At this juncture of climate crisis, design is crucial to secure a resilient (formative, operational and performative) future of fragile urban delta landscapes. Design is at the core of an interdisciplinary approach in which the scopes of architecture, ecology, engineering and policy are united in strong and visionary strategies and tactics. 

The conference is dedicated to discussing future design as a collaborative enterprise of the disciplines of architecture, ecology, engineering and policy and as a leading method within the research premises of the Delta Urbanism research group. These research premises examine the multi-layered phenomenon of urbanization between land and water and thus the scope of design in highly dynamic landscapes. What we are now experiencing as the era of climate crisis – the effects of the Anthropocene – aggravates this condition, requiring to look at urbanization in delta, coastal and river landscapes as a formative, operational and performative process. Therefore delta design is discussed here not only as an approach to highly dynamic landscapes but rather as a fundamental shift in the way urbanization is addressed by design — as a driver of environmental change. 

The conference aims at exploring the scope, representation and future of delta design in times of climate crisis, looking through the lens of four research premises. 

The scopes of architecture, ecology, engineering and policy will be presented by the keynote speakers listed below. Alternately, the research premises will be at the centre of discussion in a variety of parallel sessions.