Utrecht’s housing market has entered a toxic polarisation state, marked by dehumanisation and scapegoating. The Netherlands faces a shortage of 400,000 homes, with waiting lists exceeding 11 years and allocation rules remaining opaque. Scarcity breeds conflict: as people compete for basic needs, frustration becomes blame. Starters feel invisible, status holders become scapegoats, and the silent middle—those with nuanced views—feel pressured to pick sides or stay quiet. Public debate amplifies polarisation, drowning out nuance and constructive dispute.
This thesis asks: How can a facilitated shared human experience strengthen the capacity of the silent middle? And can this approach contribute to closing the academic gap in the use of design-led approaches towards a less polarised society.
To tackle this, systematic theory meets the messiness of reality. Polarisation is framed as a dynamic system driven by fear of the unknown, group belonging, and echo chambers. Mapping Utrecht’s housing ecosystem reveals cascading pressures from national refugee quotas through municipal mandates to housing corporation allocations. The system predictably generates scapegoating. Lived experiences capture this: starters navigate “active exhaustion” searching like it is a second job; status holders endure “anxious passivity” with little agency. All groups feel unseen by institutions.
Synthesising Insights from these lived experiences are synthesised into a COM-B behavioural system map, and applying the leverage-point analysis that designing human touchpoints is the highest-impact intervention for social service agencies. This leverage point can transforms the emotional and relational experience of navigating scarcity, giving the silent middle the capacity to hold nuance. It helps them become bridge builders in the polarisation conflict. They bridges the two poles and with that combats further divisions.
The human touchpoint takes the form of a facilitated depolarisation dialogue that fosters the coexistence of multiple truths (pluralism): The Bridge Building Dialogue. Its eight-sectioned flow moves from safety (a ritual suspending social roles) through validation (acknowledging struggles before presenting facts) to dialogue (practising strategic frames and bridging sentences), then to legacy (passing tools to others). Participants leave with practical tools: soft facts that make statistics relatable, strategic frames that redirect blame from individuals to systems, and bridge sentences that shift conversations toward substance. A baton is passed forward as these skills are shared.
Pilot testing suggested measurable shifts in system signals defined in the leverage point theory, indicating that the intervention is activating the intended feedback loops. Expert validation from polarised field experts and sociologists confirmed the theoretical soundness. Stakeholders identified applications in neighbourhood participation, training, and inter-organisational dialogue. Social design practitioners praised it as filling a gap in their toolkit.
This thesis shows that social service design can address toxic polarisation with targeted leverage points. More than just a dialogue, it builds capacity and supports pluralism over forced consensus. This toolkit is created that helps some people navigate polarisation tensions differently. A small step. A replicable framework. A baton to pass forward. Polarisation isn’t solved in 100 days. It gets better through many small steps. This project is proud to be one of them.
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In the last decade, European citizens had to overcome multiple severe disruptive events like Covid-19, extreme weather and war at the EU-boarder. With ongoing climate change and political instability, more crises are expected to arise. To deal with these crises an increased resilience of individuals, organisations and society is needed. One organisation eager to contribute to building resilience in Hamburg (Germany) is Cociety. The name is a contraction of a collaborative society.

To create resilience, multi-stakeholder knowledge and an interdisciplinary approach is needed, to be able to deal with the high interdependencies of the system within society. Cociety has the potential to collect and generate this diverse knowledge, as it is an umbrella organisation of over eight non-profit foundations, founded by Dr. Otto, that contribute to diverse aspects of social and environmental sustainability in Hamburg.

However, Cociety is in the start-up phase of an organisation. It still needs to develop a clear strategy to unlock the potential it has. This project clearly defines the potential of and strategy for Cociety, using systemic design and social innovation as theoretical background. Desk and field research, including interviews and a co-creative workshop, formed the basis for a gigamap, showing the system of Cociety and its perspectives. The rest of the project focuses on the internal perspective of Cociety, meaning the collaboration between the foundations and their employees. A Social network analysis (SNA) shows the interconnections and collaboration levels in the current network. From the insights generated in the SNA, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis discovers the leveragepoints to design for the improvement of Cociety’s internal network.

The final design of this project is a strategy. An overall vision and a vision for the internal network of Cociety are formulated. A roadmap outlines the key actions need to achieve the vision, supported by three interventions to make the first steps, including an organigram to visualise and access the knowledge available in the network, a meeting format to share the knowledge with the network and an onboarding guide to keep the network active and alive. ... Read more

Today’s fashion industry is characterised by a continuous cycle of rapid production, early disposal, low-quality materials, and pre- and post-consumer waste, with consequential environmental damage and social injustice. The production of denim involves a resource-intensive and lengthy supply chain, in which a lack of evolution in design over the past 150 years is coupled with significant pre-consumer waste.

This highlights the need to reevaluate the design and manufacturing process. Conventional pattern designs result in a significant portion of newly woven material sent to incineration and landfill. 3D weaving presents an innovative niche design-manufacturing technique, allowing for the creation of multi-layered structures with interwoven ‘seams’. This enables the production of nearly complete garments, while aiming for zero waste and reducing labour-intensive steps at the cut and sew stage.

To unlock the potential of 3D woven denim and demonstrate how such niche techniques can be utilised to achieve systemic change, a Systems-Oriented design approach is adopted. The research project analyses the complex denim supply chain and delves into the meaning of current and 3D woven denim. Field research at a denim mill in Pakistan formed the basis of a general ecosystem map, addressing various layers of the system from the final lens of the Dutch denim market. This includes material flow, fashion brands, consumers, post-disposal stage, government influence, and certifications. Further collaboration with 3D weaving experts, denim mills, designers, and user research supported the multifaceted approach.

The project concludes with a Systems-Oriented strategy to establish a local Dutch eco-label for 3D woven denim, alongside traditional denim: New-Fashioned Denim Dimensions. By involving relevant stakeholders in the denim system, including major brands and suppliers, an initiative structure and implementation roadmap are developed. The roadmap outlines key actions, such as refining zero-waste patterns, developing equipment and creating a training programme, necessary to establish local, vertical 3D weaving supply chain behind the label. The ultimate aim is to create a cascading effect, inspiring denim brands to further explore future transitions towards local and sustainable models in the broader fashion industry, extending beyond the realm of 3D weaving. ... Read more

The current form of our democracy is not inclusive. Therefore, local governments try to enable political participation (Slingerland et al., 2020). Political participatory forms do not seem to have a great impact on policy, despite positive intentions (Edens & Klabbers, 2019). Youth is often not involved in political participation and policy-making, 6 out of 10 youngsters between 18 and 25 feel politically powerless. These numbers are even higher for MBO students (Binnema et al., 2007). Citizenship education shows promises to increase the political participation of youth over time (Slijkhuis, 2021). Citizenship education in the Netherlands is currently in need of improvement as well as Dutch students’ citizenship skills (Onderwijsinspectie, 2022).
This graduation project has researched citizenship education and the political participation of students. The project aims to increase political participation by youngsters through the means of citizenship education.
Extended qualitative research, using the Design Thinking Method (Chasanidou et al., 2015) and Self Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). helped to create an in-depth understanding of the context. The empathic approach of the project highlighted the complexity of the problem. The main insights showed that the development of youths’ citizenship skills happens in a complex system. Learning these skills happens all around, in multiple contexts, in direct and indirect ways. Developing citizenship skills does not simply happen in citizenship classes.
The in-depth data was translated into a system map. The map visualizes and clarifies the complexity of the context researched. An online version of the map allows for easy communication of the insights in a structured and visual way. The system map communicates several aspects. First of all, the map consists of two main aspects: situational contexts, that students encounter and two feelings that shape a political attitude. The feeling of understanding and the feeling of belonging influence the extent to which students feel intrinsically motivated to participate politically. The situational contexts and their corresponding factors influence the fulfillment of these two feelings.
The design phase is supported by the map for thorough understanding. The map facilitates understanding during the design phase. The design goal is to strengthen the understanding of the relation between MBO students’ daily lives and the municipality, by facilitating a moment to see this relation, while performing an activity in class. With a desired effect in mind, to make sure students feel competent to be part of politics and be of influence.
Various ideas are generated in ideation activities involving multiple stakeholders. Three design directions are considered and narrowed down to the final design direction: a citizenship program in class. This design direction was tested iteratively in six user tests. Resulting in the final design: ‘de Meester Burger’, a citizenship program that strengthens the understanding of MBO students’ daily lives and the municipality.
de Meester Burger is a tool to be used in class. Students work in small groups on municipal themes of choice. The steps of the tool guide students through an exploratory process enabling them to explore their own opinions by facilitating a tangible conversation. Students discover, share, and discuss various insights concerning the chosen theme. The tool supports a what-do-you-think and learning-by-doing approach, delivering advice to the municipality based on insights and ideas generated throughout the steps. Overall de Meester Burger aims to create a meaningful learning experience in class increasing students feeling of understanding and belonging towards the municipality. ... Read more

In recent years, the EU and its member states have perceived migration as a significant challenge, leading policymakers to adopt prediction and control strategies that fail to consider the nature of migratory patterns (PACES Consortium, 2022). Research on migratory patterns in social science is extensive but not widely used in policy development, highlighting a significant gap between scholarly discussions and their impact on policymaking. PACES is a research project aiming to bridge the gap between social science research on migration patterns and policy development in the migration sector. In doing so, PACES aims to involve multiple participants in discussions about migration policies, as it appears that the lack of citizen involvement is a factor contributing to the inefficiency of migration policy. This project’s goal is to help PACES empower citizens and promote dialogues to create more informed opinions. The objective of this thesis is to facilitate a two-way information exchange between PACES and native citizens. PACES provides scientific knowledge on migration and policies, while citizens contribute their perspectives. The aim is to foster evidence-based opinions among citizens to achieve greater engagement and participation in in the public debate. To approach this objective, an analysis of the context of the public debate on migration was initiated, and system mapping was used to better define the stakeholders and dynamics between them. This analysis highlighted the lack of a direct connection between the world of research and citizens, who struggle to form opinions based on evidence, as the knowledge they receive is often shaped by political and media narratives. To better understand this distance, a smaller group of citizens was selected, specifically Italian emerging adults, to explore their perception of the public debate and their experiences in staying informed. Subsequently, a group of experts in the field of migration was consulted to understand their perception of the role of research and expert knowledge in the debate. The empirical exploration revealed that both experts and Italian emerging adults agree on the need to shift the way migration is portrayed in the debate, but they also agreed on the presence of a gap between research and citizens. To bridge this gap and support Italian emerging adults in forming opinions on migration based on scientific knowledge, this thesis developed a workshop that PACES could use to “co-create narratives about migration” with Italian emerging adults. In this workshop, knowledge is shared by focusing on different perspectives on a chosen topic and assisting Italian emerging adults in developing their own point of view and reworking it into new narratives to share with their peers The results of the workshop include an increase in the participants’ awareness of migration patterns and information that can help PACES in further research development that takes into account the point of view of native citizens. These results become the basis for initiating dialogues about alternative migration policies with policymakers, representing the perspectives of citizens on migration matters developed from scientific knowledge. The workshop can be further developed in the future to reach a broader audience and increase participation in the discourse on migration policymaking. In conclusion, the value of this project lies in its representation of the public debate, providing a simplified yet complex representation of the debate while placing citizens at the center. It also offers a strategy that PACES can scale further to lay the groundwork for a more open discussion on migration policy based on expert knowledge and resilience to social changes. ... Read more

In the context of the ongoing transition towards a more sustainable system, grassroots innovations, particularly Circular Initiatives (CIs), are emerging as crucial players, understanding Circular Economy as a promising pathway forward in this sustainability shift. Within this context, the Circular Value Flower (CVF) method was developed by Els Leclercq and Mo Smit during their experiences working with CIs in the Netherlands.

The purpose of this project is to contribute to the development of the CVF by exploring its potential as a design method to support circular initiatives in Argentina while creating positive social impact. Argentina’s relevance in this project is twofold. Firstly, its rich landscape of initiatives and social movements is highly influential, shaping not only the prevailing system within the country but also across the entire Latin America. Secondly, this project seeks to amplify the voices of the Global South within the design discipline and the academic sphere of CE, areas predominantly influenced by voices from the Western Global North.

As the CVF is designed for community engagement, this project centers on working closely with two Argentinean CIs (ReUSAR and Siempre Monte) with a decolonial and participatory approach. Given the complexity of this endeavor and the need to challenge traditional knowledge hierarchies, the overarching mode of thinking leading this project is Sentipensar (feel-think).

In order to cast light, with a sentipensante mindset, on the potential of the CVF to leverage the participating CIs, four phases constitute this project: Reserch for Design, Redesigning the CVF, Action Research and Guideline Design. The first phase aims to define and situate key theoretical concepts, gain a deep understanding of the local context, analyze the current state of the art, and initiate my self-deconstruction as a researcher. The second phase, Redesigning the CVF, focuses on adapting the method and its tools to align with the project’s mindset and the Argentinean context. The design outcomes of this phase are named the Circular Reflection toolkit and Circular Value Map. These tools are designed to facilitate the participatory application of the CVF method during the third phase, which is the Action Research phase involving ReUSAR and Siempre Monte.

After several weeks of active engagement with the CIs and numerous group and individual reflections, the primary insight discussed is the CVF’s potential to support Argentinean CIs by creating a space for pausing, reflecting, and engaging in meaningful conversations. These conversations center on addressing member alignment and both internal and external communication, which are among the primary uncovered issues faced by Argentinean CIs today. Moreover, tackling these challenges aligns with two of the three essential conditions for their success, as identified in the existing literature: shared expectations and networking.

To enhance the accessibility of this research to other practitioners, the primary insights have been translated into a practical guideline referred to as the Tomate Un Mate guideline. This constitutes the fourth and final phase of this graduation project, the Guideline Design phase, with the hope that it will also serve as a starting point for further developments. ... Read more

This IPD master thesis describes the process of developing the product-service of Maki. Maki is a startup with the focus of making the life of a beginning sewer easier. Currently, beginning sewers have a learning journey full of struggles.

In this project, a design process is described that attempts to design an online learning platform for these beginning sewers. Through extensive user research, prototyping and exploring the field of sewing, the final concept was presented.

Maki is a platform that provides sew-alongs where the user learns hands-on through making garments. The user first gets to design how they want the garment to be through varying modular elements, like sleeves, or collars. After this the sew-along guides them through a process where they learn to draw the pattern and sew it together. This is done with steps in text, illustration and video, so the beginning sewer is fully supported. Since Maki users have the desire to learn how to make and design the clothing that truly fit them, the sew-along teaches them how to draw their own patterns. This is done with the help of a set of printable rulers. The rulers and sew–along will help them build a skill-set that can serve as a stepping stone in making anything they want later in their learning journey.

On the platform some collaboration with other users can take place. Users get the chance to inspire others with their work through sharing pictures of end-results. The sew-along also allows users to comment, so they can help each other out and a community of beginning sewers can grow.

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Current consumption and production patterns require drastic changes if we want to transition into a circular economy. Accordingly, the Dutch government has set up a nationwide programme that aims to achieve a completely circular economy by 2050 with an interim objective of a 50% reduction in raw materials by 2030. This includes creating a network of circular craft centers by 2030, places where product reuse and repair is of paramount importance.

The center for this project is located in the province of North-Holland, where municipalities Heiloo, Uitgeest and Bergen are working together on regional challenges in the ‘BUCH’ organisation. They aim to contribute with their own vision of such a center, The Circular HUB, whose success highly depends on the involvement of residents and their sustainable choices. This thesis aimed to discover how residents can be involved to visit the center and promote repair and reuse activities.

The challenge was approached by means of a triangulation method, a variety of methods to develop comprehensive understanding of problem context. Topics of waste, circular economy, behaviour change models and good practices for encouraging residents were explored together with other activities including resident interviews, co-creation sessions and surveys. These were used to identify the drivers and barriers of residents on circular activities and their perspective and needs on the center.

The obtained key insights are related to three tools of a behaviour change model, the SHIFT framework. Residents are not aware that even a seemingly small action can make a difference, lacking the knowledge or expertise (self-efficacy). Many are participating in repair and reuse practices and love to share their knowledge, but nothing is in place to make this visible to other non-active residents. This makes them unaware of what is possible and what the norm can be (social norms). These two factors can be explained by the current challenges on clear and consistent communication of the BUCH on the meaning of the circular center and circular activities to residents (tangibility). Consequently, residents do not feel involved and are not stimulated to participate on a regional level.

To address these challenges, a communication approach for the BUCH was developed. It aims to create support for key stakeholders of the climate programme to actively involve residents in activities as a preparation for the circular center. This to achieve a unifying vision for the circular center that is shared by all the stakeholders, including residents. The approach is delivered as a guide that consists of four elements that could be implemented:

The importance of communication in encouraging residents
The challenges in the BUCH context and how to deal with them
A strategic vision offering major milestones to take
A roadmap with actionable steps to achieve the vision

Each element can be used separately depending on the type of conversation context The solution contributes to the problem by offering support for the municipalities to involve residents in the communication so that they feel a sense of ownership and involvement on a local and regional level. ... Read more

Crooswijk is a neighbourhood in Rotterdam that has been dealing with issues regarding trust in the municipality, and residents have not been participating much anymore. Crooswijkers feel unheard and left in the dark whenever plans are developed and executed. The main challenge that the design should solve: Improve the low level of trust currently present in Crooswijk, and set the residents up for more participation activities and overall engagement, by utilizing and building upon the newly elected neighbourhood council. The concept entailed seven interactive poles, each matched to one of the newly elected neighbourhood councilmembers. The poles would make these members visible in the neighbourhood, and let residents interact with it and give some low-threshold input, while also getting feedback on this input quickly. The concept aimed to build upon the strengths of the neighbourhood council, namely the personality of the people on it, and the recognisability that they possess, being neighbours of the other Crooswijkers. The concept was validated with residents and candidate councilmembers, leading to some important input for iterations. Besides this concept, an overarching strategy was developed that focused on using the poles as a stepping stone to slowly get Crooswijkers more involved and used to participation, and gradually nudging them over to the other participation contexts, namely the municipality’s digital participation platform MijnRotterdam, and the physical neighbourhood hubs. ... Read more

In 2015, due to decentralisations in the social domain, municipalities became the key public authorities for youth participation in the Netherlands (RAND Europe, 2021). One year later 66% had made youth participation a policy goal, while 18% was planning to. At that time most municipalities involved young people to some extend in their policy-making, but were dissatisfied with the results and expressed a need for tools (Mak, Gilsing & Wróblewska, 2016). In 2020, despite considerable effort, the dissatisfaction had not changed (Movisie, 2020).

This thesis aims to design a new approach that allows youngsters aged 14-17 to structurally participate in municipal policy- and decision-making, in the context of the energy transition. The energy transition, which refers to the transfer from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands with 95-100% in 2050 (RIVM, n.d.), is seen as the largest strategic challenge for municipalities and one of the main societal challenge of our time (Ebskamp & Verbraak, 2019). Municipalities ask Citisens, an organisation specialised in reaching and involving (adult) citizens and this project’s client, ever more frequently if they can support them in involving young people in shaping this transition. This project is their first step in exploring this new market.

Three methods characterize the project approach. Frame creation, a method well-suited for the open, networked, complex and dynamic problems of today, provides the main structure to the project (Dorst, 2015, p. 73). Within the structure of Frame creation, the project adopts a participatory approach, involving 163 stakeholders and experts in 15 co-creation sessions throughout the project. Besides bringing in new perspectives, giving stakeholders a voice in the design and building stakeholder support (Boeijen et al., 2020, p. 61), these co-creation sessions all generate insights on collaborating with the stakeholders in a Research through Design approach. While most co-creation sessions use prototypes or artefacts to generate new knowledge, the sessions themselves can also be seen as prototypes for collaboration (Stappers & Giaccardi, 2017).

Following an in-depth analysis of the challenge, this thesis creates an overview of frontrunners that have a new and promising approach to (youth) participation and/or involving people in climate issues. Looking at common factors of these frontrunners, four themes emerge: equity, ownership, collaboration and action. Based on these themes, several new frames to approach youth participation are developed. The final design, Design your dream places, is based on the frame Holacracy.

Design your dream places involves all youngsters through guest lessons at schools and facilitates them to create their own, sustainable dream places in the municipality. It allows everyone in the municipality to vote on their favourite place, and encourages the municipality and youngsters to collaborate on next steps. The final design was tested and evaluated during a pilot session with key stakeholders, yielding encouraging results while showing the importance of testing it in a real-life setting with actual follow-up. Finally, an implementation and integration plan was created to envision next steps for the project.
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The green pioneers of Rotterdam are actively making the city a greener living environment. Through the infrastructure provided by the municipality of Rotterdam, citizens can apply to take over a green space from the municipality or to introduce green elements to the predominantly grey streets in which they live. They not only improve the neighbourhood experience, but also have the potential to contribute in addressing local climate challenges such as climate adaptation, climate mitigation and the mitigation of biodiversity decline. However, it depends on the interpretation, the actions the creators take, if this potential is utilised. The goal of this project is to create a toolkit that supports the green pioneers of Rotterdam in their actions to improve their contribution in addressing their local climate challenges.

I research the green pioneers of Rotterdam, to figure out how they approach their projects, why they are involved, and what they do exactly. Moreover, I investigate their current contribution to the local climate challenges and how this can be improved. Therefore, I conduct different explorations, including three case studies in which I meet three initiators who are involved in a green initiative in the city. This resulted in the following main insights. 1) the most promising challenge for green pioneers to improve their contribution in, is the mitigation of biodiversity decline. This challenge is therefore chosen as a focus for this project. 2) Most green pioneers want to contribute to biodiversity where they can, but are not always aware when they are able to do so and how. 3) Green pioneers can improve the contribution to biodiversity with their green initiative, by adopting an ecological gardening behaviours.

By analysing the difference between ecological gardening and current behaviours, I arrived at four options in which the design can help improve the contribution of the green pioneers of Rotterdam:

1) By providing green pioneers and the citizens they influence inspiration on possible actions and their ecological effect
2) By stimulating green pioneers to make decisions with a focus on the effects on animals and plants.
3) By broadening the perspective of green pioneers and the citizens they influence by including unfamiliar/unattractive animal- and plant species.
4) By encouraging an interplay-experience between the actions of green pioneers and the input of natural processes.

These four solution spaces lead to the development of a toolkit concept. The toolkit provides inspiration and support to help the green pioneers of Rotterdam to optimize the ‘natural site’ that they created in the city. The toolkit can be incorporated in any approach, initiative type and group structure. ... Read more

Designers generally use human-centred design (HCD) methods to gain insights on the needs of the people they are designing for, and keep focus on these needs when creating solutions. In keeping with this focus, designers use their insights on User Experiences (UX) when making design-decisions.
The focus of human-centred design expanded in the last decades from designing user-friendly products to designing a system of products and services (PSS) that provide good user experiences (UX). In a PSS design process, many actors and disciplines are involved: various professionals with different values depending on their expertise in the process of product design, service design, or business development. Put differently, PSS design can be seen as a networked process with many actors involved who are potential design decision makers in addition to the design professionals. Next to designers, e.g., product managers, marketeers, and service engineers make design-decisions that influence how products and services will be experienced. These design decision makers seem not to continue using the earlier gained UX-insights in decision making. As a result, changes on the original design are made that reduce UX quality.
This research addresses the challenge of supporting design decision makers to continue the use of UX insights in networked design projects. The main research question guiding the research is what designers can do to prevent UX insights from getting lost in a networked design process. The research addresses this main question by exploring how and where UX insights get lost in networked design projects, and what barriers and opportunities can be identified to make networked design a human-centred project. ... Read more

We have come to a point in time where we can no longer just vision, but must act. We are talking about the transition from waste to material. The normal course of business around raw materials is a heavily environmentally polluting business, which contributes to global warming. In 2015, 196 countries signed the Paris Agreement, agreeing to a plan to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. The Netherlands also contributed to this and translated this into its own Climate Agreement. In this agreement, attention is paid to the transition to a circular economy in order to limit the dependence on new raw materials. Circular craft centers are part of this circular economy. Points that replace the recycling centers and where material reuse is central. The clients of this graduation project are the BUCH municipalities: Bergen, Uitgeest, Castricum and Heiloo. These municipalities are faced with an extremely high level of bulky residual waste per household, which must be reduced to 5 kg by 2030. This thesis focuses on connecting local socio-economic entrepreneurs to the material flows in order to reduce bulky residual waste. The transition to a circular economy is not so much a technical challenge but a social one: how do we connect the necessary parties? Local entrepreneurs are key partners in this. Together with them, we are looking at the possibilities of setting up circular initiatives around the material flows. In addition to establishing a link between the entrepreneur and the material flow, this thesis examines the possibility of a circular network: a group of entrepreneurs who support each other in setting up circular businesses. To set up this network, a participatory approach has been designed in which circular capacities and collaborations are central. This approach consists of three layers, inspired by the Open4Citizens project, creating 1) Immediate value for the participants, 2) Tools for supporting the participants and 3) An network of actors. Setting up the network has been a research through design process, in which design questions were answered with a design that was immediately tested. Over a period of 3 months, local entrepreneurs participated in this project and met, talked, formed first collaborations and exchanged circular ideas. Worksheets were designed for the sessions in which this took place, which were improved or supplemented on the basis of the output. In this way a twofold design was made as a result of a participatory process with local entrepreneurs. Firstly, a vision for a circular network in the BUCH municipalities has been designed, with a name, website, shape and vision for the future. Second, a Circular Community Startkit was designed based on the formats used in the project. The aim of this starter kit is that the process can be repeated in the BUCH municipalities, but can also be applied in other regions. The start kit consists of an overview of the process and six worksheets in which circular activity is stimulated. By using this starter kit, municipalities can inspire local entrepreneurs to start circular business during a participatory project. The start kit ends with an exit phase in which the facilitator hands over the baton to the participants. ... Read more

In project Reyeroord Aardgasvij Service designers work together with the municipality and other stakeholders to stimulate the energy transition in the neighbourhood Reyeroord in Rotterdam. Their goal is to develop interventions in the form of neighbourhood meetings, campaigns, and other activities that aim to activate the residents of Reyeroord
in the discontinuation of natural gas in their homes. This thesis project set out to explore how the service designers can be supported in adopting a new approach to design more inclusively in this context.

It seems that currently the interventions by the designers attract only a select group of “early adopters”, but ultimately the energy transition takes place throughout the entire neighbourhood and thus influences all residents. Therefore, every resident needs to be aware of the changes to come and make choices about the changes that likely impact their home environment. It is a wish of the municipality is to include as many residents as possible in the transition.
In this thesis an adapted design process
is proposed for the service designers to contribute to a broader and more diverse participation in the neighbourhood. A three diamond approach is used to identify the problem, research possible solutions, and iteratively develop a solution.
The design goal of this thesis is formulated as: ‘To design a toolkit that enables service designers to practise a more inclusive design process when designing interventions in Reyeroord for a fairer energy transition.’

From the literature research, it is concluded that an inclusive design approach looks different depending on the applied
context. The complex context of the energy transition shows points for improvement and challenges that can be solved with an inclusive approach. A shared understanding is drawn up, in which an inclusive energy transition aims to include and integrate all people and groups in the activity of shifting residential homes from natural gas to a residual heating system while promoting the reduction of energy use and insulation in homes, especially those people who are disadvantaged.

During the idea finding phase, additional and relevant research supports the brainstorm for ideas. This explorative study focuses on the users of the toolkit and the essential elements for an inclusive approach. The design activities then lead to opportunities regarding the designers’ process, insights about building a toolkit and various components. The exploration leads to the discovery of eight solution spaces, which forms the basis of the final toolkit.

Finally, this study looks at what solution could enable the designers to implement
a more inclusive design process. In an iterative design approach, various ideas are then tested with students and designers
of Zeewaardig leading to the proposed inclusion toolkit. The final toolkit supports the designers with four different tools
that can be used during the design of interventions. Lastly, the toolkit is evaluated through a validation test which proves that the toolkit has multiple valuable additions to the current design process. Furthermore it provides relevant insights for future improvement.

To conclude, this thesis dives into the role of inclusion in the energy transition and what service designers can do to create a broader and more diverse participation in the energy transition as a whole. The final deliverable to the designers is a toolkit to reach this goal. ... Read more

In the last decades, more and more complex societal and environmental challenges are rising. Social Innovation is an emerging and promising framework to tackle complex global challenges at the local level of urban contexts. These projects are socially, culturally and contextually embedded and highly dependent on the local ecosystem of resources. Due to their reduced size and non-profit driven structure, social innovations lack financial resources and the needed capacity, hindering them from scaling and achieving a larger impact. Hence why these small-scale and hyper-localized projects often struggle to take root in new contexts. Design capabilities are exponentially considered a fundamental enabler of innovation processes (Scott, 2018), and recently the awareness toward design tools in supporting bottom-up, local innovations increased. Initiatives such as the Designscapes project are examples of a design-capability building program aiming to foster innovation through design by helping these small-scale urban initiatives to scale and achieve impact goals. Although design has great potential to enable innovation, the design process stops at the implementation stage, failing to provide innovators with the needed tools to achieve large-size impact. Therefore, the current project explores how design could support social innovations to scale and achieve impact by unfolding the scaling journeys of Designscapes initiatives. In addition to the research goal, understanding the scaling process of social innovations through design, the project aims to develop a framework/tool-kit enabling small-scale urban initiatives to overcome challenges and develop strategies to scale from one context to another. Several design elements have been used to carry research throughout an iterative double-diamond design process to respond to the project goals. Theoretical knowledge has been applied and used as an exploration mean to conduct empirical research within the practice of Designscapes initiatives. The research findings led to the development of the 'Scaling Framework,' which presents the crucial steps and criteria to scale social innovations. Even though scaling is a complex matter and one single solution to scale does not exist, network formation resulted, from research, being an effective strategy to scale. It allows social innovators to mobilize the resources necessary, align demand and supply, to have a desirable and viable solution implemented in the new context. However, to form networks and replicate the project from one context to another, these small-scale social initiatives have to overcome two main challenges, identified as the cognitive and context gap. Therefore, to overcome those challenges, Social Innovators will capture what to scale by acknowledging differences and similarities between the local context conditions, re-framing their value proposition to match the local resources and people's needs, and defining how to scale by articulating impact-driven strategies. The research outcomes have been turned into a 'Scaling Tool-Box' to make the scaling framework and process actionable and operational, hence useful for its intended users (social innovators). The final result of the project, 'a design tool-box to support Social Urban Innovators scaling from one context to another, facilitates small-scale social initiatives bridge the gaps and develop strategies to form local networks. In conclusion, scaling is like a learning process where social innovators have to learn What and How to adapt to the local context conditions. Because of the value of design in building capacity and functioning as a framework guiding a particular thinking process, independently from the domain or stage of application, design demonstrates being a relevant tool enabling innovation to scale. Furthermore, the final result still has opportunities for improvement, and future research is seen as necessary to expand the tools and outcomes beyond the initial steps of scaling. Indeed, the tools focus only on one part of the scaling process identified and defined through the (theoretical) framework. Moreover, because of the small-scale study conducted in this project, further exploration to validate the tool beyond its context scope (Designscapes initiatives) could help open up and generalise the results to a broader audience. ... Read more

New approaches to overcome complex societal problems of today are the need of the hour, especially to enable the transition to a sustainable future (Concilio & Tosoni, 2019). Here, social innovations present new ways to tackle global problems on a local scale; that when put together, can create a transformation on a systemic level while shaping societal beliefs, routines and behaviours. Scaling these social innovations is important to enable the requisite large-scale transformations. This project builds on a specific scaling strategy that aims to shift cultural values, mindsets and beliefs- namely, scaling deep. Given that scaling deep is an abstract and intangible concept, the project aims to develop an actionable strategy that supports social innovators in their scaling journey. The key research question being: How can design be used to transform the abstract and theoretical concept of scaling deep into something more tangible and implementable in order to make it usable for social innovations? In the first phase of the project and this report, the phenomenon of scaling deep is explored from a theoretical and practical perspective. Qualitative research (carried out by using a research through design approach) reveals that engaging new stakeholders is one of the biggest hurdles for social innovators wanting to scale their innovation into a new context. Here, scaling deep is a means to overcome this hurdle. Literature review highlights ‘common ground’ and ‘community building’ as two key conditions for social innovators to achieve impact at a larger scale (Yee & White, 2016; Beers et al., 2006). However, at the individual or micro level, a change in mindsets (and frames) is necessary which starts with the awareness and articulation about these implicit concepts (Gupta & Govindarajan, 2002; Buchanan & Kern, 2017; Hay et al., 2007; Dorst 2011). Building upon these insights, scaling deep is further defined as an internal transformation process as well as a social process that focuses on alignment rather than forcing perspectives onto someone. In addition, friction, in the sense of realising conflicting frames, is seen as an enabler for change. This phenomenon is called fruitful friction. Here, friction is the notion of becoming aware of your implicit frame and realising the difference to other peoples’ frames, which is seen as a first step to create openness for change. These characteristics are captured in a conceptual framework, ‘Fruitful friction towards common ground’, in order to use fruitful friction as a strategy to scale deep. The framework proposes to deliberately trigger friction fruitfully as a lever for change to enable the emergence of common ground and allow social innovators to scale deep. In the second and third phase of the project and the last part of this report, the conceptual framework is translated into a design toolkit ‘Are we on the same page?’, making the strategy of scaling deep actionable. It triggers people to express their tacit perspective (frames) which facilitates the emergence and capturing of common ground. ‘Are we on the same page?’ is a process enabling toolkit that helps social innovators to conduct an online workshop using fruitful friction to reach a shared understanding with new stakeholders. In sum, this thesis unveils the potential of fruitful friction as a strategy to scale deep, allowing social innovators and their stakeholders to reach a common ground. The framework makes the abstract and theoretical concept of scaling deep more tangible; while the toolkit, helps social innovators to practically implement scaling deep into their projects. ... Read more

Within the Energy Transition, citizen involvement is essential. In the end, we have to change together to succeed within the Energy Transition. Because of the local character of the Energy Transition and a responsibility shift, the municipalities have got the challenging task to increase citizen involvement. Local energy initiatives can be a promising solution for the Energy Transition. Therefore, the local energy initiatives can be interesting for municipalities when increasing citizen involvement.
The aim of this research is to find a way for the municipality to make use of these local energy initiatives when trying to increase citizen involvement in the Energy Transition. The specific context of this research is the city of The Hague. The following research question has been formulated for this purpose: How can the municipality of The Hague increase citizen participation in the Energy Transition through local energy initiatives?
In order to answer the research question, a collective case study and a design process are executed. In advance, preparatory research was conducted to explore relevant theoretical concepts for the research and to analyze the stakeholder ecosystem of the local energy initiatives. The collective case study was performed by conducting nine in-depth interviews with local energy initiatives based on a research framework. This research framework was substantiated by the Transformative Social Innovation framework. Furthermore, the design process is based on the Double Diamond approach using divergent and convergent thinking. Within this design process, multiple participatory elements were included like workshops and prototyping sessions with local energy initiatives and civil servants of the municipality of The Hague.
From the research, it appeared that the local energy initiatives in The Hague fulfill a basic role and five specific roles, namely ‘awareness creation’, ‘action perspective creation’, ‘collaboration with the municipality’, ‘voice at the table’, and ‘execution and ownership’. It also came forward that the potential of the contribution of the local energy initiatives to the Energy Transition is not reached. This has three reasons. Firstly, there is no shared vision among the stakeholders. Secondly, the relationship with the municipality is undefined and inconsistent. Thirdly, there are several small challenges as keeping the initiative going, reaching out to people, and not being representative for the neighborhood. When looking at the relationship, the core challenge seemed a way to prioritize and choose the municipal support to provide, to which initiative, and at which moment.
Based on this, a final concept was developed to create a strategy and action repertoire for the municipal support per neighborhood and initiative. The strategy is created based on three main questions regarding which roles to support, which support to provide, and how to provide the support. These questions are answered through the three perspectives of Design Thinking (desirability, feasibility, and viability) to cover the multiple aspects to consider when creating the strategy. Possible further research could focus on the development of the final concept in real-life cases and on the applicability of the five initiative’s roles and final concept in other contexts. ... Read more

Over the past decades, a culture that rapidly produces, consumes and discards earthly resources is established. The extraction and processing of these resources lead to an increasing amount of greenhouse gas emissions which are warming the planet day by day. In 2016 the European Union signed the Paris-agreement. This agreement aims to avoid this dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5°C (EU, 2016). To accomplish, the Dutch government (Rijksoverheid), introduced the Klimaatakkoord. Among other things, the Klimaatakkord acknowledges the transition to a circular economy as an essential strategy to accomplish the EU goals. By 2050, the Netherlands aims to be a circular economy where products and materials are reused in endless loops. This thesis focuses on the disposal of bulky waste, such as household goods or private construction materials. These type of products are usually discarded at the municipal recycling facility. The assignment explores on behalf of de BUCH (Bergen, Uitgeest, Castricum, Heiloo) municipalities alternatives for bulky waste disposal. The project takes off at the idea of a circular centre; a concept developed by Rijkswaterstaat. Circular centres are municipal recycling facilities, where not only waste is processed but also various recycling alternatives are offered. The role of the residents living in de BUCH area is identified as key-enabler in the transition towards a local circular economy. The plans for a circular centre in de BUCH also describes the active involvement and contributions of residents as an essential success factor. Currently, only a limited amount of people is actively engaged in circular activities. To make the circular centre a broadly supported success, it requires a different attitude and behaviour towards used materials for many residents. This project investigates how resident participation in circular initiatives can be encouraged in various ways. Literature on behavioural change has been consulted and models developed by Fogg (2009), Tromp (2013) and van Lieren (2018) were practised. The current attitude and the behaviour of residents regarding product disposal was obtained through interviews and a questionnaire. New roles for the residents has been established according to this data. The roles were held against Fischer’s model for richer ecologies of participation (2011). The obtained knowledge was translated into concepts and discussed with residents. A research-through-design approach was practised to identify barriers for participation and apply universal behavioural strategies in more tangible ways. These concepts were assessed by the residents using video prototypes. The following interviews provided insight into the barriers for participation and the possible strategies that could lower them. Based on these insights and insights from earlier phases, a toolkit has been developed which helps the municipality to design initiatives together with its residents. The toolkit aims to design interventions that overcome the barriers for participation and enhance resident participation at higher levels. A number of the barriers and behavioural strategies have been evaluated through an intervention at the municipal recycling facility. The toolkit consists of 3 design canvasses poster and a card set. During the use of the toolkit, interventions are created by means of a user journey. The user journey provides an easy way to identify the barriers for participation. The included cards present a set of common barriers. The barrier cards link to strategies that can be applied to overcome them. The strategy cards can be used as an inspiration during the enhancement of new participatory circular initiatives. ... Read more

A circular economy is a means to an end of achieving a sustainable world, a lot of traction has been gained in the recent years into the concept of a circular economy and many new products and business models have been created around the concept. But most of the exploration of the concept lies in the possibilities of new product and market opportunities, this makes the concept difficult to move towards a societal level change, where circular economy becomes the norm. To enable this societal level change, ecosystem level innovations are important and collaborations play a key role in enabling eco-system innovation. This is what this project tries to explore, collaborations for a circular economy, in the context of the urbanspace. The findings suggested that a shared vision is important for collaboration to take place but the organisations did not actively pursue for having a shared vision and values with their various collaborators, instead the thing that they focused on for operationalizing their innovation was engagement. They focused on engagement to showcase the value of their organisation’s offering beyond the end product. As they increased their visibility in the urbanspace and increased their ways and number of engagements, the organisations grew and people with similar values collaborated with the organisations. They scaled through engagement. Scaling through engagement is a mindset for growth of the organisation based on engagement as opposed to the linear model of thinking of making more. The final design, tried to enable organisations operating in the urbanspace to scale through engagement. This was pursued by creation of an online tool-kit for circular organisations operating in the urbanspace, which aimed at creating awareness into the concept of scaling through engagement, it’s relating ideas and also help organisations create ideas around scaling through engagement for their own organisation. In conclusion, this project is a step in the right direction away from scaling by making more and towards scaling through engagement. Apart from the tool-kit, the findings from the research add valuable insights into how circular organisations operating in the urbanspace innovate and collaborate in a circular economy. On a broader perspective, this project gives a glimpse into how societal level transitions for a circular economy could take place and what it would mean in practice. ... Read more

Many resources are becoming depleted, and waste is a global issue. For accomplishing sustainable growth, the European Commission set the objective for achieving a circular economy in 2050. Rijkswaterstaat pushed this ambition even further, wanting to be circular in 2030. In the province Noord-Holland, the municipalities Bergen, Uitgeest, Castricum and Heiloo work together in the organization called ‘de BUCH’. They have the ambition to be the leading municipalities in circular economy. For their transition, they questioned the ‘Delft Design Lab Participatory City Making Lab’ at the University of Technology Delft: how to change the norm behaviour of their citizens towards circular norm behaviour at a local level? To answer this question, first the context was explored on the topics of waste, circular economy and behaviour change. After that the ambitious question of the BUCH is researched by researching how the citizens in the BUCH can be facilitated to the transition towards a circular economy. This is researched by 1) an intervention, 2) a competitor analysis on circular practices, 3) a survey on the behaviour of citizens in the BUCH, and 4) multiple semi-structured in-depth interviews. The key insight of the research is that a large proportion of the citizens in the BUCH is motivated to practice circular behaviour. However, the opportunity to do that is experienced as low. Various designs for those opportunities were made and evaluated. While operationalizing these designs, there was the critical insight: a circular initiative network is missing that brings together the ambitious and motivated citizens in the BUCH. This resulted in the final design: De BUCH rond maken: Samen doen we het. Consisting out of: •A Circular Initiative Network administrator: This person functions and acts as the network administrator of circular initiatives in the BUCH. The person enables to establish novel relationships between people and groups of people, which catalyses value to emerge between those people. •Initiative makers package: The package is a tool that citizens can request. It contains the essential steps to explain a circular initiative idea from multiple facets. The tool than helps to have conversations with other people, helping to operationalize the idea. •Do together: This is in essence a collaborating process. In order to catalyse this process, it is key to follow certain principles and have a certain mindset. Also, the role that the Circular initiative network administrator takes in such collaborative effort is key. The final design also contains a plan with key actions to follow, in order to facilitate the citizens in their transition towards a circular economy. A key action point is the communication towards the BUCH citizens, as having communication from multiple various sources will help in changing the norm. The design showed promising results in a creative session with initiative leaders and citizens from the BUCH municipalities. It is recommended that the final design is put further into a pilot for testing and development. This to, while doing that together, operationalize the transition of the BUCH citizens towards a circular economy. ... Read more