Real estate is one of the highest expenditures in almost every business. External disruptions, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, created a significant shift in business operations. This disruption accentuated the importance of resilience as a fundamental operational factor against uncertainties. Corporate real estate (CRE) industries need to be resilient in their processes to respond to the inevitable disruptions and anticipate future opportunities. Nevertheless, in recent years, resilience is becoming a rather broad and ambiguous concept that has been used repeatedly in different contexts. This research was aimed to address and advance resilience in various CRE asset classes to overcome external problems and increase preparedness during uncertainties. This study attempted to re-conceptualise resilience, by exploring the current definitions of resilience. The redefined concept of resilience was then reflected to different asset classes of CRE. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to provide the contextual definition and features of resilience, as well as to assess the value of resilient CRE to an organisation. Subsequently, a resilience framework was composed based on the findings from both theoretical and empirical studies. The framework was then utilised to assess resilience in within-class and across-class analyses. The within-class analysis evaluated the extent of resilient approaches in an asset class, whereas cross-class analysis attempted to explore how resilience can be achieved and optimised in a particular asset class. Furthermore, additional synthesis between theoretical and empirical findings was conducted to further maintain resilience in a longer time span. Here, continuous improvement was identified as a determining factor for the sustenance of resilience. The output of this research provided a theoretical basis for resilient CRE and applicable suggestions to improve and maintain resilience capability in an organisational CRE.

The circular economy transition requires companies to implement innovative supply chains and business models. However, the number of available solutions for the application in the circular built environment is limited. These solutions could be developed through the co-creation between companies aiming for circular transition. However, it is unclear how the co-creation process would look like in the context of the circular build environment. One such case is the REHAB project where stakeholders develop circular building components for housing renovation. Based on the example of one of the components — circular extension — this research develops three process maps of co-creation to help stakeholders organize the co-creation process for the development and implementation of the service loops of the product. This is done by reviewing the academic literature and identifying the requirements and parameters of co-creation for the case for the circular extension, as well as identifying the co-creation designs already available in the literature. Based on this, further process maps were synthesized. The developed process maps consist of six phases: engaging actor, co-conception, co-design, co-production, co-maintenance and co-disposal. Each phase is subdivided into a number of sub-steps for which the best solutions and/or options are mapped. The developed process maps contribute to the circular co-creation literature by showing a clear picture of the co-creation process that practitioners could follow. Additionally, this research evaluates the developed designs with the project stakeholders and derives six lessons learned that could be applicable for circular building components: 1) Cost efficiency is the main aspect influencing implementation of circular building components, 2) Organizing circular co-creation process requires involvement of a human interaction specialist and circular economy consultant, 3) Circularity is largely dependent of the party that initiates the process and becomes the problem owner, 4) Circularity of circular building components in the current reality depends on the formation of secondhand markets, 5) The co-creation process structure is similar for different circular building components, change only network composition and activities/options that could be considered, 6) Sell and buy-back business model and take-back agreements have the most potential for the circular building components, compared to other solution.

This research explores the value offered by Product-Service-Systems (PSSs), also known as Product-as-a-Service (PaaS), to organizations that develop, own and operate rental housing portfolios. The Dutch national government’s ambition for a circular economy by 2050, combined with the demand for over 1 million sustainable new homes in the coming decades, provides grounds for increased PSS implementation in the housing sector. PSSs are touted as a critical tool to decouple environmentally harmful resource extraction from continued economic growth. However, for them to be implemented at scale, they must demonstrate clear value to decision makers who consider procuring them. As such, the value of PSSs in rental housing is theoretically explored and empirically studied through case studies to understand what drives housing providers to use PSSs within their developments and portfolios. The research reveals additional advantages perceived by housing providers, how housing providers analyze the use of a PSS, what challenges they encounter, and a preliminary review of how circular the studied cases inherently are. Five expert interviews are used to corroborate the findings from the case studies. Lastly, a financial simulation is conducted to understand the tax implications of using leased PSSs with zero-upfront investment.

An explorative study on the stakeholder interest and potentials of a new type of lease in office buildings in the Netherlands, the healthy lease.

In response to the global Covid-19 pandemic, access to office workplaces became more restricted, and employees were ushered to work from home. The current scientific literature does not fully address the link between abrupt change in the workplace and the impact of this on employees. More generally, research on the employee perspective and employee experiences is often not performed in the context of change in the workplace. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the experiences of abrupt change regarding the workplace due to Covid-19 in depth. It analyses the individual and organisational factors that help deal with this abrupt change. The study adds to research on gradual organisational change and contributes to knowledge about the added value of the office as a workplace, and employee perspectives on change processes.
Preliminary interviews give insight into the lived experiences of employees concerning the abrupt change process and experiences of working from home. Next, an embedded case study analyses employee expectations and preferences through semi-structured interviews. The research findings provide new insight into the abrupt change experience. The motivation and productivity of employees are harmed due to lack in variety of work activities and a monotonous way of interacting with colleagues, both formally and informally. Working from home resulted in a decline in informal interactions. The reduced contact resulted in a reduced feeling of involvement in the organisation. This is disadvantageous to the change process, as communication between the organisation and the individual help foster the transition during abrupt change. To improve the abrupt change experience, the study recommends a 5-step implementation plan for organisations. The process helps to better align employee preferences and expectations with organisational objectives. A more employee-oriented approach in workplace strategy creation is recommended. This would incorporate employee preferences in the process of change, to ensure employee wellbeing and enhance competitive advantage during abrupt change.

Motivation. As technological developments in the workplace accelerate, workplaces are connecting to a variety of sensors, actuators, and dedicated networks in the Internet of Things (IoT). Sensor data can be collected on aspects of workplace performance and occupants’ behaviors. While the performance of the workplace is evaluated, the validation by facility managers is under-development and dominated by perceptual self-report measurements. In Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) the main instrument used by facility managers is surveys. Due to the properties of the instruments, surveys and other self-report measurements raise concern for the effectiveness of verifications to maintain and improve the performance of the workplace environment. With new ways of working, Activity-Based Working (ABW) is a promising workstyle focused on people, place, and technology, but several performance issues have been identified. Limited studies focus on the application of sensor data, and IoT is only recently recognized to make a significant impact on the validation of the workplace performance by facility managers. Research aim and goal. The main research aim is to explore the application of sensor data for the validation of the ABW performance by facility managers. The research goal is to identify the opportunities and limitations of the current sensor data in an IoT from a Facility Management (FM) perspective. Research method. The exploration of the sensor data is conducted utilizing both research and design in a case study. The case study is a prominent smart building located at Schiphol that has embraced the concept of ABW. In the case study, the available sensor data is collected and explored for opportunities and limitations. Components of an interface are designed from a FM perspective to explore the sensor data structurally in an ABW environment. The exploration of the data is conducted using hypotheses. Three hypotheses are formulated based on performance issues in ABW from literature, and further specified based on the case study. Key findings and conclusion. The exploration of the sensor data illustrated that the role and decision-making process of a facility manager can drastically change within the ABW environment of smart buildings. The facility manager can validate the workplace performance with goals set for each activity. Facility managers can shift from a complaint-driven reactive attitude to a proactive data-driven analytic of the workplace performance. With the sensor data, the facility manager can additionally rely on continuous quantitative and objective data of the workplace performance. The use of both subjective inputs from occupants’ perception in combination with objective sensor data can improve the reliability of the data for more effective verifications in the ABW environment. Nevertheless, the current state of smart buildings is not up to expectations. The sensor data is the critical input in an IoT and lacks on many fronts. Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to align the data of the sensors with KPIs from a facility management perspective by (re)considering the functionality of the sensors. To benchmark the sensor data with aspects of employee satisfaction, productivity, and well-being, a consensus is required amongst organizations for the application of sensors with similar output values.

The highly competitive and dynamic business environment of today has resulted in an increasing pressure for efficiency of the main resources. As corporations seek to quickly respond and adapt to the changes in the environment, strategic decisions about the workplace become fundamental as it entails the two most expensive resources of any organization: human capital and real estate. Within the wide range of flexible workplace options now available in the market, co-working is of particular interest due to its exponential growth in the last years; as this trend continues to grow and companies start considering it as part of their accommodation strategy, understanding the value of co-working in corporate real estate becomes essential. The aim of this research is to understand how co-working as a real estate strategy can contribute to the performance of a corporation, while meeting the flexibility demands of the organization and its knowledge workers. By means of a qualitative methodology, the research involves five case studies of front-runner organizations, and semi-structured interviews with co-working providers and workplace experts. The study results in the identification of six strategies that organizations, in different stages of maturity, can pursue to incorporate co-working as part of their real estate portfolio. The strategies include temporary space solutions, such as Swing Space or for Temporary Projects and Staff, and complementary space solutions, such as Core and Flex, Expansion Space, Testing Market and Touchdown Space alternatives, that corporations can implement, according to their requirements, to drive business performance.

In Skopje the pedestrian has been unwillingly victimized by the seeminly unavoidable invasion of the vehicular traffic, fed by first of all, the rapid expansion of the city over the last decades, that has led to more private cars. This has resulted in losing valuable public greenery in the shape of tree-lines alongside the roads
being removed for road expansion, and the encroaching of public space by unused,
parked cars. These stationairy cars filled up sidewalks and courtyards almost
permanently that led to adaptation of the pedestrian.

Discrete choice experiment about the interior office design preferences during collaboration and individual concentration. This study was an evaluation study for an activity-based working office located in Amsterdam.

The current notion of risk used in the Netherlands has a strong focus on reducing the probability that flooding occurs. It leaves little attention for reducing exposure and vulnerability, as the other components when defining risk. Socio-economic trends show that the areas below sea level will be only more densely inhabited with people and will experience only more economic growth. This along the predicted sea level rise and greater fluctuations in river discharge compel research on spatial planning and urban design to look far into the future, to widen their scope and to anticipate developments further ahead.

This project aims at transition of the current way the Netherlands deal with the increasing treat of water zooming in on the situation of the city of Rotterdam and proposing to create more adaptive capacity of the spatial structure in order to deal with future uncertainties in the context of extreme climate change scenarios.
The scenario the project is dealing with, shows that 3 meter of sea level rise before the year 2100 and drastic precipitation changes could become reality. This thesis focuses on the possibilities of restructuring the Randstad region throughout the scales (in space and in time), including Rotterdam, assigning densification zones and areas of relocation towards reduction of flood risk exposure of the extreme flood scenario. The project explores what it would mean for the city and the citizens of Rotterdam if all the areas below sea level get relocated to higher grounds. The transformation of infrastructures and networks is described on a spatial level at the city, neighborhood and at street- scale. Design interventions show what Rotterdam could look like in 2060 and what spatial qualities it could bring if we already start now to prepare the city for the future. This contribution of spatial planning and urban design can help filling the gap of knowledge about the spatial uncertainty climate change brings. It can also help in finding new ways of dealing with water that can prolongate the line of water expertise of the Dutch. Truly new visions on this subject can only emerge by leaving the beaten track.

Through the perspective of Urban Metabolism, that focuses on the design of flows, this project researches the flow of energy in regards to the Paris climate agreement of 2015. The energy transition towards renewable resources is considered in the terms of spatial impact and public acceptance. The energy landscape is used as a design concept that comprises the various aspects of all three of these occurrencies. Through a layer-approach the research builds towards a strategy for the energy landscapes of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.