Excerpt

from PhD research plan (parts directly related to the workshop marked with red):

The research aims to develop design principles for integrated urban river corridors. […] The location chosen
for the design study is Bucharest, the capital of Romania. Besides facing the global challenges of large cities,
Bucharest is a representative case, as it is one of the post-socialist cities of Eastern Europe that has been
going through extensive institutional, social, and economic transformations during the last 27 years since
the fall of the communist regime. Yet, instead of building up a new balanced state, the years of post-
communist transition made Bucharest a place where ongoing change and unfinished urban projects are the
norm.
When seen through the lens of resilience, today’s Bucharest appears to have two contradicting faces:
one that is highly resilient and one that completely lacks resilience. On one hand, from a social point of
view, it is considered to be highly adaptable to social-technical change. This is due to its inhabitants’ ‘street-
wisdom’, fast technological adoption and high learning capacity. On the other hand, it is highly vulnerable
to large environmental shocks, given its position in that earthquake-prone area of the Balkans and in the
flood-prone plains in the South of Romania.
Additionally, the two rivers crossing the city—Dâmbovița and Colentina—are very representative
examples of urban rivers as social-ecological structures that are not integrated with the urban fabric. By
investigating and designing on the urban corridors of the two rivers, the thesis develops a set of design
principles for resilient and integrated urban river corridors. […]

1.1 Problem statement

The concept of urban river corridors responds to a widely-acknowledged problem: the loss of synergy
between the natural dynamics of rivers and the spatial configuration of cities that they cross. As described
in this section, both in relation to the specificities of Bucharest and the broader issues faced by cities crossed
by rivers worldwide, the problem is three-fold: (1) river-taming operations weakened the relationship
between fluvial geomorphology and urban morphology (Section 1.2.1); (2) flood-protection measures
aiming for resistance to water dynamics increase the potential risk of flooding (Section 1.2.2); (3) the
multiple benefits on resilience of integrating rivers with the surrounding urban fabric, beyond mere flood
resilience measures, haven’t been sufficiently researched (Section 1.2.3). […]

1.2 Research approach

[…] the research aims to develop a set of design principles for resilient urban river corridors. In the
context of resilience, it is important to stress the fact that design is inherently proactive, in contrast to most
resilience-building strategies that are reactions to shocks that already happened. This research adopts a
proactive approach in the testing phase (workshops) of the design principles.

Design is involved in three rounds in the research (Figure 1):

- Round 1 was carried out by the author during the analyses of the four properties presented in
Chapters 5-8 as design exercises. The exercises are brief what/if scenarios and are formulated as a
response to the findings of the analyses.
- Round 2 tests the first design principles extracted in Round 1 as design instruments in a design
workshop in Bucharest. The participants are experts and students in the field of urban design and
planning. The results of the workshop are used to refine and complete the set of principles.
- Round 3 tests the applicability of the design principles to the international cases referenced in the
research. The workshop is organized at TU Delft with experts and students in the field of urban
design and planning. A handout is prepared to facilitate the work of the participants.
The workshop in Bucharest explores possibilities of spatial, social and ecological integration between the
urban fabric of Bucharest and the two rivers crossing it: Dâmbovița and Colentina. To this end, the research
uses the concept of Urban River Corridors, spatial structures that integrate the river valley with the
surrounding urban fabric by prioritising mutually beneficial spatial configurations.
The primary goal of the workshop is to test four design tools proposed in the research, while
responding to real-world design assignments in key urban locations along the two rivers. During the days of
the workshop, participants will be acquainted with these tools and will be assisted in developing design
proposals that are both multi-scalar and multi-disciplinary.

Figure 1 The design principles (guidelines)

are developed in three rounds of design
during the research: (1) design by the
researcher, (2) a design workshop in
Bucharest, and (3) a design workshop in
Delft.