Time for timber

Time for timber: A research on policy instruments for a successful timber transition in the Metropole region of Amsterdam

de Wind, Josefien (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)

van Bueren, Ellen (mentor)
Pesch, U. (graduation committee)
Straub, A. (graduation committee)
Bucci Ancapi, F.E. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Management in the Built Environment

2022-06-30

The Paris Agreement set goals to minimize global warming by reducing CO2 emissions. In the Netherlands, the Paris Agreement is translated into policies that aim for circularity and sustainability at different governmental levels. These policies are directed at the sustainability transitions within different fields, such as the built environment. The construction sector is responsible for high levels of CO2 emissions, however, there is a big housing shortage in the Netherlands and the aim is to construct 900.000 new houses by the end of 2030. This challenge requires a transition to a more sustainable way of constructing, to stay below the critical threshold of 1.5 °C global warming. The transition from traditional housing constructions to timber constructions can arguably be a solution to this challenge. To accelerate this transition, the Metropole Region of Amsterdam (MRA) has written a covenant that aims to construct 20% of the total housing production in the MRA by timber, by 2025. This is a high ambition, as currently only some pilot projects are constructed out of timber. While the covenant might give body to this transition in the MRA, there are still a lot of questions about how different policy instruments can foster the timber transition in the MRA. Many studies have been conducted on transitions and innovation policies, and affluent policy instruments for the transition of innovations are presented in literature. However, literature lacks in presenting how a combination of different policy instruments can foster a sustainability transition. This research, which is case study based, therefore researches the different policy instruments that are or can be implemented to foster the transition of timber constructions in the MRA. The literature study presents the theories that make up the theoretical framework and give a deeper understanding of the concepts that are used. The empirical research consists of a document analysis, a stakeholder analysis, interviews with stakeholders and an expert session for validation. The stakeholders within the empirical research are stakeholders that are actively involved in the timber transition in the MRA. This research finally gives answer to the question ‘How can a combination of policy instruments foster the transition to timber housing constructions in the MRA?’. It contributes to the existing literature on policy instruments for transitions by providing concrete methods and an operationalization of the analytical framework for the development of a combination of policy instruments for the timber transition. Furthermore, this research provides policymakers with recommendations on the development of a combination of policy instruments for the timber transition, as well as for sustainability transitions in general. Lastly, this research contributes to broadening the knowledge on the timber transition, as much is yet unknown and there is a great demand for more knowledge on this topic.

timber constructions
transitions
sustainability transition
policy instruments
policy mixes
innovation policy

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d10af097-190b-4069-a074-b054976777af

Student theses

master thesis

© 2022 Josefien de Wind