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Cities must adapt to cope with climate change impacts such as higher temperatures and periods of heat stress. Trees are widely accepted as natural 'aircon' for our cities, but precise data on how much they cool - and in particular over their life cycle - is lacking. In the project i-Tree 2.0-NL, accurate metrics for urban trees in Dutch cities will be developed and translated into databases, application software and 'orgware'.

The heat from the Amsterdam canal water could be collected in the summer, stored in the subsurface, to use it in the winter. Aquathermal energy from surface water could be a feasible alternative to natural gas, since this city counts a large number of canals and open water. AMS Institute, with research fellow Maéva Dang of the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, focuses on solving Amsterdam’s energy challenges.

The BK faculty will be represented at the 17th Venice International Architecture Exhibition with “Housing the Urban Invisibles”. A show that displays student work and educational material that critically explores alternative approaches for the design of mass housing as a key component of sustainable development.

With her thesis on investments in rental housing for middle-income households Ana Luiza Barros has won the BZK thesis prize of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK). Her thesis is about the possibilities of institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, to invest more in rental housing for the middle class in the Netherlands.

The number of new homes completed in the new-build market has been falling for some years now. The consequences for the existing owner-occupied market have become increasingly clear in the last two quarters. The falling number of new-build houses is making it more difficult for the through-flow of houses already on the market as well, which is why the supply of existing owner-occupied houses for sale is declining dramatically. Some of the owner-occupiers are postponing any relocation plans or converting them into plans to rebuild their current home. The result is an unprecedented shortage of both new and existing owner-occupied houses, with sharply rising house prices and a slightly declining number of sales in the first quarter of 2021.

Starting in November, in 10 weeks students from the Architecture Minor Archineering designed a pavilion for the Delft Fringe Festival. A pavilion where ticket sales, meeting and performances take place. The bright pink Delft Fringe Rabbit is the winning design of students Bartek Kotlicki and Ben Provan-Bessel. The pavilion design is so strong that the Delft Fringe Festival is going to use it as a new logo.

The value of the European data economy has been assessed to be €739 billion, and highly likely to grow significantly in the coming years. Especially when data is shared openly with the public, more value is expected to be created. However, current developments in the field of open data are characterised as highly fragmented. The TU Delft project ‘Towards a sustainable Open Data ECOsystem’ (ODECO) has been granted as one of the 147 projects funding by the H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie action Innovative Training Networks.

Sustainability is a high priority at TU Delft. Not only is it a common thread in many of the university’s education, research and valorisation activities - the university is also taking steps towards making the campus more sustainable. In this regard, the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment is the first faculty which offers an entirely vegetarian menu at Ketelhuis starting 3 May. When the other food & beverage facilities at the faculty reopen, their assortment will also be fully vegetarian.

Major home renovation projects often cause uncertainty and stress for the residents of social rental homes. Residents - sometimes due to a language barrier - often do not understand the impact of renovation works, find it difficult to make choices, and have little faith in the project. The use of interactive virtual reality (VR) changes this.

Strandeiland is the newest artificial island in the IJburg archipelago in the IJmeer, on the east side of Amsterdam. The island is currently being constructed. With 8,000 homes, Strandeiland is one of the largest future urban districts in Amsterdam. At Strandeiland the DemoS project aims to create an inclusive community of future Strandeilanders. Particularly exciting: new methods are explored to involve residents in the area development process.