Urban area development plays a crucial role in achieving sustainability ambitions, yet the complexity of the multi-actor environment often hinders their realization. This thesis investigates how sustainability ambitions can be enabled within the complex environment of Dutch urban area development, using transition theories as a theoretical lens.

The study uses qualitative research based on 24 semi-structured interviews across five actor groups: governments, industry, NGOs, financial institutions and knowledge institutes. The findings reveal a wide range of financial, policy and regulatory, and organizational challenges that are not isolated, but embedded in systemic dependencies between actors.

Using the sustainable market transformation theory, the study demonstrates how transition phases help to explain the misalignment between actors. Five illustrative examples show that actors often operate in different phases of transition, creating systemic bottlenecks that limit collective progress. The results underscore the relevance of involving all actor groups, as each holds the potential to either enable or hinder collective progress toward sustainable outcomes.

This research concludes that transition theories provide valuable insights into the dynamics of urban area development and contribute to a deeper understanding of how sustainability ambitions can be enabled.

Prompted by the 2023 Turkey earthquake and lessons on deviations, this study examines deviations in Paraguay. It clarifies that changes are formal procedures, whereas deviations are informal alterations to original plans, assessed post hoc. The concept of an “accepted deviation” is defined as an informally allowed variance in project requirements. The question is how to prevent deviation abuse. The study uses a qualitative, exploratory, inductive design, drawing on literature review, interviews, document analysis, and expert evaluation. Eight professionals from public and private sectors in Paraguay participated; three private experts validated findings.
Findings show that literature treats changes as formal and prospective and deviations as informal and retrospective; once deviations occur, they are accepted or rectified, with limited guidance beyond acceptance. In practice, deviations arise through bilateral agreements, unilateral contractor actions, or errors; formal change orders differ by sector, with the public sector imposing strict regulations and finance delays, while private sector relies more on informal agreements. The study identifies six preventive measures: improve final design; include paid, thorough contractor reviews in contracts; reduce change-order bureaucracy; enhance teamwork and communication; anticipate unforeseen events; hire qualified professionals. For managing deviations, four feasible practices are recommended: seek specialist opinions; document informal agreements; embed deviation management into regulations; rely on experience and safety considerations. Conclusions stress understanding the differences, reducing deviations, and applying proposed practices, while noting they are not universal remedies. The study suggests avenues for further research, including sector-specific analyses, agile methodologies, client/financier perspectives, ethics, and a protocol for middle-ground modifications.

The thesis investigates why energy transition projects underperform relative to climate targets and how to manage their distinctive complexities. Building on a literature review and 18 semi-structured interviews with Fluor B.V. practitioners, it contrasts energy transition projects with conventional ones across six domains: people, technology, finances, resources, legal/regulatory, and project management methods. While some complexities are shared, energy transition projects face unique challenges, including a diverse client base with unclear objectives, lack of ownership for new technologies, heavy reliance on external funding and offtake agreements, a shortage of specialized resources, a dynamic multi-location regulatory landscape, and strong cross-sector interdependencies that create time-sensitive interrelations. The study also reveals a shifting management paradigm: away from traditional control-oriented approaches toward hands-off and combined styles, with greater emphasis on front-end development, proactive stakeholder engagement, and agile practices to cope with uncertainty and pace. To address these complexities, the research proposes a seven-step guiding checklist covering client and team integration, technology and financial feasibility, interface management among financial/legal/resources, regulatory compliance, resource planning, and tailored execution methods for energy transition projects. Practical recommendations include adopting agile management, concise meeting documentation, alliance-type contracting, stronger front-end design, and structured learning and cross-project knowledge sharing. Limitations include subjectivity and a small, niche sample (n=18) within project-based organizations; future work suggests broader datasets, improved contracting models, systematic knowledge capture, and long-term performance evaluations. Overall, the thesis contributes to energy transition project management by detailing specific complexities and offering actionable strategies and a practical checklist to accelerate project progression.

Project complexity has increased and effective governance has become crucial. Steering committees (SCs) are governance bodies that guide and support a project, and their composition influences success. Yet it remains unclear which characteristics enable a functioning SC and whether these depend on the project context.
This study asks: which characteristics must SC members have to achieve an effective steering committee, and which contingencies shape these requirements? To address this question, the Q-method was used. A literature review yielded a list of skills and competencies tied to SC tasks and behaviors. The resulting Q-set was presented to 14 project managers and 11 SC members, who ranked the importance of each characteristic for a successful SC and explained their judgments. A face-to-face interview captured context and definitions of a functioning SC. The analysis revealed four perspectives on the attributes of SC members. Perspective 1 emphasizes genuine interest and effective communication, aligning with a project-champion role. Perspective 2 argues for PM empowerment and governance focus. Perspective 3 highlights strategic management capabilities, while Perspective 4 positions the SC member as project sponsor. Findings indicate that required characteristics depend on the interaction between the member’s role and organization.
Contextual factors such as organization size, project stage, and the relationship to the project and permanent organizations shape the distribution of responsibilities and the emphasis on strategic versus monitoring skills. Expert validation and literature comparison corroborate these contingencies. The study suggests future work with alternative P- or Q-sets and broader SC composition to test generalizability of four perspectives.

Building upon a conceptual framework of elements that play a role in the management of uncertainties, an empirical study was performed to learn about the uncertainties in the energy transition. For this, interviews were held and an expert panel was organized.

It was found that uncertainty is an unavoidable element of project management. It is a lack of knowledge about something and its probability of occurrence and potential outcome are usually unquantifiable and immeasurable. Uncertainty is a dynamic concept of which the magnitude decreases over time as more information becomes available. Its presence complicates the management of projects as this means choices need to be made without all relevant information. Literature further showed that uncertainty management consists of different core elements: identification, classification and the act of dealing with uncertainties.

The interviews showed that currently uncertainties are not purposely handled. Based on examples and context, it could however be concluded that elements of uncertainty management are subconsciously applied. Unknowingly in the sense that they are often not used to tackle uncertainties specifically, but risks instead. The empirical study also aimed to identify the differences between the conventional energy industry and the energy transition industry. This was done to determine whether these differences would lead to necessary adaptations in the project management approach.

The final conclusion of the research is that first and foremost, the management approach should be complemented with an uncertainty management plan that extends current risk management practices. The management of uncertainties should include an identification and classification procedure before deciding on the way of dealing with uncertainties, accompanied by an appropriate response. As uncertainty develops over time, monitoring of uncertainties should be done on a regular basis throughout the duration of a project. The overall management approach thus requires a flexible attitude so that changes in the management process of a project can be made if deemed suitable or necessary.

Previous research assessing public organisations in the delivery of infrastructure projects mainly focuses on public project delivery organisations and their interaction with private parties. However, many challenges experienced by these project delivery organisations relate to the interaction with the public parent organisation. In practice, this interface mainly materialises as the interaction between the internal commissioner (Dutch: ambtelijk intern opdrachtgever) and the project manager. Internal commissioners are appointed to control whether project organisations adhere to the project assignment. Due to dynamic complexity emerging in infrastructure projects, causing deviations from the defined project assignment, more commitment of these commissioners to projects is needed by these public managers during project realisation. By qualitative research in diverse Dutch public sector organisations, more insight into the internal commissioning role during project realisation is created. The research suggests several ways of improving the efficiency of internal working procedures in public parent organisations. Furthermore, the research identified management recommendations for improving professionalism in the internal commissioning role during project realisation.

The purpose of this research was contributing to better understand the drivers of public authorities in the Dutch infrastructure sector to change their contract strategy. In the awareness of the complex multi-layered phenomena of change in the public sector, this deductive research adopted the theory of Kuipers et al. (2014) and implemented it for a holistic multiple case study. For the concretization of the holistic multiple case study, a total of three cases over different time periods, from Rijkswaterstaat and the Water Authority Delfland have been reviewed. In this, the multi-method qualitative research strategy has been adopted, where both secondary and primary data have been gathered with respect to these three cases. At length, both types of data have been analysed using the concept-driven analysis procedure, modelled accordingly to the five-factor framework of Kuipers et al. (2014). Substantively, the conclusion of this research is two-folded; that public authorities are driven by extrinsic as well as intrinsic drivers. Firstly, in two of the three cases, the effects of the (external) contextual factors could be seen as direct triggers in the process of change. The significance of extrinsic drivers was already traditionally known and corresponds primarily with the institutionalist perspective. Essentially; the predominate presumption that changes are ‘made to’ organizations. Be it that this research found that the conjunction of these triggering factors was less intricated than priorly expected, only one or two macro external factors per case. Secondly, in the remaining case - the intrinsic motivation of the organisation could be seen as the principal driver of the change. This finding is in accordance with the change management perspective. A perspective with its roots in private sector research, that only recently emerged as a theory for public sector research. Principally, this rational-adaptive theory places significant attention on the intentional actions of agents. Herein, the main attention is focused on the roles, activities and behaviours of individuals, rather than an orientation that highlights the personality, character or traits of the leader (Burke, 2017). In view of this, however - this research found that for one case - the intrinsic drive from an organisation was predominately based on the personal believe system of an individual leader. Therefore, for future research, the objectivistic-based positivism philosophy that underlies both previously mentioned perspectives - should be complemented with more a subjectivistic-based research philosophies such as the social constructivism theory. In sum, future research that aims to identify driving factors for specific changes at public authorities, specifically for first and second order changes – should focus on both the macro level and micro level, in order to minimize the possibility of drawing unintentional preclusions. Therein, striking a balance between subjective and objective (primary) data.

With the current urgency to become more circular, procurement presents the primary method to deliver the circular policy ambition by purchasing circular products and stimulating circularity in the market. In the building and infrastructure sector, civil engineering projects offer unique opportunities for circularity. This research presents an assessment of the implementation fidelity of the circular ambition within the tendering process. It examines for each of the methods that define the tendering process, the tendered project, and the awarding framework whether the way circularity is being implemented delivers the ambition as expected.
Along with the four research phases, the research devises and uses a framework to assess the fidelity of circularity implementation through the methods to include it in the tendering of civil engineering works. The implementation fidelity framework is used to; create a holistic analysis that captures the many facets impacting the tendering process; determine areas of issues and, consequently, room for improvements; and differentiate between the methods to include the circular ambition in the process. Through three study cases, the construct of the analysis managed to capture the data between quantitative and qualitative in a consistent and interpretable manner. It creates a consistent link between the fidelity dimensions, the corresponding issue areas, and the methods to include circularity in the tendering process.
The room for improvement follows the three moderating dimensions, exposure, quality of delivery, and participation. The research links the issues impacting the fidelity of circular ambition implementation in three categories: structural issues, implementation traps, and policy-related, to the three moderating dimensions. The research acknowledges that policy-related issues impact at a sector level as issues inherent to the policy itself. Nonetheless, the research finds that, on an organizational level, removing structural issues and implementation traps raises overall fidelity and reduces the effect of policy-related issues. Increasing this fidelity reflects on the efficacy of the methods to include circularity in tendering, individually and as a group of instruments intended to complement each other.
In conclusion, the research recommends practical use of the implementation fidelity framework, which would feed into the body of expertise within an organization to improve future tendering processes to include, enable, and produce more circular solutions with more efficacy in the use of the methods. It will also allow aligning perceptions of the contractors and the contracting authority on one hand and the policymakers and policy implementers on the other hand. For future research, examining all five implementation fidelity dimensions for the instruments and processes at the different levels throughout the procurement cycle is most compatible with the circular ambition in the building and infrastructure sector. This could be most beneficial to establish a more vital link between policymakers and policy implementers. Moreover, it would support future efforts to update the circular ambition goals and milestones by presenting a more encompassing image of the policy implementation fidelity in real-world settings.

This study addresses the need for greater flexibility in project scope to match the dynamic lifecycle and complexities of modern projects. Traditional, rigid project management processes struggle to accommodate changing circumstances and diverse stakeholder expectations, especially in long or complex endeavors. The problem statement centers on the front-end scope: it is often tightly framed, limiting the ability to adjust or implement feasible changes.

Grounded in Jalai Sohi (2018), the research identifies 13 enablers and strategies for flexible scope, with a strong emphasis on soft factors such as trust, stakeholder involvement, communication, collaboration, commitment, and managerial review; an additional enabler—interaction among stakeholders—is incorporated. Three enablers were selected for deeper investigation: broad task definition, embrace change, and interaction among stakeholders. Barriers to implementing these enablers were categorized as limited awareness, stakeholder-driven barriers, organizational behavior, and contractual barriers, informing the development of a practical framework.

Value Engineering (VE) is examined as a complementary approach. VE is a structured process aimed at achieving essential functions at the lowest life-cycle cost while increasing project value, extending beyond mere cost cutting. Although evidence for VE in construction remains limited, the study identifies 21 potential benefits and validates them via a practitioner survey (n=25), with all benefits scoring a Relative Importance Index above 0.6.

Two case studies illustrate VE and enabler implementation. In Case 1, VE was introduced after scope development, leading to stakeholder resistance; in Case 2, VE was used proactively from the outset, yielding earlier consensus and fewer barriers. The most common barrier observed is lack of trust. A framework is proposed to resolve barriers by spreading awareness of enablers, ensuring stakeholder engagement, and conducting VE, supported by expert analysis. The findings suggest VE and soft-factor enablers can enhance scope flexibility, though broader empirical validation is recommended.

Recently, the Marktvisie (2016) expressed the need for more collaborative relationships based on equality and lately, a shift from adversarial to collaborative relationships is observed. The use of collaborative contracting strategies is increasing of which the bouwteam is an example. The bouwteam is a collaboration agreement during the design phase of a construction project, in which at least client, contractor, and designer work together to deliver a feasible and constructible design.  Even though the contractor is involved early the client is still in charge of the project and has control over the design, indicating that client and contractor are dependent upon each other. The goal of this research is to identify contractor's perspectives of collaboration in bouwteam, in order to find a way for contractors to influence client-contractor collaboration in bouwteams to achieve successful project delivery. Three contractor's perspectives are identified with help of Q-methodology, including a Q-set of success factors for collaboration in bouwteams, and are called relationship first, early involvement of the right people, and structure first. Even though the perspective value collaboration differently, they share the belief that mutual trust and a clear defined scope of the bouwteam are most essential for collaboration in bouwteams. To indicate how contractors can influence client-contractor collaboration, strategies are designed based on the identified contractor's perspectives and implementation of them. Since each client is different and a client-specific approach is desirable, three clients are identified in literature and for each one a strategy is designed. Combined, the strategies form a strategic framework that can be used by  contractors. To define a way for contractors to influence client-contractor collaboration, practical implications are established. For the contractor, it is important to define the scope early and clearly for successful project delivery. To achieve this, the contractor can identify the client charactertiscts of the involved client and determine the perspective of available personnel. The contractor's are a valuable reference for the contractor because they represent his playing field. The contractor can have a meeting with the client to elaborate on which success factors are most important for the bouwteam. With this information, the contractor can determine which perspectives are most appropriate to establish good collaboration. As a result, the contractor can develop a strategy and communicate this internally. For this, the strategic framework can be used as a guideline to give insights into possibilities and considerations. In doing so, relationship first and structure first are considered most suitable for good collaboration. Dependent on the client, the contractor can choose the right perspective to deploy to influence client-contractor collaboration to achieve successful project delivery. Nonetheless, in the end, defining the scope is one of the most important success factors for collaboration for the contractor, independent of the strategy to be develop. However, one has to question whether the bouwteam is a necessary approach for collaboration between client and contractor in a project. But even when this is not the case, the contractor's perspectives can stille be used since the collaborative principles from a contractor's perspective are similar. 

The Bouwteam is in both the building and infrastructure sector increasingly mentioned as a possibility to improve client-contractor collaboration. Currently, compared to the building sector, the infrastructure sector lags behind in applying this collaboration format. This research aims to investigate to what level building and infrastructure projects differ and match and whether differences in perspectives on collaboration are caused by the nature of sectors or influenced by other factors. The results of this research show that the nature of sectors is of little influence on the collaboration perspectives, while the relation between the client and contractor seems to have a major influence on the collaboration perspectives.

Recently a new phenomenon introduced itself in the Dutch infrastructure sector called co-creation. It is described in literature as ‘the joint creation of value between a company and its consumers’. It marks a shift in thinking and became a popular concept to increase the participation of consumers around the year 2000. Since then it has spread to other industries. In the service-and product design it already proved to be a good method as benefits such as increased satisfaction among consumers, cost reduction for the firm and innovative ideas has been mentioned in literature. . In this research, seven elements are identified that are found as necessary conditions for the co-creation concept. With decomposing it into elements it was found that the concept became less abstract, making it more practical for project leaders to implement the concept in their projects. Co-creation in the infrastructure sector is about placing the stakeholder in a central position and together identify their needs and investigate how value can be created jointly.