TransFEWmation: Towards Design-led Food-Energy-Water Systems for Future Urbanization

Rob developed the Swarm Planning concept, a dynamic way to design the city, to prepare it for future climate change. Rob's research focuses on the reciprocal city, investigating resilience, adaptation and circularity in urban design. Recent design concepts Rob has conceived are the Double Defence, a proposition for a second row of barrier islands, protecting the Dutch coast against storm surges; the Floodable Landscape for a region under threat of flooding; Bushfire Resilient Bendigo, in which the design anticipates bushfires through creating a protective shield and slowly moving the town away from the fire; the FoodRoofRio, a roof garden with an aquaponic system growing food for the entire family in 'Cantagalo' favela, Rio de Janeiro; and the Sydney Barrier Reef, a refuge for nature fleeing the Great Barrier Reef, which is at risk of disappearing as result of bleeching and simultaneously protects the highly valued real estate of the Sydney coast against future cyclones.

Rob has facilitated and designed over 30 design charrettes across the globe in which citizens, academics, governments and industries are indulged in the design process of complex spatial problems. He has written three books about climate adaptation and design, four about urban agriculture and one about design charrettes. Furthermore, he wrote books about the FoodRoofRio and Design after Tsunami in Japan. He is series editor of the book series 'Contemporary Urban Design Thinking' and editor in chief of the journal 'Smart and Sustainable Built Environments (SASBE)'.