A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment
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Adaptive Reuse of Urban Heritage in Contested Urban Contexts
The world is facing global challenges that are dramatically changing the social and physical environments, resulting in cultural confrontation. Rapid urban growth, and gentrification increase urban pressure while jeopardizing social cohesion, multicultural values and local economies. Moreover, environmental factors associated with climate change challenge the way cities respond and adapt, as their assets have to be re-designed to meet the current and future generation needs. One response to these challenges is adaptive reuse, the transformation of the function of an underused structure into a new use. This process turns the cities’ elements in decline into development catalysers. The adaptation to these changes is often a source of conflict, as urban policies lack citizen engagement in the redefinition of public space, resulting in more disagreement. This is particularly acute when addressing contested communities, as their continuous evolution directly influence the adaptation of cultural heritage. Considering these aspects, this research question is responded: ‘How can socio-spatial conflicts that result from contested identities be mitigated through the adaptive reuse of urban heritage?’. The relations between Adaptive Reuse, Urban Heritage and Contested Identities are studied, resulting in the research’s objective: to develop an integrative methodology to evaluate urban heritage adaptive reuse alternatives in contested urban contexts, using the case of Acre (Israel). This final outcome is proposed as a tool for decision-makers and urban planners that provides information-based results to be applied in urban design practice, aiming to translate the theory into practice, and to bridge the gap between global goals and local issues.
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The Intelligent Built-Environment as Cyber-Physical System
This thesis presents an alternative approach to intelligence in the built-environment, departing from the two established yet divergent branches in the discourse: the Technical, centered around Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and represented by Ambient Intelligence (AmI) and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL); and the Architectural, centered around architectural / spatial experiences and considerations, and represented by Interactive Architecture and Adaptive Architecture. The promise of both AmI/AAL and IA/AA is constrained by rigid and increasingly outdated assumptions in their approaches—i.e., AmI’s / AAL’s approach to the built-environment, and IA’s / AA’s approach to ICTs. Moreover, it is impossible to combine them to yield a cohesive system due to disparity in their typical Technology Readiness Levels. That is, the sophistication of a system depends on that of its mutually complementing subsystems; and two or more subsystems may not mutually complement, sustain, and/or support one another if their levels of development do not correspond. Consequently, the presented alternative conceives the intelligent built-environment as a Cyber- Physical System. Under this approach, ICTs and Architectural considerations in conjunction instantiate intelligence fundamentally. The presented approach’s promise is illustrated via its application to a constrained use-case focused on the elderly. Twelve proof-of-concept demonstrators are developed based on key parameters pertaining to Indoor Environmental Quality and Quality of Life. While each demonstrator is presented as a discrete proof-of-concept, all build on the same core System Architecture and technological ecosystem, and are intended to be viewed as a collection of systems and services expressed within a same hypothetical environment.
This thesis brings forward the design dimension, and, more specifically, co-design, to the study of housing affordability. Co-design occurs when end-users and professionals work together towards a common goal. It is a process often applied in collaborative housing, an umbrella concept encompassing different housing forms based on collective self-organisation and collaboration, where residents choose to share certain spaces. The aim of this research is to assess if and how co-design processes applied in collaborative housing may reduce building costs, thereby making these housing projects not only affordable, but even more affordable than mainstream housing. It does so by combining a case study approach with a building costs simulation. Findings indicate that co-design decisions based on a collective self-redefinition of Existenzminimum (minimum dwelling) affect the housing layout and contribute to reduce building costs. By conceptualising housing design through the lenses of affordability, this thesis highlights the understated role of architectural design and building costs as key components in the study and provision of affordable housing solutions; and enriches the existing body of knowledge on affordable collaborative housing. Moreover, it draws attention to the way some outdated building regulations and standards hamper design innovation in housing. This research ends up with a set of general principles for the co-design of affordable collaborative housing. These design principles may assist professionals supporting co-design and, more importantly, people who want to design, build and live in a collaborative manner.
The Potential of Small, Low- Carbon, Zero- Energy Housing
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 dyssynchronisation 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 lowerincome 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.
Towards Energy-Efficient Residential Buildings In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
The thesis explores energy retrofitting options for enhancing the energy efficiency of residential buildings in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It identifies and validates cost-effective energy retrofit schemes that have the potential for energy savings. The thesis also assesses the feasibility of energy retrofitting scenarios for building envelopes and their impact on reducing energy consumption, improving thermal comfort, and mitigating the environmental impact of buildings. The results of this research can guide architects and decision-makers on energy-saving measures for residential buildings in Saudi Arabia, with Jeddah serving as a representative case study.
Developing places for human capabilities
This dissertation develops an understanding towards governing social sustainability goals into area-based urban development projects. It draws on Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach to construct a capability-centered evaluation of how institutionalized governance processes around these projects ultimately affect people’s freedoms to do the things they value in their urban living environment. Presenting case studies from the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria, the approach adopted in this dissertation reveals the unique ways in which different individuals interpret urban social sustainability and convert spatial resources into personal capabilities. The research uncovers the governance elements and institutional conditions around urban development projects that enable or constrain resource-to-capability conversions. It shows that governing social sustainability goals into urban development projects is a balancing act between reflexive governance action on the one hand, and an institutionalization of principles, actor responsibilities, and funding provision on the other hand. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that, to steer towards urban social sustainability, urban development practices can be improved by adopting an approach that is not merely focused on spatial improvements, but takes the equal expansion of human capabilities as its point of departure.
Towards a circular building industry through digitalisation
This thesis explores the integration of Circular Economy (CE) principles of narrow, slow, close, and regenerate in the social housing practice through digital technologies. Beginning with the examination of the CE implementation in Dutch social housing organisations, the research extends its focus to the broader built environment, introducing the Circular Digital Built Environment Framework and identifying ten enabling technologies. Subsequent chapters explore realworld applications of these digital technologies in circular new built, renovation, maintenance, and demolition projects of forerunner social housing organisations. The thesis includes a comprehensive study of material passports, addressing challenges around data management and proposing a digitally-enabled framework. The thesis concludes with critical reflections on the findings and their implications and provides further recommendations for research and practical applications in advancing circularity in the building industry through digital technologies.
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In improving the sustainability of our built environment, European institutions emphasize the importance of protecting and advancing cultural values. As most of the stock is not listed, nor is its heritage significance assessed, future sustainable developments risk neglecting present attributes, causing the loss of resources and their significance. This problem applies to 1965-1985 Dutch housing, comprising over 30% of the stock, with no clarity on its heritage significance. This thesis aims to reveal significant attributes of residential neighbourhoods, built in The Netherlands between 1965-1985, as identified by involved stakeholders. A research framework integrating attributes, stakeholders and scales, is used to examine case studies in Almere Haven and Amsterdam Zuidoost. The identification of attributes results from open-ended questioning by multiple participatory methods. A process of inductive analysis, classifying and relating attributes revealed categories, chains, and networks of attributes, representing a shared neighbourhood narrative. Results show that attributes can be identified on successive scale levels in tangible and intangible categories. Participants convey significance to attributes originally intended and to attributes added or changed later, to attributes specific to 1965-1985 neighbourhoods and to more generic ones. Different stakeholder groups and individuals do not disagree in their assessments but focus on different attribute categories and scale levels. By combining a broad definition of heritage and participatory methods to identify attributes, this thesis bridges the gap between listed heritage and everyday neighbourhoods. Further developing and applying this approach can support the sustainable development of our built environment, informed by heritage significance, regardless of heritage status.
Spatial approaches to a circular economy
Rapid urbanization has exerted unsustainable pressures on the environment, and implementing circular economy (CE) in cities has been seen by policy makers as a potential solution for resource scarcity. Scholars have therefore called for an understanding of the spatial aspects of CE that go beyond urban governance strategies, engendering the recent integration of spatial disciplines, such as urban planning and regional economics, into the study of CE. Using the Netherlands as a case study, this research asks the question, "what determines the locations and scales of closing material loops in a circular economy?”, using both quantitative and qualitative spatial analysis methods, and both present- and future-oriented perspectives. Novel data sources on locations of material stocks and flows were used, including waste statistics and material stock maps. Research results were presented in five chapters, each corresponding to an academic paper. Current locations and scales are identified by analyzing the locations of waste reuse clusters in the Netherlands, and future locations and scales are addressed by identifying the optimal locations and service areas of circular construction hubs in Amsterdam. As an overall conclusion, I identified 5 conceptual and methodological tensions that occur when determining locations and scales for closing material loops: urban manufacturing vs urban mining, clusters vs hubs, spaces vs people vs materials, present vs future, and quantitative vs qualitative.
Mass Housing Neighbourhoods and Urban Commons
The neglect of significance, deterioration and consequent devaluation of the post-war mass housing neighbourhoods are major challenges, both in the field of heritage conservation and management and in urban planning and design. The reasons for their deterioration are different, and interlinked with the socio-cultural discourse, as well as the spatial characteristics of these neighbourhoods. This doctoral research addresses the challenges of those neighbourhoods, focusing on New Belgrade Blocks, as one of the largest modernist post-war mass housing areas in Europe. The case is particularly important for the discourse on mass housing and ‘ordinary’ heritage management, as it encapsulates concepts, policies and practices developed in Yugoslavia, which are relevant to the contemporary discussions on community-driven approaches for urban planning and governance and participation in heritage studies. The doctoral thesis presents this legacy and reveals causalities and relations of spatial and socio-political aspects, policies, but also planning and design principles. Furthermore, it empirically studies and evaluates the blocks in the contemporary context, with the society (involving citizens), and within the current legal and organisational conditions. Eventually, it develops a framework for enhancement of the blocks, addressing the current and future societal and users’ needs, while preserving the identity and values of the blocks. The doctoral thesis provides different findings and perspectives, contributing to the current knowledge on integrated conservation, urban planning and governance of urban heritage, and in particular mass housing neighbourhoods. It shows co- dependence of those fields and offers an integrative and cross-disciplinary approach.
Entrepreneurial citizenship in urban regeneration
More and more citizens are entering the public domain and taking over tasks that traditionally belong to the government. For example, citizens increasingly run a community centre themselves, maintain the greenery in their neighbourhood and manage the local playground. To some extent, governments also encourage this behaviour and are disposing of social real estate. Against this background, this study examines the rise of citizens' initiatives in the Netherlands and how this takes shape in the context of urban regeneration. The study pays attention to a specific type of citizens’ initiative, namely community enterprises. It applies qualitative research methods, such as semi-structured interviews with representatives of community enterprises and discourse analysis of policy documents. It examines the expectations governments have of active citizens and how this relates to the motivations and capacities of active citizens themselves. The study broadens our understanding of active citizens who utilizes their entrepreneurial skills and mindset to drive positive change, contribute to the well-being of their community, and address pressing societal challenges.
This research is motivated by the scholarly calls for new concepts and analytic tools for documenting, analysing, and theorizing complex urban territories such as those of cities in Africa. With implicit comparative intent, it takes the case of Addis Ababa city and its old and typifying places—the sefer, to develop and test a new architectural transdisciplinary research methodology referred to as the trinocular. By way of this methodology, it unearths and introduces sefer, iddir, and gebbi of Addis Ababa as not only socio-spatial phenomena but concepts and vocabulary for a located and nuanced reading of the city itself. Sefer are introduced as flexible boundary conditions that are primarily cognized by their dwellers—results of indigenous and autochthonous foundation and continued processes of self-actualization by communities that construct them. Iddir is unearthed as a form of social capital embedded in sefer that appears in the structures of relations among residents. And the gebbi as an urban spatial typology that constitutes the sefer’s morphology—the last frontier of communality just prior domestic spaces which, in many cases, can be a single multi-functional room. These concepts and vocabulary, it is argued, in both practical and metaphoric sense, should be the starting point of new urban imaginaries for Addis Ababa. Urban planning and housing projections thus, should draw inspiration from these notions, elements, and phenomena. Furthermore, lessons learnt from the trinocular and the findings are presented as new avenues for architectural research in similar, less-known, and complex urban conditions as the sefer of Addis Ababa.
Sensing the Cultural Significance with AI for Social Inclusion
Social Inclusion has been growing as a goal in heritage management. Whereas the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) called for tools of knowledge documentation, social media already functions as a platform for online communities to actively involve themselves in heritage-related discussions. Such discussions happen both in “baseline scenarios” when people calmly share their experiences about the cities they live in or travel to, and in “activated scenarios” when radical events trigger their emotions. To organize, process, and analyse the massive unstructured multi-modal (mainly images and texts) user-generated data from social media efficiently and systematically, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is shown to be indispensable. This thesis explores the use of AI in a methodological framework to include the contribution of a larger and more diverse group of participants with user-generated data. It is an interdisciplinary study integrating methods and knowledge from heritage studies, computer science, social sciences, network science, and spatial analysis. AI models were applied, nurtured, and tested, helping to analyse the massive information content to derive the knowledge of cultural significance perceived by online communities. The framework was tested in case study cities including Venice, Paris, Suzhou, Amsterdam, and Rome for the baseline and/or activated scenarios. The AI-based methodological framework proposed in this thesis is shown to be able to collect information in cities and map the knowledge of the communities about cultural significance, fulfilling the expectation and requirement of HUL, useful and informative for future socially inclusive heritage management processes.
Tensions and opportunities at Shanghai’s waterfronts
How can the Global North oriented and welfare state rooted Sustainability Transitions theories be enriched with the Chinese and communist state rooted Ecological Civilization thinking that has been included in the Chinese constitution since 2007, to make it able to evaluate the making of the direct-controlled municipality Shanghai into an institutional frontrunner of sustainable transitions in urban planning and design with its prime waterfront as exemplary ‘urban lab’? Around this central question, this dissertation examines how Shanghai's coastal and waterfront developments have changed over the past two decades under the influence of shifts in Chinese state capitalism towards what is called an Ecological Civilization. Two cases along the waterfronts of Shanghai – one on former docklands, and one on Chongming Island ¬– have been examined to test how both lines of thinking can enrich each other, and if a sustainable transition can be done more efficiently and convincingly in a centrally controlled society than in a non-autocratic (liberal) society. What lessons does the Chinese approach in Shanghai offer for elsewhere, and how can different approaches and practices reinforce each other in the field of spatial planning and strategies for a sustainable transition? This dissertation emphasizes that ecological civilization thinking can offer hopeful starting points for sustainable transitions but can only work well if 'checks and balances’ are included. It gives suggestions to improve the accessibility, inclusivity, and vibrancy of Shanghai’s waterfronts, and mitigate ecological degradation in the context of an urban delta.
Local Activism in Urban Neighborhood Governance
This study investigates local activism in politically challenging contexts, focusing on Cairo. In such contexts, active resident groups strive for urban improvement, while governance arrangements often disregard citizen involvement in urban and public affairs. Cairo presents an exemplary case of local activism in a politically challenging and under-researched context. The study explores the characteristics, roles, and interrelations of active resident groups with local governance arrangements and their deviations from existing literature. It employs a qualitative methodology with observations and semi-structured interviews with local officials and active residents from nine different districts. The study uses Facebook to select, observe, and analyze the activities of multiple active resident groups and contributes to theoretical frameworks for analyzing local activism in complex contexts. It reveals the dominant and absent roles and the governance dimensions (un)attainable by active residents. It also traces the sources of limited local activism in the existing governance arrangements in Cairo, highlighting the importance and difficulty of changing governance arrangements in Egypt. The study broadens our understanding of local activism in the Global South beyond dominant forms of activism.
Facades-as-a-Service (FaaS) is a systemic innovation model aiming to accelerate and enhance the energy and comfort performance improvement of our buildings, while safeguarding the availability of material resources for future generations. The circular economy and clean energy transitions in the built environment have respectively dominated the academic dialogue in architecture, engineering, and real estate over the last decades. While significant progress has been made, and many fine examples of more sustainable architecture exist, the process has been hindered by traditional systemic models for the planning, contracting, financing, construction, and management of building projects. If we are to meet the ambitious climate-change mitigation goals and material resource preservation challenges of our generation, it is crucial to re-think the way in which we build, operate, and decommission the built environment. Product-service systems (PSS) are a promising model for realigning environmental risks and responsibilities with financial and business objectives, while promoting much deeper and long-lasting collaboration between all parties involved in a building’s life-cycle. This thesis focuses on the building envelope, as one of the most performance-determining systems in our buildings. It then questions the technological, managerial, financial, and legal contexts which often perpetuate unsustainable linear practices despite the urgency for - and technical feasibility of - more energy- and resource-efficient alternatives. Facades-as-a-Service is a topic that extends far beyond technological readiness and architectural engineering. It is rather a thesis about how we make façade construction and retrofitting decisions, the systemic parameters that determine and constraint these decisions, and whether – in the search for a more sustainable built environment – we should question the fundamental concepts behind these decisions. The results show that gradual and strategic development with a multi-disciplinary perspective can enable and facilitate the implementation of more efficient and sustainable building practices.
Urbanized sandy shores around the world suffer from coastal erosion due to a lack of sediment input and sea level rise. These dynamics place new demands on coastal spatial planning. To compensate for coastal erosion in a more natural and systemic way, sand nourishments are deployed as a ‘Building with Nature’ technique, restoring the sediment balance and promoting dune formation as coastal defence. In this research, Building with Nature is reframed as a landscape approach, regenerating the coastal landscape by tuning the interactions between the geomorphological, ecological, and urban system, to adapt to sea level rise. To this end, design principles have been developed that integrate nourishment dynamics, natural succession, and adaptive urban design to build towards safe and multi-functional coastal landscapes— Shore-Scapes. They focus on spatial coastal configurations utilizing wind-driven sedimentation processes to build up the coastal buffer, supporting dune formation, multifunctionality, and landscape differentiation. To direct sediment dynamics for coastal reinforcement and landscaping, three subsequent tools for dynamic design have been derived: morphogenesis, dynamic profiling, and aeolian design principles. With these principles, validated by fieldwork, GIS, and computational modelling, spatial arrangements can be composed enhancing the aeolian build-up of the coastal landscape over time. These principles were applied and contextualized in four case studies along the Dutch coast. They illustrate how dunes along urbanized shores can grow naturally after nourishment and allow coastal safety, recreation, and nature to complement each other.
Commuting behaviour and subjective wellbeing
This thesis has investigated the relationship between daily commuting behaviours and long-term subjective wellbeing from a longitudinal perspective. The underlying problem that motivated the thesis is the inconsistent research evidence on the commuting-wellbeing relationship, and more importantly, the insufficient theoretical conceptualisation of this relationship. As a response to the gap between theoretical understandings and empirical research, this thesis used a processual approach to frame the commuting-wellbeing relationship as an interdependent process over time. To operationalise this processual approach, two ways forward were proposed for longitudinal research, namely retrieving the upstream process that leads to changes in commuting behaviours and enriching the contextual understanding of commuting-wellbeing relationships. The upstream process of commuting changes pertains to the reason for people to (not) change their commuting behaviours, while the contextual understanding relates to the commuting-wellbeing relationship as time- and place-specific. Following these two ways forward, the empirical analysis of this thesis drew upon the nationwide panel data from China, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to longitudinally investigate the relationships between commuting behaviours and subjective wellbeing over time. The aim of this thesis is not to identify a unidirectional commuting-wellbeing causality uniform to the general population and across research areas, but to acknowledge, operationalise and better understand the interdependent commuting-wellbeing relationships situated in the life courses of people and the socio-spatial contexts of places.
The diverse pathways of social inequality transmission in the neighbourhood
This PhD thesis aims to move beyond the standard treatments of neighbourhoods in research on spatially transmitted inequality. The research questions explored in the four empirical chapters of the thesis delve into under-researched elements of sociospatial inequality transmission in neighbourhoods. The thesis uses statistical models to analyse register and survey data, and relies on different operationalisations of neighbourhoods: administrative and bespoke. Chapter 2 finds that controlling for selection reduces neighbourhood effects compared to when only individual characteristics are controlled for, and provides insight into the differing patterns of neighbourhood selection and effects in Dutch regional housing markets. Chapter 3 shows that the strength of the observed relationship between neighbourhood poverty and educational attainment is dependent on how exposure is measured and conceptualized, and highlights the importance of choosing the temporal aspects of individual neighbourhood histories based on the theoretical scope of a study. Chapter 4 finds that in the Netherlands, the positive effect of neighbourhood affluence on educational attainment is stronger than the negative effect of neighbourhood poverty. Chapter 5 addresses the discrepancy between the registered data-based measurements of neighbourhood characteristics, specifically the share of neighbours with foreign background and low income, and the individual perceptions of those characteristics by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. The findings of the thesis confirm the validity of treating the neighbourhood as a social setting that interacts with the micro and macro contexts, rather than simply as an aggregated characteristic which can be controlled for.
This doctoral thesis examines the militarisation of the Southern border of Hungary as a process of spatial formation, expanding the debate on borders from the political to the architectural arena. Combining spatial theory with empirical research on the case study, the thesis rethinks the border as a complex spatial system, with an agency of its own. From this perspective, it contests the enforcement of spatial boundaries from the above and related ideas of fixity. It brings attention to the agency of space in the advancement of a material becoming; the role of migration in the radical redefinition of meanings and functions of space; and the action of technologies in the strategic manipulation of measures and scales. While conceptualising the border as a space in formation, this thesis builds a diagrammatic method of study and moves the research in an ontoepistemological direction. With the aim of fostering a change in those structures that control the partition and governance of space, this doctoral study calls the discipline of architecture to review its questions, methods, and practices. It invites to use architectural knowledge to engage with borders’ complexity and challenge their established meanings and makings.
Towards a Better-Functioning Private Rented Sector in Metropolitan China
In recent years, the Private Rented Sector (PRS) has witnessed rapid growth across numerous jurisdictions, with Chinese metropolises notably standing out. Throughout the history of housing policy development in China, the PRS has been largely disregarded. It was not until 2015 that the government proposed the idea of “accelerating the development of the rental housing market” to achieve a “balanced development between home renting and purchasing”. However, the PRS in China is still in its immature stage, as evidenced by unstable rents and tenure, insufficient tenant rights, low levels of tenant satisfaction, minimal institutional landlord participation, and a lack of motivation among local governments to develop the PRS. This dissertation aims to gain an indepth understanding of the PRS in metropolitan China and explore how to improve its functioning using Shenzhen as a case study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to examine the determinants of tenants’ intention to rent and residential satisfaction, the relationship between residential environment, social exclusion, and life satisfaction, the impact of landlords' management practices on tenants' housing experiences, and main challenges and solutions for a well-developed PRS. The results suggest that the PRS in Shenzhen is highly heterogeneous and comprised of several distinct sub-sectors. Housing policies should be tailored to each subsector's unique characteristics. The dissertation also reveals that the PRS is interconnected with other institutions such as the hukou system and education system. Therefore, a well-functioning PRS depends on the simultaneous reform of other sectors and institutions.
A building consists of building components, such as a kitchen, façade and roof. By replacing building components with more circular ones during new construction, maintenance and renovation, we can gradually create a circular built environment. In this dissertation, we develop and test 8 circular building components for housing renovation together with Dutch social housing associations and industry partners. Combining ‘Action Research’ and ‘Research through Design’ approaches, we generate knowledge on the development of feasible, circular building components. We present a design tool, assessment model, environmental design guidelines and identify key stakeholder choices. This research makes scientific contributions to circular design theories, management models for the built environment, and research methodology. We recommend 4 changes in practice to implement more circular building components.
Hospitals are known as functionally complex buildings in various ways, namely due to their non-trivial spatial connectivity requirements. A spatial configuration has an impact on human behavior, human movement patterns and should match with the operational logic of the buildings. In hospitals, there are several typical problems that can be attributed to the configuration of the building, namely the inefficient circulation of medical staff, difficult way-finding for visitors, lengthy and complex procedures for patients, long walking times, privacy, hygiene issues and so on. This Ph.D. research aims to develop a computational design methodology for configurational layout optimization of hospital buildings concerning physical matters & human factors, which are directly attributable to the layout/configuration of the hospital. In the optimization models, the considered performance indicators are related with patients (e.g. ease of way-finding), staff (e.g. average walking-time), and operations (e.g. fitness for workflows). Two case studies are studied here as (1) reconfiguration of existing hospitals; and (2) designing the new hospitals by focussing on “layout planning” and “corridor design”. The developed models are programmed in the form of design tool-kits for supporting conceptual design phases. Effectively, this project presents an interdisciplinary methodological framework that can tackle hospital layout design problems by integrating Computational Design workflows, Graph Theory techniques, Operations Research, and Computational Intelligence into the field of Architectural Space Planning.
This thesis investigates the introduction, adaption, and implementation of the modern concept of heritage conservation in modern China after the opening of its treaty ports. Through an analysis of the different layers of disseminating and receiving knowledge in transnational exchanges, it explicitly points out the divergence between the Eurocentric concept of conservation and the Chinese tradition of treating historic buildings and sites. As a result of the complexity of understanding and adapting an imported idea, the heritage discourse in China is characterised by its own ambiguity. Conservation of modern heritage, in particular those built under colonial power, has seen conflicts of perceptions between conservation planning and interest-led practice. A progressive legislative framework for heritage conservation has had a limited binding effect on stakeholders’ actions to protect listed immovable built cultural heritage sites from artificial damage in China’s contemporary urban practices. By analysing various actors’ interpretations and expressions of the concept of “conservation” (known as “保护” in Chinese) derived from different temporalities, it explores the causes and effects of heritage strategies and approaches created by individuals, groups, and the state apparatus. Theoretically, it challenges the local acceptability of classic conservation principles that are primarily based on European thoughts and cultural background. Practically, it provides adequate clues for a multi-faceted consideration of listed heritage sites in future development. It highlights the significance of creating a powerful local narrative under the authoritative heritage discourse at a crossroads of ongoing globalisation and growing nationalism.
Climate Change and the Resilience of Collective Memories
Vernacular heritage sites encompass customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions, and values that are innate to a particular place and time. Climate knowledge of the particular place and time is embedded in vernacular settlements and lifestyles along with other environmental, cultural, and societal determinants of the place. Rebuilt, restored, and adapted, vernacular settlements evolved with changing climate, cultural practices, community aspirations, and a gradual influx of modernization and urbanization. However, its legacy —as represented by traditional houses from the pre-industrial period that were built by laypeople— is challenged by climate and disaster risks, e.g., loss of lands, food sources, water resources, intangible values, and displacement. Although the impacts of climate change combined with anthropic influences have been recognized as a threat to cultural heritage by scholars, this underappreciated form of cultural heritage has not been the focus of the integrated understanding risks of climate and disaster discussions. The aim of this dissertation, therefore, is to reveal the deteriorations caused by changing climate and anthropic interventions on vernacular heritage at both spatial planning decisions such as urban development projects and at local level practices such as maladaptation from the case of Fındıklı of Rize in Turkiye. The factors behind the deterioration of vernacular heritage sites under changing climate and the ways to achieve climate resilience are analysed through interviews with local people, the observations of on-site visits conducted in January and July 2019 in addition to mapping.
This thesis starts with a worrisome observation tied to various phenomena across modern built environments: humans today are experiencing a weakened relatedness to and reduced intimacy with the world around them. In stark contrast to the general trend, however, most Chinese literati gardens maintain their traditional rich conditions, enabling their visitors to experience a unique, high-quality experience of relatedness to and intimacy with the world, which may serve as an antidote to the existing disruptive modern condition. What lessons can be learned from the Chinese literati gardens to address this weakened intimacy of relatedness in modern built environments? Motivated by this question, this thesis takes the Heideggerian notion of Nearness as its foundation. Through a contextually relevant interpretation of the meaning of Nearness in Heideggerian discourse, it first establishes a theoretical framework through which to assess how the experience of Nearness—the ontological relatedness to and intimacy with the world— generally occurs within built environments. Next, taking the Master of the Nets Garden as a case study, it reveals the various embedded spatial-experiential settings and complex mechanisms that continuously facilitate rich, strong, and multi-dimensional experiences of Nearness. Finally, it reflects on some of the key relevant issues, including what benefits and enlightenments the findings of this thesis could bring to current architectural practices. Overall, by exploring this essential aspect of the literati garden, the thesis equips contemporary spatial practitioners with the theoretical and practical tools necessary to recapture the high-quality experiences of Nearness within their works in the modern era.
Housing justice as expansion of people’s capabilities for housing
Housing inequality is a growing concern in our society. In recent decades, this inequality has been exacerbated by the phenomenon of housing being financialized and commodified as a means for wealth accumulation. Management of financial institutions and housing markets has become the centre of attention in policy discussion. The questions of how to promote the moral values tied to housing, such as human rights, dignity and freedom, and how to better enable people to access suitable housing have been marginalized. As a way forward, the states’ re-intervention and redistribution policies, and the human rights-based approach to housing policies are discussed, but this thesis advocates for a more ambitious paradigm shift. By extending Amartya Sen’s capability approach to housing, the thesis argues for resetting the primary goal of housing policies as expansion of people’s capabilities for housing—expanding opportunity, ability and security to lead their valued ways of residing—beyond the distribution of monetary and material resources for housing, such as housing benefits and dwelling units. This thesis presents the theoretical foundations of this argument and proposes basic principles to guide housing policies, which can serve as a normative basis of housing debates on necessary policy actions. An essential tool to guide housing policies towards this newly proposed goal is to evaluate policy outcomes and housing affairs of people—well-being, deprivation and inequality in housing—with capability considerations. The thesis suggests how this evaluation can be done and can help policies address the inequalities in what people can do to pursue their suitable housing options and how well they are actually residing.
At the crossroads of Architecture and Landscape
In the context of rapid urban transformations, this thesis explores the possible preservation strategies for historic military systems that used to be embedded in extra-urban settings, but that now are absorbed in the development dynamics of complex metropolitan areas. The research stems from the main peculiarity of these heritage systems: namely, the coexistence of cultural and natural values, and their being at the crossroads of the architecture and landscape domains. Although the need to address nature-culture interlinkages has become a topical issue in the field of heritage preservation, military landscapes have been almost completely left out of this debate. Moreover, the lack of inter-scale strategies in current preservation practices for historic military systems further complicates the way nature-culture interlinkages are addressed. The development of a conceptual framework on this topic has required considering the diversity of existing approaches to landscape, architectural heritage and their interconnection. Italy and the Netherlands were selected as relevant contexts in Western Europe for comparison on this topic. Linking archival research, interviews and field observations, Italian and Dutch contemporary experiences with the revitalization and reuse of historic military systems (NL: New Dutch Waterline; IT: Entrenched Field of Mestre) were compared. Both national and international initiatives promoted in the frame of the World Heritage Convention were analysed. To understand the historical roots of the recent approaches, the evolution of landscape protection in the two contexts has been investigated, highlighting the different influences played by the national discourse on architectural heritage and spatial planning. This historical background, together with the cross-reading of the case studies, has led to the definition of a transnational conceptual framework on the possible preservation strategies for historic military systems with an inter-scale approach. Taking into account the peculiarities of each context, it provides a tool for facilitating the decision-making process, bringing historic military systems into the international discussion on nature-culture interlinkages. Ultimately, it can serve as a reference for other historic landscape systems sharing similar characteristics and preservation issues.
There are an increasing number of optimal-design paradigms used in architectural design nowadays. In these paradigms, a design task is formulated, or partially formulated, as an optimization problem. Multi-Disciplinary Optimization and Multi-Objective Optimization, as two important optimal-design paradigms, have shown their great potential in improving the performances of complex buildings in recent decades. Nevertheless, current paradigms for ill‑defined conceptual architectural design still lack ways to ensure the achievement of a reliable optimization problem, which hinders reliable design solutions despite the use of advanced optimization algorithms. To address this problem, it is necessary to shift the focus from Optimization Problem Solving to Optimization Problem Formulation. This research particularly focuses on knowledge‑supported, dynamic and interactive Optimization Problem Re-Formulation in order to construct a new Multi‑Objective and Multi-Disciplinary Optimization (MOMDO) method suitable for use in ill‑defined conceptual architectural design. The proposed method consists of two subtype methods: Non‑dynamic, Interactive Re-formulation method (Subtype-I) and Dynamic, Interactive Re‑formulation method (Subtype-II), which can be used to explore design space in a convergent and divergent manner respectively. To support the re-formulation, various kinds of information and knowledge need to be extracted by utilizing different computational techniques, such as advanced sampling algorithms, Self-Organizing Map, Hierarchical Clustering, Smoothing Spline Analysis of Variance, Two-Level Variable Structure and modular programming. Moreover, a software workflow that can provide these computational techniques is developed; it integrates McNeel’s Grasshopper, ESTECO's modeFRONTIER and simulation software tools Daysim, EnergyPlus and Karamba3D. With the support of this software workflow, the proposed method is demonstrated via two case studies concerning the conceptual design of indoor sports halls.
Sustainable Conservation are the processes of change through which the components of the inherited ecosystem from the past retain their value for present and future generations. As such, the value assessment is critical to recognise the values of heritage, not only by its aesthetical and historical values, but also by its contribution to a more sustainable future. Despite recent policies and standards highlighting the role of heritage for sustainability and encouraging urban conservation, sustainable conservation is not yet the most common practice. The behavioural dimension is intrinsic to the decision-making process; however, studies analysing designers’ decision behaviours regarding sustainability in built heritage are seldom found in recent literature. This research aims to increase the understanding of the gap in the implementation of best practices of sustainable conservation of built heritage, and to achieve solutions for behavioural change. It applies methods from psychology to analyse designers’ decisions behaviours, by eliciting common beliefs, challenges, and opportunities in the implementation of conservation intentions towards heritage buildings. The results demonstrate that design decisions result from conscious and unconscious processes, some of them socially driven, while others result from individual attitudes. Targeting the primary belief in the study population on the (in)compatibility between sustainability and heritage conservation, a building passport for sustainable conservation was developed aiming at raising awareness in the value of built heritage to sustainability. The results of this research can support the redesign of heritage buildings and demonstrate the importance of considering behavioural factors in the development of future sustainable conservation policies and tools.
Optimising the Use of National CORS Data in the Context of Thailand
This dissertation concerns the optimisation of the use of spatial data from the National Continuously Operating Reference Stations (NCORS) in Thailand. Thailand, among many countries, has established NCORS to observe and process the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals into spatial data to improve the positional accuracy in spatially related activities. Despite many potential user groups, only some of them appeared actually to use NCORS data. In order to investigate and recommend policy venues to encourage the use of NCORS data, this research formulates an NCORS data ecosystem concept, applies the concept to identify the gaps in NCORS data use in Thailand, and examines the policies to address the identified gaps. The research shows that Open Data is a prerequisite to make data available to the maximum extent, but not a guarantee that the data also will be used. Next to Open Data, also users, including Open Data intermediaries, must be empowered. The facilitating conditions should be satisfied to enable users to use the data. These conditions require time to take effect. Only then will the spatial data not be kept away in hidden places but will become accessible and usable for as many users as possible in Thailand and deliver social and economic benefits reported in other countries.
Copyright (c) 2022 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Integrating High-speed Railway Stations and Urban Areas in China
There is an increasing need for understanding the impacts of institutions on the integrated planning of transport and land use. High-speed railway (HSR) station areas, as nodes in transport networks and mixed-use areas, have become a focus in planning. The fast development of HSR station areas in China causes many problems, such as remote locations, oversized station areas, transfer difficulties, and unsustainable urban development. Facing these problems, this study aims to explore the influences of actors, decision-making processes, and institutions on the planning and development of HSR station areas in China. An analytical framework is built based on Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), Policy Network Theory, Institutional Analysis and Development Framework, and State Entrepreneurialism. Qualitative methods offer an effective way of investigating Chinese governance in the development of HSR station areas, including content analysis, case studies, and interviews. The findings show that HSR station areas are mainly used as a tool to promote urbanization. Both the Chinese national government and local governments have an important role to play in the planning of HSR station areas because they control different resources. Their interactions in the decision-making process, influenced by institutions, determine the location of HSR stations and the size of station areas, and lead to transfer difficulties and slow development of station areas. This dissertation reveals the causes of the development problems of Chinese HSR station areas, demonstrates the drawbacks of the current mechanism, and proposes strategies to promote the integration of transport and land use in China.
The urgency to use renewable technologies within the built environment results in new interpretations of and approaches to Architecture. New building regulations, together with international pledges for addressing climate change, made the implications of photovoltaic systems (aka ‘solar panels’) in the buildings more crucial than ever. Moreover, the current mainstream of placing PV systems on the roof and façade of buildings is neither aesthetically appealing nor technically efficient and consequently not a sustainable, long-term, and reliable approach. In response to this issue, the concept of Integration is introduced as an alternative to this approach. This research suggests the notion of Architectural Photovoltaic Application (APA) in response to the various shortcomings of the Integration, with its current definitions, for being adapted to different architectural styles and approaches. APA can be defined as an approach in which PV technologies are meant to be sources of on-site renewable energy and considered a part of building services that is also incorporated to the building anatomy through the design process. Through APA, PV systems do not need to play a role in the building construction, instead these systems are fully accommodated by Architects in the design process as another element of the building service.
This thesis investigates the understanding and implementation of public space in the reformed Chinese context, particularly from the perspectives of urban design and architecture, by referring to the complex process and result of transculturation (transculturación). It delineates how public space as a Greco-Roman originated concept traversed the urban and architectural cultures of post-reform China, merging and negotiating with the local conditions, and evolved into a new phenomenon in Chinese urban design and architecture. By analysing public space as a cultural phenomenon, carrying specific meaning, through specific concepts and designs, this doctoral research develops an interpretative framework within which the meanings and transculturation of public space in Chinese urban design and architecture can be understood and elucidates potential for future urban design and architectural practices. Theoretically, it moves beyond the conventional research on public space that is primarily based on Western thoughts, an Indo-European notion, and a Greco-Roman tradition. Practically, it paves the way for future development of the design of public space, highlighting the cultural, social, and spatial dynamics in Chinese cities vis-à-vis the related political, economic, and governmental conditions within the context of ongoing globalisation.
Towards a future sustainable housing stock
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.
Nationale opgaven zoals het woningbouwbeleid, de energietransitie en klimaatadaptatie zijn vraagstukken die door regionale instanties concreet moeten worden gemaakt in samenhang met de vraagstukken van de regio zelf. De regio, het niveau tussen de gemeenten en de provincie, heeft meestal geen duidelijke bestuurlijke grens en geen formele plaats in het Nederlandse bestuur. In dit proefschrift is gezocht naar de betekenis van de provincie als regionale gebiedsautoriteit in een situatie waarin diverse publieke en private partijen samenwerken en maatschappelijke organisaties hun stem laten horen. Het onderzoek is gericht op gebieden tussen grote steden waar een aanmerkelijke verstedelijking, ingebed in groen- en waterstructuren, was voorzien. Plannen en planprocessen zijn geanalyseerd, net als het handelen van de provincie in drie regio’s: de regio Rotterdam-Zoetermeer-Gouda, het gebied tussen Arnhem en Nijmegen en de regio Eindhoven-Helmond. Het proefschrift laat onder meer zien dat planologische sturing een zwakker instrument is dan financiële sturing. Na de decentralisatie van ruimtelijke ordening en landinrichting is de invloed van de rijksoverheid op regionale gebiedsontwikkeling groot gebleven. Voorts blijkt uit het onderzoek dat planconcepten in de praktijk flexibel zijn. Als de uitvoering aan de orde komt neemt het risico toe dat het planconcept uit elkaar valt. Het onderzoek toont aan dat de provincie haar rol als regionale gebiedsregisseur actiever zou kunnen invullen. De Omgevingswet zou dat mogelijk moeten maken.
Discomfort glare from daylight in classrooms
Provision of daylight without the risk of discomfort glare is one of the aspects that determine the quality of the classroom environment. Although discomfort glare from daylight is under investigation for a long time, a knowledge gap concerning the applicability of the existing metrics to the spatial conditions of the classroom is identified in this work. An investigation on the applicability of existing metrics to the prediction of discomfort glare in classrooms has been carried out based on two experimental studies. The analysis shows that the existing metrics have poor predictive ability particularly in the sitting positions away from the window light source. A study is then carried out to investigate how can more appropriate predictive models of discomfort glare be developed, based on three different methods. A modification of the Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) equation produced a significantly better discomfort glare model than any of the metrics that have been studied in this work. Following this finding, a new metric, DGPlog(Ev)new, is proposed. The produced metric suggests that discomfort glare in the classroom is better identified based on a range of equations for different sitting positions or that new variables that account for sitting position need to be included in a predictive model of discomfort glare for these spaces. A set of architectural design guidelines towards a discomfort glare free classroom is then proposed, based on the newly produced model and on the collected data.
Cultural Visibility and Urban Justice in immigrant neighbourhoods of Amsterdam
This study investigates transformation processes in the streets of immigrant neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. It approaches the issue through the visibility of immigrant amenities – such as shops, restaurants, places of worship – with distinctive cultural signs and practices, that are recognizable in public spaces. The study analyses cultural visibility on two streets with a concentration of immigrant amenities, in 2007 and 2016. It approaches cultural visibility from two aspects: the physical setting and the people’s activities in these streets. The findings reveal that the different architectural types and location of the neighbourhoods, and their different processes of urban renewal, have produced different outcomes in terms of cultural visibility.
Public Life, Immigrant Amenities and Socio-cultural Inclusion
Immigrant amenities contribute to the public life of the street by supporting its diversity and vitality, which is crucial for the sociocultural inclusion of immigrants into mainstream society. However, immigrant amenities change within urban transformation processes, many times in the context of urban renewal. These changes influence their contribution to the public life of the street. How do these changes in immigrant amenities relate to the sociocultural inclusion of immigrants? This study focuses on the changes of Turkish amenities in Amsterdam at street and city levels. It concludes that the decline of immigrant amenities contradicts policy aimed at supporting the socio-cultural inclusion of immigrants.
This chapter examines social and spatial characteristics immigrants’ commercial and communal amenities to understand the dynamics of their visibility on the street. It defines visibility as the observable physical features of immigrant amenities such as signs and practices, important for the integration of immigrant groups to the mainstream society. The research focuses on the visibility of Turkish immigrants in Amsterdam. For the social characteristics, it studies public and parochial realms that are established and maintained by these amenities. For spatial characteristics it examines these amenities at city level in terms of their location and at neighbourhood level in terms of their personalisation, permeability and robustness. The findings of this study indicate that visibility can be an operational concept to improve the amenities for the goals of integration.
Urban policy and transformation of immigrant neighbourhoods in the Netherlands
This paper reviews the relationship between immigrant integration and urban policies in the Netherlands in the period between the post-war until the 2010s. It shows how the gradual shift from a social democratic towards a liberal welfare regime since the 1980s has influenced urban policies, which in turn, have had a direct impact on the location and transformation of immigrant neighbourhoods. The review suggests that the outcomes of the urban transformation processes are detrimental for the social inclusion of the immigrant groups, which is the main objective of the integration policies.
Visibility as a conceptual tool for the design and planning of democratic streets
Democratic public spaces are open spaces - such as streets, parks, playgrounds and marketplaces - which are accessible to all and allow different cultural expressions for individuals and groups. They can be characterized by their vivid and active public life. This paper focuses on the visual features of public spaces at street level and understanding visibility as the condition of seeing and being seen in public space. It analyses how visibility can be useful to assess and promote democratic public spaces. This paper considers the visibility of immigrant amenities, such as shops, restaurants and communal places with distinctive signs, languages, and spatial practices. Describing the main features of democratic public spaces and democratic streets, this paper explains how the concept of visibility is associated with observable features of democratic streets. It claims that visibility can be used as a tool to analyse the democratic character of public space. This suggests that planners and designers need to be aware of the usefulness of taking into account visibility issues to promote inclusive public spaces and cities.
Calibration of Energy Simulation Models on a Building Stock Level using Actual Energy Consumption Data
Building energy simulation models are an important tool, not only in building design but also for policy making. Previous research has shown that there is a significant gap between actual energy consumption, and the energy consumption calculated by building energy simulation models. Many researchers, practitioners, and policymakers mainly impute this energy performance gap to occupant behaviour. One would expect this gap to be less at building stock level because occupant behaviour would be averaged. However, the performance gap is known to be high at a building stock level too, indicating a more structural problem in building energy simulation models. Being able to assess and predict correctly energy use in the building stock is essential to realize national and international energy saving targets. As actual energy consumption data at individual house level are becoming more often available or are registered by national bodies, this research introduces a method that uses actual energy consumption data and automatic calibration techniques to improve assumptions in building energy simulation models used to assess the whole building stock. Two types of models were tested; the first one being the steady state model used in NL in the framework of the EPBD, the other one being a dynamic model in EnergyPlus. The method was able to reduce the root mean square error of the energy performance gap by nearly 24% for the steady state simulation method, and by 27% for the dynamic simulation method, and, most important, the average energy performance gap in the sample (133 dwellings) as well as in the control group (180), disappeared almost completely. This method has the potential to make building simulation models a more reliable tool for policymakers.
Variances in Residential Heating Consumption
It is commonly accepted that occupants have a significant influence on the variation in residential heating consumption. However, the scale of that influence lacks empirical investigation. The aim of this study was to distinguish which part of the variance in actual residential heating consumption can be attributed to the occupants, and which part to the building itself. This was achieved by applying and extending a method suggested by Sonderegger in 1978, using updated and significantly improved data from two different countries: the Netherlands and Denmark. These data contain different types of heating supply systems (district heating and natural gas) and different housing forms (multi and single-family social housing, and private detached single-family houses). For the studied databases, the results indicate that approximately 50% of the variance in heating consumption between houses can be explained by differences related to occupants. The other 50% can be explained by the characteristics of the building itself and other physical parameters, which are often not taken into account in simulation models of heat transmission within buildings. Additional analyses indicate that the relative influence of occupants on heating consumption differs depending on the building characteristics of the dwelling. For example, the influence of occupants is larger when the building is more energy efficient. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that it is unrealistic to aim for a building simulation model that perfectly projects residential heating consumption for individual cases. However, creating building simulation models and occupant consumption profiles that accurately represent average residential heating consumption should be possible.
Actual energy saving effects of thermal renovations in dwellings
Energy renovations often result in lower energy savings than expected. Therefore, in this study we investigate nearly 90,000 renovated dwellings in the Netherlands with pre and post renovation data of actual and calculated energy consumption. One of the main additions of this paper, compared to previous studies on thermal renovation, is that it only takes dwellings into account with the same occupants before and after renovation, using a large longitudinal dataset. Overall this paper shows new insights towards the influence of the energy efficiency state of a building prior to energy renovation, the type of building, the number of occupants, the income level of the occupants and the occupancy time on the actual energy savings, the energy saving gap and on the probability of lower energy savings than expected. We also investigate if the influence is different per type of thermal renovation measure. Some of the findings are: It is impossible to conclude which single thermal renovation measure is the most effective because this is dependent on the energy efficiency of the building prior to the energy renovation, type of building, income level and occupancy; Occupants with a high income save more energy than occupants with low income; dwellings with employed occupants benefit more from improved building installations than dwellings occupied by unemployed occupants; The prebound and rebound effects are only part of the explanations for lower than expected energy savings; Deep renovations result more often in lower than expected energy savings than single renovation measures but nevertheless they result in the highest average energy saving compared to other thermal renovation measures. The results could be used for more realistic expectations of the energy reduction achieved by thermal renovations, which is important for (amongst others) policymakers, clients and contractors who make use of energy performance contracting, home owners, landlords and (social) housing associations and as a starting point to improve the energy calculation method.
The difference between actual and calculated energy is called the ‘energy performance gap’. Possible explanations for this gap are: construction mistakes, improper adjusting of equipment, excessive simplification in simulation models and, occupant behaviour. Many researchers and governmental institutions think this gap is mainly caused by the occupant. However, only limited evidence exists. Therefore, an analysis is presented of actual and theoretical energy consumption, based on specific household types and building characteristics. Using a large dataset (1.4 million social housing households), the average actual and theoretical energy consumption (gas and electricity) of different household types and characteristics (income level, type of income, number of occupants and their age) were compared for each energy label. Additionally, the 10% highest and lowest energy consuming groups were analysed. It is shown that taking combinations of occupant characteristics into account instead of individual occupant characteristics provides new insights in the influence of the occupant on residential energy consumption. For example: In contradiction to previous studies, low-income households consume more gas per m2 (space heating and hot water) than households with a high income for all types of housing. Furthermore, the performance gap is not only caused by the occupant, but also by the assumed building characteristics.
How to assess the success of the open data ecosystem?
Open data are currently a hot topic and are associated with realising ambitions such as a more transparent and efficient government, solving societal problems and increasing economic value. To describe and monitor the state of open data in countries and organisations, several open data assessment frameworks were developed. Despite high scores in these assessment frameworks, the actual (re)use of open government data fails to live up to its expectations. Our review of existing open data assessment frameworks reveals that these only cover parts of the open data ecosystem. We have developed a framework, which assesses open data supply, open data governance and open data user characteristics holistically. This holistic open data framework assesses the maturity of the open data ecosystem and proves to be a useful tool to indicate which aspects of the open data ecosystem are successful and which aspects require attention. Our initial assessment in the Netherlands indicates that the traditional geographical data perform significantly better than non-geographical data, such as healthcare data. Therefore, open geographical data policies in the Netherlands may provide useful cues for other open government data strategies.
In recent years, there has been an increasing trend of releasing public sector information as open data. Governments worldwide see the potential benefits of opening up their data. The potential benefits are more transparency, increased governmental efficiency and effectiveness, and external benefits, including societal and economic benefits. The private sector also recognises potential benefits of making their datasets available as open data. One such company is Liander, an energy network administrator in the Netherlands. Liander views open data as a contributing factor to energy conservation. However, to date there has been little research done into the actual effects of open data. This research has developed a monitoring framework to assess the effects of open data, and has applied the framework to Liander’s small-scale energy consumption dataset.
Sustainable business models for public sector open data providers
Since 2009, Open Government Data initiatives have been launched worldwide and the concept of open data is gaining momentum. Open data are often associated with realizing ambitions, such as a more transparent and efficient government, solving societal problems and increased economic value. However, between proposing an open data policy and successful implementation are some practicable obstacles, especially for government agencies required to generate sufficient revenue to cover their operating costs, so-called self-funding agencies. With lost revenue due to open data, there is a real risk that the update frequency and the quality of data may suffer or that the open data policy may even have to be reversed. This article has researched the financial effects of open data policies for self-funding agencies on their business model. The article provides some hands-on proposals for self-funding agencies having to implement an open data policy whilst ensuring their long-term sustainability.
Geo-information (GI) is increasingly having a bigger impact on socio-economic benefits. Over the last decade, use of GI has shifted from a specialised GIS niche market to serving as a direct input to planning and decision-making, public policy, environmental management, readiness to deal with emergencies, creation of value added products, citizen mobility and participation, and community platforms. The emergence of Google Earth and Google Maps has created a geo-awareness and has catalysed a thirst for custom-made geo-information. Governments possess, often high-quality large-scale GI, primarily created, collected, developed and maintained to support their public tasks. This rich source of GI begs to be used and reused both within the public sector and by society. Both the INSPIRE Directive (2007/02/EC) and the Directive on re-use on Public Sector Information - the so-called PSI Directive - (2003/98/EC) underwrite the philosophy of “collect once, reuse many times”. Web services are an effective way to make public sector geo-information available. They allow information to be accessed directly at the source and to be combined from different sources. However, the costs of web services are high and revenues do not always cover the costs. Assuming that there is no such thing as a free lunch related to public sector GI (Longhorn and Blakemore, 2008), which business models and which financial models form the basis for public sector geo web services? This article explores the different models currently in use and illustrates them with examples.
Update public sector information accessibility policies and open data licences in Europa
Chapters 2, 3 and 5 of this dissertation were written between 2007 and 2009. Since then, there have been a number of developments in the field of public sector information re-use. One of these developments is the emergence of open data. In the previous chapters, legal and financial aspects of public sector information access regimes were discussed. This chapter starts with a description of the revised PSI Directive 2013/37/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 amending Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information. This Directive and Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) provide the basis for implementing open data policies, as described in Chapters 6, 7 and 8. This chapter continues with an update of the licence framework discussed in Chapter 3. This update was written for the European Location Framework project. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the various open data licences currently in use in Europe.
In a digital age public sector geoinformation (PSGI) is potentially a vital link in the added-value chain. Yet private sector value-added resellers (VARs) still face a number of barriers to using PSGI. Price is only one impediment. The complexity of licences and restrictive licence conditions of PSGI may be an even bigger obstacle. Especially when combining different datasets, VARs can face a quagmire of conflicting licence conditions. Batty (2006 Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 33 163 – 164) called for research that would stimulate value-added use of PSGI. However, inconsistent and intransparent licence conditions for PSGI are among the biggest obstacles of PSGI for VARs. This paper explores the current PSGI licences to assess the actual restrictions and how current obstacles can be levelled. The Creative Commons licensing concept was explored and adapted to make it suitable for licensing PSGI. The resulting concept of Geo Shared licences is a means to harmonise licence conditions for PSGI. Our research shows that the Geo Shared concept can be a valuable contribution to further harmonisation of PSGI licences and thus development of valueadded chains. Furthermore, development of geographic information infrastructures will also be stimulated. Similarly, the concept can be considered as a serious option within the Infrastructure of Spatial Information for Europe (INSPIRE), as a way towards transparent harmonised licences in Europe and beyond.
Public sector information access policies in Europe
In the digital age geo-information has become embedded in our daily lives, such as navigation systems, community platforms, real estate information and weather forecasts. Everybody uses geo-information for their day-to-day decision making. Therefore, access to geo-information is of vital importance to the economic and social development of the nation. Most geo-information, especially the more valuable large scale geo-information is owned by governments all over the world. Government bodies create, collect, develop and disseminate geo-datasets and geo-information to support their public tasks. Although this information is primarily created and collected for internal use, it forms a rich resource for other public sector bodies, citizens and the private sector. There have been a number of initiatives within the European Union (EU) to provide access to and reuse of this public sector information in order to create a free flow of information and services within the EU. Initially aimed at paper documents, these initiatives had little effect on geo-information. Geo-information existed as paper maps or geo-information systems requiring specialised software. But in the last decade improved computer processing capabilities, broadband internet and interoperability of systems have led to mass digitalisation and thus better availability of information in general. EU initiatives to improve access to information, especially the 2003 Directive on reuse of public sector information, the so-called PSI Directive (2003/98/EC), should have had a flow-on effect on geo-information. But five years after adoption, its impact has not quite lead to the expected surge of value added geo-information products and services as predicted by some (e.g. PIRA, 2000; RAVI, 2000). The private sector still faces legal, financial and organisational obstacles when trying to access public sector information (e.g. MICUS, 2003 and 2008; Groot et al., 2007). So, maybe access to public sector geo-information is still not as simple as EU legislation intended it to be. The level playing field as envisioned by EU legislation may not be apparent in the geo-sector. What impact has the EU framework had on access to public sector geo-information to date? This paper will provide a description of the current EU framework. A brief history of public sector geo-information availability will be presented, and a description of the current situation in a number of European countries. The paper will finish with some conclusions and recommendations.
The policy instruments of European front-runners
Existing dwellings receive frequent attention in climate change policy given the wealth of cost-effective, but un-exploited, energy saving potential within their walls. Policy attention also recognises the need for instruments that can navigate around barriers and maximise opportunities to achieve deep carbon reductions. However, there is a lack of evidence and knowledge about the instruments that can boast of success. In response to this knowledge gap, the instruments that form the main policy response to reduce energy consumed for space and water heating in existing dwellings in several front-runner European countries are assessed. Aims are to include, and to go beyond, an understanding of effectiveness based on reported reductions in CO2 emissions and/or monetary savings on energy bills. Effectiveness is also judged on the basis of how instruments reflect policy instrument and energy policy concepts drawn from literature. Results show that the instruments that define action of front-runners differ significantly. Front-runners fail to reconcile all the identified concepts in their main instruments but some feature strongly. In this regard, selected countries established their main instruments over two decades ago, reflecting the concept of long-term instrument development and support. However, few front-runners adequately monitor and evaluate instruments to illuminate cause and effect. Front-runners struggle to diversify their core instrument approaches to capture ‘hard to reach households’ such as the private rental sector and lower-income households. The divergence in the instruments that form the main policy response of front-runners allows for the characteristics of a range of instruments to be analysed including regulations, information tools, taxes and incentives.
The influence of the Energy Performance Certificate
All European Union Member States require an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) when buildings are constructed, sold and rented. At its introduction the EPC was considered a pioneering instrument, one that would help overcome an information deficit hindering consumer interest in energy efficient dwellings. Now that the EPC has been implemented for several years it is possible to examine its impact. This research draws on data from ex-ante and ex-post assessments of the EPC in a number of countries and presents the results of a survey of Dutch private dwelling purchasers. This survey was based on two sample populations, one received an EPC during property transaction and another did not. Differences were sought between the two samples in a number of areas relating to the adoption of energy efficiency measures. Results show that many projections about the impact of the EPC have fallen short. The EPC was found to have a weak influence, especially pre-purchase. The potential of the EPC in driving energy efficiency improvement in the existing stock is doubted especially if it continues to act independent from a mix of instruments designed to tackle multiple barriers. It is argued that the energy saving potential of existing dwellings, applauded in climate change policy, will remain unexploited if it continues to be assessed subjectively by householders.
The influence of energy audits on the energy efficiency investments of private owner-occupied households in the Netherlands
Energy audits are promoted as an effective tool to drive investment in energy efficiency measures in the residential sector. Despite operating in many countries for several decades details of the impact of audits are mixed. The aim of research presented here is to explore the role of audits on investment in energy efficiency measures by private owner-occupied householders in the Netherlands. Results showed that the main influence of the energy audit was to confirm information held by householders. A significant portion of audit recommendations was ignored, the main reason being that householders considered their dwellings to be adequately energy efficient. A comparison of audit recipients to non-recipients showed that audit recipients did not adopt, plan to adopt or invest in more energy efficiency measures than non-recipients. In fact, non-recipients adopted more and invested more in measures. It is concluded that energy based renovation is driven by householder perception of comfort and acceptable outlay on energy bills and not necessarily to expert technical tailored information on the potential to reduce CO2 emissions and environmental impact. Results support arguments for minimum energy efficiency standards and performance based incentives.
Do energy performance policy instruments work on owner-occupiers?
An urgency and necessity is associated with achieving the energy saving gains reported as languishing in the existing owner occupied housing stock. Success in this regard relies, in part, on the policy instruments in place. Many of the same instruments, including subsidies, audits and information tools, have been used for decades yet there is uncertainty and confusion about their impact. In response, bottom up data from a survey of owner-occupiers was used to evaluate the complete range of national instruments available in the Netherlands. Associations between adopting energy saving measures and using policy instruments were analysed. With the exception of the EPC, energy tax and energy saving loans, statistical tests found instruments to be associated with the adoption of energy saving measures. Information and financial instruments were described as the most influential. However, approximately 40% of respondents used instruments but did not consider them influential. While associations were found between instruments and adopting measures they were not at the transformative level that climate change policy demands.
A qualitative evaluation of policy instruments used to improve energy performance of existing private dwellings in the Netherlands
Climate change policies in the Netherlands recognise the importance of existing dwellings. Efforts to gain these energy savings are led at national level by policy instruments such as the Energy Performance Certificate, covenants, economic and information tools. These instruments reflect a policy style described as consensus based and incentivising. However, this approach has been subject to criticism with suggestions that alternatives are required. As a first step towards conceptualising alternatives previous evaluations and stakeholder interviews are used to assess instruments. Elements from the theory based evaluation method combined with concepts from policy instrument and energy policy literature form an evaluation framework. Results demonstrate weak impact of some key instruments. Underlying theories associated with instruments are often lost during implementation or remain unsubstantiated. Policy instrument and energy policy concepts are evident but are far from pervasive. Results show that current instruments are poorly equipped to forge a long-term energy saving strategy for existing dwellings. It is further demonstrated that complexity with existing dwellings is not only limited to frequently cited barriers but to the intricacies of designing and operating a well-orchestrated instrument mix.
In this chapter the results of all previous chapters are input for the development of three integrated urban development strategies. For climate adaptation measures to be part of the ‘standard’ design process, urban designers and policy makers need to have clear guidelines at their disposal (Pijpers- van Esch, 2015). A first assistance in selecting heat mitigation measures was presented in the previous chapter. Common neighbourhood typologies are classified in relation to heat accumulation and appropriate heat mitigation measures are presented for that specific typology. Using this guide for the pre-selection of adaptation measures does not require an extensive analyses of the urban microclimate and enables urban designers and policymakers to quickly scan the adaptation options for the area. Still, the choice for a particular measure is rather arbitrary. This chapter tests how heat mitigation measures can be integrated in a planning or design process for three different assignments in different neighbourhoods. The sub-question that will be answered is: How can the transformations proposed per neighbourhood typology be applied in an integrated design assignment, combining various heat mitigation measures, linking water adaptation measures and creating additional value in relation with energy, health, ecological, social and economic issues? The sub-questions answered in this and the preceding chapter are input for the research question: How can microclimate be integrated into a planning or design process?
Typological design solutions in the path to climate resilience supported by urban surface analysis
In the previous chapter the role of the urban microclimate in the design process is discussed. This chapter assists planners and designers to increase the role of the microclimate in their design. To merge microclimate solutions with urban design challeges, this chapter explores the spatial implication of climate adaptation measures in specific Dutch neighbourhood typologies. The research question adressed is: How can neighbourhoods become climate robust considering the morphology of Dutch neighbourhood typologies? The scale is a determining aspect in the decision-making process regarding climate adaptation measures. Usually the neighbourhood scale is chosen because this can be managed by municipalities or housing corporations. However, the effects of measures in the first place is on the local street scale. Because many neighbourhoods have a characteristic building typology and organisation of the public space it is possible to give a general statement of the most appropriate measures. For example, historic urban areas have a completely different starting point than garden cities. In this chapter a new categorisation of neighbourhoods is presented to combine microclimate indicators with traditional urban typologies. A qualitative method based on case studies is used to come to general climate adaptation measures or strategies per microclimate category. All neighbourhood case studies start with an analysis of the physical properties, followed by at least one design solution or strategy. The design solutions and strategies are input for the general conclusions per microclimate category. This part of the thesis can be described as ‘typological research’ according to the scheme made by de Jong & Voordt (2002), presented in Figure 8.1. In the case studies the context is variable (different neighbourhoods) and the object is determined (different cases per microclimate category). Each separate case study is, however, a ‘design study’ in itself, with one specific neighbourhood and thus determined context and variable climate adaptation solutions (objects).
In the second part of this thesis effects of climate adaptation measures on thermal comfort were studied. With a better understanding of the effectiveness the ‘best’ solution in relation to thermal comfort can be selected. Nevertheless, this might not be the most appropriate solution considering the site specific conditions. What considerations determine a particular design choice? This question frames the research by design studies in the third part of this thesis. It is particularly interesting for this research to know why a designer decides to apply, or not to apply, climate adaptation measures when is asked to develop an integrated design with the utmost account of thermal comfort at street level. With more insight in the approach of designers to the theme a design method can be developed that fits to the actual role of urban microclimate in the design and planning process. And gives an indication of what output from this research can be of importance to strengthen the role of the theme. In this chapter a group of designers and planners is asked to give insight in their way of thinking through a questionnaire and an in-depth-interview. The results enables answering the sub-question: What is the role of the urban microclimate in the design process according to urban designers and planners?
Creating drafts in urban settings through coloured façades
In the previous chapter the effect of numerous adaptation measures is described in relation to thermal comfort. The results show that increasing wind speed can be an effective cooling measure. However, the cold winter climate and the prevailing wind direction during heat and cold waves make it difficult to actually use this principle. Moreover, proven adaptation measures such as, more vegetation or water, are not always possible because of a lack of space or undesired aesthetic effects. This chapter answers the sub question: How can ventilation be utilized in hot weather situations without deterioration of the wind conditions in winter? An alternative option for more fresh and cool air in a street canyon is to make use of façade colours to accelerate wind speed. Differences in colour and materials already influence the air flow in street canyons, but in an uncontrolled manner. If we could employ this principle for the improvement of thermal comfort it potentially has a large impact on many cities in the world. This chapter gives the results of a first exploratory research based on measurements on scale models and at full scale. This pilot study shows that the principle works and advocates further research. For example, more research is required to examine if the cooling effect is significant in the perception of pedestrians.
The previous chapter is an almost theoretical approach to study thermal comfort effects. The increasing complexity from an open field to a single building and finally a combination of various vegetation types gives insight in the relative effects of changes in the urban environment on thermal comfort. This chapter aims to answer a part of the research question: What is the indication of general and/or location specific effects of heat mitigation measures on thermal comfort in The Netherlands? Here location specific effects of climate adaptation measures on the microclimate are studied for a specific urban type common for the Netherlands that can be characterised as low-rise open urban blocks of houses (Berghauser Pont & Haupt 2009). Sub-research questions answered are: What are the effects on air temperature and human comfort for the temperate climate condition of the Netherlands? And: Is there a difference in effect in relation to scale (urban block, neighbourhood, city)? The results provide adaptation solutions for this specific neighbourhood and input for the generic design guidelines for the Netherlands at the end of part III.
Urban measures for hot weather conditions in a temperate climate condition
After the inventory of climate adaptation measures in the previous chapter, we now know which measures are available. To be able to make choices between adaptation measures, more insight is required in their relative effect, as well as in the effect of measures in a specific context and when combined with each other. In this chapter the effects on thermal comfort of various adaptation measures is studied with model calculations. This chapter discusses the effects of urban design and meteorological parameters on thermal comfort for pedestrians at street level, partly answering the research question: What is the indication of general and/or location specific effects of heat mitigation measures on thermal comfort in The Netherlands? And with a focus on simulation outcomes in the thermal comfort indicator it answers the sub question: What are the effects on air temperature and human comfort for the temperate climate condition of the Netherlands?
Inventory of climate adaptation measures
Following up the effects of climate change in urban areas in the previous chapter, this chapter gives an inventory of the possible measures to improve urban areas in relation to thermal comfort. Many adaptation measures to improve thermal comfort also adress other climate adaptation aspects such as water nuisance and draught. This inventory comprises the effects of the adaptation measures vegetation, water, urban geometry and materials and colour. Effects are given in various parameters such as air temperature, mean radiant temperature, energy reduction and range of influence. Described effects are based on literature studies and results from the Climate Proof Cities program. Each sub-section concludes with strategies for implementation in which the feasibility and applicatbility are described by examples from practise when available. This answers the following research question: Which urban design measures can contribute to climate adaptation, especially in terms of heat?
The industrial revolution brought us wealth and growth. The higher standard of life is now concerned as ‘basic’ in the western world and gradually increased the society’s dependency on highly exergetic energy resources. The combustion of these energy resources results in exhaust of fumes containing dangerous pathogens such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, benzene and formaldehyde (Perry, 2015). The effect on people’s health and the depletion of fossil fuels resulted in innovations to increase the efficiency of combustion and reduce harmful fumes. Today’s concern is especially focussed on the exhaust of particulate matter and the emission of CO2. The awareness on mitigation, preventing CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, started with the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, which introduced the definition of sustainable development: “A development that meets the needs and aspirations of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (Brundtland, 1987). The emission of CO2 influences the global climate, so much is clear by now: consensus about the relationship between CO2 emissions and global warming is very strong (IPCC, 2014b). Emissions from the past century are expected to already have an irreversible global warming effect that will especially affect the generation of our children and grandchildren. Effects often manifest on another location in the world than the places where most of the CO2 is emitted. Moreover, places that contribute less to high CO2 levels often have less means to protect themselves against climate hazards. Therefore, Machiel van Dorst added the importance of place to the Brundtland definition of sustainable development: “A development that meets the needs of here and now without compromising the ability of others to meet their own needs there and then” (Dorst, 2010). This chapter outlines the context of this research and answers the following research question: What is the impact of climate change on the urban environment in the Netherlands?
Actual heating energy savings in thermally renovated Dutch dwellings
Since previous research has indicated large discrepancies between the theoretical and actual heating consumption in dwellings, it is important to know what savings renovations achieve in reality. The register of the Dutch social housing stock was analysed, containing dwelling thermal performance information of ca. 2 million dwellings between 2010 and 2013. Renovated dwellings were identified, providing insight into the performance gap before and after the renovation and the actual vs. the theoretical energy reduction of renovation measures. Improvements in efficiency of gas boilers (space heating and hot tap water) yield the highest energy reduction, followed by deep improvements of windows. Improving the ventilation yields a small reduction compared to other measures, however, it is still much larger than theoretically expected. High R and low U values of insulation are well predicted, as well as efficient heating systems whereas low R and high U values, local heating systems, changes from a non-condensing into a condensing boiler and upgrades from a natural ventilation system are not well predicted. The study therefore demonstrated that unrealistic theoretical efficiencies of heating systems and insulation values are causing a part of the performance gap.
Statistical model of the heating prediction gap in Dutch dwellings
The European Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) set the regulatory framework for a cost-effective improvement of the existing dwellings in 2002. The transformation of the stock towards higher efficiency is expected to be stimulated by labelling of the dwellings. The certificate itself is required to contain a list of potential cost-effective measures for the dwellings’ thermal retrofit. However, the theoretical heating consumption provided in the certificate is not a good baseline for the calculation of cost effectiveness, as it is based on normalised dwelling conditions. Normalised conditions include a constant occupancy, constant indoor temperature and normalisations of other parameters, which in reality differ in different types of dwellings. The discrepancies between the normalised theoretical and actual heating consumption are also referred to as the performance gap. In this paper, we examined these discrepancies using the example of The Netherlands. Using descriptive statistics and multiple regression, we investigated several parameters thought to have a different effect on actual and theoretical heating energy use – dwelling, household, occupant behaviour, as well as comfort – in order to propose improvements to the current theoretical consumption calculation. Aside from analysing the total sample, the data is regarded separately for overpredicted and underpredicted consumption records.
Actual and theoretical gas consumption in Dutch dwellings
Energy labels in buildings are awarded based on theoretical gas and electricity consumption based on dwelling’s physical characteristics. Prior to this research, a large-scale study was conducted in The Netherlands comparing theoretical energy use with data on actual energy use revealing substantial discrepancies (Majcen et al., 2012). This study uses identical energy label data, supplemented with additional data sources in order to reveal how different parameters influence theoretical and actual consumptions gas and electricity. Analysis is conducted through descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Regression analysis explained far less of the variation in the actual consumption than in the theoretical and has shown that variables such as floor area, ownership type, salary and the value of the house, which predicted a high degree of change in actual gas consumption, were insignificant (ownership, salary, value) or had a minor impact on theoretical consumption (floor area). Since some possibly fundamental variables were unavailable for regression analysis, we also conducted a sensitivity study of theoretical gas consumption. It showed that average indoor temperature, ventilation rate and accuracy of U-value have a large influence on the theoretical gas consumption; whereas the number of occupants and internal heat load have a rather limited impact.
Theoretical vs. actual energy consumption of labelled dwellings in The Netherlands
In Europe, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) provides for compulsory energy performance certification (labelling) for all existing dwellings. In the Netherlands, a labelling scheme was introduced in 2008. Certificates contain the energy label of the dwelling and corresponding theoretical gas and electricity consumption, calculated based on the dwellings physical characteristics, its heating, ventilation and cooling systems and standard use characteristics. This paper reports on a large-scale study comparing labels and theoretical energy use with data on actual energy use. A database of around 200,000 labels was coupled with data from Statistics Netherlands on actual gas and electricity consumption provided by energy companies. The study shows that dwellings with a low energy label actually consume much less energy than predicted by the label, but on the other hand, energy-efficient dwellings consume more than predicted. In practice, policy targets are set according to the theoretical rather than the actual consumptions of the building stock. In line with identified discrepancies, the study shows that whereas most energy reduction targets can be met according to the theoretical energy consumption of the dwelling stock, the future actual energy reduction potential is much lower and fails to meet most of the current energy reduction targets.
Inspired by the Big Society agenda in the UK, the Dutch government has introduced an ambitious programme to devolve responsibility for welfare services to local authorities. This devolution is accompanied by substantial budget reductions, based on the assumption that local actors are able to deliver more efficient, tailor-made and effective services. Central to this new policy paradigm is the more active involvement of citizens in the co-production of solutions to complex societal problems through the development and sustaining of intermediary arrangements between individuals and public sector agencies such as housing associations. This chapter aims to increase our current limited understanding of the conditions under which connections between public sector professionals and citizens are able to solve place-related and people-related problems. This chapter is based on Dutch and English neighbourhood regeneration case studies. A theoretical framework connecting governance network theory with Habermas’s concepts of ‘system’ and ‘lifeworld’ guides this exploration.
Neighbourhood regeneration and place leadership
The concept of place leadership is new and relatively untheorised in England (but see Gibney & Murie, 2008; Gibney, Copeland & Murie, 2009; Mabey & Freeman, 2010), and has not been explicitly formulated in the Netherlands. However, a related stream of practice and analysis around partnerships (Sullivan & Skelcher, 2002) and network governance (Kickert, Klijn & Koppenjan, 1997; Rhodes, 1997; Koppenjan & Klijn, 2004) is already well-established in both countries and has framed our earlier work on neighbourhood regeneration and housing (Mullins & Rhodes, 2007; Van Bortel and Mullins, 2009; Van Bortel, Mullins & Rhodes, 2009). This article explores connections between place leadership and network governance concepts to identify a set of themes that are then used to explore research evidence on neighbourhood regeneration and the role played by third- sector housing organisations in two cities: Groningen in the north of the Netherlands and Birmingham in the English Midlands. While our research has a particular focus on the housing sector and the role of housing associations (HAs), the regeneration task that our case study organisations set themselves has taken them well beyond ‘bricks-and-mortar’. This requires them to collaborate with municipal authorities and a wide range of partners who contribute to the wellbeing of places and people. We explore the role played by HAs in regeneration partnerships and the implications of place-shaping and network governance.
Theories on network governance constitute a promising approach to a better understanding of complex decision-making and problem-solving. Network theories are increasingly used in housing research. In this paper we present case-study findings on urban regeneration decision-making in Groningen, a medium-sized city in the North of the Netherlands. We used a network governance approach as an analytical framework. Social landlords and local government in Groningen have been collaborating in urban regeneration processes for many years. In 2006 negotiations between these actors on a renewal of the Local Urban Regeneration Covenant ran into difficulties and encountered seemingly insurmountable differences of opinion. These difficulties were largely caused by the increased complexity of the decision-making process, the large number of actors involved and a shift in focus from ‘bricks-and-mortar’ investments to a more balanced approach including social and economic aspects of urban regeneration. In this paper we analyse decision-making on urban regeneration policy in Groningen over the past 10 years. The outcomes of the case study demonstrate the usefulness of the network approach as a framework to analyse decision-making processes. The paper also identifies strategies used by actors in the field to successfully deal with complexities and uncertainties in networks.
A network perspective on the organisation of social housing in the Netherlands
In the past 15 years Dutch housing associations have undergone a transformation from strictly regulated and heavily subsidized organisations to financially and administratively independent enterprises. This transformation has sparked a lively debate on regulation and the role of the government in social housing. There is a broad consensus that something needs to be done about the operations of housing associations in the Netherlands. Hence, their position and performance are a current topic of discussion in the Dutch Parliament. In this paper we examine public management from a network perspective. We envisage the policy environment as a network of players and explore three key concepts: ‘‘multiformity’’, ‘‘closedness’’ and ‘‘interdependence’’. The government is not the dominant party in this scenario, but one of several players with their own specific goals and resources. To be sure of a good performance, instruments of governance need to be in tune with the characteristics of the network. This paper discusses the instruments applied in the Dutch social housing network and uses the results of a case study in The Hague to illustrate the efficacy of the network perspective in social housing analyses and to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the current governance structure.
Mergers among housing associations have become a frequent phenomenon in both the Netherlands and England. The general literature on mergers highlights the need for research to consider the wider political and business environment, managerial motives and strategic choices, to adopt a process perspective and to evaluate outcomes in relation to competing definitions of goals and success criteria. This article applies these perspectives to consider drivers for and experience of housing association mergers in the Netherlands and England, competing motivations such as efficiency savings in relation to borrowing and procurement costs, improved professionalism and organisational capacity and external influence. We discuss the pace and motivations of mergers, the expected positive and negative effects, and actual outcomes. We focus on the impact of mergers on stakeholder satisfaction, housing production and operational costs. Based on our findings we discuss the implications for policies and practice in both countries. Our main conclusion is that the relationship between the size of housing associations and their performance is not straightforward. This is partly because large and small associations are generally trying to do different things in different ways and have contrasting strengths and weaknesses; thus judgements about whether mergers and concentration of ownership in third sector housing is a change for the better are dependent upon considerations of underlying purposes and success criteria.
Critical perspectives on network governance in urban regeneration, community, involvement and integration
Significant claims have been made about the benefits of network governance and management in securing community involvement and assisting social integration in complex urban regeneration programmes. The move from vertical to horizontal forms of coordination, and the assumption of a more equal power distribution between participants, have been combined with an emphasis on mutuality and trust to present networks as a promising mechanism for pluriform involvement and collective decisionmaking. Often this promise runs ahead of the evidence of how network governance functions in practice, the opportunities for different actors to influence the process and the often disappointing outcomes of joint decision-making. This special issue contributes to the ‘second generation of research on governance networks’ by tackling key questions relating to the sources of governance network failure and success. Building on the articles in this special issue, we explore these questions in relation to urban regeneration, community involvement and the integration of minority groups in The Netherlands, Sweden and England. This article reviews the articles in this special issue from the perspective of Klijn and Skelcher’s (2007) four conjectures on democracy and governance networks and Sørensen and Torfing’s (2007) four conditions for democratic anchorage. It also suggests ways in which the research agenda on networks in urban regeneration, community involvement and integration might be developed.
This chapter introduces the two key theoretical components underpinning this research. Each component consists of various sub-components.
This chapter describes the new WikiPLACE urban design decision support tool that was developed as an outgrowth of this research. It applies the prototype to “back-cast” the GHG emissions of a range of known examples of urban systems. It compares the resulting predictions with known measurements to provide an initial evaluation of the efficacy of the tool.
This chapter describes a distinct new class of scenario-modelling urban design tools, and it discusses a specific prototype tool generated as part of this research.
This chapter describes in detail the methodologies of modelling and their limits, as a preparation for exploring the specific model to be proposed and evaluated.
Avoiding Negative Impacts from Urban Morphology
A design decision support model must not only account for elements of urban form that help to reduce per-capita GHG emissions, it must also account for elements of urban form that work to increase those emissions. This chapter examines the case study of a very prevalent urban design model, the so-called “neighbourhood unit”, and evaluates its impact on urban form as well as emissions.
Varying Neighbourhood “Choice Architecture”
When evaluating the factors of urban form that contribute to emissions, we must also consider the difficult but critical subject of human behaviour and choices of consumption. There is indeed a body of research findings that gives us guidance on the “choice architecture” of neighbourhood design. This chapter examines the evidence and draws conclusions for the decision support tool.
The last chapter identified a range of factors that contribute, individually and in common, to increased GHG emissions per capita. These factors are typically associated with comparatively denser urban forms. This chapter moves beyond density to identify the more particular variables of urban form, and urban design, that can achieve the identified reductions. The chapter examines those factors and their translation into three key urban design variables.
This chapter describes the baseline of findings from current research and identifies relevant boundaries. Particular attention is given to the inherent complexity and uncertainty of urban systems. Nonetheless, consistent factors are identified for further refinement and incorporation into a decision support tool.
The role of the architect using integrated contracts for social housing renovation projects
The use of integrated contracts in the Dutch construction sector has increased in recent years. Integrated contracts presume facilitating a much more effective process than traditional delivery methods, saving money and time, as well as improving quality. Formally this type of contracts was only used for large and complex infrastructure projects and new buildings. In the last five years, however, they have been used also in the social housing sector for renovation projects, and have led to positive project outcomes. In this kind of projects, the supply-side actors work together in a team formed by an architect, consultants and construction companies; commonly referred to as a consortium. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge about the formal and informal links between the members of a consortium and their specific roles. This research helps to understand the tendering procedures and organisational typologies of consortia working with integrated contracts and especially the inherent changes in the role of the architect, e.g. type and amount of work, and relations with the client and consortium members. The study is based on a series of interviews with architects working with integrated contracts in social housing renovation projects. The findings indicate that in the majority of these projects, the architect is contracted by the main contractor rather than by the social housing organisation. The new contractual relationship has no significant effect on the relationship of the architect with the social housing organisation and improves the relationship of the architect with the main contractor, consultants and advisors, and other specialist contractors involved. The architect switches from the role of designer to that of technical and aesthetic advisor, compared to traditional Design-Bid-Build projects.
Competitive tenders for integrated contracts for social housing renovation projects
In recent years European Social Housing Organisations and European authorities have devoted particular attention to the renovation of the European social housing stock. The reasons are twofold: first, the stock is aging, and secondly, it offers potential for energy savings. Recently, in the Netherlands, where social housing accounts for 32% of the total building stock, the national government and the social housing organisations signed an energy-saving covenant in which the social housing organisations agreed to upgrade the entire social housing stock to an average energy performance certificate rating of B. The terms of the covenant have forced social housing organisations to embrace integrated contracts and competitive tender procedures in an effort to find ways to improve the efficiency of renovation processes and increase the outputs. These contracts focus particularly on energy savings. In this research project eight competitive tenders for integrated contracts for social housing renovation projects were studied via a tender document analysis and in-depth interviews with the social housing property managers. Tender procedures were analysed by comparing the schedule, the preconditions for the candidates, the minimum requirements, and the award criteria. Characterisation of the tender elements enabled the researchers to identify the mechanisms applied by the social housing organisations to influence the ambition, collaboration and long-term view of the companies concerned. The ambition was sharpened by the competitive nature of the tender but the potential for minimum requirements and award criteria in this regard was not fully exploited. The collaboration was clearly promoted by setting a short deadline for developing the design proposals. Other strategies, involving, for example, the number and type of meetings with the social housing organisation, and conditions for the nature and composition of the consortia were applied by only some social housing organisations. The long-term view was broached by the inclusion of an optional maintenance contract in some cases, but the elective character of the contract stood in the way of any influence it may have exerted.
Energy efficiency in French social housing renovations via Design-Build-Maintain
The renovation of existing building stock is seen as one the most practical ways to achieve the high energy savings targets for the built environment defined by European authorities. In France, the Grenelle environmental legislation addresses the need to renovate the building stock and specifically stresses the key role of social housing organisations. In recent years, French procurement rules have been modified in order to allow social housing organisations to make use of integrated contracts such as Design- Build-Maintain. These contracts have a greater potential to deliver energy savings in renovation projects than do traditional project delivery methods, like Design-Bid-Build. This is because they facilitate collaboration between the various actors and boost their commitment to the achievement of project goals. In order to evaluate the estimated potential of such contracts to achieve energy savings, two renovation projects (carried out by two French social housing organisations) were analysed from their inception until the end of construction work. The analysis is based on written tender documents, technical evaluation reports, observations of the negotiation phase (in one of the cases) and interviews with the main actors involved. Findings show that Design-Build- Maintain contracts do indeed offer substantial energy savings. Both projects achieved higher energy targets than those initially required. Furthermore, the energy results are guaranteed by the contractor, through a system of bonuses and penalties. Other results demonstrate that, compared to previous Design-bid-Build renovation projects, these projects were completed in less time (from project inception to completion of the work) and at virtually the same cost. There has also been a substantial improvement in cooperation between the actors involved.
Project delivery methods in European social housing energy renovations
Purpose: The aim of the present study was to characterize the main project delivery methods that are used for the renovation of social housing, and to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of their application for energy renovations in order to assist social housing organisations making an informed decision on the choice of a project delivery method that suit their organizational context. Design/methodologies/approach: The study is based on a literature review, five case studies of renovation processes by five social housing organizations in four EU countries, a questionnaire completed by 36 social housing organizations from eight EU countries, and a series of 14 interviews with energy renovation experts from 10 EU countries. Findings: Four main project delivery methods were identified: Step-by-Step, Design- Bid-Build, Design-Build and Design-Build-Maintain. Design-Build-Maintain has the maximum potential to deliver energy savings because it facilitates collaboration between the various actors and promotes their commitment to achieving project goals. Research limitations: The presented data is not meant to be representative for a country or the sector as a whole, but aims to indicate the main characteristics of the current energy renovations carried out by European social housing organizations. Practical implications: Social housing organizations are provided with useful information about the advantages and disadvantages of different project delivery methods for energy renovation projects assisting them to choose for the option that suit their organizational context. Originality/value: This study fills a knowledge gap about the project delivery methods currently used in social housing energy renovations and their potential for energy renovations.
For some time now, the construction industry has been accused of limited cooperation between actors, low levels of trust and ineffective communication. This, it is argued, results in low levels of process performance. In fact, how to improve the performance of construction processes remains one of the key issues in the construction sector, including projects for social housing. Reports by the Construction Industry Institute (1991) in the US, and Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) in the UK have been much publicised wake-up calls to the need for different working practices in the construction sector, and others, too, have made similar claims. For example, in Australia the ‘Building for Growth’ Report (Industry Science Resources 1999) identified the need for integration in the construction supply chain in order to achieve the technical and financial capacity that will lead to international levels of competitiveness. In Hong Kong the ‘Construct for Excellence’ Report (Construction Industry Review Committee, 2001) highlighted that fragmentation within the sector and the low levels of cooperation is preventing improvements in buildability, safety and life cycle costs. And in the Netherlands, the ‘Van raad naar daad’ (From Advice to Action) Report (Regieraad Bouw, 2004) describes similar fragmentation within the construction sector and proposes learning the lessons from best practice in other countries and renewing processes and systems to achieve higher levels of innovation, creativity and quality.
Residential segregation and interethnic contact in the Netherlands
Dutch policymakers perceive high shares of ethnic minorities in neighbourhoods as a problem; it might generate fewer opportunities for minorities to have contact with the native Dutch population and thereby hinder integration. The question, however, is whether the ethnic composition of neighbourhoods influences interethnic contact. In this paper the focus is on leisure contact of people from ethnic minorities aged 15 to 65 with native Dutch people. Binary logistic multilevel analysis shows that contact with native Dutch people is mainly explained by individual characteristics. In addition, living in one of the four largest cities, cities with high shares of minorities on city level, leads to less contact with native Dutch people. The ethnic composition of the neighbourhood has no effect on contact, therefore segregation on neighbourhood level does not necessarily hinder integration.
Many European countries use mixed housing policies to decrease the spatial concentration of low-income households. Also in the Netherlands, social housing in deprived neighbourhoods is demolished and replaced by more expensive dwellings. The idea is that these new dwellings attract higher-income groups to urban restructuring neighbourhoods. At the same time, however, also large numbers of relatively expensive dwellings have been built at greenfield locations. This leads to a dilemma: will higher-income households choose for housing in deprived neighbourhoods, while also attractive new housing on greenfield locations is available? This study shows that urban restructuring attracts higher-income households to mixed tenure developments in deprived neighbourhoods, even when competing with greenfield development. Nevertheless, another process is also taking place: especially in urban regions with extensive greenfield development, there is a significant outflow of higher-income households from deprived neighbourhoods. The net result is an increasing concentration of low-income households in deprived neighbourhoods.
Neighbourhood selection of non-western ethnic minorities
The selective inflow and outflow of residents by ethnicity is the main mechanism behind ethnic residential segregation. Many studies have found that ethnic minorities are more likely than others to move to ethnic minority concentration neighbourhoods. An important question which remains largely unanswered is whether this can be explained by own group effects, including own group preferences, or by other neighbourhood factors. We use unique longitudinal register data from the Netherlands, which allows us to distinguish between different ethnic minority groups and to simultaneously take into account multiple neighbourhood characteristics. This allows us to test own group effects; the effect of the share of the own ethnic group on neighbourhood selection, while also taking into account other neighbourhood characteristics such as the housing market composition. Using a conditional logit model we find that housing market constraints can partly explain the moves of ethnic minorities to minority concentration neighbourhoods. Also own-group effects are found to be important in explaining neighbourhood selection. There are, however, important differences between ethnic minority groups. While these effects together explain why Surinamese and Antilleans move to minority concentration neighbourhoods, Turks and Moroccans are still found to move to concentration neighbourhoods of minorities other than their own ethnic group.
Ethnic differences in realising desires to leave the neighbourhood
Selective mobility into and out of neighbourhoods is one of the driving forces of segregation. Empirical research has revealed who wants to leave certain types of neighbourhoods or who leaves certain neighbourhoods. A factor which has received little attention so far is that some residents will have a desire to leave their neighbourhood, but are unable to do so. The residential mobility literature shows that the discrepancy between moving desires and actual mobility is larger for ethnic minorities than for natives. This paper uses a unique combination of register data and survey data. We combine data from a large housing survey in the Netherlands (WoON) with longitudinal register data from the Netherlands (SSD), which contains individual level information on residential mobility histories. This allows us to study which households with a wish to leave their neighbourhood are actually successful, and to which neighbourhoods they move. A more thorough insight in who wants to leave which neighbourhoods but is unable to do so will contribute to a better understanding of selective mobility and segregation. We find that ethnic minority groups are less likely than natives to realise a desire to leave their neighbourhood and that if they succeed in moving from an ethnic minority concentration or poverty neighbourhood, they are more likely to end up in another minority concentration or poverty neighbourhood than native residents.
Who cares? Individual differences in the determinants of residential satisfaction
Residential satisfaction is a key variable in understanding residential mobility. Many researchers have studied the individual level and neighbourhood level determinants of satisfaction, however, very few have studied which neighbourhood characteristics will affect satisfaction for whom. In this paper, a series of ordered logit models is estimated, explaining satisfaction from neighbourhood characteristics, personal characteristics and interactions. These interaction effects test whether neighbourhood characteristics have similar effects on all individuals, or whether individual characteristics affect the size and direction of these effects. Ethnic minorities are found to be less affected than natives by the share of ethnic minorities in the neighbourhood, because they prefer to live close to their own ethnic group. Satisfaction is found to be more dependent on neighbourhood characteristics for owner-occupiers and households with children than for other households. However, the impact of the neighbourhood ethnic composition on satisfaction does not differ with tenure or household type.
Assessment of the likelihood of implementation strategies for climate change adaptation measures in Dutch social housing
Housing providers have to keep adapting their building stock to keep pace with the dynamic changes in the urban environment. One of the main drivers of adaptation is climate change, caused primarily by man-made greenhouse gases. Climate change is impacting on urban areas largely through drought, flooding from extreme precipitation, and heat stress. Climate change not only threatens the building stock, but also the quality of life of people living and working in urban environments. In the Netherlands, housing associations have strong interests in and responsibilities for managing the social housing stock and maintaining quality of life, but they seem scarcely aware of the challenge that lies ahead in terms of adapting their stock to the impacts of climate change. This paper focuses on physical adaptations to the housing stock and discusses the likelihood of the adoption of five implementation strategies for climate adaptation measures as assessed by decision-makers in Dutch housing associations in an online survey. The strategies combine conceptual approaches in policymaking, involvement of external players, and the execution of construction projects in a partnering approach, with the addition of one extra strategy that assigns a central position to the tenants. There was no strategy that stood out clearly as the one most likely to guide the implementation of measures. Many housing associations do, however, see opportunities in this area and might be persuaded to take action if they were provided with a wide palette of implementation strategies from which they could select the most suitable combination.
Implementation strategies for climate change adaptation measures in Dutch social housing
Housing managers are constantly confronted with the changing demands and requirements that their building stock must meet. One aspect of this is the changing climate, which is caused primarily by greenhouse gases produced by human activities. Even if the emissions of all these gases could now somehow be put on hold, the process of climate change could not be, and the effects of climate change would most probably continue to be felt for many more years. In urban areas, these effects include drought, flooding caused by extreme precipitation and heat stress caused by the urban heat island effect. In addition to threatening the building stock, climate change is also threatening the quality of life of people in urban environments. In the Netherlands, housing associations are responsible for managing the social housing stock and maintaining the quality of life of those that live there. However, research has shown that they are not yet sufficiently aware of the challenge that lies ahead in adapting their dwellings to a changing climate. In view of the focus on the physical adaptations of the building stock, it was chosen to discuss in this paper the effectiveness of three types of conceptual approaches for governance that housing associations could apply directly in their maintenance processes. The conceptual approaches are hypothesised based on the results of earlier research on the implementation of climate change adaptations in social housing. The conceptual approaches are: CA1) incorporate climate adaptation into the policy that guides the overall management of their stock; CA2) involve actors that traditionally do not play a role in the construction process, such as insurance companies and water boards; CA3) emphasise performance-based procurement to encourage the execution of projects using a partnering approach. The effectiveness of these conceptual approaches was tested using a SWOT analysis for each approach, which was discussed with practitioners. The results are five implementation strategies, based on the combinations of conceptual approaches that are potentially feasible for the implementation of climate change adaptation measures in the Dutch social housing stock. One crucial factor in these implementation strategies is collaboration, because these days no housing association is financially able to assume responsibility for climate-proofing its housing stock on its own.
Innovation in housing refurbishment through adopting a partnering approach
Housing associations own 32 % of housing stock in the Netherlands, making them major actors in maintaining and improving the quality of life in the urban environment. The building stock requires effective innovation to keep pace with the needs of today’s tenants. Moreover, the current financial circumstances and political environment have pushed housing associations to innovate in their (re)construction processes, for example by adopting a partnering approach. Several studies indicate that the implementation of innovations could benefit from partnering approaches in the construction supply chain. An evaluation of refurbishment projects that have been carried out using a partnering approach, however, indicates that the innovation process itself was seen as the major innovation and may (initially) even hamper innovations that aim to upgrade the dwelling to current standards. This effect should be taken into account when developing innovations in dwellings.
Towards successful partnering in housing refurbishment - an assessment of six Dutch dyads
Supply chain partnering is seen as one method of handling the need for more efficient and transparent building processes. Although it has received considerable attention from practitioners and researchers, supply chain partnering is still in its formative phase within the construction industry. There have been a number of studies that focus on ‘success factors’ in partnering, but relatively few studies have focused on whether and how these factors are applied in practice. Moreover, almost no studies have been completed into supply chain partnering in housing refurbishment projects. An assessment was made of the partnerships between six Dutch housing associations and general contractors, on the basis of the success factors identified in literature: trust, leadership, partner capabilities, commitment, conflict resolution, coordination and communication. The conclusion is that most of these factors play a role, although there are considerable differences in the way in which the dyads used these factors in their partnering process. Conflict resolution techniques and coordination measures have not yet been developed. This may be due to the experimental stage of the dyads and/or the level of trust within the dyads, but it also implies a risk for the further development of the partnering process, should conflicts arise.
Evaluation of climate change adaptation measures by Dutch housing associations
Purpose – Research into climate change adaptation measures has resulted in the identification of 155 such adaptation measures that contribute to making the built environment more climate resilient. These measures mainly focus on new construction. This paper assesses the feasibility of the measures for the existing social housing stock in the Netherlands. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews were conducted with 12 property managers and policy staff members from Dutch housing associations. The interviewees judged 21 measures that were designed to adapt dwellings to heat-related problems caused by climate change, and they also answered questions regarding their awareness of climate change and regarding the feasibility of the measures. Findings – Low awareness of climate change adaptations, the financing of the measures and the technical complexity of adaptation measures are perceived barriers to implementation. Several possibilities to remove these barriers are discussed. Research limitations/implications – The sample of 12 interviewees provides valuable insight into the opinions of a select group of policymakers from housing associations. The judgments were made based on the personal experiences and expectations of the interviewees. Originality/value – This paper provides valuable insight into the opinions of policymakers and decision-makers in Dutch housing associations on climate change adaptation measures in the existing building stock. These insights will be of use for policymaking at the local and national levels directed towards creating a resilient building stock.
Awareness of climate change adaptations among Dutch housing associations
Climate change: the question is not anymore if it happens, but what the impact is of its effects such as drought, heat waves and increased precipitation on the quality of our lives in cities, offices and houses. A significant share of the Northern European housing stock is owned and maintained by large stock owners, such as housing associations. It is their responsibility to be aware of changes and risks that might challenge the quality of life of their tenants. Moreover, in order to provide housing with a good market value in the future, adaptation to climate change can no longer be overlooked. With the aim to discover the level of awareness of climate change adaptation among Dutch housing associations, a content analysis was undertaken on the policy plans and the annual reports of the 25 largest housing associations. Subsequently they were classified according to their level of awareness. The analysis returned no topics that directly referred to climate change adaptation, which implies that all housing associations are categorised as being ‘unaware’. Therefore, in order to reach higher levels of awareness and to incentivize the implementation of adaptation measures, appropriate governance strategies need to be developed. Future research will define the characteristics of these strategies in relation to the level of awareness of the housing associations. Adoption of the measures could be easier if adaptation measures are combined with maintenance activities, as this has been the case with mitigation measures.