Early studies conclude that high-rise apartment buildings present challenges for people’s quality of life, resulting in social isolation, social annoyance and anonymity for residents. Nevertheless, empirical research into factors supporting social interaction in high-rise apartment buildings is still …

Amsterdam strives to combat a shortage of homes by launching an ambitious housing development scheme for 32 designated most deprived neighborhoods. After decades of urban renewal projects, the local communities still suffer from difficult to resolve socioeconomic problems. Aside from a minimum of 40% …

School–family partnerships may contribute to students’ academic achievement. This is particularly relevant at schools in urban neighborhoods where children are at greater risk of educational disadvantages. Unfortunately, at urban schools (especially at urban secondary schools), barriers between the school …

With the rise of chronic diseases as the number one cause of death and disability among urban populations, it has become increasingly important to design for healthy environments. There is, however, a lack of interdisciplinary approaches and solutions to improve health and well-being through urban planning …

This project started with a fascination by the concept of ‘feeling at home’. How does that work for homeless who don’t have a physical space to call home? To me, my role as an architect is to put social issues on the agenda and investigate spatial circular solutions. Even in our modern society, homelessness …

Introduction F-ACT is a flexible version of Assertive Community Treatment to deliver care in a changing intensity depending on needs of individuals with severe mental illnesses (Van Veldhuizen, 2007). In 2016 a number of the FACT-teams in the Dutch region of Utrecht moved to locations in neighborhoods …

Current heatwaves prove that the Dutch architecture and urbanism cannot cope with climate change. What are applicable design principles that will make Dutch neighborhoods heatproof? Cool Space targets the city center of the Hague, one of the most suffering cities of heat island effects in the Netherlands. …

Introduction In 2016 a new form of integrated community treatment for patients with serious mental illnesses was implemented in two neighborhoods in the city of Utrecht (335000 inhabitants) in the Netherlands. Treatment is characterized by close collaboration of psychiatric care, somatic care (i.e. general …

This book discusses the way that a nature-driven approach to urbanism can be applied at each of the urban scales; architectural design, urban design of neighborhoods, city planning and landscape architecture, and at the city and regional scales. At all levels nature-driven approaches to design and planning …

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