This thesis examines how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies are developed and implemented by private real estate developers in the Netherlands. Although ESG is receiving increasing attention within the built environment sector, limited research exists on why develop-ers adopt ESG strategies, which themes these strategies consist of, how they manifest within urban development projects, and how they are implemented in the organisation. Therefore, this research addresses the following main question: Why and how do private real estate developers implement ESG strategies into their business strategies, and how do these strategies manifest in urban development projects?
The aim of this thesis is to develop a structured understanding of ESG strategy development and implementation among private real estate developers in the Netherlands, focusing on the strate-gic, tactical, and operational levels. The research follows an exploratory mixed-method ap-proach, combining a literature review, survey results, case studies, and an expert panel. Four Dutch real estate developers were analysed through interviews, document analysis, and cross-case comparison.
The findings demonstrate that developers adopt ESG strategies for reasons including market po-sitioning, long-term value creation, employee motivation, external pressure, and improved meas-urability and steerability. At the same time, implementation is hindered by a lack of standardisa-tion, difficulties regarding monitoring and evaluation, internal organisational alignment, stake-holder dependency, and the context-dependent nature of urban development projects.
The research further demonstrates that there is currently no uniform sector-wide interpretation of which ESG themes should be prioritised within real estate development strategies or how these themes should be translated into measurable objectives. ESG implementation within urban de-velopment projects is therefore shaped more by project-specific circumstances and stakeholder dynamics than by fully standardised strategic processes. Ultimately, the findings show that suc-cessful ESG implementation is a cyclical and continuous process which depends on the extent to which ESG becomes structurally embedded within organisational processes and everyday deci-sion-making practices.
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Urban area development in the Netherlands is increasingly characterised by fragmented landownership, inner-city transformation tasks and growing financial and procedural uncertainty. The literature points to a growing need for flexibility in area development, changing institutional circumstances and the increasing complexity of fragmented land ownership. At the same time, public and private parties remain dependent on each other to realise coherent and integrated area developments. This creates a growing need for lighter organisation structures and more flexible forms of Public-private Partnerships (PPP). However, knowledge about how these lighter forms of PPP are shaped in practice remains limited. This research examines how public and private parties shape lighter forms of PPP in Dutch urban area development. The study builds on institutional aspects and inter-organizational arrangements of PPP as theoretical framework to analyse how financial, legal, organisational and relational agreements are structured within this light public-private partnership. A qualitative multiple case study was conducted, consisting of seven Dutch urban area developments. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with both public and private actors involved in the cases. The findings were analysed through cross-case comparison and validated through an expert panel. The results show that PPP light mainly emerges in situations where integrated implementation and coherent area development remain necessary. PPP light arises from the desire to maintain autonomy, the need for flexibility during long-term developments, limited municipal landownership, and situations in which full integration of land, risks and revenues is considered undesirable or unfeasible. In these situations, collaboration is formalised through agreements focused on shared area-wide challenges, while individual parties retain control over their own land positions, business cases and development pace. Recurring inter-organizational arrangements are reflected in agreements on cost-sharing, process coordination, flexible and jointly developed spatial frameworks, and a organised decision-making and consultation structures. Trust and communication prove essential in all forms of PPP, while PPP light can function as a vehicle to integrate relational aspects into all PPPs. PPP light exists in different gradations, ranging from limited coordination structures to more intensive forms of collaboration. PPP light distinguishes itself from traditional PPPs through individual land ownership and the absence of a joint legal entity or shareholder structure. It differs from incremental development collaboration (organische gebiedsontwikkeling) as the cooperation goes beyond one-to-one and solely cost recovery agreement that indicates exclusively public-private collaboration. The research contributes to academic knowledge on emerging of lighter organisation PPP forms within contemporary urban area development and provides practical insights into how partnerships can be organised under conditions of uncertainty, increasing complexity and fragmented landownership that parties do not wish to jointly exploit. ... Read more

Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) are becoming increasingly prominent within Dutch urban redevelopment processes as municipalities rely more heavily on private actors to deliver publicly accessible space in contexts of densification and land scarcity (Buitelaar & Bregman, 2016; Van Melik et al., 2009). While existing POPS research primarily focuses on ownership structures, design quality, and privatisation debates, limited attention has been paid to how governance and management shape the long-term functioning and experienced quality of these spaces, especially in the Dutch context. In particular, it remains unclear which agreements and arrangements allow municipalities to protect public values once responsibility for daily operation rests largely with private actors. This thesis addresses this gap by examining how public values are embedded within the governance and management of Dutch POPS and how these arrangements relate to experienced public space quality. The study adopts a qualitative multiple-case study approach, analysing five Dutch POPS in Amsterdam and Rotterdam through semi-structured interviews, document analysis, structured observations, and user surveys. The research combines the Public Space Governance Framework (Zamanifard et al., 2018), Carmona’s (2019) place value framework, and Mehta’s (2014) Public Space Index to examine the relationships between governance mechanisms, management practices, public values, and public space quality. Public space quality is assessed through inclusiveness, meaningful activities, comfort, safety, and pleasurability. The findings demonstrate that the quality and publicness of Dutch POPS are not determined by ownership or spatial design alone, but by the extent to which public values are institutionally embedded and continuously reproduced through governance and management practices over time. Cases characterised by clear governance responsibilities, active long -term stewardship, transparent access conditions, and consistent activation strategies achieved higher levels of actualised public space quality. In contrast, fragmented governance arrangements and commercially dominant management approaches were associated with lower inclusiveness and weaker safeguarding of public values. The research further shows that management practices function as the key operational mechanism through which governance ambitions are either sustained or gradually eroded in everyday use. By linking governance, management, public values, and experienced public space quality within a single analytical framework, the study contributes to the academic debate on hybrid public space governance and provides practical insights for municipalities, developers, and asset managers seeking to safeguard public values in increasingly privatised urban environments. ... Read more

Abstract (Platte tekst, max. 500 woorden) - Cities and urban areas are increasingly recognised as key drivers for sustainable urban transformations (SUTs). However, progress remains slow due to complex pressures, conflicting stakeholder interests, and institutional constraints. Collaboration is essential for driving SUTs, with institutional entrepreneurs playing a crucial role in promoting institutional change and sustainable development. However, limited research has explored how institutional entrepreneurs can influence stakeholder collaborations within existing urban contexts towards SUTs. Therefore, this research addresses the question: ‘How can institutional entrepreneurs influence collaboration between stakeholders towards sustainable urban transformations?’
A qualitative research design was adopted, combining a literature review that resulted in a conceptual framework with a single case study of the Energy Hub Amsterdam Southeast, an initiative that qualifies as a SUT collaboration. Interviews with involved stakeholders revealed various barriers and enablers in the SUT collaboration, categorised around the framework’s eleven collaborative success variables and supplemented by an additional variable, the institutional context. The empirical research also identified concrete interventions that the institutional entrepreneurs, as well as externally commissioned coordinators and facilitators, can apply to address these barriers and leverage enablers, thereby creating favourable conditions for establishing the SUT.
These insights were synthesised into a set of practical guidelines, refined and validated through an expert meeting. The guidelines are intended to serve as a source of inspiration for institutional entrepreneurs, coordinators and facilitators to refine their practices, reflect on encountered barriers and enablers, assess intuition, and identify blind spots, while continuing to test, refine, and update them as a living document. The findings demonstrate that institutional entrepreneurs can influence stakeholder collaborations towards SUTs by acting as proactive visionary frontrunners, driven by their belief in the need for collective transformation, who inspire participation, align and engage stakeholders, mediate between experts and participants, safeguard the collective ambition, and maintain and strengthen trust and relationships, by use of the various interventions outlined in the guidelines. ... Read more

Growing pressure on the Dutch healthcare system underscores the need to address health issues beyond the healthcare sector. Urban development plays an important role shaping healthy behaviour; however, practical guidance for private developers on how to integrate health ambitions in their projects remains scarce. Moreover, while health is inherently user-related, limited knowledge exists on how residents perceive health-promoting qualities in their living environment. This study therefore investigates how private developers can steer towards the realisation of health-promoting urban areas.

A qualitative and iterative research approach was adopted. First, the study reviews literature on health-promoting living environments, private developers and their steering roles and activities within urban development projects. This is followed by a case study approach in the empirical research. Three mixed-use residential projects in Katendrecht, Rotterdam, were examined using document analysis and interviews with professionals and residents. A cross-case analysis informed the development of recommended guidance, which was subsequently validated and refined through an expert panel.

The research identifies a set of indicators grouped into five categories – active, restorative, social, healthy food and facilitating environments – to characterise health-promoting urban areas. It develops a conceptual steering model showing how developers can influence these categories through combinations of soft and hard steering at business and project level. The case studies demonstrate that developers can meaningfully integrate health ambitions when these are established early, embedded within the project concept and budget, and sustained through post-delivery management. However, their capacity to do so is constrained by financial feasibility, legal frameworks, and time pressures.

The study contributes validated recommended guidance that translates these insights into concrete steering activities, offering developers a structured approach to contribute to the realisation of health-promoting urban areas.
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The construction sector plays a major role in global CO2 emissions, making the consistent realisation of sustainability ambitions a pressing challenge. Although progressive developers increasingly set high sustainability goals in the early project phases, these ambitions often weaken during the front-end process. This research examines why this gap between ambition and outcome persists and how communication can be used as a governance mechanism to safeguard sustainability objectives. Using a Design Science Research approach, the study combines literature insights with empirical findings from a single case study supported by interviews, document analysis, workshops and expert validation. The results show that ambition dilution is strongly influenced by communication gaps, unclear expectations, insufficient risk dialogue and the absence of structured feedback loops. These gaps become most impactful in interactions with conservative stakeholders such as housing associations and contractors. The study delivers a practical communication strategy tailored to progressive developers, structured around critical project moments and three communicative horizons: Align, Assess and Assure. This strategy supports goal clarity, stakeholder alignment and transparent decision-making, enabling more consistent realisation of sustainability ambitions throughout the project lifecycle. ... Read more

The building sector is under increasing pressure to reduce upfront embodied carbon (UEC) in order to meet climate goals. Paris Proof threshold values are becoming increasingly stringent, placing new demands on design teams to evaluate material choices not only for environmental performance but also for financial feasibility. This thesis presents the Circular-Carbon Framework (CCF), a decision-support model developed to assess circular construction strategies based on three key indicators: carbon, cost and circularity. The model addresses a gap in current practice by enabling integrated trade-off analysis during the early stages of building design. A mixed-methods approach was used, including a structured literature review, semi-structured interviews, expert validation, and a case study of a commercial office project. The scope was limited to structure and skin materials, which together account for the majority of UEC. Results indicate that circular strategies can support reductions in both UEC and cost, though outcomes vary depending on material type and project context. The CCF enables design teams to systematically explore these trade-offs and make informed decisions aligned with Paris Proof requirements. The thesis concludes with scientific, practical, and policy recommendations to advance the integration of circularity in sustainable building design. ... Read more

Cities are facing the impacts of climate change now more than ever. The increase in extreme weather events, rise in sea level and temperature have a great impact on the built environment. This is mainly due to the usage of fossil fuels and deforestation. The construction sector is one of the largest users of energy and emission of CO2 (IEA, 2019). Therefore, the urban environment has to adapt to the effects of climate change. Multiple actors can take responsibility in implementing these adaptations to climate change. In this thesis, the focus is put on the role of the real estate developer and how he can adapt to the minimization of climate impact through strategies and partnerships in urban development projects.

After an extensive literature review, there seems to be a gap in the role of real estate developers in implementing adaptation strategies, which was also confi rmed by the work of ten Brinke et al. (2022). From this gap the following research question is formulated: “What development strategies can real estate developers use to implement climate change adaptations in urban development projects?’’. To answer this question, a literature review is conducted to gain knowledge on the role of developers in urban development, climate change adaptation, and partnerships. Parallel an exploratory interview will be done to gain more insights. After, case studies will be analysed with interviews, and with the conclusions from the literature and interview a strategy will be formed. Thereafter, an expert panel will be held to validate the fi ndings from the research and analysis of the cases. Lastly, everything is put together in the conclusion. ... Read more

Combining insights from urban design theory and political philosophy, this research aims to bridge the gap between public and private spaces in cities. While existing approaches to urban design have successfully enhanced social cohesion at the street level, they fail to address the potential of spaces within and on top of buildings.

This thesis proposes a cross-disciplinary framework for embedding semi-public functions in and around high-rise developments, functions that invite social interaction, inclusivity, and civic presence in the vertical dimension of the city. By integrating perspectives from Urban Management, Urban Planning, and Urban Design, the research addresses both conceptual and operational barriers that inhibit the vertical expansion of public life.

Achieving this ambition requires a shift in how ownership, access, and publicness are understood, alongside practical tools to navigate legal complexities and spatial hierarchies. Through spatial design strategies and organisational models, the research demonstrates how elevated spaces can become legible, accessible, and socially meaningful extensions of the urban commons. ... Read more

This research explores the role of developers in creating social impact within Dutch priority neighborhoods, where socioeconomic challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and inadequate housing compromise the quality of life. It investigates how private entities can align their social ambitions with social impact strategies to enhance livability and address social issues. Employing a qualitative methodology, the study integrates a literature review, multiple-case studies, semi-structured interviews, and an expert panel to develop a comprehensive framework for social impact strategies.

The findings emphasize the importance of collaboration between developers, housing associations, and municipalities in achieving meaningful social outcomes. Case studies from Dreven, Gaarden, Zichten, Van Deysselbuurt, and Van Meekeren neighborhoods illustrate strategies that foster social cohesion, enhance physical environments, and improve community amenities while addressing housing and sustainability challenges. Building safer, more inclusive neighborhoods requires integrated public space and social infrastructure investments, long-term commitment of the developer, and collaboration among stakeholders. Investments in public spaces and social initiatives strengthen communities, while effective relocation management minimizes disruption. Trust-building, resident participation, and collaborative frameworks are key to creating vibrant, resilient neighborhoods with lasting benefits.

Developers bring essential resources and expertise that housing associations and the government often lack, enabling improvements in housing quality and affordability, stimulating local economies, and fostering community cohesion and diversity. Recognizing their role in sustainable urban redevelopment can enhance community well-being and economic sustainability.

Key words – Social impact strategies, Developers, Livability, Priority neighborhoods. ... Read more

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector is a major contributor to CO₂
emissions and resource consumption. In response, the Netherlands aims to make the sector 50% circular by 2030 and fully circular by 2050. However, the transition from a linear to a circular economy is complex due to technical, organisational, and cultural barriers. This dissertation explores how interorganisational behaviour and routinised practices within and beyond construction projects influence the realisation of circular ambitions. This research highlights the importance of top-down support, equal partnerships, shared goals, and intrinsically motivated individuals in construction projects. Trust, transparency, flexibility, and a shared team identity further foster the redefinition of traditional roles so as to drive innovation. However, factors such as focus on short-term cost and risk aversion often hinder progress. The dissertation further combines Sustainability Transitions Research (STR) and Social Practice Theory (SPT) into crossover frameworks that capture both systemic change and everyday practices. These are used to analyse (mis)alignments in the system-of-practices around construction projects. It was found that using secondary materials often clashes with notions of quality, safety, and aesthetics. Increasingly, Circular Building Hubs (CBHs) are brought forward as answer to this problem. This research shows that these hubs can be accelerators in the transition, though they are seen as temporary rather than permanent solutions. Ultimately, no single intervention will enable the shift to circularity. Instead, multiple coordinated changes in practices are needed. This dissertation provides tools for researchers and practitioners to navigate this complexity and encourages learning, experimentation, and a systemic approach to support sector-wide transitioning. ... Read more

There is a growing emphasis on reducing the amount of carbon that is embodied in buildings, a huge contributor of greenhouse gas emissions is the real estate sector. Despite this, a number of challenges, primary among them economical limitations, obstruct the advancement of meaningful carbon reduction. Interestingly, there is an absence of research that focuses on these financial issues from the perspective of developers, and what little study there is sometimes lacks thorough analysis and practical answers. Reevaluating developers' investment decision-making is crucial, especially in light of the industry's recognition of the need of reducing carbon emissions, especially with regard to embodied carbon. But incorporating these fresh viewpoints into useful models is still a challenging task. Therefore, "How can developers manage the paradox between profitability and embodied carbon reduction?" is the research question. By answering this question, knowledge of the ways in which developers' perspectives are influenced by financial factors when integrating embodied carbon reduction strategies into investment decision-making is improved. The goal of this study is to guide developers and the broader system surrounding this subject to profitable Paris Proof projects. This change is anticipated to enable the installation of new, ecologically friendly dwellings while considerably lowering the building and construction sector's carbon footprint. ... Read more

There is significant potential for circular and sustainable development, however, many organisations are struggling to keep pace with this transition. Despite the Paris Agreements and ESG benchmarks setting clear sustainability standards, private developers are still lacking in adopting new transitions towards a future-proof strategy for their organisations due to growing risks, increasing costs, and the competitive nature of the market.
This research aims to examine how organisational change within developers’ management structures and processes can benefit early adaptors and frontrunners. Changing the industry goes step by step and starts with an individual approach to adapting the available knowledge. Implementing these changes within companies presents barriers and opportunities at various levels in the organisation. By investigating the implementation of strategic changes, it is crucial to consider the perspectives of different teams and individuals in the organisation to understand how the short-term projects will be affected by the long-term goals and new strategies to come. These factors are shaped both internally and externally, depending on the context. Within this single case study of a developer’s organisation interviews are conducted with individuals within the developer’s operations. The aim is to provide insights into how their beliefs and work align with the framework of the private developers’ proactive and reactive approaches to the company’s culture and values. Additionally, a case study is conducted to see the change strategies in the past years concerning management and their implications on further developments by using the guide plan, recommendations are given. Combining Strategies for change and aligning strategic and project levels shows the importance of the guide plan. Providing a guide plan to address and connect theory to practice shows implementation recommendations for private developer organisations towards change strategies. The research concludes with recommendations.
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Placemaking is currently a popular concept to implement for the revitalisation of urban areas, often connected to achieving various social goals in neighbourhoods. However, while the concept of placemaking has been in use for some decades, still a lot of confusion exists concerning the specifications of placemaking. This thesis analyses how participatory placemaking in public spaces is defined according to scientific studies regarding developed economic regions, to find out if multiple diverging concepts of participatory placemaking co-exist, muddying the term, or if only slight deviations in terminology exist. The research method consists of a semi-systematic literature review to map all the different ways participatory placemaking occurs in recent scientific material. The concepts of placemaking distilled from this literature review are validated by a focus group. With their feedback then being used to reflect on the findings from the literature review and fine-tune them. This resulted in the identification of five placemaking concepts: ‘Humanistic placemaking’, ‘Organic, aggregate over time placemaking’, ‘Creative placemaking’, ‘Strategic placemaking’, and ‘Tourism, economic placemaking’, along with their specific characteristics, that will help clear up future conversations regarding participatory placemaking among professionals. With multiple distinct placemaking concepts having been identified throughout this research, which are quite evenly represented in the literature about placemaking, it is even more clear that actors discussing placemaking together have a high chance of misunderstanding each other. ... Read more

Over the last decade, shared mobility has more often become a part of urban development. Studies are increasingly pointing at mobility hubs as a vehicle to deliver shared mobility, often from a viewpoint within the mobility sector. However, shared mobility hubs have to a lesser extent been studied in relation to urban development. As far as the integration of shared mobility hubs within urban development is concerned, roles are unclear, uncertainty is high, and a scientific knowledge gap exists. Therefore, this study examines the integration of shared mobility hubs within urban developments, and assesses how developers can steer on this integration. Firstly, a review of previous studies is carried out on the concepts shared mobility, mobility hubs, and management of urban development projects. Secondly, three case studies are examined to empirically assess key stakeholders’ perspectives on working and steering on shared mobility hubs. It is found that the way developers can steer on mobility hubs, depends on the needs of the urban development organization and the needs of users, the purpose that the mobility hub should serve, and the eventual type of mobility hub that is steered upon. To illustrate the considerations affecting the way of steering, recommendations for practice are provided. Based on these recommendations, the management of two theoretical hub typologies is discussed within an expert panel. ... Read more

To prevent global warming, CO2 emissions must be reduced by 95%. The
building and construction industries account for over 15% of all direct CO2
emissions. However, currently there are no regulations for carbon net-zero
developments. Investors adhere to current sustainability requirements because
there are many barriers develop carbon net-zero. To achieve carbon net-zero,
buildings have to be energy-neutral, and climate-friendly as possible all other
emissions must be minimized and compensated. What we now often see is that
a forest is planted somewhere else to compensate for the carbon emissions.
Instead, urban areas themselves could be a solution to compensate for carbon
emissions. Furthermore, the UN argues that plans against global warming are
still inadequate and also other parties have to take responsibility to reduce
carbon emissions. Yet, how they should act is unknown. The one thing that is
known is that private parties have a steering role in sustainable urban area
developments. Based on this problem statement, the following main research
question is formulated: What can developers do to influence carbon offsets in
the development areas in the Netherlands? To answer this question, a literature
review is conducted. Moreover, case studies with semi-structured interviews
and an expert panel have been used to validate. Developers could translate
indirect and direct influenceable barriers into opportunities and thereby
influence each phase with the necessary parties and the necessary tool. The
framework provides a structured approach to navigate complexities and
maximize impact, resulting in a greener future with less carbon. ... Read more

Real estate development faces numerous challenges due to the dynamic market, socio-economic developments, but also deep-rooted mentalities and practices in the sector. Real estate developers need to innovate at both a strategic and business level to overcome these challenges and remain marketable in the long term. This study explores this gap and offers a solution by answering the question: " How can the strategic and project levels of a developer be aligned to achieve a sustainable real estate development concept?". Using a design science research methodology that combines interviews, workshops and expert panels, the Sustainable Real Estate Development Canvas (SREDC) was developed and tested. The canvas harmonises the strategic view of the developer and the interests of the various stakeholders at project level to achieve a new and sustainable development concept. During the workshop, in which all stakeholders participated, a jointly developed development concept emerged as a result of the harmonisation of interests, which demonstrates the practicability and feasibility of the proposed canvas. ... Read more

Context - Globally, there is climate change that affects life of people and nature on earth. The built environment is responsible for nearly 40% of global energy consumption and approximately onethird of global CO² emissions (JLL, 2020). Therefore, the built environment must become more sustainable. Public and private parties incorporate sustainability ambitions into urban redevelopment plans, in a complex context with high ambitions and quality for high costs materials, labour and energy. All these factors put pressure on the feasibility of urban redevelopment plans. In the collaboration of public-private partnerships, there are these two conflicting interests that make it hard to develop the high requirements for urban redevelopment plans. Objective – This research aims to provide new insights in the relationship between the negotiation in the partner selection methods and incorporating sustainability ambitions in urban redevelopment plans. The main research question in this research is: “How can negotiations in partner selection methods contribute to the incorporation of sustainability ambitions in urban redevelopment plans?” Methods – This research consist of two parts. First, document and literature review provide a framework of definitions and processes from which the empirical part is studies. This empirical, second, part consists of explorative interviews, case study analysis and an expert panel. Results – The defined concepts form literature are: sustainability ambitions, partner selection methods, and negotiations for urban redevelopment plans. The findings of the empirical part state that negotiations occur in the two partner selection methods (partner selection method and tender) about the incorporation of sustainability ambitions. Both methods differ in moments and types of negotiations. Conclusions – The main conclusion is that negotiations contribute by having moments in which key stakeholders discuss about how the sustainability ambitions are incorporated in the urban redevelopment plan. In these moments different types of negotiation occur in which stakeholders deal with the sustainability ambitions. This research gives insights about negotiations in the process of the two selection methods and which elements are important for improving both. With this improvement, key stakeholders should be better able to negotiate about how to incorporate sustainability ambitions for urban redevelopment plans. ... Read more

Traditionally, municipalities in the Netherlands have been taking a dominant and leading role in the urban area development. Currently, the municipalities pursue more often a facilitating and passive role, and prefer to utilize market resources and capabilities. The lack of municipal resources, stacking complexity of the objectives and insufficient municipal capacity, makes the shift both preferable and necessary. Unsolicited proposals are emerging along this shift to more market and networked practices. These informal proposals are original, SMART, feasible, complete, value-adding plans for exclusively municipal lands that aim to get the land directly awarded. The creativeness and smaller reliance on municipal resources makes the proposals attractive for municipalities. However, the societal desirability and legal feasibility of this instrument are ambiguous as little about the phenomenon is documented and the Didam-judgement from late 2021 bars the direct award of land.

This research aims to investigate whether the instrument is still available for Dutch municipalities and how municipalities may improve their management of these proposals. A literature study, 2 case study projects and an expert panel have covered the topics of unsolicited proposals, urban area management, public values and the legislative context. These research methods and topics have been the main components for the delivery of a process model to improve the municipal management.

The process model entails a phased model of preparatory policy design stage by the municipality to steer the market and set out the legal basis for the Didam selection procedure. The latter is complied with through a first-come first-serve open selection procedure which meets the Didam-criteria of being measurable, objective and reasonable. The process continues with a parallel Ambitioning phase by the municipality and a Design iteration phase of the private party, during which communication and process management are important. Follow up by a feasibility and elaboration phase the collaboration and project management becomes more important. Concludingly, Unsolicited proposals are still feasible and through proper employment of all management tools and activities desirable outcomes can be achieved. ... Read more

In a time of increasing awareness regarding environmental and social concerns, urban area developments have been framed within ambitious goals which require the collaboration of developers and other parties. The complexity behind pursuing sustainable goals brings several challenges to the feasibility and financing of projects since private actors are mostly profit-driven and therefore, their business rationale tends to collide when taking decisions that link private profit and public values. The existing criteria to assess sustainability, mostly at an urban level, and the difficult quantification of these criteria into potential benefits for developers have been traditionally determined as seeming incompatible. Therefore, a deeper understanding of how sustainability is impacting the decision-making of area developers is required to achieve the right balance between long-term sustainability and short-term profitability.

In that sense, there is an existing gap between sustainability assessment methods and decision-making processes that needs to be filled to ease the transition towards a broader definition of value into the business rationale of developers. In that line of reasoning, market-driven rating tools for sustainability assessment represent an opportunity to analyse how their use is impacting the urban redevelopment management, providing empirical examples of how the gap with decision-making processes can be minimized. These findings, aims to evaluate the implementation of BREEAM-NL Area in The Netherlands and add knowledge on how the use of it as a methodological framework can have an impact in the decision-making process. That could potentially stimulate developers to take a more holistic approach, enhance innovation within their decision logic and embed sustainability within their corporate strategies. ... Read more