There is a lack of academic attention towards the relationship between local governments and circular economy social innovations. While academic evidence suggests that local governments and policymakers can positively affect the success of social innovations, there is a lack of in-depth studies on how exactly they support social innovation. The main question of this study: How does the municipality of Rotterdam respond to the emergence of social innovation in circular economy, specifically to CCIs? This study aims to discover what circular economy social innovations entails in the municipality of Rotterdam, what policies and policy instruments are employed by the municipality of Rotterdam vis-à-vis circular citizen initiatives, how the interaction between the municipality of Rotterdam and circular citizen initiatives affects the transformative capacity of the latter, which bottlenecks and/or tensions are experienced with regards to the relationship between the municipality and circular citizens initiatives, and how the bottlenecks should be resolved according to circular citizen initiatives and the municipality of Rotterdam. The Local Climate Policy and Action framework, and transformative social innovation theory are utilised to develop semi-structured interviews. Said interviews are conducted among two civil servants who are involved with the citizen initiative, six participants of the citizen initiatives, and two academic experts. The results reveal four main bottlenecks: clashing institutional logics, tensions between civil servant and CCI participants, municipal and national regulations, clashing ideas of value-creation, and provision of accommodation. Analysis also revealed that the municipality does improve the transformative capacity of CCIs, albeit to a limited extent. Subsequently, these results discussed and explain using historic accepted practises that ensue from historic institutional logics. The paper continues by drawing conclusions regarding the discussed results and answering the research questions. Finally, recommendations for future research are made.

Packaging plastics account for the majority of the household waste plastics. These plastics can be divided into a number of types of plastics, namely PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PS, EPS and others. However, many plastic packages consist of different types of plastics and are often contaminated, therefore these plastics end up in the mixed plastics. While monostreams of plastic waste still have a certain value the mixed plastics are worthless and accumulating. With an ever-increasing amount of mixed plastic waste, it is very important to recycle these plastics too. The EU, the Dutch government and municipalities in the Netherlands all have their sustainability goals. Almere as a municipality in the Netherlands wants to create their own mixed plastic household waste (MPHW) value chain to reduce their total amount of residual waste per citizen. The aim of this research is to find out how the municipality of Almere can encourage local recycling of MPHW. The research question of this research is therefore: What are opportunities to stimulate the niche of mixed plastic household waste recycling, in the municipality of Almere, and how can this be organized? To answer the research question there is made an overview of the plastic waste recycling infrastructure in the Netherlands and interviews are held with the municipality of Almere and with companies that are active in the recycling of MPHW. To be able to analyze the developments a theoretical framework has been designed which is based on the multi-level perspective, strategic niche management and business model innovation. The results show that municipalities in the Netherlands, such as Almere, have gained more control over their own waste processing. Almere can stimulate developments in the local niche for recycling MPHW by creating the right conditions such as a guaranteed supply of MPHW and demand for products made from these plastics. Technological innovations in the recycling of mixed plastics can be conducive to the success of the niche when Almere brings the various players together. Successful development of the local MPHW niche in Almere can stimulate other municipalities to follow their example.

The aim of this thesis research is to find ways to support student entrepreneurs in the development of sustainable startups. Specifically, to help them to oversee the sustainability impacts during the ideating phase. A design science approach is adopted for this. Seven experts on sustainable entrepreneurship related topics and eight student entrepreneurs working on sustainable startups are interviewed. In addition, twenty entrepreneurs provide information on their experiences in a survey. Ten design requirements are deduced from the content analysis of these research activities. The design requirements are then used to compare the tools/methods mentioned and to design a new tool. This tool is evaluated in a focus group with six student entrepreneurs working on sustainable startups. It is concluded that a major challenge for the student entrepreneurs is to determine in an early phase whether the value proposition of their startup idea makes positive sustainability impacts. This problem can be broken down into smaller ones, such as there not being a clear definition of what a sustainable startup is, there (consequently) not being a proper way to assess the sustainability, and the lack of well-supporting tools and methods in the ideating phase. The results of this study suggest that sharpening the definition of a sustainable startup and taking a systems perspective on the impacts helps the student entrepreneurs. To address this, a set of three Sustainable Startup System Mapping (SSSM) worksheets are proposed. This tool can be seen as a first step towards taking a systems perspective in the development of sustainable startups.

In recent years, there has been an emergence of the concept of “circular economy (CE)”, which promises to close the loop in terms of resource extraction consumption in the prevailing economic paradigm. This promises environmental and socioeconomic benefits, but the risk exists where the benefits of the circular transition might be unevenly distributed, with potential tradeoffs in the implementation of CE. The Netherlands has an agenda, the ”National Programme for Circular Economy (NPCE)” to achieve a full CE transition in the Netherlands by 2050, However, the agenda is at an early stage of implementation, the effects of the implementation of this policy are not well understood. The CE transition is approached at a macro-level to allow for top-down examination of the macroeconomic effects of the NPCE on the Dutch economy and its constituent sectors. Macroeconomic modelling of the NPCE as CE scenarios was synthesised using the Pycirk and Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis tool for CE, together with the latest Dutch CE implementation programme. The impacts of the CE scenarios were mapped across six footprint categories: Global Warming Potential, Total Energy Use, Material Extraction footprint, Blue Water Extraction, Value Added and Employment. Overall, it was found that the tradeoffs of the Dutch CE transition occur between improvements in the environment dimensions, at the cost of socioeconomic dimensions. Depending on the type of CE strategy, trade-offs can also be expected between economic sectors, with transportation being the primary sector standing to gain from the transition to a circular economy.

With what objectives do policymakers make transport policy? This fundamental question is subject to a paradigm shift within transport policymaking in the Netherlands. There is an increasing call to let go of the predominant focus on economic well-being and consider a broader notion of well-being instead. However, how exactly this 'broad prosperity' should be operationalized and integrated within ex-ante policy evaluations remains a challenge. Therefore this thesis aims to aid this integration of broad prosperity, by suggesting an alternative approach to operationalizing broad prosperity. One that moves away from the content (i.e. what should it include) and towards the process (i.e. how should it be determined). By approaching broad prosperity as a context-dependent and normative concept, effective value-oriented participation becomes the vehicle to integrate broad prosperity into ex-ante policy evaluations. Through literature review and expert validation, this approach is translated into a practical framework with 5 categories of 11 process-related criteria. It is suggested that these criteria together constitute an effective integration of broad prosperity into ex-ante policy evaluations. By performing desk research and semi-structured interviews, this practical framework is then applied to the ex-ante evaluations of two Dutch transport projects: the Meerjarenprogramma Infrastructuur, Ruimte en Transport (MIRT) projects Oeververbindingen Rotterdam and A15 Papendrecht-Gorinchem. The results suggest that while broad prosperity is being used to some extent in Dutch ex-ante policy evaluations, there is still room for improvement. The great efforts to reduce the information asymmetry among participants, appreciate the participants' knowledge, and ensure all participants' contributions within MIRT processes, suggest that the projects are on their way to integrating broad prosperity. The main areas for improvement include the limited influence of local stakeholders on project objectives and scope, the transport-oriented scope of the (MIRT) process, and the extent of representative value-oriented participation. Future research could examine how to further improve in these areas, address the challenges of a process-based approach, improve the practical framework, or expand the data collection. Overall, a process-based approach to broad prosperity that prioritizes effective value-oriented participation is a promising direction for a more holistic transport system that better serves everyone's values.

The need for water, energy, and food resources is central to human being. Demand of these resources will increase as global population increases. By 2050 it is expected that combination of population growth and economic development will lead to 50% increase of global water and food demand, while energy demand will be doubled. Addressing sustainable water, energy, and food consumption has also been emphasized in United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals; among others, this applies to consumption at household level. Sustainable household consumption of water, energy, and food here implies not only the objective to improve the resource durability, but also to reduce environmental footprint. The unsustainable management of these resources will potentially harm the climate objective addressed in the Paris Agreement in which The Netherlands, among other countries, have been participating. Acknowledging the importance of household consumption on the environment, a joint research team funded by the National Science Foundation named INFEWS (Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems) is commissioning this research project to investigate policy measures to sustainably reduce greenhouse gas emission concerning Dutch household food, energy, and water consumption sector. The main objective of this research is to obtain insight on the dynamics and interrelations of Dutch household water, energy, and food consumption; and to develop policy recommendations based on the insight toward reducing the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) level associated with the household consumption over time in the Netherlands. To achieve this objective, this research mainly utilizes data-driven exploratory modeling approach in which the interrelations of water, energy, and food consumption system are modeled and simulated over time, while acknowledging the plausible parametric and structural uncertainties natural to the state of modeled subsystems. System Dynamics methodology is used to conceptualize the causal relations among the relevant subsystems and to computationally develop the model in a form of stock-flow diagram. Based on the developed model, the Exploratory Modeling and Analysis methodology is used to explore the model within the associated uncertainties. Through these methods, two types of policy frameworks can be respectively tested and explored. The first one consists of the policy approaches within household consumption domain. The second one consists of the plausible policy options outside of the household consumption domain which are relevant to improve the GHG indicator.

Upcycling of the biomass residues and wastes is a necessary innovation within the given environmental and economic trends, policies and regulations, competition and depletion of natural resources taking place nowadays. Thus, wood pallet upcycling is chosen in this thesis to be the ambassador of biomass. Research is built upon the fundamentals of the waste hierarchy of Lansink ladder and on the circular economy. Interviews and case study analysis were crucial in drawing the conclusions and stimulating a thorough discussion within the concept of upcycling versus other processing management scenarios happening daily, such as waste to energy, incineration and even dumping of wood wastes. Upcycling (cascading), is built on adding value to the waste by coming up with new products and increasing the lifespan of the infinite woody products. The cascading takes place first as a manufacturing phase, this manufacturing shows a tremendous panorama of possible products covering the great demand on such homeware, kitchenware, pavilions, and other sectors. Then, and after the end of the lifespan of the new product, the second phase is generating biofuels from the biomass products using a complex process starting from gasification and ending up with Fischer-Tropsch process to produce for example, biodiesel, ethanol or jet fuels within a long list of high value biofuels. In general, the tackling of such transition economically required addressing important indicators represented in policy, market, technical implementation, environmental and stakeholders involvement. Environmentally, life cycle assessment indicators were projected to find out the influencing factors, those indicators include the land-use change, GHG, the premise of the neutrality of burning biomass to generate electricity, carbon capture, monocultures and biodiversity, fossil-based materials substitution, distinguishing between by-products and wastes, etc... An action plan (system outline), forms the practical final tip to this research by giving guidance of a pathway striving to achieve a stable and secure transition towards upcycling using a robust and mutual collaboration between the valued stakeholders, which are represented by the government, acting authorities such as municipalities, companies active in the wood market sector (recyclers, pallet pooling, manufacturers). This collaboration has increased chances to be a key player only if a new set of policies exist, these policies shift a share of the incentives given to energy towards upcycling, activate the role of the SMEs, and act as a forcing tool to retrieve used pallets using the deployment of EPR and GPP tools. Finally, this study is considered as a master plan for similar biomass wastes and can be complemented with quantitative studies to reach further horizons supporting the premises addressed in this paper.

Circular Economy (CE) aims to achieve sustainability through recycling, refurbishing, reusing, and other similar activities. Even though the concept of CE has gained considerable interest throughout the previous years and yielded significant research contributions, many critics stress the lack of incorporating ethical and social considerations into CE. This thesis researches how to facilitate such embedding of socio-ethical aspects into CE through the support of the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) methodology. Thus, this thesis addresses the main research question “How can the RRI methodology complement the CE framework to assess ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA)?”. Within this study, a conceptual framework was developed that allows for embedding socio-ethical aspects in terms of assessing ELSA (aspects) that are seen as design points contributing to a socio-ethical responsible and just CE. This framework contains substantial elements of RRI, including its four dimensions (Inclusion, Anticipation, Reflexivity, Responsiveness) suggested by Stilgoe et al. (2013). Furthermore, the conceptual framework is inspired by a draft framework of Purvis et al. (2023) for a responsible CE, claiming their framework as a starting point and suggesting future recommendations for its further refinement. The conceptual framework developed in this thesis allows for an inclusive assessment procedure of (bounded) CE systems by addressing its various components and all involved stakeholders by actively communicating with them. The system’s components, such as of technical or organizational nature, must be thoroughly assessed to recognize potential ELSA risks/impacts that can harm a responsible CE. Defining appropriate design points serve to mitigate such risks. In order to test and evaluate the conceptualized framework, it got applied to a case study. The Horizon Europe granted project ALICIA represents the case study environment. ALICIA intends to establish a CE for industrial automotive manufacturing equipment (machinery and robots) within Europe. Since circularity for industrial automotive manufacturing equipment constitutes, especially on this scale, an under-researched field, this research also investigates such an automotive CE approach. Through the framework’s demonstration, significant findings could be obtained. First, even though the framework manifested as effective due to the achieved insights, which are subsequently further expressed, future recommendations for further development regarding the framework's recognized limitations are suggested. Another crucial insight the case study provided emphasizes the major challenges that exist in realizing a CE for automotive production equipment. Those challenges were identified by assessing the ELSA risks of ALICIA and the design points to mitigate such. To realize equipment circularity, detailed data must be shared by companies that often contain sensitive corporational information. Originating from the automotive industry’s competitiveness, such data exchange is hard to realize as it can jeopardize companies’ privacy. To overcome this, it requires collaboration between the companies and clearly defined data-sharing policies to enable such data exchange. Such ideal data exchange should ensure that still, sufficient data is shared to realize equipment circularity but simultaneously does not infringe a corporation’s privacy which could harm their market position by disclosing it to competitors. Additionally, since the automotive industry is a profit-driven one, socio-ethical dimensions must also be incorporated into such equipment CE from the beginning. Compared to the electric mobility transition, which is another sustainability endeavor of the automotive industry, socio-ethical dilemmas that refer to unethical origins of certain parts (e.g., lithium batteries), such as child labor or farm desiccation, are prevalent. To prevent such or similar dilemmas within the sustainability agenda of an automotive CE, it requires the embedding of socio-ethical considerations that were detected throughout the case study. These considerations contain to ensure, inter alia, an ethical origin of parts used for equipment refurbishment. Otherwise, if these socio-ethical issues are neglected from the start, potential drawbacks might be difficult to remedy during an already ongoing CE implementation. These both outlined challenges with their socio-ethical considerations must be more precisely addressed in the future by relevant experts. Thus, this research's key findings cannot only be seen as beneficial for the methodology of assessing socio-ethical considerations in CE from the context of RRI but also for the circularity of automotive production equipment. Both results constitute fundamental groundwork for further recommended research in these lacking research fields.

The construction industry accounts for 40% of material resource use and produces 40% of global waste. Within this industry, various solutions have been attempted to lower the environmental impact. Two of these concepts are the circular economy (CE) and industrialized construction (IC). CE refers to an approach that embraces circular supply chains as opposed to a “take-make-dispose” system. IC can be defined as a “construction technique in which components are manufactured in a controlled environment, transported, positioned and assembled into a structure with minimal additional site works”. The IC approach offers three potentials to overcome several barriers compared to circularity in traditional buildings. (1) The IC nature of supply chain integration supports the notion of shared responsibility for a CE. (2) IC is characterized by a longer planning phase to coordinate assembly on-site providing an opportunity to plan for disassembly in order to recover the material in the future. (3) IC focusses on standardization of prefabricated parts which supports adaptability and flexibility, thereby anticipating future modifications. Research on the combination of the Circular Economy and Industrialized Construction remains very limited. This thesis identifies opportunities to accelerate the integration of CE principles in industrialized construction methods within a Swiss context. This research is structured along three parts: (1) a literature review to assess the main developments of circular industrialized construction. (2) A conceptual framework combining two qualitative frameworks – the Strategic Niche Management and the Multi-level Perspective is developed to study and compare case studies demonstrating circular IC (UMAR unit, ICEhouse and ECO Solar Houses) including the external factors facilitating or impeding this development. (3) Finally, a list of recommendations providing a pathway for scaling up circular IC in Switzerland is presented. Data is collected through literature review, desk research and semi- structured interviews with stakeholders directly involved in the projects and industry experts. The findings indicate that five circular strategies should be present and work together to increase the circularity potential of IC: circular materials, product as a service, product lifetime extension, sharing platforms and resource recovery. At the start of a project, the use of comprehensive material database and increased documentation is crucial to make informed decisions about retaining value at a building’s end-of-life phase. Building layers should be separated and specifically for a building with many different materials and components, a higher level of pre-assembly is favored to increase control of construction to achieve higher reuse of recovered materials. Business models need to be reconfigured by extending ownership of components and modules. Transformation in design is recommended by incorporating standardization and design for disassembly practices to enable future reuse. The study showed that the establishment of demonstrator projects is key to facilitate the development of the circular IC niche. Specific network characteristics need to be present: a facilitator providing financial capital and flexibility and a diverse multidisciplinary team with stakeholders who are involved early in the process to create a common circular mindset. Finally, the initator(s) will have to demonstrate leadership through sharing the mission and vision explicitly to attract more stakeholders, who in turn can supply resources. Governmental involvement through VAT reductions on secondary raw materials and the provision of financial incentives is crucial. A regulatory framework for the input of construction materials will be essential and needs to be developed. In support of such a framework, a secondary raw material marketplace, outcomes of research programs and certification labels may be developed. By adopting these measures, circular industrialized construction can be scaled up through new projects, and in doing so contribute to a more sustainable construction industry.

Sustainability is becoming more important in numerous industries, including healthcare. Action to achieve sustainability is undertaken by various means, such as the Green Deal Healthcare. Several tools exist that can assess the environmental impact of a certain industry or company, but no tools exist that aid in actively lowering this environmental impact. Therefore, the HSMEA (Healthcare Sustainability Mode and Effect Analysis) tool was developed. This method is based on the Lean philosophy and HFMEA (Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) tool and consists of six steps that aid in making a healthcare process more sustainable, in terms of waste production, energy use, or water use. With this tool, processes that contribute to these factors are identified in a highly structured and systematic way, and practical solutions are created and executed for these situations by a multidisciplinary team. This tool was validated in the academic hospital in Leiden, the Netherlands (Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum). Next, it was applied to two clinical case studies, assessing two processes that are currently present in the operating rooms of the LUMC. The HSMEA tool showed that with the implementation of four solutions, great improvements can be achieved in terms of waste and CO2-equivalents production and recycling rate. These four interventions are currently being implemented in the LUMC. This novel sustainability tool has therefore proved its usefulness and clinical applicability in a healthcare setting. By implementing this tool throughout the hospital, it will support the hospital reaching its sustainability goals.

The textile and clothing industry is one of the most polluting industries worldwide and requires the use of many resources.Textile-to-textile recycling can be crucial for closing the material loop and transition towards a circular textile and clothing industry. Currently, only 1% of textile waste is recycled into new high-quality textile items. The Netherlands has ambitious circularity goals and textile-to-textile recycling should be scaled up to reach a 100% circular industry in 2050. This research explores the textile-to-textile recycling niche in the Netherlands from a transition perspective.

What are the national and provincial economic potentials of ocean thermal energy conversion in relation to the provincial electricity demand fulfilment in Indonesia? When we are talking about the economic potential of OTEC in Indonesia, we are talking about potential as a result of different possible configurations. On the national level, the economic potentials of both cost assumptions are more than enough to fulfil the total electricity demand of the country. However, Indonesia seizes an immensely broad area of land and sea. A big part of the potential lies outside the provincial boundaries, far away from demand centres. Still, when only the provincial potentials are considered, the total economic potential is higher than the demand. This does not necessarily mean that the available resource is accessible by the demand centres, though. The available resources of OTEC are not distributed evenly throughout the country. Some areas are blessed with remarkably good resources in abundance while the other areas are not so lucky with the resources. Hence, the stations are selected based on the proximity to the demand centres. It turns out that based on the results of the thesis, it is not possible to fully supply the electricity demand on the provincial level in Indonesia solely by OTEC electricity production of the selected stations. It is indeed possible for some areas to do that, but in other areas, there is no economic potential at all. However, it is not likely that a single resource will ever be used to cover 100% of supply. In this sense, there is a huge opportunity for OTEC to enter the energy landscape and become the provider of baseload electricity

Within the Energy Transition, citizen involvement is essential. In the end, we have to change together to succeed within the Energy Transition. Because of the local character of the Energy Transition and a responsibility shift, the municipalities have got the challenging task to increase citizen involvement. Local energy initiatives can be a promising solution for the Energy Transition. Therefore, the local energy initiatives can be interesting for municipalities when increasing citizen involvement. The aim of this research is to find a way for the municipality to make use of these local energy initiatives when trying to increase citizen involvement in the Energy Transition. The specific context of this research is the city of The Hague. The following research question has been formulated for this purpose: How can the municipality of The Hague increase citizen participation in the Energy Transition through local energy initiatives? In order to answer the research question, a collective case study and a design process are executed. In advance, preparatory research was conducted to explore relevant theoretical concepts for the research and to analyze the stakeholder ecosystem of the local energy initiatives. The collective case study was performed by conducting nine in-depth interviews with local energy initiatives based on a research framework. This research framework was substantiated by the Transformative Social Innovation framework. Furthermore, the design process is based on the Double Diamond approach using divergent and convergent thinking. Within this design process, multiple participatory elements were included like workshops and prototyping sessions with local energy initiatives and civil servants of the municipality of The Hague. From the research, it appeared that the local energy initiatives in The Hague fulfill a basic role and five specific roles, namely ‘awareness creation’, ‘action perspective creation’, ‘collaboration with the municipality’, ‘voice at the table’, and ‘execution and ownership’. It also came forward that the potential of the contribution of the local energy initiatives to the Energy Transition is not reached. This has three reasons. Firstly, there is no shared vision among the stakeholders. Secondly, the relationship with the municipality is undefined and inconsistent. Thirdly, there are several small challenges as keeping the initiative going, reaching out to people, and not being representative for the neighborhood. When looking at the relationship, the core challenge seemed a way to prioritize and choose the municipal support to provide, to which initiative, and at which moment. Based on this, a final concept was developed to create a strategy and action repertoire for the municipal support per neighborhood and initiative. The strategy is created based on three main questions regarding which roles to support, which support to provide, and how to provide the support. These questions are answered through the three perspectives of Design Thinking (desirability, feasibility, and viability) to cover the multiple aspects to consider when creating the strategy. Possible further research could focus on the development of the final concept in real-life cases and on the applicability of the five initiative’s roles and final concept in other contexts.

The current industrial system is established on one fundamental characteristic: a linear model of resource consumption that follows a ‘take-make-dispose’ pattern. However, the emerging concept of Circular Economy (CE) is proposed to change the current production and consumption patterns that put a significant burden on our planet and its environmental capacity. In this context, scholars argue that the built environment is one of the key sectors that can benefit maximally from the development of CE. The Dutch government recognized this opportunity and in the publication of the Transition Agenda: Circular Economy in the Netherlands by 2050 acknowledged the construction industry as one of the five key economic sectors and value chains which will be the first to make the shift. In order to support the transition towards a circular built environment, experts from academia, policy, and business advocate that innovative business models that allow new ownership relationships are required. In this context, scholars argue that a promising business models for the implementation of circular economy thinking in the sector are product-service systems. This research focuses on buildings which are considered the most complex element within the built environment. Literature on the application of circular economy for buildings suggests looking at them as a collection of interlinking layers. This idea based on the “6S” framework developed by Stewart Brand in 1990s which includes six layers, namely: Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space Plan, and Stuff. However, researchers argue that there is still great uncertainty regarding the application of circular business models in the Dutch built environment, as well as the fact that the transition from traditional product-oriented business models to service-oriented ones is highly complex and contextual illustrates that further research is required in this area. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to examine the application of product-service systems as circular business models for the products, components and materials in buildings’ Structure, Skin and Services layers in order to contribute to the Dutch built environment’s shift towards circular economy. As a result, the main research question formulated is: “What is the current state of product-service systems as circular business models in the built environment and how can its application contribute to a circular built environment?” For answering the research question a literature review was conducted in order to examine the relevant concepts, along with expert interviews with the aim to explore the barriers, enablers and opportunities of the application of product-service systems as circular business models. Finally, a case study survey was carried out with the aim to analyze the business models of two companies who are active in the built environment and have successfully applied product-service systems as circular business models. The analysis illustrated that even though numerous opportunities are offered by this business model to both the company and the client when applied in the different building layers, it is not yet accepted in the sector and its application is hindered by several barriers. However, a number of enablers which can facilitate the implementation of product-service systems as circular business models were recognized. In addition, the analysis illustrated that for the successful implementation of product-service systems as circular business model incorporating servitization and circularity characteristics in all business model elements is necessary.

Climate change is and will have a severe impact on urban areas. Dutch cities are actively searching ways for successful climate adaptation. One way to do this is by experimenting with sustainable innovations in urban living labs (ULLs). This is a place where different urban actors, such as governments, businesses, knowledge institutes and citizens, collectively experiment with innovative ways to solve urban problems in a sustainable matter. This collective experimenting is also known as co-creation. From the beginning of the COVID-19 measures in 2020, ULLs are facing difficulties regarding co-creation as a result of the measures that are taken for social distancing. Furthermore, these social distancing measures affect the social cohesion in communities, and therefore most likely also in ULLs. The relationship between social cohesion and ULLs has not yet been studied extensively, and the COVID-19 measures give an opportunity to understand ULLs in a new way. Therefore, this thesis aims to answer the following research question: What is the relationship between social cohesion and urban living labs in times of COVID-19? The research methodology consists of expert interviews and a single case study research in ULL Reyeroord+ in the neighbourhood Reyeroord in Rotterdam. The expert interviews are conducted with five experts that are active in five different ULLs in the Netherlands. The case study research consists of document analysis to understand the aim and activities of ULL Reyeroord+, as well as interviews with citizens of Reyeroord. The research data is analysed using a social cohesion framework that subdivides social cohesion into the quality of social relations, identification with the social entity, and orientation towards the common good. Overall, the experts believe that regular physical contact, a long-term relationship, having an equal mindset, involving citizens in decision-making and experimenting, and taking a qualitative approach are perceived as being the most important for a successful ULL. From the citizen interviews became clear that problems of violence, waste and parking are experienced as priority problems in the neighbourhood and that they are, together with the experienced deterioration of the social situation, seen as ‘pauperisation’ or ‘degradation’. It appears that most citizens have other priorities than climate adaptation, for example in terms of income. This could impact the social cohesion, as it can affect people’s willingness to take part in civic engagement and social networking. The communication between actors in Reyeroord+ were impacted by the COVID-19 measures, as meetings were organised online. Furthermore, the COVID-19 measures have impacted citizens’ involvement in the neighbourhood, mainly by increasing the awareness of people’s surroundings. This has most likely affected the community attachment of citizens. It is possible that this increased awareness will have a positive impact in the future. Furthermore, social cohesion and ULL Reyeroord+ are connected through the development of a new way of communicating that deviates from the current top-down approach, and through the development of a sense of ownership among citizens. ULL experiments are therefore not only sustainability experiments, but also an opportunity for actors to learn how to approach citizen engagement and to develop a new way of communicating with citizens that could ultimately be beneficial for climate adaptation in urban areas. The results are debated on the basis of several discussion questions. The main limitations for this research lie with the research methods, which are not as ethnographic as was anticipated due to the COVID-19 restrictions, and the social cohesion framework, which is susceptible for subjectivity. The scientific contribution is the social science approach in the field of ULLs, which builds on existing literature. Implications and recommendations are given for the municipality and the citizens as actor groups. Finally, it is suggested that further research on citizens’ role in co-creation processes would be valuable for future research.

The goal of this thesis is to understand the awareness for and the challenges of the EU conflict minerals regulation. In this thesis the following main question will be answered: How can companies and governance implement the European conflict minerals regulation 2017/821?

Climate change stands as a monumental environmental challenge confronting the world today, with ongoing global manifestations. Within the transportation sector, the carbon-intense essence of petroleum-powered vehicles, finite fossil fuel reserves, and strides in technologies such as batteries, fuel cells, power electronics, and electric motors have expedited the integration of electric vehicles (EVs) into the conventional automobile market. The escalating demand for crucial metals within renewable energy technology sectors has raised alarms regarding supply chain security. It is imperative to fortify the sustained and secure provision of these pivotal metals to ensure the forthcoming viability of EVs. Numerous nations have committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, intensifying the future prominence of renewables, and underscoring the significance of securing metal supplies for EVs to meet the 2050 demand amid competing technological contenders. Multiple knowledge gaps and challenges encompass the repercussions of EV proliferation on essential metal resources. Prevailing studies on metal scarcity focus on various scenarios, yet few target the exponentially surging demand for these metals stemming from the EV surge. While geological reserve perspectives have scrutinized metal criticality for EVs, this approach lacks a comprehensive panorama, neglecting influential factors such as geopolitics and competing demand. Furthermore, there exists scant exploration of alternative remedies to diminish reliance on critical metals within EVs and their consequences for metal supply chains. The feasibility of these alternatives hinges on their impact on vehicular performance, a determinant factor for broad acceptance. The primary objective of this research is to address the inquiry: "How does the rapid proliferation of electric vehicles affect the availability of vital metals, and what strategies can be adopted to alleviate potential supply impediments?" This research pursues a four-tier approach. Initial efforts involve delineating criticality for EVs and devising an analytical framework that encompasses diverse perspectives beyond geological reserves. A comprehensive review identifies socio-technical metrics instrumental in assessing metal criticality and their contributions to EV-related criticality. This informs the development of an analytical model, rooted in established frameworks, to evaluate metal criticality for EVs. The model then undergoes validation through expert interviews. Subsequently, the research identifies potential bottlenecks in critical metal supply. Essential metals for EV functioning are identified through literature analysis. Building upon prior work by Habib et al., the research delves into geopolitical reserves and integrates future demand scenarios. Each metal within scope undergoes individual analysis, considering geopolitics and competitive demand, utilizing literature reviews to uncover potential supply bottlenecks by 2050. The third stage concentrates on recognizing critical metals from the analytical model results and outlining alternative strategies to alleviate supply bottlenecks. Insights from academic and industry experts, garnered through interviews, illuminate the feasibility of alternative technologies and their metal consumption implications. Varied battery configurations and trade-offs are explored, employing a semi-structured interview approach to ensure thorough data capture. Lastly, the research aspires to actualize alternative pathways to mitigate prospective supply bottlenecks. This involves examining existing practices that imperil suggested solutions and probing promising remedies to these challenges. The technological readiness of these solutions is gauged, considering their effects on EV design and performance. Policy approaches by global leaders, coupled with identified bottlenecks and solutions, inform actionable recommendations. The pivotal factors impacting metal criticality for EVs encompass Geological Reserve availability to meet 2050 EV demand, Competing Demand Sectors, and a spectrum of Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors. An analytical model is formulated to evaluate metal criticality through each of these lenses. Key metals identified as vital for EV functionality are Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, Copper, Aluminium, and Rare Earth Metals (REES). From the analytical results, potential supply bottlenecks emerge for Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, and REEs, stemming from diverse combinations of factors within the model. Expert interviews unearth alternative paths to circumvent these bottlenecks, including substituting REE-containing Permanent Magnet Synchronous (PSM) motors with other technologies, short-term adoption of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) and Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO) batteries, and long-term integration of alternative battery chemistries like Sodium-ion, Potassium-ion, and Solid-State Electrolyte batteries. The readiness of these technologies is evaluated, alongside scrutiny of policies regarding Critical Raw Material supply and Net-Zero emissions, as observed in global leader initiatives such as the European Union. Drawing from this analysis, a compilation of recommendations is outlined for Global policymakers, EV manufacturers, and EV users. These suggestions seek to accelerate the integration of these alternative technologies within the Electric Vehicle Industry. The proposed strategies to veer away from metals susceptible to supply bottlenecks are summarized, culminating in practical recommendations for stakeholders, manufacturers, and policymakers.

The circular economy is becoming an increasingly popular framework, guiding policymakers and practitioners toward sustainable resource management and economic development. While the concept is promising in providing guidelines toward the efficient use of resources and waste minimalization, circular economy implementation is criticized for its focus on technological implementation and economic prosperity, overlooking the social aspects of sustainable change. This research investigates circular economy imaginaries through the analysis of community repair. The study provides insight in the visions and practices of a bottom-up citizen initiative that go beyond economical and technological prosperity. Through the sociotechnical imaginary concept, this research assesses how citizen initiatives engage with the circular economy at a local level. Through an embedded case study of the repair cafe community in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) the research focuses on answering the following research question :"How does the repair cafe community in Amsterdam imagine and engage with product repair in the circular economy?". The study combines multiple data collection methods including: interviews, observation, and document analysis. Analysis of the repair cafe community in Amsterdam revealed that the community currently consists of twenty-eight active repair cafes at the local level, plus the Repair Cafe International Foundation, which operates at a national and international level. Eleven repair cafes and the Repair Cafe International Foundation were visited and representative volunteers were interviewed during data collection between April and June 2023. By exploring the sociotechnical imaginaries in the repair cafe community in Amsterdam, this research shows that the community showcases features of alternative circular imaginaries going beyond the techno-economical focus that currently dominates circular economy thinking and implementation. The results reveal a shared vision of a repair society wherein product repair is normalised and involves a diverse and accessible repairing infrastructure. Additionally, the results show alternative circular performances, such as community-based, socially inspired, and neighbourhood-oriented activities. Besides the features of alternative imaginaries, the results also reveal several tensions between the present-day performances and future aspirations: such as disparities between the goal to collect data and an unwillingness to do so at the local level, a vision for collaboration with other parties, and limited networking at the local level in practise. The study proposes that these tensions point towards the fact that repair cafes provide spaces where future visions are confronted with present realities, leading to a plurality of initiatives at the local level. As such, the repair cafe community’s aspirations and performances reveal aspects of both the dominant techno-economic circular economy imaginary and an alternative imaginary centred around social interactions and local engagement. In conclusion, this research highlights the significance of considering social dimensions within the circular economy framework. While technological and economic aspects are pivotal, they must be balanced with a focus on community engagement, inclusivity, and citizen empowerment. The repair cafe community in Amsterdam serves as a noteworthy example of how bottom-up initiatives can contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future. However, the diversity of motivations and goals among local repair cafes, coupled with the varying degrees of alignment with the Repair Cafe International Foundation, may pose a challenge to the realisation of a unified vision. Stakeholders and policymakers therefore must foster collaboration and facilitate a shared understanding of the repair society’s objectives...

Research background Plastic debris in the environment consists primarily of plastic consumer waste. One of its leading causes is the lack of waste collection systems in developing countries. Actions need to be taken to overcome this issue, and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) seems to be an effective solution for encountering plastic waste. Indonesia is the second-largest plastic polluter and is, therefore, a location of interest for implementing EPR systems. EPR is a policy approach in which producers become responsible for the whole life cycle of their product. In Europe, this is a standard tool that makes producers (mostly financially) accountable for the end-of-life stage of their product. EPR can also stimulate design-for-environment: optimizing products to become more reusable or recyclable. EPR consists of many instruments that can be implemented in different ways. Still, little research has been done on which instruments can be effectively applied in developing countries like Indonesia. There are no EPR instruments currently used, little waste management infrastructure exists, and most recycling activities are realized through informal waste collectors. These types of local factors are of great importance when implementing waste management policies like EPR. Two gaps were found in previous literature. First, the effects of individual and combinations of EPR instruments on developing waste management systems have not been researched before. Secondly, simulation studies have not analyzed EPR instruments in combination with contextual factors of the country of interest. Therefore, this thesis tries to answer the following research question. “What are the effects of 3 selected Extended Producer Responsibility instruments on the key actors in the plastic waste system of average cities in Indonesia?” Research approach A design-science research approach is combined with an agent-based model to answer this question, consisting of three parts. First, the Knowledge base was established by desk research. Literature was consulted to find the state of the art of the most critical aspects of the study: plastic waste in Indonesia and EPR. Secondly, the Environment is created by integrating semi-structured interviews with literature to find important factors that make the implementation of EPR interventions in the context of Indonesia more realistic. The third part of the design science research is to design the artifact. A conceptual model was made of the plastic waste system in Indonesia. This model was put into the programming language NetLogo, which can capture agent behavior in complex adaptive systems...

The number of wind energy projects in Europe has increased rapidly in the last decade and this growth is expected to continue. In the Netherlands there is a similar increase in the amount of wind energy projects. Wind energy projects, as large-scale infrastructural works and building projects, have numerous effects on the surrounding communities. The most prominent challenge in onshore wind energy realisation in the Netherlands was identified as a lack of acceptance by the local community and the potential for this lack of acceptance to result in resistance. This research focusses on acceptance of wind energy on a local level. However, acceptance can be a complex issue. There are multiple actors, technical characteristics, economic factors and institutional boundaries involved. To analyse this complexity, this research explores which impacts are perceived by local residents of a wind park; impacts as noise nuisance and shadow flicker. Literature suggests links between perceived impacts and the local context of a wind energy project. Local factors, like the height of the turbines, could influence local residents experience on for example noise nuisance. This research extends on these possible relations and aims to research how characteristics of a wind project and perceived impacts of local residents could relate. A case study of 18 Dutch wind energy projects was executed. For each project one or two interviews with a stakeholder were conducted on the perceived impacts of local residents. The data was combined with desk research on the characteristics of the wind parks. For each case study was further analysed how project characteristics and perceived impacts of residents could relate. Multiple possible relations were identified between characteristics and perceived impacts. Examples of these are turbine characteristics as distance to residents, height of turbines, the presence of other wind parks nearby and obstruction lighting. Additionally, regional characteristics as accumulation of existing regional impacts, regional property prices, regional stress and the if the wind park is located in a silent area were indicated as influential in some case studies. Institutional factors have been attributed to influence the process. These included the administrative division, decision making power and legal guidelines. Furthermore, measures to reduce or compensate impacts were also named as influential. These include the extent of financial participation and a standstill provision. Two general characteristics influencing wind energy acceptance in general were identified. These were if the wind park was located on an industrial site and if the wind park was a repowering project. In some cases, the characteristics could relate to other characteristics or perceived impacts relate to other perceived impacts. For example, interviewees stated the concerns for housing value decrease were directly related to concerns for shadow flicker, noise nuisance and visual impact. Even on a case level, multiple relations were mentioned and could have both negative as positive effects. On a broader level, a cross-case examination was done to discover the importance of the perceived impacts and what possible relations were frequent in Dutch wind energy project. While the exploratory research has its limitations, it discovered that acceptance is complex and depended on multiple factors. Relations as for example height turbines resulting in more visual impact that were mentioned in literature did not occur in every project. Some relations can be negative or positive depending on the project context. Furthermore, perceived impacts could be related to other perceived impacts and multiple characteristic might influence one perceived impact. This creates a complex web of interrelations where some relations appeared in the case studies but others are still unknown. This research show that further research is needed generate profitable knowledge on this complex topic. With the results of the thesis, a number of limited recommendations are done for local residents, policy makers and project executors. One of these recommendations is to implement a local approach to a case project and take the unique characteristics of the project into account. This includes integrating existing regional impacts to estimate which impacts could cause the most concerns. Additionally, consulting with local residents is an important step to fathom local wishes and preferences. Local residents might be willing to trade in time for extra benefits or need a technical implementation as a standstill provision. More insight in the perceived impacts of local residents can help in providing participation measures or structure the process.