Participative urban regeneration is a growing concept in the development of urbanism. There are also other terms describing a similar phenomenon, such as inclusive urban regeneration, bottom-up urbanism, community self-organization and organic planning. The motivation behind this trend is to seek a sustainable way to regenerate the current built environment, which has given rise to community involvement and bottom-up initiatives. In China, where planning has traditionally been top-down, participative approaches are also emerging, exemplified by Shanghai's micro-regeneration initiatives. These endeavors focus on small-scale interventions, where smaller collectives and individuals playing pivotal roles. However, development of micro-regeneration is still in an early stage. This research, through case study analyses and comparisons, seeks to explore the participatory experience in recent micro-regeneration projects in Shanghai, aiming to bridge the gap between practical and guideline-oriented approaches in urban regeneration governance and provide generalized favorable conditions for optimizing participative approaches, thereby contributing to the discourse on urban regeneration in both Chinese and Western contexts.

Despite extensive research on flood governance, there remains a significant gap in understanding how these strategies specifically address socioeconomic vulnerability within urban neighbourhoods. This thesis, conducted at the Delft University of Technology, examines flood governance strategies in the socioeconomically vulnerable neighbourhoods of Krispijn and De Staart in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. It critically assesses the government-initiated flood resilience strategies, investigating both the institutional approach and the community perception, examining their effectiveness in preparing and empowering the vulnerable communities, their ability not only to mitigate the immediate effects of flooding, but also to address the underlying vulnerabilities that exacerbate the community's susceptibility to such disasters. The research uses a qualitative methodology, combining theoretical exploration with empirical investigation through a detailed case study approach. Data collection included reviews of secondary sources, policy documents, and primary data collected by semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with key stakeholders such as institutional actors and community members. Findings indicate that while Dordrecht's flood management strategies are developed, their inclusiveness and effectiveness varies significantly due to socioeconomic diversity and characteristics of the neighbourhoods. Although these strategies generally address immediate flood risks, they often overlook deeper socioeconomic vulnerabilities. In addition, this study highlights the critical need for increased community engagement and the inclusiveness of vulnerable groups’ needs into governance processes, which is essential for improving the resilience of flood management practices. Recommendations for refining flood governance emphasise the importance of involving stakeholders, such as citizens, in both planning and implementation, tailoring interventions to specific community needs, and strengthening the adaptive capacity of governance frameworks to effectively incorporate emerging risks and community feedback. This thesis concludes that for flood resilience strategies in Dordrecht to be truly effective, a deeper integration with the community-specific needs and vulnerabilities is imperative, underscoring the need for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to flood resilience.

This thesis focuses on the critical gap in understanding and operationalizing social sustainability within URPs, in the context of private-led developers. While the significance of social sustainability is acknowledged, its application in urban development projects, especially by private-led developers, remains underexplored. This research aims to bridge this gap by exploring how social sustainability objectives are assessed and documented within the context of urban transformation projects. The main research question will be: “How do private-led urban developers interpret and implement social sustainability in URPs, and how do these interpretations impact communities from the perspective of both developers and end-users?”. The research primarily employs a qualitative approach, using literature review, document analysis and semi-structured interviews with experts and residents. Two case studies, Le Medi and The Hudsons, situated in Rotterdam's Bospolder neighborhood, were selected for comparative analysis. The selection of the projects, developed by the same developer, ERA-Contour, but at different times, provides insight into urban planning strategies and their effects over time. Findings show that both projects emphasize social well-being, quality of life and sense of place, addressing various aspects of social sustainability. However, challenges remain, including perceptions of living in a bubble and limited integration with the broader community. Despite municipal guidelines to attract new populations, integration efforts are gradually evolving, with community initiatives showing promise. Analysis of the case studies reveals the strong influence of public and semi-public parties, especially municipalities and housing associations, in shaping urban development agendas. The collaborative nature of Dutch urban governance is considerable. This collaborative nature of Dutch urban governance and its transition to people-centered regeneration underscore the importance of community involvement and bottom-up approaches. The developer's profile, exemplified by ERA, reflects an integrated approach with a focus on concept development, community engagement and on long-term social welfare enhancement. Both projects demonstrate a commitment to design quality and strategic decision-making aligned with the neighborhood context, although the approaches to social inclusion somewhat differ. The study concludes with a theoretical framework that summarizes indicators and contextual factors of social sustainability in URPs. This framework provides a valuable tool for analyzing and understanding the implementation of social sustainability by private developers in URPs. Further research is needed to explore the effectiveness and implications of these strategies for promoting inclusive and equitable urban environments for other types of private-led developers.

In recent years, there has been a notable shift towards increased citizen participation in society, both globally and within the Netherlands. Concurrently, urban development has undergone a notable shift towards a more private-led orientation over the decades. This shift is evident in the expanding responsibilities of the private sector, particularly project developers, which now extend beyond traditional boundaries. One manifestation of this transformation is the increasing organization of citizen participation by private developers, referred to as private-led participation, highlighted by the new Environmental and Planning Act implemented in January 2024. As responsibilities evolve and the lines between the public and private sectors blur, there is a noticeable convergence of objectives and actions. This growing interdependence in private-led participation processes calls for greater collaboration across organizational boundaries between developers and municipalities. Despite these developments, limited academic research and practical tools address the evolving roles of public and private actors and their collaboration in private-led participation processes. Therefore, this study aims to explore the changing roles of private developers and municipalities in private-led citizen participation processes. Specifically, it seeks to investigate how these stakeholders can collaborate to facilitate private-led citizen participation. The primary method for this study will be qualitative research, involving a comprehensive literature review and multiple case studies within the Municipality of Amsterdam. This approach will include document analysis along with in-depth interviews with developers and municipalities. The study aims to provide practical recommendations for enhancing collaboration between private developers and municipalities in the context of shifting roles, ultimately facilitating private-led participation processes. The research concludes that with developers increasingly taking the lead in managing private-led participation processes, municipalities remain crucial roles in setting the stage, providing guidance, and offering strategic oversight. Collaboration between the two requires separate but also shared responsibilities, clear role definitions, early engagement, transparent communication, clear preconditions and capacity building to ensure private-led citizen participation.

Urban transformations provide significant opportunities to foster circularity transitions. However, this potential creates a tension with the broader strategic aims of said urban transformations. Within this landscape, this thesis looks at how Living labs – a form of urban circular experimentation – influence the spatial planning practices that need to find a balance between the sustainability demands and the economic demands of space. This thesis uses the conceptual understanding of the living lab as an environment and an approach to explore the ways in which planning strategy and planning form are influenced. For this, a case study of Buiksloterham is employed. Buiksloterham housed a living lab from 2014 till 2021. It was found that the living lab managed to influence planning strategy on a specific level. Furthermore, a circularity discourse has disseminated towards the systemic levels of planning strategy. However, whether or not this living lab can be causally linked to this dissemination as a catalyst, cannot be fully disclosed. The transformative potential of the living lab is found in its ability to muster a transdisciplinary community of powerful actors that collectively can claim a space for an exemplary project. However, it depends on the professionalism of the organizational core of the lab whether this mustering of stakeholders is successful.

Hong Kong is known for its skyline and urban context, interpreted through colonial history. However, its past, present and future are entangled with that of almost 700 villages scattered across the New Territory land and preceding the current Hong Kong population. With recent proposals to further develop the currently ‘rural’ northwest of Hong Kong through the Northern Metropolis proposal, the tangible and intangible dimensions of the village society might be sacrificed to accommodate for a growing population and political interests.

The study aims to examine how traditional society is being reinterpreted in the face of change and loss, particularly in relation to the shifting notion of a village and its role within rural society. It seeks to redefine countryside conservation strategies in the context of the northwest New Territories by moving beyond the cataloguing of the past and embracing progressive, future-oriented practices. The research proposes a framework for self-managed design processes that actively protect community values, offering an alternative approach to the current revitalization strategies limited to eco-tourism and open-air museum projects.
The proposal accommodated for needs of both indigenous and ‘new’ residents, at the same time maximizing the use of existing developed land, and protecting the surrounding natural context. The possibilities of inter-village collaborations suggested through the project encourage the wider application of local skills and the protection of local businesses. Together come to be a strategy for the active preservation of rural cultural heritage, allowing for the change to achieve continuity.

Citizen participation is a practice in the built environment practised frequently in construction projects to voice the opinions of residents. However, the participation process is not a standard practice in the industry yet. With the new Environmental and Planning Act of 2024, participation will be the responsibility of the private sector within building project, embedding the participation process into the construction sector. This creates a chance to implement the process in a fundamental and sustainable manner and contribute to social sustainability in a neighbourhood. However, the lack of knowledge about participation, and only the just renewed focus on socially related goals contribute to an environment of uncertainty about how to implement citizen participation in such a fundamental manner.

This research investigates this relationship between the private-led citizen participation process and social sustainability, in regeneration projects in early post-war neighbourhoods, to contribute to the knowledge on how to fundamentally shape a participation process that stimulates social sustainability. Based on literature review, case studies and semi-structured interviews, the main question is answered:

“To what extent can the private-led citizen participation process during regeneration projects influence social sustainability in a neighbourhood?”

Through lessons learned and literature validation it becomes apparent that the participation process can stimulate social sustainability – however only when certain aspects are inherent of the participation process. The advice as a result of this research provides the reader with valuable lessons on what aspects of the citizen participation lead to a process that will contribute to social sustainability in the neighbourhood, supporting the private sector in the shift of participation responsibility towards them.

The use of citizen participation in urban regeneration projects in Western European cities is increasing. Particularly in Amsterdam, participation with regards to regeneration projects is stimulated by the city government. Although the literature shows that not all such participatory processes are of value to citizens, there is a lack of research on how value can be created for those participating through the process of citizen participation. This thesis aims to (1) develop a theoretical understanding of the values that can be created for citizens through citizen participation, and (2) identify whether and how these values of participation are created for citizens in a real-life case of citizen participation in urban regeneration in Amsterdam. Through a review of urban planning literature, four values that can be created for citizens through citizen participation are found, namely: “power and empowerment”, “social cohesion and inclusion”, “social justice and equity”, and “democratic citizenship and skills”. To explore the importance of these values for citizens at the individual level, they are studied through the lens of the basic personal values as defined by social psychologist Schwartz (2012).

Using case study research on the participatory process during the regeneration of the Lodewijk van Deysselbuurt in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, it is explored whether and how the values found in urban planning literature were created for residents. Since 2016 the Municipality of Amsterdam and housing association Rochdale have involved residents of the Lodewijk van Deysselbuurt in the making of regeneration plans for their neighborhood. Up until now (2022), this participatory process consisted of activities with different participants, and levels of participation ranging from informing, to consulting residents, to letting residents give advice on the plans. Furthermore, residents were involved through a neighborhood platform that looked at the regeneration plans at the neighborhood level and through residents’ committees that discussed the plans for each housing block. The findings of the case study suggest that through this participatory process the values of “social inclusion and cohesion” and “democratic citizenship and skills” were created for residents that participated. However, based on the results it is also suggested there was limited creation of the value of “power and empowerment” and that further research is necessary to explore whether the value of “social justice and inclusion” was created for residents of the Lodewijk van Deysselbuurt.

Since China's open door policy and with its rapid urbanisation process, modern China has been known as the “testing ground” for foreign architects, including Dutch architecture firms. The architecture practices that firms did in China have enriched their company portfolio as well as increased their international reputation. For years, being a foreign company in China had natural advantages because of huge market demand and kind clients. However, after China has experienced crazy urbanisation, with strong influence of global architecture, both the government and the citizens desire to address their emphasis on traditional culture and localised architecture. Since then, foreign firms lacking an understanding of Chinese culture have encountered development bottlenecks. Meanwhile, the rise of local enterprises and the influx of enterprises from other countries have also increased the development pressure of Dutch architecture firms. Facing the current challenges, Dutch architecture firms operating in China urgently need to improve their localisation strategy to adapt to the market changes and enhance their competitiveness.

This research accesses and integrates the existing literature, thus establishing the theoretical framework that guides the empirical analysis. Through multiple case studies and interviews, this qualitative research aims to systematically understand the localisation strategy of Dutch architecture firms in China. The localisation performance of three firms with different levels of reputation are investigated. The findings suggested that the localisation level and firm performance are relevant while also influenced by other factors, such as reputation and branch office’s function. The study concludes with practical recommendations for further reference.

In recent years, Barcelona has been a pioneer in the implementation of PRO-Housing Right policies. Unfortunately, these measures can be considered too radical and not necessarily efficient in a long-term scenario. Private landlords are at the center of this challenge, being that they are the stakeholder that might potentially be the solution and negotiate a balance between the two sides of the coin. On the one hand, a housing rental real estate market is shown that depends on the owners and investors, so its stability is dictated by the interest and the ttractiveness it has. Cases such as Real Estate Investment Trusts are the financial
mechanism that allows indirect investment to come to the city and higher tax collection that is reflected in the infrastructure of the city. On the other, big private landlords such as opportunistic private equity funds are responsible for managing the properties and, therefore, responsible for the conditions of the tenants. Which, in recent years, have been affected the adequacy of the house. In this way, the question that will guide this research arises, what are the challenges between real estate management models and securing housing rights for low-income tenants in Barcelona? Articles, policy documents, and annual reports will be investigated to explore the investment practices of different companies (to be defined). To establish a complete view of the local investment practices of the SOCIMIs studied. The research will be divided in three sections fallowing the logic of the research questions.

Urbanization, modernization, and the growth of the population put severe pressure on the current Dutch building stock. Inner-city developments in Dutch cities are limiteddue to the high density of the urban fabric. Therefore, the focus of urban transformation gradually moved from the inner-city developments to the periphery of the city. These boundary zones are often former industrial sites that are currently derelict and underused, due to the rapid de-industrialization in Europe that took place. These areas offer a unique opportunity to address the demand for housing and the space for new economic sectors. The Dutch urban areas are more than abandoned industrial sites that need to be regenerated. The presence of industrial legacy in the form of industrial heritage is a source of added value for these redevelopments. The reappraisal of industrial heritage is a catalyst effect that ensures further urban revitalization due to its societal, historical, architectural, and technological importance. This type of development is a kickstarter for further redevelopment and upgrading deprived areas.

Furthermore, the reappraisal of industrial heritage by adaptive reuse has a positive effect on the triple bottom line of sustainability. Capturing the value that is linked to the triple bottom line of sustainability is challenging due to the various components that define them. To reach sustainable development on the basis of the triple bottom line of sustainability, linkages and an equilibrium of all components should be reached. The sustainability of adaptive reuse in industrial heritage is an interplay between coping with challenges and emphasizing on benefits. Developments are always reaching for the maximum, and try to achieve sustainable development. Despite the identifiable benefits, the revitalization of Dutch urban areas also faces a myriad of challenges. Challenges and barriers encountered make it futile and hard to obtain. The financing of complex urban development, with the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage, is a major challenge. Due to the challenges and uncertainties this development faces, the cost rises with it. The main challenge is finding implementation methods and feasible and appropriate financial instruments that maximize
the benefits on economic, social, and environmental sustainability of regenerating these areas.

Adaptive reuse of industrial heritage greatly improves social and environmental sustainability. The degree to which this sustainability is improved is dependent on the perceived sustainability benefits on sustainability. This research begins to understand the factors that impact the degree of added value. Understanding these factors, the process of adaptive reuse of industrial heritage can be optimized to ensure more sustainable and successful end-products.

Adaptive reuse of industrial heritage has clear benefits, it is important that industrial heritage is continuously being transformed to preserve the industrial legacy and to cope with the pressure on the current building stock.

This research aims to understand the local governance capacity of Amsterdam Oud-Noord and discover how this area, together with its stakeholders, can improve its climate resilience through transformative climate adaptation governance. This was done by first understanding the research area, its challenges and needed climate adaptation, and by identifying the present climate adaptation stakeholders. Secondly, the governance climate adaptation governance capacity was analysed, according to the redevelopment and extension of an existing framework. Transformative governance climate adaptation governance capacity was analysed through four governance capacities; Stewarding, Unlocking, Transformative and Orchestrating capacity, and related indicators. This led to the identification of governance capacity gaps, followed by recommendations for improvement.
The findings indicate that climate adaptation governance capacity is perceived as promising, but all identified indicators show that there is a need for improvement. The most pressing gaps identified are insufficient smart monitoring and insufficient stakeholder synergies. These are suggested to be improved by increasing the awareness and recognition of the value of monitoring. Next to that, accessible general methods should be developed, enabling all types of stakeholders to monitor their climate adaptation. Lastly, our results suggest that a platform should be created where stakeholders can share and coordinate their activities and possible concerns regarding climate adaptation.

At present, almost two years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the detrimental effects that this situation created on economic and social environments of cities are still fresh and far from being over. As these issues had a particular impact on tourism around the world, government and businesses in tourist-driven cities lost their main source of income. Consequently, under these excruciating circumstances, many local entrepreneurs are not able to pay the usual high rents, hence forcing shops, restaurants, and lodging facilities to close their doors. Moreover, in these monofunctional cities, the lack of alternative markets makes finding a different use for real estate properties a difficult task, thus building’s vacancy rates are on the rise. Therefore, this research aims at developing a managerial strategy for the built environment capable of coping with the issues derived from the pandemic, while also providing relief to other intrinsic problems that these cities are facing, such as gentrification and lack of economic diversification, due to overtourism. Accordingly, by studying and analyzing the city of Venice, this research seeks to identify market trends for future scenarios in which plausible solutions can be developed and implemented. Thus, delivering a comprehensive urban strategy and policy recommendations that could help Venice and other local governments to improve their own urban resilience, in hopes for a brighter future.

Orthodox economic models often linked the size of cities to their economies. However, this changed through the last quarter of the 20th century; cities grew bigger, side by side to unemployment, inflation and falling wages and productivity (Davis, 2006). In Egypt, urban migration was considered the root of the city’s density. In the seventies, New Urban Communities were developed with strategic
visions, they deployed enormous resources and created supply for the economic and social aspects of urban life. However, today they remain vastly vacant and most of them contribute little to the region’s economy. The main research question of this research is: “How can attributes of urban competitiveness contribute to the development of sub-centres in new urban communities
of emerging economies?” To answer this question two of the eight developments around Cairo are comparatively analysed with regard to their urban competitiveness. Theories of urban economics and its spatial structure are
adapted for the context of this case-study. A new quantitative methodology is utilised to overcome data challenges in the context of emerging economies. Exploratory spatial data analysis is used to demonstrate the spatial distribution of socio-economic attributes and their relation to the resulting urban competitiveness. The comparison between city centre and NUCs is analysed to inform policies for urban growth using the framework developed in the literature review. The research highlights the importance of autonomous urban management for each NUC. This is carried out within a framework of a collaborative polycentric urban region that ensures the differentiated roles of each region. The urban competitiveness analysed shows the system of cities within the metropolitan region, and the potential emerging sub-centres in NUCs. The mapped socio-economic attributes establish the possible correlation
between urban competitiveness and access to
these attributes. They also show mismatches in supply
and demand, and shed light on particular effects of public
urban spending.

During the last decade, the acknowledgement for sustainability has arisen to meet the demands for then and future generations. Thereby, the attention has shifted to incorporate the civic demands into urban planning processes. By 2021, a mandatory integration of participation will be obliged from a governmental perspective due to the implementation of the new Environmental and Planning Act. Although there are many kinds of research on the theoretical part of the participation process, it is not yet clear which factors are essential for meaningful participation, while becoming socially sustainable as well. Besides, this study focuses on mixed-use (re)developments, where the configuration of actors is more diverse. Therefore, the main question of this research is: How can a meaningful public participation process be achieved in mixed-use (re)developments and thereby become socially sustainable? To answer the main question, a literature study and empirical study are conducted on participation processes in mixed-use area development. Two extremes of participation processes are selected for the case-studies: top-down and bottom-up. They give insight into the relationship between participation and social sustainability, the social relation of the affected public and the preconditions for meaningful participation in mixed-use areas. The conclusion of this study indicates factors as “observed mutual help”, “improvement of the willingness of affected public” and “transparency” as crucial elements overlapping the communicative planning approaches, preconditions and social sustainability.

With the development of knowledge economy, innovation ecosystems emerged and science parks as localized innovation ecosystems have been adopted as strategies of business support and technology transfer largely around the world. The establishment of science parks aims to create knowledge spillovers and work as catalyst to stimulate regional and national economic growth. However, as literature shows, although widespread perception of SPs as facilitators of linkages building of on-park actors and many empirical studies confirm this perception, considerable numbers of empirical studies have provided weak and even contradictory results. A reason why some science parks are not as successful as they are expected is the weak innovation network building environment and insufficient using of innovative resources. Therefore, this study proposed innovation network building and governance that can contribute to the interaction between different parties and stimulate resources flow. The triple helices of university-industry-government interaction play essential roles in the innovation network building and governance processed. They can provide variety of resources in to science parks, thus stimulating innovation through their collaboration. This research aims to provide a theoretical debate on whether innovation network building and governance can influence innovative linkages building of on-park actors and build a conceptual framework of the roles of university, local government and industry played in the innovation network building and governance processes.

In the past decades many business parks and industrial areas haven been targeted for urban redevelopment. This is the result of the land intensification policy implemented in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam, see figure below. This redevelopment strategy has been pushing the port westward towards the sea, due to environmental challenges (Daamen, 2007). The business parks that used to be transformed in the past, where known to contain a high vacancy rate or by underperformance. This has changed, as nowadays well-performing business parks are being targeted for redevelopment. This has stirred the Chamber of Commerce to conduct a research on the economic and public value of these areas, establishing two facts: their overall good performance and their scarcity. Nevertheless, the heavy industrial port companies are still not included in the future vision of new urban redevelopment projects such as Haven-Stad. This raises many questions that, such as: Why are these companies treated as obstacles for the development? Are they still the source of environmental pollution, or is that based on old ideas? What value do these companies represent? And how can the city increase their retainment in future redevelopment plans? In order to provide answers to these questions, a value-based strategy has been developed. This will help to understand the port companies and will function as main source for the development of alternative mixed-use redevelopment strategies.

Last two decades, the creative city theory has been the main source of inspiration for urban regeneration approaches (Krätke in Brenner et a. (eds.), 2012). Researchers like Landry, Hall and Florida stated creativity as the new engine of economic growth and urban development (Florida, 2002; Hall, 2000; Landry, 1996). However, urban regeneration approaches based on the creative city concept have negative side-effects such as gentrification and segregation, and are not able to provide an answer to the current trends of an increasing underclass and mass migration. This asks for the development of a new urban regeneration approach wherein these side-effects and trends are taken into account: a more sustainable social urban regeneration approach. Creative events might contribute to sustainable social urban regeneration by increasing social inclusion, social cohesion, social justice and spatial justice. It is not scientifically proven whether creative events could contribute to sustainable social urban regeneration, since the creative events concept is not exhaustively described in literature yet. As a result, the meaning and implications of creative events — especially their short-term and long-term effects on urban regeneration — are not known. This research proposal describes the setup of a study that aims to overcome this by meeting the following objectives: examining whether creative events could contribute to sustainable social urban regeneration, and examining what role the actors involved in creative events could take regarding creative events to contribute to sustainable social urban regeneration.

The aim of this research is to provide potential advice to district managers how to attract and retain startups into UIDs, thereby creating an innovative environment and filling the research gap about the part of startups preferences. The results of this research contain the theoretical framework of attraction and retention of startups in UIDs as well as possible advice on how to attract and retain startups in Merwe-Vierhavens (M4H) in Rotterdam.