Engaging bottom-up and top-down planning strategies in urban areas: Towards more integral and responsive urban regeneration processes, illustrated in Beverwaard Rotterdam, 2017-2018

This master thesis is the final result of my graduation project, a year of researching the field of urban planning and design, facing the complexity of urban regeneration processes. Because of the current complexity of this urban regeneration, it is important to research the current processes, to see if they work as efficient as possible. This research takes Rotterdam as a case study, a large innovative and developing city of the Netherlands. Both top-down and bottom-up perspectives are revised to improve the current plans and processes for the regeneration of Rotterdam. It is time for urban planners and designers to make a shift in the development of planning strategies in a way they create a more sustainable and durable way of urban development by using the existing qualities of each specific area. In this way our profession can contribute to the improvement of the living environment and conditions of citizens.This thesis looks for an improvement of involving citizens into the planning processes of the municipality. By reviewing local citizen’s demands, and combining this with the structure of the municipality, a new urban regeneration plan is developed, taking all the different actors into account.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Science