Urban Design & Planning
Service > Building the sustainable communities of the future
Except develops designs and concepts for sustainable cities. With our multi-disciplinary team, we blend economic, cultural, and environmental aspects into the sustainable urban areas of the future.
Urban intelligence
Smart cities, sustainable cities, green cities... it's the talk of the town. But who knows how to develop, design and organize the processes necessary to move towards truly sustainable cities? This is what Except started doing in 1999, and continues to innovate and work on.
We work on the following areas:
- Sustainable urban development & Design
- Eco-cities & urban ecology
- Urban agriculture
- Adaptive urban redevelopment
- Economic redevelopment strategy
- Industrial symbiosis & redevelopment
- Urban metabolism
Systems approach
We approach these complex questions by putting the gadgets and fancy design aside for a bit, and analysing the clockwork of the city, understanding what makes it tick, grow and thrive. Our scientists, economists, ecologists, architects and urbanists analyze each location, find out its specific nature, and make sure that with every move that's made the city gets better, fundamentally.
After we know what'll make it work, we develop what is necessary to make it work: attract new business, redevelop buildings, public spaces, waste, water, food or social development. We'll choose what's the best direction for each area, rather than what's trending. And we'll make sure it has timeless design, to create long lasting value and enthuse residents, business, investors and policy makers alike.
Together for the long term
We work on long term development strategies rather than single efforts that get lost in the whole. We feel the necessity to involve the local population, and put them in the driving seat, providing them with all intelligence and tools needed to make these decisions.
This is how we feel a city develops: with, by and for its inhabitants, using ecology as a main driver, economy as an opportunity and beauty and safety as necessary edge conditions.
Ecology & Economy
The city needs ecology to exist, and economy to thrive. Without nature, the city becomes a dead object, continuously demanding inputs, expenses and with decreasing health and living quality.
Using nature as a positive and powerful driver for urban development is a given for us. It's the foundation we stand on, and which we work on for over a decade. With it, we include people, and with them, find smart and resilient ways to boost local economies. We believe that strong and flourishing communities can be created using these principles, and we've shown it can be done.
Spatial symphonies
Except’s urban design work looks at the city as a symphony. Just as in music, it’s not just about the notes but just as much about the pauses in between the notes that create the music.
Urban design orchestrates the city, weaves space, function, nature, and society in an intricate tapestry. Our cities are under increasing scrutiny regarding their environmental impact. Except weaves an urban tapestry that is self-supporting, resilient, and sustainable in the long-term, answering local and national governments’ questions on how to proceed towards sustainable urban development.
Examples
Polydome
Polydome is een innovatief duurzame manier om op commerciële basis en zonder milieubelasting voedsel te produceren. Het is ontwikkeld als fundamentele oplossing voor duurzame voedselproductie, schaalbaar, gezond en met drastisch lagere milieubelasting dan traditionele land- en glastuinbouw.
Polydome combineert een hoge opbrengst voor meer dan 50 geteelde gewassen met het houden van kippen, bijen en vis. De grotere diversiteit en productiviteit zorgen ervoor dat zelfs een klein Polydome systeem kan voorzien in een rijke voedsel-voorziening voor een grote bevolking.
Download het Polydome boek onderaan deze pagina.
Growth-Planning Area Planning & Development
Growth Planning introduces an entirely new approach to area planning and urban design. Rather than defining specific programmatic requirements, Growth Planning instead applies socio-economic impulses to the area within certain performance edge conditions. It revolutionzes the task of city design by requiring the urban fabric to organically respond to social and economic stimuli, and allows for increased value, quality, and development over time.
Born out of the necessity to start thinking differently about our built environment due to economic, social and environmental constraints, Except has worked on refining this new form of planning since 2005.
Shanghai Urban Masterplan
This masterplan transforms downtown Shanghai into a fully sustainable community, in energy, food, water, and jobs, designed for Expo 2013. The plan strategically interweaves sustainable innovation with exciting urban design, and making it run with urban agriculture, sustainable technologies and vertical farms. The result is a valuable and beautiful urban community, an emergent circular economy, and a future-proof investment.
The Shanghai urban master plan demonstrates the Urban Renaissance approach on a specific site adjacent to Nanjing road, incorportating a historic Lilong housing district.
Boston Fort Point Masterplan
This urban redevelopment project of the Fort Point district in Boston, MA proposes a unique strategy to reduce city-wide traffic congestion, increase livability and property values and contributes significantly to the resilience of the city as a whole.
Mooi en Duurzaam Schiebroek-Zuid
Except ontwikkelde deze visie en flexibel plan van aanpak voor het opwaarderen van de naoorlogse sociale woningbouwwijk Schiebroek-Zuid in Rotterdam. De integrale visie transformeert de wijk gedurende 30 jaar naar een zelfvoorzienend en duurzaam woongebied. Het past een breed scala toe van innovatieve energiesystemen, stadslandbouw, sociaal en economisch programma, en renovatietechnieken.
“Mooi en Duurzaam Schiebroek-Zuid” is ontwikkeld in opdracht van woningbouwcorporatie Vestia en het InnovatieNetwerk.
San Francisco Transbay / Salesforce Park
Dit project realiseert 's werelds grootste dakpark in het hart van een van de spannendste steden van het westelijk halfrond, door een bestaand centraal station te transformeren in een ecologische motor: Salesforce Park.
Het ontwerp, ontwikkeld door Except samen met Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, gebruikt deze kans om de oude betonnen kolos te transformeren in een stadshub waarin een nieuw stadspark, waterzuivering, efficiënt transport en energieopwekking samen gaan. Biodiversiteit, gezondheid en duurzaamheid staan voorop in dit vooruitstrevend voorbeeld van stadsvernieuwing. Het project startte in 2007 en werd opgeleverd in 2019.
Warmtevisie Tilburg
Dit is de visie voor de doorontwikkeling en verduurzaming van het warmtenet van Tilburg, ontwikkeld met onze consortiumpartners.
De visie dient als startpunt voor de verdere ontwikkeling en samenwerking in Tilburg om tot een duurzame warmtevoorziening te komen, in opdracht van Essent, Gemeente Tilburg, Attero, Brabant Water en MOED.
Visie op Duurzaam OV
Hoe kan openbaar vervoer bijdragen aan een veerkrachtig en duurzame stad?
Met een team van experts en stakeholders uit de Stadsregio Rotterdam ontwikkelden we een visie naar dit doel. De visie kwam tot stand door verschillende intensieve samenwerkingssessies en wordt ingezet om nieuwe stakeholders en partners te betrekken bij het actieplan voor het meest duurzame OV systeem ter wereld.
Download de visie onder.
Duurzame Stedelijke Gebieden - 2015 Wereld Review - WWF
This project arose from the joint desire of WWF and Lafarge to contribute original research to move the construction sector towards a sustainable future. We examined 11 exemplary urban districts and neighborhoods around the world from inception to inhabited, using a systemic and holistic perspective. We extracted the success and failure factors, and uncovered new strategies that accelerate sustainable development both on a project and building sector level.
The result is available in a comprehensively illustrated book, downloadable from this page, or read it online at ISSUU.
Zevenkamp through our eyes
“Zevenkamp through our eyes: a story of three students and one neighborhood” is an urban transformation project by Except Academy, a learning platform for interns at Except. We developed an inspiration book which tells the story of our journey and experiences while investigating Zevenkamp, the second largest post-war neighborhood in the Netherlands.
The purpose of the book is to inspire and share our vision of Zevenkamp’s future. It has practical examples of opportunities for the neighborhood to become flourishing and resilient with the help of its residents and stakeholders.
Schiphol-Oost Pioneer Park
Schiphol-Oost is de geboorteplaats van Schiphol. Vandaag de dag is het een bedrijventerrein dat scherpte en visie mist. Daarmee ontbreekt een duidelijke identiteit, en onderscheidt het zich weinig van omliggende bedrijventerreinen. In samenwerking met Schiphol Real Estate (SRE) heeft Except een visie en strategie voor de komende 5 tot 10 jaar voor Schiphol-Oost ontwikkeld. De visie richt zich op Schiphol-Oost als innovatie-tuin van Schiphol, genaamd Pioneer Park.
Roadmap to the BGI Manual
Blue Green Infrastructures (BGI) increase the resilience of urban and rural landscapes, integrating their core functions with natural features and processes. Hurdles exist in the process of translating BGI-related knowledge and data from science to practice, and a tool that facilitates this transfer is still missing. We conducted a research in collaboration with a team of partner organizations (JNCC, IFLA Europe, BiodivERsA, and NRW), to pinpoint key preliminary knowledge to design such a tool, and collected our key findings in a report downloadable on this page.
Contact
Tom Bosschaert
Director
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+31 10 7370215
