The Corona crisis highly affected socio-economic circumstances, and this was expected to have changed housing preferences. Understanding what needs to be built in quality in addition to quantity is key to a sustainable housing market. Hence, this thesis researched whether and how housing preferences of (aspiring) owner occupiers in the Dutch housing market have changed due to the Corona crisis. The change in housing preferences was researched through a survey inquiring expressed stated preferences for dwelling attributes. Quantitative and qualitative data of 1458 useful respondents combined showed that due to Corona, for 17.8% their housing preferences changed for one or more housing attributes, and thus their preferred dwelling had changed. Per attribute, an average of 3.4% of the respondents changed their preference. Most changes relate to working from home, which severed the link between the home and the workplace, enabling as well as causing people to move further away, and which necessitates space in and outside the dwelling. Accordingly, the crisis has had the biggest effect on the preferred number of rooms in a dwelling. The number of rooms is imperative, not the size. The apartment decreased in popularity, and the preference for dwelling types with a garden increased. The functionality which respondents seek of their outdoor space are enabling social possibilities, providing entertainment and supporting mental health. The living environment for which people are willing to move further away should provide greenery, nature nearby, space, tranquility and privacy. It appears that due to the crisis the willingness to pay has increased as housing has increased in importance. The Corona crisis has had more effect on the housing preferences of multi person households with children than on other households. The crisis has had an excessive effect on households living in highly urban places. Four out of five respondents expect their changed preferences to be permanent, in particular regarding the number of rooms, the dwelling size and the preferred outdoor space. The preferred price range is expected to change again as the micro and macro level financial circumstances change. It needs to be kept in mind that this regards expectancy of respondents and thus regard uncertainties. The results need to be interpreted with caution as the data suggests a discrepancy in the level of ideality or reality which respondents have conjugated in their expressed preferences. Lastly, the effect of Corona on housing preferences might be bigger than currently observed, since identifying Corona as the cause for changing preferences seemed to be difficult when the preferences concerned diffuse attributes. Additionally, the current extremely high macro level constraints constrain respondents to the point where their new preferences might not be able to manifest.

Homeworking can have benefits both for employees and employers, such as a productivity increase and a better work-life balance. Still, homeworking arrangements were less implemented than expected throughout the years. Now, due to Covid-19, every office worker is highly recommended to work from home as much as possible. Therefore, everybody works at home with either a suitable or an unsuitable home work environment. During this ‘mass experiment’ new insights can be gathered on the experience of homeworking and the influence the home work environment has on productivity. Employees are sometimes forced to carry out certain work activities at home that were considered unsuitable beforehand. So, prejudices about homeworking can be confirmed or invalidated and specific aspects of the home work environment that influence productivity can be determined.

For this study quantitative data of the research project, ‘We Werken Thuis’ (We Work at Home; WWH) are used. First, a literature review is conducted to have a clear overview of what already has been researched on the topic of homeworking and the work environment related to productivity. From the literature study, a theoretical model is developed. This theoretical model includes the home work environment, divided into the physical home work environment and the social environment, the satisfaction with the home work environment, and individual control variables being of influence on the perceived productivity. It was predicted that all these elements affect productivity, both directly and indirectly.

The findings from the literature review are tested by statistical analyses (N = 36,102). Bivariate and regression analyses were performed, followed by integral path analysis. These analyses showed that the physical home work environment, satisfaction with the home work environment, and individual control variables directly affect productivity. Also, the physical home work environment indirectly affects productivity via satisfaction with the home work environment. The same was found for the individual control variables. Furthermore, the individual control variables influence the physical home work environment itself as well, which indirectly affects the perceived productivity via the satisfaction with the home work environment.

The outcomes of this research can be used by practitioners to revise their current corporate real estate strategy or by real estate consultants to advise companies about their office use in the future. It fills the gap in research on the influence specific aspects of the home work environment have on productivity during homeworking.

The Pearl River Delta (PRD), as one of the fastest developing deltas in terms of land expansion and urban development in the world, is facing serious challenges related to Urban expansion & densification, urban flooding, and identity crisis. The objective of this research is to design a landscape framework and explore adaptive design principles for water resilient urban development of Pazhou. Applying a layered and landscape-based approach, the design uses a method of building up a fundamentally water resilient landscape structure, following with adaptive development structured by TOD principles and high-quality urban space principles.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the energy performance of high-rises, in order to increase their energy-efficiency. The graduation project focuses on the facade design of high-rises, studying the potential for a nearly Zero-Energy high-rise office building in the Netherlands, according to the BENG requirements. The research objective is to establish guidelines, for early design stages, for the facade design of a nearly Zero-Energy high rise office building in the temperate climate, supported by computational optimization. Based on the results of the optimization, facade design proposals for a reference building are suggested. Within this scope, a methodology is also developed that allows the parametric design, the energy performance evaluation and the optimization of the facade design of that type of buildings.