Urban heat stress is an increasing challenge in Dutch cities such as Delft. This heat in urban areas is largely due to the extensive presence of paved surfaces. A substantial proportion of these paved surfaces is located within private gardens. Therefore, this thesis focuses on increasing vegetation in private gardens in Delft. Two paved neighbourhoods are central. Voordijkshoorn, a highly educated, high-earning neighbourhood and Afrikabuurt-West a average educated, average- to lower- earning neighbourhood.

The ecological and social benefits of urban vegetation are well recognised; however, a significant intention-action gap exists among garden owners regarding greening practices. This graduation project follows a research-for-design approach to bridge this gap by developing a strategy for the Municipality of Delft and Klimaatmaat. Through a systematic literature review, door-to-door surveys in two diverse neighbourhoods (Afrikabuurt-West and Voordijkshoorn), and expert interviews, the study identified key drivers such as biodiversity and joy, alongside major barriers including maintenance, costs, and a lack of gardening skills.

Comparing these drivers and barriers with existing municipal policies revealed gaps in practical support for garden maintenance and emotional motivation, like the joy of butterflies, birds, and bees in a green garden. These findings informed the design of the final strategy. The campaign 'More Life in Your Garden', integrates a brochure featuring five low-maintenance, biodiverse garden plans with a proposed green subsidy.

This strategy is tested based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, which indicated that the intervention creates a strong positive attitude and high perceived behavioural control among residents of both neighbourhoods. However, the intention to act varied significantly per neighbourhood, remaining neutral in lower-income areas while being high in more affluent ones. These findings suggest that while the strategy successfully bridges the intention-action gap for some, future iterations must further address this gap for others who are not socially and economically advantaged, in order to green private gardens equitably and effectively, and thereby reduce heat stress in Delft. ... Read more

This thesis explores how TUI can improve its online accommodation booking experience in the context of a changing tourism industry, including TUI’s implementation of its dynamic accommodation model. This model lets TUI offer a larger range of accommodations though third party providers, increasing their dynamic stability and reducing financial risk. This new model also results in a more complex booking environment for customers, especially couples. That is because they not only compare many options but also align preferences, communicate with each other, and make decisions together.

The project direction of this thesis is focused on a relevant challenge. Namely, that couples often struggle to come together and make decisions about their vacations together. Booking together as a couple proves to be a collaborative process, including lots of time pressure, fragmented communication, and difficulty maintaining an overview. TUI’s current digital booking platform is focused on the individual, meaning it does not give the support needed for shared decision-making.

The research done during this project was conducted following the double diamond process and combined literature research together with qualitative methods. During the discovery phase, seven couples were asked to map out their current booking process. Giving a better understanding of the current booking scenario of couples. This was concluded into a customer journey, displaying that the largest pain point was finding time to physically sit together and make decisions. The second finding was that couples were overwhelmed by the amount of accommodations they had to choose from, and comparing them. Research also showed that in the current scenario, certain psychological needs were not adequately supported.

Based on these insights, the final concept was developed, TUItogether. TUItogether is a digital platform integrated into TUI’s existing app that works as a shared planning environment for couples. It lets partners link their accounts, explore accommodations independently, communicate with each other, and make decisions together in a structured way. The concept's focus is on reducing friction between partners, supporting asynchronous collaboration, improving the overview, and finally increasing the confidence of the couple after they have made their final decisions.

The concept was validated with three couples and internally with an employee of TUI. The couples responded positively, saying they found the concept to be clear, organized, and supported then to make decisions together about accommodations. TUI also saw strategic value in the concept, especially the opportunity to increase app engagement and strengthen its app as a key touchpoint. While the concept was seen as realistic and valuable, further technical validation is still required.

Overall, this thesis concludes that improving the online accommodation booking experience for couples requires a digital environment that supports them in navigating complex decisions together. TUItogether offers them a way to do so.
... Read more

An exploration of social value creation within the Bieb der Dingen, a professionally managed network of lending stations.

Abstract (Platte tekst, max. 500 woorden)
- The municipality of Amsterdam is currently exploring the development of the Bieb der Dingen, a professionally managed network of lending stations. At these stations residents can borrow tools and household items that are typically used infrequently for a small fee. This thesis focuses on how the Bieb der Dingen can be designed to strengthen the social value of the service, as social value, alongside sustainability, is considered an important pillar of the concept.

However, the current service concept is based on an online reservation system combined with self-service lockers, which creates the risk that the service becomes increasingly transactional. As a result, the social value of sharing may diminish. At the same time, municipal policy, which is crucial for the continuation of the project, together with co-creation sessions with residents, show that social value is highly valued. This creates a tension between the professional setup of the service and the ambition to create social value.

Initially, this thesis explored collaboration with local initiatives as a way to strengthen social value. However, the research process revealed that the core challenge lies not only in collaboration, but also in how the service itself is designed. This led to the following design challenge:
How can the professional system of the Bieb der Dingen be designed in such a way that it is experienced as sharing together in the neighbourhood?

Based on literature research and co-creation sessions with residents, social design criteria were formulated to guide the concept development. Through a series of ideation exersices, including How-To brainstorms, co-creation sessions with local initiatives, and SCAMPER, the concept of Bieb der Dingen 2.0 was developed and refined through user testing and feedback from the Bieb der Dingen project team.

The design of Bieb der Dingen 2.0 builds upon the existing professional system while integrating social design interventions. The concept consists of three core components: recognisable bags, a physical product passport, and a neighbourhood saving point. Together, these elements make sharing more visible, personal, and collective, and reinforce each other in conveying a narrative of sharing together in the neighbourhood. Theoretical reflection suggests that the design supports intrinsic motivation by emphasising meaning, contribution, and connectedness. Further testing is required to evaluate its actual impact. Therefore, the recommendation is to implement the proposed interventions at two of the seven locations that will be realised in 2027, as described in the roadmap.

This thesis shows that social value and professionalisation do not have to be contradictory. By deliberately designing to create social value within a professional system, the Bieb der Dingen can distinguish itself as a service that is both professionally organised and socially embedded. ... Read more

In the six years I have been walking around in this faculty, I have gained theoretical
knowledge, but foremost gained practical handholds to design strategically. For this last stretch, I have defined a project brief with personal attachment, one that presents a complex problem that I wanted to find a solution for.

In collaboration with the Nationaal
Archief, I have enriched the current visitor journey of the ‘Centraal Archief Bijzondere
Rechtspleging’ (CABR) - an archive containing files of the more than 300.000 people who were accused of collaborating with the German occupiers, of joining the German’s armed forces, of treason or of membership of the NSB after the Second World War.

Specific chapters of Dutch national history have remained a sensitive topic. It has taken 150 years for our parliament and monarchy to apologize and ask for forgiveness for their role in the colonial past. It took the monarchy 75 years and two generations to speak about its role in the Second World War. To apologize, one needs to acknowledge something went
wrong. To acknowledge, one needs to know about what has happened and process this.

As I am a firm believer in that we can learn and grow from our diverse cultures and
historical backgrounds, I wanted to contribute to the perceived significance of history. To be able to acknowledge a part of one’s past, one needs to gain knowledge of what has happened, interpret, and process this. I have been driven to apply strategic design thinking and its principles into this historical context, to show and understand the added value.

The knowledge and experience I gained throughout my studies, enabled me to structurally analyze and enrich the visitor journey and create interventions that aim to support people in the exploration of their familial history. To support them to understand their ancestor’s role within the historical context, to give them support to process this information, and to give them handholds on how to share their insights with the generations that have come
after them.

Remaining silent is never the solution. Now, I place the ball in your court. ... Read more

Candy Inc is a Dutch company specialized in designing and manufacturing process equipment for the global confectionary industry. Their brand is built on high quality custom projects for the high-end market. To lower their prices and appeal to the medium-end market, Candy Inc has implemented Configure-To-Order practices (Aqlan, et al., 2014). To help Candy Inc reach these new medium-end customers this report presents a strategic marketing plan. Research for the strategic marketing plan included ten semi-structured interviews with a mix of internal sales managers, agents and external strategic partners. Six interviews were recorded and transcribed. These interviews were analyzed using the Grounded Theory Method (Strauss, A.L. & Corbin, J.M.,1990). This process starts by coding interviews by writing down the most important statements. These 308 statements were then categorized by subject. Finally, these categories are put together into overarching clusters, summarizing the themes of the interviews. This process led to two superclusters. The first is named ‘Agents are asked to be superhuman but are under supported’. This reflects the insight that agents are valuable to companies like Candy Inc for marketing across borders and cultures. But they feel underequipped and prepared. The second supercluster is named ‘Selling is complex and needs a human touch, but tech could support them more’. The personal relationships between agents/sales managers and customers are an essential aspect to sales in this business. But there is a lack of use of digital tools like targeted advertising and customer relationship management systems. The research phase ended with the formulation of a statement that would serve as a guide for ideation. From ideation came five recommendations, which were tested at Interpack or with agents. To give Candy Inc a concise guide for implementation a roadmap was made. The recommendations are implemented over the span of 3 years to help Candy Inc integrate with their agents and market more effectively without interfering with the personal relationship-building of the sales process. The first step is a communication platform for sales managers and agents to connect on. Using features like topic channels on these platforms allows Candy Inc to efficiently convey information to their team of agents. This platform also allows agents to connect and exchange ideas. The second step is to supply agents with an organized library of marketing material. Any marketing material Candy Inc produces can be stored on the previous communication platform so agents can easily find and use these. The final step is to use an implemented CRM system to inform better marketing, like digital advertising campaigns on LinkedIn. ... Read more

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education plays a critical role in personal and societal development by preparing students for a rapidly changing, technological world. However, implementation of integrated STEM education poses significant challenges for educators, particularly in emerging markets such as Kenya, where resources and investments in teacher training are limited. In rural areas like the Lamu Archipelago, inadequate access to technology and educational resources intensifies this problem, leading to high dropout rates and limited opportunities for learners.

IOMe005, a fabrication lab in Lamu county which is part of Kenya Red Cross Society, is looking to bridge the gap between primary school education and technological literacy for upper primary learners. The fabrication lab intends to train a team of innovators to facilitate a STEM program in local schools where learners are provided with tools to learn about STEM concept in an experiential way.

The goal of this project is to create such a hands-on educational tool and teaching method which promotes problem-solving skills specifically, as this is a vital skill in the ever-changing world.

The final design aims to empower a team of innovators to facilitate extracurricular Future Inventors workshops at Lamu primary schools, where they encourage upper primary learners to become the inventors of the future. In the Challenge-based workshops, learners are presented with a challenge, and can use the ThinkBricks, a set of building blocks, to build prototypes and envision solutions to these challenges. The program core is the Future Inventors manual, which guides the team of innovators step-by-step through the full process of development and facilitation of Future Inventors workshops.

The Intercultural Design Approach was developed and employed during this project. The approach combines various design research activities such as Rapid Prototyping and participatory sessions, to bridge cultural gaps and mitigate the risks of unintended consequences that could negatively impact communities. Building cultural sensitivity, establishing relationships, and gaining a deep understanding of the context through field research were the core activities undertaken to learn about the culture and to design a solution that fits the targeted context. ... Read more

‘Wicked problems’ like Harmful and Immoral Online Behaviour is a complex social phenomenon which the Ministry of Justice and Security feel increasing urgency for. However, because such a phenomenon is complex and fast-paced it is hard to respond to.

Since 2018 Directie X has started to draw attention to Harmful and Immoral Online Behaviour within the Ministry of Justice and Security. But the (potential) stakeholders found the complexity too high to take ownership and action. The current process is a way of working which has been initiated to respond to wicked problems like’ ‘Harmful and Immoral Online Behaviour’. Unfortunately this way of working results in the problem being moved around the Ministry as ‘un-opened boxes’. From interviews, observations, and collaborating with the current process themes emerged surrounding the way of working. Themes are aspects which hinder ‘opening the boxes’.

This project suggests a strategy for the Ministry of Justice and Security to transition towards an alternative way of working which focuses on actionability to be able to effectively respond to wicked problems like Harmful and Immoral Online Behaviour.
... Read more

Jolly Dutch is a Dutch board game company that is trying to grow within the board game industry. The Dutch board game industry is growing rapidly, and it is perfect for new companies to take advantage of this. This report will show the possible opportunities for Jolly Dutch in the Dutch board game market. It will look into new possible strategies for Jolly Dutch and possible board game designs that fit that strategy.
To find the answer to the research question “How can one create a future proof strategy for Jolly Dutch?” different methods were used. First of all, market research was done through multiple interviews with experts of the board game industry, a questionnaire on a board game forum and desk research. With the market research information, search areas were found and eventually converted to a new strategy. As a final step, this strategy was explored through the use of an online interview with potential customers. This resulted in a new strategy for Jolly Dutch and a board game that fits this strategy.
This strategy suggests that Jolly Dutch should continue to focus on their sustainable games and expand this. Jolly Dutch could take the opportunity to focus on creating a subscription service that combines sustainable games with the principles of the subscription model.
... Read more

This graduation project focusses on the circular economy as a broader topic and stimulating specific circular behaviour within adolescents as a scope. The municipality has a specific division called Rotterdam Circulair tasked with the assignment of accelerating the city of Rotterdam towards a circular economy. The designer of this project has done extensive research into the target group of adolescents 11 -15 years old (early adolescence) and has found a couple of interesting facts. This age group does not know the concept of circular economy, is highly influential through their peers and parents and are still conducting non-circular behaviours such as littering on the street and wasting food at school. In order to stimulate the right kind of behaviour (refusing to buy excessive products, sharing more products amongst each other and buying more experiences than products) different concepts have been designed. A short term-strategy concept is an escape van, in which all elements are in the theme of a circular economy and every action causes a respective reaction as also happens in real life on the environment. This van serves as a promotional van which can drive to any location in the city. Another short-term concept is a minimal emission game, in which the players ultimate goal is to finish the quest without using raw materials or by minimizing their CO2 emissions. This game can be played online and is promoted on the platform of the municipality. The third concept is a long term one, in which a special addition is added to the already existing Rotterdampas. A new valuta, the golden ‘Deelders’ is granted to everyone which experiences an activity in the city. With these Deelders the holder of the card can vote on green and circular projects online on the website of Rotterdampas. The projects with the most votes will receive funding of the municipality and will be carried out. This concept stimulates a democratic system where citizens are more actively involved in the sustainable aims of the municipality. Next to the concepts, 30 + ideas where turned into an idea card deck which can be used by the municipality in future creative sessions or projects. Critical criteria for designing for the target group are grouped in a list and can serve as future knowledge when carrying out a project for this specific age group. An estimation of the business model of each concept is explained in detail, as well as a mini timeline in correspondence with the timeline of strategy of Rotterdam Circulair. The project concludes with a few recommendations for the municipality as to how they could proceed in the future: involving their target group more in sessions, using the idea card deck for inspiration and involving multiple divisions of the municipality to make the concepts work. ... Read more

In this project, executed by graduation student Joris Blok from Delft University of Technology, a multi-day course has been designed that allows Design Thinking to be embedded in organisations successfully. The course teaches the Design Thinking process, as well as a set of essential mindsets for Design Thinking novices. Furthermore, the course empowers participants to integrate Design Thinking into their context at work. This project taps into the quality of current courses on the market, which is insufficient for people to understand Design Thinking as well as to comprehend how Design Thinking can be applied in practice. The project has taken on a design-led approach. After a quick benchmark of several existing courses, a literature study has been executed. Subsequently, an existing course has been observed, and different interviews have been conducted with eight people from the target group, two Design Thinking trainers and ten participants that have participated in a Design Thinking course. These observations and interviews have led to several insights for the new course. Furthermore, as a set of key mindsets for Design Thinking novices has been selected based on a co-creation session with three design students and four people from the target group. The results have been used to develop an operational framework for Design Thinking novices, which integrates the Design Thinking process and key mindsets. This framework, as well as constructive alignment, have led to the realisation of a prototype of the course. The prototype has been validated with twenty participants, divided over two different settings (i.e. an in-company course in the private sector and an open course in the public sector). The validation of the prototype has proven that the course is projectable in both situations. Furthermore, the activities of the course enable participants to accomplish the learning objectives. Follow-up interviews have shown that participants actively integrate the key mindsets after the course into their context at work. An additional insight from the interviews was that the course must contain an overview of all the design methods and tools with practical guidelines to enable the participants to apply the Design Thinking process after the course. Furthermore, the course must empower participants to convince others in their context of the added value of Design Thinking in projects. Based on these results, the prototype has been iterated and refined, and a final product has been presented, which is assumed to allow Design Thinking to be embedded in organisations successfully. ... Read more

This report is the result of a graduation project in the domain of the Africa Market Entry for a Trypanosomiasis Diagnostic Device. The project aims to find promising ways to bring to the market a portable diagnostic device for Trypanosomiasis, developed by the company Aidx Medical BV. The context of T. African Animal Trypanosomiasis (AAT) is a vector-borne parasitic disease. It is caused by infection with protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Trypanosoma. They are transmitted to animals & humans by tsetse fly bites which have acquired their infection from parasitaemic mammalian host. AAT is a major constraint to socio-economic development in Africa. AAT has significantly reduce productivity in over 150 million cattle and 260 million sheep and goats (Jahnke, Tacher, Kiel, & Rojat, 1988), and it is estimated to cause annual losses of more than US$ 4.5 billion dollars through direct and indirect agricultural production losses (Yaro, Munyard, Stear, & Groth, 2016). There are many barriers that complicates the access of trypanosomiasis (T) diagnostics and treatment such as lack of confirmatory test, large distances, limited trained staff and lack of laboratories facilities. The diagnosis of T is notoriously difficult, because the clinical signs are similar to other cattle diseases. Likewise, the only way to confirm a diagnosis is to demonstrate and identify parasites in body fluid. The current diagnostic practices require staff with strong proficiency and expertise, which the limits the reliability of the test. In addition, diagnostic technique for routine veterinary purposes is only suitable if it is cost-efficient. Therefore, there is a need for the new diagnostic test requiring minimum training, inexpensive and should provide rapid and reliable results. Business Modeling According to the research, the device had a strong value proposition on the market. Several business model prototypes were created and tested in a field trip to Uganda. In the field trip, it was discovered that the current technique of introducing medical devices (ex. microscopes) and drugs was through an intermediary. This intermediary may be a chain of pharmacies or a device seller that needs to be certified by the government to distribute and sell the devices or drugs. The intermediary takes also charge of the promotion and distribution of the product. The business model prototypes were redesigned with the new set of information. After an evaluation with the company, the most promising scenario was selected according to their aim, strengths and weakness. The main value of the company is to develop and manufacture an automatic diagnostic device for thick bone diseases that an unprofessional person can do a rapid and reliable diagnosis on the field. The customer segment is the government, because they are the largest employer in veterinary services delivery. The distribution channel will be through intermediaries, because they have a deep understand of the local market. As well, the company does not need a large capital investment on developing a distribution channel. The main revenue would be through asset sale of the diagnostic devices. The business model helped to outline the most important concepts of the company. Market Entry Strategy The business model helped to outline the important concepts of the company. Thereafter an International Market Entry was planned. This entailed the entry location (EL), entry timing (ET), and entry mode (EM). As it was previously explained, Aidx Medical BV will be the first mover and focused on a niche market on automated diagnostic device for veterinary health. Finally, the entry mode selected was indirect exports, meaning the company will sell the device through an intermediary. Finally, the strategy is described with the concept of 4P Marketing Mix (Mullins & Walker Jr., 2013)which includes product, price, place and promotion in conjunction the international entry market and the business model to ensure that the action plans within all are complimentary and aligned. ... Read more