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In front of you lies the master thesis ‘Retail related developments in medium-sized Dutch inner-city shopping
areas at the beginning of the 21st century’. This thesis has been written to meet the graduation requirements of
the master’s track Urban Systems and Real Estate of the Master in Architecture, Building and Planning at Eindhoven University of Technology. Since September 2022, I have been researching and writing this thesis.
During the final part of my Architecture and Construction Engineering bachelor study at Avans University of
Applied science I noticed that my interest lies in analysing and shaping the complete urban environment rather
than one single building. With this in mind, I started this study at the TU/e three years ago alongside a part-time
job in real estate development of housing. To push my limits and step outside my comfort zone, I chose to delve
deeper into retail by choosing a method that required skills that I did not yet have. For example, I have worked
with the open-source geographic information system QGIS. furthermore, I gained more experience in writing a
literature study and analysing data with computer programs I already was familiar with, like SPSS and Microsoft
Excel. This thesis has therefore taught me valuable lessons, both professionally and personally.
In the first place, I want to thank my main supervisor Ir. Aloys Borgers for his excellent guidance and support
during the writing of this thesis. His unvarnished feedback helped me take my thesis to the next level. I would
also like to thank Dr.ing. Peter van der Waerden and Prof.dr. Theo Arentze for their contribution during the
process. Furthermore, I would like to thank the company Locatus for providing the necessary data.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their unconditional support during the writing of this
thesis.