. scour protection around monopiles: opportunity for habitat creation? (source: van oord) a s y s t em a t ic o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e s t r a t eg ies: to w a r d s sc a le-r eso lv in g p o lic ies 63 step 3: project performance there are basically three methods to ecologically enhance wind farms (groen, 2019): 1. habitat creation or enhancement, such that it is more suitable for a number of target species. scour protection designs can be adapted to achieve this, but also specially designed elements placed in the space between the monopiles (hard substrate, rock mounds, etc.). 2. stock enhancement, which aims at increasing the abundance of less mobile target species by introducing individuals (larvae, juveniles, adults) that have been reared or cultivated elsewhere. this new stock should be large enough to start a viable and self-sustaining colony within the wind farm. 3. food enhancement, which aims at increasing the amount of food available for the target species. this may involve additional habitat creation and stock enhancement for the food or prey species. table 2 gives a suitability index of wind farms for a number of representative species as a function of the degree of eco-enhancement. ns wf + sp wf + esp wf + sp + se wf + esp + se atlantic cod 2 4 5 4 5 european lobster 1 2 3 2 5 flat oyster 0 2 3 3 5 ross worm 1 3 4 3 4 total 4 11 15 12 19 table 2. suitability index (0 = very unsuitable, 5 = very suitable) of wind farms (wf) in the north sea (ns) with a standard scour protection (sp), an enhanced scour protection (esp) and stock enhancement (se). source: groen (2019). focusing on habitat creation for crustaceans and shellfish, eco-enhancement should aim at the creation of shelter or hard substrate. rock-filter scour protections around monopiles (figure 4) provide hard substrate, as well as shelter in the spaces between the rocks. if the top layer of the filter is made coarse enough, this may provide shelter to larger crustaceans, such as lobsters. also, between the monopiles of a wind farm there is space for habitat creation. hard substrate combined with spat seeding may help the return of the flat oyster in the north sea (kamermans et al, 2018). offshore mussel cultures, once economically attractive, are expected to help enrich the marine ecosystem (van den burg et al., 2017). even though fishing within them is not allowed, wind farms may function as breeding, seeding and nursery grounds for the surrounding sea, thus contributing to the stock for fisheries there. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 64 from an ecological perspective boundary conditions are relevant. therefore, the potential to optimise the ecological value of a windfarm depends on the location in the ecosystem. factors such as depth and typology of the seabed, hydrodynamics of waves and currents, distance from coasts and river mouths that govern availability of nutrient and light, suspended sediment concentration and sediment transport, and characteristics of the surrounding ecosystem will determine the type of species communities that can establish successfully within the wind farm. groen (2019) analysed for a number of species the potential contribution of the gemini wind farm, a 600 mw wind park in the north sea north of groningen, consisting of two plots of 75 monopile-based turbines. apart from modifying the rock-filters with a coarser armour layer, he added rock piles, concrete tubes and shell-filled nets in the remaining space. moreover, he imported lobsters and oysters as stock enhancement. table 2 gives an overview of indicative costs and estimated effects. it shows that significant stock increases can be achieved, but at significant extra costs, especially of the coarser armour layer and the adaptation of the filter it necessitates. note, however, that these extra costs are minor as compared with total costs of the wind park. food enhancement will partly be natural, because the seabed is no longer disturbed and mobile species will re-colonize the area. a man-made contribution could be to discard by-catch from passing fishing vessels, but this is by no means sufficient enough and, at the moment, this is against prevailing regulations (in the eu by-catch has to be landed). so far, monitoring of ecological post-implementation project performance is not enforced by wind farm regulations from the netherlands government. this will hamper assessment of project performance from a nature-inclusive design perspective, hence feedback of experience onto new projects. original design enhanced design costs (1000 us$) filter 1995 2888 4115 armour 2095 2851 rock piles 68 concrete tubes 184 shell-filled nets 153 lobster stock enhancement 288 oyster stock enhancement 955 total 4090 7387-8614 effects estimated number of codfish 1,500 93,000 3,000 240,000 estimated number of lobsters < 1,000 2,000 36,000 estimated number of oysters < 1,000 > 20,000 estimated area covered by ross worm 15,000 m2 22,000 m2 table 3. indicative costs and effects of eco-enhancing the design of the 150 monopile 600 mw gemini wind farm. source: groen (2019) a s y s t em a t ic o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e s t r a t eg ies: to w a r d s sc a le-r eso lv in g p o lic ies 65 step 4: objectives met? in the example shown, the strategic objective of contributing to ecological enhancement will probably be met. since concrete operational objectives have not been defined, it is not possible to establish the extent to which they are met. since the effects are estimates based on ecological knowledge gleaned from other locations and other substrates, and there is an influence of the local boundary conditions on what habitats will be established, there is uncertainty how much of the estimates will be (partly) achieved in reality. step 5: overall strategic and operational objective(s) met by the scheme as a whole? as long as there are neither quantified objectives, nor a coherent realisation scheme, this question cannot be be answered. yet, the potential effects of a single 0.6 gw wind park (table 3, bottom part), combined with the ambition of realising as much as 11.5 gw wind energy production on the dutch continental shelf of the north sea by 2030 (also see figure 3), gives the hope that there is potential of a significant degree of larger-scale ecosystem rehabilitation. it can be envisaged that the large scale and wide distribution of offshore wind farms will act as stepping stones for species to re-colonise large parts of the north sea. this needs to be supported by an overarching policy framework that sets clear ecological goals, that allows a translation into operational objectives, otherwise well-meant initiatives per wind park are bound to be wide ranging in technical solutions, and suboptimal or ineffective at the larger scale. step 6: governance context in order for this rehabilitation potential to materialise, co-ordination between wind park developments now and in the future is necessary. this requires an overarching ecological restoration strategy, setting targets for biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics and resilience. this must be supported by national or international legislation enabling the implementation of this strategy. in that regard, the aforementioned requirement of the ministry of economic affairs (2018), though not objectifiable enough, can be considered as a sign of political will. 3. other cases the applicability of the bwn philosophy, and the need to consider the upscaling potential of individual projects, is much wider than the two examples described above. environments in which bwn has been applied range from marine, via coastal and estuarine, to riverine and inland lacustrine. the r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 66 infrastructure development may involve abiotic interventions (sand, mud, rock) intended to enhance the ecosystem, biotic ones (seeds, larvae, vegetation, biobuilders) meant to aid or replace hard engineering structures, or mixtures of the two (see table 4 for a number of examples). environment abiotic mixed biotic marine landscaped sand extraction sites (de jong et al., 2015) eco-enhanced scour protection (lengkeek et al., 2017) coral rehabilitation (doropoulos et al., 2019) increase speed of habitat recovery by depth variation rehabilitate shelf sea ecosystem by habitat creation restore ecosystem by seeding or transplanting coral coastal sand motor (luijendijk & van oudenhove, 2019) mangrove rehabilitation (winterwerp et al., 2013) marrowgrass plantation (mcharg, 1969) reduce effective impact on submarine ecosystem / create sandy supratidal habitat for pioneers restore mangrove-based ecosystem and fish stock create conditions for pioneer dune vegetation estuarine shoal nourishment (van der werf et al., 2019) oyster reefs (walles et al., 2016) spartina introduction (chen at al., 2008) restore intertidal habitat and bird foraging area maintain intertidal habitat / formation of live oyster banks maintain intertidal marsh / create habitat for other species riverine longitudinal training dams (collas et al., 2017) willow forest foreshore (de vries et al, 2021) reedbed creation (sussex wildlife trust, 2013) create more diverse river bed habitat restore native vegetation, create wetland habitat create habitat for endangered bird species lacustrine houtribdijk sandy foreshore (steetzel, 2017) marker wadden (natuurmonumenten, 2019) reedbed creation (sussex wildlife trust, 2013) create sand-rich habitat for lacustrine vegetation create bird-paradise / clean up surrounding waters create habitat for endangered bird species table 4. examples of ecological objectives (obj.) to which bwn-solutions (case) in different environments contribute 4. discussion the cases described herein illustrate that for bwn solutions to achieve their full potential at the system scale, they need to be based on a thorough understanding of the natural system, plausibly embedded in a large-scale strategy, as well as part of a larger scale co-ordinated policy arrangement, supported by corresponding legislation and regulations. moreover, techniques to quantify the effects of multiple bwn projects at the scale of the ambient biotic and abiotic systems need to be developed or improved and supported, more than at present, by post-project monitoring programs. this will ultimately enable plausible estimates of the regional-scale effects and evala s y s t em a t ic o b jec t if y in g b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e s t r a t eg ies: to w a r d s sc a le-r eso lv in g p o lic ies 67 uation against overarching strategic and operational objectives at this scale level. since it interacts with the natural system, and is part of the natural system, bwn inherently involves uncertainties as it is subject to natural variability and dynamics. this means that plausible estimates of the effects are the best one can give, exact quantities make no sense. it also means that objectives concerning the ecosystem need to be formulated in approximate terms and should focus on the system’s resilience, rather than on numbers of individual species. a way forward could be habitat area mapping (specific for each species community) and habitat quality assessment (considering various kinds of local influence factors and larger-scale factors such as connectivity). they can be the basis for estimating both local and large-scale effects. if climate change comes into play, the rate of change of environmental conditions such as temperature is important. since the infrastructural projects applying bwn solutions are often designed for many years ahead, climate change scenarios have to be taken into account when considering the long-term effects. the present analysis focuses mainly on the ecosystem, but other environmental aspects, such as carbon and nitrate emission and sequestration also need to be considered. greenhouse gas emissions of dredging operations to realise sandy solutions can be optimised, but so far, the costs of emission reduction are often much higher than the value society attributes to it at the emission market. co2 as well as nitrate are bound by vegetation, but they also stimulate certain species, so the question is whether it is the desired vegetation that survives in the long run. this raises the issue of maintenance of the nature component of bwn solutions in order to keep them functioning. post-project monitoring is vital to make progress here and allow future improvement to such bwn designs. 5. conclusion reality-checking of bwn-solutions for larger-scale applicability requires two perspectives: (1) what is required to realise the large-scale strategic objectives and (2) what is the performance of a single bwn-project in the light of these requirements? the frame of reference method offers a systematic way to evaluate bwn-solutions from these two perspectives. the cases considered herein make clear that plausible quantification of effects and evaluation of effectiveness are only possible if objectives have been formulated in quantifiable terms. they also show that effectively applying multiple bwn-solutions at a regional scale requires a well-defined overarching strategy and legislation directing realisation. in many cases, both are still lacking. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 68 yet, it has become clear that many bwn-solutions have a distinct upscaling potential for many types of ecosystems. it is evident that post-implementation monitoring is scarce, hampering the iterative process of the for and therefore the degree of learning from realised innovations. mainstreaming bwn clearly requires more work at various fronts and by various parties. acknowledgements part of the work done for this paper is part of the bwn innovation programme, which was funded jointly by the partners of the ecoshape consortium, the netherlands government, the european fund for regional development and the municipality of dordrecht. a s y s t em a t ic 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(2013). defining eco-morphodynamic requirements for rehabilitating eroding mangrove-mud coasts.  wetlands,  33(3), 515– 526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-013-0409-x r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 72 collaborative housing the resurgence of collectively self-organised and self-managed housing in europe vivienda colaborativa el resurgimiento de la vivienda auto-organizada y auto-gestionada colectivamente en europa darinka czischke faculty of architecture and the built environment | delft university of technology doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3986 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 40 abstract against the backdrop of the current housing crisis, europe has seen the (re) emergence of collectively self-organised housing projects. collaborative housing stands as an umbrella term for the wide range of these housing forms, where groups of residents collectively design, develop and inhabit housing. this chapter provides a brief characterization of the motives underlying these new types of housing forms, and lays out challenges and opportunities that these projects entail. in doing so, it applies the concept of co-production, which signals a new paradigm in the way of conceiving the relationship between residents and professionals in housing provision. keywords collaborative housing; collective self-organization; co-production; housing crisis; europe. c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a 41 resumen en el contexto de la actual crisis de vivienda, europa ha visto el (re)surgimiento de la vivienda colectivamente auto-organizada. “vivienda colaborativa” opera como concepto paragua que engloba la amplia gama de estas formas de vivienda, donde grupos de residentes diseñan, desarrollan y habitan colectivamente. este capítulo proporciona una breve caracterización de los motivos que subyacen a estas nuevas formas de vivienda, y presenta desafíos y oportunidades que conllevan estos proyectos. el concepto de “coproducción” es utilizado aquí para designar un nuevo paradigma en la forma de concebir la relación entre residentes y profesionales en la provisión de vivienda. palabras claves vivienda colaborativa; auto-organización colectiva; coproducción; crisis de la vivienda; europa. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 42 housing in europe is currently undergoing a period of crisis, characterized mainly by a lack of affordability. in 2017, the price of housing in the european union (eu) increased by 4.5% (eurostat, 2017). this growth has been faster than that of household incomes. in 2016, 11.1% of households in the eu spent 40% or more of their available household income on housing (see figure 1). this means that a very high proportion of the household’s income is dedicated to housing. the situation is quite paradoxical regarding access to mortgage loans. on the one hand, interest rates are very low, which favours the increase in prices; on the other hand, the requirements by lending institutions to access a mortgage are much more demanding than before the 2008 global financial and economic crisis (gfec). the result is that the mortgage market favours households with higher incomes, as credit is not accessible to those who would need it most especially the young and vulnerable groups. at a spatial level, this gap translates into the difference in housing prices between the major european metropolises, and the economically less attractive territories. as a background to this situation, in the last decades, social housing provision systems in europe have experienced important changes linked to profound transformations of the post-war welfare state. briefly explained, the allocation of social housing (subsidized rent) is increasingly focused on the poorest and vulnerable people, to the detriment of low-middle-income households that in past decades were also beneficiaries of this type of subsidies. this process, called “residualisation”, is enhanced by the difficulties of mortgage credit access for middle-income households, which leaves an increasing number of households in europe in a “vacuum”. that is: on the one hand, they do not qualify for social housing, and on the other, they cannot access housing in the free market (see, for example, czischke & van bortel, 2018). it is in this context that a series of collective housing initiatives have re-emerged seeking to fill this gap, as well as other demands from sectors of middle-income households. as of the year 2000, alternative models of housing provision have proliferated in many european countries, including a new wave of initiatives led by self-organized groups. these include, for example, cooperatives of inhabitants; collective self-help and self-built housing initiatives; “cohousing”; “community land trusts” (clts); among other models. we refer to the wide range of these collectively self-organised housing initiatives under the umbrella term “collaborative housing” (fromm, 2012; lang, carriou & czischke, 2019). these groups share certain values and motivations regarding their way of life, which guide the project from the beginning, shaping a common vision of their housing project. since the origin of the first cooperative and community housing models more than a century ago, the aspiration to a life in community has been a main motivation in these projects (see box 1). c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a 43 la vivienda en europa atraviesa actualmente un periodo de crisis, caracterizada principalmente por un déficit de asequibilidad. en 2017, el precio de la vivienda en europa aumentó un 4,5% (eurostat, 2017). este crecimiento ha sido más rápido que el de los ingresos de los hogares. en 2016, un 11,1 % de los hogares en la unión europea gastaron 40% o un porcentaje mayor de sus ingresos disponibles en la vivienda (véase figura 1). esto significa que una proporción altísima del ingreso familiar se dedica a la vivienda. la situación es bastante paradójica respecto al acceso a créditos hipotecarios. por una parte, las tasas de interés son muy bajas, lo que favorece el aumento de precios; por otra, los requisitos bancarios para acceder a una hipoteca son mucho más exigentes que antes de la crisis. el resultado es que el mercado hipotecario favorece a los hogares de mayores ingresos, ya que este dinero no es accesible a los que más lo necesitarían, especialmente los jóvenes y las personas vulnerables. a nivel espacial, esta brecha se traduce en la diferencia de precios de la vivienda entre las grandes metrópolis europeas, y los territorios económicamente menos atractivos. como trasfondo a esta situación, los sistemas de provisión de vivienda social en europa han experimentado hace décadas importantes cambios vinculados a profundas transformaciones del estado de bienestar de posguerra. en breve, la adjudicación de la vivienda social (arriendo subsidiado) se está focalizando crecientemente en los más pobres y en las personas vulnerables, en detrimento de hogares de ingresos medio-bajos que en décadas pasadas también eran beneficiarios de este tipo de vivienda. este proceso, llamado “residualización”, se potencia con las dificultades de acceso a crédito hipotecario para hogares de ingresos medios, lo cual deja un número creciente de hogares en europa en un “vacío”, es decir: por una parte, no califican para obtener vivienda social, y por otra, no pueden acceder a vivienda en el mercado libre (véase, por ejemplo, czischke & van bortel, 2018). es en este contexto que han resurgido una serie de iniciativas colectivas que buscan cubrir esta brecha, así como otras demandas de sectores de estratos económicos medios, a las que nos referiremos a través del concepto de “vivienda colaborativa” (fromm, 2012; lang, carriou & czischke, 2019). a partir del año 2000, en muchos países europeos han proliferado modelos alternativos de provisión de vivienda, incluyendo una nueva oleada de iniciativas lideradas por grupos auto-organizados. estos incluyen, por ejemplo, cooperativas de habitantes; iniciativas colectivas de vivienda de auto-ayuda y construcción; “cohousing”; “community land trusts” (clts); entre otros modelos. el término “vivienda colaborativa” engloba esta amplia gama de proyectos de vivienda auto-organizada y auto-gestionada colectivamente por grupos de personas que serán residentes. estos grupos comparten ciertos valores y motivaciones respecto a su forma de vivir, los que guían el proyecto desde el comienzo, otorgándoles una visión común de su hábitat deseado. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 44 figure 1: housing cost overburden rate by tenure status. source: eurostat. figura 1: tasa de sobrecoste de la vivienda por forma de tenencia. fuente: eurostat. c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a 45 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 46 box 1: cohousing and life as a community: centraal wonen delft (delft, the netherlands) source: sara brysch. recuadro 1: cohousing y vida en comunidad: centraal wonen delft (delft, países bajos). fuente: sara brysch. project developed in the 70s; led by the architect and resident philip krabbendam. the land belongs to the municipality and the flats are social rental housing owned by the duwo foundation (woonstichting), which is responsible for the administration and general maintenance of the complex. the design sought to promote that families do not isolate themselves and share as many common spaces as possible. the spatial organization is based on individual rooms, groups, clusters and the building, with different degrees of privacy. groups (8 10 people) share kitchen and a living room. clusters (3 4 groups) share workrooms, laundry, gardens and bicycle parking. all residents share a bar, a yoga room and a physiotherapy room, and an orchard. proyecto desarrollado en los años 70’s; liderazgo del arquitecto y residente philip krabbendam. son viviendas sociales en arriendo. terreno pertenece a la municipalidad. viviendas propiedad de la fundación duwo (woonstichting), quien se ocupa de la administración y mantención del conjunto. el diseño buscó promover que las familias no se aislaran y compartieran la mayor cantidad de espacios comunes. organización en base a piezas individuales, grupos, clusters y el edificio, existiendo diferentes grados de privacidad. grupo (8 10 personas) comparte cocina y livingcluster (3 4 grupos) comparte talleres, lavandería, jardines y estacionamiento de bicicletas. todos los residentes comparten un bar, sala de yoga y fisioterapia y huertos. c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a 47 box 2: sustainability and social inclusion: cooperative of inhabitants ‘vertical village’, villeurbane, grand lyon (france). source: darinka czischke. recuadro 2: sostenibilidad e inclusión social: cooperativa de habitantes ‘village vertical’, villeurbane, grand lyon (france). fuente: darinka czischke. “residents’ coorperative”: in this housing project, residents have a double status: they are owners of the collective areas and members of the cooperative that leases their homes. the project was realised thanks to alliances between: the national umbrella association for residents’ cooperatives “habicoop”; the social housing company (hlm) rhône-saône-habitat; the municipality of villeurbanne, grand lyon; and the general council of the rhone-alpes region. the socio-economic composition of the project is 60% rental social rental housing for medium-low incoms; 30% social rental housing for low incomes; and 10% subsidized housing for people with very low incomes. the social housing organisation (hlm cooperative) administers the building and the apartments. the high environmental standards sought by the residents led them to hire architects with expertise in green buildings. ‘cooperativa de habitantes’: residentes tienen el doble status de propietarios de las áreas colectivas y miembros de la cooperativa de arriendo de sus viviendas. alianzas entre: asociación de cooperativas de habitantes “habicoop”; empresa de vivienda social (hlm) rhône-saône-habitat; municipalidad de villeurbanne, grand lyon; consejo general de la región rhone-alpes. ‘mix’ socio-económico (sólo arriendo): 60% vivienda social de arriendo (ingreso medio-bajo) y 30% vivienda social de arriendo (ingreso bajo), 10% vivienda subsidiada para personas de ingresos muy bajos. una entidad externa (cooperativa hlm) administra el edificio y los departamentos de vivienda social. los alto estándares medio ambientales buscados por los residentes los llevaron a contratar arquitectos expertos en edificios ecológicos. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 48 at the same time, the feminist movement of the 1970s found expression in forms of community living, where domestic duties are shared equally among all residents (vestbro & horelli, 2012). in addition, the concern for the environment and the aspiration for more environmentally sustainable ways of living are among the motivations that have re-emerged with great force in the current context (see box 2). furthermore, the ageing of the population in europe, which brings enormous challenges in terms of health and physical and psychological well-being of the elderly, is one of the main motivations in a growing number of projects. among these, the collaborative housing approach called “second half of life housing” stands out. this approach brings together people who seek to live as a community during their retirement stages and/or when their children leave the family (labit, 2015). in general terms, collaborative housing is characterized by a high level of involvement of residents in the conception, development and management of the project; as well as by the establishment of relationships of reciprocity, mutual aid and solidarity within the community. in this respect, collaborative housing today can be understood as part of the “co-production” paradigm (pestoff & brandsen, 2013; needham, 2008; ostrom, 1996), which has gained increasing popularity in both academic and public policy circles over the last decades. this concept is mainly applied to the provision of public services through “(...) an equal and reciprocal relationship between the professionals, the users of the service, their families and their neighbors” (boyle & harris, 2009, p.14, own translation). this implies a fundamental change in the relationship between service providers and users, emphasizing the role of the latter as active agents, rather than passive beneficiaries of the service (see figure 2). in the case of collaborative housing, the paradigm of co-production imposes important challenges on the role of professionals involved in the various stages of cooperation with residents, such as architects, urban planners and real estate agents, among others. this requires moving from a logic of professional-client relationship to a more horizontal relationship, where the experience, skills and aspirations of each is considered in equal measure. in this chapter we have briefly presented a new conceptualization of the collective ways of conceiving and co-producing housing, called “collaborative housing”. we can conclude that, although these forms have existed in different variants throughout europe and other countries for more than a century, the current context characterized by the “housing crisis” as well as growing concerns for the environment open up new challenges and opportunities. among the challenges, recent literature highlights the need to establish local and national legal and regulatory frameworks that facilitate these alternative ways of living (czischke, zijlstra & carriou, 2016). likewise, as noted above, this new way of conceiving housing provision requires re-thinking and c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a 49 desde el origen de los primeros modelos cooperativos y comunitarios de vivienda hace más de un siglo, la aspiración a una vida en comunidad ha sido una motivación principal en estos proyectos (ver recuadro 1). al mismo tiempo, el movimiento feminista de la década de los 1970 encontró expresión en formas de habitar comunitarias, donde los deberes domésticos se comparten igualitariamente entre todos los residentes (vestbro & horelli, 2012). la preocupación por el medio ambiente y la aspiración de formas de vida ambientalmente más sostenibles está entre las motivaciones que han resurgido con gran fuerza en el contexto actual (ver recuadro 2). al mismo tiempo, el envejecimiento de la población en europa, que conlleva desafíos enormes en cuanto a salud y bienestar física y psicológica de personas mayores, es uno de las motivaciones principales en un creciente número de proyectos. entre éstos, destaca el enfoque de vivienda colaborativa para la “segunda mitad de la vida” que agrupa a personas que buscan vivir en comunidad la etapa de sus vidas una vez que jubilan y/o sus hijos dejan el familiar (labit, 2015). en términos generales, la vivienda colaborativa se caracteriza por un alto nivel de involucramiento de los residentes en la concepción, el desarrollo y la gestión del proyecto, así como por el establecimiento de relaciones de reciprocidad, ayuda mutua y solidaridad en la comunidad. en este sentido, la vivienda colaborativa hoy en día se enmarca dentro del paradigma de la “coproducción” (pestoff & brandsen, 2013; needham, 2008; ostrom, 1996), que ha adquirido creciente popularidad tanto en círculos académicos como de políticas públicas en las últimas décadas. este término se aplica principalmente a la provisión de servicios públicos a través de “(…) una relación igualitaria y recíproca entre los profesionales, las personas usuarias del servicio, sus familias y sus vecinos” (boyle & harris, 2009, p.14, traducción propia). esto implica un cambio fundamental en la relación entre los proveedores del servicio y los usuarios, enfatizando el rol de estos últimos como agentes activos, en vez de beneficiarios pasivos, del servicio (ver figura 2). en el caso de la vivienda colaborativa, el paradigma de la coproducción impone desafíos importantes al rol de los profesionales involucrados en las distintas etapas de cooperación con los residentes, tales como arquitectos, planificadores urbanos y agentes inmobiliarios, entre otros. esto requiere pasar de una lógica de profesional/cliente a una relación de carácter horizontal, donde la experiencia, capacidades y aspiraciones de cada cual es tomada en cuenta en igual medida. en este capítulo hemos presentado brevemente una nueva conceptualización de las formas colectivas de concebir y coproducir el hábitat residencial en actualidad, denominada “vivienda colaborativa”. a modo de conclusión, podemos decir que, si bien estas formas han existido en distintas variantes lo largo de europa y de otros países hace más de un siglo, el contexto actur iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 50 re-designing education and training of professionals working in these areas, so that they can establish horizontal relationships with residents. among the opportunities, we can mention the potential of developing ways of harmonious coexistence that benefit not only these projects’ residents, but also their neighbours; the proven benefits for physical and mental health for older adults living in these communities; and the implementation of more sustainable ways of living thanks to collective and environmentally responsible practices of consumption and disposal of waste, among others. figure 2: the gradient of co-production (own translation). source: www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk. figura 2: la gradiente de la coproducción (traducción propia). fuente: www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk. c o ll a b o r a t iv e h o u sin g v iv ien d a c o l a b o r a t iv a 51 al caracterizado por la llamada “crisis de la vivienda” así como la creciente preocupación por el medio ambiente, le otorga nuevos matices, desafíos y oportunidades. dentro de los retos, literatura reciente en el tema destaca la necesidad de diseñar y establecer marcos legales y regulatorios locales y nacionales que acojan y faciliten estas formas alternativas del habitar (czischke, zijlstra & carriou, 2016). asimismo, como indicamos anteriormente, esta nueva forma de concebir la producción del habitar requiere repensar y rediseñar la formación de profesionales que trabajan en estos ámbitos, para que sean capaces de establecer relaciones horizontales de coproducción con los residentes. dentro de las oportunidades, destaca el potencial de desarrollar formas de convivencia armónicas que beneficien no sólo a los residentes de estos proyectos, sino también a los vecinos de los barrios donde estos se localizan; los comprobados beneficios para la salud física y mental para adultos mayores residentes en estas comunidades; y la implementación de formas de vida más sostenibles gracias a prácticas colectivas de consumo y disposición de desechos ambientalmente responsables, entre otros. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 52 references / referencias boyle, d., & harris, m. (2009). the challenges of co-production. how equal partnerships between professionals and the public are crucial to improving public service. london: new economics foundation (nef) & national endowment for science, technology and the arts (nesta). retrieved from http://centerforborgerdialog.dk/sites/default/files/ cfb_images/bannere/the_challenge_of_co-production.pdf czischke, d., & van bortel, g. (2018). an exploration of concepts and polices on ‘affordable housing’in england, italy, poland and the netherlands. journal of housing and the built environment, 1-21. czischke, d., zijlstra, s., & carriou, c. (2016). the rise of collaborative housing approaches in england, france and the netherlands: (how) are national housing policies responding? paper presented at the workshop on collaborative housing, enhr conference “governance, territory and housing”, belfast (northern ireland), 28 june – 1 july 2016. fromm, d. (2012). seeding community: collaborative housing as a strategy for social and neighborhood repair. built environment, 38(3), 364-394. ostrom, e. (1996). crossing the great divide: coproduction, synergy and development. world development, 24 (6), 1073–1087. pestoff, v., & brandsen, t. (2013). co-production: the third sector and the delivery of public services. oxon and new york, ny: routledge. needham, c. (2008). realising the potential of co-production: negotiating improvements in public services. social policy and society, 7(2), 221–231. reflections on european social housing models and opportunities for housing cooperatives from a dutch perspective reflexión sobre el modelo de vivienda social europeo y oportunidades para cooperativas de vivienda a través del caso de los paises bajos vincent gruis faculty of architecture and the built environment | delft university of technology doi: 10.7480/rius.5.3985 r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 28 abstract this chapter briefly reflects on european social housing models and mainly discusses opportunities for housing cooperatives in the dutch housing system. since the introduction of the new housing act in 2015 in the netherlands, there are legal opportunities for social housing tenants to form cooperatives. however, in practice, this does not happen a lot yet. from our analysis of the dutch housing systems it is concluded that it is unlikely that it will take place on a larger scale, among others due to a lack of tradition (path dependency) and support from housing corporations – the main owners of social housing in the netherlands. keywords social housing, housing cooperatives, path dependency, housing corporations, the netherlands r eflec t io n s o n eu r o p e a n so c ia l h o u sin g m o d els ... r efle x ió n so b r e el m o d elo d e v iv ien d a so c ia l eu r o p eo y o p o r t u n id a d es p a r a c o o p er a t iv a s d e v iv ien d ... 29 resumen este capítulo reflexiona brevemente sobre los modelos de vivienda social europeos y presenta las oportunidades para las cooperativas de vivienda en el sistema de vivienda holandés. la introducción de la nueva acta de vivienda el 2015 en los países bajos, abrió oportunidades legales para los arrendatarios de vivienda social de formar cooperativas. sin embargo, su implementación no ha sido masiva en la práctica. desde nuestro análisis del sistema de vivienda holandesa se puede concluir que es poco probable que esto suceda a una gran escala, entre otros factores, debido a la falta de tradición (trayectorias dependientes) y a la falta de apoyo desde las corporaciones de vivienda, quienes son los principales dueños de la vivienda social en los países bajos. palabras claves vivienda social, cooperativas de vivienda, trayectorias dependientes, corporaciones de vivienda, países bajos. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 30 1. reflections on european social housing models and opportunities for housing cooperatives from a dutch perspective there is not one european model for social housing provision and management. there is a wide variety of models regarding for example tenure (owner-occupied, rent, cooperative, mixed tenure), or when looking at the provider (state, market, third-sector, community organizations), the allocation criteria (ranging from restricted to the relatively low-income households to open to a broad part of society) or the finance mechanism (public grants, revolving funds, private finance, mortgages etc.). even within countries, there is often more than one system in place to provide social housing, which is one of the reasons why there is not one commonly accepted definition of social housing in europe, not even within the eu (see e.g. brava & palvarini, 2013). in more general terms, a very rough distinction can be made between countries with an emphasis on social housing provision through subsidized owner-occupied housing (mostly southern and post-communist eastern european countries) and countries with an emphasis on rental housing which usually have rents set below market rents to increase the affordability (mostly north-western european countries). additionally, various forms of cooperative housing exist in many european countries as well. for example, housing cooperatives manage over 2,5 million dwellings in poland, approximately 20% of the total housing stock in the country, 17% in the czech republic and sweden and 15% in norway, but in many other european countries it has a small share. on average 10% of european households live in cooperatives (cecodhas housing europe and ica housing, 2012). the main housing policy and tenure form is argued to be related to countries’ welfare systems and socio-cultural preferences that have developed over years (e.g. hoekstra, 2010). consequently, the dominant shapes of social housing provision are highly path-dependent (e.g boelhouwer & van der heijden, 1993). nevertheless, as for example van bortel et al. (2018) indicate, there is an increasing hybridity in the provision of social housing. traditionally, there has been a more or less singular relationship between the providing entity of social housing and the tenant, and in recent decades hybrid forms of provision have emerged, in which housing is provided through cooperation between different types of actors, including a growing collaboration between the tenants and professional housing providers, as well as an increasing mix of public and private finance. moreover, the term social housing is more and more replaced and/or complemented by the term affordable housing, reflecting among others the acknowledgement that also middle-income households have increasing problems to secure affordable housing, particularly in larger european cities (among others due to the continuous urbanisation) (e.g. czisr eflec t io n s o n eu r o p e a n so c ia l h o u sin g m o d els ... r efle x ió n so b r e el m o d elo d e v iv ien d a so c ia l eu r o p eo y o p o r t u n id a d es p a r a c o o p er a t iv a s d e v iv ien d ... 31 1. reflexión sobre el modelo de vivienda social europeo y oportunidades para cooperativas de vivienda a través del caso de paises bajos no existe un único modelo europeo para la provisión y gestión de viviendas sociales. por el contrario, existe una amplia variedad de modelos relacionados, por ejemplo, con la tenencia (en propiedad, alquiler, cooperativa, tenencia mixta), o cuando se mira al proveedor (estado, mercado, tercer sector, organizaciones comunitarias), los criterios de asignación (que van desde los criterios restringidos a los hogares de ingresos relativamente bajos hasta los que se abren a una gran parte de la sociedad) o al mecanismo financiero (subvenciones públicas, fondos rotatorios, finanzas privadas, hipotecas, etc.). incluso dentro de los países, a menudo hay más de un sistema establecido para proporcionar vivienda social, que es una de las razones por las que no existe una definición comúnmente aceptada de vivienda social en europa, ni siquiera dentro de la ue (véase, por ejemplo, brava & palvarini, 2013). en términos más generales, se puede hacer una distinción muy aproximada entre países con énfasis en la provisión de vivienda social a través de viviendas subsidiadas ocupadas por sus propietarios (en su mayoría países de europa del sur y postcomunistas de europa del este) y países con énfasis en viviendas de alquiler que usualmente tienen precios de alquiler establecidos por debajo de las rentas del mercado para aumentar la asequibilidad (en su mayoría países del noroeste de europa). además, también existen varias formas de vivienda cooperativa en muchos países europeos. por ejemplo, las cooperativas de vivienda administran más de 2,5 millones de viviendas en polonia, aproximadamente el 20% del total de viviendas en el país, el 17% en la república checa y suecia, y el 15% en noruega, pero en muchos otros países europeos tienen una pequeña cuota. en promedio, el 10% de los hogares europeos viven en cooperativas (cecodhas housing europe e ica housing, 2012). se sostiene que la principal política de vivienda y forma de tenencia está relacionada con los sistemas de bienestar de los países y las preferencias socioculturales que se han desarrollado a lo largo de los años (por ejemplo, hoekstra, 2010). esto implica que las formas dominantes de la provisión de viviendas sociales son altamente dependientes de la trayectoria (por ejemplo, boelhouwer & van der heijden, 1993). sin embargo, como por ejemplo van bortel et al. (2018) indican, hay una creciente hibridez en la provisión de viviendas sociales. si bien tradicionalmente ha habido una relación más o menos directa entre la entidad proveedora de vivienda social y el inquilino, en las últimas décadas han surgido formas híbridas de provisión, en las cuales la vivienda se proporciona a través de la cooperación entre diferentes tipos de actores. dentro de estas cooperaciones, se incluye una creciente colaboración entre los inquilinos y los proveedores profesionales de vivienda, así como unr iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 32 chke & van bortel, 2018). nevertheless, the dutch experience indicates that these new, more hybrid forms of housing provision, still have to conquer a place among mainstream forms of (social) housing provision and this counts in particular for the institutionalized form of housing cooperatives. the netherlands is characterized by a relatively large share of social rented housing, being approximately 30% of the total dutch housing stock, which is higher than in any other country in the european union. 56 % of the stock is owner occupied and 14 % private rent (rented out by private landlords and institutional investors). the netherlands has only very few housing cooperatives. in fact, they are so few that they are not even recognized as a separate tenure category in national data on housing tenures. social rented housing in the netherlands is mainly owned and managed by housing corporations, which are private not-for-profit institutions that operate within a specific public regulatory framework. their main task is to provide rental housing that is affordable for people with relatively low-incomes. they are allowed to provide housing for higher-income households as well, but will not receive state support for this. dwellings with a rent below a level determined by central government regulations, have to be allocated mainly to households with an income below a level determined by state regulations. however, if tenants’ income rises above the threshold, they cannot be forced to leave the dwelling, under dutch rent protection laws. the state support for social housing mainly consists of the central and local government jointly acting as backup for a guarantee on loans that housing corporations attract to develop and maintain social rented housing. this backup secures easy access for housing corporations to loans on the capital market against low-interest rates. for the rest, deficits in investments for new construction and renovation of social rented housing must be covered by surpluses from the exploitation and sales of parts of the housing stock. roughly since the 1980s, after decades of post-war stimulation of housing provision through the housing corporations, the dutch government has diminished its direct support (through “bricks-and-mortar” subsidies) for social rented housing. tenants with a low income are, however, eligible for an individual housing allowance depending on their income and the rent of their dwelling and home-ownership is supported through a (significant) tax deduction facility for interest on mortgages. the shift away from direct support of social rented housing was part of a more general trend of neo-liberalism in europe (e.g. boelhouwer, 1997), but also rooted in the (not undisputed) notion that there is sufficient social rented housing in comparison to the number of low-income households in the netherlands (ministry of vrom, 1989). in this context of state withdrawal in direct housing provision, both central and local government are sympathetic towards collaborative forms of provision, in which groups of households jointly provide for and/or manage their housing. r eflec t io n s o n eu r o p e a n so c ia l h o u sin g m o d els ... r efle x ió n so b r e el m o d elo d e v iv ien d a so c ia l eu r o p eo y o p o r t u n id a d es p a r a c o o p er a t iv a s d e v iv ien d ... 33 acombinación cada vez mayor de financiación pública y privada. además, el término vivienda social es cada vez más reemplazado y/o complementado por el término vivienda asequible; lo que refleja, entre otros, el reconocimiento de que también los hogares de ingresos medios tienen problemas cada vez mayores para asegurar una vivienda asequible, particularmente en ciudades europeas más grandes (entre otras, debido a la urbanización continua) (por ejemplo, czischke & van bortel, 2018). sin embargo, la experiencia holandesa indica que estas nuevas formas, más híbridas, de provisión de vivienda, todavía tienen que conquistar un lugar entre las formas corrientes de provisión de vivienda (social), y esto cuenta en particular para la forma institucionalizada de cooperativas de vivienda. los países bajos se caracterizan por una proporción relativamente grande de viviendas sociales alquiladas, que representan aproximadamente el 30% del total de viviendas holandesas, que es mayor que en cualquier otro país de la unión europea. el 56% del parque habitacional está ocupado por el propietario y el 14% de alquiler privado (alquilado por propietarios privados e inversionistas institucionales). los países bajos tienen muy pocas cooperativas de vivienda. de hecho, son tan pocos que ni siquiera son reconocidos como una categoría de tenencia separada en los datos nacionales sobre tenencias de vivienda. las viviendas de alquiler social en los países bajos están administradas por corporaciones de vivienda, y son principalmente propiedad de estas. las corporaciones de vivienda son instituciones privadas sin fines de lucro que operan dentro de un marco regulatorio público específico. su tarea principal es proporcionar viviendas de alquiler que sean asequibles para personas con ingresos relativamente bajos. también se les permite proporcionar vivienda a los hogares de mayores ingresos, aunque no reciben apoyo estatal para esto. las viviendas con un alquiler bajo el nivel definido en las regulaciones del gobierno central deben asignarse principalmente a los hogares están también por debajo del nivel determinado el estado. sin embargo, según las leyes holandesas de protección de alquileres, si los ingresos de los inquilinos aumentan por encima del umbral, no se les puede obligar a abandonar la vivienda. el apoyo estatal a la vivienda social consiste principalmente en que el gobierno central y el gobierno local actúan conjuntamente como respaldo de una garantía de préstamos que las corporaciones de vivienda atraen para desarrollar y mantener viviendas sociales de alquiler. este respaldo garantiza un acceso fácil para las corporaciones de vivienda a préstamos en el mercado de capital con bajas tasas de interés. para el resto, los déficits en las inversiones para nuevas construcciones y renovaciones de viviendas sociales alquiladas deben cubrirse con excedentes de la explotación y venta de partes del parque de viviendas. aproximadamente desde la década de 1980, después de décadas de estimr iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 34 since the introduction of the new housing act in 2015, housing corporations are obliged to consider handing over the property or management of their housing stock to their tenants, if there is sufficient interest amongst tenants to form a housing cooperative. former member of senate adri duivesteijn, has played a crucial role in advocating for the introduction of this possibility in the new housing act. he argued that transfer of housing from housing corporations to housing cooperatives would lead to empowerment of households and a greater involvement with their living environment and at the same time would generate cash for new investments by housing corporations (duivesteijn, 2013). since the recent introduction of the possibility to establish housing cooperatives, there have been only a few cases in which a transfer from a housing corporation to a cooperative has taken place. this may have to do with the fact that it is still a relatively new possibility and initiatives to form a housing cooperative will develop in the coming years, but there are other explanations which hamper implementation in the netherlands as well. as stated above, there is no tradition of cooperative housing in the netherlands, which means that households are not used to it and nor are banks. the lack of tradition makes dutch banks reluctant to provide mortgages to cooperatives, because they do not know the risks and do not have “standard” financial arrangements in place. the dutch regulatory context is not mature either. whilst there are well developed regulations for rented housing and home-owners’ associations, there is no specific regulatory framework for the management and finance of cooperatives. the lack of tradition makes it also questionable how large the (potential) demand for housing cooperatives in the netherlands is, particularly when there still are options at the social rented and private sector for many. and although collaborative housing initiatives are increasingly applied in urban renewal processes (e.g. krokfors, 2012; fromm, 2012; droste, 2015), they may be easiest to apply to new housing development in which locations can be matched with groups with similar interests. in the case of an existing, inhabited housing estate, the chance of having sufficient households within that estate interested in establishing a housing cooperative is in general probably lower. for massive take-up, however, increased community involvement in the existing stock is crucial, if only because of the low share of new developments in housing provision, compared to the existing stock (van bortel et al., 2018). if the establishment of housing cooperatives from the existing housing stock in the netherlands is to be stimulated, a strong involvement of housing corporations would be necessary, if only because of their share in the total housing stock and their legal obligation to respond to tenant initiatives to establish a housing cooperative. although housing corporations are generally r eflec t io n s o n eu r o p e a n so c ia l h o u sin g m o d els ... r efle x ió n so b r e el m o d elo d e v iv ien d a so c ia l eu r o p eo y o p o r t u n id a d es p a r a c o o p er a t iv a s d e v iv ien d ... 35 ulación post-guerra de la provisión de viviendas a través de las corporaciones de vivienda, el gobierno holandés ha disminuido su apoyo directo (a través de subsidios de “ladrillos y mortero”) para viviendas de alquiler social. sin embargo, los inquilinos con bajos ingresos son elegibles para un subsidio de vivienda individual en función de sus ingresos y el alquiler de su vivienda, y la propiedad de la vivienda se financia a través de una (significativa) deducción de impuestos por intereses sobre hipotecas. el cambio del apoyo directo a las viviendas sociales alquiladas formaba parte de una tendencia más general del neoliberalismo en europa (por ejemplo, boelhouwer, 1997), pero también estaba arraigado en la noción (no indiscutible) de que hay suficientes viviendas sociales alquiladas en comparación con el número de hogares de bajos ingresos en los países bajos (ministerio de vrom, 1989). en este contexto de retiro estatal en la provisión directa de viviendas, tanto el gobierno central como el local simpatizan con las formas colaborativas de provisión, en las cuales grupos de hogares proporcionan y/o administran conjuntamente su vivienda. desde la introducción de la nueva ley de vivienda en 2015, las corporaciones de vivienda están obligadas a considerar la entrega de la propiedad o la gestión de su stock de viviendas a sus inquilinos, si es que hay suficiente interés entre los inquilinos para formar una cooperativa de vivienda. el ex miembro del senado, adri duivesteijn, ha jugado un papel crucial en abogar por la introducción de esta posibilidad en la nueva ley de vivienda. argumentó que la transferencia de vivienda desde corporaciones de vivienda a cooperativas de vivienda conduciría al empoderamiento de los hogares y a una mayor participación en su forma de vivir y, al mismo tiempo, generaría efectivo para nuevas inversiones de corporaciones de vivienda (duivesteijn, 2013). desde la reciente introducción de la posibilidad de establecer cooperativas de vivienda, solo ha habido unos pocos casos en los que se ha realizado una transferencia de una corporación de vivienda a una cooperativa. esto puede tener que ver con el hecho de que todavía es una posibilidad relativamente nueva y las iniciativas para formar una cooperativa de vivienda se desarrollarán en los próximos años, pero existen otras explicaciones que también dificultan la implementación en los países bajos. como se mencionó anteriormente, no existe una tradición de vivienda cooperativa en los países bajos, lo que significa que ni los hogares ni los bancos tampoco están acostumbrados a ello. la falta de tradición hace que los bancos holandeses se muestren reacios a otorgar hipotecas a las cooperativas, porque no conocen los riesgos y no cuentan con acuerdos financieros “estándar”. el contexto regulatorio holandés tampoco es maduro. si bien existen reglamentos bien desarrollados para las viviendas de alquiler y las asociaciones de propietarios de viviendas, no existe un marco regulatorio específico para la gestión y la financiación de las cooperativas. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 36 sympathetic towards tenant involvement, they have reasons to be reluctant towards stimulation of housing cooperatives as well. they have, for example, concerns about social exclusion by cooperatives and the longer term availability of housing for lower-income households. furthermore, their tenants are often not able or willing to pay the market price, so they do not have a financial interest in stimulating housing cooperatives either – the housing corporations could generate more income when they sell houses on the open market when they become vacant or selling estates to for example real estate investors. finally, supporting the households in shaping a cooperative asks a lot from the housing corporations’ human resources as well, which hampers duplication of initiatives (see also fromm, 2012). the overall conclusion is that the conditions for housing cooperatives to become a mainstream form of housing provision in the netherlands are not favourable, confirming boelhouwer & van der heijden’s (1993) observation that housing traditions and the institutional structure of the housing market play an important role in the shaping and adoption of housing policies. for advocates of collaborative housing this means it is very fortunate that a single european model for social housing does not exist. and for the netherlands, it is very fortunate that collaboration between and amongst tenants and landlords is not restricted to the formal establishment of housing cooperatives. r eflec t io n s o n eu r o p e a n so c ia l h o u sin g m o d els ... r efle x ió n so b r e el m o d elo d e v iv ien d a so c ia l eu r o p eo y o p o r t u n id a d es p a r a c o o p er a t iv a s d e v iv ien d ... 37 la falta de tradición hace que también sea cuestionable cuán grande es la (potencial) demanda de cooperativas de vivienda en los países bajos, particularmente cuando todavía hay opciones, para muchos, en el sector social alquilado y privado. y aunque las iniciativas de vivienda colaborativa se aplican cada vez más en los procesos de renovación urbana (por ejemplo, krokfors, 2012; fromm, 2012; droste, 2015), pueden ser las más fáciles de aplicar al desarrollo de nuevas viviendas en las que las ubicaciones pueden combinarse con grupos con intereses similares. en el caso de un conjunto habitacional existente, la posibilidad de tener suficientes hogares dentro de ese conjunto interesados en establecer una cooperativa de vivienda es, en general, probablemente baja. sin embargo, para una adopción masiva, es crucial una mayor participación de la comunidad en el stock existente, aunque solo sea por la baja participación de nuevos desarrollos en la provisión de vivienda, en comparación con el stock existente (van bortel et al., 2018). si se desea estimular el establecimiento de cooperativas de vivienda a partir del stock de vivienda existente en los países bajos, sería necesaria una fuerte participación de las corporaciones de vivienda, aunque solo sea por su participación en el stock de vivienda total y su obligación legal de responder a iniciativas de inquilinos para establecer una cooperativa de vivienda. si bien las corporaciones de vivienda generalmente simpatizan con la participación de los inquilinos, también tienen motivos para mostrarse reacios a estimular las cooperativas de vivienda. por ejemplo, tienen preocupaciones sobre la exclusión social por parte de las cooperativas y la disponibilidad a largo plazo de viviendas para hogares de bajos ingresos. además, sus inquilinos a menudo no pueden o no están dispuestos a pagar el precio del mercado, por lo que tampoco tienen un interés financiero en estimular las cooperativas de vivienda. las corporaciones de vivienda podrían generar más ingresos al vender casas en el mercado abierto cuando quedan vacantes o vendiendo conjuntos a, por ejemplo, inversores inmobiliarios. finalmente, apoyar a los hogares en la conformación de una cooperativa también exige mucho de los recursos humanos de las corporaciones de vivienda, lo que dificulta la duplicación de iniciativas (véase también fromm, 2012). la conclusión general es que las condiciones para que las cooperativas de vivienda se conviertan en una forma generalizada de provisión de vivienda en los países bajos no son favorables, lo que confirma la observación de boelhouwer y van der heijden (1993) de que las tradiciones de vivienda y la estructura institucional del mercado inmobiliario desempeñan un papel importante en la conformación y adopción de políticas de vivienda. para los defensores de la vivienda colaborativa, esto significa que es muy afortunado que no exista un modelo único europeo para la vivienda social. y para los países bajos, es muy afortunado que la colaboración entre inquilinos y propietarios no se limite al establecimiento formal de cooperativas de vivienda. r iu s v : h o u sin g a n d u r b a n r eg en er a tio n o f v u ln er a b le n eig h b o u r h o o d s in sa n tia g o –v iv ien d a y r eg en er a c ió n d e b a r r io s v u ln er a b les en sa n tia g o 38 references / referencias boelhouwer, p., & van der heijden, h. (1993). housing policy in seven european countries: the role of politics in housing. netherlands journal of housing and the built environment, 8(4), 383-404. boelhouwer, p. (ed.) (1997). financing the social rented sector in western europe. delft: delft university press. bortel, g. van, gruis, v., nieuwenhuijzen, j. & pluijmers b. (eds.) (2018). affordable housing governance and finance: innovations, partnerships and comparative perspectives. routledge brava, m. & palvarini, p. (2013). social housing in the eu, european parliament, directorate general for internal policies, policy department a: economic and scientific policy. cecodhas housing europe and ica housing (2012). profiles of a movement: co-operative housing around the world. czischke, d., & van bortel, g. (2018). an exploration of concepts and polices on ‘affordable housing’ in england, italy, poland and the netherlands. journal of housing and the built environment, 1-21. droste, c. (2015). german co-housing: an opportunity for municipalities to foster socially inclusive urban development?, urban research & practice 8 (1), 79-92. duivensteijn, a. (2013). de wooncoöperatie: op weg naar een zichzelf organiserende samenleving [the housing cooperative: the way towards a self-organising society] http://www.gemeenschappelijkwonen. nl/doc/wooncooperatie/2013-03%20de%20wooncooperatie%20-%20op%20weg%20naar%20een%20 zichzelf%20organiserende%20samenleving%20-%20adri%20duivensteijn.pdf fromm, d. (2012). seeding community: collaborative housing as a strategy for social and neighborhood repair. built environment, 38 (3), 364-394. hoekstra, j. (2010). divergence in european welfare and housing systems [phd thesis]. delft: delft university press. krokfors , k. (2012). co-housing in the making. built environment, 38 (3), 309-314. large european cities (2013). resolution for social housing in europe. ministry of vrom (1989). volkshuisvesting in de jaren negentig [memorandum on housing in the nineties]. the hague: sdu uitgeverij. 241 beach-dune modelling in support of building with nature for an integrated spatial design of urbanized sandy shores kathelijne wijnberg1, daan poppema1, jan mulder1, janneke van bergen2, geert campmans1, filipe galiforni-silva1, suzanne hulscher1, & paran pourteimouri1 1. university of twente, water engineering and management 2. delft university of technology, faculty of architecture and the built environment doi 10.47982/rius.7.136 r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 242 abstract the long-term physical existence of sandy shores critically depends on a balanced sediment budget. from the principles of building with nature it follows that a sustainable protection of sandy shores should employ some form of shore nourishment. in the spatial design process of urbanized sandy shores, where multiple functions must be integrated, the knowledge and the prediction of sediment dynamics and beach-dune morphology thus play an essential role. this expertise typically resides with coastal scientists who have condensed their knowledge in various types of morphological models that serve different purposes and rely on different assumptions, thus have their specific strengths and limitations. this paper identifies morphological information needs for the integrated spatial design of urbanized sandy shores using bwn principles, outlines capabilities of different types of morphological models to support this and identifies current gaps between the two. a clear mismatch arises from the absence of buildings and accompanying human activities in current numerical models simulating morphological developments in beach-dune environments. keywords beach-dune modelling, urbanized shore, coastal spatial design, building with nature, wind-driven sediment dynamics b e a c h -d u n e m o d ellin g in su p p o r t o f b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e fo r a n in t eg r a t ed sp a t ia l d esig n o f u r b a n iz ed sa n d y sh o r es 243 1. introduction coastal dunes on sandy shores provide multiple ecosystem services to urbanized coastal areas: they protect against flooding by offering a buffer against storms and a higher ground to live on (a regulating ecosystem service), provide drinking water by collecting and filtering water in the coastal freshwater lens (production service) and provide an attractive environment for leisure and beach tourism (cultural service). a good spatial design for an urbanized beach-dune area takes the full spectrum of these functions into account. however, these desired ecosystem services can only exist by the grace of the supporting ecosystem services. therefore, a truly integrated spatial design not only combines all desired functions into a favourable spatial arrangement, it must also explicitly take into account and use the supporting ecosystem services. in the case of dynamic landscapes like sandy shores, the prime supporting ecosystem service is the sediment cycle. the long-term physical existence of sandy shores depends critically on a balanced sediment budget, which is closely connected to sea level rise. therefore, sediment budgets and -dynamics are essential in any sustainable spatial design of urbanized sandy shores. this leads to our definition of building with nature (bwn) for sandy shores: using natural forces (waves, tides, wind) and morphodynamics to redistribute sediment to desired locations in order to achieve integrated spatial design goals. solutions for coastal protection are needed most where shores are urbanized. developing such solutions in urbanized coastal landscapes following bwn principles requires an integrated spatial design, which not only introduces additional, and possibly contrasting, functional demands, but also adds the new challenge of how different functions will interact morphologically. on many urbanized shores, the built environment encroaches onto the beach in the form of beach restaurants or series of beach huts in front of the dune, and related infrastructure such as board walks and concrete pathways (figure.1). such structures interact with wind-driven flows of sediment that are an inherent part of bwn solutions to protect the shore. therefore, making an integrated spatial design to solve these conflicts – or more likely prioritize and optimize accordingly – requires knowledge of both functional demands of the services and of morphological interactions between them. the essential role of sediment dynamics in bwn design makes morphologic modelling a crucial part of the design process. the challenge for spatial designers is to develop spatial designs in a beach-dune environment that must remain dynamic because of its bwn functionality. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 244 figure 1. example of urbanized shore with ‘building with nature’ intervention; kijkduin, sand motor mega-nourishment, the netherlands. (source: zandmotor, 2017) this implies they not only need to understand how static structures interact with the wind-driven sediment flow but, as part of the spatial design process, also need to actively use such interactions. this way a true bwn design solution is achieved where presence and location of structures become part of a dynamic spatial design for urbanized shores. to do so, morphological models are needed to evaluate the impact of different possible spatial designs and design principles. (see van bergen et al., 2020, for actual examples of such design principles). numerous coastal morphological models have been developed by coastal scientists and coastal engineers for various purposes. however, it is often unclear for spatial designers what can be expected from these models with respect to level of detail of the simulation, accuracy, temporal and spatial scales of problems for which models are suitable. furthermore, models describe certain aspects more accurately than others because modelers develop their models with a certain purpose in mind. to our knowledge, modelers so far have never specifically considered the information needs of spatial designers when developing beach-dune models. therefore, this paper identifies morphological information requirements in the spatial design process of urbanized sandy shores using bwn principles. it also outlines the capabilities and limitations of different types of morphological models to simulate impacts of constructions on beach-dune development. to bridge the ‘language gap’ between spatial designers and morb e a c h -d u n e m o d ellin g in su p p o r t o f b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e fo r a n in t eg r a t ed sp a t ia l d esig n o f u r b a n iz ed sa n d y sh o r es 245 phological modelers, we have attempted to avoid jargon, or explain it, and illustrate different approaches through examples from the shorescape1 project. hereby, we aim to match the morphological information requirements of spatial designers and morphological model capabilities to identify knowledge gaps where current models do not match information needs for integrated spatial design of urbanized shores. 2. morphological information needs for integrated spatial design of urbanized shores an integrated spatial design of urbanized sandy shores requires understanding and prediction of sediment dynamics and morphological change in interaction with a (possibly) dynamic built environment (van bergen et al, 2020). the specific morphological information needs vary during the different phases of the design process, as outlined below. in the ‘inquiry and analysis’ phase of the design process, design requirements and context are explored to grasp the parameters of the urban and eco-morphological spatial systems involved. in the case of a bwn approach, this requires information on the dynamic context. that is not just spatial characteristics of the system at a given time, as can be represented in a geographical information system (gis), but of the full system’s behaviour. for instance, considering a specific nourishment scheme, which beach width variation over time, or which combinations of dune height and width can be expected to develop in areas of a planned waterfront design? what are characteristic bed level profiles across the beach-dune zone during this development? which morphodynamic mechanisms exist to direct the location and amount of erosion and deposition using buildings placed at the beach (such as already present on fig. 1 for recreational use)? additionally, in this phase of the design process rules of thumb are desired that summarize interactions of buildings with wind-driven sediment flows. for instance, a simple formula describing the relation between inter-building spacing and the amount of blockage of wind-driven sediment flow. similarly, what would be the sediment blockage factor of raised buildings as a function of their vertical distance above the beach? the above type of information is important for understanding landscape and urban processes and to identify parameters for the exploration of possible futures. integrated spatial designs for urbanized shores with wide beaches, rapidly eroding shorelines and large spatial variations therein, such as at 1 shorescape is a research project that aims to develop knowledge, tools and design principles for the sustainable co-evolution of the natural and built environment along sandy shores. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 246 the sand motor (figure 1), will most likely differ from those with more gradual advancing shoreline positions and slowly seaward advancing dune fronts. in the subsequent phase of ‘design feasibility’, different spatial arrangements are tested and combined into one design. interactions of urban design and morphological development are studied by so called ‘rapid prototyping’. for example, when planning for beach housing in a dune formation zone, various layouts are explored by systematically varying the types and configurations of buildings and the timing of their placement. a combination of several design aspects will lead to variants and plausible solutions, ready to fit the dynamic context and urban program. finally, in the phase of ‘design optimization’, interactions between different design aspects are studied in detail and optimized. now decisions have to be made that have financial consequences and thus require a higher level of accuracy and precision of morphological information. for example, when considering sea level rise, a proposed nourishment scheme and arrangement of beach houses should guarantee natural growth of the dunes, such that flood safety levels and natural values provided by the dunes will be maintained. this requires detailed information about, amongst others, the amount of sand in the dunes over time, including a prediction of its topographic evolution, to enable the application of models that test flood safety levels through time. this optimization process will lead to a favourable solution, underpinned by quantitative tests based on the output of morphological modelling. 3. model types for evaluating morphodynamics of the beachdune system on urbanized sandy shores in the context of simulating topographic changes (related to sand transport by wind and water) in a beach-dune environment, the term ‘model’ or ‘morphodynamic model’ refers to a simplified version of reality that, in its very essence, incorporates topography (bed elevation) and the sediment transport processes that change it. models differ in how they incorporate sediment transport processes. broadly, we can identify three types of models, differing in their simplification approach: conceptual models, physical models ((scaled) lab experiments), and numerical simulation models. for a beach dune environment, numerical simulation models can be split into process-scale models and rule-based behavioural models. in the following, we will explain these different modelling approaches, what type of information they can provide as well as their present, or inherent, limitations. b e a c h -d u n e m o d ellin g in su p p o r t o f b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e fo r a n in t eg r a t ed sp a t ia l d esig n o f u r b a n iz ed sa n d y sh o r es 247 conceptual models in the context of morphodynamic modelling, a conceptual model refers to a schematization of the beach dune systems in a qualitative manner. it describes, in words, how beach-dune topography changes under the influence of one or more factors (such as wind, waves, or sediment surplus), often with the help of diagrams and sketches. relations between factors and bed level changes are often described in terms of positive or negative feedback. conceptual models can be based on a combination of phenomenological knowledge, derived from field observations, and theory (first principle physics, analogies). for example, psuty (2004) describes how various dune typologies develop on accreting and eroding beaches and links these with a diagram of sediment budget curves for beach and foredune (figure.2). figure 2. example of a conceptual model, showing the relationship between the sediment budget of the beach and the resulting sediment budget of the foredune with related topographies of this sand-sharing system. note that for the situation of a slightly negative sediment budget of the beach, maximum sand storage in the foredune (max. foredune dimension) and maximum inland sand transport expressed through parabolic dune development, are closely positioned and may even occur simultaneously along a given coastline (modified after psuty, 2004). rules of thumb also are conceptual models and have a quantitative element to them. for example, in a given region, initiation of sand-drift dikes2 2 a sand-drift dike (stuifdijk) is an artificially created linear dune ridge, initiated by erecting long lines of reed bundles and willow on coastal sandflats to capture windblown sand, often accompanied by planting marram grass at a later stage. traditional dutch coastal maintenance practice (see boeschoten, 1954). r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 248 will be unsuccessful when the sandflat is less than 1.3 m above mean sea level (boeschoten, 1954). rules of thumb are often based on empirical relations that may be derived from field monitoring or lab experiments (physical models), although they may as well form a way of schematizing insights derived from numerical simulation models. empirically derived, as well as process-scale modelling-derived rules of thumb can form input for rule-based morphodynamic simulation models. a conceptual model generally forms the basis for developing a numerical simulation model by providing the elements that may be quantified in numerical simulation models. conceptual morphological models themselves do not provide quantitative information on rates of change, sediment volumes, or specific complications that could arise from interventions. morphological experts may use conceptual morphological models to provide: a fast overview of possible, first order impacts on morphology of interventions/designs or objects rules of thumb for indicating types of natural topographic evolution to be expected in different zones of the beach dune system. physical models – scaled lab experiments a physical model is a tangible representation of a natural system, simplified, but still faithfully reflecting important relationships between relevant processes. observations and measurements in a physical model can be used to infer information about the behaviour of the natural system itself. as physical models are often built on a reduced spatial and temporal scale, they are also called scale models. in coastal studies, physical models are mostly used to examine hydrodynamics and morphodynamics and are generally developed in a laboratory setting. for instance, boers et al. (2009) used a wave basin to study storm erosion of a scaled dike-and-dune system; wind flow around buildings or over dunes can be studied in wind tunnels (e.g. fackrell, 1984; wiggs et al., 1996). occasionally, physical experiments are located in a field setting. for example, visser et al. (1991) conducted a full-scale dike breach experiment at het zwin. other examples are scale experiments at the beach examining effects of building geometry on sedimentation and erosion patterns in their surroundings (poppema et al, 2019). the reduced complexity and scale of physical models, in comparison to the full-scale, real world setting, makes them flexible, relatively cheap and easy to adapt, and suitable to: investigate archetypical situations and underlying principles (e.g. fackrell (1984) and martinuzzi and tropea (1993) on the flow structure around a b e a c h -d u n e m o d ellin g in su p p o r t o f b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e fo r a n in t eg r a t ed sp a t ia l d esig n o f u r b a n iz ed sa n d y sh o r es 249 cube); systematically vary a specific variable to investigate its effects (e.g. gradually increasing wind speed to examine deposition patterns around houses like liu et al. (2018) did for snow accumulation); answer explorative design questions (e.g. ‘can a funnel-shaped configuration of a series of beach huts, located seaward of the dunes, induce locally increased sediment supply towards the dunes?’); evaluate design performance (e.g. ‘does beach house configuration x lead to the desired sedimentation pattern?‘). physical models also have drawbacks and limitations. as for all types of models, processes not included in the model can be an issue (e.g. growing vegetation). on top of this, a basic problem of physical models is scaling. if the geometry is scaled (e.g. using a 1:20 scale model of a beach house in a wind tunnel experiment), a faithful representation of real world conditions regarding wind and sediment requires other properties (such as weights, forces, velocities, and time scale) to be scaled as well. this scaling involves physical scaling laws that may pose conflicting constraints on how scaling should occur. as a result, scaling cannot be perfect, and the model maker has to decide which processes are chosen and scaled properly. an example application of physical models in the context of urbanized beach modelling, is to examine effects of building size and shape on size and location of deposition and erosion patterns. in the shorescape project, we placed cuboid scale models of buildings with various dimensions on the beach (see fig. 3) in order to derive general rules for the effects of building dimensions that can be used in rule-based morphological computer models (see section 14.3.4). we placed the scale models on the beach instead of in a wind tunnel to reduce some of the scaling issues and remove limitations of the physical size of a wind tunnel. by using scale models, instead of full-scale objects, one can more easily vary test configurations. other advantages of field deployment are that longer-term effects with changing wind conditions can be examined and that inherent natural wind and sand transport variations are automatically captured. this simultaneously brings a clear disadvantage of field deployment: one cannot control weather conditions, hence experiments performed on different days will experience different wind conditions, complicating a comparison of results on different days and requiring careful interpretation. the latter can be supported by developing complementary numerical modelling experiments using cfd (see section 14.3.3) where the influence of different wind speeds can be systematically studied and understood. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 250 figure 3. an elevation map (left) and orthophoto (right), showing the erosion and deposition around the same set-up with two scale models of buildings that differ in width. as an example, the measured dimensions indicate that both the width and length of the deposition upwind of the models increase with increasing scale model width. process-scale numerical simulation models using cfd computational fluid dynamics (cfd) is a method enabling computers to solve problems of flow in liquids as well as gasses. in fluid dynamics, flow is described by fundamental physical laws, which include continuity of mass, momentum and energy. these laws describe how these quantities change in time and space due to physical processes. this means that flow properties like density, velocity, pressure and temperature are described through these equations. in practice, the model equations are not easy to solve. numerical techniques can be used to find approximate solutions for these equations, as the continuous model equations cannot be solved directly. therefore, the model equations are discretized into a set of algebraic equations. this can be achieved by subdividing the computational domain into a finite number of small cells. these discrete equations can then be solved to find approximate solutions of flow properties. sediment transport depends on flow conditions, so cfd can be used to obtain the forcing of sediment transport models. spatial variations in the fluid flow near the sand surface result in spatially variable sediment transport rates, which causes bed level changes through erosion at one location, and deposition at another. in return, these bed level changes again affect the flow field, closing the feedback loop, also known as a morphological loop. using cfd to solve flow problems has advantages but also limitations. by increasing the number of cells, the numerical solution converges toward the exact solution. therefore, this solution method can be very powerful for finding flow properties in high resolution in time and space. however, increasing the number of cells also increases the computational time required. therefore, in cfd simulations, there is always a balance between computational cost and resolution. in comparison with field experiments, where all variables b e a c h -d u n e m o d ellin g in su p p o r t o f b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e fo r a n in t eg r a t ed sp a t ia l d esig n o f u r b a n iz ed sa n d y sh o r es 251 are constantly changing, cfd simulations allow a systematic investigation of the impact of specific variables of interest. numerical modelling can be a powerful tool for providing insight into physical processes. model results are often simplifications of reality and will therefore not replace experimental research, but rather be complementary to experiments. this makes cfd models suitable to: systematically vary the value of a specific variable to investigate its effects. parameter values can be precisely specified, or certain processes can be eliminated to focus on processes of interest. (e.g. gradually increasing wind speed to examine influence on size of erosion and deposition patterns around houses) focus on specific aspects of the problem of interest by turning processes on and off in simulations. processes that could be investigated are for instance: does soil moisture affect wind driven sediment transport. compute detailed flow and sediment transport estimates around a single design for very short timescales (up to minutes) and a limited number of conditions. solving airflow equations around buildings requires solutions for a wide range of spatial scales; from the large-scale flow around the building to small-scale flow structures in the turbulent wake behind the building. even though the small-scale flow structures will be parameterized, the wide range of spatial scales limits the simulated time to several minutes. computational times typically take hours or days. obtain system knowledge through cfd, which can result in rules of thumb. even though computers become increasingly powerful, solving turbulent wind flow at the required level of detail and fast enough for a long-term morphological evolution of quantitative accuracy, is not yet realistic. average flow simulations can be used but result in a lack of physics on smaller scales. note that most morphological models used in coastal engineering applications are hydro-morphodynamic models that use a more schematized way of cfd modelling, with cell sizes of tens to hundreds of meters and often only depth-averaged fluid flow instead of the full 3d flow field. these models can be applied to simulate the development of the submerged nearshore seabed and can be used, for instance, to evaluate the longer-term shoreline evolution of mega-nourishments due to waves and currents. a preliminary result of the use of cfd modelling in the shorescape project is shown in fig. 4. cfd can provide detailed airflow patterns around various geometries and arrangements of beach houses. aeolian sediment transport can then be computed by using sediment transport equations that are dependent on bed shear stress and near bed flow velocities, which are calculated for each cell in the computational domain of the cfd model. the morphologr iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 252 ic change is derived from the conservation of sediment. simulations can be made for full scale beach houses, but also at the scale of the physical model experiments at the beach by poppema et al (2019) to support interpretation of observed sedimentation patterns in terms of underlying mechanisms and test for possible scaling effects. figure 4. example snapshot of calculated flow field around a cube-shaped building using cfd modelling: a) side view, slice along centre line z/l=0, b) top view, slice along y/l=0.5. fluid flow from left to right. blue to red colours indicate low to high flow velocities. rule-based coastal morphodynamic models like cfd models, rule-based morphodynamic models describe the beach-dune topography using a large number of cells on a regular grid, usually a two-dimensional surface. the difference lies in the rules that describe the behaviour of these cells. discrete numbers represent the state of each grid cell (e.g. its elevation, density and type of vegetation in the cell, depth of groundwater). cell states can change according to transition rules that define how the current state of a cell depends on the previous state of this cell and of its surrounding cells. for example, the probability of sediment deposition in a cell depends on the presence of vegetation within the cell (which would trap sediment) and on the presence of a higher elevation in an upwind cell (a dune creates a shadow zone with decelerated wind and increased deposition behind it). this type of model, with grid cells and discrete cell states governed by transition rules, is most commonly referred to as cellular automata (ca) model (fonstad, 2013). the evolution of the beach-dune topography is calculated by applying these transition rules multiple times to all grid cells, where each iteration (i.e. application of the rules to all grid cells in the model) represents a time step. the mathematical functions that control cell state transitions can be as simple, or complicated, as desired to achieve the aim of the model. to create a meaningful ca model of a natural system, a physical rationale for the mathematical functions of each transition rule is essential. transitions should be based on general rules or on empirical estimates derived from measurements and must account for all necessary processes required for the desired pattern/ phenomena. b e a c h -d u n e m o d ellin g in su p p o r t o f b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e fo r a n in t eg r a t ed sp a t ia l d esig n o f u r b a n iz ed sa n d y sh o r es 253 so far, the dubeveg (dune, beach and vegetation) model (keijsers et al., 2016, galiforni-silva et al., 2018, 2019) is the only attempt to simulate beachdune development solely using a ca approach. it includes the main processes involved in the dynamics of the beach-dune system, such as wind-driven sediment transport, vegetation growth and decay, hydrodynamic erosion and supply, and groundwater depth. model rules are applied with a weekly time step, under the assumption of a given long-term average wind-driven sand transport. this results in short computing times, making the model suitable for long-term morphodynamic studies over tens of years. the main advantages of ca modelling are its flexibility and range of modelling possibilities with a relatively low computational effort. rules can be simple and are usually easily adaptable. for instance, dubeveg only needs sediment transport rules without separate rules for fluid flow (air or water), contrary to cfd models where repeated fluid flow computations are an essential and computationally intensive component. a limitation of the beach-dune ca model is that total aeolian sediment supply is user-specified, either derived from other models or from long-term monitoring data. this implies that the total wind-driven sediment volume increase, totalled over the simulated period, is imposed by the user and not an outcome of the interacting processes in the model. also, because ca models focus on interactions at a certain location (e.g. changes in sand transport around a dune), rather than the movement of objects through space (e.g. the transport of sand grains), the model does not simulate sand fluxes as required for commonly used model validation methods (e.g. comparison to a measured sand flux). ca model outcomes can therefore only be validated at a higher level of aggregation, such as overall trends and spatial patterns in morphology. hence model outcomes cannot be used as a quantitatively accurate prediction or reproduction of beach-dune topography at a given time. following from all advantages and limitations, ca models for beachdune dynamics are currently useful as exploratory rather than predictive tools. their characteristics make them suitable for: investigating underlying principles of archetypical situations (e.g. can dune formation be explained solely from shadow zone effects and avalanching when slopes become too steep?). investigating process interactions (‘how do seasonally present houses in front of a dune affect this dune?’) ‘rapid prototyping’ to answer explorative design questions (e.g. ‘can strategic, time-varying placement of beach houses help build up a dune?’) qualitatively comparing designs (‘will a design with larger distances between houses result in a higher dune? ‘) r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 254 an example of the output of a ca model simulating the impact of beach houses on dune development is shown in fig. 5. here, a series of beach houses are implemented in the ca model dubeveg by defining non-erodible cells and adding a rule that states a zero probability for sand deposition on top of a house. the nine houses are 2.5 m high, 4 m wide, and 10 m long, and have a 4 m spacing. as we used the dubeveg version described in galiforni-silva et al (2018), specific rules for the impact of rectangular objects on sedimentation/erosion patterns have not yet been implemented. figure 5. example illustrating a possible outcome of implementing beach houses in a ca model, where it should be noted that the ca model used does not yet include rules that specify the impact of bluffbody objects, such as beach houses, on local sedimentation-erosion patterns. a) top view of beach-dune topography after 10 years simulation, white rectangles represent beach houses; b) top view of beachdune topography at start of simulation, rectangles represent beach houses; c) average topography along transects crossing the middle of a beach house (red dashed), transects in between beach houses (red solid), transects without beach houses (black solid, where green infill indicates sedimentation). 4. matching morphological information needs and morphological model capabilities a bwn approach for developing integrated spatial designs for urbanized sandy shores requires morphological modelling at both small and large scales. it requires models to predict the larger scale evolution of the coastline under different nourishment strategies as well as the evolving topography of beach and dunes on smaller scales. for the latter, understanding shorter term b e a c h -d u n e m o d ellin g in su p p o r t o f b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e fo r a n in t eg r a t ed sp a t ia l d esig n o f u r b a n iz ed sa n d y sh o r es 255 interactions of wind-driven sediment transport, vegetation growth, dune development, human use and the built environment are essential to simulate the long-term consequences for the upper beach and dune evolution. understanding and modelling these complex interactions, where sediment has to move from the submerged domain to the subaerial domain and interact there with the biotic system and the socio-economic system is at the frontiers of coastal modelling (lazarus et al, 2016). in the ‘inquiry and analysis’ phase of spatial design, conceptual models, physical scale models, and cfd models all contribute to meeting identified morphological information needs. in this context, cfd modelling serves two main purposes. firstly, detailed 3d airflow simulations combined with sediment transport calculations may enhance insight into underlying mechanisms of building impacts on erosion/sedimentation patterns, leading to rules of thumb. secondly, coarse grid cfd models (grid size of tens to hundreds of meters) with highly reduced complexity fluid flow equations or surrogate modelling techniques (e.g. berends et al., 2019), can be used to provide morphological information on the approximate effects of nourishment schemes on the coastal profile or shoreline position over many years to a few decades. regarding modelling of wind-driven sedimentation and erosion around buildings, many studies exist that model airflow around buildings (e.g. ozmen et al., 2016), but none have calculated related sediment transport patterns. a few modelling studies exist where zones of acceleration and deceleration of the wind near the sand surface, induced by the building, were interpreted as zones of erosion and deposition (e.g. van onselen, 2018). note that the process-scale numerical modelling of waveand current-driven sedimentation and erosion around hard coastal protection structures at urbanized shores, such as seawalls, is much more advanced (e.g. smallegan et al., 2016; muller et al, 2018) in the phase of ‘design feasibility’, it is ‘rapid prototyping’ that puts high demands on the computational time of long-term morphological simulations (covering several years to tens of years). it requires numerical models that can quickly evaluate morphological effects of multiple spatial design alternatives, considering the interaction of buildings and sediment flows, as well as interaction with vegetation development (all of which influence dune formation). this makes ca models currently the most suitable type of model, even though they do not yet include rules for interactions of buildings with wind-driven sand transport. also, it has been observed that activities related to the recreational use of the beach, such as beach raking or beach traffic, may affect vegetation growth and hence dune development, as does local mechanical removal of aeolian sand deposits by property owners (jackson and nordstrom, 2011). respective relations are still lacking in current beach-dune morphological models. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 256 regarding the phase of ‘design optimization’, expressed morphological information requirements seem to be rooted in the tradition of static spatial designs, where the final design can be highly detailed and precise. however, in the case of bwn-based spatial designs, the final design is not a static situation but an inherently dynamic, evolving situation and a static end situation will never exist. regarding the assessment of flood defence functionality of future dune landscapes, adaptive approaches may be needed (cf. vuik et al, 2018). moreover, the assessment of the safety level of a dune with hard objects in or on top of it, is still a difficult issue (e.g. boers et al., 2009). apart from the difficulties of knowing details of future beach-dune topography, even predicting the total amount of sand in a dune area is still a major challenge. no models are available yet for accurate prediction of long-term sediment supply to the dunes. recent efforts in coupling subaqueous and subaerial domains in numerical model studies (e.g. roelvink and costas, 2019; hallin, 2019) help to obtain quantitative insight in the time-varying amount of sand supply that is delivered by the waves and tides and can be picked up by wind for continued onshore transport. in short, present-day capabilities of morphological models to support design optimization are still limited. 5. conclusion using ‘building with nature’ principles in the spatial design of urbanized sandy shores asks for a new design approach. a recognition of the interconnectedness between urban and morphological spatial systems implies the need for dynamic and adaptive, instead of static, designs. combining the demand for multi-functionality – flood protection, nature, recreation and economy – while at the same time explicitly considering and utilizing sediment dynamics, requires truly integrated spatial design. this poses new challenges to morphological models supporting it. numerical models (computer models) able to accurately predict the morphological effects of interaction between wind-driven sediment dynamics and buildings are currently lacking. this is most severely felt in the phases of ‘design feasibility’ and ‘design optimization’, where alternatives like conceptual and physical models – particularly useful in the ‘inquiry and analysis’ phase – are less suitable. in the ‘design optimization’ phase, a gap exists between model capabilities and morphological information needs as it is difficult to accurately predict the long-term sediment supply to dunes with numerical models. finally, the observed influence of human activities on urban beaches on vegetation development is currently absent in all morphological models. hence predicted location and/or rate of new dune formation will be inaccurate for urbanized beaches. b e a c h -d u n e m o d ellin g in su p p o r t o f b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e fo r a n in t eg r a t ed sp a t ia l d esig n o f u r b a n iz ed sa n d y sh o r es 257 to conclude, arriving at integrated spatial designs for the sustainable protection of urbanized sandy shores using bwn principles requires morphological models that can go beyond the hydro-morphological simulation of nourishment behaviour alone and can include interactions with how humans use the beach. acknowledgements this paper has been written in the framework of the shorescape project (sustainable co-evolution of the natural and built environment along sandy shores), funded by the netherlands organization for scientific research (nwo), contract number alwtw.2016.036, co-funded by hoogheemraadschap hollands noorderkwartier and rijkswaterstaat, and in kind supported by deltares, witteveen&bos, and h+n+s landscape architects. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 258 references berends, k. d., scheel, f., warmink, j. j., de boer, w. p., ranasinghe, r., & hulscher, s. j. m. h. 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(2017, july 9). juli 2017 zandmotor vanuit noord [photograph]. flickr. https://www.flickr.com/ photos/zandmotor/35632520843/ r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 260 73 engineering roles in building with nature interdisciplinary design educational experiences renate klaassen1, baukje kothuis2, & jill slinger3,4 1. delft university of technology, 4tu centre for engineering education 2. delft university of technology, faculty of civil engineering and geosciences, hydraulic structures and flood risk 3. delft university of technology, faculty technology policy management, policy analysis 4. rhodes university, institute for water research doi 10.47982/rius.7.129 r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 74 abstract building with nature (bwn) infrastructure designs are characterised by disciplinary integration, non-linearity, diverse and fluid design requirements, and long-term time frames that balance the limitations of earth’s natural systems and the socio-technical systems created by humans. differentiating roles in the engineering design process may offer strategies for better solutions. four complementary engineering design roles were distinguished, namely: specialists, system integrators, front-end innovators, and contextual engineers. the key research question addressed in this paper asks, how can the introduction of engineering roles enhance interdisciplinary processes for bwn design? three building with nature design workshops with international groups of students from multiple disciplines and various education levels provided the ideal context for investigating whether engineering roles enhance such interdisciplinary ways of working. results indicate that the application of engineering roles in each of the three workshops indeed supported interdisciplinary design. a number of conditions for successful implementation within an authentic learning environment could be identified. the engineering roles sustain an early, divergent way of looking at the design problem and support the search for common ground across the diverse perspectives of the team members, each bringing different disciplinary backgrounds to the design table. the chapter closes with a discussion on the value of engineering design roles and their significance for the building with nature approach. keywords engineering roles, interdisciplinary ways of learning, building with nature design, authentic learning experiences en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 75 1. introduction the future of engineering in society is changing dramatically as the 4th industrial revolution sets the pace for artificial intelligence that will be embedded in every aspect of our lives (jescke, 2016) and we are confronted with increasingly complex societal problems associated with environmental challenges, such as climate change (schwab, 2017; kamp, 2016). in this emerging future, complex decision-making processes can no longer be realised in isolation. instead, extensive collaboration with diverse stakeholders, a pro-active attitude, multidisciplinary expertise and technology-based and innovative solutions, are required. building with nature is an ecosystem-based approach to hydraulic engineering that seeks to design innovative multidisciplinary solutions rather than conventional hydraulic infrastructures (slinger et. al., 2015; 2016). building with nature strives to use natural materials, ecological processes and interactions, in designing effective and sustainable hydraulic infrastructures for areas threatened by environmental and climate change (waterman, 2010). it requires multifunctional engineering design competence and draws on knowledge of ecological systems, governance systems, and understanding of the physical and social environmental context within which the infrastructures are placed. additionally, it requires the management of complex decision-making processes (see bontje, 2017; oudenhoven et al., 2018), posing challenges to the existing disciplinary and sectoral boundaries and the time frames of conventional coastal governance (raymond et al., 2017). such a multifunctional, ecosystem-based approach is much needed as about eighty percent of the world population will be living in urban lowland areas by 2050 (de vriend & van koningsveld, 2012), areas which will be under threat of flooding due to to sea level rise and the increased occurrence of storms. building with nature projects require the involvement of specialists in ecology, economics, civil engineering and the social sciences. additionally, local stakeholder involvement is crucial to the success of building with nature projects (bontje et al., 2017). therefore, building with nature requires a different way of interdisciplinary thinking and acting than most engineering fields, to arrive at a better design result (de vriend et al., 2015). this paper explores and evaluates the application of a training method to enhance interdisciplinary thinking. three building with nature workshops form the contextual design setting in which international student teams and senior experts from diverse disciplinary backgrounds as well as a broad group of local stakeholders undertake authentic design challenges. although building with nature designs require the integration of disciplinary content knowledge (a.o. civil engineering, ecology, governance, spatial design), the training is targeted at skills related to collaboration within design teams – by r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 76 means of introducing so-called ‘engineering roles’ (see below). the key research question addressed in this paper therefore reads: how can the introduction of engineering roles enhance interdisciplinary processes for bwn design? the concept of engineering roles was first created by the free spirits think tank at delft university of technology in 2015 in response to the question “what do future engineers need to know?” (kamp & klaassen, 2016). four complementary roles were distinguished, namely: specialists, system integrators, front-end innovators, and contextual engineers. the think tank members considered that the increasing complexity of societal and environmental problems meant that monodisciplinary approaches would be inadequate and that simply collecting multiple disciplinary experts together in a design team would also be insufficient. instead, a multidisciplinary team of experts skilled in adopting different engineering roles appropriate to the design context, while still honouring their disciplinary knowledge, was required. team members need first and foremost to use their disciplinary knowledge to synthesize and integrate across different knowledge bases, but also need to be able to shift their personal (engineering) role within the design team so as to enable innovative solutions and new ways of working together (kamp & klaassen, 2016). the three one-day, place-based building with nature design workshops served as thematic hubs in which to test the relevance of the engineering design roles, designed by the 4tu centre for engineering education, in a practical interdisciplinary educational context. the workshops were conducted under the auspices of the nsf-pire research program (partnerships for international education and education) ‘coastal flood risk reduction’. this is a collaborative partnership between texas a&m university in galveston, rice university in houston and delft university of technology in the netherlands, involving senior academics as well as phd, masters and bachelor students. an annual, two-week long exchange programme in the netherlands forms part of the programme. the interdisciplinary, building with nature workshops focussed on texel in 2016, petten in 2017, and kinderdijk in 2018. the first workshop in 2016 also served as a pilot intervention for the nwo cocochannel research project, focussed on the southwestern corner of texel. in each of these building with nature workshops, the effects of the engineering design roles on the educational experience of the participants was evaluated. after first theoretically grounding the character of the building with nature design process and solution space, the necessity for engineering roles within interdisciplinary design is examined (section 2). this serves to establish building with nature design settings as suitable environments for learnen g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 77 ing interdisciplinary skills. next, the configuration of the building with nature design sessions is described in terms of the participant selection (section 3.1), the three design assignments (section 3.2), their nesting within a game structuring approach in the workshops (section 3.3), and how the evaluation of the effects of the engineering roles on the building with nature design processes will be undertaken (section 3.4). in section 4, the 2016 pilot workshop is presented in which the building with nature design approach is tested and the effects of the engineering roles are explored. finally, the ways in which the engineering design roles influenced the workshop outcomes the building with nature designs and the learning of participants in 2017 and 2018 are presented and analysed in section 5. the chapter closes with a concluding discussion on the value of engineering design roles and their significance for the building with nature approach in section 6. 2. theoretical grounding 2.1 the building with nature design process and solution space building with nature (bwn) is an emerging field, which requires integration across social, environmental and engineering disciplines (slinger et al., 2016). solutions need to be multifunctional and integrated (kothuis, 2017). interand transdisciplinary approaches offer integration processes whereby design teams can arrive at solutions that fall within a feasible boundary space. this boundary space can be envisaged similarly to the doughnut economic model (raworth, 2017), as squeezed between societal needs and the earth system boundaries that need to be taken into account in any bwn design. the bwn solution space therefore represents a complex multidimensional space balancing the limitations of earth systems (outer blue shapes) and the socio-technical systems created by humans (inner green shapes). the solutions space is typically multifaceted, a dynamic space changing per location and yielding different and separate insights at the case issue level, compared with the self-organising complex patterns at the overall system level (newing, 2009). therefore, building with nature solutions are characterised by disciplinary integration, non-linearity, fluid design requirements, and long-term time frames. this requires an interdisciplinary approach, merging multiple stakeholder insights. according to fortuin (2015), educational activities which may stimulate an integrative interdisciplinary approach (particularly in the environmental sciences) should involve a real-life complex environmental problem, close collaboration in a team, changing perspectives, transcendence of disciplinary knowledge to experience complex reality, interaction with external stakeholders to encounter the norms and values held in society, and a reflection on the design/research process in the light of r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 78 societal norms and values. a building with nature design process intrinsically satisfies these conditions as integration across the ecological and engineering knowledge fields is necessary, at a minimum. additionally, the situation of the design in a particular place means that the values of local actors and the fit with the social, cultural heritage have to be taken into account. an engineering roles approach, which we will introduce below, proved to support students in adopting different perspectives as they design integrated solutions within the multifaceted, environmentally and socially dynamic building with nature solution space. se a le vel ris e s us ta in ab le en er gy s ou rc es e rosion depletion of earth resources and space climate change po pu la tio ns gr ow th a nd ur ba ni sa tio n safety e conom ic value social embeddedness indu stry r ec re at io n infra struc ture tran spor t location buildin g with nature solution space treshold of earth limitation socio-technical system figure 1. the building with nature solution space (in orange), squeezed between societal (socio-technical) needs (in green) and earth system boundaries (in blue) (adapted from raworth, 2017). the depicted earth system boundaries and the activities such as recreation are not exhaustive or fixed, additional green and blue shapes can be added as required by the specific location. 2.2 engineering roles and interdisciplinary design the engineering roles of specialist, system integrator, front-end innovator and contextual engineer are defined as complementary roles applicable across diverse engineering fields from environmental engineering to aeronautical engineering, each addressing a different heuristic question, and guiding the investigation of the problem to come to a solution (kamp & klaassen, 2016). while the specialist focuses on phenomena, system integrators emphasize the integration of different components within the overall system, front-end innovators address the user experience and try to bridge the gap between technology and society by designing consumer-oriented products, and the contextual engineer addresses the conditions under which the technology can ethically, legally and culturally be used by creating rules, regulations, or cultures of acceptance in society (box 1). en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 79 the following types of engineers tend to play different roles in projects and work environments, as they start with different heuristic questions (a complete description is digitally available from http://issuu.com/danielleceulemans2/docs/future_proof_profiles_digital): specialist: how can we advance and optimize technology for innovations and better performance using scientific knowledge? system integrator: how can we bring together disciplines, products or subsystems into a functioning whole that meets the needs of the customer/environment? front-end innovator: how can we advance and apply knowledge and use technology to develop new products for the benefit of people (end users)? contextual engineer: how can we exploit diversity-in-thought to advance and apply knowledge and use technology in different realms to develop products and processes for the benefit of people in different cultures and contexts? each role cannot realise a technological solution without the others and is needed to realise integrated solutions for complex problems (kamp & klaassen, 2016). box 1. description of the engineering roles the engineering roles are intentionally not specified in terms that are characteristic of a particular environmental engineering discipline and thus are more abstract. they are part and parcel of the process of negotiating meaning (beers, 2005) and this makes them potentially applicable across a broad spectrum of design problems. ideally, the roles avoid a situation where different perspectives are merely aligned, but instead help in achieving integration rather than just aligning across diverse problem and solution perspectives. more importantly, each of these roles is essential in realizing an integrated design solution. as such, they are conceived as stimulating the integration of different disciplines and concomitant interdisciplinary ways of working. interdisciplinarity can be understood as combining two or more disciplines at the level of theory, methods, or solution space, to form a transcendent and innovative understanding or solution, that in turn can possibly transform the mono-discipline(s) (repko, 2007; menken & keestra, 2016; fortuin, 2015). two interdisciplinary ways of working can be distinguished, r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 80 namely: within a team of experts with different disciplinary backgrounds, or an individual using the theory, methods and solutions from disciplines other than their area of expertise in seeking an answer to their research or design questions. here, we are primarily interested in interdisciplinarity in teams. interdisciplinarity in a team means that each participant’s disciplinary constructs, concepts, and procedures are brought into question, are criticized and debated, as similar terminology often holds different meanings within different disciplines. the factual knowledge of participants and their reflective and problem-solving skills across tasks and solutions, constitute elements of the interdisciplinary learning process (stentoft, 2017). this prompts them to challenge their prior beliefs and requires participants to remain open to review and even redefine their understanding and ideas (boix mansilla, 2010). figure 2. from unshared to integrated knowledge by b.l.m. kothuis (2017, p. 218) adapted from p. beers, (2005, p. 12) redefinition involves clarifying or modifying the concepts and assumptions used by relevant disciplines in order to reach a common meaning (repko, 2007). according to beers (2005), engaging people’s thinking in interdisciplinary teams is a demonstrated precondition for richer solutions to complex problems. creating common ground, in which meaning is aligned through negotiation with all the team members, is thus necessary for the construction of shared knowledge (beers, 2005; van den bossche et al., 2006). whereas beers (2005) distinguishes four steps as necessary to move from unshared to constructed knowledge in multidisciplinary teams, kothuis (2017) adds an extra step to arrive at integrated knowledge and design. she affirms that an en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 81 additional step in which the shared knowledge is translated into recognizable knowledge for the disciplines involved in the design process, is essential in moving to truly integrated knowledge. moreover, kothuis (2017) has shown that this conceptual model of knowledge construction through negotiation is a valuable tool, particularly in building with nature research teams. team members will hold different assumptions and values on how to conduct an interdisciplinary effort. being open to ways of doing outside of a participant’s own discipline is challenging. accordingly, differences in value sets and assumptions regarding outcomes need to be identified and negotiated in meaning making discussions (jay et al., 2017). the idea is that engineering roles may assist in engaging in such “negotiation of meaning” (beers, 2005). hooimeijer et al. (2016) demonstrated that the engineering roles take on different levels of relative importance depending on the context and phase of a design. the engineering design roles are minimally interdependent to facilitate the flexible realisation of an integrated solution. different roles are needed in different phases of the design process. for instance, each specialist has monodisciplinary knowledge that is then provided to a system integrator who builds larger objects, systems or services, or to a front-end innovator who designs products, systems or services needed by industry or the public. the contextual engineer facilitates the technological innovations and may have the role of, or support, a client, a government authority, a legal or cultural change agent. the claim is that engineering roles stimulate an interdisciplinary approach to the realisation of common ground within a design team, including discussions about norms and values across disciplines and an appreciation of diverse stakeholder perspectives. they help in shifting perspectives, finding and recognizing common ground, and in the development of more innovative and integrated solutions, so that they fall within the building with nature solution space doughnut. 3. designing the building with nature design workshops 3.1 participant selection as an innovative design concept, the building with nature workshops were intended to extend the participants beyond their comfort zone. each workshop was attended by between 20 and 30 carefully selected participants with different disciplinary backgrounds, nationalities and levels of education. in 2016, there were 10 students from educational organisations in the nethr iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 82 erlands (2 phd’s, 8 msc’s), and 9 students from educational organisations in the united states of america (usa), (6 phd’s, 2 msc’s, 1 bsc), in 2017 there were 10 from the netherlands (2 phd’s, 7 msc’s, 1 bsc) and 16 from the usa (5 phd’s, 3 msc’s, 7 bsc’s). in 2018, there were 12 from the netherlands (3 phd’s, 9 msc’s) and 16 from the usa (4 phd’s, 4 msc’s, 8 bsc’s). the institutions involved were delft university of technology, the university of twente, vrije universiteit (vu) amsterdam, ihe-delft, texas a&m, rice university and jackson state university. each of the american student participants went through a stringent selection process in texas, involving a personal motivation letter and interview. the dutch students were selected based on their disciplinary backgrounds to ensure a wide distribution across disciplinary fields. the senior researchers, experts and local stakeholders were selected based on their interests, local knowledge and their ability to communicate about their disciplinary expertise in an understandable manner. accordingly, the disciplines of all the participants differed substantially, ranging from civil engineering to spatial planning, economics, ecology, hydrology, architecture, computational hydraulics, communication, oceanography and policy analysis. the backgrounds of the local stakeholders varied, but a representative of the local water authority and a building with nature expert was present in each case. in delft with experts game structuring approach assigned roles journey map evaluation presentation and feedback ebb tidal channel-shoal system; the razende bol on location with experts game structuring approach connect stakeholders and challenges with engineering roles within the assignment strongly guided design reflections presentation and feedback perception questionaire hondsbossche and pettemer sea defence on location with experts game structuring approach cluster stakeholders and stakes for each engineering role assess prototype on requirements generated from the engineering roles presentation and feedback perception questionnaire polder levee/heritage site figure 3. case study contexts for the building with nature design workshops in 2016, 2017, and 2018, indicating the form that the engineering role intervention took in each case (in black). en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 83 3.2 design assignments the design assignments given to the participants in the workshops represent real-world, societal challenges in which innovative solutions are required for long-term flood defence. each of the assignments required the integration of knowledge on the dynamics of the bio-geophysical system into the engineering design process. further, each assignment required the integration of the local knowledge of stakeholders regarding values, norms and social and ecological system functioning to arrive at a feasible building with nature solution to the local long-term flood defence problem. the design assignments for each of the workshops are listed in box 2. each design team was required to (i) name and depict their building with nature design with diagrams and drawings, (ii) describe the dynamic characteristics of the design, (iii) describe their design process, and (iv) provide a 5 minute poster pitch. they were supplied with a bucket of material, including handouts with background information and maps of the case study site as well as writing, drawing and crafting material. the material was supplied to encourage them to be creative in fulfilling the design requirement instructions and preparing their building with nature design pitch for the other teams, local stakeholders and experts. 2016 texel: design alternative coastal management strategies (or improve the current strategy) using the natural channel-shoal dynamics to ensure safety from flooding and serve other functions 2017 petten: the hondsbossche and pettemer sea defence no longer met the required safety standards. design alternative coastal protection strategies (or improve the current strategy) so as to comply with required safety standards both now and in 2050, taking compatibility with the bio-physical, social and institutional environment into account in your integrated design. 2018 kinderdijk: the alblasserdam-kinderdijk dike requires strengthening to continue to meet flood safety standards. produce integrated designs for the area that achieve flood safety for the alblasserwaard polder, as well as improving the accessibility of kinderdijk, and creating additional ecological value through the application of building with nature principles. box 2. the building with nature design assignments for participants in the 2016, 2017 & 2018 workshops r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 84 the assignments focused on collaborative design activities to engender learning. each assignment served as a catalyst for interdisciplinary assessments of physical flood risk and modelling, characterising the socio-economic setting, analysing land-use change and the built environment, and coming up with innovative designs and mitigation measures to address residual impacts. in each case, attention was paid to the effectiveness of hard structures as opposed to soft flood defence infrastructures in combating the adverse effects of flood events. the case study locations of the “razende bol” near texel (2016), the hondsbossche and pettemer sea defence at petten (2017) and kinderdijk near ablasserdam (2018) are depicted in figure 3. 3.3 a game structuring approach the game structuring method was first applied successfully in south africa (slinger et al., 2014) before being implemented in houston in texas ( kothuis et al., 2014), on texel in the netherlands (d’hont & slinger, 2018), and in tema in ghana (kothuis & slinger, 2018). the game structuring method represents an extension to problem structuring approaches, and is focused on incorporating diverse stakeholder values into a common understanding of a complex real-life problem situation (cunningham et al., 2014). the method comprises a series of six steps, namely: 1. get acquainted 2. identify stakeholders and main interest groups 3. determine relevant systems and their values (how they are used and appreciated) 4. develop possible outcomes 5. vote on the outcomes 6. explore the space for commitment to action. step 4 is the integrated design step in which the design teams develop different potential solutions and outcomes. in each of the three building with nature design workshops this step was nested within steps 2 to 5, which are deemed necessary for obtaining sufficient contextual information to be able to design. step 6 was omitted as this is most relevant for workshops in which local residents and authorities commit to engaging in complex decision making processes for their area. experts provided information via presentations in step 3, and step 2 was sometimes preceded by a presentation by a local stakeholder or water authority representative to provide information on local interests, concerns, and regulations. in a game structuring workshop, participants are encouraged to consider negative, as well as positive, future outcomes (i.e. utopian and dystopian design outcomes) so as to extend the soluen g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 85 tion space by considering a broad range of options. dystopian futures often provide sharp insights into the values held by stakeholders. in 2017 and 2018, following the evaluation of the pilot design workshop (see section 3.4), steps 2 and 3 were explicitly integrated with the engineering design roles and a final evaluation/reflection step was added. 3.4 evaluation of the effects of the engineering roles the introduction of the engineering roles concept into the three building with nature design workshops may be viewed as an intervention in a complex socio-technical and environmental system (mckenney & reeves, 2018) aimed at establishing whether and to what extent engineering roles enhance interdisciplinary ways of working in building with nature design processes. because little is known of the utility and effectiveness of the engineering roles in design education, the first workshop represents a pilot intervention, and the following two workshops represent iterations to improve upon the experiences of the previous workshop(s). the 1st building with nature living lab workshop in 2016 was conducted in delft, but was attended by experts and local stakeholders familiar with southwest texel. a role questionnaire was administered to determine the preferred role of each participant, and was then used to compose teams with mixed roles (4 roles in one team), nationalities, disciplines and education levels. the preferred roles could mostly be enacted within the design teams. where this was not possible, participants were assigned a role different from their preferred role. significant time was allocated to explaining the engineering roles to the participants. at the end of the workshop, they evaluated the engineering roles by filling in a journey map (figure 4). this evaluation method is qualitative, and aims to gain as much insight as possible into the perception and experiences of the participants with the engineering roles. key aspects of the design process (e.g. design process, consultations) are visualized on the journey map and participants map their experiences as positive, neutral, or negative  with respect to these key aspects (open circles), and sub-aspects (closed circles) (table 1 and figure 4). subsequently, the qualitative data from the journey map were clustered and used in redesigning the intervention for the next workshop. other evaluations included the observations of the workshop facilitators. design process consultations roles needs for coaching problem definition design criteria exploration of solutions experts stakeholders others value for education crossdisciplinary perspectives in future education table 1. aspects and sub-aspects of the design process as mentioned on the reflection journey map in figure 4. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 86 reflection journey map on design roles d es ig n pr oc es s pr ob le m d efi ni tio n d es ig n c ri te ri a ex pl or at io n of s ol ut io ns ex pe rt st ak eh ol de r c on su lta tio ns ex pe rt s o th er s r ol es v al ue t o ed uc at io n c ro ss di sc ip lin ar y pe rs pe ct iv es n ee ds in co ac hi ng figure 4. evaluation of the engineering roles used in the 1st building with nature design workshop. in 2017, the design problem concerned the strengthening of the hondsbossche and pettemer sea defence, near petten in north-holland. the workshop was held on location. drawing on the experiences of the previous year, the engineering roles were no longer assigned specifically to individuals, but formed an integral part of the design assignment. prior to the workshop, the participants completed the “engineering role questionnaire” to discover their preferred engineering roles. each team member was then assigned responsibility for ensuring that a particular engineering role perspective (possibly their preferred role, but not necessarily) was adopted in the design process, yet every team member could give input on each role. the engineering roles were integrated into steps 2 and 3 of the game structuring method, and the evaluation was administered via a questionnaire in the bus on the return journey. the questionnaire comprised sixteen (5 point likert scale) questions regarding participants’ perceptions of the elements in the workshop process relating to the engineering roles; the explanation of the roles, the use of the roles in the design process, the impact on negotiation of meaning and the relevance of the engineering roles. the questionnaire had a 100% response rate (25 out of 25). the reliability (internal consistency of the questionnaire) expressed in the cronbach alpha (measuring from .00 unreliable to 1.0 reliable) is .93. results are presented by means of descriptive frequencies, as the participant numbers do not allow statistical analysis beyond descriptive results. the 3rd workshop was held on location at kinderdijk with the same engineering role allocation process as in 2017. the design worksheet (figure 5) was simplified so that completing the engineering roles component of the workshop required less time. consequently, the roles were only considered in step 4 of the game structuring process where the stakeholders and challenges were clustered from the perspectives of the four engineering roles. the engineering roles were also used in the final phase to reflect back on the extent to which the design criteria were considered and met in the final designs, and to en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 87 make sure the different stakes originating from the role’s perspectives were covered. additionally a substantive content-based evaluation was undertaken at the end of the 3rd workshop, while the evaluation was administered via a questionnaire in the bus on the return journey. the questionnaire contained thirty (5 point likert scale) questions about recognition, usefulness, ease of use and so on, and had a response rate of 27 out of 27. this questionnaire contained many of the same questions as the 2017 version and a number of additional questions. the internal consistency of the questionnaire, its reliability, measured by cronbach’s alpha is .91. results are again presented as descriptive frequencies owing to the low number of participants. 4. translation: stakeholders and stakes translate the stakeholders (who cares) and stakes (what do they care about) from your design role perspective 15 min 100 min5. design session design process write down your design process on post-it notes and why you did this step. include them in your final presentation. contextual designer system integrator specialist front end innovator 1. field experts 2. stakeholder and stakes 3. design assignment 4. translation 5. design session 6. presentations 7. evaluation 8. expert reflection building with nature living lab 7. e va lu at io n 1 0 m in f ill in t he e va lu at io n fo rm a b ou t th e d es ig n ro le s an d t he d es ig n se ss io n. 6 . p re se nt at io ns 3 0 m in y ou p re p ar ed a p re se nt at io n of 5 m in ut es . m ak e us e of a f lip -o ve r sh ee t a nd a ny th in g e ls e yo u w ou ld li ke t o us e. stakes: goal: develop design stakes based on your assigned design role and evaluate if you exclude/include it via ranking. reflect on your decisions. 1. name: 2. your assigned design role: why did you include or exclude the requirement? if you excluded it, how would you change the design if you would have all the resources?-2 -1 +1 +2 figure 5. design worksheet 3rd workshop at kinderdijk. 4. piloting the engineering roles within a building with nature design process in the pilot workshop in 2016, the potential building with nature solutions generated by the different design teams were diverse, and were characterized by substantial attention for dynamic natural processes and societal interests such as education (figure 6). the input from stakeholders via presentations and their availability for consultation during the day meant that the final designs included new and relevant building with nature knowledge. the positive, neutral and negative issues identified by the participants in each of the keyword categories on the journey map used in evaluating the engineering roles in the first workshop in 2016 are reported in table 2. selected quotes provide an impression of the findings in relation to the engineering design roles and the responses they elicited. participants indicated that the engineering roles forced them to think about different issues in the design process and to explore different perspectives on the problem. in general, they facilitated the definition of boundaries for the solution space. finally, they gave structure to the design process, helped them to think outside of the box yet to keep a clear focus and not get lost in engineering detail. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 88 figure 6. teams involved in designing integrated building with nature solutions for the razende bol pilot case study near texel. the stakeholder consultations were divided into the identification of stakeholders for the design versus the consultation of experts who were present at the workshop. participants indicated that they valued the experts’ input: “experts were awesome!!”. consultations helped in deepening an understanding of the dynamics of the problem situation regarding the “razende bol” at texel. the feedback on the adoption of the engineering roles was diverse. some participants claimed that their design team used all the engineering roles. others stated that they were better helped by the disciplinary background information provided by experts in presentations. some queried whether the roles actually added to the design assignment at all. still others remarked that the roles helped in deciding “what to talk about”, and there were three people who identified completely with their engineering roles. most of the participants who failed to enact their role indicated that they did not understand their roles, felt pressured, or had an equal score on different roles, or simply had a “good” group process without adopting the engineering roles. all in all, there was a diverse experience amongst the participants in regard to engineering role adoption. en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 89 the design process [19 post-its: 15 positive, 2 neutral, 2 negative] positive “this was my “natural” role, although i had a tie between specialist, system integrator and contextual engineer. i found this role best fitting to my personality and working strategy.“ neutral “everyone in the group contributed to the design process. i did very well in defining the problems, however the diversity in the group roles didn’t match with one approach.“ negative “having a given role made me feel like i had to be in that role and the other roles i couldn’t participate in and felt pressured to be only in that role.” stakeholder consultations [10 post-its: 5 positive, 1 neutral, 4 negative] positive “think about pros/cons doing whole process.” negative “morning brainstorming on stakeholders/challenges took too long.” (3x) roles [21 post-its: 7 positive, 5 neutral, 9 negative] positive “working with students from other disciplines and filing different roles made me think out of (my) the box!! “ neutral “need more information on specific roles and some orientation on roles might help.” negative “i was an expert/specialist based on the survey. but, i personally do not know anything about the subject. so, that did not help with the design procedure.” crossdisciplinary perspectives [8 post-its: 6 positive, 1 neutral, 1 negative] positive “i like being in this role b/c i had to look @ many aspects of these issues, not just one specific one.” coaching needs [7 post-its, 3 neutral, 4 negative] neutral “i would need more coaching in what my role really means to profit from it, other than i just do what i always do. also i took the role of specialist a bit, not really working with the roles.“ table 2. responses of participants to the engineering design roles in the 2016 texel workshop. while the value for education was not rated highly, the relevance of the engineering roles for interdisciplinary design largely received positive feedback. most participants emphasised the usefulness of different perspectives in identifying strengths and weaknesses in the designs. the roles helped in keeping the overall design objective as the focus instead of the expertise of individuals, and supported learning from people with other disciplinary backgrounds. clearly, future design assignments need to include structured guidance from a role perspective for participants to benefit optimally from the engineering roles. the provision of specific information on the engineering roles in advance and during the workshop could support enacting the roles more effectively. based on this insight and the successful application of the game structuring approach in aiding students to develop building with nature designs in this pilot application, the 2017 workshop design was adapted to explicitly link the presenting experts and their preferred roles and to provide a worksheet to guide the participants in the design process from a role perspective. no changes were made to the game structuring approach. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 90 5. engineering roles in the interdisciplinary design processes in 2017 and 2018, the integrated building with nature designs produced by the participants ranged widely across the potential solution space. all designs included biophysical and social elements and adopted a long-term time frame. in the hondsbossche pettemer case study, participants placed more emphasis on the design requirements in relation to stakeholder values and engineering perspectives, whereas in 2018, the participants paid more attention to the problem definition, taking the local constraints to the solution space into account. this led to slightly less diverse designs for the tidal river area of the ablasserdam-kinderdijk. the distribution of engineering role preferences across the workshop participants in 2017 and 2018 are depicted in figure 7. in 2017 the majority of participants preferred the specialist role or multiple roles, and there were few system integrators. by contrast, in 2018 nearly half the participants preferred a contextual engineering role, with 33% exhibiting a system integrator profile and 17% preferring the specialist role. noteworthy is that the front-end innovator role is completely absent in 2018. all four roles were assigned to the design teams, which meant that some participants, and teams, had to leave their comfort zone(s) and adopt a new way of thinking supported by the engineering role. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 multiple role preference contextual engineer front-end innovator system integrator specialist engineering role preferences 2018 2017 figure 7. distribution of engineering role preferences across the participants in 2017 and 2018. the perceptions of participants regarding the engineering roles in the 2017 and 2018 building with nature workshops is reported in table 3 and analysed thereafter. en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 91 questions % on a scale from 1-5 aggregated mean (variance) explanation 2017 2018 2017 2018 1 the roles were clearly explained 46 % (strongly) agreed 26 % neutral 27 % (strongly) disagreed 33 % (strongly) agreed 30 % neutral 38 % (strongly) disagreed 3.3 (1.1) 2.9 (.97) 2 i recognized the role in the behaviour of the experts that presented at the beginning of the day 63 % (strongly) agreed 30 % neutral 8 % disagreed 59 % agreed 30 % neutral 11 % disagreed 3.8 (.91) 3.4 (.96) the design process 3 i have made use of my personal engineering role during the session 77 % (strongly) agreed 19 % neutral 4 % strongly disagreed 33 % (strongly) agreed 29 % neutral 37 % (strongly) disagreed 3.6 (.89) 4 i felt the roles opened up new perspective in the problem definition phase / the roles helped open up a variety of stakes 61 % (strongly) agreed 15 % neutral 23 % disagreed 48 % (strongly) agreed 22 % neutral 29 % (strongly) disagreed 3.6 (1.1) 3.1 (1.06) 5 the roles helped define the design requirements 54 % (strongly) agreed 11 % neutral 29 % (strongly) disagreed 3.4 (.79) 6 the roles helped to create a framework for approaching the design challenge 65 % (strongly) agreed 15 % neutral 15 % disagreed 3.7 (.97) 7 the roles have contributed to the structure of the design process 65 % (strongly) agreed 26 % neutral 7 % disagreed 3.7 (.87) 8 the reflection part of the worksheet helped to close the design loop (meet requirements sufficiently) 45 % (strongly) agreed 27 % neutral 24 % (strongly) disagreed 9 working on the worksheet added quality to our final results 57 % (strongly) agreed 27 % neutral 11 % disagreed negotiation of meaning 10 the roles supported a broad discussion on engineering solutions 61 % (strongly) agreed 19 % neutral 15 % disagreed 11 the roles helped me to create common ground between the different perspectives that could be taken 45 % (strongly) agreed 31 % neutral 20 % (strongly) disagreed relevance of working with engineering roles 12 i can see the relevance of these roles for building with nature design sessions 81 % (strongly) agreed 8 % neutral 8 % disagreed 45 % (strongly) agreed 37 % neutral 18 % (strongly) disagreed 3.4 (1.04) 13 the roles have added value for education 77 % (strongly) agreed 15 % neutral 4 % disagreed 52 % (strongly) agreed 33 % neutral 11 % disagreed 3.8 (1.4) 14 the roles have added value for the (technical) work environment 72 % (strongly) agreed 20 % neutral 4 % disagreed 59 % (strongly) agreed 11 % neutral 30 % disagreed 3.4 (1.04) 15 i can see the relevance of the roles for my disciplinary field 77 % (strongly) agreed 15 % neutral 4 % disagreed 30 % (strongly) agreed 37 % neutral 33 % (strongly) disagreed 3.0 (1.05) 16 i would recommend others to experience working with engineering roles/i would recommend working with the roles to a friend 63 % (strongly) agreed 23 % neutral 8 % disagreed 67 % (strongly) agreed 22 % neutral 11 % disagreed table 3. perceptions on the engineering design roles in the 2017 & 2018 building with nature workshops. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 92 in the 2017 workshop, a dedicated approach to working with the engineering roles was instituted. the engineering roles were positively received (table 2) as participants considered that they supported the design process by opening up new perspectives and instituting a broader discussion of potential engineering solutions, such as solutions that include dynamic ecological processes or changes in social needs over time. most participants adopted their engineering roles during the design process and view the engineering roles as relevant to building with nature design processes. prior to the workshop in 2018, the participants received an online leaflet and handout with engineering role descriptions. while only nine people reported reading the online leaflet prior to the workshop, the handout supported 16 people in their interpretations of the engineering roles. the workshop started later than planned in 2018 owing to traffic delays, and the explanation of the engineering roles was rushed. this is reflected in lower score assigned to the factor “the roles were clearly explained” in 2018, compared with 2017 (table 2). in 2017, 77% made use of their engineering roles, whereas in 2018 half of the participants did not work with the engineering roles (question 3, table 2), although they recognised their relevance (question 12). in 2018, 45% considered that the engineering roles specifically contributed to building with nature design, whereas 81% of participants recognised the relevance of the engineering roles to building with nature design in 2017. this difference is in part explained by the focus on stakeholder values in setting design requirements in 2017 as opposed to a constraint-focused problem definition in 2018. however, the experienced usefulness of the engineering roles seems also to reflect how seriously participants work with the roles and how much guidance they receive on applying the role prior to the workshop and within the design assignment. overall both in 2017/2018, the roles were perceived to create added value for education (question 13), the work environment (question 14), and students state they would recommend others to use the engineering roles in the design process (table 2). further, in terms of creativity, 56% of the participants in 2018 felt the roles enhanced the divergent thinking process, while 15% neither agreed nor disagreed and 29% disagreed. however, the engineering roles were less useful in supporting convergent thinking, as only 33% felt it supported them with 30% neither agreeing nor disagreeing and a further 36% disagreeing. overall, the roles were perceived to be useful in developing the most appropriate design solutions (67% agreed/strongly agreed) and for developing an integrated design (59% agreed to strongly agreed) and a more complete design 60% (agreed to strongly agreed). finally, most of the participants considered the engineering roles relatively easy to use. the integrated building with nature designs demonstrate an extremely wide distribution across the solution space for both the hondsbossche and en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 93 pettemer sea defence case study and the kinderdijk case study. a broad range of combinations of bio-geophysical and societal needs are evident in the design concepts, albeit designs for the tidal river area of ablasserdam-kinderdijk were less diverse. the process of bwn design needs to adhere to the economically viable, environmentally friendly, quality of life bounds imposed by the doughnut model proposed in the introduction of this chapter. moreover, the process also has to integrate across disciplinary sub-components and include the values of the stakeholders (cigas model, kothuis et al., 2014) and take the different design-engineering roles into account. the engineering roles helped in explicating the values addressed in the problem definition and its translation into (diverse) design requirements. for example, the system integrator can connect the problem of adequate emergency services (value) to the requirements of access to the beach, good road infrastructure and minimal pollution (design requirements). the contextual engineer can connect the problem of enhancing/preserving the natural environment and personal prosperity (values) to the requirements of recreational space and cultural heritage preservation activities (design requirements). specialists can connect the problem of knowledge development on coastal infrastructure (value) to the requirements of structural stability, flood safety standards, and characteristic flora and fauna (design requirements). deepening insight into design processes via the engineering roles, while trying to balance the biophysical and social aspects (a characteristic of building with nature projects), means that participants gained experience in interdisciplinary design. these integrative skills are becoming ever more important for future engineers to be able to deal with the complex and interdisciplinary design questions in the coming decades. from the workshops it turned out that teaching these skills to engineering students by means of engineering roles was helpful. summarising the evaluation of the participant’s perceptions in the 2017 and 2018 building with nature workshops revealed that the use of engineering design roles supports the inherent interdisciplinary character of the building with nature design process. this is particularly relevant in the divergent and the evaluative phases of the design, where the integration and completeness of a design proposal is assessed. knowledge of the diverse perspectives and values held by stakeholders and the implications for the local environment and the lived experience of the people affected by the proposed building with nature design makes for a more informed problem definition and widens the solution space. the participants valued that they were challenged to connect their engineering design competence to an authentic building with nature situation in each of the workshops. most participants therefore considered the engineering roles particularly relevant for their future technical working environment, as well as for their education. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 94 6. concluding discussion building with nature infrastructure designs are characterised by disciplinary integration, non-linearity, diverse and fluid design requirements, and long-term time frames that balance the limitations of earth’s systems and the socio-technical systems created by humans. three building with nature design workshops therefore provided the ideal context for investigating whether engineering roles enhance such interdisciplinary ways of working. in the first workshop in 2016, the explicit consideration of engineering roles within building with nature design processes was piloted. a modified version of the initial engineering roles prototype was then applied and evaluated in the second and third workshops in 2017 and 2018, leading to insights both on the engineering design roles and the interdisciplinary design context of building with nature. results indicate that the application of the engineering roles in each of the three workshops indeed supported interdisciplinary design. the engineering roles stimulate the consideration of stakeholder values and discussions about norms and values across disciplines as well as an appreciation of diverse stakeholder perspectives. within the design team, engineering roles help the interdisciplinary discussion by shifting perspectives, finding and recognizing common ground, and the realisation of integrated solutions that fall within the solution space of the bwn doughnut. a number of conditions for successful implementation within an authentic learning environment could be identified, namely: a clear and concise explanation of the engineering design roles, some time to internalize the engineering role perspective before having to apply it, effective integration of the engineering roles into a pre-structured design process, a design assignment that requires divergent thinking, no assignment of a single role to an individual person, but rather attaching the engineering role to the assignment in such a way that each team member can contribute to any and every engineering role perspective. the engineering roles sustain an early, divergent way of looking at the design problem and support the search for common ground across the diverse perspectives of the team members, each bringing different disciplinary backgrounds to the design table. the engineering roles represent a new set of bridging values and the responsibility to engage in interdisciplinary processes, needed to successfully accomplish complex design processes as bwn. both the engineering roles and the individual disciplinary perspectives contributed en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 95 to the analysis of a complex real problem situation. however, reflecting on the design process from the engineering role perspective sustained integrative thinking in the early design process, and it sharpened the specification of design criteria and the evaluation at the end of the design process. these contributions are particularly relevant to building with nature design assignments, which require working across disciplines, coping with complex and fluid design requirements and accommodating non-linearity and dynamic environmental and social contexts. the inclusion of multiple perspectives in the definition of the design requirements, specifically those of local residents and authorities, served to broaden the solution space and the diversity of the final designs. shifting the focus from “stakeholder requirements” to “a constraint–focused problem definition”, led participants to value the use of engineering roles and helped them to be better equipped for interdisciplinary design challenges. further, it is likely that the engineering design roles would be more valuable for education at undergraduate and early postgraduate levels, rather than for phd candidates who are familiar with the design cycle. the building with nature elements might be better identified when students already have strong training in this field or there is a marked identification with experts in the field and their engineering design roles. however, although experts are highly competent, they may be unaware of how they enact their engineering roles in their research or implementation practice. this can make it difficult for student participants to acquire deeper learning on engineering roles through interaction with the experts. the engineering roles have been tested three times in small workshops. each time the intervention was adapted to fit with the demands of the nsfpire program within which it was nested. this makes it difficult to draw broad conclusions that can be generalized. nonetheless, we expect that the engineering design roles can support interdisciplinary learning processes in diverse environmental and engineering projects, and call upon researchers to add to the knowledge base on interdisciplinary design by evaluating applications of the engineering roles in diverse settings. we are particularly intrigued whether others will obtain similar results and are interested to learn whether the innovative character of building with nature solutions produced in the workshops are replicated. the interdisciplinary and contextual challenges of designing building with nature solutions provided a fertile testing ground. we urge others to apply the principles that we have provided above to create suitable educational settings and instructional processes as the next testing ground for interdisciplinary, environmental engineering design processes. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 96 acknowledgements financial support from the nsf-pire program [grant no. 1545837] is acknowledged. the pilot study was partially financed by the cocochannel project [nwo-alw grant no. 850.13.043]. special thanks are extended to danielle ceulemans for her visualisation of the engineering roles and her contribution to the design and evaluation of the workshops. the participating senior researchers, phd, postgraduate, and undergraduate students and the experts and stakeholders who attended the workshops in 2016, 2017 and 2018 are warmly thanked. en g in eer in g r o les in b u ild in g w it h n a t u r e in t er d isc ip lin a r y d esig n ed u c a t io n a l e x p er ien c es 97 references beers, p.j. 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(2012). building with nature thinking, acting and interacting differently. ecoshape. 261 natural solutions versus technical solutions how ecosystem benefits can make a difference in public decisions elisabeth ruijgrok witteveen and bos, rotterdam, the netherlands doi 10.47982/rius.7.137 r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 262 abstract ‘building with nature’ solutions seem like a logical alternative to technical solutions. working with nature instead of against it might save civil engineering costs. but will it also generate additional civil engineering benefits? typical engineering benefits are related to flood prevention, transportation and sand mining. both technical and natural solutions can produce these benefits. natural solutions, however, may produce additional ecosystem benefits. these are rarely accounted for in investment decisions about engineering projects. this is not surprising as there are no rules stating that and how these benefits should be calculated. the netherlands is the first country in europe to install a national guideline for monetising ecosystem benefits within cost-benefit analyses in the public sector. this article shows how this guideline provides a systematic approach to prevent both overand under-estimations of ecosystem benefits. the key to this approach is to make a distinction between goods and services that directly generate welfare while linking those to conditional functions that indirectly generate welfare. this approach is applied to flood defence in the scheldt estuary in belgium. it resulted in benefit estimates that were large enough to compensate for the extra cost of natural solutions. taking ecosystem benefits into account influenced the flood protection decision of the national government: the natural ‘inundation areas’-solution was preferred to the technical solution of ‘dyke heightening’. keywords ecosystem valuation, national guideline, cost benefit analysis, goods and services, inundation area, estuary, functions of nature n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 263 1. introduction in civil engineering, natural solutions are gaining popularity as an alternative to technical solutions. when natural solutions save costs, they are -of coursewelcomed. for example, making use of water currents to reduce the cost of dredging. when a natural solution turns out to be more costly than its technical compeer, the technical solution is usually favoured. for example, creating natural inundation areas is more expensive than dyke heightening, because the creation of inundation areas requires giving up valuable agricultural land. but is it fair to compare two types of solutions merely on the basis of cost, when they might also differ in terms of benefits? if designed for a specific purpose (e.g. flood protection) both natural and technical solutions have similar key benefits (e.g. prevented flood damage) for society. the natural solution may, however, have ecosystem benefits, that the technical solution does not, such as recreational or carbon fixation benefits. the key to promoting natural solutions thus lies in scientists’ ability to determine ecosystem benefits. both ecologists and economists have carried out studies to calculate ecosystem benefits in monetary terms. once a price tag is put on ecosystems benefits, they can be included in the cost-benefit analyses that investment decisions are based on (pearce and turner, 1990; layard and glaister, 1994; hanley and spash, 1993). the extent to which ecosystem benefits are accounted for in cost benefit analyses differs per country. in belgium and in the netherlands, the values of ecosystems were not included in cost-benefit analyses for actual political decisions until the year 2004. in that year, a national guideline for determining ecosystems’ benefits was endorsed by the dutch government (ruijgrok et.al., 2004). an interesting feature of this guideline is the way in which it tries to prevent possible over and under estimation of ecosystem benefits. the few valuation studies that had been conducted in the past seemed to produce results that either completely overruled the costs of the appraised project or were absolutely negligible compared to the project costs. on the one hand, policy makers felt that studies concluding that ecosystems are much more valuable than any economic activity, could not be right and were not helpful to make decisions on planned economic activities or civil engineering projects. on the other hand, they felt that studies concluding that ecosystems’ values are negligible were not really helpful either. it thus seemed that the results of valuation studies were perceived as either too high or too low to play a role in the costbenefit analysis for conr iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 264 crete investment decisions on civil engineering projects1. in this chapter, it is shown how the dutch guideline helps to prevent over and under estimations of ecosystem benefits on the basis of a case study in belgium: flood protection in the scheldt estuary. 2. the methodology of ecosystem valuation definitions in order to understand the way in which the ecosystem benefits of the scheldt estuary are determined in this chapter, it is important to note how the term benefit is defined and used. the socioeconomic benefits are defined as the amount of both material and immaterial forms of welfare that nature generates for society. this means that socioeconomic benefits are larger than the cash flows derived from nature. these cash flows, which can be rather limited for unexploited, pristine natural areas, form the financial benefits. the broad welfare definition means that the socioeconomic benefits are purely anthropocentric: they pertain strictly to human welfare. socioeconomic benefits do not encompass the intrinsic value of nature, as the welfare of other organisms, plants and animals is not included2. figure 1 shows the economic, the financial and the intrinsic benefits of ecosystems. figure 1. the three benefits of nature 1 another reason why the results of ecosystem valuation studies are not used in political decision making, is that these studies do not always measure change. e.g. costanza et.al. (1997) estimate the values the of current natural capital stock to awaken politicians. of course, this value cannot help a policy makers to decide whether they should give up a part of a nature reserve to build a parking lot. for that decision they need to know the value of the change to the reserve and compare it with the benefits of the parking lot. 2 if humans obtain welfare from the well being of other organisms, this is included in the form of a nonuse value. n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 265 unlike intrinsic benefits (mostly referred to as intrinsic value3), the economic benefits of ecosystems can be expressed in monetary terms by means of several economic valuation techniques (taylor, 2001; ward and beal, 2000; mitchell and carson, 1989). expressed in monetary terms, the benefits can be included in socioeconomic cost-benefit analyses which are also in monetary terms. in order to do that with the ecosystem benefits of the scheldt estuary, the various ways in which these ecosystems generate welfare flows were investigated. it is noted here that the intrinsic benefits of ecosystems, which are not included in cost-benefit analyses, are usually reported in environmental impact assessments in terms of a score or index. in those assessments, the impacts of civil engineering projects are determined from the perspective of the welfare of species. methodology ecosystems generate human welfare because they produce goods and services that humans can use and/or simply enjoy without using itthe socalled nonuse function (see e.g. bateman et.al. (2002), hanley and spash (1993), pearce and moran (1994)). the use of goods and services can be direct or indirect through the use of other goods or services4. examples of direct forms of use pertain to goods such as wood, clean water, and fish or to services such as recreational opportunities, protection against flooding or climate change. examples of indirect forms of use are ‘nutrient recycling’ and ‘fish nurseries’ which respectively result in ‘clean water’ and ‘fish production’. by using the clean water or the fish, we indirectly use the nutrient recycling service and the nursery service. in other words, the ecosystem´s nutrient recycling and the nursery function are conditional to the production of clean water and fish. to capture all benefits of an ecosystem, it is important not to omit any goods and services that the ecosystem produces, because that causes an underestimation of the nature value. at the same time, it is also important not to value indirect forms of use in addition to direct forms of use, as this causes overestimations. a way to solve the problem of potential underand overestimations is to make a distinction between conditional functions that indirectly generate welfare and goods and services that people can directly use or 3 a benefit is comprised of a quantity times a value, e.g. flood protection benefits are the number of houses protected times the avoided damage per house or recreational benefits are the number of recreational visits times the value (i.e. willingness to pay) per visit. similarly, intrinsic benefits can be expressed in terms of the number of hectares of nature types times the number of (rare) species per hectare. 4 sometimes the categories ‘direct-’ and ‘indirect-use’ are interpreted as respectively tangible and intangible goods and services. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 266 enjoy without using (the socalled nonuse) and to systematically link conditional functions to goods and services. to understand this solution, we shall take one step back and look at the original functions of the nature approach. the functions of nature approach, which distinguishes production, information, regulation and carrier functions, was originally developed by ecologists to identify the substance and energy flows between the ecosystem and the economic system (e.g. van der maarel and dauvellier, 1978). the approach was immediately applied by both ecologists and economist5 to determine the economic value of ecosystems (van holst et.al, 1978; gren et.al, 1994, barbier, 1993; de groot, 1992; costanza et.al, 1997), even though this approach was not developed for this purpose. later, the approach was further developed by the millennium ecosystem assessment panel, that distinguishes supporting services, i.e. conditional functions and other goods and services (i.e. the other functions6 (millennium ecosystem assessment, 2005). figure 2 shows how the different types of functions form a link between the ecosystem and the economic system. figure 2. the functions that ecosystems fulfil for the economic system in figure 2, the different categories of functions are represented by arrows pointing in different directions. the production and information functions reflect a flow from the ecosystem to the economic system. they form the supply of goods (production) and services (information) from which humans directly derive welfare when using or not using it. these are the welfare flows that we are searching for when trying to determine the economic benefits of ecosystems. carrier functions represent an opposite flow from the economic system to the ecosystems. humans put houses, waste, roads etc. into 5 it may be noticed here that in studies done by economists, the total economic value concept usually plays a central role, whereas in studies by ecologists, the functions of nature approach is the central focus. 6 this panel uses the terms provisional, regulation and cultural functions. the socalled carrier functions are no longer distinguished. n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 267 the ecosystem. carrier functions should not be included in ecosystem benefit calculations, because they lead to overestimations. in the end, the space that ecosystems provide carries all human activities, rendering the ecosystems´ benefits equal to the benefits of all human activities. in situations where we would like to compare the benefits of ecosystems with the benefits of economic activities, this is not very helpful. for example, suppose we need to decide whether or not to build a road through a natural area. we would like to compare the benefits of the road with the costs of losing the ecosystem in that area. if the benefits of carrying a road are attributed to the natural area, than the costs of losing the ecosystem will always be exactly equal to the benefits of the road, leaving the matter undecided. regulation functions are flows inside the ecosystem and are represented by an arrow inside the ecosystem. they are the processes and characteristics that make the carrying of activities and the production of goods and services possible. originally, they were also called conditional functions (harms, 1973). including these conditional functions in addition to goods and services (i.e. production and information functions) is the major cause of overestimates in valuation studies. conditional functions such as pollination, nutrient recycling, nurseries, carbon sequestration etc. only indirectly generate welfare since they lead to food production, clean water, fish production and protection against the effects of climate change. this means that if both pollination and the food production, or both the nursery and the fish are being calculated and added up to determine the total ecosystem benefits, one and the same welfare flow is counted twice. this is comparable with valuing both the ice cream machine and the ice cream and adding the two values up to determine the socioeconomic benefits of ice cream production. for the sake of not omitting any important ecosystem benefits, it is useful to identify conditional functions. at the same time, they can be the cause of overestimations, when overlapping with other goods and services (see box 1). by linking conditional functions to goods and services that directly generate welfare, it becomes easier to carry out an ecosystem benefit study without omissions and without overlap. table 1 presents a list of wetland ecosystems functions and links the goods and services to conditional functions. table 1 shows that nurseries lead to fish production and nutrient recycling to clean water. since each time there is only one welfare flow, this means that one should either value the nursery or the fish, and either the nutrient recycling or the clean water in order to correctly determine ecosystem benefits7. from literature on economic valuation methods, we know that conditional functions such as nutrient recycling cannot be valued in a reliable way with methods that measure people’s willingness to pay, such as cvm 7 when there are two or more conditions to one good, one should choose between the good and the most limiting condition. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 268 and tcm, whereas commodity-like goods and services, such as ´clean water´ and ´recreational visits´, can (freeman, 1986). these conditional functions can, however, be valued quite easily by means of cost-based methods such as abatement cost avoided. such cost-based estimates are, however, proxy´s of the actual economic value, since it may cost much to abate (e.g. nutrient emissions) although the welfare derived from less nutrients may be smaller than the abatement costs. condition goods and services nursery; migration routes; aeration (oxygen) fish nutrient availability; ground water fluctuation; pollination; soil formation; erosion control; biological control food and other harvestable products erosion control (waterways); sedimentation control transportation possibilities nutrient recycling (e.g. denitrification); carbon sinking (organic matter); metal binding; silicium production; salinity control clean water water absorption of soil (sponge function) protection against floods carbon sequestration protection against climate change fish nursery, natural succession, biological control etc. recreational opportunities several functions that lead to biodiversity, such as natural succession and biological control existence and bequest of biodiversity (non-use) table 1. linking conditional functions to goods and services from the above, one can conclude that linking conditions to goods and services, does not only help us to prevent omissions and overlap in valuation studies, but it also explicates a choice in valuation methods. by means of a case study on the scheldt estuary in belgium, we shall show that the choice between valuing conditional functions on the basis of avoided costs or final goods and services on the basis of willingness to pay or market prices, can be made on the basis of information availability8. 3. case study: the scheldt estuary in belgium the belgium government is faced with the problem of protecting the population against floods in the sea scheldt estuary. the existing flood protection plan for the scheldt, which is called sigma plan, stems from 1977 and needs to be updated with an eye on the possible effects of climate change. eight alternatives have been developed to update the protection plan (see table 2). they vary from higher dykes, storm flood barriers, connecting rivers, 8 when it concerns small amounts of changes in e.g. nutrient recycling, so small that actual water quality improvements are not yet noticeable to the people, one can only value this on the basis of abatement costs. n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 269 to creating inundation areas. in order to determine which alternative is the best way to protect society against floods, the alternatives are compared by means of socioeconomic cost-benefit analysis (= cba)9. five of the eight alternatives involve the rehabilitation of inundation areas, which, in fact, represent new ecosystems and thus generate ecosystem benefits. five types of inundation areas are distinguished: 1. agricultural inundation areas: these are created by constructing a ring dyke behind the existing river dyke. the land between the dykes remains in agricultural use but is flooded in case of storm floods to protect the hinterland. 2. wetlands: these are constructed in the same way as agricultural inundation areas. the difference between the two is that here the area between the dykes is turned into a wetland. 3. reduced tidal areas: these are also created by adding a ring dyke, but now the area between dykes will be flooded twice a day by a flood gate. 4. river expansions: these are made by creating a ring dyke and by allowing the river dyke to disappear under water. this means that land is returned to the river. 5. wet river valley restorations: in river valleys the river dykes are removed, allowing the river to flow freely over the grass lands. figure 3. artist impressions of the natural solution for the scheldt estuary. 9 and an environmental impact assessment. in this article we focus on the cba, as that involves ecosystem valuation. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 270 figure 3 shows artists impressions of these five types of natural solutions in comparison to the baseline situation. it may be noted that in the baseline the rivers have dykes on both sides. the alternative protection plans consist of different combinations of inundation areas. table 2 gives a brief overview of the composition of the alternative plans. alternative composition storm flood barrier no inundation areas higher dykes no inundation areas inundation areas up to a safety level of 1 flood per 4000 years: a) only agricultural inundation areas and wetlands; (b) agricultural inundation areas and reduced tidal areas; (c) agricultural inundation areas, wetlands and river expansions inundation areas up to a safety level of 1 flood per 2500 years several agricultural inundation areas and wetlands inundation areas up to a safety level of 1 flood per 1000 years combined with higher dykes protecting antwerp several agricultural inundation areas and wetlands connection between west and east scheldt no inundation areas connection between west and east scheldt combined with inundation areas several agricultural inundation areas and wetlands restoration of upstream river valleys (a) several agricultural inundation areas, wetlands and wet river valleys, (b) few agricultural inundation areas, wetland and wet river valleys (small storm flood barrier) table 2. composition of flood protection alternatives. in the cba, both the benefits of protection against floods and the ecosystems´ benefits10 of the five types of inundation areas are determined as well as the construction costs. in order to be able to determine the ecosystem benefits by means of the new functions of nature approach, the inundation ecosystems need to be defined in a more detailed way. table 3 gives an overview of the ecotope composition of the five inundation ecosystems. this composition is influenced by nature management such as mowing and grazing. since the scheldt estuary is characterised by a transition from brackish to fresh water, a distinction is made between brackish and fresh water reduced tidal areas and river expansions11. in cba it is necessary to indicate when benefits occur therefore the development time of ecotopes is also given12. 10 although the benefits of flood protection are also ecosystem benefits, they are treated separately in the cba for the alternative protection plans. this is because technical solutions, such as storm flood barriers, also generate flood protection benefits. 11 for agricultural inundation areas, wetlands and wet river valley, this distinction is not relevant. agricultural areas are only flooded in case of emergency and do not change into brackish systems, though they can suffer from salt damage. wetlands and wet river valleys only occur in the freshwater regions. 12 some ecosystem benefits such as recreational opportunities will only occur after some years when the vegetation is developed. other benefits, such water purification will occur immediately. n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 271 characteristics agricultural inundation area wetland reduced tidal area river expansion wet river valley ecotope composition in climax stage 100 % meadow, cornfield or production forest unmanaged: 100 % willow forest managed: 50 % reed land and 50 % 5 willow forest fresh and unmanaged: 100 % willow forest. fresh and managed: 20 % water vegetation, 40 % reedland and 40 % willow forest. brackish unmanaged and managed: 20 % water vegetation, 40 % mud flat and sandbank and 40 % salt marsh. fresh and unmanaged: 100 % willow forest. fresh and managed: 33 % water vegetation, 33 % reedland and 33 % willow forest. brackish unmanaged and managed: 33 % water vegetation, 33 % mud flat and sandbank and 33 % salt marsh. 50 % swampy grasslands and 50 % structure rich grasslands development time none 5 years 5 years 5 years 5 years salinity fresh and brackish fresh fresh and brackish fresh and brackish fresh flood frequency 1 to 10 times per year 1 to 10 times per year 700 times per year, but less in climax stage 700 times per year, but less in climax stage 50 to 150 days per year tidal movement no no yes yes no table 3. ecotope composition and other characteristics of inundation areas. 4. benefit calculation of the inundation areas in order to calculate the economic benefits generated by the five types of inundation areas, an inventory was made of the welfare functions they perform. it was found that the inundation ecosystems fulfil several functions that lead to changes in human welfare. table 4 breaks these functions down into eleven goods and services and the conditional functions behind those goods and services. for each row in table 4 a choice was made between valuing the good or service or valuing the most limiting conditional function as a proxy for the value of the good or service. the choice that was made is underlined. the motivations behind each choice are practical. for example, it was decided to value the aeration function that reduced tidal areas and river expansions fulfil instead of the increased fish production, because there were no data available to predict the increased fish production, whereas it was possible to estimate the addition of oxygen from flooding. for clean water, a similar argumentation was used. there was r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 272 no data on people´s appreciation for cleaner surface water, but it was possible to calculate the ecosystems contribution to nutrient reduction and the resulting saved cost of waste water treatment. goods and services conditional functions quantification monetarization inundation area fish production aeration (most limiting) nursery model prediction water treatment costs rta, re wood production nutrient absorption etc. existing data on yields market prices rta, re, w reed production idem existing data on yields market prices rta, re, w shipping possibilities prevention soil erosion rough estimates on the basis of interpolation of existing data dredging costs w, rta sedimentation control w, rta, re clean surface water: nutrient poor and algae free water nutrient purification (n, p) model prediction water treatment costs w, rta, re oxygen rich water carbon sinking (c) model prediction rta, re heavy metals free water metal binding (cd, cu, zn, cr, pb, as, ni, hg) numbers from literature w, rta, re protection against climate change carbon storage (co2) numbers from literature internationally authorised value w, rta, re recreational opportunities several, no specific condition was identified as being the limiting factor data from ferries and field counts empirical measurement of willingness to pay per visit aia, w, rta, re, wrv fish recreation see fish production existing data on fish club memberships cost per year of a club membership w, rta, re housing amenities idem rough estimate of affected houses from environmental impact assessment hedonic price transferred from dutch study in % of the average house price aia, w, rta, re, wrv non-use (i.e. welfare derived from the sheer existence of nature regardles of use possibilities) several conditions to biodiversity, no specific condition was identified as being the limiting factor number of households in flanders empirical measurement of willingness to pay per household w, rta, re, wrv acronyms: aia = agricultural inundation area, w = wetland, rta = reduced tidal area, re = river expansion, wrv = wet river valley. table 4. goods and services linked to conditional functions, quantification and monetarisation n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 273 table 4 does not only show which welfare generating functions the five types of inundation areas fulfil, but it also shows how these were quantified and monetised. quantification of functions the quantification method differs per function. for some functions, such as wood production, soil erosion, housing amenities, and fish recreation, existing data sources were used. for other functions, such as the binding of heavy metals, a literature review was done for studies conducted on comparable ecosystems (cox et.al, 2004). for the functions, aeration, nutrient purification, and carbon sinkage, the quantification was done by means of model predictions. a special substance flow model for the scheldt estuary of the university of antwerp was used for this purpose. monetisation of functions the different functions were monetised by means of different valuation methods. goods and services, such as wood and reed production, were valued on the basis of market prices. all conditional functions, such as erosion control and nutrient purification, were valued in terms of abatement costs, such as dredging costs and water treatment costs. two services, recreation and nonuse, were valued by means of an empirical contingent valuation study. in this study, 1.704 inhabitants of flanders were asked to state their willingness to pay for recreational visits and for nonuse (i.e. conservation without using). the cv-questionnaire was set up according to the prescriptions of the noaa guideline (arrow et.al, 1993). since the cvm comprised of two different values and five different ecosystems it was quite complex. an extra complicating factor was that each type of inundation ecosystem will be realised at several locations which have not been identified yet. fifty percent of the interviews were held among recreationists in the sea scheldt area and fifty percent were held outside this area. this was done to guarantee that the sample included both recreationist and nonusers. for representativity, interviews were spread across 33 different locations and during different days of the week over a period of three months. to prevent seasonal bias, respondents who were not recreating at the moment of interview, were asked if they visit the sea scheldt area at other moments in time. if so, they were regarded as recreationists. table 5 shows the results of the cvm-study. statistical tests on the difference in willingness to pay for the different types of inundation areas showed that only the differences in willingness to pay for the wet river valley and the other types were significant. both the recreational value and the nonuse value of the wet river valley were significantly lower than the values of the other types. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 274 ecosystem average willingness to pay for recreation in euro per visit (st.dev) n average willingness to pay for non use in euro per household per year (st.dev) n overall value 1.68 (3.80) 1.328 15.50 (24.73) 1.439 agricultural inundation area 1.76 (4.67) 158 n.a. 0 wetland 1.61 (3.19) 284 16.10 (10.24) 335 reduced tidal area 1.77 (4.76) 288 16.33 (24.88) 371 river expansion 1.92 (3.55) 290 15.62 (23.86) 366 wet river valley 1.40 (2.93) 308 13.99 (25.63) 367 acronyms: st.dev = standard deviation, n= number of measurements, n.a. = not available. table 5. cvm-results: willingness to pay for recreation and non-use 5. results per ecosystem after the quantification and the monetisation of the different functions of the five types of inundation areas, a spread sheet model was built to calculate the present value of the ecosystem benefits. present values were calculated taking into account the ecotope composition13, the development time and saturation14, the difference between fresh and brackish water15 and the impact of nature management16. the latter was modelled as a variable for the sake of conducting a sensitivity analyses afterwards. table 6 presents the results of these calculations, assuming that all nature is managed. for the details of the calculation of each benefit in table 6, the reader is referred to ruijgrok and lorenz (2004). table 6 shows that the fresh water reduced tidal areas produces the largest economic benefits. the wet river valley and the agricultural inundation area generate the smallest benefits. this is because there is hardly any nature development in these two areas compared to the baseline situation. for both the reduced tidal area and the river expansion, the fresh water areas produce greater benefits than the brackish water areas. this can almost entirely be ascribed to the difference in nutrient purification (plant absorption). from table 6 one can also conclude that after the nonuse benefits (which is not per hectare), metal binding forms the largest benefit category, followed by sedimentation and nutrient purification. 13 this determines the quantification of the wood and reed production and of nutrient absorption by the vegetation. 14 saturation occurs for functions such as the binding of heavy metals and the sedimentation control. when a mud flat or salt marsh is mature, the input and output of heavy metals and sediment will be in balance, resulting in zero net catchments. here, saturation was assumed to occur after 20 years. 15 this influences the quantification of ´nutrient absorption by the vegetation´ and of ´carbon storage´. 16 this has an impact on the quantification of ´nutrient absorption´ and ´wood and reed production´. n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 275 agricultural inundation area wetland reduced tidal area reduced tidal area river expansion river expansion wet river vally unit ecosystem functions**: fresh fresh fresh brackish fresh brackish fresh aeration 0 0 87 38 87 38 0 €/ha wood 0 8,630 6,904 0 5,696 0 0 €/ha reed 0 6,421 5,137 0 4,238 0 0 €/ha erosion 0 260 260 260 0 0 0 €/ha sedimentation 0 292 20,426 20,426 20,426 20,426 0 €/ha nutrient purification 0 14,990 25,022 15,304 23,572 14,864 0 €/ha rinse out (n, p)*** 0 1,929 1,929 1,929 1,929 1,929 0 denitrification (n) 0 5,846 10,084 6,138 10,084 6,138 0 plant absorption (n, p) 0 7,215 5,772 0 4,762 0 0 burial (n, p) 0 0 7,237 7,237 6,797 6,797 0 c sinking 0 0 3,242 3,242 3,242 3,242 0 €/ha metal binding 0 507 35,501 35,501 35,501 35,501 0 €/ha carbon storage 0 3,421 2,737 2,808 2,257 2,808 0 €/ha recreational opportunities 1,381 1,381 1,243 1,243 2,037 2,037 374 €/ha subtotal per ha 1,381 35,903 100,561 78,823 97,057 78,917 374 €/ha fish recreation -32,500 -32,500 -32,500 -32,500 -32,500 -32,500 -32,500 €/pound fish housing amenity -50,400 -50,400 -50,400 -50,400 -50,400 -50,400 -50,400 €/2 homes non-use 0.0 796.2 796.2 796.2 796.2 796.2 718.6 m€ if total area is this type * the present values are computed over an infinite time span, except for benefits that physically stop after a certain number of years (e.g. metal binding stops after 20 years). ** the functions aeration, erosion, sedimentation, nutrient purification, c sinking, metal binding and carbon storage were all valued by multiplying the modelled number of mmol o2, m3 of sediment, kg of n and p, tons of c, kg of metals per hectare per year respectively the energy cost per mmol o2, the dredging cost per m3 sediment, the water treatment cost per kg n and p and metal etc. for the scheldt estuary. *** these are the benefits of reduced nutrient input into the environment as agricultural land is transformed into nature. **** these are the negative benefits if one detached and one attached house, with an average value of resp. € 320.000 and € 100.000 lose their view on the river. table 6. benefits per ecosystem type (present values at 4 % interest*) 6. cost benefit analysis on alternative protection plans as explained before, the belgian government intends to choose between several flood protection plans, which are composed of different combinations of the five types of inundation areas. this means that the ecosystem benefits of a protection plan can be calculated on the basis of the benefits per type of inundation area. table 7 presents the results assuming that all nature is managed. only alternative protection plans that involve the creation of new nature areas are presented. although the alternative plans do not cover exr iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 276 actly the same amount of land, this leads to minor differences in benefits (accounted for in table 7) and to slight differences in costs. table 7 shows that alternative 3b, which involves the creation of reduced tidal area´s, wherever possible, to realise a safety level of 1 flood per 4000 years, generates the largest ecosystem benefits, followed by alternative 3c and 8a. alternative flood protection plans* agricultural inundation areal wetland reduced tidal area river expansion river expansion wet river vally 3. inundation areas up to a safety level of 1 flood per 4000 years: (a) only agricultural inundation areas and wetlands -0.21 282.24 0.00 0.00 0.00 282.03 (b) agricultural inundation areas and reduced tidal areas 0.09 0.00 984.69 0.00 0.00 984.79 (c) agricultural inundation areas, wetlands and river expansions -0.19 114.58 0.00 769.82 0.00 884.22 4. inundation areas up to a safety level of 1 flood per 2500 years: agricultural inundation areas and wetlands -0.52 245.49 0.00 0.00 0.00 244.97 5. inundation areas up to a safety level of 1 flood per 1000 years combined with higher dykes protecting antwerp: agricultural inundation areas and wetlands 0.17 184.13 0.00 0.00 0.00 184.29 6. connection between west and east scheldt combined with inundation areas: agricultural inundation areas and wetlands 0.15 142.97 0.00 0.00 0.00 143.12 7. restoration of upstream river valleys: (a) several agricultural inundation areas, wetlands and wet river valleys -0.78 162.48 0.00 0.00 453.18 614.88 (b) few agricultural inundation areas, wetlands and wet river valleys & small storm flood barrier -0.57 57.57 0.00 0.00 610.10 667.11 * see also table 2. table 7. ecosystem benefits per protection plan (present values in million euro´s at 4 % interest) although the investment costs vary per alternative, they are estimated at approximately 500 million euro. this means that the ecosystem benefits of alternative 3b, 3c, 8a and 8b surpass the costs17. this allows for the conclusion that investments in the development of new ecosystems within the flood protection plan are a sound investment from a societal perspective. it also leads to the conclusion that natural flood protection can compete with traditional technical solutions such as dyke heightening and storm flood bar17 this does not, however, mean that the other alternatives have a negative net result. besides ecosystem benefits, each alternative also generates safety benefits in the form of avoided flood damage costs. n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 277 riers, thanks to the ecosystem benefits. though not shown in table 7, it was found that natural solutions could compete with all the technical ones (plan 1 storm flood barrier, plan 2 dyke heightening and plan 6 connecting rivers). the ecosystem benefits more than compensate the cost difference between the natural and technical solutions. comparison of the guideline with other approaches the presented results may raise the question whether we would have had different results, had we not applied the approach of the dutch guideline. table 8 presents rough estimates in case: (a) just cash flows, such as wood and reed yields, had been taken into account; (b) the conditional functions behind clean water, transportation possibilities and fish production had been added up to the direct values of these goods and services; and, (c) only the easily measurable benefits of recreation and nonuse had been accounted for. alternative flood protection plans presented estimate of this study estimate based on only cash flows ** estimate based on values of conditional functions in addition to values of goods and services *** estimate based on only recreation and non-use values alternative 3a* 282.03 13.28 786.25 255.63 alternative 3b 984.79 19.40 2,547.48 755.83 alternative 3c 884.22 20.23 2,263.36 669.36 alternative 4 244.97 9.84 691.65 226.31 alternative 5 184.29 5.79 526.01 173.18 alternative 7 143.12 3.91 411.10 136.00 alternative 8a 614.88 10.30 1,828.56 609.47 alternative 8b 667.11 2.47 2,020.22 677.74 * see table 7 for a description. ** only the functions that generate direct cash flow (wood production, reed production, recreation, and housing) were included here. *** all final goods and services plus the conditional functions mentioned in table 4 are included here. table 8. comparing the estimated ecosystem benefits with other approaches (present values in million euro) table 8 shows that if we had estimated the ecosystem benefits of the alternative flood protection plans solely on the basis of cash flows, the benefits of all alternatives would be much smaller than the costs of ca. 500 million euro. this would lead to the conclusion that ecosystems are a bad investment. if the values of all ecosystems´ functions had been included without eliminating overlap, the benefits of all but alternative 7 would greatly surpass the costs. since the costs of alternative 7 are actually smaller than 500 million euro, this would lead to the conclusion that they are all good investments. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 278 such a conclusion is usually not very helpful in political decisionmaking processes for two reasons18. firstly, policy makers and politicians need discriminating results, that reveal different consequences of choices. and secondly, they usually feel that benefits, which are of the different order of magnitude as costs, are incomparable. finally, if we only include easily identifiable ecosystem values in the calculations, such as recreation and nonuse benefits, the results become more discriminating and more in line with the magnitude of investment costs again. this approach is, however, completely dependent upon cvm results. on the european mainland, this dependency is usually considered a problem, since this method is still very prone to criticism and therefore rarely applied to support actual political decisions. if the cvm results are not accepted, the ecosystems benefit will become zero, which brings us back to the original problem of ecosystems having little weight in political decisions. 7. conclusion this study leads to the conclusion that the natural solution of inundation areas is a serious alternative to technical flood protection solutions, such as storm flood barriers or dyke heightening due to the ecosystem benefits that they produce. judged against the magnitude of ecosystem benefits, one may also conclude that the estimated ecosystem benefits in this study are discriminating between alternatives. they do not completely overrule the costs, which would render them useless for political decisionmaking. at the same time, the ecosystem benefits are large enough to support the necessary investments in nature development. the case study showed that the approach of the dutch guideline, resulted in a realistic value estimate that was quite different from the results we would have had using other approaches. moreover, this estimate was actually used in a concrete national political decision and it influenced that decision as the belgian government opted for inundation areas where possible. 8. discussion in international literature on ecosystem valuation, the functions of a nature approach is widely used by both ecologists and economists (e.g. seidl and moraes, 2000; wetten et.al., 1999; costanza et.al., 1997; perman et.al., 1996; sorg and loomis, 1986; pearce and turner, 1990; kirkland, 1988;). these two groups use a different definition for the term ‘function’ (brouwer, 2003). 18 this does not reduce the fact that from a scientific perspective such a conclusion should be helpful. n a t u r a l so lu t io n s v er su s t ec h n ic a l so lu t io n s: h o w ec o s y s -t em b en efit s c a n m a k e a d iffer en c e in p u b lic d ec isio n s 279 ecologists use this term for ecological processes, servicing the maintenance of the ecosystem. as a consequence, ecologists, engaged in economic valuation studies, focus on valuing ecological processes, such as nutrient recycling, waste absorption, carbon sequestration and erosion control. these processes do not always lead to welfare (e.g. denitrification does not lead to welfare at locations where there is no eutrophication problem). sometimes several processes lead to one and the same welfare effect (e.g. denitrification and silicium production both lead to clear water). since functions may overlap, valuing them all separately may cause serious overestimates of the ecosystem’s value (see box 1). regulation functions production functions carrier functions information functions storage and recycling of nutrients fuel wood recreation education storage and recycling of waste medicines habitat and nursery research groundwater recharge and discharge (clean) water human habitation cultural heritage flood control raw materials energy production erosion control genetic resources agricultural crops salinity control food grazing (life stock) water treatment transportation climatic stabilisation carbon sequestration nurseries/ migration routes etc. this checklist contains potential overlap between functions. e.g.: doesn´t ´erosion control´ lead to more ´agricultural crops´ and isn´t that ´food´? doesn´t ´water treatment´ result in ´clean water´? do ´climatic stabilization´ and ´carbon sequestration´ not both lead the protection against the negative effects of climate change? don´t ´nurseries´ and ´fish migration routes´ lead to more ´food´ in the form of fish? box 1. overlap of functions leading to overestimated values economists use the word ‘function’ for processes that service human needs. they focus on easy-to-perceive goods and services, such as timber and recreational opportunities. they do not systematically investigate which processes are going on in the ecosystem that might possibly generate welfare. therefore, they run the risk of omitting things, leading to underestimates of ecosystem values. by linking the goods and services that directly generate human welfare to conditional functions that indirectly produce welfare, the economists´ and the ecologists´ approaches are combined, resulting in less extreme estimates and hopefully resulting in a more frequent inclusion of ecosystem values in actual political decisions. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 280 references arrow, k., solow, r., portney, p. r., leamer, e. e., radner, r., & schuman, h. 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(2000). valuing nature with travel cost models: a manual. edward elgar publishing. r iu s 7: b u ild in g w ith n a tu r e p er sp ec tiv es 282 99 green infrastructure planning in germany and china a comparative approach to green space policy and planning structure tinghao hu1, jiang chang2, ralf-uwe syrbe3 1. school of mechanics and civil engineering | china university of mining and technology xuzhou 2. institute of architecture and urban planning |china university of mining and technology xuzhou 3. leibniz institute of ecological urban and regional development dresden doi 10.7480/rius.6.96 r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 100 abstract green infrastructure (gi) provides an important life-support system for regions and cities. inspired by, supported by or copied from nature, gi is intended to deal with issues that traditional grey infrastructure can hardly accomplish. initiated by the european union’s (eu) biodiversity strategy, germany was an early adopter and thus a role model for the gi approach. in particular, a systematic gi planning system composed of formal and informal planning instruments has been established and implemented from the national to the local level. in comparison, china has not yet officially issued guidance or laws for gi planning. instead, gi implementations are mainly concentrated at the urban and local scale in the form of green municipal engineering. scrutinizing the spatial planning system in china, however, we can identify a top-down “5+1” model as a gi planning framework. this includes five types of statutory and non-statutory planning together with the garden city movement. germany may benefit from china’s diversified and inclusive gi development model and its efforts to promote regional transformation and enhance citizens’ sense of pride in their city. on the other hand, china can learn from germany’s integrated gi planning system and top-level design. due to the cross-cutting nature of the issues involved, china’s national spatial planning system must be reformed in order to improve gi planning in the country. the aim of this paper is to compare gi planning in germany and china, two countries at different developmental stages and with contrasting social and governmental systems. in so doing, we hope to build a “bridge” for the exchange of experiences. keywords green infrastructure, green space, planning system, sino-german g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 101 1. introduction green infrastructure (gi) is considered to be an important life-support system, vital to improving the urban ecology and maintaining sustainable development (rouse & bunsterossa 2013). as a contemporary planning tool, gi focuses on examining the status quo and overall benefits of natural and semi-natural elements in cities and regions at multiple scales (mell 2013; hersperger et al. 2020). it is inspired by, supported by or copied from nature to deal with sustainable development issues in human settlements. since the 21st century, the gi approach and ecosystem services have been seen as an important means of improving human well-being. germany attaches great importance to preserving the natural environment and biodiversity in the process of city and regional development. guided by nature-based solutions (nbs), the country was an early adopter and thus a role model for the gi approach. in particular, a systematic gi planning system composed of formal and informal planning instruments has been established and implemented from the national to the local level. in contrast, gi is a relatively new concept in china, which has not introduced any guidance or laws for gi planning at the national level. nevertheless, the national government has recently promoted what it calls “ecological civilization”, accompanied by the implementation of large numbers of gi projects. chinese policymakers now comprehend the advantages of the gi approach compared with traditional gray infrastructure in the urban context, especially in improving urban resilience, mitigating natural disasters and controlling urban growth (byrne 2015; wang & banzhaf 2018). in 2018, the state council of china promulgated an institutional reform plan and decided to establish the ministry of land and natural resources. this will be followed by a reform of the country’s spatial planning system. various spatial planning functions previously scattered over multiple departments will all be gathered in the newly formed natural resources department. especially with regard to gi issues, germany’s mature green space planning system can provide a valuable reference to china in this process, particularly in how to deal with different planning levels and planning implementations at diverse scales. due to its rapid transformation, china has necessarily encountered many new problems while trying to ensure sustainable development. meanwhile the country’s fast and diversified inclusive renovation and development model provides opportunities for experimentation, thereby deepening existing theories, which may also be applied to the german context. since the original development of the gi concept, scholars and practitioners around the world have produced a wide range of policies, principles and forms of implementation (mell 2013; wright 2011). there is an ongoing discussion on how to establish best practices and planning implementations to share the values of gi. if we focus our evaluative lens on comparisons of r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 102 national and sub-national practice, we see a huge disparity in approach, application and structural/institutional support. from another point of view, we can see as well how localized interpretations are made by this common conceptual framework and how implementations are integrated into the existing planning framework. (mell et al. 2017). to this end, in the current paper we intend to compare gi planning systems and their implementations in germany and china, two countries at different developmental stages and with contrasting social and governmental systems. in so doing, we aim to build a bridge for experiential exchange between policymakers, practitioners and academics in order to determine whether transferable knowledge can be identified, recognized and translated between germany and china. our analysis involves the following four tasks: -to combine and summarize the background and research content of the gi concept; -to analyze the development process and gi planning framework in china and germany; -to compare the gi approaches in policy settings, spatial planning framework, at different scales and -to pinpoint methods and strategies for mutual benefits and innovations in gi planning and implementations. the article is divided into five sections. this introduction is followed by section 2, which considers the research paradigm of gi. in sections 3 and 4, we discuss in detail the development process and spatial framework of gi in both countries. in section 5, the gi planning approaches in germany and china are compared and evaluated in order to reveal the potential for mutual benefits. in the final section, we derive some conclusions from our findings, which can be helpful to both countries. 2. research paradigm of green infrastructure 2.1 overview of the concept gi is an important life-support system that can greatly improve urban ecology and help to ensure sustainable development (ahern 2000; weber 2000). in the late 1990s, gi was explicitly introduced in the united states. for example, charles little’s book the greenway in the united states, defines gi as “the expansion of the greenway system” and “a new infrastructure category” (little 1990). since then, gi has quickly become popular in the landscape planning community. yet it is not really a new concept; its roots lie in efforts in the 20th century and even earlier by western nations to provide leisure space for urban residents as well as to maintain public health (benedict & mcmahon 2006). typical examples are, from the 19th centug r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 103 ry, olmsted’s “emerald necklace” project in the united states (olmsted necklace) as well as ebenezer howard’s idyllic urban theory (canzonieri et al. 2007). subsequently, the green belt concept (mell 2009), greenway planning (fábos & ryan 2004) as well as garden city movements have laid the foundation for the formation of this concept. considering the range of international research and the varying definitions of gi, it is difficult to give gi a “global” interpretation. previous studies have mostly focused on an evaluation of localization within national scales. the findings of these investigations are highly diverse, reflecting the specific research objectives, methods and contents (benedict & mcmahon 2006; lennon 2015). we can summarize the different research perspectives as follows: landscape architects and planners strive to realize landscape functions through nature-based design and configuration (sandström & carlsson 2008; walz & syrbe 2013); conservationists emphasize the gi functions of biodiversity and habitat protection (syrbe et al. 2013); urban planners are more concerned with the comprehensive benefits that gi can provide for cities (lafortezza et al. 2013; madureira & andresen 2014); architects and municipal engineers stress the role of gi in greening buildings and regulating storm water (lehmann 2014; nickel et al. 2014); finally, geographers and ecologists focus on the ecosystem services and human well-being that gi provides (tzoulas et al. 2007; meerow & newell 2017). although academics from different countries and disciplines argue about the meaning of gi, “ecological networks”, “connectivity” and “multifunctionality” are often cited as common features of gi, regardless of the precise definition (rouse & bunsterossa 2013; canzonieri et al. 2007; lennon 2015; peter 2018). recently, with increasing cross-disciplinary cooperation, the vanguard of gi research is focused on the following seven aspects: the ecosystem services of gi (liquete et al. 2015; maes et al. 2015), gi and climate-change response (matthews et al. 2015), gi and flood regulation (ahiablame et al. 2012; lafortezza et al. 2013), gi and the improvement of air quality (ng et al. 2011), gi and low impact development (lid) (yu et al. 2008; dhakal et al. 2017), gi and human well-being (tzoulas et al. 2007; liu et al. 2014; nickel et al. 2014), gi and civil participation (lovell & taylor 2013; byrne et al. 2015) and gi construction methods (lennon 2015; chang et al. 2018). r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 104 2.2 structure, functions and scales of green infrastructure spatially speaking, gi tends to consist of core areas, corridors and stepping stones (weber et al. 2006; hansen & pauleit 2014) (see figure 1). table 1 gives an overview of the gi paradigm, drawn from a literature review. the main characteristics are: -regarding constituent elements, gi includes vegetation and water bodies in both natural and semi-natural settings; -regarding scale, gi ranges from country, to region, to city, and site scale; -regarding its interdependency, gi appears as multi-functional, multi-scale and connective; -regarding research goals, the main purpose of gi planning is to optimize the supply of ecosystem services, to realize human well-being, to conserve biodiversity and to foster green urban (municipal) infrastructure development. “nature-based solutions (nbs)” is the essence of gi methodology. these emphasize the inspiration and support that can be obtained from nature as well as the use or imitation of natural processes to address various social challenges while ensuring economic, social and environmental benefits (european commission 2015). figure 1. structure and components of green infrastructure. © draft thinghao hu g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 105 topics foci representatives planning objectives scales human wellbeing national life-support system benedict & mcmahon (2002); canzonieri et al. (2007) realizing environmental, social and economic sustainability from national to local scale ecological network; connectivity; multifunctionality; landscape function sandström & carlsson (2008); madureira et al. (2014) improving ecosystem services; controlling urban sprawl; land protection; environmental protection; smart growth natural and seminatural areas of regions and cities storm water management; urban heat island control; natural disaster control matthews et al. (2015) improving urban resilience and residents’ quality of life urban scale gi and ecosystem services tzoulas et al. (2007); maes et al. (2015) providing a variety of environmental, social and economic values and services regional and urban scale synergy and trade-offs of gi functions lovell & taylor (2013); hasse et al. (2014) maximizing the benefits of ecosystem services; sustainable development natural or semi-natural areas planning and implementations of gi meerow & newell (2017) gi planning approaches from national to local scale nature and biodiversity conservation strategic network; biodiversity conservation syrbe et al. (2013); liquete et al. (2015) enhancing ecosystem services; maintaining biodiversity natural and semi-natural areas, ranging from national to regional, urban and local scale habitat conservation; regulating and supporting services weber et al. (2006); walz & syrbe (2013) preserving biodiversity natural and semi-natural areas of cities ecological restoration and protection chang et al. (2018); sustainable land use; ecological protection from national to local scale green municipal engineering urban rainwater management; permeable pavement design nickel (2014); ahiablame et al. (2012) greening of municipal infrastructure urban scale vertical greening and green roof lehmann (2014) green buildings; energy-saving and environmentallyfriendly design urban and local scale low impact development; sponge city development yu et al. (2008); dhakal & chevalier (2017) design for resilience; sustainable landscape planning urban and local scale notes: the table is drawn from a review of the papers listed under “representatives”. those sources can be found in the list of references. table 1: the gi paradigm. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 106 3. green infrastructure planning system in germany 3.1 development process in germany, systematic gi strategies were established with the aim of preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services (european commission 2013). these were triggered by a series of eu initiatives (i.e. natura 2000, eu biodiversity to 2020, etc.) intended to constrain the deterioration of habitats and the loss of biodiversity. as a key member of the eu, germany implemented a gi development process largely in line with eu policies. in this process, germany is continuing to deepen its understanding and response to gi, realizing that the multi-scale, multifunctional, inclusive and connective nature of gi can effectively prevent the loss of biodiversity and strengthen the supply of ecosystem services (lafortezza et al. 2015). germany is a federal republic with a decentralized legislative system and 16 highly autonomous states (länder). at the federal scale, gi planning is generally limited to overall guidance, providing basic planning for state, regional, and local development. in 2006, germany passed a federal reform bill that revised and clarified the jurisdiction of the federal and state governments. in particular, more legislative and policy-making authority for environmental and ecological protection was transferred to the federal government such as waste disposal, the protection of air quality and water conservation. the federal government and the states implemented an “information sharing synergy trade-off compensation” approach to dealing with ecological and environmental issues, aiming to minimize the likelihood of conflicting policies between the federal government and states in the areas of nature, biodiversity, marine environment and landscape protection. this also laid the policy foundation for germany to issue gi policies and guidance documents at the federal level. in the same year, ministers from the 16 autonomous states jointly issued their “concepts and strategies for spatial development in germany” at a ministerial conference. this policy paper emphasized the sustainable development of large-scale green spaces at the federal scale, and is seen as the official inception of gi planning in germany (mell et al. 2017). since then, the country has launched a series of gi planning initiatives, policies and strategies, which continue to deepen and improve the understanding and application of gi (see table 2 for details). 3.2 spatial framework of green infrastructure planning in germany as already pointed out, gi is not a particularly new concept. in germany, research has been conducted since the 1960s on urban ecology and the creation of high-quality human settlements (blume & sukopp 1976). along with a deeper understanding of the relationship between human and nature, the concept of gi has been expanded to include biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services in the context of sustainable development, so it became more g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 107 interdisciplinary. similarly, the spatial planning of gi in germany constitutes a fully integrated system rather than merely a series of vertical or horizontal plans. running from the national to local level, a spatial framework has been established by a series of spatial planning instruments, which are based on comprehensive plans and sectoral plans, guided by strategies/policies, and mostly implemented by informal plans (see figure 2). figure 2. gi spatial planning system in germany. © draft thinghao hu regarding planning legislation, instruments for gi planning include comprehensive planning, landscape planning within sectoral planning, environmental impact assessments as well as other sectoral planning that more or less affects the design and implementation of gi planning (i.e. air pollution control, water management, environmental protection and nature conservation, etc.). of these regulatory instruments, landscape planning occupies an extremely important position. the german federal natural protection act of 1976 clearly specifies the responsibility and role of landscape planning as a planning tool in protecting and maintaining landscapes and their development. landscape planning encompasses almost all the spatial aspects of ecological protection in germany, including collecting, assessing and summarizing diverse data about the environment and landscape. in contrast to other forms of sectoral planning, landscape planning enjoys regulatory power due to the principle of environmental priority. therefore, comprehensive plans, land use plans and other sectoral plans must take the requirements of landscape planning into consideration (heiland 2010). it should be noted that in germany, landscape planning only takes account of nature and biodiversity protection if landscape functions need to be assessed for projects or activities whose impact will conflict with the goals of nature protection (albert et al. 2012). in contrast, gi planning specifically focuses on human well-being, using anthropocentric approaches to address r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 108 ecosystem services. it can be said that the success of today’s gi planning in germany largely depends on the close intertwining of the gi concept and the country’s system of landscape planning. specifically, the gi concept reflects the traditions and expanded scope of the german landscape planning system. regarding scale, this system covers four levels: landscape policy planning, regional landscape planning, landscape planning and green space structure planning. these correspond with the four gi scales: the federal, regional, urban and local scale. functionally, the “multifunctionality” emphasized by gi not only encompasses natural environmental protection and governance in the traditional sense, but also ecosystem services such as climate regulation, natural disaster prevention, control of the urban heat island effect, and the establishment of recreational space. the gi concept updates our understanding of the relationship between human and nature while providing new meaning to green space planning. in addition to the statutory perspective of planning instruments, a large number of gi issues are resolved at different scales by means of informal instruments. at the federal level, gi plans and strategies mostly take the form of overall approaches, guidelines and standard principles aimed at realizing sustainable development, planning gi elements and networks, protecting biodiversity and promoting the quality of life. for instance, the “national biodiversity strategy” (bmub 2007) implemented the eu biodiversity conservation strategy at the federal level by means of habitat restoration, peatland ecological remediation and ecological compensation. moreover, the “federal defragmentation programme” provides a federal-scale gi network based on the national road network (bfn 2012) while the “nature conservation initiative 2020” proposed an additional 40 strategies to improve the status of biodiversity and human well-being. this initiative also promoted the idea of using urban gi to build a renewable energy base. in 2017, the federal agency for nature conservation (bfn) issued the “federal green infrastructure concept”, a policy paper which clearly defines gi as “a sustainable tool that aims to achieve natural protection and promote ecosystem services” (bfn 2017). alongside the implementation of the eu’s requirements for gi development, we can pinpoint additional gi elements at the federal level (i.e. core patches, corridors and biological diversity hotspots) as well as further planning goals and requirements for different types of protection. this is the first time that germany has clearly proposed the gi planning paradigm at the federal level. g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 109 figure 3. spatial structure of “master plan green (cologne/bonn)” source: https://www.region-koeln-bonn.de/de/themen/natur-und-landschaft/masterplan-gruen/index. html at the regional level, one of the most dominant trends in spatial and sectoral planning in germany in recent years has been the increasing popularity of informal approaches such as strategic masterplans, which are now widely used as a complement to formalized planning frameworks (allin 2011; blotevogel et al. 2014). primarily, this seems to reflect a lack of flexibility and responsiveness on the part of formal planning structures, especially when reacting to short-term changes and issues. for example, the metropolitan region of cologne/bonn has drafted and implemented an informal “master plan green (cologne/bonn)” aimed at sensitizing municipalities to regional-scale gi development (reimer 2013) (see figure 3). this plan takes full account of the new background and demands of regional planning in terms of energy transformation, climate change, transportation and sustainable infrastructure design. the plan places cologne and bonn at the core, with the rhine as the main axis. it reshapes the urban landscape by integrating bluegreen infrastructure in the planning area using natural-based solutions. this project integrates the following eight factors: nature and landscape maintenance, residential development, energy/climate control, structural policy and economic adjustment, regional development, inter-regional cooperation, tourism & leisure, and culture. it provides a good example of regional and departmental cooperation towards sustainable development. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 110 at the urban and local levels, the policy paper green book: green in the city – a livable future” issued by bmub and bmel in 2015 defined the urban green space, outlining its functions and providing examples of best practices (bmub 2015). the conclusion is that successful gi planning requires the multidimensional functions of urban greening combined with the approach of strategic networks. in 2018 came the supplementary policy paper “white book: green in the city – a livable future”. this went even further by proposing 10 specific recommendations for gi implementation at urban scales. green infrastructure policies and plans year scale department key contents concepts and strategies for spatial development in germany 2006 federal federal ministry of transport and digital infrastructure (bmvi) sustainable development of green spaces at the federal scale national biodiversity strategy 2007 federal, state federal ministry for the environment, nature conservation, building and nuclear safety (bmub) implementing the eu biodiversity conservation strategy at the federal level through habitat restoration, peatland ecological remediation, and ecological compensation federal biodiversity programme 2011 federal, state, urban federal agency for nature conservation (bfn) a number of strategies have been proposed to improve the federal ecosystem and create more urban green spaces federal defragmentation programme 2012 federal federal agency for nature conservation (bfn) a federal-scale gi network based on the federal highway network was proposed nature conservation initiative 2020 2015 federal, regional, urban federal ministry for the environment, nature conservation, building and nuclear safety (bmub) 40 strategies have been proposed to improve the status of biodiversity; the idea of using urban gi to build a renewable energy base green book: green in the city – a livable future 2015 urban, community federal ministry for the environment, nature conservation, building and nuclear safety (bmub); federal ministry of food and agriculture (bmel) multifunctionality, current challenges, and urban gi development strategies were discussed federal green infrastructure concept 2017 federal, state, urban federal agency for nature conservation (bfn) the basic paradigm of german gi planning and development was determined white book: green in the city – a livable future 2018 urban, community federal ministry for the environment, nature conservation, building and nuclear safety (bmub) 10 specific strategic approaches to promote urban gi development were proposed table 2: german policies and plans on green infrastructure at the federal level g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 111 4. green infrastructure planning system in china 4.1 development process influenced by international trends and practices in ecology, chinese scholars began exploring the issue of urban green space in the 1990s following the opening of china. scientists investigated ecological spatial organization methods and ecological planning practices in the urban context. on the one hand, the main content of urban ecological planning theory and practice in this period was the design of a planning system for urban green space. this marked the beginning of an orderly and standardized development of china’s green space. nevertheless, the implementation of green space planning was mainly focused on urban areas, emphasizing the importance of greenery in “core areas” and of “key points”. on the other hand, china’s large-scale “ecocity construction” began in this period. at the united nations conference on environment and development held in rio de janeiro, brazil, in 1992, china made a commitment to formulate its own “national agenda 21” (a white paper on population, environment and development in the 21st century) to reflect the aims of the un’s agenda 21. this was an overall strategy, plan and a series of measures to ensure the country’s sustainable development. at the city and local level, a significant component of the agenda was the construction of various “eco-cities” such as “the national environmental protection exemplary city”, “the national health city”, “the national garden city” and, more recently, “the low-carbon city” and “the sponge city”. in china, the approach of creating ecological networks can be traced back to the notion of “ecological infrastructure”, first proposed by kongjian yu. similar to the concept of gi, this highlights the key function of safeguarding landscapes as well as sustaining ecosystem services for human well being (yu et al. 2001). since 2009, the gi concept has become popular among chinese academics, frequently appearing in scholarly literature. as a tool or framework to protect natural resources and guide the sustainable development of urban space, it is seen as an important instrument to protect natural resources and guide sustainable urban development (li 2009). since gi is a relatively new concept in china, most discussions are between academics. while the government has not yet issued any gi guidance policy at the national level, a series of recently promulgated eco environmental guidelines reflects the need for gi functions as well as concern about ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. in 2012, for instance, “ecological civilization” was written into the constitution at the 18th national congress of the communist party of china and became one of the important elements in the 13th plan for national economy and social development (2016-2020) (short: the five-year plan). in addition, china’s 13th five-year plan of national ecological protection (2016-2020) noted that the protection r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 112 of urban biodiversity and the restoration of urban green space are key complementary factors to expand ecological services. guided by the five-year plan, china has issued a series of “environmental protection and ecological control programmes”. this category of plans further extends and refines the relevant provisions of green space development and environmental protection. table 3 lists some programmes that take an active part in gi promotion and development. plans and programmes department planning period requirements for gi development plan for promoting ecological civilization construction state forestry administration 2013-2020 proposes specific requirements for urban forestry construction action and rural development. national main function zones planning central people’s government issued in 2010, to be realized in 2020 national territory is identified as optimization development areas, key development areas, limited development areas, and prohibited development areas. national ecological protection and construction planning national development and reform commission, and 12 other departments 2013-2020 proposes five specific measures to improve urban ecology, including: urban green system planning, urban circulating forest and country park construction, urban heat island control, urban water quality management, urban vertical greening and low elevation greenbelt construction. national forestation programme state forestry administration 2011-2020 puts forward requirements and measures on urban and rural afforestation, green channel and green network construction, restoration of post-mining areas. ecological function area planning ministry of environmental protection; chinese academy of sciences from 2015 according to the nature background and ecosystem services, ecological function areas at national scale can be categorized into three major classes (ecological regulation, products provision, and human security); there are 242 such areas in china. table 3: china’s plans and programmes to promote gi development at national level source: grunewald, k., hu, t., kümper-schlake, l., wei, h., & xu, q. (2018). towards ‘green cities’—fields of action and recommendations. in: grunewald k, li j, xie g, kümper-schlake l. eds. 2017. towards green cities: urban biodiversity and ecosystem services in china and germany. springer international publishing (cities and nature) pp. 175-197. it can be said that the guiding ideology of “ecological civilization” is currently the catalyst promoting the formation of china’s gi plans and thinking. here there are three aspects to be mentioned: first, this ideology contributes to setting up a new type of urban ecological plan, even though this is not yet secured in law. second, “ecological civilization” is closely connected to ecological security and urban security planning (such as flood control planning, watershed planning), thereby expanding the vision of urban ecological plang r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 113 ning. and third, it fosters an increased awareness of ecological processes. the notion of “ecological civilization”, along with its various sub-types (such as water ecological civilization), is included in the scope of urban ecological planning, thereby binding ecological civilization and grey infrastructure planning more closely together. in this way, china has started to think about solving municipal issues by means of nature-based solutions. figure 4. yanweizhou park during the monsoon and dry season source: top picture from: yu, k. (2017). resilient landscape-yanweizhou park, jinhua. urban environment design. 2017(03), pp. 327-329. bottom picture from: yu, k., yu, h., song, y., & zhou, s. (2015). landscape of resilience on the design of yanweizhou park in jinhua city. architectural journal. 2015(04), pp. 68-70. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 114 today, china’s construction of sponge cities shows just how gi planning can be implemented by applying the idea of “ecological civilization”. a typical example of this is yanweizhou park in jinhua (see figure 4). jinhua city is located in the subtropical region of eastern china. during the wet summer monsoon season, the city is often affected by flooding. in order to protect a prominent sandbar from being inundated, the local water conservancy department built two flood control embankments, which however disrupted the local people’s access to the waterbody and so harmed their appreciation of water environment. influenced by the “sponge city” concept, the local government began to revise their ideas, aiming to establish a hydro-elastic landscape adapted to regular flooding which could maintain local people’s links to nature while protecting the only floodplain habitat in the city centre (yu 2015). with these goals in mind, yanweizhou park was established to transform the flood-risk area into a place of harmonious coexistence by means of sustainable landscape design. local vegetation and a stepped bridge system adapted to seasonal flooding are the basic components of the park. a cascading hydrodynamic riverbank was constructed to collect and purify rainwater as well as to protect the ecological landscape alongside the river. in addition, the park has a full-area hydroelastic design with 100% infiltration coverage, including large-scale gravel pavement for pedestrians, ecological parking lots and permeable concrete roads (yu et al. 2017). 4.2 spatial framework of green infrastructure planning in china gi is not identified as a priority policy in china’s national planning policy framework. instead, a series of spatial planning approaches addresses various issues of sustainable development. after scrutinizing the spatial planning system, we can summarize the gi planning framework as a top-down “5+1” model. this encompasses five types of statutory plans: national economic and social development plan, national level ecological environment and control plan, land-use plan, urban master plan and urban green space system plan, as well as non-statutory plan and garden city movement (figure 5). the plan for national economic and social development, also called the “five-year plan”, is the overarching plan specifying the various stages of national economic and social development. in terms of gi development, this basically acts as the steering wheel, setting aggregate indicators for the country as a whole. the national environmental protection and ecological control programme is a generic term for a series of plans that play an active role in gi construction and maintenance. certain contents and regulations in related plans explicitly specify goals and tasks at regional, provincial and urban scale. the land-use plan is one of the strictest forms of land management. it can pertain to the national, provincial, urban, and county level. it directly determines the scale, function and structure of green space in urban areas. an urban master plan compreg r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 115 hensively regulates the economic and social development of urban sites, in particular the land use, spatial layout and urban management. based on the land-use index determined by the land-use plan, an urban master plan will further determine the layout and form of green space in urban areas. the urban green system plan is a special form of the urban master plan. based on the urban characteristics, the development goal and land use layout determined by the urban master plan, it formulates indicators for the development of urban green space and specifies types of landscape and green system at different scales. at the urban scale, local governments are establishing r&d institutions, universities or colleges to compile non-statutory plans that are closely related to the development and protection of gi, such as key ecological function areas plan, biodiversity conservation plan, wind corridor plan, etc. in addition, a series of urban gardening movements have rapidly arisen in china such as the national garden city, the national forest city and national ecological garden city. these have played a positive role in improving the ecosystem services of gi in the city. figure 5. gi spatial planning system in china. © draft thinghao hu among those planning approaches, there are currently three kinds of statutory plans for administrative management in china, which are the responsibility of different departments. these three plans are the land-use plan under the supervision of the land and resources management department, the urban master plan under the supervision of the planning and construction management department, and the environmental protection & control plan under the supervision of the environmental protection department. however, these three kinds of plans lack overall coherence in terms of planning objectives and contents, and to some extent there are functional overlaps, conflicts and contradictions. meanwhile, their respective developmental levels and focus are different when dealing with the same issues. r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 116 the housing & construction department and land resources department aim to secure their areas of responsibility by strengthening urban and rural planning and land use planning. at the same time, the environmental protection department has introduced new types of spatial planning such as ecological environment planning and so-called ecological “red lines”. objects are misaligned and are treated at different depths by the various plans. in order to make up for their own insufficiencies, each plan is constantly improving its respective planning system. the plans overlap in large areas, and there is a lack of integration and a certain degree of fragmentation between the various plans. alongside the continuous expansion of various departmental plans, all departments are competing for the control of spatial planning management. this is driven by competition for power between various departments during the period of social transformation and transformed governance. the belief that “development is good sense” (发展就是硬道理) has made china choose a growth-oriented policy system from top to bottom. it’s highly entrepreneurial government is characterized by utilitarian and short-term growth goals, making the competition in spatial planning increasingly fierce. 5. comparison of planning approaches to green infrastructure in germany and china 5.1 policy settings gi policy settings in china and germany are entirely different. in germany, there is a strong policy of guiding, coordinating and allocating gi resources rather than offering specific planning contents. in china, however, gi guidance policy or strategies are still lacking due to the relative newness of the gi concept. however, considering the ecological and environmental protection policies promulgated by the country in the past five years, we can see a greater emphasis on ecosystem services and biodiversity. in the latest five-year plan, “ecological civilization” is the key strategy for the current stage of development. its essence is to maintain the balance of natural ecology and achieve harmony between nature and human activities. unlike germany, china’s gi-related policies and strategies lack statutory force. instead of specific indicators and requirements, imprecise and vague expressions are employed such as “vigorously develop”, “deeply implement” or “constantly improving”. those “ambiguous” planning guidance frequently resulted in mass deviations in planning goals or requirements when gi projects were implemented from central to local levels. instead, planning should explicitly mention the specific goals, functional department, implementation process and index parameters rather than leaving these to the imagination of local authorities. in germany, the federal government made clear and detailed clauses regarding the definition of gi, various categories of gi elements, as well as control and management regulations in its “federal green infrastructure concept (2017)”. china needs to adopt this kind of upper-level g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 117 guidance. regardless of the different political systems, china requires a specific top-down design of gi to ensure the quality and quantity of gi projects and to reduce “vanity projects” as well as unnecessary waste in gi project construction. 5.2 spatial planning framework from the horizontal perspective, germany’s gi spatial planning system is supported by a solid body of law and a series of spatial planning instruments. these provide specific instruments and methods for the protection, development and construction of gi at different levels and scales. the gi spatial planning system greatly benefits from the reciprocal feedback mechanism (gegenstromprinzip). the final gi implementation is actually a state of equilibrium achieved through the interaction of upper-level planning and lower-level planning. in this way we see that gi planning is not a unidirectional top-down flow. in china, the gi planning system is embedded within a strictly vertical, top-down planning framework. however, as mentioned above, there are numerous problems in the horizontal relationship between different plans, leading to a non-unified, incoherent pattern of gi development. while there are a considerable number of seemingly well-implemented gi flagship projects (largely due to generous funding), these projects, when compared to equivalent german gi projects, show an overly fast construction schedule, excessive budgets, and fierce competition in the bidding process. however, due to the systematic problems mentioned, most gi practices implemented at urban and local scales merely reflect quantity and indicator requirements for spatial layout rather than aspects of required functions and quality. for instance, in the context of constructing sponge cities, some wetland projects pay too much attention to the role of municipal functions while neglecting civil participation and human well-being. in some cities, the construction of a “flagship project” comes at the cost of reduced ecological resources in nearby rural areas. 5.3 planning scales gi projects have been implemented in germany at multiple scales. since ecosystem services extend beyond administrative boundaries, gi functions should not be limited to administrative borders. compared with germany, planning implementations in china are mostly concentrated at the urban and local scale using green municipal engineering methods, as can be seen in china’s sponge cities. due to the country’s vast territory, diverse terrain and different climate regions, there are only a few cases of planning beyond urban scale. as a result, it is hard to form a continuous ecological network at the national scale. “ecological function area planning” is china’s current r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 118 attempt at this. according to the classification of ecosystem services, national ecological function areas can be categorized into three major classes (ecological regulation, products provision, and human security), leading to the identification of a total of 242 areas in china. however, departing from the connectivity and network emphasized by gi, these areas are isolated from each other and are defined only in terms of individual functions. compared with gi planning at the national scale, regional planning cooperation and cooperation between cities is easier to realize due to the same type of natural environmental conditions they possess as well as the similar economic and policy conditions. therefore, cooperation between cities and regions needs to be further strengthened in china. 5.4 planning design and civil participation the systematization and implementation of gi planning requires the extensive participation and cooperation of multi-stakeholders. in germany, local governments, academics, non-governmental organizations as well as the public are closely involved in the negotiation process to resolve planning issues, status problems and determine planning visions for future development. yet it cannot be denied that such decision-making mechanisms also make spatial planning activities compete with a strong system of sectoral policies, leading to poor efficiency and flexibility in gi planning process (lennon 2015). in china, the government acts as the principal actor specifying the planning and design requirements for gi development. under this system, the government first sets up a project and declares the design requirements. this is followed by the participation of contractors, r&d institutions, universities or colleges in a binding procedure to compete for the planning and design tasks. when the design phase is complete, the planning scheme is reviewed by the planning regulation commission and then presented to the public for feedback before final implementation. using this method of implementation, gi projects can be completed within two to three years. however, the “public participation” phase of chinese planning process can actually be understood as a “planning results demonstration”. the role of multi-stakeholders participation is highly restricted in both the goal-setting and final decision stages. normally, the decision-making stage of the plan is merely the result of negotiation between the government and gi planners. g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 119 6. discussion and conclusion: towards mutually-beneficial green infrastructure planning it has proved difficult to establish a transferable rationale for gi not only due to the different national conditions of germany and china but also the dynamism of planning discussions and relative novelty of gi praxis. against this background, the basic aim of this study is to take account of the current state of affairs and find the best pathway to sustainable development in the two countries by means of the gi approach, as well as to identify potential strategies to achieve those goals. for this reason, the discussion offers the opportunity to broaden both germany’s and china’s developmental vision as well as to introduce some fresh thinking to gi planning. based on this comparative study, germany can benefit from china’s experiences as follows: firstly, germany can consider the usage of gi to promote china’s development and the revival of regional industry. currently, german planners are facing the challenge of shrinkage processes in the form of structural crises, outmigration and general demographic decline due to low birth rates. thanks to the rapid development and large investment in “ecological civilization” construction in china, the country boasts a number of projects in the field of renewable energy based on the gi approach such as wind power plants, biomass and photovoltaics established in old industrial heartlands. for example, coalmining is a sector currently affected by both shifting energy structures as well as resource exhaustion. shenjiazhuang coal minea local coalmining enterprise in ci county, china, has pursued an industrial transformation model called “photovoltaic +”. the result has been to establish a multi industry cluster of photovoltaics plus agriculture as the basic industry, accompanied by the development of ecotourism and the processing of agricultural products. the “photovoltaic +” project has not only increased the number of available jobs, thereby attracting young people to the local region, but has also boosted regional development. this case of regional recovery through the transformation of traditional industries into green industries could serve as a model for germany. in the future, both countries can exchange their respective experiences by organizing symposiums and field visits, etc. germany can also offer its advanced technologies to aid china’s green industry, thereby ensuring a win-win situation. secondly, china’s fast, diversified and inclusive development model provides a great experimental field to explore and advance existing theories in germany. this is a process which demands the participation of german enterprises, landscape planners and architects. for example, in 2008 the government of xuzhou cooperated with its counterpart in north rhine-westphalia in the project “implementation of ecological restoration of coalmining subsidence areas in north xuzhou”. after 10 years of joint efforts, xuzhou won the “habitat scroll of honour award” in 2018 for its achievements in restorr iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 120 ing areas suffering from subsidence as well as in the treatment of solid waste from coalmining. with its current vigorous promotion of “ecological civilization” and sustainable development, china is highly receptive to ideas and solutions that could be provided by additional external actors in the concerned areas. therefore, german enterprises, landscape planners and architects could participate in the project bidding process and bring their experience of gi planning and design to bear in china. thirdly, the chinese government has gathered successful and remarkable experience in fostering citizens’ awareness of and participation in “ecological construction”. a series of urban gardening movements has arisen with great rapidity such as the national garden city, the national forest city and the national ecological garden city. the respective ministry establishes guidelines with specific indicators for such “urban gardening movements” and provide subsidies and supporting policies if cities meet the specified standards. later, the ministries evaluate the experiences of selected cities and extend the most successful examples to the national scale. urban gardening movements not only help to protect and develop urban green space and the natural environment, but also promote an understanding and pride of local people in their urban setting as well as boosting a sense of responsibility and environmental awareness (see figure 6). there is no doubt that germany’s strict protection of the natural environment can be considered a role model for many countries around the world. drawing on the chinese experience, city and local governments in germany can organize activities that make use of the natural environment such as marathons, rowing competitions and triathlons in order to reduce any residual disconnection between humans and nature, thereby improving the pride and happiness of urban residents. figure 6. civic participation in national forest city construction movement in xuzhou, china source: photo provided by xuzhou forestry and garden bureau. g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 121 fourthly, it is essential to regard urban gi as a way of promoting cultural services for the elderly. urban parks and green space have a special appeal for elderly chinese living in the city. for many older citizens, the biggest challenge of aging is not physical decline but rather psychological changes and a lack of purpose after retirement (hu et al 2016). in china, urban parks have become important leisure and recreational sites for older people, who engage in sports as well as other activities, or simply meet up for a chat. urban parks also provide the ideal platform for the realization of active aging. in germany, local authorities and communities can use green space and even allotment gardens to organize activities as well as promote communication between elderly citizens (see figure 7). figure 7. parks are ideal places for elderly chinese to exercise and take part in social activities. © photo thinghao hu there is no doubt that china can learn and benefit from germany, which acts as a role model in gi planning and implementation. although many gi projects have been speedily and efficiently implemented in china, it can be questioned whether these projects will really achieve the sustainable development goals of the country’s cities. in addition, cross-sectoral issues often arise when different statutory plans propose conflicting standards regarding the same issue at identical planning levels. in view of these problems, the following four specific points should be learned from germany. firstly, quantity and quality should be accorded equal importance when gi projects are being r iu s 6: in c lu siv e u r b a n ism 122 planned and implemented. secondly, it is vital to regard gi as a long-term goal. this will avoid any rush to achieve some instant benefit and thus neglect long-term interests. thirdly, planning scales need to be expanded from local and urban scale to regional level. fourthly, multi-stakeholder cooperation and civil participation should be further enhanced in the planning process. in view of these suggestions, it seems unlikely that progress will be made without changing the existing spatial planning system in china. in march 2018, the country’s state council issued an institutional reform scheme which foresaw the establishment of the ministry of land and natural resources to supervise the implementation of a new territorial and spatial planning system. this provides an unprecedented opportunity for gi planning and implementation in china over the next years. the national spatial planning system will be integrated, thereby solving the problem of overlapping spatial planning by exercising control over the use of all land matters. although the implementation rules for the new territorial and spatial planning system have yet to be issued, “multi-planning integration” and “ecological priority” have been determined as basic principles. this revision of the national spatial planning system is undoubtedly a direct response to criticism of the current chaotic situation of multi-regulations. no doubt this will prove to be a tortuous process in which problems cannot be predicted beforehand, but must be identified and solved step by step. clearly, germany’s system of spatial planning is a result of its history, culture, ideology and social developmental stage, and cannot be completely copied by china. however, a balanced and comprehensive legal system, horizontal and longitudinal hierarchical coordination mechanisms, as well as spatial planning and departmental resource integration can be regarded as essential components of china’s reform and reconstruction of spatial planning. it is hoped that this study provides a straightforward entry point for readers to understand the gi concept and planning approach in germany and china. as a policy and planning framework bringing comprehensive benefits, germany has gathered extensive experience in the gi approach. china, where gi is a relatively new concept, thus has a great opportunity to learn from germany. although the two countries are quite different in a number of respects, we believe that this comparative study will broaden the ideas and perspectives for stakeholders to better solve current issues or problems that may be encountered in the future. furthermore, we strongly recommend that the two countries focus on common challenges in future research, discussing ways of solving these through closer cooperation. g r een in fr a s t r u c t u r e p l a n n in g in g er m a n y a n d c h in a 123 acknowledgements this work was supported by national natural science foundation of china (nsfc). we would like to thank the nsfc for funding the project “research on space-time evolution laws and optimization model of green infrastructure in coal resource based cities” (no. 41671524); research on 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