The Netherlands has been in a serious housing crisis for the past few years. The current housing shortage is estimated at 315.000 units and house prices have increased significantly. Especially first-time buyers experience a decrease in accessibility to the Dutch owner-occupied housing market, and their position on the housing market deteriorates. The government has implemented several regulations in attempt to increase this accessibility, and organizations have introduced alternative purchase instruments that are designed to increase the accessibility of first-time buyers to the market. Despite all these efforts, access to the housing market remains a serious challenge for first-time buyers.
The accessibility of first-time buyers to the owner-occupied housing market is highly relevant to the functioning of the housing market as whole, since it stimulates the housing market flow. Additionally, the inaccessibility to the owner-occupied market results in households not being able to build equity through homeownership, stimulating a prosperity gap. Although studies have researched the position of first-time buyers on the housing market, as well as provided a comparison between several alternative purchase instruments, there is a lack of research on how these instruments enhance the accessibility of first-time buyers to the housing market and which factors form a barrier in this enhancement. Therefore, this research identifies the factors limiting the access of first-time buyers to the housing market, and establishes through a comparative study the enablers and barriers of four alternative purchase instruments in the Netherlands with regard to enhancing the increase in the accessibility. The identified barriers are transformed into suggestions for alterations of the alternative purchase instruments to increase the impact they have on enhancing the accessibility of first-time buyers to the market. Literature study on first-time buyers, their limitations, and alternative purchase instruments in the Netherlands was complemented with interviews, providing several perspectives on the alternative purchase instruments. The main limitation of first-time buyers in acquiring homeownership is their limited financing capacity. The group of first-time buyers with an income between €40.000 and €60.000 (equal to 1 –1,5 modal income) experience the greatest limitations since their income is too high to be eligible for social rent, but too low to get access to enough financial resources to purchase a property on the owner-occupied housing market. The analysis of the empirical data shows that on the small scale that the instruments are currently deployed in, they are successful in increasing the accessibility of first-time buyers to the housing market since they lower the necessary funding capacity. However, the deployment capacity of the instruments is being influenced by external factors, limiting the ability to increase the deployment capacity of the instruments and therefore the impact on the increase of accessibility of first-time buyers. By making a purchase instrument individual bound instead of property bound, the deployment capacity is no longer dependent on the supply side of the housing market. This also lowers the desire to apply an instrument to the same property for multiple households, allowing households to pay off the instrument’s rights and acquire the bare property rights. Finally, the division of financial benefits should be in equilibrium, meaning that the financial benefits should be high enough on the supplier’s side for the instrument to be viable, but also on the user’s side since financing capacity is the main problem these instruments try to tackle.

The Netherlands has faced a significant housing shortage for years, with a deficit of over 300,000 dwellings. This shortage is prevalent in both the owner-occupied and rental sectors, particularly in social housing. With national average waiting times of seven years, and up to twenty years in major cities, the issue is pressing. Housing associations, governed by the national Housing Act of 2015, play a crucial role in providing affordable housing to vulnerable and low-income groups. However, there is a noticeable discrepancy in the social housing development policies between Rotterdam and Amsterdam. This research aims to understand the differences in the municipal performance agreements of these two cities, considering both municipal context and policy. The study delves into the municipal policy context, policy differences at the municipal level, and a comparative policy analysis of the performance agreements in both cities. Through in-depth interviews, the research seeks to explain the variations in the performance agreements from the perspective of municipal context and policy. The findings reveal that both the municipal policy context and the social housing policy play a fundamental role in explaining the differences in performance agreements between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Despite operating under the same national Housing Act, the cities’ distinct social compositions, political climates, and financial capabilities have led to notable differences in their agreements. Amsterdam’s approach is characterized by a focus on tenant welfare and inclusivity, while Rotterdam adopts a more result-oriented, efficiency-driven approach, with a specific emphasis on the mid-range rental segment. The influence of umbrella organizations and the absence of a centralized tenant association in Rotterdam also contribute to the disparities. This study contributes to the understanding of municipal performance agreements in the context of social housing, providing insights that could be useful for policy development and evaluation. The methodology used in this research could also be applied to other Dutch municipalities, offering a comprehensive framework for analyzing social housing policies and performance agreements.

Almeria is a geographical point of arrival and passage of African migrants on their migratory route to Europe. The region is home to thousands of migrants seeking work in the agricultural sector. The lack of affordable housing for these collective has led to the creation of several informal settlements around agricultural areas.

This project is a proposal for social housing as an affordable housing offer for migrants, focusing on reducing the carbon footprint of buildings. For this, the design focuses on climate adaptation with low tech strategies and the implementation of materials from the context.

As opposed to the dependence on mechanical installations for acclimatisation, the project is inspired by the vernacular architecture of the area to adapt to the arid desert climate of Almeria. As construction material, compressed earth blocks are proposed, extracted in areas with microplastic contamination, in order to reduce the impact of agricultural activity on the environment.

Purpose: This thesis is the result of a problem regarding the fairness of rent- and contract conditions in the entire Dutch rental housing segment. The Dutch housing market is under a lot of pressure due to scarcity, high demand in housing and rising prices and this has led to problems. One of these problems relates to the rental segment. Due to the current tensions in the rental segment the existence of so called ‘strange conditions’ within contracts lead to attention of lease conditions. These conditions have led to the topic of this thesis as to what are considered to be fair rent- and contract conditions and how to improve them. This is done for both landlords and tenants and aims to have an analysis from multiple angles.

Main research question: How can fairness be improved for rent- and contract agreements for landlords and tenants in the Dutch rental housing market?

Methodology: For this research a qualitative method is used. This is done through a combination of literature- and document studies in combination with semi-structured interviews. First explorative research is done to create a better understanding of the problem from multiple points of view through literature and document research. This has been translated into a hypothesis on what possible implications can be. The semi-structured interviews complement this hypothesis aiming to collect data from practice to test the feasibility of the hypothesis as well as welcoming and contributing new ideas.

Conclusions: The definition of fairness in this thesis is considered to be within the range of the legal framework. This framework is derived from the legal documents that state the conditions within which must be remained to remain fair. The legal framework is presented through a categorisation of rent- and contract conditions that discuss each category separately and is supported by legal definitions and substantiations of what is and is not permitted by law. Contract- and conflict analysis point out that the fairness in the Dutch rental housing market is not in complete coherence with the legal framework. This is the case for the perspective of both tenants and landlords. In order to improve fairness different initiatives are already presented and those are taken into consideration in this research. The analysis of the problem, contracts, conflicts, initiatives and other documents in combination with interviews have led to the formulation of three instruments. The instruments that are considered are creating a New standard lease, using tools leading to a proactive government and introducing a landlord and lease register. These instruments have a specific objective to tackle a problem and are derived from the analysis throughout this thesis. Moreover, the instruments do point out that further actions are needed and suggest what those are. In addition, using the instruments separately impacts specific topics and is more vulnerable in their feasibility and impact. However, combining the different instruments and making their implications and tools work together strengthens the implications and impacts and mitigates their risks aiming at a more holistic approach to improve fairness of rent- and contract conditions.

Sports are moving away from the city centre. This is happening despite a growing need for sports, especially among young people. While sports can help create a healthy city through encouraging interaction with their surroundings and the city, they also positively affect the social cohesion of neighbourhoods. The need for sports is specifically focussed on sports in the public space and on multifunctional accommodations, allowing a more diverse and free use. As the Marineterrein in Amsterdam is a testing ground for new initiatives and architecture or use of space, it forms the ideal location for a sports infused area. The Maritime Mile embeds sports into the public space with a jogging route that runs along the edges but also through the centre of the area. A variety of sports places and functions lie adjacent to the one mile long route. A large sports building with swimming pool and a smaller 24/7 changing facility, a swimming dock with changing facilities, bathrooms and showers for prolonged stay, a diving tower with a viewing point, a small skate park, a football field with a viewing area and a parklike area with an interactive fountain together make up a diverse program, offering activities to many different users. Water is used throughout the plan to make the design more sustainable and create a more comfortable and pleasant experience.

The thesis tries to find solutions about increasing space efficiency in architecture nowadays. The research define space efficiency in detailed aspects, each aspect is explained by special analyze, illustrations and case studies. The thesis chooses work and lives as two main themes in a building for they are normally complementary in time. All kinds of work and live space are defined and classified by a list of characters (which includes use time during a day, publicity, stuffs in space, etc.) After space analyzes and functions analyze the paper combine these two aspects together and provide a series of special layouts to adapt different needs. All these researches are done in typological way to make sure the result can be used in other place rather than just the context. Designing a new type of construction that can be used during whole day is then possible, based on the output of the paper and the situation of the context and environment.

Recreation from the forest is a project from the graduation studio Architectural Engineering at the Delft University of Technology. This research and design project explores local energy potentials from the forest. The project is set in the context of IBA Parkstad, which is an area that was part of the former mine region in the province of Limburg. IBA stands for Internationale Bau Ausstellung and architects were invited to come up with innovative thoughts and projects to give this region an economic impulse. The project specifically focused on the Brunssummerheide. A nature area with a characteristic mining and extraction history.
After the mines closed in the seventies different recreation places in the area disappeared and the forests lost their production function. This project demonstrates how local materials and the landscape could be used in a smart way to reintroduce a recreation place using a lowtech approach.
The project proposes several spa pavilions made of local wood and powered by local biomass from the forest. Wood and biomass can be harvested locally to fill up the base for the pavilions. These bases function as wood compost heat exchangers, a principal from the French inventor and gardener Jean Pain. These can be used to heat the floor, baths and showers of the spa pavilions. That means a unique experience for visitors. Enjoy the forest spa with energy from the forest!
The core of the pavilions is made of stacked pine wood, that was formerly used for the support of the mines. The core facilitates the program of the pavilions and refers to the old mining history of the area.