The goal of this research is to describe the drivers and barriers of stakeholders that result in the (non)implementation of NEST’s (New Energy Saving Technologies) in Dutch office real estate. The energy consumption in offices is determined and what NEST’s are available in the Netherlands. The fund manager, property manager, the tenant(s)/users and their relationships are researched resulting in an overview of their drivers and barriers. Next, the EFOPC’s (Energy Focussed PropTech Companies) are analysed and how they work together with the different stakeholder at the demand. Finally flowcharts are presented for each stakeholder to ensure the implementation of NEST’s. This explorative research makes use of twelve semistructured interviews at the demand and supply side to acquire in-depth understanding of their drivers and barriers. Next to saving energy, NEST’s provide MPB’s (Multiple Project Benefits) for multiple stakeholders. These hard to quantify benefits provide the basis for the necessary collaboration between stakeholders to successfully implement NEST’s.

Humanity is facing large scale environmental challenges emerging from the anthropogenic climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are widely considered to be the main driver of the changing climate. With the built environment currently being accountable for about 40% for our total GHG emissions there is a great urgency to act and change our current consumtion patterns. Whereas new buildings are already mostly able to achieve a high energy efficiency the biggest potential for CO2 reductions lies in retrofitting the existing housing stock. Yet current interventions aimed at retrofitting our built environment often seem to remain below their expectations. Actual solid evidence on their performance is scarce and inaccurate. One reason for the lack of information is seemingly the rather simplified and therfore inadequate approach to generate feedback. In order to provide more accurate evidence and thereby facilitate more effective decision-making this research investigates an alternative approach based on a more holistic thinking and the use of data innovation.

Context - The development of urban icons has become a popular strategy for municipalities to reach envisioned spillover effects, e.g. by boosting the urban image or by functioning as a catalyst in the regeneration of an urban area. These iconic developments are not rarely associated with high public investments, which often tend to be based on ambiguous assumptions and ill-defined objectives.
Problem statement - Despite the high level of academic attention for the phenomenon of urban icons, the current state of research lacks the availability of a comprehensive methodology by which the spillover effects of urban icons can effectively be measured. Therefore, municipalities are yet unable to apply quantitative measurements to justify previous investments or to substantiate future investment decisions with regards to urban icons.This research is focused on the establishment of an impact assessment approach, as it addresses the following main research question: How can the spillover effects of urban icons be effectively measured?
Methods - A qualitative strategy has been applied in this research. A literature study and case study have been conducted to establish the impact assessment methodology blueprint, by which the spillover effects of urban icons can be measured. Based on a literature study and focus group meeting with an expert panel, the implementation feasibility of the prescribed methodology has been determined.

Findings - An impact assessment methodology blueprint has been designed to comprehensively, quantitatively and longitudinally measure the spillover effects of urban icons at a high spatiotemporal resolution. The blueprint consists of three consecutive steps: (1) The integration of evaluation in the building process cycle, (2) the development of a big data-based project evaluation methodology and (3) the establishment of a data-driven urban planning practice. The results from the measurements can be applied to justify previous investments and to substantiate investment decisions.The implementation feasibility of the prescribed blueprint is potentially obstructed by the methodological implications, consisting of the high required investments and the culture shift in the urban planning practice that the methodology implies. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the methodology may be negatively affected by a limitation of applicable data sources, as a result of issues regarding data reliability, privacy or ethical concerns.

Conclusion - In order to effectively measure the spillover effects of urban icons, municipalities should initiate a culture shift towards an approach in which research and urban planning are inseparably linked. Furthermore, municipalities should invest in the establishment of a methodology in which evaluation becomes an integral part of the building process cycle, big data sources are applied to effectively measure the impact of urban icons and a data-driven urban planning practice is established.

With smart governance, citizen participation for the delivery of services and the transformation of society to a participation society, there is an increased focus of governments on the stimulation of citizen initiatives and the usage of their knowledge for the delivery of services. What is seen more and more nowadays is that online platforms are introduced which collect, connect and help citizen initiatives for the city. Not only governments benefit from the interaction with citizens and citizen initiatives, the initiatives often need the local government for the realization of the initiative. However, for a lot of citizen initiatives, the current revenue-models and legal & bureaucratic systems are not always suitable for the citizen initiatives. So, there is a mismatch between the government and its governance and the pursuit of citizen initiatives. Besides, governments are rather slow in adapting and utilizing certain platforms. So, local governments have to find ways to guide the organization through the process of necessary change in order to be able to stimulate citizen initiatives. However, there is a lack of usable mechanism and frameworks that give insight in and promote bottom-up collaboration and participation. Hence, insight is needed in the organizational structure of local governments for the stimulation of citizen initiatives. Besides, insight is needed in the (possibilities of) online platforms for citizen initiatives and the usage and added value of the platforms. This research combines an extensive literature review on smart governance, citizen engagement and literature on citizen initiatives and online platforms with an empirical study that follows municipalities and online platforms for citizen initiatives in the Netherlands and examines the case studies on six elements: strategy, technology, organization, people, environment & success. Besides, the research includes an analysis of the usage of online platforms for citizen initiatives and their impact on the built environment. The main goal of the research is to provide recommendations on how local governments can stimulate citizen initiatives.