Due to the changing role of the private sector in the Dutch land development process, real estate developers are increasingly involved in realising the interests of the direct surroundings of their redevelopment projects. To incorporate the seemingly unprofitable space-use in their project, developers increasingly opt for mixed-use real estate. The chosen mix of space-uses directly impacts the business case and the area. However, the relationship between these two is unclear, leading to the formulation of the research question: How can mixed-use generate value for both the area and the redevelopment business case?

The aim of this research is to make explicit the mutual value generated by the mix of space-uses in redevelopment projects. It attempts to fill this knowledge gap through analysis of literature, exploratory interviews with field experts, and an embedded multiple case study. The non-holistic case study method consists of the individual descriptive analyses of three cases, among which two phenomena are studied as units of comparison: added value to the area; and added value to the business case. These phenomena are substantiated through literature and compared among the cases through a cross-case analysis. The exploratory interviews provide context for the interpretation of case results.

The study identifies several benefits of mixed-use and the incorporation of particular space-uses. However, many of the benefits for the area do not end up with their investor. Moreover, assessing the extent of the benefits is difficult as they cannot be measured quantitatively, and stakeholders interpret their value differently. Additionally, mixed-use real estate falls outside of the asset classes of investors, and investor attitude towards the product type varies due to identified risks, but benefits in return are not assessed appropriately.

By broadening the business case alternative value streams can be included using which the business case profits from the additional space-uses. Meaning qualitative benefits are also considered. The benefits from mixed-use can be categorised in primary, secondary and even tertiary value streams. The first of which is the direct impact of the additional urban function through compensation of the investment costs. The secondary value stream is based on the indirect value added through synergies between urban functions, increased marketability of the primary space-uses, and loosened project constraints. Furthermore, the study finds that some of the benefits for the developing party actually lie outside of the business case, thereby providing a tertiary value stream of positive exposure of the firm and strengthened relationships with public parties.

What results is a comprehensive understanding of the mutual character of benefits that result from incorporation of a mix of space-uses in real estate objects. Their opportunity to generate value is not mutually exclusive to either the area or the business case, as project value is based on the vibrancy of the area it is situated in.

Building internationally is no longer an exception, but a standard for various construction companies. With that, the need to understand foreign norms, values and beliefs becomes crucial to deliver successful projects. Through understanding and managing cultural differences in projects, project advantages and general company success can be obtained. Currently, there is a gap in knowledge on how to manage cultural differences in international building projects most effectively. The research question that links to this problem is formulated as follows: “How can cultural differences be managed most effectively within the management areas of international building projects?” A literature review and cross-cultural qualitative exploratory research method have been applied to answer this question. External validation has taken place through an expert panel review. The findings show attention should be paid to culture within different management areas, with a specific focus on communications management. Management elements in which culture should be managed are expatriate personnel / foreign staff and operatives, design approaches, negotiations, codes of conduct and ethical standards and professional standards and construction codes. Specific actions can be taken to manage cultural differences more effectively, such as addressing the subject during project start-up meetings, making one’s own general expectations, procedures and guidelines explicit and organising team building activities to help project team members keep an open-mind and gain understanding of their own cultural bias and that of others.

The Netherlands has a wide range of partnerships in urban area (re)development, which differ greatly from one another and can be deployed depending on the local situation, scope, parties involved and state of the economy. Over the past decades, these models have grown and been evaluated within the context of rapidly changing social planning development, with the government increasingly leaving implementation to the market. As a result, private parties have built up considerable land positions in the expectation of being able to realize them in the long term. Land ownership provides a significant dominant position, given that the landowner has the right to (re)develop. When there are several landowners, this fragmented land ownership can be an important barrier to urban area redevelopment. Before the economic crisis, many areas were transformed by being all properties of one party. The development rights model and the joint venture model were often used to solve the problem of fragmented ownership. Both models require a large capital requirement from the initiators of transformation, as in both cases all land (and buildings) have to be acquired in the plan area (Hobma, Heurkens, & van der Wal, 2019). Since the crisis, the acquisition of land and buildings for transformation has been approached differently. A possible strategy applied in urban area redevelopment with fragmented ownership is: Developing Apart Together (DAT). The partnership DAT offers both public and private parties the opportunity to retain land for area redevelopment. In which the initiating party sets out a vision for the redevelopment of an area, but does not ending up by owning the area. Surprisingly little information is available about the partnership DAT. What can be found is limited exclusively to vague definitions. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide insight into the experiences of public and private parties with the DAT partnership This includes providing insight into the relationship and agreements made between the two parties. It also provides insight into how the parties can fulfil both the area redevelopment project and deal with fragmented ownership. This is done by answering the following main question: “What insights does an initial study of the start-up phase of developing apart together (DAT) provide?”. Two research methods were central to this research. The study started with a literature review and followed by an empirical research. From the literature it can be concluded that the insights concerning DAT are limited. As far as the characteristics are concerned, DAT is described in the literature as a public-private partnership in which a common general vision has been drawn up. There is no strong governance structure and land transactions are limited. The literature also shows that within a DAT model there is an area organisation that takes care of issues that cross plots. In practice, these characteristics are partly similar, but other issues are also specifically mentioned. The shared vision and/or desire to transform corresponds with the literature. On the other hand, the use of anterior agreements is often mentioned and turns out to be an important part of the financial and legal agreements within a DAT model and something that is not mentioned in the literature. Another thing that is not mentioned in the literature either, but which emerges several times in practice, is the number of agreements made for social facilities. Literature and practice correspond well with regard to the conditions for applying a DAT. From the literature it became clear that these are transformation areas with fragmented ownership. In other words, there are many different owners present in the area. This is confirmed in practice. It is emphasised in the literature that the public and private parties form a coalition of the willing. This is not mentioned in practice. In terms of variants, literature and practice also correspond. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned here that DAT is still at a too early stage to be able to conclude whether there are actually different variants and where they differ and/or correspond. In both literature and practice the pace at which area developments are progressing is described as low. Because many parties are involved within such area developments with different ambitions and interests, plans are less likely to get off the ground. This is also recognized in practice as an important barrier. In the literature, non-cooperating parties are seen as an obstacle. This is not specifically mentioned in practice. In practice, however, the distrust towards the public parties is mentioned. Municipalities do not seem to have confidence because they often fail to keep their agreements. Finally, the difference in knowledge in which this cooperation is based is named as an obstacle by the many different parties.

As the world is a complex and dynamic system, parties increasingly depend on each other in their decisions. These interdependencies are found as well between corporations and cities in decisions on mutations in the corporation’s accommodation, which is the subject of this research. Mutations are considered all changes in the accommodation. In this decision making, corporation often depend on cities for example for the granting of permits. At the same time, cities are in increasing competition to attract corporations to reap the benefits of boosting the local economy by increased employment levels. Thus within this decision making, actors of both parties need to communicate with each other. However, currently little is known about this actual interaction that is realised through communication strategies. At the same time, the importance connective capacity of individual actors is increasingly recognised in literature and practice and confirmed by this research. In this research the use of communication strategies of corporations and cities regarding the communication components when, who, how and what was analysed. By analysing these communication strategies in relation to the situation of the decision making and the motives of each party, interesting relations have been found. Among others, this research showed that communication strategies are supportive of the mutation process, either by speeding up the process or affecting slight preferences at decision-makers. Also, communication can be decisive by providing crucial information for the decision, such as location proposals. An aspect for further thought in both research and practice is the organisation of communication. This organisation includes the deployment of resources and additionally the appointment of a contact person. This appears to be related to the priority given to the mutation project. It seems that at cities, more priority is given to mutations with job creation in comparison with mutation projects focused on qualitative improvement. Also, communication often remains project-based and thereby both parties miss the benefits of early alignment of the plans with existing policies. This confirms the notion in literature that barriers between public and private still exist. All in all, the human factor remains present in decision making on mutations in the accommodation. Therefore this research encourages the recognition of communication strategies as a factor in decision making.

Climate change effects lead to a transformation of our environment. The building sector is considered to have the greatest potential in the clean energy transition. However, general consensus of climate change definitions, communication and cooperation on climate change knowledge and perspectives is underdeveloped in the industry. A review of previous studies shows that the construction industry is known to take a reactive stance rather than proactive towards climate change action. The aim of the study is to describe how the implementation of circular principles as part of climate change action, is managed by a construction company, and to explore how this can be done proactively. Through desk research and interviews with representatives of the case firm this description is developed. The findings show that both a proactive strategy by the company as individual proactive behavior by employees can have a big impact on the performance regarding circular activities. People who are showing proactive circular behavior need to be supported and given recognition by the organization. The other way around, these people can triumph and establish organization-wide implementation of their initiatives through issue selling and perseverance. People who are not showing proactive circular behavior will need to be made aware, informed and motivated to conduct circular practices.

The WELL certificate offers advantages for healthcare housing development of the future. As a consequence, new and unknown challenges within the field of the built environment arise. Moreover, there are uncertainties within the behavioral responses of an ageing population and, among other things, the willingness and benefits to invest in a WELL certificate by an institutional investor and developer. There is a lack of extensive knowledge about the contribution of a WELL certificate to healthcare housing development. In this study, the relative preferences for a WELL certificate in healthcare housing were compared to an ageing population in Delft and The Hague. To establish this, a face-to-face interview in combination with a structured questionnaire was held. Based on the response of 23 respondents, the demographical, social (healthcare housing requirements and preferences) and economical dissimilarities are evaluated. Moreover, the preference for a WELL certificate is also estimated by the institutional investors. To establish this, also a face-to-face interview in combination with a questionnaire was held. Based on the response of 4 respondents, the interest to invest in healthcare housing, the healthcare housing requirements, the financial components and the interest in a WELL certificate are evaluated. At this moment it can be argued that the WELL v2 certificate creates more advantages than disadvantages for the different stakeholders during both the development and exploration phase in healthcare housing. On the other hand, based on the estimated results, it can be concluded that more recognition must arise about a WELL certificate by both the ageing population and institutional investor. The results show that there are differences regarding the preference for a WELL certificate between the ageing population and institutional investors. The ageing population with a higher education level, who exercise more than three times a week, who have a healthy eating pattern and who are more satisfied with the quality of their appartement, apartment complex and neighborhood are found to receive less utility for a WELL certificate. This effect is strong for both men and women. The higher educated ageing population living in social rental housing share this idea compared to the lower educated ageing population in social rental housing. The majority of the ageing population prefer a few WELL concepts, in particular the lower educated ageing population. Moreover, institutional investors claims that investing in healthcare housing is less risky compared to offices and regular housing developments. Nevertheless, not enough healthcare homes have been realized yet. Besides this, the institutional investors argue that a WELL certificate in healthcare housing does not improve the GRESB score. This argument is strong for all institutional investors: no distinction regarding professional position. Furthermore, institutional investors show a higher preference to implement all WELL concepts in contrast to the ageing population. The result shows more preference for a certificate: investors are eager when a certificate can be obtained. The estimation of the results increases the understanding of stated preferences of a few WELL concepts in healthcare housing development. To conclude, from a scientific perspective, this research contribute to the understanding of institutional investor and an ageing population choice behavior regarding WELL certificate in healthcare housing. In addition, it contribute to a potential ex-post study of an ageing population living in healthcare housing. Besides the scientific perspective, this research also contribute to the practical relevance were the behavior of two different social groups within the ageing population will be investigated regarding the social rental, free rental and owner-occupant sector. Additionally, this research contribute to the understanding of the current preferences for a WELL certificate complementing healthcare housing without a WELL certificate.