Vulnerable neighborhoods in the Netherlands face mounting challenges from climate change and land subsidence, threatening both infrastructure stability and residents' quality of life. Despite the urgent need for adaptation, financial stakeholders encounter persistent barriers: residents often lack the means to act, local governments face budgetary constraints, and private investors hesitate due to high perceived risks or insufficient return potential.
This research seeks to address the main question: "What are the systemic barriers faced by financial stakeholders in implementing climate adaptation measures in vulnerable neighborhoods in Dutch Cities, and how can these barriers be addressed?” To answer the research question, this thesis focuses on financial stakeholders, such as housing associations, government agencies, banks, insurers, and developers and their role in enabling or blocking climate adaptation. Using the Bloemhof neighborhood in Rotterdam as a case study, the research combines qualitative methods with a design-based approach. Bloemhof is a historically layered, socio-economically vulnerable area with severe environment-related challenges. Three alternative spatial development approaches are explored to envision climate adaptation in practice: (1) selected demolition and reconstruction, (2) modest renewal, and (3) integrated redevelopment. To test these alternatives and uncover systemic barriers, a series of interviews, a design-based session, and expert panels were conducted with financial and other related stakeholders. The findings reveal three interrelated barriers to collective adaptation: (1) at system level, national coordination is lacking, and no problem owner has been appointed to lead long-term adaptation efforts. (2) at the neighborhood level, fragmented ownership and the absence of integrated financing arrangements prevent collective action. Public and private stakeholders lack mechanisms to share the costs and benefits of adaptation. (3) at the stakeholder level, narrow mandates and institutional logics tend to reproduce the status quo, where no actor feels responsible for taking the first move. The findings of this study contribute to the debate on climate-resilient (re)development and offers recommendations for governance arrangements that support adaptation in vulnerable neighborhoods

By combining different perspectives and methods of empirical research, this PhD thesis
generates multi-disciplinary insights into the rise of the logistics complex and its planning
discourse whilst focusing specifically on XXL distribution centres (DCs) in the Netherlands.
Since the 1980s, the building footprint of this complex has increased fourfold, to approximately 80 million square metres, generating a new large-scale landscape type: Landscapes of Trade.
The research addresses urgent issues regarding the seemingly ubiquitous growth pattern of DCs in the Netherlands, the dominant and increasingly challenged policy narrative of the Netherlands as a ‘gateway to Europe’, and the public-private actor network that appears to fall short of adequate DC planning and development. Other issues are the claimed employment benefits of DCs, the balance of the benefits and burdens of logistics, and the provision of useful spatial planning information for logistics clusters in the emerging circular economy. This thesis shows how historical, economic and institutional dynamics have shaped the rampant expansion of the logistics complex in the Netherlands. The thesis argues that a new logistics policy narrative is necessarily grounded in the contemporary dynamics and policy goals that are quite different from the conditions in the 1980s. Further research and planning practice along these lines would include open information provision in the logistics spatial planning discourse with an international scope, intensive and multifunctional land use, reverse logistics enabling circularity in DCs, as well as added value of DCs for local communities and businesses.

Contemporary urban area development is a complex and multifaceted task, requiring the integration of diverse actors, interdisciplinary knowledge, and financial resources. Collaborative governance approaches have emerged as a response to these challenges, emphasizing knowledge-based collaborations and consensus-oriented decision-making. This study aims to investigate how public and private actors in collaborative governance steer on feasibility in the context of urban area development. The research focuses on understanding the assessment of feasibility, important milestones in the governance process, risks that substantially pressure feasibility, and how these risks are managed within collaborative governance agreements. The main research question is: How do public and private actors in collaborative governance steer on feasibility in the context of urban area development? The theoretical framework highlights the role of collaborative governance in steering towards feasibility and managing risks in urban area development. The empirical research, based on a case study of the Vroondaal project in The Hague, examines the assessment of feasibility and the management of risks. The findings reveal key risk factors, such as revenue increase, cost increase, cost of land development, interest rate fluctuations, land price, land sale, and market decline. Risk-management strategies include financial models, financing and interest rate considerations, land sale rate and real estate development strategies, investment and revenue adjustments, and collaboration agreements and responsibilities. The study concludes that public and private actors steer on feasibility through collaborative governance processes, as stakeholders collectively identify, analyze, and manage risks in the context of urban area development.

The built environment is constantly exposed to societal, political, and economic changes. The COVID-19 pandemic was of major influence on the usage of office buildings. Since hybrid working became the norm, governmental offices struggled with low occupancy rates after the pandemic. This study is based on the underexposed side of sustainability, namely efficient usage of square metres through potentially sharing real estate and focuses on the public real estate portfolio and strategical management of the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (RVB), specifically their office buildings. The RVB has two strategic goals for its portfolio, firstly to enlarge the public value of the governmental real estate and secondly to improve the services in a safe, sustainable, and innovative way. Hypothetically, value can be added to the urban context by including other functions through mixed-use development or sharing office buildings with other organisations. The main research question is: To what extent can the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf share governmental office buildings within the city of The Hague, focussing on (semi-)public organisations and mixed-use development, to optimise the utilisation of available real estate? This study consists of a literature review that provides a framework of definitions and processes. The second part is empirical research based on the DAS model and consists of interviews and document analysis. The DAS model aims to determine the approach to achieve the desired real estate portfolio by analysing the current and future supply and demand. This study has found that sharing real estate with other public organisations and mixed-use development could contribute to utilising available office space more efficiently in The Hague. However, when considering sharing governmental real estate with other public organisations, several barriers emerged. Safety concerns and unresolved financing issues are the two major barriers for sharing real estate. To be able to translate the barriers and possibilities to actual real estate adjustments, further research should be done for the portfolio.

Keywords – public real estate, DAS model, efficient use of real estate, sharing real estate, mixed-use development

Preventive measures for a healthy population are becoming a trending topic in the Netherlands because of rising costs of care and an increasing population of elderly. Due to this, prevention methods in the built environment can help with minimising this problem. Urban area developments are ways for improving or developing new built environments. Health will need to become part of these developments. To research this, the following question was answered: ‘’How can actors involved in urban area (re)developments in the Netherlands realise healthy urban areas?’’ The research was conducted using mixed methods of literature study, questionnaires and case studies. What was found is that actors need to collaborate following the rules of collaborative governance. Many challenges are seen such as ambiguous definitions and difficulties with monitoring. However, recommendations are found. These are: extended front-end work; digital twinning; involving medical actors; assigning an ambassador of health; introducing an after-delivery team for health; collaborating with knowledge institutes; monitoring on city level and introducing a database; investing increased returns in health interventions; clear norms set by the state; and a communal knowledge of health. These can help future healthy developments to be realised.

In 2022, the Netherlands are confronted by two major problems: a housing shortage and an excess of nitrogen emissions. This excess of nitrogen emissions is primarily the result of livestock farms, which cause problems in close proximity to Natura 2000 areas. The housing- and nitrogen crises are intertwined because certain housing developments had to be halted or delayed in order to reduce nitrogen emissions.
Both crises have sparked intense debate and discord in Dutch society, leading to the government's decision to create a buyout policy for farmers. The current government's top priority is to resolve these crises, but it has not yet been able to implement effective solutions. This study explored a supporting solution for both the housing- and nitrogen crises by investigating why housing developments on livestock farm locations are not commonly utilized as such in the Netherlands, and how such developments can be made more viable for farmers, municipalities and real-estate developers. As replacing livestock farms with housing seems such an obvious strategy. This experimental study employs qualitative methods, including interviews, desk research, literature reviews, and two case studies. In addition, a research internship has been concluded, during which experimental development cases on two livestock farm locations were carried out. Following the research methodology, a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities of developing housing on livestock farm locations has been formed. As well as an understanding of the legal-, social-, governmental-, and financial aspects of developing housing on livestock farm locations. It has been concluded that housing developments on livestock farm locations are currently viable and should be more prevalent. However, due to the complexity and (political) sensitivity, stakeholders are hesitant to develop housing on livestock farm locations. As ‘regular’ housing developments are complex enough in the current Dutch climate. The research has resulted in a final advisory document to aid in the development of housing on livestock farm locations. The advisory document describes how the context of housing developments on livestock farm locations can be made more viable, plus gives practical advice on how a housing development on a livestock farm location can be made into a viable proposition for a real-estate developer.

Although social objectives are frequently part of the pursuit of sustainable urban development, how such social sustainability goals can be achieved in urban development practices remains a largely unsolved puzzle. While scholars increasingly acknowledge that urban social sustainability is a plural concept that needs to be specified in different situations, thus far very few social sustainability studies have focused on the processes in which such specifications take place – i.e., the implementation processes in which policies are brought into practice in urban areas or neighborhoods. This dissertation develops an understanding of how institutionalized governance processes affect the implementation of policy goals related to social sustainability in area-based urban development projects. The research draws on Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) to construct a capability-centered evaluation of such efforts. More than other normative approaches that primarily focus on the distribution or quality of spatial goods, the principles of the CA focus on the fact that different people have different experiences. Unique personal, social, and environmental circumstances per individual imply that people have different capabilities: the actual freedoms to do or be what one considers valuable for a dignified life. A promising role is reserved for the CA to investigate how exactly the diversity of human beings can be incorporated into urban development and planning processes. This provides a sincere response to the calls of social sustainability scholars that more ‘human-centered’ approaches are needed. The dissertation hypothesizes that governance processes around urban development projects hold various elements that affect the implementation of social sustainability in contemporary cities, and subsequently, influence whether ‘capability-centered urban outcomes’ are achieved or not. In that way, this dissertation analyzes how governance processes in urban development practice relate to capability-centered evaluations of urban social sustainability outcomes. Whereas these two aspects are often investigated separately – i.e., studies often either focus on analyzing the mechanisms within governance processes or on describing and evaluating social outcomes in the urban environment – this dissertation explicitly brings these together. The governance process is investigated from a collaborative governance perspective to analyze which activities and interactions between the different stakeholders affect capability-centered social sustainability outcomes in urban environments, and complementary, from an institutionalist perspective that explores what less-visible, yet structural elements of governance condition the emergence of capability-centered governance activities.

'A Wakening' entails a coming home to our innate essence of what it means to be human and living as part of this interconnected web of life. Through being present with the now, we can envision and work towards desired, collective, and whole futures for all on this earth. 'A Wakening' should be patient. For me, the first step in waking up is to dream. Dream more and deeper and lose myself, first trusting soil and gut and instincts. It is only coming out of the pure egoless dream of making and noticing that 'A Wakening' might be useful to me and, by extension, to the turbulent times we live in. Those whose work I admire are rooted and quiet and know how to go deep and slow and feel things before acting on them. Meanwhile, the earth itself may be waking up and considering spitting us all out.

There seems to be a mismatch between the enormous potential of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and the extent to which it is adopted in the construction and development industry C&DI. According to the literature, the growing interest in I4.0 and its potential benefits are not stimulating companies to adopt it. There is little to no research covering adopting I4.0 technologies in the Dutch C&DI. Usually, the
focus is on different industries. When research focuses on the C&DI, it often investigates the construction or the maintenance phase. In addition, these researches mainly focus on the barriers of adopting Industry 4.0, and not on what interventions could be taken to increase the adoption in practice. This has resulted in the following main research question:
Are barriers withholding adopting Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT) and Digital Twins (DT)) within the Dutch construction and development industry, and if so, can these barriers be overcome? Due to the topic’s nascent character, mainly qualitative research is conducted. Literature is reviewed in combination with exploratory interviews and a focus group. In addition, a quantitative study was set up to support the qualitative research through a survey. A selection of twelve barriers to withholding adopting I4.0 technologies has been identified from the literature review. As a result of the survey, the lack of clarity on economic benefit and the challenge in the value chain integration emerged as the two most significant barriers. The most frequently adopted I4.0 technologies in the Netherlands are sensors and big data & analytics. The interviews and focus group made it possible to look in-depth at the previously found results, revealing several significant barriers. In addition, potential interventions have been identified to overcome the barriers. In conclusion, these interventions have been discussed in more detail, followed by recommendations. For example, municipalities should participate more often in a Joint venture, which is a public-private partnership. Unfortunately, specific numbers of Dutch adoption are missing in the research. However, the recent experience and adoption of I4.0 technologies in the Dutch
C&DI generate well-founded valuable insights. Lastly, the research stresses the importance of future research on the topic.

The lack of effective place-making strategies to transform industrial urban areas into mixed-use areas, and the limited knowledge of how manufacturers interact with other actors, have exposed the vulnerability to future challenges of these redevelopment processes. Therefore, this research aims to identify directions of place-making strategies to overcome future challenges in the redevelopment of industrial urban areas, through the interaction of actors in the case of Schieoevers Noord. This is done following a research by design with a qualitative approach through the analysis of the case and its arenas of interaction, the exploration of possible future scenarios, and the identification of opportunities and challenges. This reveals opportunities to build on good relationships, promote co-creation, facilitate discussion and interaction, stimulate long-term investment and commitment, and develop awareness of existing businesses. However, challenges are portrayed in the dependence of private land ownership and public support for businesses development, the urge for space availability and affordability, and the lack of operation awareness between neighbors. Hence, it is possible to recommend that place-making strategies should be implemented in a timely manner, within the relevant arena and involving the respective actors. Within industrial urban areas, it is essential to activate businesses to exploit positive interests and prevent place-breakers, while unlocking new opportunities to implement strategies that facilitate community engagement and socio-economic interaction. The implementation of strategies over all of the arenas can enhance the effectiveness to overcome future challenges in the redevelopment of these areas.

An increasing demand for mobility due to natural growth in demand and an urbanizing Randstad region create a demand for a higher quality and higher capacity system of public transportation in the Netherlands. Funding for improvements is however lacking threatening the development of needed homes in the region as new development locations lack accessibility. The responsibility for plan making and development of housing and regional infrastructure has shifted to lower levels of government. Value capture funding instruments are successfully applied abroad where they supply parts of the required funding for infrastructural projects. The application of value capture instruments in the Dutch context is studied by looking at Dutch cases where regional public transportation infrastructure and urban development are combined and by expert interviews to explore the application of value capture instruments. Through a literature study it was found that the upgrade of public transportation infrastructure can lead to a 3 to 5 per cent rise in real estate values in the first kilometer from a new station location. By estimating a rise in real estate values using qualitative characteristics complex quantitative calculations can be avoided and an expected rise in real estate value can be found. A proposal for a value capture process is made where the choice for an instrument is related to the capture space and financial feasibility is considered in relation to the choice for value capturing. It is recommended that the Dutch government takes action to empower local public bodies to be able to apply value capture instruments by taking away legal risks. Timing, scale and governance are seen as key factors for local public bodies to be able to succeed in capturing value.

The conditions that determine when and why individuals can be forced to contribute to collective services are part of an ongoing debate in the spatial planning and urban governance domain. In this thesis the problem of and a solution to free-ridership in area developments with existing property owners alongside incoming real estate developers, where private and societal actors want to invest in adding extra quality to the area through collective services or amenities, is discussed. The goal of the research is to design an instrument that helps private and societal parties in achieving this addition of extra quality, whilst at the same time giving public parties the handles to deal with these processes. This instrument is called the Area Improvement District, or AID. The research consists out of a literature review and case studies. These techniques yield a theoretical framework, empirical insights and legislative proposition. The results have been synthesised in a proposal law for the AID, based on extension of the existing Dutch BIZ law. The instrument now seems predominantly applicable in the exploitation phase, as there is a lack of knowledge with regards to what investments in collective services result in increased real estate value. However, once more knowledge is acquired regarding this, the instrument could add significantly more quality to both new and existing areas.

When looking at a country like Oman that is abundant in its historical and cultural heritage, it is apparent that these aspects have a huge role in shaping this country’s identity, and remains to this day engraved in different parts of its built environment. However, the values and opportunities of cultural heritage are increasingly overlooked in urban developments, due to the misconception that it might not fit in the mold or vision that developers are creating with trends of “smart, high-tech, innovative cities”. This strongly applies to countries in the Middle-East as they attempt to replicate existing successful developments, while disregarding the context of the area, culture, and identity that distinguishes them and makes them unique, as a result; this has led to failed schemes and unavoidable lack of identity in these projects. Integrating certain aspects of cultural heritage in urban developments could be of high value to a city, creating several opportunities that cultivate the success of future developments. In order to accomplish a successfully integrated project that combines the area “Port” and city, old with the new, past and future, it is important for stakeholders; from both public and private sectors are involved in the decision making process, taking cultural heritage into consideration. Subsequently, the notion of integrating cultural heritage in sustainable developments arises, and by using the contributions of cultural heritage towards influencing the stakeholder’s decision making process; taking into account the necessity of incorporating cultural heritage into their visions. However, with upcoming future developments in Oman, it becomes clear that there are certain challenges that come with forming strategies, and implementing them from both private and public sectors perspectives that remains challenging due to poor collaboration. This research aims to fill in the gap in literature on a specific part of culture integration; which is cultural heritage and its value in sustainable waterfront regenerations. Through identifying the contributions that cultural heritage provide for sustainable waterfront developments, and what opportunities it could create for the society, economy and tourism development of the city, the process of implementation and integration can then be steered by integrating the right management tools in regards to conservation of heritage.

In December 2017, the municipality of Amsterdam announced the development of a new city in its port: Haven-Stad. The plan comprises a redevelopment strategy to transform port lands towards a mixed use urban area with up to 70.000 dwellings. This announcement caused a conflict between port users and the city. This integration of various stakeholders and interests is key for successful urban area redevelopment, especially in the complex port-city interface. Goal of this thesis is to understand and learn from the presumed conflict between port and city in the case of Amsterdam. Therefore, an actor-centered institutional analysis was conducted of the strategic governance and planning around Haven-Stad. The level of integration between scales, sectors and agencies per outcome of each planning phase was measured and then set against the analysed institutional setting. This research identified various socio-cultural, legal-economic and governance factors in the institutional setting that affect plan making in the port-city interface. Various subjects, such as relaxed environmental regulations, decentralized urban planning and change of the political landscape have contributed to unintegrated planning and conflicts. The municipality has a culture of blueprint strategic urban planning and is focused on integrating different departments and solving an ongoing housing crisis. On the other hand, the fact that the port is fossil fuel based and corporatized -but municipally owned- limited its ability to prevent urban takeover. This thesis recommends the development of a true and joint port-urban vision, the enhancement of cooperation between local, regional and national stakeholders and the involvement of private parties and port users in plan making. In an outlook towards the introduction of the new Environment and Planning Act, this research indicates that decentralized and flexible planning instruments may increase the chance for potential conflicts in industrial and waterfront redevelopment areas.

The challenge of an effective governance process and the demand for inclusive development form a tension, traceable in contemporary (Re)development Projects in South Africa. Based on the legislative premise of urban planning and architectural design, private sector developers must engage with urban authorities in the Project-related Governance Process (PGP). Within the PGP, municipal and provincial authorities have the opportunity to share contextual information and thus steer planning intentions. However, the ambiguous understanding among involved actors how an effective PGP should look like and what degree of influence urban authorities should have on the planning fuel the above stated tension. This research project investigates the Cape Town Waterfront Development in three distinct episodes: Firstly, the initiation of the Waterfront Development and the setting up towards a negotiated environment. Secondly, the completed Silo District project and thirdly the current stage of the Canal District project. The research insights presented concern the work of key actors involved and their interactions linked to these episodes. Hence, the question is answered what effect these interactions have on the development process as well as the materialized outcome of todays Waterfront.

As Dutch cities are increasingly looking to transform inner city industrial waterfronts into mixed-use neighbourhoods, the need for good participation processes with existing businesses increases. Although municipalities are aware of this, current participation processes often do not lead to the desired results. Therefore, a structured process approach is recommended to improve the participation process with existing businesses in industrial urban waterfront regenerations.

The aim of this thesis is to identify the obstacles for the transition of refugee camps and to identify whether network management can be a way to deal with this. The combiniation of the long-term existence of refugee camps, its negative impact on individuals, the inevitable urbanization and the lack of policy implementation of the UN refugee agency causes urgency to look at the management of a refugee camp differently. Humanitarian aid is not appropriate anymore and the moment development aid comes in remains unclear. The linkage between the different forms of aid is lacking. In this thesis, the transition between these different forms of aid is investigated by conducting a network analysis the case study: Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan. The results show that the main obstacle in the transition is the lack of interaction and platform. This is caused by several institutional obstacles. The host government rejects the durable solution integration, has a complex decision-making structure and points towards the international community to take care of the refugee camp which causes absence of incentives to intiate interaction about the transition of the camp. Also from the UN side there is a lack of mandate for the long-term, a short-term funding system and non-transparancy between agencies causes obstacles for interaction. Also having a developmental approach, or exit strategies for humanitarian agencies is blocked by the difficult economic situation in Jordan and the high standards of UN agencies.
By analysing a Think Tank project which aims to establish interaction about the future of Za’atari Refugee Camp the application of network management strategies is tested. The results show that some interaction was established successfully but that the process stagnated when actors had to take ownership and resigned predominantly from the process. Lacking protection of core values and lack of agreement on process rules can be one of the reasons for the stagnation in the process. There are several obstacles to be found to the transition of refugee camp Za’atari, which can also be found worldwide in other refugee camp situations. These obstacles cannot directly be overcome by networkmanagement because it is limited to the extent wherein the core-values remain protected. Network management is hampered when actors on purpose execute non-cooperative strategies to protect their core-values.

Urban regeneration has been subject of a changing environment in which increased participation of different sectors of society play a key role. The shift in power and governance structures has put participation in the centre stage, as a key factor to achieve social and economic sustainability in this kind of projects. A response to this challenge is given by the implementation of collaborative planning and network theories. This thesis is focused on the application of these mechanisms in practice, using a case study as an example of the possibilities and limitations of collaborative approaches. By studying the actor relations within the Fenicia Triangle project, a set of conclusions on the applicability of the instruments and the influence of the context is provided. Finally, a set of recommendations for the practice is presented.

The declining port/industrial activities near the urban structure of cities generate new challenges for contemporary societies. Among others, these challenges interest the desolation of urban districts and the creation of large urban voids, one of the major problems affecting, nowadays, the Greek cities. This phenomenon is witnessed in a larger extent during the last years of the strong socio-economic recession, particularly in coastal zone areas. Therefore, currently, there is a large amount of areas waiting for regeneration projects in order to be reconnected to the cities’ built environment and society. Despite the large amount of such undeveloped areas, there is a lack of formal knowledge and experience in implementing regeneration strategies in Greece. For that reason, this research is seeking to identify and understand the motives, in terms of drives and barriers, of opting for (re)development schemes by focusing on an exemplary brownfield waterfront area in the seaport city of Piraeus, called “Lipasmata”.
The purpose of analysing this case is to illustrate the conflicts between the stakeholders committed to the area, and the plans made until now, in order to examine the opposing views for the area’s future. Additionally, based on the main case study’s findings and the knowledge from the international practice of waterfront development, it is explored the possibility of implementing alternative strategies as a solution for the (re)development of the area. In particular the solution is searched within the boundaries of the community-orientated development approach, which has flourished in challenging socio-economic context, as the one in Greece.
The expectations of this research are to contribute to the academic knowledge and a policy debate regarding the management of waterfront developments in the country. This will help policy-makers and other stakeholders search for more effective solutions for managing and implementing waterfront development projects.

This research explores the roles local public authorities can deploy in innovation district planning and development and the spatial conditions and interventions they should enhance to stimulate innovation through the built environment. Because cities are promoting and investing in new locations to agglomerate knowledge-intensive activities on a specific location, to raise the innovation profile of the area and accelerate urban economic renewal. Academics and practitioners question to what extent urban planners can appoint areas where innovation-rich activities might cluster and what strategies and organization these projects need to become more than a rebranding effort. This trend also becomes apparent in Dutch urban practice. Which drives this research to explore how innovation districts came into being, to what extent innovation is actually stimulated in these districts (focusing on the physicality of this phenomenon and the role of the built environment), and how they could be organized to enable and stimulate innovation and the processes leading to it.