Renovations of social housing are increasing in number to meet the European Union's goals of becoming energy neutral by 2050. This is realised by using a combination of building-related energy efficiency measures (eg. insulation, mechanical ventilation), renewable energy systems (e.g. heat pumps, district heating, solar panels), and their related distrubution systems (eg. low temperature heating, smart grids).

A number of parties are involved in working of these systems, such as construction companies, housing corporations, equipment manufacturers, third party maintenance crews, and crucially the occupants of these residences themselves. Of these, the residents are an often neglected aspect in the design. Tenants are often expected to be able to operate systems with insufficient support, training and guidance. This leads to an inability to realise when the systems are not working as expected, difficulty and reluctance in conducting maintenance when an issue is found. Residents have to rely on housing corporations to arrange for a solution, which takes time and reduces quality of living and energy efficiency.

This thesis proposes ten practical principle solutions to manufactures of Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems to make their designs more user-friendly. Through detailed exploration and prototyping, the thesis aims to provide feasible means to improve the interaction of residents with these energy efficient systems in their homes, thus enhancing their quality of life.

With the continuous development of society and technology, accessibility for minority groups, particularly visually impaired persons (VIPs), is gaining more attention. This paper explores ways to enhance VIP reading efficiency and experience through the design of a tailored automatic text summarization tool, contributing to the European Accessibility Act's objective to improve accessible products and services. In collaboration between Delft University of Technology and Koninklijke Bibliotheek, this project addresses the specific challenges VIPs face when accessing information in both physical and digital library environments.
This research highlights the gap between sighted readers and VIPs in skimming reading strategies, a critical aspect of information retrieval. Skimming, defined as quickly identifying the main ideas of a text, is typically a faster process for sighted readers who can use spatial cues. For VIPs, reading is linear and auditory, increasing their cognitive load and reducing comprehension. Through a detailed analysis of VIP needs and existing skim-reading tools, such as Skimmer, this paper narrows its design scope to address the identified gaps, particularly in two-dimensional navigation.
The primary goal of this research is to develop an AI-driven summarization tool that enhances the skim-reading experience for VIPs by supporting non-visual implementations of macro-structures and enabling non-linear exploration. By tailoring summaries to VIP preferences, the tool allows users to quickly access relevant sections of text, improving both reading speed and overall comprehension. The design employs inclusive, iterative, and user-centered methods, ensuring the final product meets the specific needs of VIPs. User testing and feedback are integral to the development process, refining the tool to enhance usability and accessibility.
The project also contributes to the theoretical understanding of VIPs’ cognitive processes during skim reading. It reveals the importance of designing summaries that are intuitive and customizable to meet diverse needs. By integrating generative AI tools, the tool can produce personalized summaries, progressively refining them to align with user interests. The final deliverable is a web-based application that provides VIPs with efficient and satisfying reading experiences, closing the gap between sighted and visually impaired readers.
This research advances assistive technology by addressing the lack of suitable reading tools for VIPs, particularly in non-academic, everyday reading contexts. The project fills market gaps by offering an accessible solution for digital reading materials that can cater to the unique challenges faced by VIPs. Ultimately, the tool enhances VIPs' cognitive abilities, reduces their cognitive burden, and fosters a more engaging reading experience, contributing to increased reading efficiency and self-efficacy.

Informal neighbourhood networks play a significant role in enhancing the well-being of citizens. These informal networks consist of active citizens and local organisations collaborating to organise initiatives and activities that improve the liveability of their neighbourhoods. Such activities are particularly important in neighbourhoods with vulnerable social groups, such as the elderly or those with a low socio-economic status, as these groups often rely more on local connections for social engagement and support. Strengthening these informal networks can therefore significantly improve the resilience and quality of life for residents.

The goal of this project was to examine how a digital tool could support citizens who actively contribute to informal networks, focusing on the neighbourhood Hoogvliet of Rotterdam as a case study.

The research began with a literature review identifying drivers and barriers for active participation in informal networks, forming a theoretical framework that guided the contextual research on resident’s experiences in Hoogvliet.
This contextual research revealed how the interviewed active citizens of Hoogvliet are generally experienced initiative takers, who have built substantial local social capital and capacity to self-organise effectively. Consequently, they face few significant barriers that a digital intervention might address.

A rather interesting finding was that these experienced initiative takers are currently limited in their capacity to expand their reach and involve more citizens, indicating a high demand for such activities. This demand stems from Hoogvliet’s social challenges and a lack of commercial activities nearby.

Based on these findings, the project shifted its design focus to supporting citizens interested in becoming active but lacking the social capital and capacity, which experienced initiative-takers have already developed. The contextual research highlighted areas where support for these interested, but inexperienced residents in Hoogvliet could be improved. These challenges informed the creation of a design vision, which was used to start the design phase.

Following two design iterations - resulting from evaluations with stakeholders, in which I implemented methods of participatory design and research through design - the project resulted in a final design: the platform Actief Hoogvliet.

This platform is designed to help interested residents explore opportunities for contributing to Hoogvliet’s informal networks. Residents can learn about existing initiatives and their opportunities to help, get motivated by success stories and explore tools for realising their own ideas.

For active residents, the platform is a space to showcase their established initiatives, get recognition for their contributions and expertise, and include help requests to invite residents beyond existing networks to join and help.
The thesis concludes that while a digital tool like Actief Hoogvliet provides opportunities for engaging and supporting new residents, its potential to directly support experienced active citizens in their informal networks may be limited. Existing local networks in Hoogvliet are deeply embedded in established communication channels, with strong values of autonomy and ownership, which may limit the lasting impact of a new digital tool.

Nonetheless, Actief Hoogvliet provides a valuable entry point for interested residents, helping to build capacity and confidence for active citizenship in the community.

This graduation project focuses on enhancing resident engagement in innovation testing at The Green Village (TGV), a living lab situated on the TU Delft campus. TGV serves as a field lab for testing sustainable innovations in real-life environments. While residents play a crucial role by providing feedback on these innovations, they often feel disconnected from the process, perceiving their contributions as undervalued or obligatory. This project aims to explore how residents can feel more valued and engaged in innovation testing and the broader TGV community.

The research was guided by two key sub-questions:
1. What challenges do residents currently face in the innovation testing process?
2. What factors contribute to resident engagement within the TGV community?

To answer these questions, the research employed a human-centered design approach, utilizing interviews, focus groups, and auto-ethnographic research. The findings revealed several key challenges that hinder resident engagement. Residents expressed dissatisfaction with the unstructured feedback process, a lack of clear communication, and limited recognition for their contributions. These factors led residents to undermine their roles, influenced by perceptions of how others view their contributions, compounded by the fact that their primary need is housing, not innovation.

The research on factors influencing resident engagement within the TGV community highlighted that community itself is both a cause and an effect of other engagement factors. Based on these findings and relevant literature, a strategic approach was developed to leverage community as a vehicle for connecting residents to the innovation process. Consequently, a community-based resident engagement framework was created to inform and support TGV in developing strategies and interventions that foster resident engagement. This framework is structured around four key elements: Identity, which helps residents form a collective identity within TGV; Interaction, which encourages meaningful exchanges between residents, employees, and innovators; Influence, which reassures residents that their contributions matter; and Impact, which ensures residents can see the tangible outcomes of their input. Together, these elements work to create a sense of community, serving as the foundation for increasing resident participation in innovation activities.

In addition to the framework, several actionable tools were developed to enhance resident engagement. These include the Moments of Intervention-Opportunity Map, which identifies key moments for TGV employees to foster engagement; a sensitizing booklet designed to help TGV employees understand residents’ perspectives and better align their roles in the innovation process; and a quick ideation template grounded in the framework. This template enables TGV employees to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges residents face and identify issues requiring attention. Accompanying this is an evaluation template to assess which ideas could have the most positive impact. Further recommendations involve integrating the framework into TGV’s innovation testing process and conducting additional research to evaluate and iterate the tools for maximum effectiveness. The research also uncovered interesting areas for exploration, including employees’ perspectives on community building within TGV and the influence of gender differences in perceiving empathy.

In conclusion, this project underscores the significance of aligning resident needs with TGV’s innovation goals. By fostering a stronger sense of community and ensuring that residents feel valued, TGV can cultivate a more engaged and motivated resident base, ultimately enhancing the success of its sustainable innovation testing. The framework and tools developed provide a foundational starting point for TGV to establish a more user-driven and collaborative living lab environment.

With the continuous development of society and technology, accessibility for minority groups, particularly visually impaired persons (VIPs), is gaining more attention. This paper explores ways to enhance VIP reading efficiency and experience through the design of a tailored automatic text summarization tool, contributing to the European Accessibility Act's objective to improve accessible products and services. In collaboration between Delft University of Technology and Koninklijke Bibliotheek, this project addresses the specific challenges VIPs face when accessing information in both physical and digital library environments.
This research highlights the gap between sighted readers and VIPs in skimming reading strategies, a critical aspect of information retrieval. Skimming, defined as quickly identifying the main ideas of a text, is typically a faster process for sighted readers who can use spatial cues. For VIPs, reading is linear and auditory, increasing their cognitive load and reducing comprehension. Through a detailed analysis of VIP needs and existing skim-reading tools, such as Skimmer, this paper narrows its design scope to address the identified gaps, particularly in two-dimensional navigation.
The primary goal of this research is to develop an AI-driven summarization tool that enhances the skim-reading experience for VIPs by supporting non-visual implementations of macro-structures and enabling non-linear exploration. By tailoring summaries to VIP preferences, the tool allows users to quickly access relevant sections of text, improving both reading speed and overall comprehension. The design employs inclusive, iterative, and user-centered methods, ensuring the final product meets the specific needs of VIPs. User testing and feedback are integral to the development process, refining the tool to enhance usability and accessibility.
The project also contributes to the theoretical understanding of VIPs’ cognitive processes during skim reading. It reveals the importance of designing summaries that are intuitive and customizable to meet diverse needs. By integrating generative AI tools, the tool can produce personalized summaries, progressively refining them to align with user interests. The final deliverable is a web-based application that provides VIPs with efficient and satisfying reading experiences, closing the gap between sighted and visually impaired readers.
This research advances assistive technology by addressing the lack of suitable reading tools for VIPs, particularly in non-academic, everyday reading contexts. The project fills market gaps by offering an accessible solution for digital reading materials that can cater to the unique challenges faced by VIPs. Ultimately, the tool enhances VIPs' cognitive abilities, reduces their cognitive burden, and fosters a more engaging reading experience, contributing to increased reading efficiency and self-efficacy.

Background
This project belongs to the IEBB project, which advocates for the renovation of ‘zero energy houses’ (ZEH) that synergize insulation and heat pump systems for energy conservation. The ZEH’s energy-saving efficiency depends on user behaviour. From a systems perspective, improper human interactions hinder energy saving, while occupants may find system responses that conflict with their preferences. This study delves into these conflicts and crises, highlighting the variance in post-occupancy adaptation influenced by individual perceptions and familial interplay. The project’s zenith aim is to tailor adaptation, ensuring co-performance between the heat pump
system and households.
Key Insight
In researching residents’ responses to the ‘routine crisis’ introduced by a new system, I discovered that these ‘crises’ could be productive, stimulating household engagement and fostering harmonious interactions with ZEH systems. This insight gave rise to the concept of the ‘enacted interface’ - a distinctive bridge between residents and their automated homes that supports the adaptation process. Through analysis, I identified elements that amplify residents’ engagement with ‘crises’ and observed the influence of family diversity on individual perceptions and responses to them. The results are manifested in two interrelated frameworks: one describing the ubiquity of ‘crises’ and another characterising the classification and impact of different elements.
Design
This design aims to make households curious about ‘crises’ and guide them towards tailored adaptations to new tech. The ‘Clock’ thermostat provides a consistent interface for temperature adjustments, while the ‘Feeling Message Board’ suggests lifestyle tips based on the user’s emotional input and changing scenarios. Both reinforce the system’s ability to communicate contextual and real-time status, motivating users to actively engage with its functions. Additionally, the design stimulates family discussions about the indoor environment and promotes collaborative responses to ‘crises’. Through co-performance of the system’s dynamic feedback and the household’s proactive exploration, the aim is to facilitate tailored adaptation.

Our society is becoming increasingly aware of the necessity of inclusion. However, some individuals are frequently not heard or understood and, therefore, not (yet) included in design projects and designs. Designing inclusively requires a good understanding of the abilities and experiences of a diverse group of people to strive for an inclusive design. This can be achieved when designers partner up with people while considering the full range of human diversity to design for their desired participation in society. Including these individuals in the design process will benefit a much broader audience.

For this project, I researched the context of Inclusive Design activities by Industrial Design Engineering students at Delft Technical University. I studied the perspectives of students regarding their experiences with Inclusive Design projects. Findings reveal that students do not experience Inclusive Design as a learning process. They are afraid to make mistakes and mainly work towards the final design. Additionally, students experience barriers to starting Inclusive Design activities, such as their insecurities, uncertainties, moral aspects, time pressure, and high expectations. To break down these barriers, students express the need for support and information that they can directly apply to feel better prepared for the activities because they would like to work from existing knowledge rather than explore and discover it themselves. While there are tools to support Inclusive Design projects, they do not consist of fixed, predetermined steps that can be followed, which means they cannot be applied literally, and require students to experiment.

To allow students to explore Inclusive Design activities, a safe learning environment has to be created to reduce the barriers. This should ensure that each team member feels safe, supported and comfortable exploring during an Inclusive Design project.

The project’s research and design activities resulted in the co-design of a refocusing of the Master elective Inclusive Design. During my graduation project, an edition of the Inclusive Design elective ran in which several interventions were implemented based on my project findings. These interventions aim to break down barriers to exploring Inclusive Design (activities) by establishing a safe learning environment for students. Additionally, I designed a workbook for students that bundles and serves as a tool to lower the barrier. The workbook provides reflective exercises for students to process information throughout an Inclusive Design project iteratively.

The Netherlands has been facing a crisis in its asylum trajectory, with the overloaded application center in Ter Apel drawing attention to the country’s migration system. While a limited capacity in Ter Apel is one of the first hurdles asylum seekers face, it is only the start of a long trajectory that can take years to navigate. Although recent changes in the Civic Integration Act are seen as a step in the right direction - with a greater focus on personalized integration and municipal responsibility for guidance - critics argue that the process still lacks support for newcomers to build a social network and participate in society, leaving them struggling to fully participate in Dutch society (Frissen, 2021).It has been stated that the existing Dutch asylum procedure can frequently obstruct the formation of a sense of belonging in the new environment, thus impeding the process of integration. (Afdeling Buitengewone Zaken & OpenEmbassy, n.d.)
This project systemically researches the current Dutch asylum procedure of newcomers in the Netherlands through a social lens with the aim to explore and improve their integration process in the neighborhood by focussing on the sense of feeling at home (NL: thuisgevoel).
The research is conducted into two parts: the journey towards a new home and its conflicts and the neighborhood as a new home and its opportunities.
As the asylum chain is a trajectory with many steps, layers and stakeholders; it is a complex system and will be approached as such. A method designed to take on complex problems is the Transition Design Method (van Ael et al., n.d.) which will be used as a framework for the first part of the project. Part one includes numerous interviews with stakeholders and literature research. As an outcome, it defines ten important factors of feeling at home (referred to as building blocks) and reveals the things that happen in the asylum procedure that hinder this feeling. Seven conflicting areas (referred to as tension fields) are defined that occur during this process.The second part explores the neighborhood as a new home and investigates opportunities to enhance newcomers’ sense of feeling at home. The neighborhood Bospolder-Tussendijken (BoTu in short) is chosen as case-study due to the clients presence in this area. The client of this project is the Field Academy (NL: Veldacademie); a Rotterdam-based research platform for socio-spatial urban development. It has gathered a broad amount of knowledge on this specific neighborhood as an outcome of monitoring its activities as part of Resilient BoTu 2028, a programme that aims to drive significant improvements in the area and transform it into Rotterdam’s first resilient community within ten years. Context-specific information was gathered through a field study in the neighborhood and a participatory session with newcomers themselves. By addressing the conflicts that were found in the housing process and translating those to opportunities for newcomers in BoTu, these findings have been used as starting points to propose three design directions.
The outcome of this project is the development of Een kijk in de wijk (ENG: the Neighborhood Navigator): an interactive maquette of the neighborhood that gives newcomers insight into the offer of community centers, activities, key figures and developments of Bospolder- Tussendijken through audio stories. Leveraging existing networks of locals and initiatives, the intervention aims to promote inclusion and encourage participation among newcomers. By involving newcomers in local initiatives, it seeks to facilitate connections, collaborations, and a greater sense of community.
This research project is intended to contribute to a deeper understanding of the integration trajectory of newcomers in the Netherlands and offer practical insights and interventions to enhance their sense of feeling at home in their new neighborhoods.

Imagine going to a bar to meet your friends. When you arrive you try to spot them in a room filled with people, but your view is blurred which disables you from recognizing your friends. How would this make you feel? People that are blind or have low vision (PBLV) are all around us and can be found in any context of life. Just like sighted people, they feel the need to attend to social situations. However, socially navigating themselves, meaning finding and navigating toward familiar people around them, can be more challenging for them due to missing sight.

Literature describes that having a visual impairment can greatly impact your social life (Brunes et al., 2019; Desrosiers et al., 2009; Grow et al., 2015; OehlerGiarratana & Fitzgerald, 1980). This was confirmed by PBLV, during interviews that were executed in advance of the project. There seems to be a gap in exploring how design could help PBLV with the challenges they experience in their social life. With a participatory approach, this project attempts to contribute to filling this gap. During the project, the goal was to ‘develop a supporting device that makes PBLV feel more at ease in social situations’.

Interviews and shadowing sessions with PBLV, and a literature study resulted in the definition of eight areas where PBLV experience challenges in their social life. Together with studying the technological developments in the field of social life of PBLV, resulted in composing the design goal to: ‘Design a tool that allows PBLV to improve personal social navigation. Helping them to find and identify familiar people around them in social settings.’

With this design goal and the conducted research in mind, the conceptualization phase followed. During this phase several concepts were generated, (rapid) prototypes were created, and additional tests and studies were executed. Knowledge gathered from this phase resulted in the design of the final concept called ‘Sofi’.

‘Sofi’, the social finder, is an application and add-on for the Apple Watch which supports PBLV in their social navigation. It does so via communicating the identity, and location of familiar others nearby through vibrations. In addition, it helps PBLV to navigate towards these familiar others when desired.

Based on prototyping and testing elements of the final concept, and gathering feedback from PBLV, ‘Sofi’ seems to be a promising concept that could have potential for further development. The findings of this project, in particular, the research on social challenge areas for PBLV, and the design exploration can contribute to the knowledge of using design to help PBLV tackle the challenges they experience in their social life.

This thesis explores the challenges faced by students with vision impairment in accessing visual educational content, with the goal of designing an inclusive tool to enhance their learning experience. Adopting a human-centered design approach backed with value-sensitive design, the research methodology combined qualitative and quantitative techniques including interviews, surveys, and design ethnography. These methods provided insights into the lived experiences of visually impaired students, revealing difficulties in comprehending complex visual data and feelings of exclusion from the academic community.

The design process was structured around four key phases – Exploration, Ideation, Iteration, and Implementation. The Exploration phase involved in-depth user research to identify needs and values. Ideation generated numerous concepts, with a focus on converting visual content into accessible multisensory formats. Iteration prototyped and tested these concepts to refine the designs based on user feedback. Finally, Implementation delivered the high-fidelity prototype – an AI-powered platform called “InsightSpace” that integrates with the Brightspace LMS.

Key features of InsightSpace include the “InsightOut” tool which leverages AI to interpret and narrate visualizations, and the Envision Ally community portal that facilitates collaborative learning. The concept aligns with design values like accessibility, inclusiveness, personalization, and community identified through the research. Evaluation metrics focus on usability, user satisfaction, and platform effectiveness in conveying visual information.

The thesis concludes that InsightSpace demonstrates the potential of inclusive design and assistive technology in transforming educational experiences. It underscores the importance of multifaceted research and continuous user involvement in developing empathetic solutions.
The platform marks progress in the mission to create learning environments where students with vision impairment can thrive alongside their sighted peers.

The Netherlands is confronted with a formidable challenge in the transition away from natural gas in the built environment. In this challenging landscape installation companies have an opportunity since they are often perceived as natural points of contact by residents to further aid the acceleration of the energy transition. However, installation companies currently often don’t manage to deliver positive experiences for residents.

Exploring the potential of Customer Journeys as a valuable tool to improve resident experiences, this thesis uses the customer journey as a framework to explore how installation companies can deliver improved experiences to residents. To this end, a research gap is identified in the lack of sources offering guidance on the optimal implementation of the customer journey into a company’s processes.

To start addressing this gap and provide guidance for companies, the thesis details a typical customer journey, shedding light on pain points experienced by residents during sustainable renovations with insights gained from industry literature. This overview shows that despite overall resident satisfaction, avoidable unfortunate experiences persist in the resident journey. The thesis proposes that installation companies could benefit from expanding their focus from the initial phases of the customer journey, such as orientation and choosing a solution, to later phases, such as living in a renovated home, to reduce failure costs and adopt a more holistic approach.

Examples from practice, potential solutions and insights into the challenges installation companies face emerge from analyzing semi-structured interviews with industry experts.

In conclusion the thesis presents a design concept encouraging installation companies to integrate more resident feedback into their design phase, fostering a more iterative approach. This proposal aims to start bridging the existing gap, empowering installation companies to navigate the complexities of sustainable renovations with enhanced customer-centric practices.

In the recent years, many older buildings are being transformed into more sustainable zero-energy housing. However, next to its advantages, there are many challenges that still have to be tackled. One of the main ones is the mismatch between residents’ expectations and systems’ functioning. This report analyses the specific case of a demo-apartment in Reigersbos, Amsterdam and applies an Inclusive design perspective with a focus on visually impaired residents. The main goal is to develop a solution that will decrease the gap between residents and systems. Through literature research, user interviews and field research of the demo apartment, the challenges of the case are defined from a human-centred design perspective. Then, the accessibility limitations are identified on the basis of the conducted accessibility research. Different Inclusive design tools and suitable approaches for designing together with visually impaired users are described. As a result, three design interventions are proposed. The first one is targeting the stakeholders, responsible for choosing the systems and products in a renovation. It is a Booklet that provides specific guidelines and recommendations for the decision-makers to follow. Its aim is to help them improve the outcomes of a renovation. While this tool still has to be evaluated in the projected use scenario, according to interviews with experts, it is a much needed product. The other two proposals are concepts called ‘Tactimap’ and ‘Breathing Walls’ which embody the main user needs identified during the research phase. Their target group are the end users, namely visually impaired and the wider public. The evaluation confirmed that the ‘Breathing Walls’ concept has promising potential for future development. ‘Tactimap’ on the other hand turned out to be less prospective at this moment. The exploration of the three concepts contributes knowledge to the field of zero-energy renovations and Inclusive design. In addition, the recommendations from the booklet can be applied immediately in the renovation of Reigersbos so that it becomes better fitting to users’ needs.

Citizens experience a growing gap between their lived world and that of governmental institutions. The historical low turnup rate of last municipal elections in Rotterdam, 39%, reflect the low trust people have in the municipality and how they feel unrepresented by the city council. Because of this, municipalities are striving to bring politics closer to citizens and are increasingly working more participatory; including citizens in city- and policy making.

The public good became something that is not created publically anymore. The interaction between the municipality and citizens is characterised by distance: civil servants are used to design services without citizens and citizens are used to a municipality that does its own thing. Both are not used to approaching each other in order to collaboratively make better public spaces, services and policies. If the municipality does not put effort in finding new ways to actively invite people to participate the distance will become bigger, making cities less inclusive and neighbourhoods less liveable.

Participatory activities strengthen the social network of people within a neighbourhood and through this a neighbourhood becomes more resilient. Also through a stronger local network, people tend to engage more in participatory activities. It’s an ongoing challenge for the municipality to include less obvious citizens in this local network of participation processes. The municipality should be a facilitator of community building and actively approach people in order to connect to them.

The Wijkbox concept is an intervention that combines these social and participatory aspects. In this box, citizens can leave their opinion, dreams and concerns about the neighbourhood. The box is handed out by civil servants in the neighbourhood and later passed on from citizen to citizen. As the boxes travel through the neighbourhood, more opinions are collected, more social connections are formed and new people enter the local network. The Wijkbox is a starting point for collaboration related to the topics proposed in the boxes. It allows civil servants to approach citizens more personally and provides citizens an accessible way to form their opinion about the neighbourhood, possibly stimulating them to join other participatory activities.

The Wijkbox was tested in two pilots with both citizens and civil servants. The Wijkbox shows potential in reaching ‘not-yet-active’ citizens and stimulating social connection within the neighbourhood. Citizens evaluated the form of participation as positive and civil servants were enthusiastic about the personal approach the Wijkbox initiates. At the moment, the concept is being implemented by the municipality in two local projects. It shows that the concept can potentially contribute to the more local approach that the municipality wants to take. The results of these experiments, which will be available after this graduation project, will show whether the concept benefits real-life projects and if it contributes to a long term relationship forming between Rotterdammers and the municipality.

ENERGE is a research project working on managing energy consumption at the school level for sustainability. It is looking for solutions that extend data interactions to the field of behavioral change while taking both energy use and people’s comfort into account.
This graduation project explores how to communicate information related to indoor climate and energy to motivate secondary school students to save energy through social dynamics at school. The final design of this project is a digital application that promotes sustainable behavior among students.
In the exploration phase of the project, extensive user research including co-design sessions with users and literature review into the topic of social dynamics between students and their attitudes towards sustainability helped to understand users comprehensively. It revealed most students don’t have the motivation to contribute to energy conservation for the school. Yet, there is intensive social interaction within student cliques which is a potential means to motivate students to engage with sustainability. Further research through context study of the technical infrastructure and literature review into indoor climate science and its relationship with users narrowed down the solution space for the next defining phase. Based on the exploration, the design goal was defined and followed by the iteration phase. A series of design prototypes, based on the information communication method, was created and tested with the participants to inform the final design.
The final concept PROMOTIVATE is an interactive application that motivates secondary school students to act on sustainable actions in the school context. It features group-based competitions, sustainable actions, and information related to indoor climate and energy. The application enables students to take action and contribute to sustainability at school through teamwork in a competitive manner.
A clickable application was evaluated with participants using qualitative methods of observation and interviews, and quantitative methods of survey. It is experienced as motivating and encouraging for participants with an easy-to-use interaction. Participants were motivated and encouraged by diverse features of the final concept. The practical information provided in the application related to detailed descriptions of the energy-saving actions was clear for participants. They also motivated each other in the group.
The design research and practice conducted in this project prove that social dynamics can play a big role in engaging users with the topic of energy conservation. Furthermore, it showed that the information on indoor climate and energy can be used to evoke motivation and confidence, which offers interesting directions for future work. To be more specific, the research suggests the potential for further development of the functioning system that links to the energy use data and the indoor climate data in ENERGE data dashboard to make sustainable actions more down-to-earth.

This thesis takes an inclusive design approach to understand the mismatches between people with visual impairment (PVIs) and the current payment infrastructure in the Netherlands. The research applies existing Inclusive Design and general UX design methods to the context of payment to reveal latent user needs and co-design solutions. Design for Emotion and Interaction Design methods were used to help the designer envisage and evaluate desirable payment flows. Moreover, while this project aims to improve payment accessibility for PVIs, it also serves as a case study to apply Inclusive Design methods to the context of payment.
The research reveals the inaccessibility interfaces of the current payment system often force PVIs to skip important steps of their payment, such as confirming the final amount. Moreover, POS machines and kiosks afford very different experiences for PVIs and sighted people. As a result, when PVIs seek help from sighted people, they often receive unreliable and inaccessible information. The project results in a secure payment transaction design proposal in which PVIs can experience control.

It’s beneficial to involve residents in the design of the renovation plans of their own homes. This leads to more energy efficient, healthy and comfortable homes due to the removal of mismatches between the resident and their home. It also results in an easier approval process thanks to the increased ownership and a more fair process. I propose a set of five interventions to accomplish this: 1. a survey session to understand current mismatches, hopes and worries 2. a printed renovation guide explaining the changes to the residents’ experiences 3. a tour of a demo apartment focussed on experiencing the new installations 4. a co-creation session together with residents and the renovating party 5. and the communication of the resulting changes. This should solve mismatches which might otherwise remain because the plans ignore existing issues. It also prevents extra mismatches where the new installations do not match the behaviour of the residents. These interventions are designed based on research in the context of a renovation in Reigersbos (Amsterdam) for the Energie Lab Zuidoost. I interviewed and observed residents in a demo apartment, on the street and in their homes, sometimes aided by prototypes or ethnographic probes. I combined those findings with theory from literature and insights from experts I interviewed. The resulting knowledge contributes to our understanding of apartment mismatches and communication surrounding sustainable renovations. The interventions fill a gap of concrete tools to involve residents. Together, it helps us in making these kinds of renovations more inclusive and, through that, making the energy transition more fair and sustainable.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a serious hereditary muscle disease that almost only occurs in boys and men and causes the muscles to become weaker over time. Given scientific research thus far, they are encouraged to obtain and maintain an active lifestyle. This may help delay the symptoms of the disease and help preserve their upper and lower extremity functionalities for a longer period.

Yumen Bionics, a Medtech startup, has developed a passive (motorless) exoskeleton that supports the males’ arm movements and collects data regarding the exact positions of both arms over time. As the exoskeleton is designed to especially benefit males aged 12-18, they will be considered as the target user group for this project. Since the exoskeleton has embedded sensors, Yumen Bionics yearned to investigate how they can give feedback to users and what type of feedback would motivate them to keep moving.

This project aimed to apply Research through Design and co-creative approaches in order to explore ways in which a motivating data interaction scenario can be designed. These approaches foster iterative prototyping efforts and involve potential end-users in the design process. Throughout the entirety of the project, the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a theory of human motivation, was used as inspiration during design development and as an evaluation tool.

Since little was known about a males’ true motivations and behaviors behind interactions with healthcare services, the first phase of the project included a thorough user research cycle. One of the most prominent findings was that there is a disconnect between a male’s extrinsic and intrinsic motivations towards movements that are necessary for their health and wellbeing. It was hypothesized that Serious Games (digital games that can help facilitate physical activity) and/or Digital Twins (a digital representation of the user’s health status in real-time) may be an appropriate way of visualizing the data. The second phase focused on iteratively prototyping and testing these visualizations. This helped gain knowledge regarding users’ motivations and on design functionality, aesthetics, and practicalities.

Given gathered insights, the last phase in the project aimed to bridge all the learnings and design a mobile application that can be seen as a valuable addition to the exoskeleton. This app, also known as “Exo-Pal”, provides meaningful feedback to the user regarding their everyday movement and is perceived to motivate them to move an optimal amount. Through the use of daily goals (moving thirty minutes per day), reward systems (receiving daily and ‘special’ badges), evolving visualization content and storylines, and Digital Twin technology (that takes the form of a ‘Pal’), it can be predicted that these main features can help maintain a user’s interest in using the product. All in all, Exo-Pal may help encourage males with DMD to reflect on their progress (or lack thereof), allow them to be more proactive about their health and well-being, and increase their feelings of autonomy.

Artificial Intelligence can extend human frontiers and complement our capabilities. This project presents AI-powered smart glasses that empower visually impaired people to achieve greater independence and social integration. Since AI is a developing discipline, we enhance reliability by providing the opportunity for reciprocal learning between AI and its users.

Inspiration for this project are the climate strikes world-wide, in which students strike for climate justice. The children participating in these strikes indicate that they do not feel heard. While striking is relevant to communicate their opinions, change can also be initiated by changing the perspective of for example parents/guardians. This led to the initial design brief to ‘help minors of the age 12 to 14 to take agency in developing strategies to decrease environmental impact in their home environment’. The first phase of the project was the research phase. Agency in sustainability consists of a combination of the readiness to change behaviour and the feeling of self-efficacy one has. One does not only have to believe in their own ability to become more sustainable, but also must believe that those efforts make a difference. The research showed that an additional motivation to be more sustainable (saving money, being healthier) was the reason people stayed motivated in their efforts to be more sustainable. This study provided an overview of factors that influence the self-efficacy and the readiness to change their behaviour, which together determine whether there is the possibility to take agency over a situation. A lack of intrinsic motivation and existing beliefs regarding sustainable habits or the value of current habits limit the readiness to change behaviour. A lack of information or highly complex information, a lack of constructive reflection, and unclear intention setting limit a feeling of self-efficacy. The following design goal was formulated: I want children of the age 12 to 14 to feel an appreciation for food when deciding what to eat together with their parents. My goal is not only to help them eat more sustainably, but also to help the family reflect on the value of current food habits in open. I determined the following desired characteristics: surprising, appreciative, connecting and in control. Food for Thought helps families to pick meals based on what their limitations or values are on certain days of the week instead of what type of meals they want to eat. This responds to the limitation of not making concrete plans to realize intentions. It is a card set with a mobile application. The cards have on one side different categories of values, ('quick', or 'a treat'), On the back of the cards there are recipes that fit with the value they chose. Giving the family a sustainable meal idea ensures they have all the information necessary to prepare a sustainable meal, thus making it easier for them to fulfil their sustainability goal. In this way the design bridges between intention setting and self-reactiveness and helps them discuss sustainability with the family. This method of bridging between intention setting and self-reactiveness was useful to let the families look at their food habits differently and proved to be both educative and easy to implement. Using values to provide users with a fitting approach to behavioural change could be used in other situations where a change of behaviour is fitting.

Residential housing has to become more sustainable to meet global energy goals (Silvester et al., 2017), yet the challenge is to integrate the refurbishments that reduce energy with the way people live. The context of this project is the 2ndSKIN project, which refurbishes houses to become zero energy. Zero energy houses are more airtight as a result of improved insulation, therefore ventilation becomes increasingly important. Yet, residents struggle to integrate the new balanced ventilation system into their practices. Residents use the system different from how it is intended. This does not only impact energy goals (Behar & Chiu, 2013) but can also result in decreased comfort and unhealthy situations. Hence, the aim of the project is to support residents to transition their practices in zero energy homes. The project first described the practice of maintaining indoor air quality to identify points that hinder a transition of the practice. Insights show that the lack of feedback of the ventilation system makes residents insecure and makes it hard to understand the system. Besides, associations that mismatch the new material make residents reluctant to use the balanced ventilation systems. In the concept phase, I generated ideas to improve feedback and foster desirable associations with the ventilation system. Through the iterations, I learned feedback on functioning and on the systems’ activity helps residents. It helps them to trust the system is working, understand what the system is doing and develop appreciation for it. The final concept is the feedback fan. This add-on to ventilation valves spins on the supplied air. In a natural way, it provides residents with feedback. An evaluation proved that with increased feedback, residents are able to incorporate the system in their daily routines and even align their own actions to the systems’ activity. Future steps are to make a solid prototype and develop the service around it. Besides, future design projects can continue on other identified points that hinder the transition of practices. Moreover, insights about feedback of the ventilation system and the practice of maintaining indoor air quality will be valuable, when designing future ventilation systems. In conclusion, both the final design and the insights of the project can contribute to a transition of residents’ practices zero energy homes.