Abstract:
This thesis is focused on XXL warehousing in the Netherlands; the spatial result of a changing and growing consumption economy. XXL warehouses grow in number and scale in such a speed that the current spatial planning is lacking the instruments to adequately integrate them in the landscape. This results in large-scaled fragmentation of the landscape along large-scale infrastructure: the so-called ‘verdozing van het landschap’.
In this thesis, new guidelines for placement and design of XXL warehouses are developed. To do so, a design hypothesis was explored, referred to as the ‘XXL MIX park’. This design hypothesis states that combining the ideas of 1. clustering of XXL warehousing 2. integrating a renewable energy function and 3. meaningful landscape design, can lead to improved integration of XXL warehouses in the landscape of the Netherlands.
To test to what extent the design hypothesis ‘XXL MIX park’ could lead to new guidelines for placing and designing XXL warehousing, explorative research through design was conducted in three different phases of research. In phase 1, design- and placing- principles were developed to outline the concept of the XXL MIX park. In phase 2, on the base of the placing principles, 24 spatial datasets were combined and analyzed to develop a placement strategy for the XXL MIX park and to select a case study area. Phase 1 and 2 informed phase 3; a design synthesis. In multiple design iterations, an optimal integration of the design principles of the XXL MIX park was explored in the landscape of Dodewaard. Phase 3 eventually led to a final design. Lastly, the final products were evaluated, and guidelines for placement and design of XXL warehousing in the Netherlands were proposed. These guidelines provide planners and designers with tools for improving the integration of XXL warehousing in the landscape of the Netherlands.
