URBAN AFFAIRS
Our Work
Trying to capture 37 years of work in a few lines is not easy. But if there is one constant, it is this: I have always been driven by the ambition to shape places where people can enjoy life, feel safe, and truly thrive.
Over the years I have worked on plans both large and small—many of them built and lived in. And always together with others, because urbanism is never a solo act: it is collaboration, dialogue, and shared responsibility.
Below you will find a short selection of design projects and publications.
Click on images for a download of the publication
Utrecht Station District
For two decades, I was closely involved in the strategic transformation of the Utrecht Central Station district — the Netherlands’ primary rail interchange and a cornerstone of the Randstad metropolitan network.
Originally conceived in the 1990s as a large-scale public–private redevelopment project, the area evolved into a long-term, city-led transformation process. Over time, the project shifted from a blueprint-driven approach towards adaptive governance, phased implementation and stronger public spatial leadership.
The challenge was exceptional: maintaining the country’s busiest rail hub in full operation while restructuring outdated retail structures, reconnecting the historic city centre with the western districts, renewing Jaarbeurs and redefining the station as a civic urban space rather than an inward-facing shopping complex.
The Utrecht station district stands as a benchmark case of metropolitan-scale urban renewal in a highly complex, multi-actor environment — integrating mobility transition, public realm transformation and long-term institutional collaboration.
Ambitions & Opportunities
ITC London
Understanding the Spatial Effects of High-Speed Rail: Ambitions & Opportunities brings together two years of research by the Independent Transport Commission (ITC) into how high-speed rail reshapes cities and regions — not just through faster journeys, but through long-term changes in accessibility, investment, and urban development. Drawing on European case studies and the UK’s experience with HS1, the report offers practical lessons for how projects like HS2 can support regeneration, collaboration between city-regions, and better-connected metropolitan systems.
High Speed Rail & Connected Cities
ITC London
High Speed Rail & Connected Cities: Accessible Places for Growing Economies explores how Britain’s city regions can capture the full benefits of HS2 — not only through faster journeys, but by creating better-connected, more accessible and more competitive places. Building on lessons from European high-speed rail experience, the report draws on workshops held across England in 2015 with local authorities, businesses and civic organisations. It sets out practical principles for making cities “HS2-ready”: integrating transport systems, strengthening local connectivity, shaping stations as places of arrival and exchange, and building long-term collaboration across regions.
Places of Connection
LCP
Places of Connection – Utrecht 2012 is the first publication of the European Learning Cities Platform, documenting an intensive two-day exchange between six European cities working on major inner-city transformation projects. Through case studies from Utrecht, Hamburg, Bordeaux, Tampere, Malmö and Cardiff, the publication distils shared themes, concepts and principles for reshaping infrastructure-dominated areas into meaningful urban places. It highlights how long-term projects can be managed through collaboration, adaptive planning, and a strong focus on connectivity, civic value and urban quality.
