OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PROJECTSIN

TROD

UCTIO

N

Over the past few

years, I have been able to work as a researcher and as a

designer in three different countries on two continents. Although the con-

text has been vastly different, this portfolio aims to show

a vision on good

urbanism that has progressed steadily.

I will show

key professional and academic design projects, finished

over the past years.

CON

RAD KICKERT

4 OVERVIEW LOOKING TOWARDS DOWNTOWN

THE HAGUE

My graduation project consisted of a research project into urban shopping arcades, followed by an application of the research results in the design for a shopping arcade in the central urban setting of The Hague.

The research titled ‘The Urban Shopping Arcade’, was conducted for the Multi Development Corporation, one of the largest retail developers in Europe. In this research, sixteen retail arcades in ten Dutch cities have been analyzed using a set of urban analysis techniques. The results from these techniques showed a high correlation with the actual performance of shopping arcades, and were well received by the client.

In preparation for the design project in The Hague, the urban context has been thoroughly analyzed. In addition to a range of traditional urban analysis methods, new methods such as Visibility Graph Analysis have been used to predict the pedestrian movement of the design. These methods are currently being developed by the University College of London and private enterprises to predict visibility and pedestrian activity. Since this activity is important for the success of retail, these methods have been used to create an extensive pedestrian model of The Hague shown in this portfolio.

The design for the Spuimarkt contains new urban connections, with retail, housing, office and transportation program. Embedded into the current monumental context of central The Hague, these connections emphasize the current identity of the area, rather than attempting to create a separated environment.

The design has a high level of complexity, spreading across several layers above and under ground level. Besides adding several thousand square meters of retail program to the area, the design also adds parking, housing, offices, leisure and connects to underground transit infrastructure.

The research and design received the department’s highest grade of 2007, resulting in a graduation with honours and a publication in the Delft Architecture Annual.

Loca

tion:

TH

E H

AG

UE

Year

: 200

7G

rade

: 9.5

/10

RESEARCH AND DESIGN FOR THE SPUIMARKT

View of new construction in brown (above)Design concept diagram (below).

PLEIN

SSPPUUIIMMAARRKKTT TTHHEE HHAAGGUUEE

PRELIMINARY SITE PLAN

1: 1000 5500 110000

CONRAD KICKERT - MARCH 2007

1: 2 500

Current construction

New construction

Covered arcade

Grass lawn

Car road surface

Car parking

Bicycle path

PLEIN

SSPPUUIIMMAARRKKTT TTHHEE HHAAGGUUEE

PRELIMINARY SITE PLAN

1: 1000 5500 110000

CONRAD KICKERT - MARCH 2007

Trees

LEGEND

GPS

trac

k pl

an s

how

ing

wal

king

rou

tes

from

St.

Andr

ews

car

park

on

one

day

NORWICH

GPS devices used in the research process.

PROJECTS

As part of the EU Interreg IIIb funded research on pedestrian rou-ting, wayfinding and behavior in European cities, I was hired as a research assistant to conduct studies in Norwich, England.

The GPS research aimed to track pedestrians as they walked through city centers of Norwich (UK), Rouen (France) and Koblenz (Germany). Devices were handed to participants in return for their parking ticket. The partici-pants would then continue their walk through the city center, and return the device and receive free parking. This system proved effective: over the course of a week hundreds of ‘GPS tracks’ were recorded.

The accuracy and added value of using GPS equipment has proven to be very effective. Using this new technology allows researchers to look beyond pedestrian intensity per street section, and record actual route choices of participants. The route itself and the walking pace were both recorded and mapped using GIS software.

The results have provided the city council of Norwich with insights into the pedestrian routing of their city center, helping them to focus their public space investments.The results of the study have been published in ‘Street Level Desires, dis-covering the city on foot’ in 2007.

Loca

tion:

NO

RWIC

HYe

ar: 2

007

RESEARCHING PEDESTRIAN ROUTING IN NORWICH

NETHERLANDS

Examples of analysis methods covering the structure of public space in a city center (above) and visibility of spaces within it (below left) and diagrammatic recommendations (below right)

This academic research explored the Dutch urban shopping arcade from an urban design perspective. Many words have been written about urban arcades, each from their own perspective, such as architecture, real-estate or anthropology. But how do urban arcades work inside a city? How do they fit into their context? And more importantly, how do these contexts help these arcades succeed?

In cooperation with the Multi Development Corporation, this research has studied sixteen shopping arcades in ten medium sized Dutch inner cities. These arcades were analyzed on three scale levels: the city, the block and the arcade itself. On these three levels, a range of analysis methods have been used to gain insight into their location, integration, connection and design. These analysis methods vary from quantitative methods such as Space Syntax and Visibility Graphs, and qualitative methods such as morphological studies, and townscape analyses.

After the arcades were analyzed, a conclusion has been given on their performance from an urban design perspective. Also, recommendations were given in order to improve their performance. Using proxy indicators, the performance from an urban design perspective was compared to the performance from a real-estate perspective: are urban arcades that are well located, integrated, connected and designed actually successful investments?

The conclusion was clear: measuring performance of an arcade from an urban design perspective closely correlates to its performance from a real-estate perspective. The combined set of analysis methods proved to be able to give a balanced and precise statement about its performance in reality.

The observations and conclusion from this research were translated into a set of strategies to increase the performance of an arcade from an urban design perspective. The results from this research were very well received and are still used in the development strategy at Multi Development.

Loca

tion:

NET

HER

LAN

DS

Year

: 200

6G

rade

: 9,5

/10

RESEARCHING THE URBAN SHOPPING ARCADE

DIDCOT

Townscape sequence through the newly designed site (above)

In late 2007, South Oxfordshire District Council and developer Hammerson plc initiated a design competition for the retail-led expansion masterplan of central Didcot, a fast growing railway town of 27,000 south of Oxford. The existing town centre mainly consisted of a recent shopping mall with surface car parking and hardly had any significant public spaces.

I have co-supervised the bidding process, and our team has subsequently won the bid with a visionary document on the creation of a truly mixed-use 'town centre' rather than just an extension to the existing shopping mall. This new town centre would focus on a new central square, a public space Didcot was previously missing.

In preparation of the design options, the town of Didcot has been thoroughly analysed from a spatial, economic and social context. Following this analysis, a 'strategic framework' was created in which all scenarios would fit. This framework provides guidelines on spatial connections, central focal spaces and programmatical requirements for a vital town centre.

The design scenarios fits over 20.000m2 of anchored retail, civic functions and 200-400 units of housing into the 4ha site. Several different parking solutions have been designed with cost and phasing in mind.

The design has resulted in public and stakeholder consultation sessions, and a design and implementation report has been created, including space calculations. The design has been translated into planning code by the council.

Loca

tion:

DID

COT

Year

: 200

7-20

08

RESEARCH AND DESIGN FOR TOWN CENTRE EXPANSION

Landmark corner with High Street

Trees on New Orchard Street

Landmark hotel

Pavillion on central square

Dwellings on Hitchcock Way

Existing dwellings on Broadway

Dwellings on Hitchcock Way

OXFORD

Daytime diagram with vitality in red (above)Night-time diagram with surveillance in white (below)

Roger Evans Associates proposed a study to create an innovative model for walkability which could be employed in future town centre projects in a time- and cost-effective manner. The result is a “vitality study” of town centres which can be conducted in a short period of time, measuring both walkability during the daytime, and natural surveillance and safety during the night time, using publicly available data sources. The research to create this model has focused on the city centre of Oxford, in which the practice is based.

I have created a "VitalityCheck" model for quick assessment of town centres, learning from earlier research conducted at the TU Delft and Multi Vastgoed. The model is based on the understanding that vital and commercially viable town centres need to provide pedestrians with a positive experience of their visit. Beyond mere 'walkabilty', pedestrians need a range of factors to be correct for their visit to become a positive experience. Factors include sidewalk width, traffic, active facades and land use patterns. These factors have been measured and overlaid in a graphic diagram.

A similar approach was taken to create a night-time surveillance diagram, showing natural surveillance from town centre residents, night-time hotspots such as bars and restaurants, spatial visibility (using Visibility Graph Analysis) and traffic.

These two diagrams combined show a quick assessment of vitality during the day, and safety during the night, using readily available data. The methods have already been employed in a different town centre project northeast of London. The methods have also been published in the British RUDI Placemaking 2008.

Loca

tion:

OX

FORD

Year

: 200

7

RESEARCHING VITAL TOWN CENTRES

DETROIT

Overlap between streetcar lines and main ‘choice’ routes in 1921 (above)Mapping downtown morphological and connectivity change (below)

Detroit, once a 'symbol of industrial dynamist', moved in the post-war era to 'a byword for economic decline and urban decay' (AIA 2008). Today, the vacant plots and thinning population in the city have contributed to its characterization as 'urban prairie' capturing a dramatic transition of some American cities from economic urban centres to urban deserts, devastated by disinvestment, unemployment and racial segregation.

Using space syntax analysis this project explores the urban network of Detroit and how the morphology of the city relates to the economic and socio-cultural forces that took place over from 1796 to 1952, and from 1952 to the present. The research project was supervised by and co-authored with professor Sophia Psarra at the University of Michigan and the University College of London and published in Urban Design International in 2013.

The first stage of the project captures Detroit’s growth to a manufacturing city and a centre of industrial power. The second period corresponds to the gradual decay of Detroit in terms of population decline, erosion of the car industry, and class and race segregation. The project shows that the physical patterns of the city acted conjointly with social and economic activity to produce different outcomes in the two periods of study. More specifically, the spatial network that once helped to build the interconnected city of industrial manufacture, was gradually expanded and altered facilitating the emergence of the segregated city, based on a different model of spatial accessibility and economic production. The significance of this observation is in showing that the urban fabric possesses social, economic and environmental potential more than what is usually credited for by policy makers, urban designers and planners.

Loca

tion:

DET

ROIT

Year

: 201

0-20

13

RESEARCHING URBAN STRUCTURE, SOCIETy AND ECONOMy

USA

Some of the case study locations (above)Section of a street in Upper Arlington, Ohio (below)

In the age of drastically increasing fuel costs, global climate change and the worst financial crisis in a generation, the uncertain position of the American suburban dream prominently features in contemporary scholarly and professional debate among urban planners, designers and architects.

This ongoing research project aims to link the suburban future to its past by presenting new techniques of morphological research on the American streetcar suburb through a range of case studies created by Taubman College graduate students under the direction of myself and professor Dr. Robert Fishman. The depicted streetcar suburbs are compared spatially by cartography that includes current building footprints, open spaces and infrastructure. Three-dimensional sections illustrate the variety of building types that can be found in the various streetcar suburbs, as well as the careful balance of public and private open spaces that constitute the ideal of living in nature. The current physical reality is accompanied by a short history describing the conception and evolution of the case studies, complemented by historic and current photographic material.

While the characteristics of streetcar suburbs vastly differ between cities as far apart as Boston and San Francisco, their essential formula remains as crucial and relevant today as when they were first conceived. Although these suburbs did represent early examples of the American middle-class separating itself from central city life, society and its challenges, most of them included a surprisingly wide range of incomes and land uses. Moreover, the need to walk to a streetcar line gave each of them the spatial definition and walkability currently lacking in auto-dependent suburbs. The streetcar suburbs analysed in this project demonstrate a balance between town and country, between technology and nature and between privacy and sociability – an equilibrium that contemporary urban designers still strive to achieve.

Loca

tion:

VA

RIO

US

Year

: 201

1-20

13

RESEARCHING THE AMERICAN STREETCAR SUBURB

THE HAGUE - DETROIT

Frontage activity in The Hague in 1911, with red as most active above)Frontage functions in Detroit in 1911 (below)

Historically, urban cores have claimed a central role in serving local residents and attracting visitors with their shopping, culture, leisure and civic facilities. The layered history of downtown spaces accommodates visitors and residents in meaningful spaces that are unique in a metropolitan landscape that increasingly consists of commodified suburban functional environments aimed at efficiency, short turnover and quick Return on Investment. In other words, downtowns can offer a more meaningful and therewith superior ‘experiential quality’. Research has proven that a positive pedestrian experience in an urban environment is strongly linked to a humanly scaled, diverse and active environment. A walk becomes much more interesting if the pedestrian is surrounded by activity, and a majority of this activity in public space comes from the buildings that line it. Public space becomes more exciting if people can look at building fronts, doors and into windows on the ground floor of buildings, otherwise known as interactive frontages. Unfortunately, street frontages have strongly deactivated over the past century as a result of many distinct but correlated internal and external forces.

The transformation and improvement of frontages in downtowns has not traditionally been in the hands of one profession such as architecture, urban planning or retailing. While most academics and professionals in these fields agree on the merits of interactive frontages and battle their deactivation with policy, development and design interventions, no-one knows what they are actually fighting against. The various forces that deactivate street-level architecture have been greatly understudied, partly because the subject has fallen between the cracks of its many related research disciplines. My dissertation research at the University of Michigan’s Architecture program aims to bridge this academic and professional knowledge gap by studying interactive frontages from a cross-cultural and cross-temporal perspective. How have interactive frontages changed over the past century – an era covering the rise and fall of many Western downtowns? What social, political, economic and cultural forces have contributed to this change?

Loca

tion:

VA

RIO

US

Year

: ON

GO

ING

RESEARCHING ACTIVE CENTERS - INTERACTIVE EDGES