Steffen Nijhui
Biographic Data
| ID | 4417456 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Steffen Nijhui |
| GIVEN NAMES | Steffen |
| FAMILY NAME | Nijhui |
| SIGNATURE | NIJHUI S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Delft University of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6066-822X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Smart Point Cloud–Guided 3D Gaussian Splatting for Urban Modeling and Data-Driven Analysis
Urban analysis often relies on separate geospatial mapping, street-level image analysis, point-cloud analysis and 3D urban modeling workflows, which can lead to semantic and spatial inconsistencies when structural, visual and volumetric results are interpreted together. This paper develops an SPC-guided Smart 3D Gaussian Splatting (S3DGS) analytical framework to address this fragmentation. Using the Aula–library block in Delft as a case study, we…
How blue-green-gray infrastructure shapes spatiotemporal dynamics of flood resilience
Urban agriculture as an interface for policy–practice integration
Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized as a multifunctional lever for urban sustainability, yet the mechanisms through which planning policies enable or constrain its integration into city systems remain poorly understood. This gap limits the development of evidence-based frameworks that can bridge policy intent and implementation practice. This study develops a transparent, multilingual content-analysis pipeline and a landscape-informed co…
When to stop? A visual impact assessment framework for incremental urban and community expansion in rural heritage landscapes
VIA framework for impacts of incremental development in heritage landscapes • Combines expert views and public acceptability to set impact thresholds • Uses time-series evidence to capture cumulative landscape change • Integrates GIS visibility with eye-level KOP/SVI indicators • Provides case-calibrated reference bands to support review of further development Incremental urban and community expansion in rural heritage landscapes often produces c…
Seeing heritage through green and blue
Historic urban areas (HUAs) are visually and culturally sensitive environments where blue-green infrastructure (BGI) plays an increasingly important role in shaping spatial identity and environmental quality. While BGI's ecological functions are well documented, its influence on human visual perception, particularly within HUAs, remains largely unexplored. Addressing this gap, this paper proposes an integrative framework to assess how BGI affects…
Global multi-level mapping of visual heritage practice
Visual experience is a primary channel through which the values of tangible cultural heritage are perceived and governed, making visual evaluation and management central to conservation and to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11.4. However, practice remains fragmented across scales, and many statutory toolkits lag behind advances in geographic information systems (GIS)-based visibility analysis, 3D visualization, remote sensing, and perception-…
Where to go green and who benefits? Coordinated green infrastructure planning for cross-regional flood risk management
Understanding human-environment interaction in urban spaces with emerging data-driven approach
The development of information technologies and the advent of extensive digital data since the 21st century have enabled more profound explorations and interpretations of the relationship between humans and the urban environment. This study systematically reviews the application of emerging data-driven methods in measuring human-environment interaction in urban spaces. The synthesis of 242 studies reveals a diversified application landscape of da…
Enhancing visual attribute comprehension of urban heritage landscapes using combined GIS-based visual analysis methods
Urban heritage landscapes, with their layered cultural and aesthetic values, require precise visual analysis to support conservation and planning. However, existing visual analysis methods are often fragmented and fail to fully capture their complex visual-spatial characteristics. To address this gap, this paper proposes a combined visual analysis framework that integrates four GIS-based visual analysis methods—cumulative viewshed (CV), visual ma…
Planning the Arid Port City in Iran
This article examines the planning history of Siraf, an ancient port city on the Persian Gulf in Iran, through the lens of water heritage landscape. It argues that Siraf's water infrastructure was not a product of incremental, vernacular adaptation to aridity, but the result of deliberate urban planning rooted in Sassanid imperial policy, religious cosmology, and environmental knowledge. Drawing on archaeological evidence, historical texts, and s…
Unveiling water legacy
In the heart of southern Iran’s arid expanse lies Siraf, a testament to the enduring bond between water and civilisation. This port city flourished in the 9th and 10th centuries, sustained by ingenious water management. Exploring Siraf’s water heritage reveals a cultural landscape shaped by the symbiotic relationship between water and human innovation. Through meticulous analysis of technical reports, excavation records, interviews, and historica…
Running in Rotterdam's blue spaces
Towards a pattern language for green space design in high density urban developments
In the inevitable high-density urbanization process, existing urban green space (UGS) design approaches are ineffective in creating more green areas and combining multidisciplinary design principles to provide balanced sets of ecosystem services (ESs). This paper proposes a systematic framework for UGS design in the context of high-density urban development, results in spatial patterns, a pattern language, that combines specific design principles…
Conservation and development of the historic garden in a landscape context
Although there have been numerous studies on the heritage attributes, characteristics, and values of the historic garden as a special category of cultural heritage, the question is why a comprehensive review combining mainstream historic garden conservation with ways of understanding the garden in a landscape context has not been conducted. Landscape is an integrative concept that combines physical features and the diversity of functions with soc…
Healthy urban blue space design
VGI and SVI integration provide promising tools for human behaviour analysis. • Several spatial quality factors’ impact on running and cycling are compared. • Most natural and connectivity factors are positively correlated to running and cycling. • Blue space type and some built environment factors show inconsistent links between the two activities. • Practical design strategies and patterns are translated from the research evidence. Urban blue s…
Scenario-based performance assessment of green-grey-blue infrastructure for flood-resilient spatial solution
Advanced digital methods for analysing and optimising accessibility and visibility of water for designing sustainable healthy urban environments
Water, a vital element of human existence, shapes cities and benefits human health through daily exposure. This study delves into advanced digital methods to describe blue space exposure effectively, aiming to optimise spatial accessibility and visibility of water for designing sustainable healthy urban environments. Rotterdam is utilised as a test case, demonstrating the role of these methods in evaluating the performance of blue space exposure …
Freshwater blue space design and human health
Water is a critical element of human existence and has shaped cities for centuries. In urban environments, water provides multiple ecosystem services and is an important element in the design of urban environments. Next to the many qualities and services provided by water, recent research indicates that exposure to freshwater blue space also enhances human health and wellbeing. However, health benefits are often not or implicitly taken into accou…
Design studio performance in complex spatial projects
The Netherlands has a strong design tradition in planning for the built environment. After a period of neglect, attention for the role of design studios has resurged, particularly for addressing complex spatial projects. These area-based projects have impacts that cut across local to regional scales, so setting up a design process that addresses these scales and engages a wide range of relevant parties proves helpful for formulating design briefs…
Mapping landscape spaces
GIS-based landscape design research
Landscape design research is important for cultivating spatial intelligence in landscape architecture. This study explores GIS (geographic information systems) as a tool for landscape design research - investigating landscape designs to understand them as architectonic compositions (architectonic plan analysis). The concept ‘composition’ refers to a conceivable arrangement, an architectural expression of a mental construct that is legible and ope…
Mapping landscape spaces
Enhancing visual attribute comprehension of urban heritage landscapes using combined GIS-based visual analysis methods
Urban heritage landscapes, with their layered cultural and aesthetic values, require precise visual analysis to support conservation and planning. However, existing visual analysis methods are often fragmented and fail to fully capture their complex visual-spatial characteristics. To address this gap, this paper proposes a combined visual analysis framework that integrates four GIS-based visual analysis methods—cumulative viewshed (CV), visual ma…
Freshwater blue space design and human health
Water is a critical element of human existence and has shaped cities for centuries. In urban environments, water provides multiple ecosystem services and is an important element in the design of urban environments. Next to the many qualities and services provided by water, recent research indicates that exposure to freshwater blue space also enhances human health and wellbeing. However, health benefits are often not or implicitly taken into accou…
Unveiling water legacy
In the heart of southern Iran’s arid expanse lies Siraf, a testament to the enduring bond between water and civilisation. This port city flourished in the 9th and 10th centuries, sustained by ingenious water management. Exploring Siraf’s water heritage reveals a cultural landscape shaped by the symbiotic relationship between water and human innovation. Through meticulous analysis of technical reports, excavation records, interviews, and historica…
GIS-based landscape design research
Landscape design research is important for cultivating spatial intelligence in landscape architecture. This study explores GIS (geographic information systems) as a tool for landscape design research - investigating landscape designs to understand them as architectonic compositions (architectonic plan analysis). The concept ‘composition’ refers to a conceivable arrangement, an architectural expression of a mental construct that is legible and ope…
Mapping landscape spaces
Design studio performance in complex spatial projects
The Netherlands has a strong design tradition in planning for the built environment. After a period of neglect, attention for the role of design studios has resurged, particularly for addressing complex spatial projects. These area-based projects have impacts that cut across local to regional scales, so setting up a design process that addresses these scales and engages a wide range of relevant parties proves helpful for formulating design briefs…
Freshwater blue space design and human health
Water is a critical element of human existence and has shaped cities for centuries. In urban environments, water provides multiple ecosystem services and is an important element in the design of urban environments. Next to the many qualities and services provided by water, recent research indicates that exposure to freshwater blue space also enhances human health and wellbeing. However, health benefits are often not or implicitly taken into accou…
Scenario-based performance assessment of green-grey-blue infrastructure for flood-resilient spatial solution
Advanced digital methods for analysing and optimising accessibility and visibility of water for designing sustainable healthy urban environments
Water, a vital element of human existence, shapes cities and benefits human health through daily exposure. This study delves into advanced digital methods to describe blue space exposure effectively, aiming to optimise spatial accessibility and visibility of water for designing sustainable healthy urban environments. Rotterdam is utilised as a test case, demonstrating the role of these methods in evaluating the performance of blue space exposure …
Towards a pattern language for green space design in high density urban developments
In the inevitable high-density urbanization process, existing urban green space (UGS) design approaches are ineffective in creating more green areas and combining multidisciplinary design principles to provide balanced sets of ecosystem services (ESs). This paper proposes a systematic framework for UGS design in the context of high-density urban development, results in spatial patterns, a pattern language, that combines specific design principles…
Conservation and development of the historic garden in a landscape context
Although there have been numerous studies on the heritage attributes, characteristics, and values of the historic garden as a special category of cultural heritage, the question is why a comprehensive review combining mainstream historic garden conservation with ways of understanding the garden in a landscape context has not been conducted. Landscape is an integrative concept that combines physical features and the diversity of functions with soc…
Healthy urban blue space design
VGI and SVI integration provide promising tools for human behaviour analysis. • Several spatial quality factors’ impact on running and cycling are compared. • Most natural and connectivity factors are positively correlated to running and cycling. • Blue space type and some built environment factors show inconsistent links between the two activities. • Practical design strategies and patterns are translated from the research evidence. Urban blue s…
Where to go green and who benefits? Coordinated green infrastructure planning for cross-regional flood risk management
Understanding human-environment interaction in urban spaces with emerging data-driven approach
The development of information technologies and the advent of extensive digital data since the 21st century have enabled more profound explorations and interpretations of the relationship between humans and the urban environment. This study systematically reviews the application of emerging data-driven methods in measuring human-environment interaction in urban spaces. The synthesis of 242 studies reveals a diversified application landscape of da…
Enhancing visual attribute comprehension of urban heritage landscapes using combined GIS-based visual analysis methods
Urban heritage landscapes, with their layered cultural and aesthetic values, require precise visual analysis to support conservation and planning. However, existing visual analysis methods are often fragmented and fail to fully capture their complex visual-spatial characteristics. To address this gap, this paper proposes a combined visual analysis framework that integrates four GIS-based visual analysis methods—cumulative viewshed (CV), visual ma…
Planning the Arid Port City in Iran
This article examines the planning history of Siraf, an ancient port city on the Persian Gulf in Iran, through the lens of water heritage landscape. It argues that Siraf's water infrastructure was not a product of incremental, vernacular adaptation to aridity, but the result of deliberate urban planning rooted in Sassanid imperial policy, religious cosmology, and environmental knowledge. Drawing on archaeological evidence, historical texts, and s…
Unveiling water legacy
In the heart of southern Iran’s arid expanse lies Siraf, a testament to the enduring bond between water and civilisation. This port city flourished in the 9th and 10th centuries, sustained by ingenious water management. Exploring Siraf’s water heritage reveals a cultural landscape shaped by the symbiotic relationship between water and human innovation. Through meticulous analysis of technical reports, excavation records, interviews, and historica…
Running in Rotterdam's blue spaces
Smart Point Cloud–Guided 3D Gaussian Splatting for Urban Modeling and Data-Driven Analysis
Urban analysis often relies on separate geospatial mapping, street-level image analysis, point-cloud analysis and 3D urban modeling workflows, which can lead to semantic and spatial inconsistencies when structural, visual and volumetric results are interpreted together. This paper develops an SPC-guided Smart 3D Gaussian Splatting (S3DGS) analytical framework to address this fragmentation. Using the Aula–library block in Delft as a case study, we…
How blue-green-gray infrastructure shapes spatiotemporal dynamics of flood resilience
Urban agriculture as an interface for policy–practice integration
Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized as a multifunctional lever for urban sustainability, yet the mechanisms through which planning policies enable or constrain its integration into city systems remain poorly understood. This gap limits the development of evidence-based frameworks that can bridge policy intent and implementation practice. This study develops a transparent, multilingual content-analysis pipeline and a landscape-informed co…
When to stop? A visual impact assessment framework for incremental urban and community expansion in rural heritage landscapes
VIA framework for impacts of incremental development in heritage landscapes • Combines expert views and public acceptability to set impact thresholds • Uses time-series evidence to capture cumulative landscape change • Integrates GIS visibility with eye-level KOP/SVI indicators • Provides case-calibrated reference bands to support review of further development Incremental urban and community expansion in rural heritage landscapes often produces c…
Seeing heritage through green and blue
Historic urban areas (HUAs) are visually and culturally sensitive environments where blue-green infrastructure (BGI) plays an increasingly important role in shaping spatial identity and environmental quality. While BGI's ecological functions are well documented, its influence on human visual perception, particularly within HUAs, remains largely unexplored. Addressing this gap, this paper proposes an integrative framework to assess how BGI affects…
Global multi-level mapping of visual heritage practice
Visual experience is a primary channel through which the values of tangible cultural heritage are perceived and governed, making visual evaluation and management central to conservation and to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11.4. However, practice remains fragmented across scales, and many statutory toolkits lag behind advances in geographic information systems (GIS)-based visibility analysis, 3D visualization, remote sensing, and perception-…
Geography (11 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Engineering (10 works) · Urban Green Space and Health (10 works) · Civil engineering (8 works) · Environmental planning (8 works) · Land Use and Ecosystem Services (8 works) · Environmental Science (7 works) · Environmental resource management (5 works) · Archaeology (4 works)