By combining different perspectives and methods of empirical research, this PhD thesis generates multi-disciplinary insights into the rise of the logistics complex and its planning discourse whilst focusing specifically on XXL distribution centres (DCs) in the Netherlands. Since the 1980s, the building footprint of this complex has increased fourfold, to approximately 80 million square metres, generating a new large-scale landscape type: Landscapes of Trade. The research addresses urgent i...

This study seeks to understand the interrelationship between daily mobility and the spatial structure of an emerging metropolitan urban system. It is concerned with the daily mobility of a specific group of inhabitants, higher education students, living in a contemporary metropolis and experiencing urban living. The study’s main aim is to better understand aspects of this complex urban spatial structure through the students’ lives and through their daily mobility to explore specific urban...

This thesis investigates the introduction, adaption, and implementation of the modern concept of heritage conservation in modern China after the opening of its treaty ports. Through an analysis of the different layers of disseminating and receiving knowledge in transnational exchanges, it explicitly points out the divergence between the Eurocentric concept of conservation and the Chinese tradition of treating historic buildings and sites. As a result of the complexity of understanding and ada...

More and more citizens are entering the public domain and taking over tasks that traditionally belong to the government. For example, citizens increasingly run a community centre themselves, maintain the greenery in their neighbourhood and manage the local playground. To some extent, governments also encourage this behaviour and are disposing of social real estate. Against this background, this study examines the rise of citizens' initiatives in the Netherlands and how this takes shape in the...

Rapid urbanization has exerted unsustainable pressures on the environment, and implementing circular economy (CE) in cities has been seen by policy makers as a potential solution for resource scarcity. Scholars have therefore called for an understanding of the spatial aspects of CE that go beyond urban governance strategies, engendering the recent integration of spatial disciplines, such as urban planning and regional economics, into the study of CE.

Using the Netherlands as a case study, th...

Urbanized sandy shores around the world suffer from coastal erosion due to a lack of sediment input and sea level rise. These dynamics place new demands on coastal spatial planning. To compensate for coastal erosion in a more natural and systemic way, sand nourishments are deployed as a ‘Building with Nature’ technique, restoring the sediment balance and promoting dune formation as coastal defence.

In this research, Building with Nature is reframed as a landscape approach, regenerating t...