Dennis Tran | Gemeente Rotterdam

Introduction
My name is Dennis Tran, currently I am working at the Municipality of Rotterdam as project secretary. Last January (2021) I graduated from Management in the Built Environment in the subject of CLT – Community Land Trust (collaborative housing). The project was individual, which made it challenging but even more rewarding.

MBE en BOSS
I have been active in the board of BOSS in the position of RECD in the year 2019-2020. Unfortunately the RECD had to be cancelled due to Covid, but the year was still fun and worth it. I learned a lot while preparing for the RECD which I still use to this day. Often these skills go unnoticed while you learn them, as they are not really measurable – however you will notice that you gained experience later in life.

After MBE
Before my P5 I already started my job hunt, to make sure there was something when I was finished. Covid was challenging when graduating (more than it is while working, as I can visit a lot of clients now). My laptop was metaphorically speaking staring at me from the moment I woke up until I went to sleep. However, it all worked out in the end.

MBE prepares you really well for the working life. The knowledge you acquire is readily applicable when you start working in the field. Next to this, the active participation in BOSS (committee, board) really helped with this. The soft and hard skills I developed during this time were recognized and appreciated. With the confidence I gained from this, and my graduation project I applied for a job at the municipality.

Currently
I just started in the position of project secretary – working directly under the project manager. However I have a lot of my own projects, and the project manager acts more as a coach. The work environment is great, diverse projects and a lot of trust which really helps get started. Currently I have six projects I am working on, differing in size and where they are in the development phase and their characteristics.

The work I do is for the PMB, the project management bureau – you can see them as the developers of the city. There is a common misconception that the municipality can be a bit stuffy or old, but this is not at all the case. The projects are challenging and the work is demanding and rewarding at a high pace. As we have to follow the same regulations as ‘regular’ developers, the bureau acts as a common developer but for the city of Rotterdam.

My favourite current project is the Floating office Rotterdam, I am in charge of the interior – from walls to curtains. It is nice that the project is so diverse and big. This challenges me to learn from every step.

Future
Right now I really enjoy my place at the municipality of Rotterdam. However, I have a dream to get my hands on the whole of the supply chain in the built environment – with as the ultimate goal a holding of my own. You have to dream big, otherwise you can just as easily not dream.

Tips
Remember that students are the product of the university, this means that you do not have to stress about your work. When you can honestly say you have learned your course objectives, you should not have to stress about the deadlines. The quality of your work does not always represent what you actually learned.

Besides this, you will probably never do something as academic and research as you do during your graduation. This is challenging, but can be a good reminder to push through.

Changing the glass ceiling to open doors

An exploration of the glass ceiling and glass cliff in collaboration with DWIRE .

The glass ceiling, and the lesser-known glass cliff, let you to believe that it is almost impossible for women to succeed at the top of the business. Working hard to move up the ladder, only to find out that the absolute top is being held from you by some outdated phenomenon. This cannot be true. What is it that women encounter that sets them back? In this article, we research the topics mentioned above using literature and a survey conducted with Management in the Built Environment (MBE) students and recent graduates. These findings were discussed in a conversation with the organisation of Dutch Women In Real Estate (DWIRE). 

DWIRE was founded in 2007 and has around 200 active female members, working in the real estate business. Within the organisation, the main focus is sharing knowledge, strengthening the network and creating more visibility for female real estate professionals.

In the conversation for this article, DWIRE was represented by Annieke Smith and Claudia Heimensen. 

Annieke graduated in 2012 from the master Real Estate & Housing at TU Delft. Currently, she works as a development manager at Herkon B.V. and focuses on the development of future proof utility- and housing projects. Annieke has more than 8 years experience in the construction and real estate sector, and previously worked for J.P. van Eesteren | TBI. Furthermore, she is the secretary of the board of DWIRE.

Claudia graduated from her master of Architecture at TU Delft in 2009 and is currently working at real estate developer Provast. Her focus is the (re)development of high quality inner city projects. Claudia has over 10 years of experience in real estate, and formerly worked for Dura Vermeer, JLL and Konder Wessel Vastgoed. Lastly, she is a member of the current DWIRE board.

National statistics

It is generally known that studies and professions that are technically orientated are mostly male-dominated. This distinction is already visible during the study. Looking only at architecture and construction, 28% are women and 72% are men (CBS, 2019). Here at the faculty of Architecture at TU Delft, the division is 48% women (Bachelors, n.d.) From this number, even fewer women end up working in the industries mentioned before. Only around one-fifth of women in 2019 with this kind of education was working in the corresponding industry – of men this was over 50% (CBS, 2020). 

These numbers make that the total number of women working in the building industry is not even close to the number of men. In the higher functions, the percentage of women is even lower. Next to women being less represented in the industry, this might also be due to the glass ceiling. This is a widely-known phenomenon, also in the building industry. This term is defined by Oxford Languages as ‘’an unacknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities’’.

Survey results

Before the conversation with DWIRE, the survey results showed that within a total of 54 responses (31 female, 23 male), 78% of the respondents are still students. Of the respondents 78% is familiar with the term the glass ceiling; the glass cliff is less known, only 32% know this phenomenon.

After the master track MBE, alumni mostly end up working in the building and real estate development sectors, project management, consultancy, in the (not-for-profit) housing sector, and in the urban development sector (TU Delft, n.d.). This will be the main industry covered in this article, in the Netherlands.

It is affecting minorities and women around the globe and through different industries in their professional careers. In a world like the building industry, the glass ceiling can be particularly frustrating when working your way up the career ladder. This frustration, and possible fear of not succeeding, is something that is already on the minds of students. From the survey it becomes clear that 74% of women expect to encounter the glass ceiling, while 21% of male respondents expect  to encounter it. Put simply, the majority of women expect the glass ceiling. A reason for this given is that the real estate world is still really a man’s world, and this is difficult to change. Moreover, there is the matter of combining a career with being a mother. Is it possible to continue a career as a mother at the same pace of your peers? However, a different opinion is also present. Here is no concern for the glass ceiling, as being self-confident and driven will help to eliminate the threat. This compliments the thoughts that the ‘man’s world’ will have changed by the time of graduation of current students.  

DWIRE

The conversation with Annieke Smith and Claudia Heimensen from DWIRE opens with this concept of a ‘man’s world’. A dad picking up his kid from school is perceived as a changing society – but a mum working full time and providing for her family makes her a bad mom. How come we are still stuck with these prejudices? This really specific perception of good versus bad needs to be broken, the traditional patriarchal role models are not something to hold on to.

Both women from DWIRE were once at the beginning of their career mistaken for the lady serving coffee during a meeting and had to prove themselves worthy afterwards. They explain that the mistake does not mean that the men in the meeting do not respect you – you just have to prove yourself harder because you are of a different gender. Women have to put an extra step in, cannot permit themselves to be shy, and they have to be active in conversation and tell people why they are present in this meeting. Let us not forget that a young man has to prove himself in the industry as well, and they need to work just as hard. However, the positive side for him is that the patriarchal rules are in his favour, and so he will not be asked to serve coffee and to explain his role at the table. 

The fact that the majority of women in the survey expressed concern for the glass ceiling raises concern, as agrees DWIRE. Why be afraid of something you do not know yet, why not fight for your place? Because you should not have to, but here we are. DWIRE’s advice would be to not be scared to fail. Just try, and do not blame the glass ceiling the instant you fail. Your learning curve is defined by failure, not you, and new opportunities present themselves afterwards. If you are unsure of yourself, remember that bringing yourself out of your comfort zone sometimes is needed to achieve your goals. This might be a different approach than is in your nature or character. So will you fail when you prefer to work differently than this? No. You can work in your own way and deliver work of quality in many, many ways. A big attitude is not necessary, your work is. If a certain attitude was the only way to success, this would eliminate the majority of people, and all kinds are needed. 

Adding on to the glass ceiling, there is such a thing as the glass cliff. Again, Oxford Languages states that this term is used ‘’with reference to a situation in which a woman or member of a minority group ascends to a leadership position in challenging circumstances where the risk of failure is high.’’ As a study done by Harvard Business Review revealed, if the business is doing well, current leadership (statistically often still men), can stay on. If not, and change is needed, women are most often seen as the most opposite to current leadership and therefore deemed a good intervention and new approach to the problem (Vox, 2018; Harvard Business Review, 2014). This fact, however, sets these women up for failure in a more subtle way, as they come in to mitigate a problem that might be undoable.

How well known is this term within MBE? 51% of women expect to experience a glass cliff situation, while no male expects to encounter the glass cliff. There is awareness of the existing biases with regards to  minorities, but also a belief that anyone who is willing to work hard is welcomed into the business. It is also expressed that as you keep pushing doors open and deliver good work, the glass ceiling or cliff is a political term. 

The term glass cliff is a new given for Claudia and Annieke, and they have not seen this in practice yet. A phenomenon that they have seen is the so-called krabbenmand effect – loosely translated as the crab’s basket effect – where women get intimidated by other women and try to undermine each other. Both DWIRE women have experienced these feelings towards other women and have had women project similar feelings onto them. They wonder why – why let each other down when women should be supporting and helping each other, especially when more women are needed in the business.

This brings up the quota for a certain number of women to be hired in a firm. DWIRE explains that a quota is not always the best option – some decisions may become forced when a certain number of women is required to attain. You should not want to hire women just because of gender, you want to hire them because of their skillset. A quota will of course help to get more women in the top of business, but might also be a reason for some women to not apply for the job – as they want to be chosen because of experience and not their gender. People should make these decisions based on intrinsic motivation. 

The current developments of sustainability, climate goals, and social perspective in a long term vision are in favor of women. Often women are associated with, and have more specific knowledge about, these topics. While men on the other hand are more associated with short term performance and efficiency. The needs are changing to the long term perspective, creating an environment in which women will appear more often in strategic positions that cater to the long term need.

Conclusion

To conclude this paper, wouldn’t the world be a bit better if we would work from our motivation, intrinsic good ideas and let each other work in a respectful way? We are not there yet, as becomes clear from the sources in this article, but steps are being taken and the business is indeed changing. Until there is equal understanding and equal possibilities, women will work even harder for them. Lastly, some advice from the women at DWIRE: do not be afraid of the industry! Explore, find your strength and go for it. When exploring and growing, make sure to find a mentor. This can be anybody (check your LinkedIn already!), and can help and advise you along the way. Your network is everything, do not underestimate its importance to help you grow. 

If you ever want to talk about experiences or are in search of a mentor to boost your career, do not hesitate to contact DWIRE. Become a member after your graduation and extend your network in the real estate market.

References

Bachelors. (n.d.) Bouwkunde Technische Universiteit Delft. https://universitaire.bachelors.nl/universiteiten/Technische-Universiteit-Delft/bachelor/Bouwkunde/ 

CBS. (2020). Emancipatormotor 2020. https://digitaal.scp.nl/emancipatiemonitor2020/

Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. (2019). In een derde van beroepen op hoogste niveau is meerderheid vrouw. https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2019/46/in-een-derde-van-beroepen-op-hoogste-niveau-is-meerderheid-vrouw

How Women End Up on the “Glass Cliff”. (2014, 1 augustus). Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2011/01/how-women-end-up-on-the-glass-cliff

Stewart, E. (2018, 31 oktober). The glass cliff and why struggling companies promote women, explained. Vox.
https://www.vox.com/2018/10/31/17960156/what-is-the-glass-cliff-women-ceos

TU Delft. (n.d.). Career prospects. https://www.tudelft.nl/en/education/programmes/masters/architecture-urbanism-and-building-sciences/msc-architecture-urbanism-and-building-sciences/master-tracks/management-in-the-built-environment/career-prospects

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BOSS is looking for a new board to lead our association! Do you want to organize events for your fellow students in the field of real estate? And are you looking develop your professional skills and build your network? You can now apply for a position in the 29th board! Below, you’ll find more information on each role. If you need more information, do not hesitate and contact one of the current board members, we’re happy to answer all your questions! Interested? Fill in this form: forms.gle/kBdqnUAK1PP7Bydc7

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Chair: As the chairperson of BOSS you act as a true ‘spider in the web’. You keep the overview of our association and make sure that all board members have the resources and support they need to get the most out of their roles. You are able to focus on the main lines and do not get lost in the details. You like to ask critical questions. Are we on track to reach our targets or do we have to adjust our course? Is BOSS still carrying out its mission and vision as it is supposed to? The chairperson also understands that the association is part of a larger system and therefore invests in and maintains contact with external parties, such as senior partners, the MBE department, and other study associations. Are you able to keep your cool during challenging times and lead the association toward its objective? Then you are the one we need to fill in this role!

• Goal oriented
• Overview
• Reliable
• Representative–

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Secretary: As the BOSS Secretary you’re the main contact for all BOSS members, as well as the right hand of the chair. Together with the chairman and treasurer you are leading the association on a daily basis to provide a stable basis for the other board members. In addition to this, you’ll be in contact with a lot of external parties, ranging from TU Delft’s dream teams to student initiatives from inside BK. Furthermore, you are in charge of almost all communication, including the newsletter, and you will be the chair(wo)man of the publications committee. Are you assertive, well structured, and like to be involved in all assets of the association? Then the secretary role might be the one for you!

• Assertive
• Representative
• Structured
• Team player

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Treasurer: As the BOSS treasurer you are the financial backbone of the association, and you are mainly focussed on setting up (financial) contracts with partners and companies for the events that BOSS organizes. At the start of the academic year, you will set up the main financial plan for the year to come. You think about a realistic perspective on how the BOSS study association can maximize their income and use this income for all the different events throughout the year. You have contact with external parties, mostly companies and partners of BOSS, and you have a crucial role in the financial health of the association. Within the board, you predominantly have contact with the chairman, the secretary, and company relations. Furthermore, you’ll work with the treasurers of each committee.

• Structured
• Financial interest
• Reliable
• Realistic
• Transparent

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Education: As board member and the BOSS Education chair(wo)man, you are responsible for maintaining the quality of education and the experiences of students of the MBE master track. Together with your committee, you will ensure this goal by acting as a link between the MBE students, the MBE department and practice. Lunch lectures, theme days and other activities will be organised to achieve this goal. In addition, you are in charge of the promotion of BOSS and the MBE track among bachelor students together with the MBE department. Do you want to let your creativity run wild to maintain the quality of education and promote BOSS among bachelors? Then the education role might be something for you!

• Communicative
• Professional
• Controlling
• Creative

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Real Estate Career Day: As board member and the BOSS Real Estate Career Day (wo)man you’re responsible for the biggest national real estate career event by and for students. Together with your committee, you are in charge of the organisation of the whole event, and you’ll make important choices in the preparation of the event to create a unique Real Estate Career Day. You make a plan for the months of preparation and keep an overview of all committee members to make sure all deadlines are met. In order to have smooth preparation you maintain good contact with both the faculty, the companies and the students.

• Leader
• Professional
• Representative
• Structured
• Communicative

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Company Relations: As board member and the BOSS Company Relations chair(wo)man you are responsible for the contact with companies. Together with your committee, you contact new companies and stay in good contact with existing partners. In addition to this, acquiring companies for the Real Estate Career Day falls to your responsibility. Next to this, formal and informal events will be organized by you and your committee for BOSS and her students. Drinking beer after serious events is also important to broaden your professional network. Are you a potential business (wo)man and are a representative contact for BOSS as a study association? Then Company Relations is perfect for you!

• Representative
• Communicative
• Assertive

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Activities: As board member and the BOSS Activities chair(wo)man you’re responsible for all kinds of different activities that will take place during the year. Together with your committee, you will make sure that besides the serious study lives, students can also have some fun! Within this function, you have the opportunity to be creative and flexible when organising the events. A selection of these activities are the (after exam)drinks, treasure hunt, the Christmas drinks, the BOSS Rally, and the Gala. You will promote these activities among the students and make sure the activities will run smoothly. Do you like to have fun, be creative, love to organise, and work together? Then the activities role is something for you!

• Creative
• Structured
• Communicative
• Flexible
• Team player

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Studytrip: As the board member who organises the BOSS StudyTrip, you are responsible for the biggest BOSS event of the year. Together with your committee, you will set up a study-related trip for approximately 25 students and two professors to travel to interesting locations around the world. On site, you will visit companies and cultural highlights that correspond with the study element and theme of your trip. Prior to and after going on the trip, activities and business tours will be organised by you and your committee. So grab your calendar and block summer 2022 if you’re interested in this position!

• Team player
• Adventurous
• Curious
• Optimistic

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In the early morning of January 14th, Daniël (Company Relations committee) woke up at 7 o’clock and hurried towards the Albert Heijn XL of Delft-Zuid. His mission was to pick up the lunch packages and disperse them over a large area which beloved participants call home. Due to the incredible resilience of a recent virus, Theme day 2 had to take place online. For the second Theme day of the year CR teamed up with Ahold Delhaize, the biggest food-retailer of The Netherlands.

The day started with a warm welcome from Larissa Staal. This was followed by a short introduction on the history of the supermarket-chain of Albert Heijn and the distinction between Ahold Delhaize and Albert Heijn Real-Estate. After this fun introduction came a lecture on Ahold’s location strategy & expansion management, which was followed by a second lecture on Asset Management in which Ahold explained its own experiences through an actual case of their own. The Asset Management lecture was followed by a case regarding a potential Albert Heijn location and whether or not Ahold should invest in it. This took place in breakout-rooms and, if the later-on reactions reflect the general opinion, it was very much enjoyed by the participants! After this case a short break was introduced in which some participants, depending on whether Daniel had made it to their house, were able to enjoy the lunch Ahold had provided for the students. When the break was over Ahold resumed with a little lecture on sustainability, remodeling and the timeline of Albert Heijn showing how the enterprise evolved from a little shop into a nation-wide retailer. In this lecture, Rens elaborated on how Albert Heijn had tackled all the great obstacles and changes in society in order to become the company it is today.

Around this time Daniel had finally accomplished his mission of delivering all the packages. After this came a second case in which students were asked to brainstorm about the supermarkets of the future and what that would entail for everything regarding its real estate. After this case the results were discussed and the official part of the programme had ended. The participants were then invited to ask several questions to the speakers of the day whilst enjoying their lunch, organised by Ahold. There was little time for Ahold to give elaborate answers to the participants as the end of the themeday approached and the students were bound to get back to their studies.

All in all we would like to thank Ahold for an amazing collaboration and we would also like to thank the students for participating so actively. We hope everybody enjoyed the second themeday and we hope to see you at our next events! Keep an eye on the BOSS Instagram!

Development of sponge cities, urban renewal decision making in China, underpinning housing policy as design for values and management of low-income condominiums in Bogotá. – just a grasp of the topics covered by the Global Urban Lab. 

As a part of the TU Delft | Global Initiative, the Global Urban Lab is a communication and action platform with the goal to bring visibility to TU Delft staff and students doing work on the urbanisation on the Global South. With a team of around 80 staff and students, the Global Urban Lab works tirelessly on creating a platform that encourages learning, meeting and collaboration between universities, researchers, and practitioners in a transdisciplinary manner.

This platform is international, it focuses on the urbanisation problems of the Global South and uses its knowledge and capacity to generate solutions to the known problems. It is a space for experimentation, informing, initiatives and research. 

The Global South can roughly be defined as the areas of Latin America, Africa and Asia. This makes the topics covered by the Global Urban Lab very diverse. The last year has been filled with public events, eg. BK initiatives (1Million homes, or African Perspectives) and UTC’s (Urban Thinkers Campus – part of the UN Habitat movement). All these events happen over the course of several weeks, or months, and have more than one publication, lecture or other part to participate in. 

The last UTC, Manifesto for the Just City, focussed on the right for housing in a sustainable way. As the GUL says: “ The Just City is not only a place that allows all its citizens to live a healthy and accomplished life, but also a city that allows the planet to regenerate itself and fosters civic life and democracy, affording all its citizens the right to the city. ”

Students from over a 100 universities came together to discuss this topic and learn from lectures of professionals globally. After attending diverse conferences during a month, they wrote a manifesto, to propagate beliefs and solutions on how a Just City should be created. Over 50 manifestos were submitted, these can be read online at the Global Urban Lab website or TU Delft repository. 

Furthermore the Lab wants to share alternative views and knowledge with a positive collaboration from all over the planet, working together to develop alternative solutions for political and environmental unrest. When all the current urbanising cities are developed sustainably, a lot of the current world problems will be solved, says Roberto Rocco (member of the GUL team and Associate Professor of Spatial Planning and Strategy at the Department of Urbanism). He goes on to say that we need to listen to and learn from each other. Collaborating with people around the world brings out the best and we share challenges we need to solve together. The silver lining of the Covid pandemic has been connecting further and globally than usual – the connections were almost magical. 

Listen to the latest podcast of BOSS to hear more about what Roberto has to say. If you are interested in the topics covered, or in joining the Global Urban Lab, you can find all their information on their website, www.globalurbanlab.org. Do not hesitate to reach out to them, for more information or any questions.