The global challenge of food shortage, exacerbated by population growth, climate change, and economic disparities, demands innovative agricultural solutions. Vertical farming (VF) emerges as a promising alternative, offering higher yields, efficient land use, minimal water and nutrient usage, and the potential for urban integration. However, VFs face significant barriers, primarily due to their high energy demands for artificial lighting and climate control. This study investigates how vertical farming can contribute to local energy grid stabilization through optimized energy management strategies. Focusing on a case study in Zeeland, Netherlands, an area with significant grid congestion, this research develops a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model to dynamically adjust energy consumption based on real-time data from photovoltaic (PV) panels, battery storage, and grid prices. The primary objective is to minimize energy fed back to the grid, while a secondary objective is to reduce operational costs. Results indicate that optimized energy management can significantly reduce costs and impact on the grid. Flexible light schedules, aligned with periods of low energy costs and high solar PV generation, enhance grid stability and economic viability. This study highlights the potential of vertical farms to support the energy grid, contributing to the broader goal of a sustainable and resilient food system.

In the light of climate change and environmental challenges such as a nitrogen crisis, a decreasing biodiversity and waterlogging, the Dutch government is trying to build 900 000 homes by 2030 while aiming for a reduction of 55% of CO2 in the construction industry. Biobased topping-up of existing tenement flats is proposed as a solution to tackle several issues. A literature review revealed that a top-up structure has the ability to limit the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of housing. From a set of seven biobased resources, wood, hemp, flax, straw, miscanthus, cattail and seaweed, it was concluded that the current Dutch stock is not sufficient to construct all 100 000 required top-ups with locally sourced biobased materials. Scaling up to a sufficient amount of resources by 2030 requires the right allocation of material over the Dutch landscape, and for the region of Zuid-Holland the right allocation over a peat region, a clay region and a sand region. This is necessary because this cultivation can help break the nitrogen impasse and boost the biodiversity. Furthermore, most resources do not compete with food production. A design for a top-up could be constructed with materials that were sourced within 50km reach. The comparison of GWPs of different variations on the design for the top-up showed that the variations with biobased insulation do not always perform better as an additional layer of fire-proofing had to be added to the construction. Biobased materials do however have the capacity to store biogenic carbon which should be taken into account. Knowing this, the Dutch government and the province of Zuid-Holland should try to construct as many top-ups with locally sourced biobased materials as possible, since it is the quickest way to Paris-proof housing.

Over the past decades, various farming methods have evolved to address global challenges of increasing food demands, decreasing availability of arable land, and climate change. One such method is vertical farming, which uses active climate systems and artificial lighting in stacked systems, enabling year-round, stable yields with minimal land-use. Vertical farms (VFs) are often advocated as sustainable, offering benefits such as efficient land-use, high yields, minimal water and nutrient use, no pesticides, and proximity to urban food demands. However, substantial electricity use for lighting and climate control poses a major challenge.

This study assesses the potential to integrate VFs in cities to reduce energy and resource use, and carbon emissions of both entities collectively. It compares the carbon footprint of VFs and conventional farming in the Netherlands, revealing that the substantial electricity use in VFs outweighs their benefits from a carbon footprint perspective. Additionally, it explores reusing residual heat from VFs for building heating at both building and urban scales. It also examines synergies such as reusing water and nutrients outputs from buildings in VFs, and attuning lighting with grid electricity availability.

Findings indicate that synergetic integration of VFs in cities can reduce collective energy use and carbon footprints of both VFs and cities. However, the overall carbon footprint of these cities surpasses that of cities relying on fossil-based heating and conventional farming. These increased emissions should be weighed against the benefits VFs bring to cities, including enhanced food security, self-sufficiency, replacement of fossil-based heating, efficient land-use, and grid flexibility. In conclusion, while VFs offer significant urban benefits, their high carbon footprint due to artificial lighting remains a challenge.

Cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change and, consequently, the urgent need for incorporating climate adaptation strategies into urban planning is frequently highlighted. In this context, Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) have emerged as a promising technology that can potentially aid urban planning processes and facilitate the implementation of climate adaptive initiatives. Despite the rapid development of this technology, UDT research is still in its infancy and more research is required to justify its potential in this context. Therefore, this research investigates the practical application of UDT technology in the context of urban development, with a specific focus climate adaptation. This study is performed through a real-world case study approach on the Gnephoekpolder, an area with significant urban development plans in the Netherlands. This study demonstrates the wide range of possibilities offered by the UDT, which can aid better-informed decision-making regarding climate adaptive efforts. Furthermore, this study identifies the benefits, risks and
limitations of UDT technology through a comprehensive user evaluation, based on the UTAUT framework. These insights can serve as a guide for future development of the UDTs. Moreover, the strength and significance of the most important drivers for the adoption of UDT technology are determined. In this study, the importance of social influence is highlighted. With this information, practitioners can design strategies to promote the successful adoption of the technology in the context of climate adaptation in urban development. Finally, the findings are synthesised, limitations are acknowledged, and future research directions are determined regarding UDT technology in the context of climate adaptation in urban development.

In 1987, Brundtland coined the term "sustainable development" to tackle the worldwide issue of environmental deterioration. Subsequent to that, swift progressions in science and technology have resulted in climate change, characterized by a rapid increase in global temperatures. The primary objective of the Paris Climate agreement is to limit the increase in global temperatures to a maximum of 2°C, with a preferable target of 1.5°C. The issue of energy usage in buildings is increasingly concerning as buildings contribute to 40% of the total carbon dioxide emissions. Global governments are implementing stringent steps to mitigate emissions and establish benchmarks for energy usage in buildings. In the Netherlands, mandatory energy labels have been implemented to regulate energy usage. However, these labels solely consider energy consumption related to heating, cooling, lighting, and hot water supply. This leads to disparities in energy performance, which are frequently disregarded or ignored throughout the design phase.
The behavior of occupants is a critical factor in building design, as it has a substantial influence on energy consumption. Occupant-centric design minimizes overall energy usage by decreasing buildings' susceptibility to occupant behavior. The categorization of occupant behavior encompassed three primary classifications: occupancy, interactions, and behavioral efficiency. These characteristics highlight the diverse manners in which occupant-related factors impact the energy efficiency of buildings. The industry's current processes expose multiple issues and limitations that contribute to energy performance gaps, including specific design and asset management techniques. In order to minimize the overall energy consumption in buildings and close the energy performance gap, it is imperative to tackle these issues. Considering the problems and deficiencies found in present industry practices and the theoretical insights from scientific literature, it is crucial for real estate developers to consider aspects associated to the occupants when designing a building. Occupant behavioral aspects identified in literature are associated with the design of building components, including the façade, spatial layout, HVAC systems, lighting, and others.
A design approach that prioritizes the needs and preferences of the occupants was developed by establishing a connection between factors linked to the occupants and the design of the building. The design strategy has three distinct phases: pre-design, conceptual design, and detailed design. During each stage of the design process, a design that prioritizes the needs of the occupants is created by considering the several aspects that influence the occupants' energy consumption behavior. Additionally, a strategy for asset management will be created to guarantee the fulfillment of energy performance goals during the building's operational phase. Real estate developers must take this crucial step to achieve regulations, such as Paris-proof targets, which impose limits on the overall energy consumption in buildings, including those by the tenants. The design strategy incorporates various metrics to monitor the energy performance of buildings, which serve as the foundation for bridging the energy performance gap. The developed design strategy also has several significant practical implications that were identified.

The anthropogenic demand for food, energy and water (FEW) resources is growing, changing and increasingly concentrating in cities due fast urbanisation worldwide. Carbon dioxide emissions associated with the FEW supply infrastructure makes cities one of the main drivers of global greenhouse gas emissions. Urban food production (UFP) could potentially mitigate city’s carbon emissions by means of direct and indirect emissions cutbacks, respectively through proximity based advantages and recirculation benefits by integration with the urban resource infrastructure. The inherent complexity and comprehensiveness of food production makes it challenging to explore this method during the urban design process and provide holistic evaluations at an early stage.

This research investigates how urbanising the production of food can mitigate the carbon emissions of urban communities. Along the principles of the FEW nexus approach to resource management, a method and platform have been developed that support professionals such as urban planners and designers with the exploration of urban food production in the design process. The aim of this work is to transform cities into more sustainable and resilient places to live. This work hypothesises that urbanising the production of food resources and making urban food production an integral part of the urban resources infrastructure can help the decarbonisation of cities. The objective of this work is to develop a protocol and platform for a non-expert, multi-disciplinary urban design team that can guide the implementation and evaluation of a food production system. The platform, which has been coined the FEWprint, should guide the agro-urban designer during the exploration phase of the design process by providing quantitative feedback on various relevant indicators. The following main research question has been formulated based on the problem statement, hypothesis, research aim and objective: How could the urban food production design process be harmonised with the FEW nexus principles in order to lower the carbon footprint of the city?...

One of the major risks to our planet today is climate change, which is a problem that worries people all over the world. There is a rise in global temperature levels and greenhouse gas emissions. The building industry has a huge share in this aspect. The current built environment accounts for almost 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the Netherlands. Therefore, to meet national energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission targets, the energy performance of existing buildings is critical. In existing buildings, the challenge is threefold when it comes to refurbishment. Occupant behaviour towards indoor environment and energy usage behaviour. Secondly, the labour required for technical changes and lastly the financial limitations. Therefore, it is important to design or redesign buildings with the aim to provide good indoor quality using energy-efficient building elements which are simple, adaptable, sustainable, and affordable. The study explored in this graduation focuses on the renovation of Proteus Eretes rowing accommodation using integrated climate design strategies. The report highlights the need of occupants and their interaction with the indoor environment. The proposal is a combination of key solutions that can make a huge impact on energy savings and comfort conditions in the rowing facility. This research by design methodology aims to bridge the gap between energy neutrality and occupant comfort in buildings.

The present thesis discusses social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects of problems related to heritage building depreciation, homelessness and lack of affordable housing, with a focus on the more vulnerable social groups. It additionally argues the mitigation of the impact of the cities and the building sector on climate crisis. The aim of the thesis is to find a sustainable, in terms of longevity and feasibility, connection between the unexploited building stock and the shelter-less people, for the benefit of the users, the society and the environment alike, through zero-energy design and circular adaptation.

The study analyzes the possible approach of renovation and adaptive reuse of the existing, untapped, residential buildings in order to meet the current climate regulations and future occupants’ needs. A literature review examines three main domains separately: zero-energy design, circularity and collective housing. A case study analysis of alternative collective housing models in particular monitors the porosity of this plan and its ability to be combined with zero-energy and circular principles. This research offers the opportunity to recognize possible methodologies that can then be applied on a specific case study.

Research is consolidated in the case of the refugee settlement complex of Alexandra’s Avenue (1933-36), in the city of Athens, and seeks to propose a number of recommendations for its renovation, energy upgrade, redevelopment and reuse. The fact that the research refers to listed buildings, constitutes the biggest limitation, in terms of design decisions. The case study it-self, clearly depicts the afore-mentioned issues in the Athenian context, and alongside includes building, social, historic and other characteristics that compose an ideal example for an energy efficient, user-oriented, adaptive reuse.

A step-by-step approach is adopted in order to develop (re)design methodologies for the energy transition and circular adaptation of the case study. In addition, a possible network of interactions between the involved stakeholders is proposed so as to create a holistic and functional business model. Ultimately, the thesis proposes an inclusive and integrated framework for the renovation of the existing, old, heritage, building stock, driven by zero-energy and circular principles, for the less-favored, towards a new typology of social and collective housing. The development of this framework is based on facts and data that can make it potentially applicable to similar cases elsewhere.

Further research on the topic would help facilitate the transition to integrated frameworks of renovation processes.

Building sector is responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions, which makes it a main actor for climate change due to its high greenhouse gas emissions. Further, it is estimated that this 39% is total of 11% Embodied Carbon emissions (mainly the carbon emissions during construction processes and material production processes) and 28% Operational Carbon emissions (mainly the carbon emissions during the operation period of the buildings, for e.g., carbon emissions due to heating and cooling systems). Despite of achieving remarkable results in reducing operational carbon, the embodied carbon is increasing proportionally to the total carbon emissions. And, if no steps taken to focus on embodied carbon, then it is estimated that it can increase up to 57% of the carbon emission by building sector, by 2040. For these reasons it is imperative to focus on embodied carbon right from the initial design stages of new, extension, or renovation building projects. The key sources of the carbon emissions during the construction of any building system are the structural elements and building skin elements. That is due to the “Upfront Carbon” emissions by high consumptions of fossil fuel-based carbon intensive materials like cement, steel for main structural elements and aluminum for the façade elements. Thus, to focus on Upfront Carbon from early stages of designing is crucial to mitigate embodied carbon.

Hence, the purpose of the project here is to develop “An envelope” for the extension proposal from the Delft Student Rowing club - Proteus Eretes. To fulfill the purpose and to answer the research questions set in the research framework, the project is divided in to four phases, Research phase, Concept phase, Engineering phase, and Reflection phase.

Research phase includes the set of literature research, case studies, and interviews. It involves the understanding of the requirements of Proteus Eretes for the extension. Most importantly it consists of the understanding of various protective and technical functional requirements such as Insulate, Support, and Protect of the building envelope. To focus on embodied carbon of the building envelope, during research phase, the study of embodied carbon is subdivided in to three parts “Focus – Calculate – Mitigate”. By focus, it means to understand every life cycle stage of the embodied carbon as a part of whole life cycle approach, and then calculate the global potentials of the materials used, by referring to the EPD’s. And then mitigate part includes various mitigation strategies and tools. Here, circular design strategies such as design for disassembly, design for adaptability, and design for reuse are employed with the integration of carbon sequestering materials in the Product Development Methodology, during the Concept phase. Further in the design development the fundamentals of Prefab building process are considered by making the whole design modular and produced using one digital carpentry machine. The Engineering phase consists of the in depth planning of assembly order of the components in factory and on site. Thus, making the final design building envelope constructable with circular design principles and carbon sequestering materials to mitigate its embodied carbon.

Key words – Embodied carbon, Upfront carbon, Extension, Building envelope, EPDs, Circular design, Design for disassembly, Design for adaptability, Design for reuse, Carbon sequestering, Prefab building process, Digital carpentry, Product Development Methodology

At a fast pace, the urbanization level is increasing worldwide and the projections indicate that 2/3 of the population will be living in urban environments by 2050. This implies many concerns, more population and urbanization, nowadays, are directly translated to more consumption counting to the inflated orb that lingers all the climate changes matter. The Built environment is directly connected to most of the damage caused by global warming, counting at least 1/3 of the total emissions.

Urbanization brings a series of problems that make the subject more complex and a sensitive topic that accelerates the global warming effect is the devastation and the conflict of the urban, opposing and dominating the green and blue territories. Recent research has analyzed and noted that the overall quality, and quantity of nature, encompassing fauna and flora are decreasing worldwide. In the Netherlands, since urbanization started to take place and dominate the lands, nature has reduced to approximately 15% of its original state, and with that, a chain of reaction emerges. Humans, by making nature grey, are leading to a general complete problem that confines the entire earth’s balance in terms of ecology: fewer species, and less variety of flora, conducting to other kinds of crisis, such as food, air, water, and weather.

Recent efforts are displaying that the urban lands, apart from being the human biotope, should encompass and blend with the natural environment. For that is necessary to change current scenarios and also consider bringing nature into the design process, which can cause a myriad of benefits and revert the damage that has already been placed. Simply balancing and offering more space for fauna and flora in the cities, the biodiversity can take its path of growing again, not only that, but combining a set of strategies could likewise be used to improve the life quality in the cities, managing weather and lessening the weather stress, and by that, mitigating the effects of the climate changes.

Cities are the centres of communication, commerce, and culture. Although, more than 80% of global GDP is generated in urban districts, the cities consume two-thirds of global resources and produce more than 70% of global CO2 emissions. Rising population, escalating urban pollution, the effects of climate change urge cities to search for innovative solutions that will help mitigating rising urban problems, safeguarding more liveable future for its citizens. Among most pending issues, air pollution and heat stress have been highlighted by significant amount of the scientific research. In the Netherlands, air pollution shortens societal life expectancy by 13 months. Heat stress, on the other side is responsible for the increase in societal morality by 12% during the heat waves. The effects of climate change are predicted to bring more heatwaves in the future creating a significant risk to the vulnerable groups of the society. Recent technological development that embraces more feasible sensing technology, increasing connectivity and advanced computing platforms, creates a vast opportunity to design solutions that will help to map the hotspots of less obvious data like air pollution or heat stress.
This report proposes a monitoring solution that helps thoroughly gather, analyse, and report the data which can be used by the policymakers while designing solutions for urban areas. The solution was defined basing on a set of reference studies that display example practice for air quality and temperature monitoring. The reference studies represent four different monitoring initiatives. In Chicago program called Array of Things is being implemented; Barcelona’s smart initiative is called Sentilo; Copenhagen deploys smart solutions through Copenhagen Connecting; Singapore has its Smart Nation Sensor Platform. The reference studies served as an input for identifying a framework that consist of 8 enablers for smart initiative deployment. Further, technology and data analysis and display enablers were explored in detail. The solution composes of four stages namely: Physical infrastructure, cloud, data analysis platform, visualisation, and information hubs. The physical infrastructure includes selection of sensing technology that closely monitors air quality and heat through fixed, mobile, and participatory sensors. The cloud stores and computes data received and sends it to data analysis platform where four engines further analyse and report data to information hubs. City managers and third party can access the information through an application that displays real-time information about air quality and heat, being able to send alerts or predict the most optimal route throughout the city. Further, the information gathered can be envisioned in real time in a 3D model of a city – a Digital Twin. There are other factors that are deemed to be important like partnerships and funding and they are stated in the model, but they were not the focal points of the research and are included in the recommendation section.

By 2050 the municipality of Amsterdam plans to become climate neutral. The historic city center of Amsterdam poses a challenge in this ambition, as it is home to numerous monumental buildings. Conservation is the starting point for the renovation of monumental buildings and consequently additional regulations are in place. Furthermore, each building is unique, thus renovation of monuments requires customization, making it more expensive and unattractive. Research has shown that due to restricted renovation possibilities, the indoor comfort and energy performance of monumental buildings are often below standard.
This research aims to create an energy-neutral renovation for a monumental building in the oldest neighborhood of Amsterdam: the Burgwallen-Oude Zijde. Resulting in the following research question: “How can monumental buildings be renovated to become energy neutral and comfortable for the users, whilst preserving the monumental status?” A renovation design is made for a mixed-use monumental building and elaborated into a generic approach.
Through careful analysis of the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 30, the chosen case study building, it was determined that a significant part of the building is not monumental. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the energy usage of the building is relatively high, and that the indoor comfort is currently not up to standard. To improve the energy performance and indoor comfort, a design is proposed in which different design measures are suggested. The design makes use of the potential of the neighborhood as it uses aquathermal heat (LT) from the canal in combination with heat pumps as basis for the heating of the building. The building is insulated using a combination of exterior and interior insulation, crack & seam filling, and double-glazed windows. For the monumental parts of the building a wall heating system is proposed, in which the walls are slightly heated to minimize energy losses to the exterior (‘WarmBouwen’ concept’). Energy is produced on site using PV roof tiles on the South facing roofs and several other small design interventions are proposed. Evaluation of the proposed design reveals that none of the identified monumental elements are altered, the energy demand of the building is lowered by 73% and that the indoor comfort increases significantly.
By following the proposed generic approach of (1) identifying the heritage values, (2) assessing the current performance of the building, (3) creating concept designs, (4) finalizing the design, and (5) evaluating the design, the remaining energy demand of the proposed design for the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 30 has not been reduced to zero and is thus not energy neutral. This is mostly due to restricted renovation possibilities and limited roof area for on-site energy production. The proposed design does make the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 30 BENG compliant: a step in the right direction, but for monumental buildings to become energy neutral a fairer middle ground between conservation and sustainability should be found. We should ask ourselves: how far should one go to preserve the past if it limits or damages our future?

The cities of the 20th and 21st century have gone through an era of unbridled expansion, seizing an immeasurable amount of land and resources from across the globe. To secure a resilient and sustainable urban environment, the city is forced to revisit its networks, systems and land-use. Especially with the growing trend of urbanization. One of these systems, which lies at the core of the daily operations of the city is the energy network. Large amounts of ener-gy are transported through power cables from large plants towards to their final destination, the end-user. However, with upcoming demand for renewable ways of energy production, and the increasing availability of ‘clean’ production methods, the city has the potential of becoming its own generator.
Taking this stance, the confrontation with existing policies, methods, trends, can be sought; creating oppor-tunity for local production and storage of heat/electricity within the cities limits. In so doing, seeking integration with public and private program, and therefore tightly grounding it within city districts and urban life. By nestling into local communities and providing new program, the local production has the objective to create a broad support for sustainable energy.
The techniques available to produce energy in a renewable and sustainable way are becoming increasingly more verifiably reliable alternatives. To be able to shorten the chains towards a more decentralized system, the city itself has to critically assess its scales and densities, and look for opportunities where renewable energy production can take place. Within the public eye, and with minimal loss of energy due to transportation, which is especially detrimental for district heating solutions. The framework proposed in this thesis therefore aims to combine the ap-propriate scale of the city with the proper scale of the production method to create symbiotic solutions.

The architect here, has a unique position in being able to work on the infrastructures of the future as infrastructures will overlap increasingly more with the urban tissue. Moving away from the traditional infrastructures which rely on exactitudes and centralized systems, the decentralized systems will aim to adopt a multifaceted approach, integra-ting infrastructural, social and operational systems. In so doing, local and regional opportunities for energy producti-on can be seized creating a tailored solution to the demands of the area, aiming to support its demand with renwa-ble energy. Architecture in this will take the position of innovator and integrater, embedding new approaches to infrastructures within the urban fabrics of the future.

The global greenhouse gas emissions from energy use in buildings and agriculture accounts for 17% and 18% respectively, which has a significant impact on climate change. Therefore, both the sectors are actively looking at energy-efficient methods to reduce their carbon emission by shifting to more sustainable solutions. One such solution is Vertically Integrated Greenhouses (VIG). This research investigates the impact of such systems on the building’s energy consumption. The case study has been performed on the EEMCS building of TU Delft, in the Netherlands. The crop chosen for the study is strawberry, as it is one of the most consumed greenhouse fruits by the Dutch population. The energy needed for the building and the greenhouse to maintain the comfortable indoor temperature was calculated. An additional novel method of storing the surplus heat was incorporated in the design in the form of Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES). This system provides heating and cooling energy which reduces the dependency on fossil fuels and reduces the carbon emissions. A comparative study on the carbon footprint due to energy used in the building was done in order to analyse the impact of introducing an ATES system in mitigating climate change. Further, a rainwater harvesting system was incorporated aiming to fulfil the water requirement of the plants, this thereby reduces the dependence on an external water source. Such synergetic systems reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and thereby significantly reducing their carbon emission. The proposed design of integrating VIG on the façade of the existing building showed an additional 292 MWh of energy consumption when compared to the current scenario. However, the introduction of ATES resulted in a 40% total reduction in the carbon emission of the energy consumed by the building. In addition to the carbon emission reduction, an annual yield of 227 tonnes of strawberry is also achieved. Thus, the role of having such a synergetic system is highlighted.

The built environment is among the highest energy consuming sectors worldwide. However, buildings have large surface areas that can be used to improve the building energy performance. One example is by integration of photovoltaic systems in roofs and facades, which can reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment. An emerging field that could lead to energy savings involves the glazing. Switchable or smart windows allow for a variable transparency which affects the amount of incoming daylight and solar heat. Manually controlled smart windows however, require electricity to function and could thus be powered by solar energy to function autonomously. Smart windows have been shown to improve the building energy performance by reducing heating, cooling and lighting loads and can also be used to optimize the visual and thermal comfort conditions of occupants. In this thesis project the energy performance of three types of switchable glazing has been compared to different window technologies including electricity generating photovoltaic windows. Additionally, the hourly and yearly electricity requirements of each smart window and the corresponding minimal photovoltaic system requirements have been determined.

Users in traditional office buildings often experience discomfort with the indoor environment and have issues with how this is being regulated. Research has shown that users’ satisfaction in an office building, which consists of their comfort and health, reflects on their work productivity. Therefore, necessary measures need to be taken in order to be able to suffice the office users’ needs. Also, due to the fact that the building sector in Europe is responsible for an energy consumption of 40% of the final energy use and this leads to high carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels, the European Commission has stipulated regulations, where it is stated that all new buildings have to be nearly zero-energy by the beginning of 2021. Due to the fact that the façade is one of the buildings’ components which has high impact on the indoor comfort and energy use of the building, taking the user’s comfort needs and designing this from the conceptual design phase, can help achieve user satisfaction and enhance work productivity, while also helping achieve nearly energy neutrality.

This research aims to investigate the relevant factors of user satisfaction that could be implemented into façade design, while also investigating state of the art interactive/adaptive façade technologies (passive and active) and energy efficient façade design methods, in order to provide design solutions which optimally satisfies office users’ needs of comfort, and therefore increases work productivity, and also supports nearly energy neutrality of office buildings. This leads to the research question of, “How can an interactive/adaptive office building façade element be designed to optimally satisfy its users in order to increase work productivity and to support nearly energy neutrality of office buildings?”. Optimal indoor satisfaction is defined as office users being thermally comfortable, experiencing comfort in the air quality indoors, the acoustics, and the lighting, and also when other human preferences are met such as, having control of their environment, having a view, and having an appealing place to work.

Based on literature review regarding user satisfaction, façade design, state of the art interactive/adaptive technologies, and energy efficient design methods, the design considerations were stipulated. These are user comfort, user control, energy efficiency, and user preferences. The user preferences is the most subjective criteria, because it expresses the preferences and desires of specific type of people. Therefore, this research presents office façade designs for specific type of users, namely the Energy Efficient archetype, the Self-Adaptive environment archetype, and the Full-Control of their environment archetype. The evaluation of these design configurations show that it is almost impossible to have one interactive/adaptive façade design that complies with all of the user
preferences of all types of users, because every type of user has different preferences and some might contradict each other. Nevertheless, this research concludes on design characteristics derived from the presented design
configurations, which show how the most optimal officer-user oriented façade design should function, that can ensure user satisfaction for different types of users and can help its building become nearly energy neutral.

Waste streams from cruise ships come back into nature which negatively influences the environment. Research has shown that actions need to be taken to reduce climate change. Not only the government should take their responsibility, but also other businesses, like the cruise industry. The cruise industry is a growing business and cruise ships have an environmental impact. This study aims to contribute to the development of sustainable, circular cruise ships. Specifically, the gas, fluid, and solid waste streams. The final product is a roadmap, based on waste stream analyses, towards a set of targets and goals. This master thesis, examines which steps need to be taken, focusing on the three waste streams to make the transition towards circular cruise ships following the City-zen method to comply with the UN sustainable development goals. Three roadmaps are made, with three different levels of ambition; 1. Fully Circular, 2. Collaboration Ship & Land, and 3. Positive effect on the environment to find the best way to design a sustainable cruise ship. The research can be subdivided into four main sections, background information, waste stream analysis, master planning, and conclusions. These four main sections are all in relation to the case study, cruise ships from Royal Caribbean Ltd. A literature study is conducted to obtain the needed information. The results show that it is impossible to ensure that no waste enters the environment under the conditions made for the specific roadmaps. On this basis, a combination of the three roadmaps and their technical solutions is made to design the sustainable circular cruise ship. The final design for retrofit cruise ships and newly built cruise ships is not fully circular. The treated black and grey water and bilge water still contain pollutants that come back into the sea. However, the emissions from the gas stream are reduced or fully eliminated, more pollutants are removed from the black, grey and bilge water, pollutant by-products are recycled on land, heat is recovered and reused, clean products as biogas, biodiesel and struvite are produced, seawater as ballast water is not needed, and non-hazardous and hazardous waste is reduced, reused and recycled. These adjustments and additions should be added to prevent waste discharge into the environment. This research also shows that the same design principles and interventions used in cities and building complexes can also be implemented on cruise ships, like the New Stepped Strategy, Cradle to Cradle, material passport, plants, heat pumps, and the energy exchange principle. Further research is needed into technical systems to treat and prevent waste from entering the environment and into other criteria like cost, energy consumption, needed materials and emissions.

Parkstad is a shrinking region especially after the closing of the mines, the social and economic impact was huge. Another major problem which still can be experienced today is the degraded landscape which was left behind. By seeing the operational landscape as inseparable from the urban fabric, and linking them again in a functional as well as aesthetic way a new metabolic system could emerge improving the quality of life and making the region adaptive and resilient.

Within the new urban metabolism, the themes of water, agriculture, energy, waste and material flows can be treated decentrally. It is applicable in the current situation as they offer a lot of options for reusing waste nutrients, extracting raw materials from waste and improving environmental performance.

Interconnecting these flows can result in adaptive and resilient strategies. These can also be adapted to the changing needs of the population and functions of Parkstad.

The focus is on three water strategies in three different locations which are the core of a new green connection adding quality and new perspectives for the people and future developments in Parkstad.

The building industry accounts for almost 40% of the total carbon emissions that are directly responsible for climate change. The buildings are now deploying energy-efficient solutions to lower carbon emissions from the operational phase. This adversely affects the share of embodied carbon emissions of building materials. The graduation thesis aims to study and compare the life cycle impact of different materials in building applications. The life cycle assessment method was adapted using certain assumptions to account for circular design approaches. End-of-life scenarios for all the materials were formed and compared using the assessment method. The analysis of materials in different building applications presented a significant difference between bio-based materials and other conventional materials such as steel, aluminium, and concrete. A reduction of almost 120% in the total carbon emissions of the studied building was estimated when bio-based materials were used over the existing materials. The proposed materials, along with energy recovery potential at their end-of-life, even showed the potential to achieve a carbon negative structural system. The proposed scenario of using bio-based material solutions in a building with a longer life span displayed better potential than a circular building construction. The role of biomass in mitigating climate change was thus highlighted.