
Sustainable, attractive cities and landscapes are the holy grail of spatial planning. Creating an attractive living environment means striking a balance between spatial quality and functional necessity. We believe the inevitable tension between affordable, effective solutions and the desire for pleasant, multifaceted surroundings is key to building an inviting city where poetry and pleasure are palpable.

In all its urban design and research work, PosadMaxwan strives to create balanced solutions that put optimising the attractiveness of the city and countryside before everything else. Our efforts are accompanied by a clear awareness of the feasibility of our proposals. We make sure to point out any dilemmas that arise to stakeholders, users, clients, and other parties in the vicinity.
Many of the resources in our design teams’ toolbox are geared to achieving genuine improvements in the areas of health, human interaction, sustainability and climate. In our design and implementation of public space projects, we draw on a wealth of experience in creating environments that bring these qualities together.
“Attractive cities bring together desirable qualities like healthy living, human interaction and climate resilience.”

Sustainable and attractive, with a suitable strategy
Along with an urban plan, PosadMaxwan made a design for the public space and the old station building. The attractive environment makes people feel safe and comfortable, allows the surrounding programme to function effectively, and of course enables people to get where they want to go. It comes down to choosing the right materials, details, plants and trees – and devising a strategy for making sure it will still look good in 10 years.
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High-quality area development
Alongside construction of the city’s new railway station and its forecourt, a large-scale programme of improvements to Rotterdam Central District began in 2010. On both sides of the station, public spaces were revamped and underutilised buildings and lots transformed. Under the supervision of PosadMaxwan, a visual quality plan guided the development of the area and lots.
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Attractive representation
With 30,000 homes, Leidsche Rijn is the biggest New Town ever to be planned and built in the Netherlands. At the top of PosadMaxwan’s design agenda were two objectives: achieving good links to the city of Utrecht and designing a central park. We were able to realise both by building a roof over the A2 motorway. Back in 1995, the year of design, this was a groundbreaking idea for a motorway of that size. PosadMaxwan deployed maquettes, 3D models and hand-drawn sketches to inform the national government, the region and the city about the ins and outs of dual land use.
View projectTaking back the nicest places
PosadMaxwan has been working in and for the city of Moscow for more than a decade, mainly on improvement programmes for public areas. The Moscow River project addresses the potentially unparalleled but currently sorely neglected space along the broad, winding river. Our design shows how the most attractive places could be taken back from cars and industry, the banks made accessible and landscaped, and the wharves linked to existing and new routes through the city centre. In a few minutes, the animation paints a complete picture of the concept, the main interventions, and how the whole project might eventually look.