Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is widely promoted as a strategy for sustainable urban development (Ibraeva et al., 2019). However, improved accessibility and rising land values around transit stations may reshape local commercial structures, potentially leading to commercial gentrification. Empirical evidence on this relationship remains limited, particularly in the Dutch context, where commercial environments and planning strategies differ from the American settings, in which most research has been conducted.

This study examines the extent to which changes in commercial structures in Dutch station areas are consistent with TOD-induced commercial gentrification, using the station areas of Arnhem Centraal and Breda station as case studies over the period 2000-2024. Commercial gentrification is operationalised using three indicators, derived from Chapple et al. (2018): store count, establishment types and establishment sizes. Data from the LISA Database is analysed at four-year intervals across a core station area (0-400m) and an outer station area (400-800m). National and local contextual factors are examined to distinguish TOD-related changes from broader structural trends.
The results show that both station areas experienced a significant decline in physical establishments over the study period, primarily driven by the financial crisis in 2008, the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of e-commerce. In Breda, a strong shift from neighbourhood-oriented to consumption-oriented establishments was observed in the core station area, coinciding with the comprehensive CrossMark development programme. In Arnhem, where the comparable urban development programme Rijnboog was cancelled, no such shift was observed. Regarding establishment sizes, small businesses declined in Arnhem while large establishments remained stable. In Breda, both categories declined overall, but small businesses recovered in the core station area after the construction period.
The findings suggest that TOD alone is not sufficient to trigger commercial gentrification in the Dutch context. Improved transit accessibility may contribute to commercial restructuring, but only when combined with an urban development programme or municipal policies. The process observed in Breda is more state-led than market-driven commercial gentrification, which raises questions about the applicability of the American commercial gentrification indicators in the Dutch context.
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This thesis addresses the question “How and under what conditions does temporary urbanism emerge and develop within the transition phase of Dutch brownfield redevelopment toward long-term use?” While its capacity to activate vacant sites is widely acknowledged, the processes through which it emerges, evolves and anchors remains poorly understood. Through a comparative multiple-case study of four Dutch brownfields, drawing on document analysis, field observations, and eight stakeholder interviews, this research employs a two-stage analytical framework. First, each site’s initial activation is categorized as either unstructured (coincidental, grassroots driven) or strategic (policy-embedded, facilitated). Second, strategic trajectories are traced through the lens of an existing three-phase model Test, Growth, and Development, adding an initial “Coincidental” phase to capture informal grassroots activations. A complementary nine-condition framework (encompassing location, physical and environmental factors, ownership, regulation, finance, socio-cultural context, risk perceptions and interim utilization is then applied to identify enablers and barriers to temporary urbanism. Findings reveal that three sites (Centrale Harculo, Locatie Sportlaan and Bajesdorp) successfully transitioned through all four phases, progressing from ad-hoc, bottom-up activations to small-scale trials, investment-driven scaling, and ultimately strategic integration into long-term redevelopment. In contrast, Landgoed Steenenburg remained mired in the Coincidental phase for nineteen years, sustained only by informal anti-squat housing and intermittent events, due to financial, ecological, and governance constraints. Across all cases, factors such as site location, regulatory context, ownership structure and socio-cultural dynamics alternately facilitated or hindered temporary uses. Moreover, supplementary conditions, including ownership orientation and site image, proved critical in embedding temporary urbanism within broader development ambitions. The study concludes that temporary urbanism delivers enduring value only when it is purposefully embedded within formal redevelopment processes. Key prerequisites include a clear long-term vision from the landowner, timely and coordinated decision-making and an engaged intermediary actor to bridge interim activities with permanent development goals. ... Read more

"What if the dikes were to break? How can we then live with the water in the most beautiful way?" The Netherlands has a long history of battling against the water. It is high time to embrace the water in a new vision for the Netherlands called "PLAN B: Future waterscapes."

“PLAN B: Future waterscapes” is a utopian vision, building upon the agenda of LOLA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS, where we expand the city beyond the dikes. A central tower is introduced, intended for use as both a water reservoir and for residential purposes, inspired by the Indus civilization. Thanks to the flexible and sustainable structure of this building, it can expand along the dike, adding a new urban fabric to the historical city of Delft.
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This project deals with spaces for a historically neglected collective: sex workers. It aims to destigmatize the practice by representing the workers and the material conditions that determine their safety and well-being every day, of which architecture is part.
Articulated from an intersectional feminist point of view, the research evaluates how the design of these spaces has been and continues to be a technology to control the workers. At the same time, it visualizes the workers and how they construct processes of emancipation within their (legally and spatially) subjugated position.
The design offers a working space that houses these emancipatory practices, in the context of the recent decriminalisation of sex work in Belgium. In order to do so, it draws from feminist and queer theories to construct an understanding of space that materializes the emancipation from the scale of the neighbourhood and urban block, until the detailing and use of material.
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Neighbourhood, Community, Meantal Health and the Built Environment ... Read more

The presence of industry within the urban environment is gaining significant traction in a number of cities around the world. It’s growth and importance is fuelled by technology advancements that support both traditional local industry and advanced manufacturing. However, there is a lack of a vision and clear approach regarding industry in cities as well as competing interests for available space in urban environments. Since industry is typically considered as a weak land use, strategic efforts and strong interventions are required to ensure its presence in cities is retained and promoted within the urban fabric (Hill, 2020). This study focuses on examining the conditions that can influence the feasibility of integrating light industry when transforming industrial estates (bedrijventerreinen in Dutch) into new urban mixed-use districts in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. NDSM-Werf, a former shipyard situated on the northern banks of the IJ, is the chosen case study site. In this research, the scope of light industry covers a broad range of industrial and supporting activities that in theory can be incorporated in an urban mixed-use setting. The research methodology includes an extensive literature review, followed by empirical research that is made up of three main components: the Planning & Policy Dimension, the Stakeholder Dimension and the Spatial Dimension. The data collection methods used include documentation analysis in which a range of governmental and non-governmental documents were reviewed; semi-structured interviews with public, private, and third party stakeholders as well as experts;  and additional desktop research where applicable. Outputs include the review of planning and policy processes, stakeholder mapping and a spatial analysis that involved the identification of City of Making (CoM) patterns derived from the Foundries of the Future book (Hill, 2020) using the case study site of NDSM-Werf. Main findings include the identification of six key conditions that were found critical to consider to integrating light industry in urban mixed-use developments of transformation areas in Amsterdam. Recommendations are provided at both the city level of Amsterdam and for the NDSM-Werf site in particular, directed at key stakeholders identified in the research. In addition, suggestions for further research into relevant topical areas are presented.  

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Haven is a public condenser with the ambition to change a social condition through architectural form and its contingency. Within a vision of networked public spaces to contrast urban-induced segregation in Copenhagen, the project aims to encourage social interactions by including broadly diverse recreational activities. It performs as a 'sharing platform', open to diverse organizations and individuals to maximize the use of space over time. Its unique circulation zone made of a sequence of platforms enhances accessibility, enables users to self-organize furniture and routing. Haven heralds the future of more collaborative and adaptable public spaces in urban contexts. ... Read more

Due to both geographical and functional separation of port and city, urban planning of port cities has become a rather slow, costly and sometimes conflictual process. To work towards a more collaborative way of planning and to enhance the competitive edge of port cities, mixed-use developments that include both city -and industrial orientated functions could be an outcome.
A comprehensive literature study into the mixed-use concept reveals, besides a positive view, also a more critical view on mixed-use ideas. While mixing uses knows many benefits, in realized mixed-use developments higher goals, as sustainability, synergy and diversity are not always reached and residential satisfaction appears to be rather low. Furthermore, the combination of industry and housing is typically avoided and when attempted, this mix usually
doesn’t last long. It appears residential nuisance plays a pivotal role in this. Consequently, it is argued that when developing mixed-use areas, the potential incompatibilities between different uses should be acknowledged and
residential nuisance should be managed. By coining the terms actual and perceived nuisance, a distinction is made between the objective level of nuisance, exposed to the receiver, and the subjective level of nuisance, as perceived by the receiver. Commonly used measures in urban planning are focused on mitigating the observation of nuisance (actual nuisance). However, theory suggests that also the annoyance levels attached to these observations may not be overlooked (perceived nuisance) and that the relation between actual and perceived nuisance might not be as straight-forward as it seems. In this study a deeper understanding of how residents perceive nuisance caused by industry is gained with help of a practical case: Hoek van Holland. This is a Dutch village located close to industry and part of the port city Rotterdam. Two focus groups with residents of Hoek van Holland are conducted and an urban planner who is involved with developments in the village is interviewed. The findings show that perceived nuisance is a very interrelated concept. It is influenced in several ways and depends on more than actual nuisance alone. It is theorized residential
satisfaction has a mediating effect on feelings of annoyance and, therefore, urban planners should not underestimate the value of residential satisfaction for the (long-term) success of a mixed-use developments. ... Read more

In the past decades many business parks and industrial areas haven been targeted for urban redevelopment. This is the result of the land intensification policy implemented in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam, see figure below. This redevelopment strategy has been pushing the port westward towards the sea, due to environmental challenges (Daamen, 2007). The business parks that used to be transformed in the past, where known to contain a high vacancy rate or by underperformance. This has changed, as nowadays well-performing business parks are being targeted for redevelopment. This has stirred the Chamber of Commerce to conduct a research on the economic and public value of these areas, establishing two facts: their overall good performance and their scarcity. Nevertheless, the heavy industrial port companies are still not included in the future vision of new urban redevelopment projects such as Haven-Stad. This raises many questions that, such as: Why are these companies treated as obstacles for the development? Are they still the source of environmental pollution, or is that based on old ideas? What value do these companies represent? And how can the city increase their retainment in future redevelopment plans? In order to provide answers to these questions, a value-based strategy has been developed. This will help to understand the port companies and will function as main source for the development of alternative mixed-use redevelopment strategies. ... Read more

All across the Netherlands more and more church buildings are abandoned as a consequence of secularisation, declining church attendance and ageing of the population of churchgoers. However, finding a new future for a church building is not as easy as it sounds, as it mostly result in protracted and complex processes in which involved stakeholders can hardly come to an agreement. In order to increase clarity, this article identifies different stakeholder perspectives on determining a future for church buildings in The Netherlands. By using Q methodology three shared perspectives could be identified, as well as areas of agreement, in dealing with vacant church buildings. The perspectives named: A) “church building as house for the public”, B) “making well considered choices” and C) “church councils in control”. The perspectives share awareness of the importance of church buildings for society and are all willing to retain those buildings for the future. However, they disagree on what possible future is preferred and how the process of defining a future should be shaped. Where perspective A mainly focuses on culture-historical values, perspective B has more eye for financial feasibility of reuse and perspective C stresses the importance of the religious meaning of the church building. The differences between those perspectives together with the secrecy of stakeholders is therefore seen as one of the most deciding bottlenecks in reuse processes of church buildings. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

In the period following the start of the economic crisis retail vacancy has steadily increased in many countries around the world. A frequently mentioned cause of the increase in retail vacancy is the growing popularity of online shopping. In various scientific publications, scholars have addressed the possible future implications of online shopping. In this research an attempt is made to empirically examine the effects of online shopping on the demand for retail real estate. This is done, using a correlation analysis and a multiple regression analysis. The results show that the increase in online expenditures, between 2011 and 2016, is significantly associated with the decrease in the demand for retail real estate. Therefore, online shopping should be considered as a substitute for traditional in-store shopping. These insights are used to determine the broad implications for retail policy.
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99.94% of scientists believe in the effect of CO2 emissions on climate change. To tackle this, many parts of society must become sustainable. In Dutch road projects this drive for a sustainable transition is noticed in the last few years. Currently, the actions for climate inclusive road projects have not been successful. Climate consideration are limitedly part of the scope of these projects. A lack of understanding on road planning system, and the existence of success and failure factors limits the sustainable transition in road projects. This research explores the existence and workings of critical success factors in Dutch road planning. The exploration and identification of factors is achieved by using a comparative case study approach. Three Dutch road infrastructure project were analysed. The research established three main findings (1) The lack of early (integral) inclusion of climate concerns impedes the success related to climate aspects of a project. (2) The existence of a project climate goal is essential in guaranteeing the constant inclusion of climate concerns and climate related consideration in the planning process. (3) The success of inclusion and translation of climate ambitions into goals depends on the sustainable mind-set of project organisations, political players, stakeholders and public. The findings of this research improve understanding of road planning processes and climate related transition processes. The research elaborates and corroborates critical success factors found in other disciplines. The main findings while only based on three case studies, correspond to the findings in other disciplines. ... Read more

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.
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The project initially started out to be engaged with the sociocultural phenomenon around amateur production and its physical manifestation of the DIY store as an integral of everyday life in today's society. In order to gradually develop an architectural brief for the eventual design, a number of case studies has been examined in various forms: visual, logistic, social, cultural, economic. This original fascination based on the availability, aesthetics and intimacy of the public interior observed in the existing spaces opened up a wider field of literary research towards a profound understanding of the theoretical background of DIY in a historical context. The analysis of self-made creation– mainly related to domestic crafts and home improvement–has been directed to the relationship between consumption and production as the programmatic challenge for the architectural assignment. As per now, the processes around DIY are rather clearly separated and manifested in both urban and suburban conditions where public retail facilities offer materials and tools for the assembly in the private domain. Popular media and illustrative manuals have proven that the educational function of such activities is an essential part of its nature, a potential platform to show, explain, exhibit, inspire, share, help and collaborate. The digitalisation of knowledge in forms of instructions, ideas and models has isolated amateur practice as much as the exchange of immaterial information has established an own social space. The thesis takes these conclusions as a starting point to find a way of giving DIY a pyhsical platform to bring together interests, competences and cultures by creating an urban model where building materials can be purchased, collected, reused, processed and exhibited for the benefit of the chosen neighbourhood. The economic circulation of things and thus actions aim to contribute to an identity-establishing institution for, within and through the area.
In parallel to the phenomenological investigation on the cultural conditions, a design brief has gradually been assembled to turn the personal fascination into a critical execution of an architectural programme. Being part of an open studio with a variety of themes, the choice of a legitimate site for the intervention has been a crucial part of the research. Since the means of production at hand demand an adaptive and yet framed context for its future use, the selected place offers a infrastructural foundation while being open for spatial transformation. After having tested scenarios in which the desired activities are directly inserted into an existing related typology, it has been logical to occupy a mostly vacant building in the city of Rotterdam that currently hosts workspaces for creative professionals, a social cooperative, a second hand material shop and an open event space. "Het Gebouw" is the focal point of the Zomerhofkwartier and works as an identity- establishing object for events, workshops and think-tanks for local transformations. The existing network of interests–consisting of a social housing company, active neighbours, social workers and schools–creates the ideal framework for the proposed agenda. ... Read more