Place-making initiatives have gained momentum in recent years to establish stronger urban communities. Through place-making, people attach meaning to spaces and they become places. While place-making initiatives have traditionally been designed and implemented from top-down, more and more scholars call for a participatory and bottom-up approach, for place-making to realise its full potential in creating strong neighbourhood communities. In this context, the thesis explored how the knowledge from Participatory Design and place-making may confluence to move from spaces to places in a more inclusive and community-driven way. The main research question was: How can Participatory Design facilitate place-making in urban settings across physical space, social connections, and institutional support? This thesis presents a framework for participatory place-making, build from place-making and Participatory Design literature and evaluated using six participatory place-making interventions that were designed, implemented, and evaluated in neighbourhoods in The Hague, Rotterdam, and Cork (Ireland). The framework contains five principles (emergent, empowering, inclusive, playful, reflective) that should guide the design of participatory place-making interventions and is complemented with five guidelines to design for participatory place-making. @en

The city of Delft in the Netherlands has an international population of students attending TU Delft. This heterogeneous population is composed of several nationalities. In heterogeneity, participation is difficult to achieve. This case is no different with limited interaction among international students of these groups and the rest of students. This research study an online platform to stimulate information sharing and improves the sense connectedness among students. The platform is based on four main principles: 1) information, 2) activities & space, 3) multicultural approach, and 4) key actors. Moreover, the platform includes and aim for students to use narratives to promote information sharing. Furthermore, the platform includes features that allow the generation of activities and the connection with physical spaces in the city. The process starts with a survey to collect the perspective of different student groups and elaborate on the requirements of the platform. After the elucidation of the requirements, the next step is designing and developing the platform. The platform has international master students as users and collects information about its use. Furthermore, to complement the data, interviews helps to understand the motivation behind the information posted and the use of different services of the ICT artifact. The results show that narrative is not as relevant as useful information to stimulate interaction. Furthermore, the information shared using the platform must be useful, relevant and interesting with the intention of providing help to other members to increase the perception of connectedness and community. Finally, information including physical references of the city generates more interesting interactions.

This research analysed the effects of using an AR co-design environment as a supportive tool during design meetings, on the interaction within a project team.
Lacking interaction is a problem that occurs project wide in the construction industry and can cause diverse effects, leading to mistakes and rework. This lack often originates in the design phase due to the separation of the design and construction teams. A promising technology to enhance interaction is Augmented Reality (AR). AR can increase interaction by providing visualisations of high quality models and information. Previous research into AR applications is often theoretical or concerns other industries. This research tried to fill this research gap by analysing the theoretical and practical effects of two AR environments; an AR scale model and an AR 1:1 model. A literature review analysed which aspects of interaction were present in the AR conditions and how these aspects could, in theory, be affected by the use of AR. With this knowledge, an experimental set-up and evaluation framework were created. Experiments were performed to test how project teams reacted and perceived the technology.
The outcome of the research creates insight into the usability of AR in the design process and the benefits and possible pitfalls of adopting AR, on the interaction within the design team. With this knowledge, AR applications can be developed more specified to the design process of construction projects and companies can apply AR more effectively. The results demonstrated that the use of AR can bring several benefits to the interaction within a project team. Though, important factors influence the occurrence of positive effects which underlines the need for further research and more real-life experiments for the development and adoption of AR as a design environment.

This project explores the potential of virtual reality (VR) as a training tool at the crew safety & security training (CSST) department of the Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM). With a research and prototype driven approach, a VR simulation and its integration into the training programme are designed. This simulation aims to improve stress resilience and decision making skills of cabin attendants (CA), and create more personally relevant training.
The CSST department facilitates training to both cabin crew and flight crew on safety and security related theory and procedures throughout and surrounding the flight (in which this project focuses on the tasks of CAs). Interactive simulators are among the primary tools to convey knowledge and allow trainees to practice with a set of scenarios, from CPR and pre-flight checks to fire fighting and emergency cabin evacuations. The exploration of VR is grounded in the hypothesis that current simulations in the departments programme make such abstractions from reality that perceived realism and stress are deminished, and that VR could play a role in more closely approximating the complexity of real-life emergencies.
To test this hypothesis, a user study was conducted with CAs, comparing current in-cabin fire fighting training to a VR alternative. This preliminary design includes a full-scale interactive cabin environment, with multiple possible courses of action and contextual effects such as spatial sound and obscuring smoke. The study compares the two methods in regards to stress (task load, heart rate), performance and presence. The results signify an increase in experienced stress, heart rate and task load in VR, as well as a worsened performance: the study's participants tended to make more procedural mistakes and communicated poorly when in the VR environment.
One of the research findings is that VR is not as effective as physical simulators at training the nuances of (physical) interactions in procedures. Rather, its potential lies creating a virtual environment where a diverse set of events can occur, resulting in more complex and unpredictable scenarios. The simulation utilizes a room-scale collaborative VR system, enabling users to interact and move through natural motion. Trainers are enabled to create more personally relevant training, by easily creating custom scenarios using the 'Simulation Control' companion app, which also provides them with ways to control the simulation and communicate with participants that are immersed in the virtual environment. Finally, a set of tools is provided to spectate and evaluate performances in VR collectively.

The oil and gas industry is seeking to improve safety on its current operations procedures (Choudarki, 2012). From all oil and gas operations, Topside Installation Processes (TIP) are the only offshore activity that counters one of the golden safety rules, “do not stand or walk under suspended loads” (Peuscher & Groeneweg, 2012). As a consequence, marine companies are seeking to improve these processes through different technological solutions (Heerema Marine Contractors, 2014). TIP generally consist on the lifting of a heavy module, topside, and its placement on a fixed structure on the sea, jacket (Hee et al., 2007). Traditional positioning tools such as bumpers and guides are not suitable for these type of processes given the heaviness and big dimensions of topsides (Heerema Marine Contractors, 2017). As a consequence, part of the vessel crew is located on the jacket, under the suspended topside, to guide the positioning processes (Breidablikk, 2010). TIP imply the presence of crew members under a suspended load, which is contrary to oil and gas companies’ safety policy. The offshore industry is currently investigating ways to circumvent having personnel on the jacket during topside installations (Heerema Marine Contractors, 2014). The implementation of a camera-based augmented reality positioning tracking system could fulfil the current safety requirements. The use of augmented reality as a positioning tool is a completely new technology that has never been used before in this domain. This research explores the potential expected benefits of the use of an Augmented Reality Positioning System (ARPS) during Offshore Topside Installation Processes (OTIP). This research also investigates the system’s usefulness and the users’ system perception on its usability in OTIP. Moreover, it explores the implications and factors that should be considered in order to successfully implement the ARPS in this type of processes. The research is based on a case that relates to the first augmented reality positioning system for topside installation processes, that is being developed by TWNKLS and Heerema Marine Contractors. The research methodology is based on data collected from different experiments and interview processes. The conclusions include discussion about the benefits, usability and implications of ARPS in OTIP, and recommendations for the ARPS developing companies and for future research. Key words: Augmented Reality, Innovation, Topside Installation, Safety, Offshore, Positioning Processes.

Video games have become increasingly more popular, but few focus on physical activity. VRabl, a multiplayer augmented reality sports game, stimulates players to be physically active, while providing similar aspects as video games. It is based on the well-known and popular game dodgeball to reach out to a large possible player community and have simple rules. The major goal of VRabl though is to make dodgeball more attractive and engaging for younger generations. The game relies on two Microsoft HoloLenses to enable a novel multiplayer augmented-reality sports game. A first evaluation shows that VRabl is enjoyable for people of every age group and stimulates physical activity, while having fun at the same time.

This thesis describes the process of designing a running game in mixed reality, inspired by superhuman sports.

The process started with analysing the possible design directions in the development of (superhuman) sports and corresponding emerging technologies. For this purpose, the concept of superhuman sports is considered. Superhuman sports are activities that rely on technology for human augmentation, involve physical fitness and skills, which are played for fun, competition or health reasons.

The next step was the decision for a design direction. This decision was made to design a new superhuman sport, in the form of a running game in mixed reality, to make the running experience itself more fun and motivating and distract runners from the exertion activity. An ideation phase followed in which different ideas were considered and eventually a combination for a final game design was chosen.

The final game design Play your run! is a running game that can be played location independent and provides a virtual replication of the opponent by wearing augmented reality glasses. Thus, the running game augments the real environment of the runner. In the game, runners compete with each other in a virtual time measured race on a pre-set real distance. They can harass each other by obtaining power-up items by running into virtual boxes placed on the course in the real world. The power-ups are placed in relation to geolocation and meshed surfaces. These items, e.g., add time to the virtual time of the opponent, require the opponent to freeze, or offer protection. The type of item that a player receives from the box is influenced by the runners’ speed, heart rate and current position in the virtual race. Such dynamic game balancing makes it possible for runners of all different levels to play the game.

A tournament with six runners was organized in order to investigated whether this running game let runners experience more fun, motivation and engagement. During this tournament, the runners played the running game in which the way they perceived and obtained virtual power-ups was controlled by the researcher. In order to keep the burden of extra technology for the runners low and focus on evaluating the game experience, stationary objects and projection were used to visualize the power-ups. Based on the experience of the runners, the game rules were proved to improve performance, distract the runner from discomfort and involve the audience.

A presentation movie of a possible game scenario was create to explain and present the game play. This report provides a description of the scenario and visuals to support and explain the intended gameplay. At some points the technology is not yet developed enough to play the game the initial way. Therefore a future implementation plan and possible future suggestions are given. This report describes the process of a new superhuman sport, a running game in mixed reality. The decision for other emerging technologies or sports can result in more new (superhuman) sports, that can performed during the International Superhuman Sports Championship in 2020.

This research project focuses on the impact of lacking spatial information in the execution phase of Dutch infrastructure projects. In this research project, spatial information is defined as a combination of geometric and geographic object related information. Three construction projects have been examined through case studies and depth interviews with construction planners. As an answer to the research question, people seem to be the key. The greatest advancements on the issue of lacking spatial information currently seem to lie in the management of human errors.

Knowledge sharing is an organisational process that is essential to create and maintain sustained competitive advantage by organisations to react quickly to changing external circumstances. Participation of employees is a major challenge to facilitate knowledge sharing within organisations. Knowledge exchange channels have been developed in knowledge management (KM) systems to support the emergent social nature of knowledge sharing. Establishing communication channels between participants does not assure that knowledge sharing will actually take place within or between organisations. Knowledge sharing performance depends onhow participants use the technologies provided...@en