This study examines how real estate asset managers engage with the EU Taxonomy in managing climate risks. The study focusses on the EU Taxonomy's climate adaption goal, a classification system created to direct sustainable investment choices. It looks at whether and how asset managers might use this tool to assess adaption efforts in already-existing office buildings. While the Taxonomy sets a framework for sustainable investments, its implementation remains complex. The research explores awareness, alignment challenges, and motivations among asset managers across various real estate sectors. A mixed-method approach was used, combining literature review, semi-structured interviews, and a case study. Findings show that regulatory compliance is the primary driver of alignment, while administrative burdens, financial costs, and data limitations are key barriers. Most asset managers assess alignment after investment decisions, rather than using the Taxonomy proactively. Despite increasing awareness, compliance is often treated as a box-ticking exercise rather than a strategic tool. To improve adoption, the study emphasizes the need for clearer guidance, stronger financial incentives, and better data accessibility to support a more effective and integrated approach to climate risk management in real estate.

Recent geopolitical events have driven a sharp rise in gas prices, making it increasingly difficult for households to heat their homes affordably and comfortably. Additionally, the environmental consequences of fossil fuel-based heating underscore the urgency of transitioning to more sustainable alternatives. In response, the Dutch government has set an ambitious target to eliminate natural gas heating in 1.5 million homes by 2030, emphasising the need for viable solutions. District heating (DH) systems, particularly those providing lower-temperature heating (LTH), offer a promising alternative—delivering sustainable and cost-effective heating, especially in densely populated areas. However, with their high heating demands, many existing homes require significant renovations before efficiently transitioning to LTH-based systems. The selection of appropriate renovation strategies is complex, often leading to uncertainty and delays. This research tackles the challenge of preparing Dutch homes for LTH by developing a systematic decision-support framework using a mixed-methods research approach. It is structured around four key research activities. First, it identifies and analyses the critical factors influencing building characteristics, available renovation options and performance indicators. Second, it defines LTH readiness, prioritises thermal comfort and energy efficiency at reduced supply temperatures, and uses a two-step evaluation method to assess a dwelling's readiness and identify necessary interventions. Third, recognising the diversity within the Dutch housing stock, probabilistic sampling and machine learning analyses were employed to quantify the relative significance of building features affecting LTH readiness, accounting for variations across dwelling types. Finally, a structured six-step decision support framework based on multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods was developed and validated through real-world case studies and stakeholder workshops. By providing a clear and actionable decision-support framework, this thesis facilitates energy renovation planning, accelerates the transition to gas-free heating, and contributes to the Netherlands' broader sustainable energy goals.

In alignment with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, particularly Target 11.3 on inclusive and sustainable urbanization, many countries and regions now regard public participation as a cornerstone of human settlements planning. China’s recent neighborhood rehabilitation initiatives likewise prioritize resident engagement, though the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new obstacles and reconfigured participatory processes. Against this backdrop, this thesis investigates resident participation for neighborhood rehabilitation in post-pandemic China. Drawing on established theories of public participation and neighborhood revitalization, it proposes a conceptual framework centered on stakeholder concerns, power relations, and information sharing, and examines mechanisms that foster sustained resident involvement. Wuhan, the initial epicenter of COVID-19, serves as the case study. Results identify 37 key concerns, each subject to varied stakeholder perceptions. Power operates through multiple channels, shifting across project phases. Despite frequent information sharing, exploitation and competition persist. Organizers, particularly community-based organizations, play a critical role but face resource constraints, shifting power dynamics, and information manipulation. Straightforward participatory activities, early engagement, and greater influence increase resident willingness to stay involved. Nevertheless, opacity and exclusion, amplified by power imbalances and selective information control, remain pressing issues. Synthesizing the lessons and insights, the thesis concludes with short- and long-term measures to “enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated, and sustainable human settlement planning and management (SDG 11.3).”

Due to the increase of renewable energy sources and electrification, the traditional electricity grid cannot provide for our transition to a more sustainable future. One of the main problems is net congestion, as the net has reached its capacity, with an even further predicted increase in the future. As the expansion of the current net is not fast enough to keep up with the increase in energy supply and demand, there is a need to manage our energy more efficiently. Compared to other alternatives, the use of local energy systems seems to be the most promising one. In reaction to this, the Dutch government is implementing a new measure: the Group Contract (Groeps-TO), making it possible for business parks to share their electricity, and therefore implement a local energy system. In anticipation of this, numerous pilot initiatives in the Netherlands have explored electricity sharing through various approaches. This facilitated the opportunity for conducting research on this innovative implementation. However, there remains a gap in the research on the understanding of stakeholders and their interdependent relations and collaborations, in the context of local energy systems. This understanding is important to eventually stimulate further implementation of local energy systems, and thus tackling net congestion. Therefore, the research question of this thesis is: What underlying factors influence stakeholder collaboration to improve further deployment of local energy systems on business parks?. This research composes of a literature review, four case studies including 18 semi-structured interviews with actors and a questionnaire distributed among the located companies on the business park. Additionally, a focus group session was conducted with experts in the field of local energy systems, to validate the findings. The results of these findings provide insights into the stakeholder collaboration and their underlying factors. The Strategic Niche Management theory (Schot & Geels, 2008) was used to unravel the underlying factors with, next to vision and learning activities, a focus on the social network, which has been identified as the primary barrier to the sustainable transformation of Dutch business parks. Additionally, by using the Multi Actor Network analysis (Gerding et al., 2021), insights into stakeholder collaboration and actor relationships have been discovered. Furthermore, barriers and enablers of stakeholder collaboration in the context of local energy systems were observed in the case studies. By analysing the factors: vision, learning activities and barriers and enablers, an adjusted and generalized actor network has been proposed for local energy systems on Dutch business park. This actor-network provides valuable insights into the actors of these projects, and their mutual relations. These insights contribute to the ultimate goal, to pave the way for the wider adoption of local energy systems within business parks in the Netherlands.

To combat global warming, it is crucial to eliminate CO2 emissions by 2050, especially since a third of global emissions are attributed to the building and construction industry. This sector's carbon footprint comprises operational emissions from daily activities and embodied carbon throughout a building's lifecycle. However, as buildings become more energy-efficient, embodied carbon increasingly dominates total emissions. In the Netherlands, few residential projects align with the Dutch Climate Agreement's. This is due to various challenges hindering large-scale carbon reduction efforts, with financial barriers being a prominent issue. However, limited research focuses on financial barriers from the perspective of investors, often lacking in-depth analysis and offering few practical solutions for these challenges. Recognizing the need for carbon reduction, the industry must adopt a new approach to investment decisions, prioritizing embodied carbon considerations. This study delves into these financial barriers and how strategies to reduce embodied carbon impact real estate investment decision-making, focusing on the traditional Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Therefore the main research question is:

“In what way does reducing embodied carbon in residential building projects impact the investment decision-making process from an investor's perspective?”

To explore this, the study first conducts a literature review and exploratory interviews, followed by three case studies with semi-structured interviews. The findings reveals that the integration of embodied carbon in the investment decision-making process is still in its early stages. Although there is growing awareness and interest, embodied carbon is not yet a standard consideration in investment decisions. This integration depends on the flexibility of investors and the specific sustainability goals of projects. Traditional financial models and evaluation methods have largely remained unchanged. The study concludes that there is a need for further standardization and integration of carbon reduction in all aspects of investment practices to encourage the construction sector to achieve the goal of carbon net-zero by 2050.

This thesis examines the potential of small, low-carbon, (near) zero-energy dwellings as a solution that would both address sustainability challenges and answer to the growing housing shortage in North-West Europe. It adopts a multidimensional outlook that encompasses institutional, social and technical aspects surrounding the dwellings. The institutional aspect is addressed through an investigation of financial, legislative, technical and cultural barriers to the implementation and uptake of small, low-carbon, zero-energy dwellings. A context specific approach is adopted taking into account contextual peculiarities for the formulation of more refined policy suggestions. The social dimension is addressed first from the perspective of market supply through an investigation of the perceptions of housing professionals. The distinction between perceived versus actual barriers identified by housing professionals is made highlighting a potential desynchronization between policy developments and local practice. Accordingly the study calls for innovation in information dissemination between policy and local practice and between housing professionals themselves. The social dimension is then addressed from the perspective of market demand through an investigation of consumers’ current housing preferences. The assumption stating that, due to an increase in smaller, elderly, and lower-income households, current housing preferences are leaning towards smaller dwellings is refuted underlining the importance of distinguishing between smallest and smaller dwelling sizes. Lastly, the technical dimension is addressed through conducting a partial life cycle assessment that focuses on the embodied carbon of the dwellings. Both downsizing and the use of low-carbon materials such as timber are investigated as embodied carbon reduction strategies. Together, the three dimensions provide a holistic evaluation of the potential of small, low-carbon, zero-energy dwellings as a solution while addressing the complexity in reaching sustainable outcomes.

The productivity and sustainability issues in the construction industry are leading to the consideration of systemic innovations such as modular construction. The industry's complex and fragmented structure resulting in an established practice of aligning knowledge with specific tasks impedes the adoption of such innovations. This phenomenon, known as the 'mirroring trap,' obstructs businesses from identifying opportunities for adjusting their limits or restructuring their sector. Recent studies primarily examine integration strategies that facilitate the breakout from this trap. However, these studies predominantly emphasize the involvement of the main contractor and architect, while there is a noticeable lack of research on the role of real estate developers in this context. This lack of attention to real estate developers is unexpected, given their significant role in housing development within the Netherlands. The research aims to investigate how real estate developers integrate modular construction in their business. The research methodology employs a balanced approach as an iterative process between literature and empirical research. Six organisation structures were analysed with eleven expert interviews– Decentralized modular cluster; Collaborative modular clusters; Virtual project-based companies; Spin-off factory; Core-periphery platform; Integrated hierarchical firms. This thesis presents three approaches for integrating modular construction; 1) Project-based strategies incorporate modular construction via supply chain integration or through formal supplier networks, 2) Hybrid-based strategies blend industrialized construction techniques with a flexible, project-centric organizational structure via Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and 3) product-based strategies concentrate on strategically breaking mirrors to achieve integrated organizational structures. Integration mechanisms, drivers, and challenges are identified for each. The strategies show that real estate developers play a crucial role in the integration of modular construction, and understanding the wide spectrum of strategies and tailoring them to specific contexts of the company can lead to more successful integration of modular construction. The thesis concludes with a discourse on how pinpointing and detailing integration strategies for strategic partial mirroring or breaking the mirror enhance the comprehension of integration in modular construction. It highlights the industrialization of construction development as a recurring theme and includes the current business structure's constraints. Moreover, it provides seven pragmatic suggestions for property developers to ponder over when assimilating modular construction.

This year's theme of the studio is based on ‘An Architecture For Art’. From churches and palaces, through the development of the Palace of Culture in the 19th century: public museums and galleries, to modern studios and galleries, art centres and the White Cube of the second half of the last century, and the gradual similarity between commercial and gallery spaces, art spaces have gradually evolved and their attitude towards the public, society and art has changed. The studio focuses on the controversial area of the space of the contemporary art gallery and also considers its societal role and how its responsibilities to the heterogenous contemporary city and its diverse population might be physically manifested in the image and presence of a new public building.
The project takes an actual project as its starting point, allowing the conditions and concerns of a real brief for a real client to be one key reference point in the development of both individual and collective concerns. This year we work on a competition brief for the redevelopment of M HKA, the contemporary art museum of Antwerp, on a new site close to its existing one in the South of the Belgian city. At the same time, the site is in the old court building in Belgium, which is an important architectural heritage, so there is value in considering the retention or partial retention of the old building.
So it became the theme of my project to consider the function of the new museum while preserving the existing building, using the New and the Old to provide variation to the public and exhibition spaces of the museum.

The project aims to research how Trans people are impacted by architectural space and to transform to buildings into Trans residencies in Nairobi and Den Haag

In 2020, owner-occupied housing accounted for 57% of the housing stock in the Netherlands. Homeowners are fully responsible for the implementation of energy retrofits. Moreover, the processes of energy retrofitting are complex and homeowners face problems such as finding financial support, reliable information and contractors. The complexity of implementing energy retrofits may discourage homeowners from continuing the process and achieving the expected benefits. Behavioural aspects and transaction costs (TC) are among the most important factors influencing consumer decision-making processes. Behavioural factors primarily illustrate a range of personal, contextual, and external factors that influence the decision-making process of homeowners. These include cognitive awareness and biases, attitudes and beliefs, experience and skills, homeowner characteristics, sociodemographic characteristics, property characteristics, and the behaviour of others. TC are any hidden costs that influence decision making but are not included in the direct physical costs of renovation services and products. This dissertation developed an integrated framework of behavioural factors and TC that impede the decision-making
process for energy retrofits. Key findings include (1) the significant importance of
behavioural factors and TC barriers. (2) the behavioural factors are particularly important in the early stages of energy retrofits and the TC barriers after the final decision. (3) the importance of behavioural factors and TC barriers differs according to the type of energy retrofit and non-energy retrofit. (4) Accounting for cognitive biases significantly improves the prediction of households' actual decisions about energy retrofits. This modelling is more accurate than the model that assumes households make rational decisions.

This thesis examines the energy performance of dwellings of Dutch non-profit housing associations towards a future sustainable housing stock. Improving the energy performance of dwellings aims to improve the quality of dwellings and therewith to lower the actual energy consumption. Lowering the actual energy consumption of dwellings contributes to the battle against climate change. This thesis addresses four studies. Study 1 assesses the energy performance progress of over two million dwellings of Dutch non-profit housing associations between 2017 and 2020. It gives insights into the development of the housing stock, the effect of changes of and within the stock, the effect of characteristics of housing associations and it relates the improvement of the energy performance to the sectoral goal. Study 2 assesses advanced models to improve estimations of actual energy consumption of dwellings and therewith to better estimate the effect of renovation measures on actual energy savings. Study 3 assesses the energy performance of dwellings with heat pumps. It gives insights into the energy performance of dwellings with heat pumps as a promising renovation measure towards a future sustainable housing stock. Study 4 assesses the process to create a model to benchmark the energy performance in a changing policy context. The four studies contribute to the understanding of the improvement of the energy performance of dwellings of non-profit housing associations towards a future sustainable housing stock.

The Urban Heat Island effect increases the air temperature in cities compared to rural areas because cities have a lot more hardened surfaces than rural areas. As the amount of people living in cities increases and the global air temperatures rise, these negative effects will increase and mitigation action has to be taken. This research investigates how technical, household and institutional characteristics influence the adoption of Urban Heat Island mitigation solutions in existing neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. Through a desk study, expert interviews and agent-based model the effect of these characteristic on the adoption of green roofs, green façades, green gardens and cool roofs by households is researched. The results show that several characteristics found in literature do not have a significant effect on the fraction of adopted solutions and that there is no significant difference between the four investigated Local Climate Zones. It is concluded that only the energy reduction effect of a solution has a significant influence, that households with a higher income and households that own their dwelling adopt more mitigation solutions, that households in owners’ association adopt less solutions and that introducing or increasing the subsidy for green roofs or cool roofs increases the adoption of these solutions but not the average air temperature. Furthermore, the results show that households will mostly adopt green roofs. The outcomes of this research can be used by policy makers to differentiate policies between neighbourhoods and the model itself can be adapted to use it for other cities or neighbourhoods.

Recently, the implementation of prefabricated housing (PH) has become prevalent in China to achieve sustainability while ensuring green construction, innovative products, and higher quality. However, numerous challenges arise, such as the overrun costs, inexperienced workers, and the inefficient management process. High transaction costs (TCs) occur in the PH project supply chain since additional efforts are consumed for overcoming these challenges. This study aims to seek insights into TCs of PH and investigate strategies for minimizing the TCs thus smooth the development process of PH projects. Three key elements have been addressed throughout the thesis: supply chain, stakeholders, and transaction costs. Four-step research is employed to uncover the TCs in the PH supply chain, collect the stakeholders’ perceptions, investigates the causes of TCs, and explore decisions for reducing TCs. This thesis identifies three types of TCs in Chinese PH projects by their nature: due diligence costs, negotiation costs, monitoring and enforcement costs. Private stakeholders in China’s PH industry put more of their attention on TCs related to the specificity of prefabrication. The simple and joint strategies are provided for reducing their benefits lost from the unexpected TCs. Additionally, the value of the governmental TCs has been revealed for reducing the TCs of PH, which inspires and supports the policymakers to develop a healthy policy environment.

Reduction of energy consumption is currently high on the political agenda of many
countries. Because buildings consume a significant amount of the total energy
consumption they form a big energy saving potential. For this reason the EPBD was
introduced. This directive introduced a mandatory energy performance certificate for all buildings in Europe (in the Netherlands implemented as energy label). The initial aim of this directive was to make people aware of the energy efficiency state of the building that they buy or rent.

The built environment consumes almost 40% of the overall energy consumption. Energy is often produced from the conversion of fossil fuels, which result in CO2 emissions, which in turn cause global warming. Therefore, adaptation of buildings towards less energy use is required to mitigate the effects of global warming. Since the adaptation of existing buildings could play a large role in achieving the climate goals, policies are made in order to stimulate these adaptations. The ‘Energy Performance of Building Directive’ promotes the adaptation of all existing buildings towards nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB). Currently, offices need to have at least an energy label C by 2023. It is expected that this will increase to label A in 2030 and finally NZEB in 2050. However, the current adaptation rates are too low to achieve NZEB buildings in 2050. Besides, the step-by-step approach from label C to A to NZEB leads to even more pressure to the adaptation sector. If these multiple steps could be skipped, adaptations could be executed more efficient, which reduces costs and time. It could be questioned whether the current policy approach is sufficient to achieve nearly zero-energy offices on time. Therefore, this research will test an alternative policy of going directly towards NZEB, starting from existing offices with a current energy label G. The research question is as follows: What are the technical, financial, environmental and social implications of the proposed policy requirement of NZEB adaptation of office buildings with a current energy label G?
To answer the main research question, the following four themes are explored: office stock, energy policies, building adaptation and office owners. To explore the four themes, different methods and techniques are used. The different methods and techniques are framed within an experimental research design.
The results suggest that technically, the adaptation from label G to NZEB is possible. Financially, the adaptation results in the need for big investment ranging from €353/m2 to €414/m2 and payback period of more than 20 years. Environmentally, the NZEB adaptation results in 3.1 PJ energy savings and 0.6 - 0.7 CO2 emission reductions. Socially, the adaptation results in nuisance for the office owners, since they have to demolish, sell or leave their building vacant.
It can be concluded that the proposed adaptation policy will not lead to the desired effect of nearly zero-energy office buildings because the office owners do not choose to adapt their building but prefer to leave the building vacant or even demolish it. The direct NZEB adaptation requires temporary accommodation and major investments. A large part of the offices will become vacant or demolished, since the adaptation costs are too high compared to the rent values. However, for offices located on locations with high rent levels, the direct NZEB adaptation is more likely to be feasible. Especially, when technical opportunities arise, such as a nearby data center, which can be used for heat waste. Nevertheless, these findings suggest that lots of office owners will not be able to adapt their offices directly towards NZEB. Therefore, it is not possible to generalize such a regulative policy for all offices. However, some recommendations for policy makers are made. First of all, involve stakeholders when evaluating policies. Also, focus on the continuation of rent income during policy evaluations. Moreover, municipalities can already start creating visions for the future of office locations and to achieve NZEB office buildings it is recommended to make use of other policy tools at a differentiated approach.

In the Netherlands, the residential building sector accounts for 20% of energy consumption and 14% of carbon emissions. To reach the ambitious National targets of decreasing energy consumption and to stop this sector’s reliance on natural gas, a wide renovation of the building stock is needed. Residential buildings’ energy performance has to improve, approximately 7 million dwellings need costly renovations. To meet the National targets the number of yearly renovations should steeply increase from how it is currently.
This research makes use of the theories of business model and business model innovation to tackle this issue, evaluating how companies offering energy efficiency renovations should adjust their business model in order to improve their effectiveness, therefore unlocking energy efficiency renovations for Dutch residential buildings. This study is one of the first to investigate this topic relative to the Dutch market. The thesis report contributes to the studies and research about business model and business models innovations to stimulate energy efficiency in residential buildings.

The European Union through its Roadmap 2050 has mandated nearly zero energy as the standard for all building stock. While newly built buildings will be of nearly zero energy standard by 31 December 2020 (public-owned buildings after 31 December 2018), new buildings form only 1% of the addition to the existing building stock which implies that to attain nearly zero energy standard for all building stock, large-scale renovations must be performed. However, the renovation to the nearly zero energy standard is not yet cost optimal. To improve the economic feasibility, it is important to find the parameters that have an impact on the cost-optimality of nearly zero energy renovations and the extent of their impact, the results of which can be used to drive the renovation to the nearly zero energy standard in an economically feasible manner. The primary objective of this thesis is the identification of the most important drivers of the economic feasibility of renovating houses in The Netherlands to nearly zero energy standard. The parameters were deduced from a framework available in the literature. The extent of influence was determined by performing partial sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo analysis. Five key parameters had an impact on the NPV- energy price, energy consumption (presented as four separate sub-parameters: electricity and gas consumption both before and after renovation), renovation cost, project life cycle and discount rate. In absolute terms, gas consumption before renovation had the highest impact followed by, renovation cost, electricity consumption after renovation, discount rate, a shift of energy price to the low price scenario, life cycle of the project and electricity consumption before renovation. The gas consumption after renovation and the shift of energy price to the high prices scenario did not have a significant effect on the NPV. The most important drivers of economic feasibility of nearly zero energy renovations are reduction in the renovation cost, discounting the benefits at a lower (social) discount rate until the end of the service life of the house, increasing the retail price of natural gas, decreasing the retail price of electricity and regulation of user behavior in reducing rebound effect (the reduction in the expected energy savings primarily due to occupant’s behavior such as requirement of further comfort). Based on the obtained results, policy recommendations were provided to the Government. Suggestions for further studies include listing all parameters and determining their effect on the NPV, identifying the complete list of indirect benefits that accrue to the citizens of The Netherlands and their valuation using contingent valuation techniques, and performing a cost benefit analysis at the macroeconomic level which will not only consider wider benefits such as infrastructure savings, but also reflect the true value of indirect benefits through reduced externalities and improvement in the productivity of the people on the economy.

Residential buildings account for a significant amount of the national energy
consumption of all OECD countries and consequently the EU and the Netherlands.
Therefore, the national targets for CO2 reduction should include provisions for a more energy efficient building stock for all EU member states. National and European level policies the past decades have improved the quality of the building stock by setting stricter standards on the external envelope of newly
made buildings, the efficiency of the mechanical and heating components, the
renovation practices and by establishing an energy labelling system. Energy related occupancy behavior is a significant part, and relatively unchartered, of buildings’ energy consumption. This thesis tried to contribute to the understanding of the role of the occupant related to the energy consumption of residential buildings by means of simulations and experimental data obtained by an extensive measurement campaign.

Worldwide, buildings consume a large part of the total energy delivered. In the context of all the end-use sectors, buildings represent the largest sector with 39% of the total final energy consumption, followed by transport in the EU (European Union ). Policy targets and regulations are in force at the EU level to ensure the energy efficiency improvement of the building stock. This research seeks to provide insight into the energy performance progress, of the existing non-profit housing stock in the Netherlands, through the application of energy renovations. The non-profit housing stock comprises 30% of the housing market in the Netherlands and a large part of the policies towards a more efficient housing stock rely on the non-profit housing sector. To that end, we determine the energy renovation rate of the stock and the impact of the applied renovations on both the predicted and actual energy consumption. The difference of predicted and actual energy savings is analysed through longitudinal statistical modelling in renovated and non-renovated dwellings. Based on the knowledge gained on the renovation rates of the non-profit housing stock we compare and evaluate future renovation rates through dynamic building stock modelling and empirical data validation. In essence, we examine the effect that the improvement of thermo-physical characteristics of dwellings has on efforts to make the existing housing stock almost emission-neutral by 2050, as advocated by the European Commission since 2011. The renovation activity is expected to be greater than the construction and demolition activity in the future and as such we need to bring awareness to the actual impact and effectiveness of energy renovations.

The aim of this thesis is to add knowledge to the role and impact of policy instruments in meeting energy performance ambition in the existing owner occupied housing stock. The focus was instruments available in the Netherlands in 2011 and 2012. These instruments represented the 'on the ground' efforts to meet climate change targets.