Traditional scientific research has produced valuable knowledge, yet its linear, top-down logic often fails to address the complexity of local communities. This results in a gap between knowledge and action, where interventions lack legitimacy and impact. Participatory Action Research (PAR) has emerged …

This study examines how Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP) can enable co-creation of long-term visions in contested multi-stakeholder contexts. Using Feijenoord, a diverse Rotterdam neighborhood, as a case, we prototyped a three-step PSP approach, (I) Vision Building, (II) Stress Test, and (III) Placemaking …

Within the confines of a traditional, longitudinal and narrow housing block in Rotterdam-West, this project proposes a double-sided, permeable and dynamic living environment for students and young professionals. Shared facilities foster community life, while also generating work opportunities and relationships …

In the face of increasingly complex societal challenges, the field of social design is being called upon to deepen its ability to create long-term, systemic impact. This project, conducted with five experienced social designers and one workshop in our ESConference in 2025, explored how systems thinking, …

Citizen science has demonstrated potential to foster local changes in public health, including physical (in)activity. We used community-engaged citizen science to explore how to improve the exercise-friendliness of a Dutch neighborhood, chosen because it scored below average on important health parameters. …

Background This research study applied the 'Integrated Energy Landscape Approach and the Ecosystem Services Framework' to formulate a pre-proposal for a Positive Energy District in the Hoogkerk Zuid neighborhood in Groningen, the Netherlands. Results The proposed energy saving and energy generation interventions …

As a resident of Breda, Daan was intrigued by the many urban voids in the city. How can a city, full of such empty spaces, also have a shortage of areas to build housing? After researching Breda's urban voids, he noticed that these voids can be categorized according to the type of void (spatial, functional …

Image it is 2100 and half of the Netherlands has flooded. How will such a disaster influence how we see ourselves and our society and result in new design principles for the much-needed new cities? By combining several sources (e.g. the WUR and PBL future scenario's) and based on his view on the newly …

‘The living environment as lifestyle coach. Urban environment, beneficial for our health and well-being’. Our urban environment determines our health and wellbeing. Knowing this, how can we, as urban designers, use the living environment as a lifestyle coach, allowing and nudging inhabitants to choose …

The Capucine cloister in Tilburg was established in the 19th century along one of the routes leading out of the city center, as part of the urban expansion that was then taking place. Nearby a nunnery can be found at the other end of a park, the whole being enclosed by a long wall. Now the place has …