The end of monofunctional retail areas: Towards a more resilient mixed use area and bring back urban quality

Changing consumer shopping trends in the last two decades and the impact of COVID-19 in 2020-2021, has led to more structural vacancy in supportive monofunctional retail areas. Since supportive monofunctional retail areas are less resilient on the long term compared to retail areas in city centres, integrated redevelopment of such areas is...

Challenges to reuse of tall office buildings in the Netherlands: A Focus on the Randstad

The Randstad in The Netherlands faces on the one hand structural vacancy in office buildings and on the other hand a growing housing shortage. Reuse strategies to decrease the vacancy rate of the office market have been researched extensively both inside and out- side The Netherlands. However, the challenges and opportunities for these reuse...

An urban development strategy for mixed-use office area transformation

Office vacancy has been a problem in the Netherlands for over decades. A large amount of the structurally vacant office metres can be found in monofunctional office areas – areas designed for offices only, focused on car users. A market shift in office demand has caused that structural vacant square meters in these office areas will not be...

Situations Vacant: A Conceptual Framework for Commercial Real Estate Vacancy

Commercial real estate vacancy is a key indicator of property market efficiency, economic performance and urban resilience. However, there has been little conceptual reflection into the abstract notion of vacancy beyond binary distinctions of natural and structural vacancy. Although useful simplifying meta-concepts, neither accounts for the...

To rent or not to rent: Determinants of Structural Vacancy in Haarlemmermeer

Out of Office: A Study on the Cause of Office Vacancy and Transformation as a Means to Cope and Prevent

Office building vacancy is becoming an increasingly visible part of the cityscape. Billboards shout “for rent” and office locations look abandoned even in the middle of the day. Still, new office buildings and locations are being developed, adding up to the built environment. As hardly any office buildings are demolished, adapted or transformed,...