Congestion in and pollution by traffic are amongst the most severe and urgent problems faced by both developed and developing countries these days. It is regarded as a "wicked" problem, which implies it is both hard to define the inherent problem and to find adequate measures to deal with. The complexity of transport systems makes it impossible for policy makers to fully grasp the effectiveness of each measure or intervention in detail. In policy maker‘s policy toolkits, there are traditionally two categories of transport measures that transport infrastructures supply (TIS) or transport demand management (TDM). However, these transport measures in reality are usually designed and implemented uncooperatively, some of which hardly receive political or public acceptance and others possibly cause unexpected negative side effects. Policy packaging is regarded as a prominent approach to solve these problems of single measures, because it can improve the acceptance of single policy measures, eliminate their negative effects after implementation, and produce larger synergy effects. However, in spite of these advantages, policy packaging complicates the whole policy making and implementation process, involving complex values, actors, and measures, and challenges policy maker‘s consciousness and capacities. This is why there is rare successful policy packaging in reality...

The purpose of this research is to study the implementation of ecological modernization branding in the cities of The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht in the Netherlands. These cities use ecological modernization branding to attract people, projects and investments. For example, they may project the image of being ‘smart’ and commission projects to showcase that they are in fact a smart city. However, the overall image that appears from the literature is that there exists a substantial gap between the brand image and its actual implementation. An assessment framework is synthesized in order to carry out this study, this analytical framework addresses numerous aspects: municipal input, throughput and output factors, the local action arena, projects and outcomes to assess the implementation. To this end, the main research question is:

How do the three Dutch cities in the ‘Randstad’ i.e. Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague implement the programs, policies and attract investments that adhere to the city brands they project?

A comparative case study approach is best suited as we can identify similarities, differences and themes across regions and cities using the assessment framework to analyze the cases. Methods used will primarily be desk research and interviews to complement the comparative study and will add nuance to our understanding of ÈM branding. The results revealed three types of EM brand labels present in these cities.

In a globalizing world, cities find themselves competing more and more for the likes of visitors, residents, investors, and companies. Simultaneously, cities may attempt to ignite synergies by working together with other cities in the region. Two core concepts of the place branding domain, image and identity, are central to this situation. Cities position themselves according to a brand identity, the desired image in the mind of people. The actual image is what drives people towards places. Many studies have tried to measure the image accordingly, while neglecting the regional context of cities and a comparison with brand identity. The main research question is: What is the theoretical and empirical relation between the image and identity of cities in a polycentric context? A design approach is used to create a tool that is able to measure and analyse image networks for polycentric regions. A method from the field of marketing, the brand concept map, is adjusted to serve the nature of this research. Subsequently, a case study of the Metropolitan region Rotterdam The Hague illustrates the use of the Polycentric brand concept map (P-BCM). The P-BCM is developed in line with the traditional stages of concept mapping (elicitation, mapping and aggregation) and an additional fourth stage (analysis). Application results in visual and quantitative insights, useful for both place brand managers and the scientific domain of place branding.

Tackling climate change effects worldwide brings the interest of many donor countries with expertise to (co)develop solutions into beneficiary countries through international cooperation. The solutions proposed can be either too solution-driven, understood as a donor country selling its knowledge / products, or on the other hand, too locally problem-driven, which is desirable in theory, but facing practical limitations such as time or scale constraints when closing to outside influences. A methodology that tries to join both (apparently opposing) sides, with their advantages and disadvantages of problem and solution driven hasn’t been explored yet.
For exploring how this can be done, in this research 2 case studies are analyzed: the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP2100), a nation-wide long term holistic plan on the Bangladeshi Delta, and a group of Coastal Water Management initiatives, a set of continuous efforts to adopt livelihoods to the dynamic situation in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. These cases are analyzed through interviews and desk research to determine to what extent are they problem and solution driven compared to proposed frameworks, and pointing how can they be improved. From these analyses, a combined framework is proposed where problem and solution driven approaches are joined taking the best from each perspective. The result is meant to be a first guiding tool for decision-makers in donor and beneficiary countries that face the dilemma between taking local and foreign elements for developing solutions.

The study presented in this document is a Master Thesis research project performed at Delft University of Technology. The main topic of this research is the development of the Smart City, which is a label in the field of City branding as part of the research field of Urban development and Political sciences. The Smart City is for this research defined as ‘a city where information and communication systems are used to collect data that can help with improving the quality of life in the city’. The goal of this research in to better understand the different implementation strategies for the Smart City concept. Since the Smart City concept is interpreted in many different ways, different cities around the world implement the concept in completely different ways. An article by Raven et al. (2017) shows these differences when comparing the Smart Cities of Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Ningbo. The article describes the cities based on regulative, normative, and cognitive elements, which resulted in three different approaches for implementing the Smart City concept. In an attempt to find an explanation for the different approaches, this research builds on the article by Raven et al. (2017) by focussing on the normative elements of the Smart City. More specifically, this research will focus on the Public values in Smart City development in Amsterdam and Hamburg. The main research question for this study is: “What Public values influence decision-making for Smart City implementation, based on the Amsterdam and Hamburg examples?”

The relevance of this research is derived from the current ambition of multiple cities around the world to change towards a much more sustainable future. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is a concept that responds to this ambition by focusing on efficient transportation modes other than the automobile by integrating transit and urban development. In the Netherlands, many substantive issues are taken into account when it comes to stimulating the transition from a car-oriented development path towards a more TOD driven path. However, formal and informal barriers still hamper the implementation of such concepts due to multiple policy differences between transit and urban development. The main problem that is addressed in this report is the policy difficulty that appears when realising TOD projects in practice.

Within the field of construction management & engineering are upcoming cities investigated on how they achieved economic development and how they increased the quality of life by using the phenomena of city branding as development tool. By doing so (city branding), cities hope to get a better position on the global market to attract companies (multinationals), inhabitants and tourists. In addition, also to define local urban identity for the current inhabitants.

Currently, more and more people live in cities, and this leads to an enormous increase in global GHG emissions. Cities are blamed for the cause of environmental problems. Therefore, countries over the world aim to approach these problems by launching sustainable city programs. On April 22, 2016, China signed the Paris Agreement at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and formally promised that carbon dioxide emissions in China would reach the peak around 2030, and it would strive for reaching the peak as soon as possible. However, the transition to sustainable cities requires governments to invest a large sum of money. It was projected by IEA in 2010 that the total investment to projects responding to climate change may amount to US $ 220 billion each year between 2010 and 2020 and about US $ 1 trillion each year between 2020 and 2030. Against this backdrop, how to fund the development of sustainable cities becomes a pressing problem the Chinese government faces. Previously, it was a common practice for the Chinese government to resort to off-budget means such as land concessions and Urban Development and Investment Corporations (UDICs) to bridge the money gap. However, these tools are viewed as unsustainable due to the scarcity of land and the imbalance of benefit appropriation among different stakeholders caused by land finance and the lack of transparency financing through UIFPs. Therefore, this research aims to expand the funding sources through exploring the possibilities for the involvement of private sectors in the construction of sustainable cities and their roles playing in achieving climate goals nationally.

Nowadays, the rising penetration of smartphones andthe important roles of them in people’sdaily life make the smartphones an ideal medium to conduct paymenttransactions. The smartphones are capable tostore everything that would normally be carried in a physical wallet andalso allows the users to make payments anytime and anywhere. The potentialadded-values of mobile payments, such as generating new revenues, obtaining newusers, increasing user stickiness attracted different players to expand theirbusinesses to the mobile payment services, including financial institutions,mobile network operators, mobile device manufacturers, trusted third partyproviders. To compete in the market, they explored differenttechnologies and business models which resulted in the complexity and dynamicsof the mobile payment market. Consequently, mobile payments have only become astandard practice in a few countries. In termsof proximity payments, NFC is widelyviewed as one of the most promising technologiesdue to its security features, compatibility with the existing financialinfrastructures, and ease of use. In the Chinese market, compared with QR code,NFC was first introduced and supported by various players. However, the Chinesemobile proximity payment market has become the largest and fastest-growingmobile proximity payment market in the world in few years by utilising QR code.The market is highly concentrated withAlipay and Tenpay which are QR code-based mobile payment platforms. In otherwords, QR code overtook NFC and became the most popular mobile proximitypayment technology in China.

 

Considering this phenomenon, the main researchquestion in this study is set as"why did QR code-based mobile payments overtake NFC and achieve a dominantposition in the Chinese market?". In orderto answer this question, the research work is conducted in three steps.Firstly, a historical review of the Chinese mobile proximity payments isperformed to identify the mainstream mobile proximity payment solutions basedon QR code and NFC technologies and corresponding business models adopted inthe Chinese market. Secondly, a desk research is conducted to determine thebarriers that mobile payment providers and users face towards to QR code andNFC-based mobile payment solutions using a multi-perspectiveframework. To obtain the situation in the Chinese market and also triangulatethe results of the desk research, in-depth interviews are conducted with technical experts and manager from the Chinesemobile payment industry. Lastly, a proposed research model is used to analysethe strategic actions of the mobile payment providers who support differenttechnological solutions, how they develop the mobile payment platforms andfacilitate users’ adoption of their mobile proximity payment services in theChinese market.

 

In this study, the research model is developed basedon relevant business model, platform andbusiness ecosystem theories. The final research model consists of three connectedperspectives which are platform technology, platform ecosystems and platformservices. It is applied to three Chinesemobile payment platforms, namely, He Wallet, Alipay and QuickPass which have implemented one or several technologicalsolutions based on NFC and QR code technologies. The data for the casestudies is collected from thesemi-structured interviews and the desk research. The results showed that althoughNFC technology was adopted first in the Chinese market, the enablingdevices of both consumers and merchants were not widely ready at that time forNFC technology, but good enough for QR code technology. However, the early NFCadopters (both MNOs and financial institutions) were reluctant to make a huge investment inthe enabling devices to realise the large-scale deployment in the early stagedue to the uncertainties on the technology level and the unclear roles andbenefits on the business aspect. Thereby, they missed the best time to captureuser and develop users' habit. In contrast, Alipay strategically adopted the independent service provider mode to leverage its obtained platformresources and capabilities whichsignificantly contributed the mass adoption of QR code in the Chinese market. DespiteQR code currently dominated the Chinese mobile payment market, it is believedthat NFC has its place in the Chinese mobile payment market as China UnionPayadopted an open platform strategy to incorporateall relevant players into its ecosystemto facilitate the development of NFC-based mobile payments.

 

The research results in this study are not onlybeneficial to the theoretical research in mobile payments but also useful forthe practical development of mobile payments. From the theoretical perspective,this research provides a comprehensive overview of the characteristics andpotential barriers of four technologicalsolutions based on NFC and QR code technologies. Besides, it developed aresearch model which can be used to interpret the status of a mobile paymentplatform. From practical perspective, itprovides some insights to the mobile payment providers in terms of the technology selection, the design of the businessmodel, the service development and the marketing strategies.

Shock Safe Nepal was founded as a response to the 2015 Nepal earthquakes to function as a platform to contribute to the development of knowledge on earthquake safe housing. The goal of the report of team 5 is to validate and optimise the design of the pilot house that was created based on the work of previous teams, and the development on implementation plans for a validated and optimised house. Literature study, field work and interviews have been performed resulting in main findings of this report.
Primarily, the used materials were analysed in the report, including bamboo, CSEB bricks and concrete. They were analysed consulting literature, conducting laboratory tests in cooperation with the University of Tribhuvan. Bamboo was mainly analysed consulting literature sources, since laboratory tests were not feasible. It was found that its material properties are immensely difficult to determine and can vary from one column to another. However, it remains a strong and cheap building material. CSEB bricks were used due to its availability, strength and price. The material properties were derived from tests done by Build Up Nepal and from literature sources. Its mechanical performance is like that of concrete. It’s an easy material to build with and incorporate steel rebar’s. However, its durability and consistency is something which was not thoroughly investigated and remains debatable. The concrete used, was thoroughly tested, conducting slump cone, compression and Schmidt Hammer tests. It was found that the concrete used in the pilot house is of acceptable quality, but there is room for improvement by following clear guidelines and technical assistance. Subsequently, static calculations were executed, regarding the roof, the load bearing structure and the foundation. It was found that these different components, perform safely under static conditions, with the applied loads, separately and combined. The load bearing structure has turned out to be a wall-bearing structure. This was not assumed at first. Furthermore, after calculations, it was found that the roof and foundation were largely over dimensioned. This is, however, determined considering many assumptions, such as the soil properties.
Regarding an earthquake situation, the walls and bearing capacity were researched and calculated following quasi-static conditions. The earthquake conditions were derived from the Peak Ground Acceleration. Primarily the walls were researched. Two scenarios were considered, a 3-point collapse failure mechanism and punctual overturning collapse failure mechanism. Both mechanisms were tested for different wall compartments. These calculations give a small insight in the actual situation, because dynamic loads are applied statically, non-linear or dynamic calculations should be conducted as well as FEM modelling, for more thorough understanding. It must be said that the rebar and resonance effects were not considered. Regarding the bearing capacity, a PGA of 0.6 was used and from calculations, partly considering the soil and superstructure inertial effects, the bearing capacity would not fail. However, superstructure resonance was not considered. Larger PGA’s were not investigated, which means that it is not determined under which conditions failure would occur. From these analyses the Structural optimisations are made to the design. This includes improving the joints between different elements of the house. Regarding the materials used the optimisations include 5 protecting the CSEB bricks from weather as they are load-bearing. Guidelines are given on the placement of the house regarding the foundation and the slope. According to the calculations the foundation is over- dimensioned.
For the stakeholder analysis, extensive research was done through interviews which was combined with literary information available. This was then used to create a power interest grid and a network analysis, which shows the links between different categories of stakeholders and different specific stakeholders. This analysis also gave insight in the sheer number of stakeholders involved in rebuilding Nepal and the importance of defining the role of SSN further. The external factors that are important in working in Nepal were analysed, this was done regarding social, technical, economic, environmental, political, legal and ethical aspects and based on literature research, field research and interviews. Implementation methods of different types of organisations in Nepal were analysed. These findings were concluded in a SWOT analysis of the organisations. Defining the strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities and threats of other organisation help to define the direction that SSN should move in and those aspects of building in Nepal that can also be defined as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to SSN or make SSN different to other organisations. The risks of building in Nepal must be considered to create a realistic and feasible long-term plan and need to be mitigated a risk analysis is done. The findings in the risk assessment are found in external risks, design risks and construction risks. A plan is then set up to mitigate external risks and construction risks are the. The findings of the long-term plan are organised into a strategy for SSN, an engagement plan and an implementation pathway. The strategy is concluded in a SWOT analysis which is then used to create a TOWS analysis. This TOWS analysis combined the internal and external strengths and weaknesses to bring new creative ways of maximising strengths and opportunities and minimising the weaknesses and threats. The Implementation pathway contains long- term goals for SSN, that are structured into regulatory, implementation, technical and organisational goals and that can be added onto by future teams.
This research is to be a logical step in a series of research projects which will contribute to the reconstruction of an earthquake safe environment in Nepal. It can be used as consultation advice, guideline or as a base for in-depth follow up research on one of the included topics.

Public infrastructure is often mentioned as a key to promoting economic growth and development. This belief has been supported by the observation of rich countries, such as the U.S., Japan and those in Western Europe, where plenty of infrastructures developed during times of rapid economic growth. China has been one of the world’s fastest-growing and most important emerging economies in recent decades with good performance of public infrastructure. However, China’s transition to a market-based economy has created new problems, among which is the growing regional inequality in per capita income. The interior region (near west) and far western regions lag far behind the coastal region in economic progress. Both theoretical and empirical evidence is could help explain the economic growth and increasing regional disparity in China.
To answer these questions, the book is organized in the following way: in chapter 1 the regional distribution pattern of the public infrastructure and economic development in China is introduced, the problem of infrastructure-led growth and disparity is diagnosed, and the research question is posed; in chapter 2 the causal linkages between transport infrastructure and economic growth in China are determined at national and regional levels separately; after identifying the causality between transport infrastructure and economic development, chapter 3 estimates the impact of transport stock on overall economic growth, and on growth at the regional level as well; the long-run effects of education attainment and its distribution on China’s growth in China are estimated in chapter 4; chapter 5 examines the distributive impact of public infrastructure (both transport infrastructure and education), highlighting the role of road infrastructure in narrowing China’s spatial concentration and inequity; chapter 6 provides a synthetic answer to the research question based on all theoretical and empirical study in the previous chapters.
Therefore, rather than providing recommendations for the Chinese governments about how much they should invest in infrastructure projects, this book aims at understanding the real role of public infrastructure in China’s growth and disparity, and illustrating how public infrastructure investment plan changes can achieve economic efficiency and spatial equity.provided to support the public infrastructure-led growth hypothesis, it is questionable, however, whether investment in infrastructure has been helpful in spurring economy, and in reducing the growing coastal-interior gap in China, considering that plenty of large infrastructure projects have been constructed or planned in the less-developed interiors. Therefore, this study explores both if and how public investment in infrastructure