Nowadays, the built environment of the Netherlands is making the transition from the linear to circular economy to meet the goals set by the European Union and the Dutch government of 50% circular economy by 2030. However, there is limited knowledge in the built environment for circular economy projects. In order to generate knowledge on the topic, organisations partner up to complete a project. One of the most important aspects of such partnerships between a variety of partners is collaboration. Successful collaboration between partners is crucial for the partnerships to succeed. However, the built environment is a highly fragmented sector which inhibits collaboration. Furthermore, it is unclear how the long term collaboration process would look like in the context of the circular retrofits. The REHAB project is such a case of partnership between organisations, which develops two circular components for housing retrofits, the circular skin and circular extension. This research develops three process maps to understand if it is possible to create a feasible and useful long-term collaboration process for the development and implementation of the circular extension product.
In order to identify the existing knowledge gap in the academia, a literature review was conducted by analysing circular economy projects, circular economy products and by identifying differences between the practices. Comparing the findings, the gap was identified on the end part of the project lifecycle.
To fit the innovative characteristic of the research, the “Research through Design” (Rtd) methodology is chosen, where possible future scenarios in the form of design variants are simulated. During the first step of RtD (analysis), the design parameters and requirements were identified, as well as the main key factors of collaboration in the context of circularity. This identification happened through a literature review and informal interviews with partners of the circular extension. This determined the parameters of the design variants and the requirements that the design variants have to fulfil. During the next step (synthesis), the three variants were identified and the long term collaboration process variants were designed. Based on this information, three design variants were developed (traditional, balanced, innovative). The third step (simulation) involved presenting the design variants to partners of the circular extension in a semi-structured interview format. The answers of the interviews were analysed in order to derive learnings, where the goal was to evaluate the feasibility and usability of the long-term collaboration process design variants. During the last step (validation) the researcher employed the help of former fellow students that have conducted similar researches using RtD to guarantee the scientific validity of the research.
The analysis of the answers collected during the interviews showed clearly that the balanced design variant is the most feasible collaboration process currently and the innovative as the most promising variant for the future. The traditional design variant was deemed not feasible. Furthermore, trust and communication are the core characteristics of a long term collaboration. Another conclusion is that the most important design parameter for the long term collaboration process is the business model, since both client and contractor are highly interested in the financial incentives. The most important lesson derived by the answers of the partners suggest that currently it is still too early to establish a clear collaboration process path for the stakeholders that will take place in ten to twenty years. The research provides valuable information to stakeholders of the circular extension on how to improve circularity through establishing successful collaboration and the steps to guide the collaboration. Moreover, the research provides a good base for future researches to be conducted on the topic of long term collaboration strategy. The difference being that a strategy can be more adaptive for future partners than the rigid guides of a process. Furthermore, it is concluded that countries with high regulated housing sector can adapt to circular economy practices and create successful collaboration easier than countries with a free market.

With the increasing attention on circularity and digitalization in the built environment, Digital Twins (DT), as a means of linking the digital world and real-world data, is considered as an enabler of circular construction (CC) and dealing with the related societal challenges, such as slowing the material and resource loops, optimizing the decision-making, reducing waste, and lowering the overall cost. Despite these benefits, the application of DT-based CC is still in early development. Several gaps need to be addressed: the lack of information on building the DT model; the fragmented application of the DT concept across the project life cycle; and the lack of a framework in using DT to implement CC. Therefore, this thesis aims to analyze the role of DT and CC in a project's life cycle and to develop a framework for using DT technologies to implement CC. A qualitative methodology is applied in three phases: theoretical research, empirical research, and synthesis. A systematic literature review is conducted to develop the knowledge framework of using DT for CC. Focus groups and a case study are used in integrating stakeholder perspectives in the knowledge framework for practice. In the end, a DT-based CC management framework is proposed for benefiting circular project management.

In the National Climate Agreement, the Dutch government has set the goal of reducing Netherlands’ greenhouse gas emissions by 49% in 2030 compared to 1990 levels. By 2050, this number should even have risen to 95%. Part of the greenhouse gas emissions is the generation of electricity by means of coal and natural gas. In order to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the Dutch government has set a target that 70% of electricity must be generated from renewable sources by 2030. Last year, 18% of electricity was generated from renewable sources. 24% of this was generated by solar power. Solar power can be generated through solar panels on roofs, on the ground, and on the facade. Solar panels on the roof are often sufficient for a single-family dwelling to generate enough energy for their own use. However, there are many buildings where the roof surface is limited in relation to the user surface. The facade surface is often larger than the roof surface. In order to make optimal use of the energy potential of facades, new facade claddings are needed that make it possible to generate energy through the facade. One of the possibilities is the integration of PhotoVoltaics in a High Pressure Laminate (HPL) facade panel. However, this has an impact on the installation of the product and has other requirements. In this master thesis, research has been done into the requirements, design and development of an easy-to-use facade system for mounting High Pressure Laminate facade panels with integrated PhotoVoltaics on the facade. The research is divided into several phases. In the first phase, the requirements for the High Pressure Laminate Building-Integrated facade system are researched trough literature research. This included the properties of the material High Pressure Laminate and the relevant aspects of solar panels, but also the regulations for facade claddings. Furthermore, research has been done into comparable systems for mounting High Pressure Laminate and solar panels. The program of requirements has been formulated based on the result of the literature research. First, the systems from the literature research were evaluated against the program of requirements. However, none of the systems met all the requirements. Additions were made to the program of requirements and these were used as a guideline for the development of the new system. In the second phase, the concept for the facade system has been developed. The design problems of the facade system are subdivided into different aspects. For each aspect different designs were made that were tested against the different criteria of the program of requirements. For each aspect, a design got the highest score and combined the designs with the highest score form the concept proposal. In the third phase of the research, prototypes were made for each aspect of the concept development.These prototypes were made with a 3D printer. This allowed the prototypes to be analysed in terms of their functionality. Because this method was very accessible, there was the possibility to make many prototypes. Next, a material analysis was made to determine the most suitable materials for the facade system. The material PLA, used to develop the prototypes, did not meet all the durability properties. In the material analysis, only materials that satisfied the durability properties were analysed.The mechanical characteristics of these materials were then compared with those of PLA, and the materials with approximately the same characteristics as PLA were selected to be used in the facade system. After that, the prototypes were structurally tested. This was done by means of a Finite Element Analysis. The first analysis was with the final prototype from the chapter 'prototyping'. Next, several iterations were made until the design met all the requirements. The last iteration was used to do a practical test. This practical test gave a good insight into the actual structural strength of the design. With the information from the practical test, the design was adjusted again and analysed by means of a Finite Element Analysis. After all parts met the functional and structural requirements, they were combined into the final design of the High Pressure Laminate Building-Integrated PhotoVoltaics facade system. The system is functioning, the tolerances have been taken into account and there are technical drawings of all components of the high pressure laminate building integrated photovoltaics facade system.

The built environment is a major polluter of the environment and a significant contributor to carbon emissions. It is responsible for more than half of the world’s raw resource extraction. After a review of 337 previous studies on circularity in the built environment, 40 have been identified useful for the study. The literature is organised in five key themes: circular strategies, circular business models, management reporting systems, organising systems in construction practice and the resource processing. However, while the literature seems to be focused on questions surrounding the five themes, the real estate development process is underrepresented. Hence the research question this research paper focuses on is: What is the current and future role of the real estate development process in delivering circularity in the built environment? By conducting interviews with various practitioners engaged in circular real estate development processes, current practices and future aspirations have been identified. Additionally, barriers have been identified and analysed. The thesis ends with a proposed circular real estate development process, harbouring flexibility in the construction phase, mitigation regarding government regulations, a changed value proposition for materials, involvement of stakeholders with the same, open mind set and the use of material passports in the design, construction, exploitation and end of life phase.

The Netherlands is facing the problem of shortage of suitable housing. Predictions warn about the need of additional million houses for 2030. The rising number of immigrants arriving to the dutch capital city forced the municipality of Amsterdam to prepare a vision for Havenstad 2050 - a development of industrial areas for the residential purposes. A big challenge and responsibility lies in the urban planning that would prepare the area towards the new function in the city. Hence the proposition of the urban plan for Minervahaven was one of the first confrontations with the area. High density that characterised it raised the question: how to organise the life of inhabitants in a way that the density wouldn’t be experienced? The research of Robin Dunbar, british anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist, about the diversed relationships in groups of different numbers became my main inspiration and focus of interests for the graduation project. It influenced the organisation of the building and the decision to cluster people in communities of certain sizes to stimulate certain relationships by encounters between tenants. The final design is an attempt to find an answer for the lack of suitable family housing in the city and decreasing feeling of creating a community.

Three cases in which sustainable MEAT criteria were used, are analysed in order to assess the role of relational governance. If the intrinsic motivation is present at the project team, flexibility, collaboration and risk taking could facilitate an environment in which sustainability through MEAT criteria can be achieved. The structure of the MEAT procedure needs to be altered though to provide the required (financial) flexibility in the realisation phase.

Capitalism is under siege. As the famous economist and business strategist Michael Porter note. Business practice is overflown with an increasing number of societal and environmental concerns, trumping economic activity and trapping businesses in a vicious cycle in which taking responsibility is repaid with taking even more responsibility. On the other hand, these societal concerns cannot be ignored and need to be addressed. As shelter, water, food, and welfare must be provided to a growing population in a durable and future proof manner.
Urban development practice is burdened with this same complex problem. Businesses are confronted by an increasing number of public sustainability regulations and with neo-liberal influences shifting more responsibilities towards the market. Scholars raised their concerns if the public social value can be safeguarded by the market. However, business practice proofed to be capable of taking their social responsibility and even found a way to contribute to both society and their business performance, linking their social behavior towards their corporate reputation. This phenomenon is called CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) benchmarking, in which social reporting and labeling are used to enhance their client base. The danger, however, is that these activities are often better displayed in these reports than performed. Besides, these reports primarily enhance the environmental concerns and leave the ‘softer’ aspects of sustainability ill addressed. These limits of the CSR-benchmarking concept are mainly caused by the intrinsic perception of businesses towards these social activities. Social activities are seen as a costly practice and with the ‘enterprise culture’ still present many businesses today. These activities are not likely to be performed. This problem became the starting point of this research. Can this intrinsic perception of businesses towards social activities be changed?
The Shared Value Creation (SVC) concept fitted this question with its aim to turn corporate social activities from a costly practice into a value-creating activity. By exploring the concept of SVC this study aims to change this business perception towards social activities and eventually contribute to creating sustainable urban areas.

Companies need a competitive advantage within the ‘war for talent’ in order to attract their employee target group. Now the amount of jobs and job vacancies keeps growing, companies started a battle to attract talented knowledge workers to gain the best organisational market position in the current knowledge-driven economy. There is assumed that work environments can be used strategically to attract employees, wherefore companies invest in their work environments. However, it has not been proven that work environments –involving characteristics on location, service & facilities, building, and workplace level– may lead to increased employee attraction. Therefore the main research question is: “What is the influence of work environments on attracting employees to enhance competitive advantage within the war for talent?”. A literature review in combination with structured interviews and an online survey resulted in information on the influence that work environment characteristics have on the attraction of knowledge workers. The data on the influence of work environment characteristics is generated by implementing the value tree method in combination with the constant sum method within the survey. Subsequently, the data is statistically analysed in SPSS by mainly using a Repeated Measures ANOVA in combination with a Paired Samples T-Test or a Games-Howell Test. From the results can be concluded that the work environment is comparable influential as other, more general, employee attraction factors, but is not perceived as one of the most influential factors. Mainly the location-related factors, geographical location and accessibility, appeared to be high influential on people’s choice for a job. In addition, significant differences between groups from different socio-demographic perspectives were found for almost all tested variables. Remarkable is that no significant differences were found between groups on the value that the influence of the work environment perceived when comparing to the general employee attraction factors. This indicates that there can be assumed that the survey respondents have a comparable opinion on the influence of the work environment on their choice for a new job. Besides, 74% of the respondents indicated that they are willing to give up a certain percentage of their (future) salary in exchange for their ideal work environment. However, as most of the variables did indicate significant mean differences concerning their influence of the work environment characteristics between different groups, the ideal work environment is different for each (socio-demographic) group and even for each individual. The advice for companies is to define their target group and link their target group to the employee profiles as presented in this thesis in order to increase the chance of attracting their employee target group, and thereby enhancing their competitive advantage within the ‘war for talent’.

This thesis focuses on the Klein Vaticaan area of Zutphen. The Klein Vaticaan was part of the Roman Catholic community within Zutphen, and consisted of an ensemble of buildings located in the neighborhood of the Nieuwstad. The Klein Vaticaan grew significantly throughout the years; at its peak it was roughly the whole eastern part of the Nieuwstad. The ensemble functioned as a whole, all being part of the Roman Catholic community, providing education, care, and activities for the inhabitants of Nieuwstad. In the more recent years the buildings within the Klein Vaticaan were sold, which caused a transformation of the area. The transformation resulted in a loss of coherence within the ensemble and a loss of connection with the Nieuwstad. This causes the following dilemma: How to restore the coherence in an ensemble, and restoring the connection with the surroundings, the neighborhood and the city, without losing the historical characteristics of the place? To restore the coherence it is important to understand values of the past, these values are summarized in a matrix, which formed the basis for a transformation framework.
With this thesis I want to answer the following research question: How can an ensemble of heritage buildings be transformed in order to create a coherent and resilient site, which reconnects with the city?

The idea for Geometry matching by multi-agent systems as a subject originates at a previous course, where the J. Sturkenboom & author came up with an idea to use the material of old boat hulls as facade elements to provide a solution to an environmental problem. The approach then was rather practical, whereas the approach within this thesis is a theoretical one where a focus lies on solving the computational challenges this subject provides. This thesis proposes a work-flow that includes an algorithm that finds matches between the material and design. The overall work-flow attempts to provide a solution for an environmental problem by creating a facade system that uses a discarded material as panelling. The ability of the algorithm to find matching shapes is provided by agent based modelling. This computational technique uses agents, which can be described as a computer system situated in some environment, that is capable of autonomous action in this environment in order to meet its design objectives. The outcome of the algorithm within this thesis are cutting positions on a 3D boat geometry, which provides a basis for the code that is able to instruct machinery to process and produce the design. This process is tested digitally on a case study design as a starting point for such a workflow. The intention of this work-flow as a whole is not to provide architects with a solution that creates perfectly smooth facade designs using discarded material, but as a new direction into which designers can venture where the algorithm can be used to materialize a design idea as closely as possible with discarded materials. The outcome is a logic that defines the form finding process and a work-flow in which it is situated, both combined form a starting point which is to be developed in the future in order to move this idea from idea on paper to built in reality.

Throughout the long history of architecture, the effect of gravity is always present in any structures. Surprisingly in tensegrity composition, this primary law of nature seems to be absent. This is because the discontinuous set of struts in the continuous network of proportionally thin cables makes the structures look like floating in the air. However, there has not been much application of tensegrity principle in the construction field due to the lack of design methods and its complexity. By developing a large-span structure using tensegrity systems, a design method and an analysis technique are introduced along to define double-surface tensegrity systems. The design approach explores an innovative way to determine the structural topology and geometry of such the systems. The form-finding process and structural analysis are conducted to discover an appropriate way of analyzing tensegrity and ensuring that the systems are stable.