Trained as a landscape architect and gardener I have worked as a project leader at Vista landscape and urban design for several years. There I was advisor to the Dutch government, regional and municipal authorities and private parties, and gained experience in urban planning and design in combination with the use of GIS (geographic information systems) as an research instrument.
In 2006 I entered academia and obtained my PhD in landscape architecture from Delft University of Technology in 2015. In Delft my work focuses on theories, methods and techniques, as well as their practical applications in the fields of landscape architecture, urban design and GIS in an international context, especially related to: GIS-based design research, regional design, history of cultural and designed landscapes, mapping, delta urbanism, and visual landscape assessment.
I have edited and (co)authored several academic books such as: Composing landscapes (Munchen: Birkhauser, 2008), The Polder Atlas of the Netherlands (Bussum: Thoth, 2009), Delta Urbanism: The Netherlands (Chicago: American Planning Association, 2010), Exploring the visual landscape (Amsterdam: IOS press, 2011), Urbanized deltas in transition (Amsterdam: Techne Press, 2014), Flowscapes. Designing landscape as infrastructure (Delft: TU Delft publishers, 2015), GIS-based landscape design research. Stourhead landscape garden as a case study (Delft: A+BE, 2015). And published various peer-reviewed and indexed journal articles and book chapters.
Currently I am Research Leader of the Department of Urbanism (six Sections, about 100 FTE personnel) and project leader, as well as Editor-in-Chief of RiUS (Research in Urbanism Series, a peer-reviewed and indexed journal), Editor Urban Design and Planning (peer-reviewed and indexed journal of the Institute of Civil Engineers), Editor Bulletin KNOB (Peer-reviewed and indexed journal of the Royal Netherlands Society for Architecture, Urban and Landscape Heritage) and advisor to (inter)national NGO’s, and governmental and regional authorities. I am also Board member of the Department of Urbanism at TU Delft, the Chabot Museum Rotterdam, the Dutch School of Landscape Architecture and member of several scientific committees and review boards.
I am also a Visiting Professor and Guest Lecturer at Universities in Europe, Asia and North-America. Furthermore I supervise PhD, post-MSc and MSc-projects and Coordinate MSc design studios and PhD methodology-courses.
s.nijhuis{at}tudelft.nl
