Climate-Sensitive Blue and Green Spaces, Enschede
Blue-green options weighed against flood policy.
Design · University of Twente · 2024–2025
As a named partner in the VU–UT Collaboration Fund project on climate-sensitive blue and green spaces, co-design workshops were carried out with vulnerable residents of Twekkelerveld, a disadvantaged Enschede neighbourhood: participants directly altered photographs of their own streets in the tool — adding trees, benches and water features — working alongside the Municipality of Enschede and the UT DesignLab. The collaboration fed four research outputs co-authored by the practice, including a scoping review in Wellbeing, Space and Society.
Who took part
Vulnerable and disadvantaged residents, Municipality of Enschede decision-makers and a research team across UT-ITC, UT-BMS, the VU Athena Institute and the UT DesignLab; a pilot workshop had students role-play personas of vulnerable residents to surface needs around thermal comfort, mobility and safety.
What the tool did
AI-supported alteration of real Twekkelerveld street photographs, integrating the needs of groups often excluded from planning processes into urban climate-adaptation research.
What changed
The portfolio’s clearest practice-to-publication arc: two posters, a conference abstract at ICUC12 and a peer-reviewed scoping review, with the tool tested in close collaboration with residents and the municipality.
Sources
- ICUC12 abstract — Engaging vulnerable groups — meetingorganizer.copernicus.org
- Scoping review — Wellbeing, Space and Society — doi.org
Delivered together with project partners.