Introduction
Urbanism, architecture and planning
Why choose to study Urbanism? What are this field of study’s distinguishing features vis-à-vis architecture and planning? Urbanism and Architecture have been closely interconnected in the Netherlands but each has its own place. In the Bachelor’s phase, the education in both fields is partially the samebut becomes more specific as graduation approaches, in the Master’s phase.
Architecture is concerned with the spatial design of buildings in the broadest sense of the term, and is taught in that sense at the Faculty. At this college, Urbanism or Stedebouwkunde means the skill of constructing the city, i.e.the human domicile. This means that the layout, the position of buildings and the spaces in the constructed city are designed inrelation to each other. This requires urban concepts, plans and spatial strategies, in which the spatial issue of ‘from interior to horizon’ is well thought out and experienced.
Expansion of the cities in the Netherlands always also involves transforming the underlying landscape and designing the landscape in the city, as well as the surrounding or intervening landscape. This is why Urbanism is inseparably linked to Urban Landscape Architecture. The city and man-made landscape go together in a new unity, in which the genius loci, the horizon and nature must have a place. Urban & Regional Planning is a field that develops the knowledge the urban designer(urbanist) requires: knowledge in the field of social trends and requirements and knowledge in the field of preparing and implementing urban plans. The direct relationship to design distinguishes Urban & Regional Planning from Planning, which focuses more on policy preparation and is taught at other universities.
Choosing Urbanism therefore entails looking at the larger whole, at ‘designing across the scales’, and at the relationship between the various design issues, and the individual contribution of the various design fields. This is not an easy task and demands a great deal of effort but is very absorbing and, moreover,socially relevant.
At the beginning of the 21st century there is mention of large processes of social change within the dense delta, whilst at the same time the physical conditions of the area remains as complex as always. Climatic change, unstable ground levels, the rising sea level and increasing environmental pressures demand new creative and ingenious solutions for an efficient and meaningful organisation of land on all levels of scale.
