To what extent can transformation and development processes on a university or other campus fit in with the principles of circularity? This paper builds a bridge between the more theoretical approach of the circular economy and daily practice in campus development, using semi-structured in-depth interviews with a broad range of stakeholders in university management in Dutch universities. The study aims to show possible perspectives and offers insight into which factors are important for the sustainable development of a university or other campus, taking into account the principles of the circular economy. The paper introduces a framework for understanding the various dimensions and scales of campus operations. The aim is to make a practical contribution to the implementation of circular principles in campus development. The main conclusions are that circularity is an organisational issue, complexity must be reduced, and integral policy and specialised knowledge are required. Five recommendations towards an integrated strategy for circularity in campus development are given.

The Department of Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology has a long tradition in educating generations of internationally oriented designers, planners and researchers in urbanism. Here the domain of urbanism is defined as an interdisciplinary approach that engages in real-world sociocultural, ecological and technological issues affecting urban landscapes, from the perspective of spatial planning and design. Specifically, it combines the disciplines of spatial planning, urban design and landscape architecture, having their own theories, methods and techniques, but also sharing common grounds and being complementary. Urbanism education focuses on specific context-related design tasks, in which knowledge from different disciplines is synthesised into coherent multiscale proposals. This paper aims to elaborate on the foundations of the Delft approach to urbanism education that focuses on the urban landscape as a scale continuum, uses design research and research through design as important teaching and research strategies, and regards mapping and drawing as important tools for thinking. The typical Dutch geographic context and spatial planning traditions are the foundation for this approach. The paper addresses the backgrounds and describes the principles of the present education strategies, learning tactics and examination, and identifies their challenges.

This paper explores infrastructure as a type of landscape and landscape as a type of infrastructure. The hybridisation of the two concepts, landscape and infrastructure, seeks to redefine infrastructure beyond its strictly utilitarian definition, while allowing design disciplines to gain operative force in territorial transformation processes. This paper aims to put forward urban landscape infrastructures as a design concept, considering them as armatures for urban development and for facilitating functional, social and ecological interactions. It seeks to redefine infrastructural design as an interdisciplinary design effort to establish a local identity through tangible relationships to a place or region. Urban landscape infrastructures can thereby be used as a vehicle to re-establish the role of design as an integrating practice. This paper positions urban landscape infrastructure design in the contemporary discourse on landscape infrastructures. The space of flows, as opposed to the space of places, is introduced as an impetus to develop the concept of landscape infrastructure into a more comprehensive form of urban landscape architecture. Furthermore, this paper outlines a set of principles typical for urban landscape infrastructure design and suggests three potential fields of operation: transport, green and water landscape infrastructure. The design of these operative landscape structures is a crosscutting field that involves multiple disciplines in which the role of designers is essential.

Spatial design is at the core of landscape architecture. Mapping spatial–visual characteristics is of significance for landscape architects to interpret and talk about space. Advanced mapping methods and tools for spatial–visual analysis (i.e., mapping techniques describing landscape architectonic compositions from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives) offer great potential to increase knowledge of spatial organization and reveal design principles. Despite the availability and wide range of possibilities, the application of advanced mapping methods and tools for spatial–visual analysis is still not common in landscape architecture. The main reasons include the lack of awareness and prejudice. In order to get a more detailed understanding of the problem, this study presents the outcome of semi-structured open-ended interviews with 11 practitioners with a design background in landscape architecture. The paper discusses the relevance of advanced mapping methods and tools with practitioners in order to gain a better understanding about what methods landscape practitioners use to describe and experience space in their daily work. Findings demonstrate the critical bottlenecks of implementing advanced mapping methods in daily practices and how the practitioners think about the implementation of advanced mapping methods in the future of landscape practices.

Understanding the dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC) change in today’s context of rapid urbanization is critical for sustainable urban planning and environmental conservation. Therefore, the research aim is to understand the LULC changes in the Chattogram Metropolitan Area and to assess the policy implications of these changes for sustainable urban development. Through a comparative analysis of LULC maps for two periods (1997–2007; 2007–2017), we investigated the transformation of a detailed planning zone before and after Detailed Area Plan (DAP) approval. Using quantitative data analysis and policy review, we elucidated the impacts of urbanization trends on local ecosystems—specifically the conversion of forest cover and waterscape use. The findings reveal a significant conversion of forested and waterscape areas to urban and peri-urban landscapes, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable planning interventions that focus on these peri-urban areas. The study further critiques the DAP’s effectiveness, revealing a disconnect between regional policy implementation and local outcomes. This research proposes a validated, scalable framework for urban master plans that adapts to the complex socioecological contexts of rapidly urbanizing regions.