The Future Ground
Urban Planning Under Climate Uncertainty
Traditional urban planning is hamstrung by its own rigidity. This research bridges the gap between static land-use models and the volatile reality of climate disruption — moving toward adaptive, systems-based planning.
The framework uses a hybrid scenario-building method, tested empirically across India and the Netherlands, that ensures urban resilience is an equitable, context-specific reality — not a fixed scenario imposed from above.
- Promotor
- Prof. Tina Comes
- Co-promotor
- Dr. Nazli Yonca Aydin
- Faculty
- Technology, Policy & Management
- Funding
- TU Delft Global Fellowship
- Recognition
- C40 Women4Climate, 2020
- Allianz Climate Risk, 2024
- Empirical sites
- Mumbai Metropolitan Region
- Metropolitan Region Amsterdam
Frameworks
Models for embedding resilience within the spatio-temporal dynamics of metropolitan regions — RISE-UP, TIMEWISE, and the integrated land-use change framework.
Hybrid Scenarios
Blending computational land-use models with narrative foresight to explore multiple urbanisation strategies, rather than collapsing the future into one fixed projection.
Interdisciplinary
An empirical methodology that combines spatial modelling with qualitative insights from local practitioners and residents — closing the gap between policy and place.
Allianz Climate Risk Award
For research advancing climate-risk reasoning in urban planning practice. Recognised among an international cohort of climate-risk scholars.
Allianz announcementTU Delft — Stories of Science
Featured in TU Delft's research stories series: "The Future Ground: Planning Cities for an Uncertain Future."
Read the storyRE-GROUND
A strategic consultation with urban practitioners and policy experts to align computational findings from the thesis with local spatial planning needs in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam.
Supervision
- Prof. Tina Comes Promotor
- Dr. Nazli Yonca Aydin Co-promotor
- Dr. Hedwig van Delden Methodological supervision
Researchers
Aarthi Sundaram, Hongxuan Yu, Marya El Malki, and others on the multidisciplinary student researcher team.
Supported by
TU Delft Resilience Lab · TU Delft Global · Faculty of Technology, Policy & Management.