Adaptive reuse of buildings offers a sustainable strategy for reducing global CO2 emissions by repurposing existing structures, conserving resources, reducing the need to extract new materials, and minimizing waste. However, the decision-making process in adaptive reuse projects is often complex, involving conflicting criteria and diverse stakeholders. Current approaches tend to polarize alternatives, focusing either on broad functional use or specific design options, which can limit decision effectiveness and quality. This study addresses these challenges by developing a participatory mixed-methods approach that integrates Cross-Impact Balance (CIB) analysis with creative scenario-building techniques, including generative AI and participatory workshops. This approach balances the extremes of current decision-making processes, offering a more comprehensive overview of desirable futures for decision-makers. The methodology was applied to create 15 “big picture” circular adaptive reuse scenarios, each incorporating circular building adaptability (CBA) strategies, and enriched with AI generated narratives and visualizations. These scenarios provide stakeholders with a nuanced understanding of potential future pathways, enhancing decision-making processes. This mixed-method approach demonstrates the potential of participatory CIB scenario development in advancing circularity, offering a valuable tool for navigating the complexities of adaptive reuse decision-making.

Background and aim. Temporary use of vacant spaces—the short-term activation of properties awaiting transformation—has gained recognition for its potential to foster urban revitalization. While such uses provide a platform for experimentation, accessibility, and social inclusion through participatory and cultural activities, they often remain precarious and underutilized as strategic tools for circular economy. This study aims to explore how specific hybrid approaches to temporary real estate management can transform temporary use into a social circular economy strategy, balancing social values with market logics.

Methods and Data. This research employs a qualitative analysis, first defining a framework from literature and then analysing specific temporary use projects through a retrospective case analysis of three cases by Plateau Urbain (France), communa (Belgium), and Stad in de Maak (Netherlands). Data collection included interviews, project documentation, and field observations, allowing an in-depth exploration of the enabling conditions for successful hybrid approaches in creating social value.

Findings. This study makes three key contributions. First, it conceptualizes collaborative temporary use as a social circular strategy, clearly defining the evolution of the concept and its potential in temporary real estate adaptive reuse. Second, by drawing on the literature on organizational hybridity and case study analysis, it identifies key enabling conditions, such as tweaking the balance between social value and market logic over time to recalibrate impact—that underpin temporary use projects as social circular economy strategies. Third, it offers a framework to determine whether a temporary real estate reuse initiative can function as a social circular economy strategy.

Theoretical / Practical / Societal implications. This study offers theoretical insights into hybrid organizing for urban development and practical recommendations for integrating temporary reuse of real estate into social circular economy frameworks. Societally, it underscores the potential for collaborative temporary use to foster circular urban transformation by balancing economic goals with community-driven social value creation.

Background and aim. Adaptive reuse enhances circularity by repurposing buildings, reducing carbon emissions, and preserving heritage. However, decision-making is complex due to stakeholder conflicts, regulations, and uncertainties. This study introduces an integrated framework combining Cross-Impact Balance (CIB) analysis, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Fuzzy-TOPSIS to support structured, participatory decision-making.

Methods and Data. A mixed-method approach integrates CIB for scenario development, AHP for stakeholder-driven prioritization, and Fuzzy-TOPSIS for ranking reuse scenarios. A hypothetical case study demonstrates the framework’s applicability.

Findings. The integration of CIB, AHP, and Fuzzy-TOPSIS provides a structured decision-making approach that enhances scenario coherence, aligns decisions with stakeholder priorities, and improves scenario ranking robustness. The framework enables systematic exploration of adaptive reuse scenarios, ensuring alignment with stakeholder objectives.

Theoretical / Practical / Societal implications. Theoretically, this study advances scenario-based decision-making by integrating scenario development and decision-making approaches, addressing gaps in adaptive reuse decision frameworks. Practically, it provides policymakers, urban planners, and developers with a structured tool to navigate complex decision-making in adaptive reuse projects. Societally, it supports sustainable and inclusive urban development by fostering consistent, long-term strategies that balance environmental, economic, and social considerations.

This report is a visionary compass for achieving the ambitious goal of Sustainable Plus Energy Neighbourhoods (SPENs). The document lays out a multi-actor framework from cutting-edge technological solutions to policy frameworks and financing strategies and provides strategic directions and best practices to scale up sustainable urban solutions. [...]

Circular and adaptable strategies in building reuse are key to achieving a resource-efficient and future-proof built environment. Despite significant advances in circular building research, this field is affected by a significant theory–practice gap. To bridge this gap, we applied an action design research methodology, implementing a circular building design framework over a five-month period in the context of a Dutch monumental office building reuse. The objective of these interventions was to observe practitioners engaging with the framework and identify the barriers they encountered when considering and applying circular building strategies. We observed that the framework primarily functioned as a descriptive tool. Enhancing its usability and effectiveness required several refinements, including simplifying its self-description, clarifying its strategies through practical solutions and connections to related models, providing robust assessment tools, and improving its accessibility. Through iterative action research conducted during the observation and intervention period, we addressed these issues and advanced the framework. Our design-oriented approach led to the development of key design artifacts: a prescriptive guiding, assessment, and reporting tool; a stepwise approach to streamline application; and a hands-on worksheet for practitioners. These artifacts were integrated into a user-friendly platform, transforming the framework into a practical tool for real-world implementation. For theory, this study incorporates a circular perspective into a usable framework and demonstrates how an action design research approach can co-develop and improve frameworks and their usability and relevance. For practice, the produced artifacts represent boundary objects tailored to practitioners’ needs; thereby paving the way for future circular adaptive reuse. Clinical trial number: not applicable.

Barbie is a polarizing cultural icon. Over the last 60 years, the doll represented feminism’s greatest advances and worst challenges. Fans lauded Barbie for inspiring creativity and opportunity among generations of young girls, while foes criticized her unattainable, sexualized body, dependency on male attention, and excessive consumerist inspiration. Greta Gerwig inherited this ongoing controversy when agreeing to write and direct the Barbie movie. Would Gerwig animate admirers or succumb to foes? [...]

Despite the significant growth of the literature on adaptive reuse, little is known about the specific criteria unfolding throughout the different phases of the adaptive reuse decision-making process. To address this gap this paper aims to provide a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the decision criteria for adaptive reuse throughout the adaptive reuse process. Through an integrative literature review with a systematic search strategy, three phases are substantiated: pre-project phase, preparation phase, and post-completion phase. This paper finds that despite the similarities between the different phases, with a predominant repetition of economic and architectural categories, more specific environmental decision criteria are still overlooked. The findings underscore the necessity for additional research on circularity within the adaptive reuse process, emphasizing the significance of the often overlooked implementation phase, crucial for practices like disassembly. By offering a novel process perspective on AR decision-making, this study contributes to the growing discourse on adaptive reuse and provides a basis for further enhancement of AR decision-making frameworks.

Wanneer een gebouw leeg komt te staan, worden vastgoedontwikkelaars, investeerders en eigenaren geconfronteerd met uiteenlopende eisen: in sommige gevallen is er grote behoefte aan snel financieel rendement, in andere gevallen vormt het behoud van historische waarden een uitdaging die maatregelen op het gebied van energie-efficiëntie bemoeilijkt. Dit heeft op de lange termijn negatieve gevolgen voor de Nederlandse vastgoedmarkt: het tempo van de energierenovatie ligt te laag en moet dringend worden verhoogd. Dit hoofdstuk introduceert een paradoxaal perspectief op de uitdagingen en tegengestelde belangen die de energietransitie blijven belemmeren. Een paradoxale benadering erkent dat deze spanningen onderling samenhangen en aanhoudend zijn. Een compromis is niet wenselijk, omdat het negeren van tegengestelde belangen tot negatieve onbedoelde gevolgen leidt. Dit hoofdstuk geeft ten eerste een overzicht van enkele van de belangrijkste uitdagingen die relevant zijn voor het bereiken van energie-efficiëntie bij de transformatie van bestaande gebouwen. Vervolgens wordt de paradoxtheorie belicht en de daaruit voorkomende benaderingen. Een paradoxperspectief is relevant voor zowel onderzoekers en managers die moeten omgaan met concurrerende eisen, als voor ontwerpers die paradoxen kunnen gebruiken als drijvende kracht om creatieve oplossingen te vinden.

The transition to zero emission and energy positive buildings, neighbourhoods and communities is key to unlocking the EU's climate and energy ambitions by transforming both new and existing buildings into drivers of decarbonisation. This ambition is also reflected in the recent recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EBPD1), which will be transposed to national legislation by the Member States by the end of May 2026.

Despite increasing maturity of the currently known enabling technologies, significant financial barriers hinder realising this potential at the necessary speed and scale. To address these challenges, several innovative demonstration projects have been developed across Europe as part of the EU’s research and innovation funding programmes.

To that ambition, this paper puts forward 10 key policy recommendations for national and regional policy makers for overcoming financial barriers for building renovation and transforming existing buildings into zero emission or positive energy neighbourhoods by 2050. The recommendations are based on experiences and learnings from 8 research and innovations projects in Europe, including 33 demonstration sites around Europe. While the EPBD covers both new buildings and building renovation, these projects and following recommendations made, largely focus on building renovation and transforming existing buildings into zero-emission or positive energy neighbourhoods.

The paper also presents a stakeholder matrix of key built environment actors in building renovation towards zero emission or positive energy buildings and neighbourhoods by 2050. The matrix presents the drivers, barriers and needs of each group to broaden the understanding of what needs to be regulated and who needs to be incentivised.

Over the past two decades, research promoting a sustainable built environment has pioneered new horizons to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Yet, these efforts are suffering from a significant theory-practice divide. This article offers three interconnected research themes to bridge this gap: 1. Distinguishing circularity practices across spatial and time scales; 2. Redesigning the value of design and its process; and 3. Learning from sister transitions for acceleration.

The built environment plays a crucial role in the ongoing challenge of climate change, primarily through resource consumption, energy use, and contributions to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As urbanization accelerates, the environmental footprint of construction and building operations has grown significantly. Currently, buildings account for 40% of the world’s waste, 40% of material resource use, and 33% of human-induced emissions.

Angela Greco, assistant professor of innovation management at TU Delft, and Andrea Kerstens, a TNO scientist and PhD candidate in innovation management at TU Delft, draw on their experience with Syn.ikia, an EU-funded Innovation Living Lab for positive-energy building districts that leverage energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Digital innovations like digital twins have been essential to unlocking positive-energy districts. For instance, digital twins that combine physical models of buildings and AI models of user behavior allow building districts to predict and optimize usage of excess solar energy. Their article presents three lessons learned from the project.

The literature on business model innovation for sustainability is contradictory about the mechanisms unfolding in the context of organizational hybridity. Existing hybrid organizations are put under pressure to transform their business model to meet new social and environmental goals while ensuring financial sustainability. However, organizations with a strong social mission might be reluctant to change, having structured their business model to meet a particular social goal. Through an ethnographic study at a Dutch social housing association introducing an energy-neutral house as a new product, we investigate the key stages and enabling mechanisms for a sustainable business model change in which the social and environmental logics are conflicting. We analyze the underlying causal mechanisms in the process of business model innovation for sustainability. We show that the mechanisms responsible for organizational inertia in its conventional (negative) connotation, may in fact enable the intended positive and enduring social and environmental goals over time.

In recent years, numerous public and private organizations have collaborated to address societal challenges through mission-driven innovation. Despite the many initiatives started with to tackle these challenges, many fail to achieve the impact they ought to deliver. Collaboration leaders frequently struggle to comprehend the complexity of their problem contexts deeply, hindering the development of effective solution strategies. Furthermore, the contexts and ecosystems of these mission-driven collaborations vary significantly. For instance, the shift to preventive healthcare presents different challenges compared to transitioning to a processing industry capable of managing periods of abundant renewable electrical energy. This study identifies various dimensions that can help delineate the complexity of these problems. These dimensions include convergent or divergent views on problems and solutions, ecosystem structure, stakeholder complexity, and stakeholder interdependence.

The realization of sustainable plus energy neighborhoods (SPENs) is key to achieving a carbon neutral built environment, and meeting the objectives of the green deal. Financial schemes have demonstrated effectiveness in driving the energy transition of individual buildings. However, the role of financial schemes in initiating the development of SPENs remains unclear. This study aims to address this research gap by investigating the extent to which existing financial schemes support the technological advancements and stakeholders involved in SPEN realization. The focus is on four European countries: Austria, The Netherlands, Norway, and Spain, where noteworthy SPEN initiatives have been established. This study investigates whether and how financial schemes facilitate SPEN development and address the neighborhood-level dynamics. Our research used a mixed-methods approach comprising a literature review, case studies, and interviews. Our findings shed light on two significant barriers within current schemes. Firstly, the schemes rarely incentivize collective energy sharing and may inadvertently impede individuals’ prosumerism. Secondly, they primarily favor individuals capable of making upfront capital investments, rendering them inaccessible to a large portion of European citizens. By identifying these limitations, our study highlights the need for policy adjustments and innovative financial mechanisms to overcome the barriers hindering SPEN implementation. Moreover, our research contributes to the broader understanding of sustainable urban development and offers insights that extend beyond the examined countries, aiding policymakers and stakeholders in other regions facing similar challenges.

The fields of sustainability and entrepreneurship share their dynamic processes, their high degree of uncertainty and complexity, and their endeavor on systemic impact. These inherent characteristics call researchers to engage in action research. Action research equips researchers with unique tools to navigate the volatility and complexity of sustainable entrepreneurship while simultaneously fostering its purpose and uncovering new theoretical insights. Yet, action research efforts fostering sustainable entrepreneurship are still emergent, and the mutual affinity between sustainable entrepreneurship and action research is still seldom addressed in the literature and often confused with other forms of collaborative knowledge production and problem-solving such as co-creation and consulting. In this chapter, we discuss the central principles of this form of academic knowledge production, their practices, and implications for sustainable entrepreneurship. We begin by defining action research and its unique methodological features. We then highlight research practices to address two fundamental but overlooked aspects of action research: value reciprocity and impact temporality. We illustrate these aspects by providing two cases of action research in a sustainable entrepreneurship context. This chapter offers directions for the researcher embarking into action research journeys aimed at fostering sustainable entrepreneurship.

Acknowledging the fundamental role of financing opportunities, this report (D.6.5) has multiple goals. First, D6.5 is aimed at providing an overview of the financial mechanisms, schemes, and resources that could play a role in accelerating the implementation of sustainable plus energy neighbourhoods (SPENs) across the four different countries in which the demo sites are situated. Second, it strives to propose a strategy to attract investors to realize the innovation(s) needed in a SPEN. And third, it consists of policy recommendations regarding the barriers and opportunities of the available financial schemes. These elements are particularly important for the realization of SPENs, since it is widely acknowledged that many investors, both public and private, are looking for new green and sustainable investment opportunities but these are often challenging to pursue due to the stakeholder diversity and complexity of innovations involved in the realization of a SPEN.

Innovation contests are increasingly used by businesses as an instrument for open innovation to address sustainability related questions. However, according to the open innovation literature, one of the main pitfalls of this approach can be the mismatch between the solutions proposed by non-experts and the companies’ capabilities to implement such solutions. We introduce the concept of collaborative innovation contests – where companies actively collaborate with non-experts – as a way to address this mismatch. Through participant observations, we analyse the process of a sustainability-oriented collaborative innovation contest guided by design-thinking. Our results indicated that the combination of an open innovation contest and design thinking could, through the creation of constant feedback loops, lead to increased collaboration between the contests participants, the companies proposing a challenge, and other relevant stakeholders. However, our results also highlighted trade-offs between the innovativeness of ideas, the alignment of solutions with firm capabilities and the resources needed for collaborative innovation contests. We conclude that, through the involvement of different stakeholders, their ideas and perspectives, collaborative innovation contests are a useful approach to generate a comprehensive understanding of the sustainability challenges companies face.

Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, and resilient implies addressing numerous interdependent — often conflicting — sustainability demands. A paradoxical approach to these demands suggests finding synergies among these conflicts in order to achieve successful sustainable outcomes. Drawing on participatory action research (PAR), we highlight specific synergies and possible unintended consequences of efforts associated with meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, “Sustainable Cities and Communities.” The context of this research is energy interventions by social housing associations in the Netherlands. This context highlights the overlap and interaction of complex challenges, such as increasing poverty, refugee shelters, and aging population. We identify and explain four sustainability paradoxes: planning, involvement, impact, and performance. The understanding of these paradoxes can inform organizations and urban planners’ strategic choices for environmental and social interventions. With this chapter, we join the debate on the unsustainability of sustainability efforts in urban planning, suggesting that the recognition of these paradoxes can help to mitigate the risk of unintended consequences.

This role-playing exercise aims to tackle issues related to inter-organizational collaboration to scale up innovations. The role-playing experience helps learners discover, appreciate, and learn to govern inherent tensions in inter-organizational collaboration. The exercise is set in the Canadian auto parts industry, which could benefit tremendously from more sophisticated robotic technology to assist the manufacturing process. The role play asks learners to engage in an inter-organizational collaboration agreement. Each participant will represent a company whose in-house knowledge, resources or capabilities can contribute to developing a robot.