This research examines the impact of participatory planning on the realisation of public interests in urban regeneration, establishing an analytical framework to assess how participation shapes spatial transformations. Focusing on Taipei, it investigates the roles of public and private actors, statutory participatory processes, and resulting spatial changes. Two primary objectives guide the study: proposing a framework for assessing participatory processes and spatial outcomes and analysing Taipei’s diverse urban regeneration approaches—private-led, public-led, and social housing as a regeneration strategy. Six key questions explore literature on participation, evaluation indicators, policy evolution, implementation practices, spatial influences, and the effects of statutory methods like public hearings. Grounded in communicative planning thought, the research introduces the Inclusive Radar, adapted from Fung’s Democracy Cube, with axes for Participant, Communication and Decision-Making, Authority and Power, and Spatial Transformation. Employing case-study methodology, it integrates semi-structured interviews, site visits, meeting notes analysis, and cross-case comparisons. Findings reveal property-owning stakeholders’ dominance, marginalising non-property-owning stakeholders despite participatory processes. Private-led projects prioritise procedural compliance, public-led ones mediate via community planners but hinge on owners’ consent, and social housing fosters distrust through ambiguous participation. Overall, structures favour property rights, sidelining broader public interests like accessible facilities and green spaces. The study concludes that pre-assumed public interests restrict participation, with policy shifts emphasising property rights transfer and real-estate incentives. The Inclusive Radar offers a multidimensional tool for future applications, advocating policy reforms, capacity-building, and stronger public interest definitions to enhance inclusivity.
Human Creative Capital has become a key driver of urban competitiveness in the knowledge economy. However, metropolitan areas worldwide are experiencing diminishing appeal to young talents, with both high housing prices and poor housing quality being key contributing factors. This study investigates the decision-making mechanisms underlying young talents’ intercity migration and housing choices in China’s first-tier cities. While previous research has largely relied on neoclassical economic theories assuming rational decision-making, this study employs behavioral economics (Prospect Theory), psychological framework (Theory of Planned Behavior), and sociological perspective (Bourdieu’s Practice Theory) to examine how human agency shapes migration and housing decisions under uncertainty. Through mixed methods combining surveys and interviews, the research explores four questions following an “Aspire—Adapt—Anchor” narrative, investigating why young talents are drawn to these cities, how they navigate the housing market, and what influences their housing purchase and long-term settlement decisions. The findings extend conventional economic models in three significant ways. First, beyond traditional economic factors, the aspiration for self-actualization emerges as a key driver attracting young talents to first-tier cities, mediated through distinct psychological mechanisms. Second, their housing pathways reflect the dynamic interaction between structural constraints and individual agency, with different combinations of habitus and capital leading to diverse housing strategies. Third, while these young talents are initially drawn to first-tier cities, they show heightened sensitivity to potential losses in career prospects and housing costs, with their settlement intentions significantly anchored by institutional endowments such as public sector employment and housing tenure. Current housing situations and future migration prospects mutually shape their decision-making in metropolitan areas. By illuminating these psychological mechanisms in young talents’ major life decisions, this research suggests that policy interventions targeting psychological factors may be more cost-effective than traditional infrastructure-based approaches in talent retention.
The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector is a major contributor to CO₂ emissions and resource consumption. In response, the Netherlands aims to make the sector 50% circular by 2030 and fully circular by 2050. However, the transition from a linear to a circular economy is complex due to technical, organisational, and cultural barriers. This dissertation explores how interorganisational behaviour and routinised practices within and beyond construction projects influence the realisation of circular ambitions. This research highlights the importance of top-down support, equal partnerships, shared goals, and intrinsically motivated individuals in construction projects. Trust, transparency, flexibility, and a shared team identity further foster the redefinition of traditional roles so as to drive innovation. However, factors such as focus on short-term cost and risk aversion often hinder progress. The dissertation further combines Sustainability Transitions Research (STR) and Social Practice Theory (SPT) into crossover frameworks that capture both systemic change and everyday practices. These are used to analyse (mis)alignments in the system-of-practices around construction projects. It was found that using secondary materials often clashes with notions of quality, safety, and aesthetics. Increasingly, Circular Building Hubs (CBHs) are brought forward as answer to this problem. This research shows that these hubs can be accelerators in the transition, though they are seen as temporary rather than permanent solutions. Ultimately, no single intervention will enable the shift to circularity. Instead, multiple coordinated changes in practices are needed. This dissertation provides tools for researchers and practitioners to navigate this complexity and encourages learning, experimentation, and a systemic approach to support sector-wide transitioning.
Existing buildings are changing assets, altered in response to various external or internal triggers for change. Often, change can occur in the form of adaptive reuse – also known as building transformation. Therefore, promoting adaptability in transformation is necessary to cope with the inevitability of building changes. Building transformation is considered an effective practice contributing to the circular economy (CE) and building adaptability as a prerequisite for circular design. However, previous research pointed out that building stakeholders lack knowledge about the alignment between CE and adaptive reuse. This study aims to provide building and real estate practitioners with a guiding framework for promoting circularity and adaptability in adaptive reuse projects. A quadrant research design was used in this study to develop and apply the framework in practice. The four components of this research are four stepwise studies, namely theoretical – an integrative literature review, empirical – multiple case studies, participatory – framework co-development, and actionable – framework implementation. First, the integrative literature review contributed to theoretically conceptualizing the underlying concept of this research – the circular building adaptability (CBA), which brings together circularity and adaptability. Second, the multiple case studies contributed to extracting lessons learned about applicable CBA strategies in adaptive reuse and their enabling and inhibiting factors. Third, the participatory study contributed to co-developing a descriptive framework for CBA in adaptive reuse (CBA-AR). Finally, the action research study contributed to testing and improving the usability and effectiveness of the CBA-AR framework based on observing, acting, and reflecting on a case project.
Urban infrastructure and the essential services it provides – energy, housing, transport, waste management, and water – are fundamental for human and ecological wellbeing. As urban populations grow, particularly in the Global South, equitable and sustainable service delivery is increasingly identified as a strategy for addressing both environmental and socioeconomic development challenges. Existing frameworks for sustainability transitions often prioritise technological innovation at the expense of social, political, and organisational dimensions of infrastructure. Likewise, mainstream approaches to infrastructure development favour large-scale, centralised, technology-driven solutions, overlooking the diverse service delivery arrangements that characterise many Southern cities. This thesis addresses this gap, combining empirical case studies with critical discourse analysis to explore how community-led and hybrid service delivery models contribute to inclusive and sustainable urban development. First, it examines how academic and policy discourses reveal a bias towards technocentric, Global North-focused perspectives on sustainable infrastructure. Next, it draws on case studies from 14 cities from across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to explore the delivery of essential services by community-based organisations, cooperatives, and informal service providers. Often considered “unorthodox,” such models can – given appropriate state support – contribute to improving service accessibility, mitigating environmental impacts, and empowering marginalised communities. Finally, these findings are used to propose refinements to sustainability transitions theory, including the Multi-Level Perspective. The thesis concludes that policy, practice, and academic theory must shift away from a narrow emphasis on technological solutions or economic efficiency, embracing broader approaches to urban service delivery that can benefit both human wellbeing and environmental sustainability in cities worldwide.
