This graduation project is focused on a transformation of industrial heritage in Campus North in Hembrug, a former closed-off military production terrain on a peninsula in Zaandam. For a long time the terrain was used by the Artellerie-Inrichtingen for the production and manufacturing of weapons and ammunition for the Dutch army. After the companies left the area, the area became vacant and nature took over the area. Now it is an oasis of rest where time has been standing still. The area is located in the metropolitan area of Amsterdam. This is an area where people are mentally and physically suffering under a lot of stress en pressure which resulting in overstraining, depressions and burnouts. In the graduation project the ensemble is transformed into a GGZ complex where people can be treated and residence who suffer from these mental illnesses. The machine hall will get the new function of a treatment centre combined with a small theatre and the Weapon depot will be transformed into an open residential community. In the graduation project is researched with a design how Campus North can be transformed into this complex where people can be treated in a protected environment without losing the connection with the rest of Hembrug. The goal was to create this most intimate space without a feeling of imprisonment. This is done by using multiple layers of protection on different scale levels, where every level has still a connection with the adjacent layers. In the elaboration of the project is focused on how different research and design elements work in complementary way to substantiate the project. There is search for a way of thinking where multiple aspects can benefit from each other. By looking at a project from this point of view architecture can work in a complementary way instead of a supplementary. Especially in heritage the new intervention can work as a symbiosis. The old and the new interact with each other and both achieve benefits from each other. In this way of thinking, one plus one is not two, it is three. The DNA of the old Building, his heritages, merges with the DNA of the new intervention and in this way new architecture is created with an even greater value.

Na een lange tijd waarin woningcorporaties door overheidsbeleid zijn beperkt in hun taken met betrekking tot sociale woningbouw, lijkt het belang van de woningcorporaties in het oplossen van het tekort aan middenhuur meer erkend te worden. Dit is te zien aan de recente afschaffing van de verhuurderheffing en de Nationale Prestatieafspraken met daarin inbegrepen de taak voor woningcorporaties om tot 2030 50.000 nieuwe woningen voor middenhuur te bouwen. Maar er is een overwegend tekort aan kennis over hoe woningcorporaties door middel van financiële incentives gestimuleerd kunnen worden voor het realiseren van middenhuur. Daarom wordt met dit onderzoek getracht om de kennis te vergroten over potentiele financiële incentives die woningcorporaties kunnen stimuleren voor het realiseren van middenhuur en de aspecten van de context die daarbij van belang zijn. Dit onderzoek is opgedeeld in twee fases, waarbij in de eerste fase drie potentiele incentives worden geformuleerd die vervolgens worden getest en geëvalueerd in de tweede fase. Het CMO-raamwerk staat centraal in dit proces. Eerst wordt op een bondige manier literatuur over het CMO-raamwerk en de bestaande kennis en onderzoek over middenhuur in Nederlandse context behandeld. Hieruit volgt de formulering van drie potentiele incentives en volgen verwachtingen over de bevindingen uit de interviews. Vervolgens worden de drie incentives voorgelegd door middel van semigestructureerde interviews met vijf woningcorporaties. Dit onderzoek heeft geresulteerd in CMO-overzichten van elk van de drie incentives, en die representeren wat de toegeschreven effecten van de incentives zijn, welke aspecten van context van belang zijn bij de werking van de incentives en welke potentiele consequenties kunnen voortkomen uit de implementatie van de incentives. De evaluatie van de bevindingen aan de hand van de bestaande kennis en onderzoek heeft geleid tot een beeld over in welke mate de bevindingen overeenkomen met de verwachtingen. Ook heeft het geleid tot een aantal aanbevelingen voor vervolgonderzoek. Uiteindelijk zijn er nieuwe inzichten over de incentives ontwikkeld waarbij er uitspraken worden gedaan over soort context waarin de geformuleerde incentives de corporaties beter zouden stimuleren en zullen significante elementen van een potentiele incentive worden gesuggereerd waar rekening mee gehouden kan worden bij het stimuleren van woningcorporaties.

As more people are moving towards urban environments, cities are under pressure and are becoming more dense. Cities are reaching their physical boundaries, limiting the possibilities for horizontal expansion. Solutions towards the problem of densification of cities such as tall buildings are becoming increasingly popular. Existing urban economic literature revolving around this topic has mainly focussed on the horizontal scale of cities and buildings while largely ignoring the vertical aspects. In this study the vertical economics within tall buildings are further researched with an objective to shed light on the interrelationship between price premiums per floor level, vertical sorting through the willingness to pay for height of tenants and productivity measured by revenue per employee within tall buildings in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. These factors have contributed to the following main question of this research: What is the interrelationship between price premiums per floor level, vertical sorting and productivity of firms in multi-tenant office buildings in the three largest cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam & The Hague) of the Netherlands?Empirical analysis through several models results in a highly significant vertical price premium of 0,6% increase of transacted rental price per square meters for each consecutive floor level. In similar fashion a vertical price premium of 1,5% is found for each consecutive relative floor level. Both of these percentages indicate a strong relationship between both absolute and relative floor level height and willingness to pay for height effects such as view and status. Floor levels are grouped in brackets of 5. A non-monotonic trend for floor price premiums is identified, suggesting a progressive trend up to floor level 25th, after which the trend becomes regressive. The regressive pattern after floor 25 could indicate a turning point in terms of rent premiums where the trade-off between amenities and accessibility diminishes and the cost of transportation to the highest floors outweigh the benefits that view and status offer.The results through vertical sorting analysis indicate a difference between sectors ranging from 49,6% to -2,6% in terms of willingness to pay (WTP) for absolute height and 54,7% to 25,8% for WTP for relative height. All analysed industries are more willing to pay more for relative height while there are significant differences between sectors for absolute height. Insurance carriers and law offices tend to locate higher within a building. The results indicate a significant difference between insurance & law offices and the other analysed industries starting from the 50th and 75th percentile.Finally, a significant, but not robust elasticity between the models is found between the floor levels and productivity, indicating that tenants who have more revenue per employee locate higher within a building. The observation where, as productivity increases by 1%, the floor level increases by 4,8%, is a confirmation of previous research and literature where firms who have a higher productivity value have an increased willingness to pay for height.

Environmental harm is an influencing factor in policymaking, as climate pressures are frequently on the global agenda. An important tool to guide decision-making in the construction industry is the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, where the quantification of environmental harm is realised. In the method, an estimation of numerous environmental impact indicators can be made by assessing the various life cycles of a product, material, or process. Bio-based materials have been considered a valuable option to mitigate climate change. However, the LCA methodology appears to disregard certain characteristics of the material that could potentially improve their corresponding results. With the growth of bio-based materials, atmospheric carbon is stored as biogenic carbon and subsequently released at the end-of-life, the last life cycle phase of a material. The current methodology is unable to credit such storage, as it models all emissions through the life cycle as if they occurred at the same time. This research aims to explore the various options to comprehend, assess, and credit the storage of biogenic carbon. First, the different approaches to assess the storage of biogenic carbon, that are described in the literature, are assessed. Second, various methods to credit the timing of emissions in the LCA methodology will be elaborated upon. Third, the different currently active European standards are described. For biogenic carbon assessment, three methods were described: the 0/0 method, the -1/1 method, and the dynamic method. Here it was concluded that, respectively, complexity and accuracy increased, making practical implementation difficult but potentially valuable. Especially, the dynamic approach is shown to be a promising tool to accurately assess temporalities within the life cycle of a product. For possible crediting mechanisms, three methods were discussed: the Moura-Costa, Lashof, and ILCD crediting methods. Each method was based on specific assumptions, which resulted in varying credit strengths. In general, each crediting mechanism answered the demand for crediting delayed emissions, but to decide whether one of the methods is better suited than the other, further research is necessary. It is found that the organisational complexity of standardisation within the European Union influences possible alterations in the LCA. However, the research can conclude that the methodology is currently unable to capture the benefits of biogenic carbon storage, and by looking into potential crediting mechanisms, this limitation can be answered. Depending on the demand of our climate and, therefore, of policymakers, possible crediting mechanisms for the storage of biogenic carbon can be considered to be implemented through the LCA methodology.

For this project, I pursued to transform an abandoned area into an attractive and functional environment for future use. The abandoned area, that was the subject of this studio, is called Hembrug and is located in the south of Zaandam and close to Amsterdam. This project is about the transformation of a specific part of the Hemburg terrain, an ensemble with six various buildings by the name of Campus South. In the future, the ensemble will work as a creative hub, which focuses on creating, exposing, and amusement. The program of all the buildings within the ensemble will fit into this theme. The Harderij, the building in the middle of the ensemble will have the biggest intervention. Besides the historical and cultural value, the architectural experience of the future users was of importance during the design process. This approach in architecture is called phenomenology, whereby a sensory perception of the human body is central in the design. I want to create historical consciousness by emphasizing the existing textures and materials by adding a contrasting volume and using natural floodlight. Routing, proportion, and sightlines were also of importance for this project.

Our cities have to expand either horizontally or vertically to accommodate the growing population and urbanization trends. Meanwhile, our needs, demands and desires evolve over time. This makes sustainable development and adaptability more relevant than ever. However, a main problem with adaptability is the additional investment costs against the lack of additional revenues. This lowers the financial return and disincentivizes to invest in adaptable developments. This claim is based on linear financial models that calculate on a rather short-term basis and only take the first function into account. The added value of the possibility to adapt to another function is not included in these financial models yet. The aim of this thesis is to investigate different approaches towards adaptability and business cases that are needed among long-term owners specifically to incorporate the added value of adaptable features. A hybrid research consisting of literature research combined with a case study on adaptable tall buildings will be executed, to identify important adaptability features, and how to better incorporate them in a business case. Interviews have been held with both stakeholders of the selected cases, as well as with different professionals in the built environment concerning a long-term business case. The results have shown that a building should not be regarded as one object, but merely as an ensemble of different building elements, each with a different lifespan. In addition, demountability has shown to be inherently connected to adaptability, and as means to achieve a more circular economy. By delivering a set of conditions on a technical, financial, organisational and a broader field, it is strived to contribute to increased implementation of adaptability in practice. By elaborating a roadmap for a more long-term business case, it is hoped to contribute to a smooth transition towards a more circular economy. In addition, this research aims to raise awareness, understanding and create incentives for adaptability possibilities.

This research concludes on the strategic and operational considerations for implementing circularity in hotel buildings and operations. Sustainable urban area developments are increasingly led by private parties and facilitated by public parties. Hotels support the make-up of a sustainable mixed-use development while also trying to reduce their carbon emissions and meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. To do so, circularity has been proposed as a solution. Through three case studies of pioneering hotels in Amsterdam and an additional test case in Delft, the considerations for implementing circularity in hotel buildings and operations have been discovered. Findings include considerations beyond the scope of real estate to include strategic business considerations such as position in the market, brand story, target market, community impact, environmental impact, regulations, partners as well as real estate and investment strategy. Operational considerations found were practical and included availability, durability, maintenance, reliability and aesthetics. These findings show that considerations extend beyond the scope of real estate and beyond the building level, leaving privately developed circular hotels to contribute to sustainable urban area developments.

This research aims to investigate the height pattern and height determinant factors of Chinese skyscrapers. A skyscraper is a habitable structure that is taller than 150 meters, with more than 50 percent of the space occupiable (CTBUH, 2019). It is a widely used building typology around the world, especially in countries and areas with rapid economic growth. This is due to the ability of skyscrapers to accommodate a large amount of the population and activities in a single location, where it is also an efficient building design for areas with high demand in land, and locations with high land prices. Building tall is one of the characteristics of a skyscraper, and Height could be used as a tool to allocate city population and improve city efficiency. Thus Skyscraper distribution and height pattern is important to understand for city development. In general, from the results, one infers that building height does not have a significant relationship with city-level height determinants. Looking into the height distribution around the country, skyscrapers in China mostly cluster around 200 meters, this, on one hand, shows that “building higher” is not the main focus regarding most of the construction in China. On the other hand, it also shows that lands in the urban area are not used efficiently. This is also proven by a wide range of height and the expansion of cities in China. According to the theory stated in the literature review, skyscrapers are first designed to provide more space in a location due to high land prices and a limited amount of land, but China has large amounts of empty land around. This may be the reason why there are more skyscraper development projects that stay around 200 meters. Some of the results in this research show similarity to previous research, including the connection between skyscraper development and economic situation; there are also results that contradict the previous research results, including height competition and location-specific factors. This shows that skyscraper development in each country could be different due to many reasons. Some Specific characteristic could largely influence the construction pattern. Also, skyscraper development connects with height and also the number of buildings. This research focuses on height, the results derived also from the perspective of height, so more studies could be done on the connection between the amount of skyscraper and height.

Sustainable development is the key solution to mitigate the impact of the 21st century’s major challenges such as the depletion of our natural resources, emissions that accelerate climate change together with the large waste generation. One of the largest contributor to the aforementioned issues is the existing building stock, in particular the office sector. Upgrading the sustainability performance of the existing building stock is not only in the interest of regulators or society. Real estate professionals are interested in the sustainability performance of their property, portfolio or occupied property. Due to the complexity, it is not feasible for market participants to verify the sustainability performance of a property. As a consequence, voluntary certification schemes have emerged to provide an objective evaluation. However, at the same time, appraisers are paradoxically expected to provide an objective estimation/opinion on the potential added value of sustainability while their duty according to governances is to derive the market value by analysing available data. The inability of current valuation practices for incorporating a thorough sustainability assessment resulted in decision-makers to focus solely on energy-related costs and justify their investment decisions based on energy-related benefits. For this reason, many investment decisions are believed to be profitable for users instead of owners. However, previous research has shown that property owners of sustainable offices might achieve positive effects in relation to an enhanced image, corporate social responsibility, less risky profile for investors and improved marketability. In the effort to shed light on these far-reaching tentacles of sustainability, this thesis sets forth the base for developing an indicator-based sustainability assessment framework for the appraisal of offices. The proposed framework integrates sustainability and the value it holds for various stakeholders by conceptualizing the relationship between sustainability indicators and different value systems as well as the economic parameters that are adjustable by an appraiser in the income capitalization method. In this way, an appraiser is able to provide an objective estimation of the possible added value of sustainability. Starting from an extensive literature review of different certification schemes, a pre-selection of sustainability indicators was made. Through conducting 8 semi-structured interviews with sustainability experts, the first selection of indicators could be determined together with their goals, measurement and criteria. It is remarkable that according to the participants, actively monitoring the consumption and other management-related indicators are defining the sustainability performance of an office as well, next to the physical characteristics. The online survey was distributed among sustainability experts with a questionnaire designed with the constant sum method and were requested to allocate points over the indicators as well as the categories to determine the relevance. Ultimately, the selection resulted in a set of 34 indicators. Combining the findings from the interviews, data from the survey and the literature review resulted in a framework which was discussed in an expert interview with an appraiser. The findings of the expert interview indicate that there is still a huge gap between practice and theory. The nature of the current valuation techniques hampers the integration of sustainability by focussing mainly on the rental agreement. In order to integrate sustainability aspects into the appraisal, a shift from only looking at the rental agreement to looking at the current use and the fitness for use would be needed. Future research could focus on validating and expanding the linkage between the sustainability indicators and the economic adjustable parameters and reducing the subjectivity of input for the indicators.

Many countries have committed themselves to the target for a circular economy (CE) in 2050. In this transition, the construction sector is important. One of the tools governments can use to stimulate circular building, is by incorporating circular tender criteria in land tendering. This thesis aims to improve circular land tendering requests by giving an insight in municipal land tendering goals and the translation of these goals in tender proposals. The current state of circularity in land tendering is studied by a case study of four cases. Subsequently, the findings from these cases are verified and refined in interviews with expert in the field of circular land tendering. This leads to two sets of recommendations: a land tender process and tender criteria. The circular land tendering process consists of six steps: - CE tender policy, where the available policy regarding circular land tendering must be studies - Context, where the context must be studied - Project goals, where three or four project goals must be defined, which are pursued in the tender. To stimulate circularity, this must be one of the core aims. - Tender procedure, where the best procedure is selected, which must incorporate a dialogue - Tender criteria, where tender goals are translated into awarding criteria, either quantitative or qualitative. - Awarding & control: Where the contract is drawn up and enforced. The step of tender criteria has been further explored, where criteria for circular material use and adaptive building are designed.

With a shortage of approximately 315,000 homes, 4% of the existing stock, the Netherlands continues to face a significant and growing shortage of housing. This shortage is a result of various factors that either directly or indirectly have effect on the housing market. Of which some of the key factors are demographic developments such as population growth and changing household compositions; economic developments such as rising house prices, construction costs and income developments (affordability); political developments in regard to rising sustainability goals and changing regulations. These factors have a direct effect on all segments of the housing market, causing a shortage within all and predominantly for affordable of mid-priced rental homes with an estimated demand for 60,000 – 200,000 such homes over the next ten years. This demand or pressure on the mid-segment rental sector is a direct result of the inaccessibility to owner-occupied and social housing sector. As the house prices increase and the waitlist for social homes get longer the mid-segment housing market faces high demand and in turn pressurising both market parties and municipalities. Although there are developments within this segment and both parties are striving to ease the pressure on the market the supply of such homes is slow. Hence this research aims to increase the supply of mid-segment rental homes and contribute towards reducing the housing shortage in the Netherlands by hypothesising that improving the existing development process and policies within the mid-segment rental housing market would in turn improve the supply. Which brings us to the goal of the research to recommend measures/changes, that municipalities and market parties, could possibly make to improve the supply off mid-segment rental homes in the Netherlands. Given the regional characteristics of the housing market, this research adopts a case study method to analyse the development process and policies within different market types. Implying that the cases are market types and the phenomenon being explored, the development process of mid-segment homes. Learning from professionals in practice with the assistance of semi-structured interviews to first understand the existing process and policies, the problems encountered by them in the past and then collating recommendations from these actors to as how the process could be improved. Synthesising the information collected from the field research with theoretical findings to arrive at conclusions and in turn trying to answer the main research question: How can the development process of mid-segment rental housing, in the Netherlands, be improved to meet the rising demand in this segment of the housing market? On completing the research, through the interviews conducted it was found that the various actors along the process face challenges predominantly in the planning phase and challenges that arise from each other hence creating a rather uncertain environment to act in. Thus, reluctance in taking initiative and the shortage of mid-segment homes, although through this research an attempt was made to answer the main question by concluding that in order to improve the delivery of mid-segment homes it would essential to establish a well determined process, seek alternative land development approaches, allowing flexibility during negotiations and regulations, improving actor relationships, and developing policies that would not only regulate this segment but also stimulate market actors to develop mid-segment homes. Following these conclusions and aligning to the goal recommendations were made to the actors involved at an organisational and project level. Of the made recommendations the ones that stand out would be of municipalities supporting one another, involved actors form consortiums to share development risks, development of policies at a national level and finally establishing a trustful, transparent, certain, and supportive environment for each other.

The construction industry has a significant environmental impact, consumes a large amount of scarce resources, generates a lot of waste, and causes a lot of emissions such as CO2 which contribute to global warming and are all reasons of great concern. A significant portion of these negative environmental impacts are caused by the building sector and attendant linear construction process. Developments with biobased materials as a circular strategy help encounter this. However, this implementation is still lacking in the building industry and the linear to a circular economy transition is still in the early stages. Moreover, real estate developers are struggling to make their business cases for circular projects financially feasible, as costs are a significant barrier. To research and understand how current circular biobased business cases are adapted and if they are future proof or use temporary measures, the following main research question is used: How are business cases adapted in order to create financially feasible and circular biobased housing developments? To answer this question, a literature study, case studies and interviews are done with the aim to gain insights into current complications and possible solutions in the business case of biobased housing developments. As well as gather perspectives from identified stakeholders & experts on these or alternative opportunities to help and speed up the transition to biobased houses. Results show that the business cases were not drastically adapted to fit the circular strategy, but temporary emergency measures were found to help realise the projects. These were: less profit for the parties involved, investors paying extra and for construction stored carbon credits, lower land price or more focus on sustainability and less on price by municipalities, subsidies, and building only partly with biobased materials and partly with e.g. concrete and bricks. It can be concluded that the traditional business case is not fitted for biobased construction as a circular economy strategy, which also contributes to why the wider necessary shift to such strategies stays out. But also that developers and other parties are willing and working on limiting the environmental impact of the building industry.

One of the fundamental goals for the success of a construction project is found to be completion within the budget. To reach this goal, cost estimation is a key process which can be divided into the estimation of direct and indirect costs. Unlike direct costs, indirect costs are not directly connected with the performance of any particular element of a project which makes proper allocation of these costs a challenging issue. Although the classification in the ABK model (2018) provides clarity regarding the content of the indirect cost items, estimation of these costs (ABK) and especially the tasks for quantity take-off (QTO) were identified as time-consuming and lacking standardised guidelines and procedures. At the same time, Building Information Models (BIM), which are increasingly used, offer an effective platform for linking data regarding construction costs. The fifth dimension of BIM in particular adds cost information to the 3D construction model. Full interoperability between the various information models is still a goal that has not been reached yet within the construction sector. Recent studies have examined inefficiencies caused by inadequate interoperability, like manual re-entry of data and duplication of tasks. This research aims to positively contribute to the efficiency of the indirect cost estimation process by developing a 5D computer-based tool. The development of the tool was based on literature review and interviews with practitioners. Features of BIM applications were used and linked to the outcome of the indirect cost estimate. The tool was able to reduce manual interventions and reduce task durations, which resulted in a positive contribution to the efficiency of the indirect cost estimation process. Main benefits of the tool were hereby the structured guidelines for quantity take-offs, a reduction in manual intervention and time for QTO tasks and implementation of project changes within the outcome of the ABK estimate.

This master thesis investigated the coordination aspects of the MOR Team TU Delft, a volunteer-students based team, that produced an AEC project for the Solar Decathlon Europe 2019 (SDE19) competition. With a closer look at the aspects of organisation, motivation, and mission, this researched provides an objective account of the characteristics and functions of coordination that aided this team in producing an award-winning project. It is thanks to the study of the available documents, the personal notes of the author, and the interviews with some key members of the team that this research highlighted how a mission-driven team developed an experimental attitude toward an Organically Integrated Project Delivery. The organisational and coordination aspects of Solar Decathlon teams it is not yet a widespread area of research; therefore, this master thesis conducted an exploratory case study that followed an inductive approach. Among the results mentioned above, this work highlighted how the study of volunteer-students based teams, competing in the various Solar Decathlons, can become an exciting area of study for management practices within AEC projects. The peculiarities of these projects have the potential to provide tangible and comparable results in the study of design and construction management. It is thanks to these considerations that this research asks for the development of further studies, with the effects of both further validating the results here presented and to further expand the body of knowledge on this typology of projects.

With the strong influx of baby boomers now in hitting their elderly stage and advancements in medicine and health care, we as a population can now become much older. This huge increase of elderly require assistance and care, in such an amount we as a society can’t cope with. Fewer people need to take care of more. Elderly will now have to live longer on their own, while they're physically not able to. This modern development demands new forms of living that require specific solutions and interventions of which architecture can be of assistance with. This thesis will propose a unique living environment, both through an urban master-plan as in building level, while being projected onto existing structures situated in the former military production base of Hembrug. The Kangaroo Housing concept should allow elderly to live longer on their own, by utilizing specific architectural instruments that break the physical barriers between neighboring residences. Visual relationships between the residences, created through strategic window openings, voids, level differents and other specific interventions, allow younger generations to gain a sense of private control over the elder, noticing when he or she has fallen down or had any accident. The more privacy that is sacrificed, the more security over the elder is gained. Especially elderly, suffer from loneliness, fear or depression. These problems demand another solution from the transformation on a larger urban scale, in order to deal with the mental well-being of the individual. Therefore, the master-plan encourages the community to host communal activities and gatherings, both for the elderly as the younger generations. Together they will form a community, where people will focus on participation, hosting communal activities and help their elder neighbors. Whether it be small chores such as groceries or assistance with particular tasks, the younger generation will agree on participating in the community, having a slight responsibility for the elderly. As society brings more and more people in the world, we can only take care of less. This drives us into changing from an individual driven society to a community of solidarity, empathy, and compassion, where architecture can provide the basement for creating a bond between the individual.

This research project focuses on the recognition that the surrounding environment affects people’s health and well-being. Bridging architecture and neuroscience, it is possible to demonstrate how space in its broad meaning affects biologically and psychologically humans; therefore this thesis investigates the application of findings from scientific research about environmental psychology and neuroscience applied to architecture, on a design which aims to the creation of a place able to enhance mental well-being. The result is a project that focuses on the regeneration of the abandoned psychiatric hospital San Salvi (Florence, Italy), aiming to its integration in the urban flows and urban consciousness, through the planning of new functions and the design of outdoor spaces, rooted in the past of the location, and in the findings from the literature study about human’s response to the built environment.

Promoting sustainable travel involves encouraging train travel as a preferred mode of transportation. However, train travel in the Netherlands faces challenges with delays and slow speeds, including the planned Lelyline. This report explores an innovative high-speed train viaduct inspired by Chinese rail construction techniques as an attractive alternative to the Lelyline. By adopting modular construction and straight alignments, this research aims to create an efficient and visually captivating transportation solution that respects the cultural landscape. The case study focuses on a straight trajectory across the Flevopolder between Amsterdam South and Zwolle. The viaduct integrates with the landscape, enhancing biodiversity through an ecological corridor in its shadow, benefiting agriculture and the nature network. Additionally, it offers panoramic views, recreational value, and serves as a marker of historical significance. This research showcases the potential of a sustainable train landscape that aligns with the Dutch cultural context, providing valuable insights for future transportation projects.

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 required to prevent further decay and add new value. Dutch municipalities majorly rely on market forces to stimulate redevelopment. Nevertheless, this does not result in desired outcomes. Different researches conclude that the local municipality has to fulfil a leading role in this redevelopment in order to achieve the desired outcome. This research focusses on how this leading role is defined and how the corporation between the local municipality and private property owners can be improved. Therefore, the following research question is formulated; How can the municipal leading role be defined during the redevelopment initiating phase and what improvements can be made in the decision-making process between the municipality and private property owners of retail space for the redevelopment to mixed-use areas? This research consists of a literature research and an empirical research to answer this question. The literature research provides an investigation of the initiative phase of project development, possibilities in organisational structures and the definition of decision-making. The empirical research consist of a case study considering a decaying monofunctional retail area with redevelopment in prospect. Stakeholder interviews are used as the main data source to investigate the project approach, organisational structure and decision-making process between the municipality and private property owners. The most important finding is that a key element of the municipal leading role was the proactive approach to the development of a masterplan for the case area in order to stimulate private stakeholder involvement.

The construction industry imposes significant pressure on the natural environment, making it essential to transition to the circular economy. A step towards this goal is the adaptive reuse of existing buildings, more specifically, heritage buildings. Adaptive reuse of heritage is a difficult procedure that seeks to maintain the qualities of historic structures while modifying them for usage in the present and the future. The aim of this research is to identify what circular economy strategies are implemented in de adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, find out what barriers still exist, and how these can potentially be mitigated. This in order to help the transition towards the circular economy. To achieve this, literature review will provide a better understanding of the terms circularity and adaptive reuse within the context of the built environment and heritage, the literature study will also offer the potential barriers for circular heritage renovation. Case studies will explore what strategies are already implemented in adaptive reuse of heritage buildings, and barriers are experienced in the process. Finally a focus group discussion will be conducted in order to find out how these practical barriers can be mitigated in order to move towards the circular economy. The findings reveal that there is a gap between the strategies implemented in projects and the comprehensive understanding of circular economy . The majority of implemented strategies are related to sustainability, such as reusing and using circular building materials. Barriers to implementation include ambiguities, financial constraints, lack of experience, routine practices, rules and certification, as well as a lack of urgency and social acceptance. To address these challenges, the Circular Economy Strategies for Adaptive Reuse (CESAR) model is developed as a planning and assessment tool. Furthermore, the study provides advice for stakeholders involved in adaptive reuse projects, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, early involvement of the contractor, and integration of circular economy requirements.

Like many traditional water systems, salt fields in the coastal region of Danzhou are now facing unprecedented challenges from social development and climate change. In an era of rapid urbanization and tourism development, the project aims to provide a landscape approach that balances historical preservation with the development of local public life and tourism. By exploring the potential of the landscape narrative, the project uses landscape elements such as heritage structure, local material, local plants, buildings and roads to make salt heritage, a valuable cultural heritage, a driving force for the development of traditional salt villages. When the historic, economic and ecological value of salt fields is revalued, these traditional water systems can be revived and provide more opportunities for a coastal area to develop into a resilient system.