A Systemic Approach to implement Education for Sustainable Development in Applied Sciences: A Case-study of the TU Delft Applied Sciences Faculty

This thesis delves into the pivotal role of engineering education in equipping students to tackle the challenges posed by climate change. Despite widespread efforts in higher education institutions, particularly in engineering, to incorporate education for sustainable development (ESD), effectiveness often falls short, leading to a regression to...

Artificial intelligence and post-pandemic recovery

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of the most dicussed topics of today and are being used to support solving complex problems. AI has given opportunities for efficiency, control, safety while raising issues around trust, optimism and responsibility. One of the prominent features of AI resides in the digitalization of the built...

Social acceptance of district heating: evidence from the Netherlands

The Netherlands Climate Change Agreement aims to reduce CO₂ emissions and seismic events by halting natural gas usage by 2050. This will require widespread societal acceptance by 90% of households. The study investigates the social acceptance of a district heating network (DHN) among social housing tenants in Haarlem, Netherlands....

Designing a systems-oriented strategy to unlock the potential of 3D woven denim

Today’s fashion industry is characterised by a continuous cycle of rapid production, early disposal, low-quality materials, and pre- and post-consumer waste, with consequential environmental damage and social injustice. The production of denim involves a resource-intensive and lengthy supply chain, in which a lack of evolution in design over the...

Into the soil: Investigating the current system of the Frisian dairy cow, to find a new perspective on the current complexity and inspire towards a sustainable future

In 2021, a group of angry farmers drove their tractors to the ‘Malieveld’ (‘Main square’) in The Hague, to protest the new nitrogen regulations. They felt angry because the politicians were not listening. When reading this news and following the politics around the farmers, a present call for sustainable change within agriculture could be heard....

A Call for Scaling Literacy: On strategic dimensions and directions of systemic scaling

Scaling is a motif describing the proportionate growth of innovation. Over the past decade, scholars have adapted the original idea of scaling from business to differentiate different ways to scale that are more appropriate in the context of social innovation. Scaling is sometimes thought of as a panacea: it is the end result, purpose, or answer...

A Partnership Outcome Spaces framework for purposeful student–staff partnerships

The benefits of student–staff partnerships are widely reported in the Students-as-Partners literature. It is envisaged that partnership initiatives can have a transformative effect on institutional cultures, however, how this transformation might be achieved is less clear. Building on transdisciplinary and systems change perspectives, we...

Modelling complexity in the energy transition

Over the years, it has become clearer and clearer: the energy transition is taking shape. Research on the energy transition also evolves. In the TPM Energy Transition Lab, we aim to take an interdisciplinary approach to expand our knowledge on ‘what works’ and ‘what doesn’t’, when it comes to the coming decades in the energy transition. We bring...

Systemic Design Principles in Social Innovation: A Study of Expert Practices and Design Rationales

In recent decades, design has expanded from a practice aimed at designing things to one that helps to address complex societal challenges. In this context, a field of practice called systemic design has emerged, which combines elements of systems thinking with elements of design. We use a case study approach to investigate how expert...

Accelerating the transition towards a Circular Denim Industry: How can the use of Post-consumer Recycled Cotton be increased in Jeans production?

This project is executed on behalf of House of Denim; a non-profit organisation that wants to work towards a more sustainable, innovative and collaborative denim industry. Due to the fast-fashion phenomenon and our linear economic model, there is a growing demand for and pressure on cotton. This, combined with the increasing amount of clothes...

On transforming transition design: From promise to practice

We are living in transitional times. Much has been under debate on the need to change and to cope with societal transitions, less emphasis, however, is devoted on how to do so. Therefore, one of the primary questions in Transition Design is how to design for sustainabilitytransitions? The current work aims to evaluate ‘transition design studies’...

Hacking, Making, and Prototyping for Social Change

Even though emerging city-makers are increasingly organized to trigger social changes, it is still hard to apprehend their real power to transform space and the way we live together. In this chapter, we explore how designerly approaches, such as hacking, making, and prototyping, can empower emerging city-makers to trigger a broader change and...

Modelling sustainability transitions: An assessment of approaches and challenges

Transition modelling is an emerging but growing niche within the broader field of sustainability transitions research. The objective of this paper is to explore the characteristics of this niche in relation to a range of existing modelling approaches and literatures with which it shares commonalities or from which it could draw. We distil a...