Eurodelta Spatial Synergies

Water and Timber as Key Resources in Circular Synergy Systems

Students: Justin Pauls

Tutors: Christa Reicher, Fabio Bayro Kaiser

Looking beyond materials to systems, Eurodelta Spatial Synergies envisions a future where water and timber shape the identity and sustainability of a deeply connected region. This project explores how these two natural resources—often siloed in planning—can work together to form spatial networks that regenerate both ecosystems and communities. Through SWOT analysis, literature review, and spatial scenario development, the proposal maps out four interlinked typologies: water laboratories, timber hubs, floating wood-based neighbourhoods, and urban forests. These nodes form a wider framework of ‘circular laboratories’, where innovation, education, and material recovery converge. From inland ports for timber transport to greywater systems powering local energy loops, the strategy combines practical infrastructure with place-based culture. Reforestation of key areas, green corridors along waterways, and nature-based flood defences add ecological depth to this system. Importantly, the project doesn’t treat the Eurodelta as a single system, but as a mosaic of living landscapes—each with its own rhythm of flows, practices, and partnerships. In doing so, Eurodelta Spatial Synergies offers a compelling vision: that circularity is not only about efficiency, but about balance—between human needs and natural cycles, between infrastructure and imagination.