Article by Jens den Boer In 1991, the Soviet Union officially disbanded. Today, there are 15 post-Soviet states in Europe and Asia. In Europe, we are all familiar with the Baltic states, as well as Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. In Asia, there are the Central Asian republics also known as the “Stans.” Bonus points if you can name them all (and spell them correctly). My ‘TOPOS on the road’ will be about, in my opinion, the most interesting, but also the weirdest Stan, Turkmeni

Article by Jennifer Veilleux, PhD – Assistant Professor of Cultural Geography at WUR When I was approached to write a piece for TOPOS on the intersection of totalitarianism, design and development of public spaces, and my research on water, I first wanted to revisit terms. According to Bongiovanni’s 2005 article on the historic origins and development of totalitarianism, the concept emerged through the writings of Giovanni Amendola, who used it to describe the domination and

Essay by Tobias Arends There was some relatively good news in the paper recently. Victor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, had lost the election to opposition leader Péter Magyar. Magyar, a former member of Orbán’s Fidesz party, managed to win the trust of a large section of the population with promises of structural reforms. Tackling corruption and strengthening the democratic rule of law were central to his campaign. Whether he can actually deliver on those promises rem

Article by Theresa Konova Part 1: Meaning of Totalitarianism: Characteristics and Expression. Totalitarism is defined as the type of political system in which the state has achieved control over every factor in public and private life. The overall rule is limited to one leader (defined as a dictator, although a few other decision-making people are supporting the singular persona of the dictator), and he has the power to shape the ideologies, norms, beliefs, activities and def

Article by Daniel Arrais do Livramento Whenever people think about dictatorships in Europe, what usually comes to mind is Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mussolini’s Italy, and Franco’s Spain. But have you ever heard of Portugal’s dictatorship? Although not widely known among non-Portuguese speakers, it was the longest-lasting dictatorship in Europe, lasting nearly 50 years (1926-1974). The aftereffects of this regime persist to this day, not only in Portugal’s cultu

Essay by Jol Abels The forms and shapes of ancient Roman and Greek times, still shape the world we live in today. Their geometrical and ornamental approach to landscape, art, and architecture have had multiple revivals during history, of which many reflected a political nature. Recently, also the president of the United States Donald Trump demanded ‘making federal architecture beautiful again’ by exclusively using classical architecture in federal architecture. This paper exp

By Theresa Konova & Tobias Arends Figure 1: An urban green space comprising smart, fair and healthy urban greening strategies, Parc de Bruxelles. Photo: João Cortesão, 2024. In: Reporting the Delta. NAI010 Publishers. TOPOS was invited to the publication event of ‘Reporting the Delta’ by nai010 publishers. Following the event, we’ve asked Agnès Patuano, WUR teacher and researcher about the article she wrote together with João Cortesão – a former WUR colleague and urbanist

Article by Sjoerd Brandsma Congratulations! In 2025, the 10,000,000th car was registered in the Netherlands (AutoWeek, 2025). Everything that receives attention grows, but in this case that often comes at the expense of Quality-of-Life goals: space for greenery, freedom, health, livable streets, clean air, silence, justice, playing children, and hedgehogs. And yes, I also own a car myself, but I do not automatically need all the privileges that come with it. So why do I get t

Mooi! by Theresa Konova Whenever we go to a park, it is often the case to dive into the setting, and any observer can confirm that parks are made in a way to satisfy the recreational wishes of the human’s body and aesthetic pleasures to the human’s eye. Although composed of a variety of carefully selected nature species (in environmentally-conscious design often also combined in a way to create a small ecosystem) people that are not in the field of landscape architecture woul

Article by Ian Witte Imagine this: you recently finished your MSc thesis in landscape architecture, and suddenly you find your design in the fall edition of the Blauwe Kamer – the leading Dutch magazine in our sector. This happened to 30 fresh graduates from all kinds of landscape architecture and urbanism study programmes across The Netherlands. All these designers were invited to join the big Kuipercompagnons Graduation Award event, this year hosted in Wageningen. A selec

Artikel door Shanna Koppejan MSc Landschapsarchitectuur In a time of alienation and polarisation, it is increasingly important to maintain an open dialogue with your neighbours, friends, family and other community members. It fosters empathy and opens up spaces to listen and challenge our ways of thinking. But why limit that to our human community? In the Netherlands, we have forced our views on the landscape for a long time. Specifically our rivers, we have canalised, contro

Article by Roos te Velde Urban designer at PosadMaxwan Figure 1: The IJssel Bridge in Zwolle after heavy rainfall. (Source: Roos te Velde, 2023) The landscape is gaining ground in urban planning and reclaiming its space. Almost three-quarters of a century after Cornelis van Eesteren's inaugural speech on 'the relationship between the general urban plan and the development of architecture' (Bergeijk, 2017), I dare say that a new hierarchy is emerging between architecture, urba

Dear readers, How a place is used, and by whom, are subjects that urban designers have always been concerned with. Of course, it is important to distinguish between past, present, and future situations. Public space has been used in various ways for as long as there has been interest in it. Technological developments lead to different street scenes, such as the rise of the car, but also the disappearance of old professions like that of the town crier, who woke up factory work

Article by Erica Chladová and Robert van der Pol liminal office [for architecture and landscape] We were approached by TOPOS to chime in on the series “Liminal Spaces”. The writing of this article has given us the opportunity to reflect further on the meaning of liminal (or liminality) and what it means for us in our architecture and landscape design practice. Liminal office, shortened to LMNL, was founded in Rotterdam in 2017 and since moved to Oisterwijk, North Brabant in 2

Article by Pepijn Hoffard Edited by Jorunn Schaftenaar I have found myself on an interesting island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This country, with steep peaks crashing into the oceans, never-ending plains, colourful mountains, massive glaciers, lava fields and geysers spewing constantly, leaves quite the impression. Yet, aside from its beauty, there is something odd about many of its landscapes. It makes me wonder, why does Iceland feel so liminal? Figure 1: A campi

Article by Jens den Boer Mooi! is the permanent rubric that is published once for every theme. Each time, a different member from the...

TOPOS on the Road by Ian Witte Figure 1: Underpass near downtown Baton Rouge. (Source: Ian Witte, 2025) Perhaps you’ve heard of the...

Article by Machiel Oosse and Tobias Arends In the middle of a busy few weeks at the studio, we boarded the plane to Bucharest, carrying...

Article by Ian Witte Figure 1: A dam in heavy fog. Serra da Estrela, Portugal. (Source: Ian Witte, 2022) Welcome, reader! I am glad you...

Dear readers, Among peers, I think the term 'liminal space' is most closely associated with the definition given by the horror genre and...