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, urban planning and...

Graduation work by Rachelle Pruim  Landscape designer Figure 1: Dancing with the Waterwolf, imagining a new Dutch water narrative. (Source: Rachelle, 2025) For centuries, the Dutch delta has been shaped by a complex water management system that has enabled people to live safely below sea level. We pump away water with ease, constructing dikes, dams and sluices. Even the river was not spared: we managed to put her in a corset, confined her within dikes and groynes. Indeed, here in the...

Column by Pim Buijs Public space is the living room of the city. What is special about this living room is that it contains a large collection of functions for very diverse users who all make use of the same public space. How we design and manage public space depends on how we as a society use it. At the same time, there is socially desirable and undesirable use of public space, which means that the government, as the owner of public space, tries to steer certain desired behaviour. This adds...