Projects
Medieval urban toponymy in the duchy of Brabant, a mirror of urban development? Ghent University
This research focuses on medieval town development within the former duchty of Brabant. Surprisingly often, identical toponyms appeared in medieval towns. It is my ambition to explain this intriguing phenomenon and to gain new insight in medieval town development and the multiple uses of public space.
Housing Economies of Scale: An Architectural Assessment of Three Historic Case Studies in London. KU Leuven
It is largely assumed that large-scale housing has been an outright failure. The typical images that we have of mass housing have been derived from canonical but polarising projects, the wet dreams of megalomaniacal architectural figures and demonising rhetoric. Since large-scale, coordinated housing solutions are politically incorrect, the types of actions celebrated today tend towards the small: self-help models which risk only serving to ...
Forecasting and management of extreme rainfall induced risks in the urban environment. KU Leuven
A. Context
Extreme local rain storms may induce severe floods and related socio-economic impacts on the urban environment (Belgian cities). While floods along rivers have been studied already extensively, quantification, forecasting, control and management of inundations along sewer systems and urban rivers have to face particular difficulties. They need fine-scale (local, short duration) rainfall estimation and nowcasting (= short-term ...
Emergent Spatialities in Urban Africa: Case Study of Onitsha Markets in Nigeria KU Leuven
Most cities in Africa are urbanizing exponentially, atypically without industrialization, and are confronted with inadequate basic infrastructure, deficient spatial quality, and livability. More than half a century has passed since most of the countries in Africa gained independence and yet, urban poverty, unsustainable urban growth with dystopian inclinations remain abound. The current planning policies and approaches in urban Africa have ...
A network of networks to progress urban climate science Ghent University
Urban landscapes interact via complex physical processes with the atmosphere resulting in a so-called urban climate1. A well-known illustration is the urban heat island effect which describes the increased temperatures in urban landscapes with respect to the rural surroundings. This phenomenon leads to additional heat stress in cities2 and impacts power consumption3, air pollution4, ecology5, etc. Cities are densely populated economic hubs ...
A COMBINED LIFESTYLE INTERVENTION TO OPTIMIZE METABOLIC HEALTH AMONG WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE IN URBAN UGANDA KU Leuven
Sub-optimal metabolic health is increasing across urban SSA with no signs of receding, and this is largely attributed to the rising prevalence of overweight and obesity. Women of reproductive age (WRA) are disproportionately the most affected. Maternal sub optimal metabolic health is linked to lifelong intergenerational negative health outcomes. It is suggested that the ongoing nutrition transition in urban SSA characterised by a mismatch ...
From sociobiology to urban metabolism: landscape design, ecology and engineering in Belgium (1900-2016). University of Antwerp
Reconceptualising Consolidation in the Urban Periphery: A Spatial and Temporal Reading of Dharavi’s Territorial Transformation through Lived Practices KU Leuven
This dissertation investigates the highly differentiated ‘slums’ that emerged as part of the ever-changing urban periphery. It reconceptualises the notion of consolidation associated with lived practises of city-making and inhabitation, viewing them as territorial transformation to challenge the linear developmentalism thinking of slum upgrading and regularisation. Building on my multi-sited experiences with longitudinal empirical studies, ...
Increasing socio-spatial resilience through temporary appropriation of urban waiting spaces for housing: a Participatory Action Research on the Solidary Mobile Housing project in Brussels KU Leuven
This PhD research is embedded in the Solidary Mobile Housing (SMH) project, a Living Lab aimed at developing, testing, and refining a model and prototype for the co-creation of solidary living in mobile homes on un(der)used urban spaces in the Brussels-Capital Region. However, this study goes beyond the SMH project’s practical outcomes and theoretical musings.
The purpose of this study was to investigate how the co-creation of ...