In this thesis, research is conducted regarding the design of various platforms and systems dealing with trust. Four Principles of Trust are extracted from this research. A way of increasing trust within diverse societies was designed based on these four principles. This design is the Familiar Stranger system. This system provides civilians the opportunity to tune in to each others music, hereby increasing the perceived similarities of people from all walks of life.

The current ‘take, make, waste’ linear economy has caused many ecological and social problems; that’s why the circular economy aims to close the loop so businesses can thrive while natural resources sustain and regenerate. Metabolic, a sustainability consultancy that helps clients transition towards the circular economy, recognizes that a circular product can only exist within a properly functioning circular system. Therefore, they adopt system thinking, a thinking skill that perceives parts of a more extensive system as intertwined components rather than independent entities (da Costa Junior et al. 2019), with science-based analysis in their project work. However, collaborations between stakeholders are essential to achieve systemic changes since they might all hold different values, interests, and world views on a system. Metabolic’s current ‘science-based system thinking’ methods can be improved by engaging and building upon those collaborations. Systemic design provides frameworks and methods to create a shared understanding that mutual agreement can emerge among actions to be taken. Besides, designers’ ability and methods to synthesize, visualize, and create can complement system thinking in co-creating circular economy solutions among stakeholders. Therefore, this graduation project explores how systemic design and other design methods could help improve Metabolic’s circular system design process. The outcome of this project is a Circular system design process with multiple sessions, activities, and tools developed for Metabolic to apply in their future projects. Additionally, a guidebook (Ch. 5) was written for Metabolic members to learn and get the essential preparation for adopting the tools.

In 2014, the National Archaeological Anthropological Memory Management Foundation (NAAM) was commissioned by the Bonairean government (OLB) to realize a permanent museum exhibition on the ground floor of the Passanggrahan building. The exhibition is to be based on the (historic) city center of Kralendijk. Being that the realization of this museum is still in its beginning stages, the opportunity arose to create a proposal for said museum from an interaction designer’s perspective in cooperation with the MuseumFutures Graduation Lab of the TU Delft. The aim of this project is to design this museum from a bottom-up approach, starting with a better understanding of the Bonairean context and community. Research Objectives In exploring the realm of the “museum of the future”, it is crucial to understand the more abstract concepts like culture, heritage and relevance, because these concepts directly relate to the values of the community, which should be reflected in the values of institutions. Yet more often than not, as design engineers, the digital and the interactive take the focus of this new frontier. With this in mind, the aim of this research is to gain insights on the needs and concerns of the Bonairean community regarding cultural heritage. These insights form the basis for the design statement of a new museum concept. Research questions In line with the objective of this thesis, the following research questions have been formulated: 1. What role, regarding cultural heritage, should/could the museum play in the Bonairean community? 2. How to make cultural heritage relevant to the Bonairean youth? Sub questions: • What is cultural heritage and how do you design for it? • What do Bonaireans want and need in a museum? • What can be learned from existing heritage institutions on Bonaire? Approach Literature research as well as context observations and interviews with key figures in cultural heritage management and social events on Bonaire formed the foundation for answering the main research questions. Nina Simon’s work on participation and relevance (Simon, 2010; Simon, 2016) helped structure the approach in addressing participation and the youth aspect of this project. Additionally, other documents in legislation and policy regarding heritage management (Eilandsraad Bonaire, 2010) and cultural development (De Geus, 2016), as well as architectural views on tangible heritage (Meurs, 2016), shed light on an ethical approach to designing for cultural heritage. These insights helped formulate the problem definition and design statement that formed the base for the ideation and conceptualisation phase. As a method for evaluation of the final concept, the ‘Cards for Culture: Museum Edition’ toolkit was utilised. This gave insight into responsibilities of different stakeholders in implementing this museum concept. Concluding this report, i adress the original research objectives and give an example as to how the concept could be implemented. Throughout this project, in the research phase and the resulting final concept, the concept of a bottom-up approach was integral.

The global energy transition presents significant challenges for large consumers, particularly business owners on business parks. These challenges often exceed the capabilities of individual businesses, necessitating collective approaches such as Smart Energy Hubs (SEHs) that enable resource, cost, and expertise sharing. However, many SEH collaborations encounter difficulties in initiating or sustaining a network. This research project aims to identify barriers to collaboration and explore the mindset of actors involved in SEHs, seeking to understand their perceptions of risks and motivations to participate. Through a comprehensive literature review, interviews with current SEH initiatives, and engagement with relevant experts, this research project provides valuable insights into the barriers and opportunities within SEH collaborations. It becomes evident that the formation phase of SEHs is particularly complex, requiring the involvement of diverse actors and roles. Business owners often have a negative mindset, emphasising risks rather than recognising the potential benefits of collaboration. The value proposition of SEHs is not always apparent to them, leading to a lack of enthusiasm for engagement. Furthermore, valuable learnings from existing SEHs are often not effectively shared, limiting the collective knowledge of the community and hindering progress. To address these challenges, the Smart Energy Hub GPS guide is introduced. It aims to counteract the negative mindset of business owners by visually demonstrating the value of SEHs. It fosters learning through a knowledge-sharing infrastructure. The GPS guide effectively communicates the urgency of collaboration, emphasises the advantages of collective efforts in addressing energy challenges, and provides guidance for taking the initial steps in setting up SEH collaborations. By clarifying expectations and presenting the value proposition of SEHs, the GPS guide strives to enhance the willingness of business owners to actively participate in SEH initiatives. This research project highlights the fundamental issues encountered during the formation stage of SEHs, hindering effective collaboration. It addresses the need for visual tools and knowledge-sharing networks to shift the mindset of business owners and foster effective and successful SEH collaborations. The proposed strategy for implementing the GPS guide offers a clear pathway to enhance collaboration, bridging the gap between energy challenges and effective collaborative solutions. Ultimately, this research underscores the significance of collaboration in driving the transition to a cleaner and more resilient energy future.

The ECO coin is a new currency that values sustainable behaviour. This projects aim was to integrate the ECO coin into the festival environment, emphasizing on the users needs. Finally a system was created which allows users to trace their impact, teaches them about sustainability and fits their festival needs.

The imperative to address climate change has led to a critical need for transformation within the Dutch energy system. Recent efforts have focused on decentralisation and innovative technologies to steer towards a fossil-free future. Hydrogen energy emerges as a pivotal contender with potential benefits at all societal levels. This study delves into the emergence of small-scale hydrogen networks (SHNs), localised systems serving specific regions or communities. Amidst the prominence of large-scale projects, these smaller endeavours play a pivotal, yet often overlooked, role in realizing the energy transition. However, understanding these sociotechnical systems remains challenging due to the early stages of the hydrogen transition and limited research on small-scale integration. Utilizing a qualitative interpretive research approach, this thesis uncovers contextual factors influencing SHN formation. Following a problem-focused design science research strategy, the study outlines the three pillars of SHNs - technology, actors, and institutional landscape - with a focus on the Goeree-Overflakkee case. Insights into barriers and enablers for SHN formation are pivotal. The value chain, categorised into upstream (production), midstream (storage and transportation), and downstream (usage), is explored. Furthermoe, actor analysis is employed to identify, categorise, and analyse roles and interrelations. Williamson's four-layer model is applied to examine the institutional landscape. Results highlight significant barriers, including regulatory gaps, negative business cases, and limited capacities. Complex actor interactions, financial constraints, and expertise shortages further impede progress. Enablers such as an innovative organisational culture, synergy creation, and vital local government support emerge as critical facilitators. The study emphasises the significance of incremental steps, adaptive management, and flexible legal frameworks in integrating SHNs. Through a lens of technology, actors, and institutional context, this research provides valuable insights into SHN enablers and barriers in the Dutch context.

This project tackled two research questions for separate clients. The first question was posed by Livework, a service design agency, which wanted to learn how systemic design principles can be applied in projects aimed at organisational sustainability transformations. The second client, Juvenile Company, a company that designs and manufactures strollers and other juvenile products, wanted to figure out what their relationship with customers and business partners should look like to reach their sustainability goals by 2035. Through a series of analyses and co-creative design activities, I discovered two key factors that might serve as an opportunity or barrier in Juvenile Company’s transition towards a more sustainable future: the relationship between parent and stroller in the current system and Juvenile Company’s culture of product innovation through design. Using context mapping, insight into the value exchanges between parent and stroller over time were captured. This led to identifying three distinct phases of value creation tied to a child’s developmental stages. It was found that the value implicitly delivered by the stroller over these developmental stages is the core value proposition of Juvenile Company. It was found that Juvenile Company’s current strategy of revenue growth through product innovation is at odds with its sustainability goals. To achieve its sustainability goals, Juvenile Company must rely on qualitative innovation, rather than quantitative, to drive revenue growth. Using the input from all research, a vision statement was formulated that describes the possibility space of Juvenile Company’s future innovation. “Juvenile Company empowers parents and their children to explore the world by providing value beyond products that adapts to parents’ changing needs without compromising the future needs of their children.” A design strategy concept was created to describe what a circular Juvenile Company will need to look like to be fully circular. The concept consists of four elements that build on one another. At the deepest layer sits a new mental model: a culture of innovation through qualitative value creation. To create qualitative value, on the next layer up we find a reframed version of the core value proposition discovered through the context mapping research. Juvenile Company focuses on developing value explicitly for the three developmental stages identified. To guide the development of this value, three core vision principles were developed: Value beyond products, Adapting to changing needs and Dependable guide. To further illustrate these vision principles, thirteen key propositions were designed that help shape what the relationship between parents and Juvenile Company could look like in the future. This strategy was conceptualised through two deliverables: a parent-Juvenile Company relationship journey map that describes how the key elements to the relationship interlink, and a children’s book that describes the story of how one family’s relationship with Juvenile Company develops over time. Through constant reflection over the course of this process, key insight was created into how Livework designers can implement systemic design principles in organisational sustainability transformation projects. A knowledge gap was identified, consisting of three layers that each describe a different type of knowledge Livework designers must acquire. Additionally, it was found that a major difficulty in applying systemic design principles will be adopting an ecosystemic design lens that focuses equally on human and non-human participants of a system. Further implications and opportunities were identified that might shape how Livework approaches design projects.

The Philippines is a country where most of the human settlements are on the coast. Rapid urbanisation caused by economic development and annual population increment affects the housing situation in the country. In addition, climate change has increased the prevalence of natural disasters, such as floods, typhoons, rising sea levels, tidal movement, and heavy rainfall. In the city of Hagonoy, citizens struggle with the effects of natural disasters, particularly in housing conditions. Typically, locals employ ad-hoc solutions suchlike raising the dwelling one floor higher every few years, which is a costly and inefficient solution in the long term. The Filipino society is a close-knit ecosystem formed by different stakeholders with contrasting interests and needs. When combining the stakeholders with the increasing environmental pressures, it becomes an even more complex problem. This thesis presents an exploration in implementing long-lasting solutions in coastal rural areas to form resilient communities in the light of the arising problems. A holistic approach is necessary to generate a neighbourhood that corresponds to the living conditions and resists natural hazards. Firstly, literature and historical research were done to study the events that generated the current society. Secondly, participatory design sessions involved the end-user in the designing process and explored their daily needs. Then these insights were brought together in a system map of people, elements and spaces, and a city map, visualising locals' desires for the future community and analysing the solution space. Finally, the co-design of a floating neighbourhood was conceptualised based on an existing pilot floating home and the required living conditions. The generated hybrid neighbourhood shows potential to create a resilient neighbourhood where the citizens' desires are placed in the middle of the community planning. Accessibility, sociability and incrementality attributes were perceived as vital to ensuring social acceptance. The neighbourhood extension illustrates the community's possibility to grow and increment in a non-invasive manner while respecting the dynamics of the existing city. On this basis, the concept of co-creating a hybrid neighbourhood should be considered when designing resilient communities in coastal rural areas in the Philippines and countries under similar circumstances

For innovation to happen, organisations must design environments - internal and externally. This demands identification, analysis and reflection of external developments in relation to the creation of appropriate processes, structures, culture and vision within the organisation. Within this context, Board of Innovation, an independent business design and innovation firm, is willing to undertake a transformation that prepares them for the present and future challenges of the world; aspiring to become a thriving Strategy and Innovation firm. This Master Thesis presents a journey of exploration through the internal and external environments in which the organisation operates and provides with new organisational processes that will reshape the present and the future of Board of Innovation; strategically creating new structures that focus on the learning experience of current and new employees of the organisation.

This thesis presents experiments to integrate design practices for organisational change in a non-profit organisation in Brazil that contributes to the sustainable development of the Amazon rainforest region. The organisation that hosted this project is the Foundation for Amazon Sustainability (FAS). It is a civil society organisation that develops and implements environmental, social and economic projects within 16 Protected Areas for Sustainable Use and Manaus in the northern region. FAS aims to improve people’s quality of life by enhancing the socio-economic benefits of the forest and its biodiversity by disseminating sustainable practices and empowering local communities. Their work comprehends a wide range of activities, from giving technical support and mobilising resources to engage and influence public policy to support long-term sustainable development. This thesis initiated exploring how design can propose a human-centred process when the organisation is involved in policy-making matters. A literature research on design for policy and design value for organisation supported the project approach. The project followed a non-linear process and three guiding principles: collaboration, visual communication and experimentation. The work was carried out in two main streams: (A) supporting the FAS Public Policy team to redesign their involvement with policy-making matters; (B) disseminating designerly thinking and methods among the FAS workforce. The first stream started with several experiments that supported the redefinition of the problem. Then the focus turned to developing and testing methods to co-create an advocacy vision for the organisation. The second stream comprehends the development of workshops to introduce basic design ideas and give a hands-on experience on the design process. Both streams inspired interest in how design, especially its human-centredness nature, enhances FAS internal processes and supports delivering better services to the communities. This thesis presents the design practices that enhance the organisation’s work and the challenges of conducting a project remotely. Finally, the project gives recommendations to enable the adoption of design practices among the organisation workforce, such as making the departments boundaries more permeable, having management level support, and setting the environment and resources. In conclusion, the project contributed to the Public Policy team to view their work from a more integrated perspective with other departments. In addition, design practices such as creating artefacts and interactive meetings contributed to a positive work experience and collaboration. Following a non-linear process revealed to be more adaptable than traditional FAS project planning and the design human-centred nature was the most relatable to the organisation. Design practice involves, more than methods, tools and processes, finding ways to engage and propose action-oriented meetings that provoke critical questions. Finally, designers do not hold the solution to complex problems, such as sustainable development in the Amazon, but rather act as enablers in bringing diverse experts and people with lived experiences to build a more inclusive future.

The building construction industry is generally known as a procedural project with linear workflow and a traditional mindset. When a disruptive technology arises, the clients and partners face the challenge to understand the technology. In addition, their willingness to change is low. PHYSEE, a technology company that offers smart engineering solutions for the global energy transition, wants to create an impact on the energy problem in the industry. As a technology-based scale-up company, PHYSEE has less power to influence the stakeholders in the market because they are in the development phase of their business.This master thesis aims to create an engagement with the stakeholders to embrace the new technology. The project is to investigate “What is the impact to the construction industry workflow (in this case facade industry)? How does the technology benefit their business?” Because of that, the main question for this graduation project is: "How could Physee communicate their strategy, value, and structure to the stakeholders and engage them in the process?" The project process is very iterative using the Design Method by adapting the Double Diamond Service Design (British Design Council). Within the research phase of this research project, a literature review and qualitative research were carried out. Then, the analysis is conducted using some tools and co-creation is conducted to gather ideas. Two problems are identified: information presentation and managing stakeholders’ expectations. A design goal was created to solve these issues where Physee will design a service to inform the updated knowledge to stakeholders in a customized and collaborative way. The solution is called Physee Insight. The overarching strategy is divided into three main focuses: 1.) Enabling the knowledge source; 2.) Adaptive & modular knowledge; 3.) Showing competencies to larger audiences. Within the solution, there are 6 different ideas to achieve Physee’s goal. The goal is to connect Physee and the world. The proposed strategy enables PHYSEE to speed up the process of engaging stakeholders, scaling up the information update in an easier way, and providing user-centric information.

The current food system stimulates unhealthy food choices and is a major contributor to environmental pressures. To improve this situation, an integrated approach is necessary, where we take into account the different actors in the food environment and how each of these can contribute to a more healthy and sustainable society. Although change needs to happen on a world-wide scale, this project contributes by case studying a small piece of it: Hillesluis, a low SES neighbourhood in Rotterdam. Rotterdam is one of the most unhealthy cities in the Netherlands, and low socioeconomic status (SES) neighbourhoods have the highest priority for change as these low-income groups are more often exposed to and vulnerable to the conditions that are associated with poorer dietary outcomes. With more than 55% of the adults, and more than one in three kids being overweight, we can also see this trend in Hillesluis. The poor dietary intake of low-income groups can be presented as an outcome of a complex adaptive system that sustains a food environment that increases accessibility, availability, affordability and acceptability of unhealthy foods. In order to reshape system dynamics, simultaneous, diverse and innovative strategies are needed to facilitate improvement of availability, affordability, accessibility and acceptability of healthier food (Sawyer et al., 2021). To determine a suitable strategy, I studied the local food system in Hillesluis and discovered opportunities and barriers for progress. I did this through literature as well as field research. In the field, I met residents, food retailers and other stakeholders who were eager to contribute to a healthier neighbourhood. The design goal I derived from analysing the gained insights is as follows: “Design an experience that introduces families in Hillesluis to healthier cooking”. To pursue this design goal, I designed a combination of two interventions that together contribute to a healthier food environment in Hillesluis. The core of the concept is ‘De Familiekeuken’, a workshop series where parents and their children learn to cook healthier meals in a social setting, guided by a specialised chef. The goal is that acquired knowledge and skills are eventually implemented in their daily life and their cooking activities at home, so that a healthier diet is established. Besides the workshops, I also propose to increase the amount of physical stimuli of healthy food in the neighbourhood. Through the application of street art, people passing by can get inspired to open up the conversation about healthy food or to make a healthier choice today. Together, these interventions touch upon the different layers of the food environment and in that way increase the availability, accessibility, affordability and acceptability of healthy food. A first validation of the concept confirmed a positive intention towards implementation on the stakeholders’ side as well as enthusiasm for participation on the residents’ side. It is expected that this project and implementation of the concept will inspire actions towards a healthier food environment in Hillesluis. With the gained insights and solution I hope to inspire action in other low SES neighbourhoods as well.

The challenges of today’s world don’t restrict to borders, specific industries or fields of expertise as linear development models may suggest. In order for development to react in a synchronized manner to capture the complexity of these crises, a transition has been initiated within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the way of doing development, called the portfolio approach. An approach that agrees with the statement Rittel en Webber (1973) that finding the solution to a problem is similar to understanding the nature of the issue. The goal of the new approach, developed by the Strategic Innovation Unit (SIU) of the UNDP is to move from linear project planning to a more systemic and holistic way of working within the discipline. This report follows the online journey of an UNDP team into this new way of doing and discussing development. The journey did not go without hurdles, both external factors, political dynamics and organization hierarchy, and internal factors, adjusting to a new mindset and communication manner, influenced the learning process of the team. Observations of these dynamics has led to an intervention in the domain of communication within the portfolio realm in order to socialize the principles of systemic approaches and bring the team closer to the challenge of concern by discussing its subjective stories. The powers of the universal and context dependent characteristics of physical objects is taken as a starting point. They functioned as a boundary object, a concept that facilitates collaboration between different groups and stakeholders adjusted to different social worlds (Star & Griesemer, 1989) and steers conversation to facilitate connection in the domain of complexity. Experiments with a variety of UNDP members explored the possibilities of the objects. The unusual objects found during this research have proven to spark new information streams and offer specific insights on the subject matter. The project’s accumulated in an elaborate workshop designed to guide CO teams to explore tangible objects in their domain. The objects collected by the team in the workshop serve as valuable tools for the team’s internal collaborations and externalizing perspectives. Utilizing physical objects to achieve this, aims to accelerate engagement, foster recognition and enable context-specific conversations, reinforcing the statements of both the necessity of a portfolio approach and its systemic nature. The project aims to provide fresh perspectives on the transition to a portfolio approach and its communication strategies, contributing to the research on effective implementation and integration of the portfolio approach within UNDP teams. The report presents a practical and an alternative conversation starter on the systemic aspects of the approach in order to facilitate engagement with the approach and emphasize a deeper (personal) involvement of the participants.