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.
The multi-dimensionality of BwN calls for the incorporation of ‘designerly ways of knowing and doing’ from other fields involved in this new trans-disciplinary approach. The transition out of a focus on rational design paradigms towards reflective design paradigms such as those employed in the spatial design disciplines may be a first step in this process. By extension, the knowledge base and design methodologies of BwN may be critically expanded by drawing on ways of knowing and doing in spatial design disciplines such as landscape architecture, which elaborates the agency of the term ‘landscape’ as counterpart to the term ‘nature’. Operative perspectives and related methodologies in this discipline such as perception, anamnesis, multi-scalar thinking, and process design resonate with specific themes in the BwN approach such as design of/with natural processes, integration of functions or layers in the territory and the connection of engineering works to human-social contexts. A series of installations realised for the Oerol festival on the island of Terschelling between 2011 and 2018 serve as case studies to elaborate potential transfers and thematic elaborations towards BwN. In these projects inter-disciplinary teams of students, researchers and lecturers developed temporary landscape installations in a coastal landscape setting. Themes emerging from these project include ‘mapping coastal landscapes as complex natures’, ‘mapping as design-generative device’, ‘crowd-mapping’, ‘people-place relationships’, ‘co-creation’, ‘narrating coastal landscapes’, ‘public interaction’ and ‘aesthetic experience’. Specific aspects of these themes relevant to the knowledge base and methodologies of BwN, include integration of sites and their contexts through descriptive and projective mappings, understanding the various spatial and temporal scales of a territory as complex natures, and the integration of collective narratives and aesthetic experiences of coastal infrastructures in the design process, via reflective dialogues.
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.
Eugene Odum was an ecological pioneer, writing the discipline’s first textbook, Fundamentals of Ecology, in 1953. Although his work is almost 70 years old, it laid the groundwork for contemporary landscape systems thinking. Since Odum’s time, a lineage of ecological research and theory has helped to define concepts pertaining to ecology, ecosystems, and nature. With these terms in peril of becoming ambiguous, especially in the design arts, this chapter revisits the origins and development of ecologic thinking in order to construct a more critical understanding of nature, and the role of the designer for Building with Nature. One particular experiment by Odum is used as the foundation of concept development. A pond is his reference site and he ‘dissects’ it, using dark and light bottes to illustrate its nuances and the overall ecosystem idea. Three important principles can be derived. First, the ecologist, or the designer, should understand the ‘nature’ of the system, or site, where they are working. Second, nature is formed through functional interactions over extended periods of time. Lastly, through an ecosystem approach, it is shown that systems involve indirect effects. In ecological networks, sites are impacted by forces beyond their immediate boundaries, as well as through other social and cultural systems. Case studies located along the Florida Gulf Coast are used to explain Odum’s and others’ concepts. Florida has developed in parallel with human’s capacity to manipulate their environment. For this reason, it is a useful reference site, illustrating trajectories in ecological thinking.
‘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 over- and 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’.
Sandy shores worldwide suffer from coastal erosion due to a lack of sediment input and sea-level rise. In response, coastal sand nourishments are executed using ‘Building with Nature’ techniques (BwN), in which the sand balance is amplified and natural dynamics are instrumental in the redistribution of sand, cross- and alongshore. These nourishments contribute to the growth of beaches and dunes, serving various design objectives (such as flood safety, nature, and recreation). Nevertheless, human interference (such as buildings and traffic) along urbanized sandy shores may have significant, yet poorly understood, effects on beach and dune development. Better insight is required into the interplay of morphological, ecological and urban processes to support Aeolian BwN processes for dune formation and contribute to the sustainable design of urbanized coastal zones. This paper aims to bridge the gap between coastal engineering and urban design by formulating design principles for BwN along urbanized sandy shores, combining nourishments, natural dune formation and urban development on a local scale to strengthen the coastal buffer. The first part of the paper analyses sedimentation processes in the (built) sea-land interface and identifies spatial mechanisms that relate coastal occupation to dune formation. Hence a preliminary set of design principles is derived by manipulating wind-driven sediment transport for BwN dune formation after nourishment. In the second part of the paper, these principles are applied and contextualized in two case-studies to compare their capability for BwN in different coastal profiles: the vast, rural, geomorphologically high dynamic profile of a mega-nourishment (Sand Motor); versus the compact, highly urbanized, profile(s) of a coastal resort (Noordwijk). Conclusions reflect on the applicability of BwN design principles within different coastal settings (dynamics, urbanity) and spatial arrangements facilitating BwN dune formation.
A common measure to mitigate erosion along sandy beaches is the implementation of sand nourishments. The design and societal acceptance of such a soft mitigation measure demands information on the expected evolution at various time scales ranging from a storm event to multiple decades. Process-based morphodynamic models are increasingly applied to obtain detailed information on temporal behaviour. This paper discusses the process-based morphodynamic model applied to the Sand Motor and how the morphodynamic forecasts have benefitted from the findings of an interdisciplinary research program called NatureCoast. The starting point is the morphodynamic prediction of the Sand Motor made for an Environmental Impact Assessment in 2008 before construction began. After the construction, the model computations were optimized using the first-year field measurements and insights by applying advanced model features. Next, an integrated model was developed that seamlessly predicts the morphodynamics in both the subaqueous and subaerial domains of the Sand Motor. Decadal predictions illustrate the need to be able to resolve the marine and aeolian processes simultaneously in one modelling framework in the case of dynamic coastal landscapes. Finally, a novel morphodynamic acceleration technique was developed that allows for predicting the morphodynamics for multiple decades while incorporating storm events in one simulation. Combining the above-mentioned developments has led to a unique, open-source, process-based landscape tool for (complex) coastal sandy systems, which can stimulate further collaboration between research communities. Moreover, this work demonstrates the evolution from mono- to interdisciplinary forecasts of coastal evolution.
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.
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.
Now that people all around the world are slowly starting to rethink how humanity and the planet are interrelated, new questions have arisen around the understanding of time and the perception of place. It’s not merely a technical or a political challenge that we are facing, it is also a cultural one. The Sand Motor - as the first of its kind - uses the forces of the wind and waves as active agengies of change, but can it be valued as a driving force for humanity to change as well? Drawing from primary artistic research of the sea, coastal transitions, climate change and human appropriations in The Netherlands and abroad, we can state that the ephemeral nature of the Sand Motor itself challenges a polyphonic discourse for co-creation of experiential knowledge. The Sand Motor can be perceived as a man-made intervention in public space, an open-air, publicly accessible research site. Over the past 10 years, Satellietgroep redefined the Sand Motor as a cultural phenomenon, connecting the Sand Motor to the realms of art, culture, and heritage. This essay discusses a series of human-inclusive art projects, in which the Sand Motor evolves from a non-place into a vital learning environment for the cross-pollination of ideas and experimentations to rethink culture and nature. They demonstrate that pioneering with the Sand Motor should include pioneering with the social and cultural values of this artifact, not only to raise public and professional climate-consciousness, but also to adopt it as a human-inclusive landscape. This may well be the most underestimated value of the Sand Motor itself, and of the concept of Building with Nature in general.
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.
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 smaller-scale 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., 2020), 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.
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.
In a world where increased prosperity has created a number of novel, ecosystem-related threats to people’s health and the economy, designing with nature offers a promising outlook to mute the potential negative impacts of our actions and to keep improving the quality of life worldwide. It also provides an alternative to an attitude that has been largely negligent towards our non-human fellow beings. Drawing from the experience of DS landscape architects, four actualized projects and two student master theses illustrate the challenges, opportunities and benefits that building with nature presents. These cases highlight four important lessons for designing with nature in rural and urban landscapes. First, considering the surrounding landscape as a starting point creates a deeper understanding of the situation at hand. This allows for better planning with the ecosystem and enhances the richness of its biodiversity once a project is delivered. Secondly, planning with nature creates the opportunity to let nature do some of the work. This can include water purification, drainage, and cooling. The third lesson is that designing with nature requires a long-term plan. Maintenance might be necessary, and the public may need to be patient to watch the ecosystem slowly flourish through the decades. Finally, creating a new kind of wilderness-imbued beauty to inspire public acceptance and to motivate stewardship is a promising method for establishing a successful long-term nature-inclusive design project. These and other lessons contribute to a field of design where incorporating nature is the status quo.
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 Gottingen 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.
Inclusiveness can be considered a requirement for contemporary statements in urban and landscape design referring to age, condition, gender or nature. But how is inclusiveness influenced by spatial design? Can this relation be measured or proven? And more precisely, which interactions are considered across different generations or between human and non-human agents? This paper describes student’s work evaluation procedures through a methodology consisting of selecting picture-based content from initial reference materials provided by teaching staff, as well as graphic material designed and produced by the students, to further analyze these through data visualization techniques and the production of info-graphics. In a latter step, a gearing game – which is a type of sociogram used to understand agents and matters of interest – is utilized to drive a discussion about design statements for further stages of development concerning students’ design projects. The first stages of the methodology are strongly influenced by how the students perceive elements from reference materials and represent these in their own design productions. A literature review further investigates the dichotomy between representation and perception, and the generation of subjective images. As a final consideration, this work aims to create combined methodologies by incorporating participatory observation methods (e.g. photovoice and flow charts) from the social sciences into urban and landscape design, as they are understood through an accurate design of the learning experience. Similarly, non-representational design and dataviz diagrams from urban and landscape design could potentially be implemented in the teaching of social sciences.
In this paper we discuss the didactic method known as the LAB, a short intensive programme in urban design developed in the years 2009-2019 by various Faculties of Architecture including the Technical University of Dresden, the Cracow University of Technology and the Czech Technical University in Prague. The main aim of this contribution is to introduce the LAB format in urban design education, stressing its innovative and inclusive aspects. The LAB includes the formulation of a spatial strategy based on the existing urban identity as well as socioeconomic and demographic conditions of a location; it brings a unique set of participants, collaborators and stakeholders to a site, which is indispensable for an inclusive approach. The LAB provides a valuable format in addition to standard studio projects in urban design education. The preparatory phase involves an analysis of the case study, conducted remotely using geo-data portals and with information provided by the local administration. To foster inclusiveness in this analytical phase, it is necessary to take account of pre-studies as well as particular on-site experience complemented by the knowledge and expertise of local government, NGOs and local residents. In the LAB, approx. 35 to 60 students consider complex historical, political, natural and cultural conditions, placing these in the context of the current spatial and social situation of the city. The added value is also the possibility of exchanging ideas, working methods and individual mapping skills by participants from various universities, countries and curricula (such as architecture, urban design, spatial planning and landscape architecture). Furthermore, the LAB serves as a useful platform for open discussion between local stakeholders and representatives of the administration. It supports objective debate, free of potentially conflicting political and financial considerations.
The article addresses the concept of urban commons, specifically the ways in which it can contribute to inclusive urbanism. We consider how communities appropriate urban spaces, how commons mediate participation in urban development as well as the role of the physical configuration in fostering inclusiveness. The “PLATZprojekt” in Hanover, Germany, is taken as a case study. A container village of about 3,000 m2, the PLATZprojekt is understood as an experiment in offering people a self-organized space, one they can actively shape, a space to implement their ideas and to provoke discussion about their city. Initiated by a group of young skateboarders, it was funded by the BBSR[1]. Situated on a vacant lot in an industrial zone relatively close to the inner city, the PLATZprojekt seeks to provide space for projects and ideas that cannot be realised within the gentrified neighbourhoods of dense and commodified European metropolises. We analyse the PLATZprojekt as a permanent “commoning process” that encompasses different levels of accessibility and represents a positive example of inclusive urbanism while at the same time revealing various limitations. [1] Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
In this paper, I discuss the education of inclusive urbanism as the inclusion of the environmental awareness genesis, attitudes toward urban design, cognitive biases and the acceptance of contingency. How do places ‘happen’ to become what they are? What characterises their potentially unreducible singularity in light of general planning laws? I suggest educating along a didactic triangle of rules, novelty and singularity in a spatialisable tabular fashion. In addition to using the methods presented here in teaching, these approaches can also be used to create more inclusion in urban development processes as a whole. With a 3D visualisation matrix of analogue, hybrid and digital methods, I proceed to four exemplary multi-methodological teaching modes to tackle the ever-bygone status quo, to introduce research methodology and, thereby, the defeasibility of both the premises and the conclusions in all-too traditional urban design. I focus on abductive reasoning between the unique locality and the general space of possibility as trial acting and “plan-b thinking” to dialectically shuttle within didactic triangle and visualisation matrix. The curriculum allows for principal and exemplary multi-methodological cross-linkage. Open projects serve as stepping stones into the broad variety of non-algorithmic human occupations in 21st century urban planning. Let us understand our own multiple personal urbanites way beyond professional applicability.
Landscape architectonic compositions that draw on the underlying landscape structure can function as a carrier for changing programmes, cultures, processes, etc. Precisely such an explicitly spatial design is required to foster the inclusive city, one that is not only socially just but also sensitive to the environment while allowing for and evoking diverse social and natural processes. The objective of an ‘inclusive city’ is often related to social issues, which might easily lead to the exclusion of ecological values; the opposite approach may prove equally exclusive. Inclusivity also means creating room for the unexpected. From a design point of view, this requires two underlying attitudes: a willingness to see any design assignment from different perspectives as well as a readiness to create sustainable, flexible and open designs. These two attitudes are inherent to landscape architecture, which traditionally prioritizes the site over the programme, and—because of the long term, time-based condition of the landscape—is forced to think in open-ended designs. In this paper we discuss a selection of graduation projects of the landscape architecture track at the TU Delft in order to illustrate how inclusivity is inherent to a complete understanding of landscape architecture. Four essential perspectives on analysis and design—perception, palimpsest, process and scale continuum—are discussed in order to reveal their capacity to serve as a basis for designing inclusive urban landscapes.
