Fransje Hooimeijer

Delft University of Technology | TU · Department of Urbanism

The demand for a more conscious and integrating design process within the field of urban infrastructure development is based in the fact that the environmental crisis can only be dealt with by increasing the resilience of the built environment. Civil engineering and spatial design are fields with very different cultures and languages, yet interdisc...

Mean sea level rise (SLR) could increase up to 2m by 2100, which would see damage caused by coastal flooding in Europe increase from €1.25bn per annum currently to €961bn in just over 80 years. Urban areas situated along the North Sea coastline are particularly vulnerable to extreme sea level rise (a combination of SLR, tide, and storm surges). The...

In a world influenced by climate change and consequently sea-level rise, extreme floods are expected to become more frequent in the future, representing a serious threat for riverine and coastal settlements. Therefore, flood protection is a large component of climate adaptation and should be closely related to other measures of climate adaptation a...

Over the years the urban threshold, the limit between the city and the waterbody, has undergone different processes of formation and transformation due to political, economic, environmental, and cultural factors. This border separates a fixed system – the city – and interacts with a mobile system – the water. Yet, at the same time, borders are spac...

Cities are like “heterotrophic organisms” because they are dependent on inflows of air, water, food, matter, and energy. Unlike nature, they pollute their own habitat through the production of waste outflows and emissions, extending beyond their own footprint. Data on the ecological footprint of cities have quantified, emblematically, the imbalance...

Spatial design integrates social, cultural, economic, and political perspectives with natural site conditions and man-made construction to plan for sustainable urban development. The current flood-risk-related challenges induced by climate change place pressure on designing cities in which both natural and man-made conditions can be imbalanced. Cre...

The concept of “Building with Nature” refers to a harmonious way of creating environments for new living, working and recreation spaces with respect to nature. It also builds resilience to natural events such as storm surges and thus involves the design of infrastructure., This is done with the intention of ensuring the preservation or expansion of...

Global challenges of ongoing urbanization especially in areas with increased coastal, fluvial and pluvial flooding cannot be solved by mere engineering solutions. Reversed Engineering with Nature is a concept that puts the natural system central, but it does seek symbioses with engineering systems into a new hybrid condition. This spatial hybridity...

Future sea-level rises on the urban waterfront of coastal and riverbanks cities will not be uniform. The impact of floods is exacerbated by population density in nearshore urban areas, and combined with land conversion and urbanization, the vulnerability of coastal towns and public spaces in particular is significantly increased. The empirical anal...

The ambition to Build Back Better after a serious flood disaster is a complex challenge. A comprehensive, multidisciplinary redevelopment planning process is required to reduce the flood risk and meanwhile create sustainable solutions that bring added value to society every day. General planning principles can be formulated on how to develop the ph...

While the severity of the climate crisis calls for a discussion on transformative and potentially disruptive change, science, engineering, design, governance and practice are currently too detached to effectively contribute to such discussions. The spatial manifestation of climate crisis rarely appeals to one’s imagination. Yet, when reviewing the...

In the context of climate change mitigation strategies in urban environments and reducing reliance on carbon-based energy sources, the Netherlands is gradually taking steps towards modification of its thermal energy system. Geothermal energy, widely used in agriculture, has recently emerged as a local, clean, and sustainable energy source able to f...

Engineering for flood resilience of dense coastal regions often neglects the resultant impact on urban design quality. Vital subsurface infrastructure such as hydraulic systems, water networks, civil construction, transport, energy supply and soil systems are especially important in shaping the urban environment and integrating resilience. However,...

Although severely altered, the urban subsurface is the base of the natural system, and is crucial for a stable, green, healthy, and liveable city. It is also the technical space, the engine room of the city where vital functions such as water, electricity, sewers, and drainage are located. This hybrid state needs to be recognized when designing res...

The subsurface is a technical space, the “engine room of the city,” that incorporates the vital functions of water and energy supply, communication systems, sewers and drainage. Natural systems too – crucial for stable, dry, cool and nature inclusive cities – are also largely dependent on the quality of the subsoil. The subsurface is critical in an...

The pressures of climate change, energy transition, the financial crisis and retreating governments, call for a reintroduction of the subsurface into spatial planning. Most urban technological infrastructure, including load-bearing capacity, heat and water, is located in the subsurface. It stores water, plays a role in cooling the city and provides...

This paper presents a holistic approach to sustainable urban brownfield redevelopment where specific focus is put on the integration of a multitude of subsurface qualities in the early phases of the urban redevelopment process, i.e. in the initiative and plan phases. Achieving sustainability in brownfield redevelopment projects may be constrained b...

Sustainable urban development is a wicked problem. On the basis of three case studies, we conclude that institutional entrepreneurs play an important role in sustainable urban development. The question we address is how institutional entrepreneurs do this. We theorize and find six tactics that entrepreneurs employ to influence both formal and infor...

The urgency of climate proofing urban areas is increasingly recognized and various adaptation and mitigation measures are being developed. However, to combine these measures into comprehensive strategies is a challenge. The incorporation of climate change issues in day-to-day urban development requires better understanding of the urban system and t...

The design of Dutch polder cities has been a combination of technological prosperity and an understanding of the rules of water management: the 'fine tradition'. But, the more civil engineers could solve, the less water management became a spatial task. This cumulative development can be divided into six phases that are characterised by a specific...

The Dutch have a rich and internationally renowned tradition when it comes to the intimate relationship between urban design and hydraulic engineering. Their expertise and knowledge of hydraulic laws and ingenious technology have helped them successfully make land out of water: polders. This is the story of how Dutch polder cities are hydraulic con...

The dynamics of the regional water system, which includes groundwater and rainwater as well as surface water, is crucial for the development and urbanisation of the Dutch polders. The Dutch polder landscape has been built by cultivation of the natural landscape of rivers, seas, and peat marshes through civil engineering, which has also built the ur...

Climate change brings larger and more frequent rainstorms and Dutch cities are confronted with water nuisance. The urban water systems are unable to deal with this change in the hydrological cycle in spite of the fact that the Dutch are dealing with this condition for centuries. The question is: What is the tradition of building in wet and soft soi...

The design of Dutch polder cities has been a combination of technological prosperity and an understanding of the rules of water management: the 'fine tradition'. But, the more civil engineers could solve, the less water management became a spatial task. This cumulative development can be ordered in six phases that are characterizes by a specific re...