Amsterdam Smart City

Er komt weer een Data Dilemma's event aan! Ook de voedseltransitie brengt data dilemma's met zich mee. Één van de duurzame ambities in de Metropoolregio Amsterdam is bijvoorbeeld een lokale, transparante voedselketen. Maar; wat is lokaal? Wat is duurzaam? En hoe gaan we om met data in de voedselketen? Er zullen deze middag sprekers aan het woord komen die vanuit verschillende invalshoeken naar data en voedsel kijken.

Kees-Willem en Jan Wester: Lokaal en duurzaam inkopen en de Agrifood Data Common
Kees-Willem Rademakers, docent en onderzoeker aan de HvA, en Jan Wester, directeur BDVC en kwartiermaker DVC Agri&Food, zullen deze editie van Data Dilemma's aftrappen. De Hogeschool en Universiteit van Amsterdam hebben de ambitie om hun voedsel voor kantines lokaal en duurzaam te gaan inkopen. Dit vraagt om robuuste en transparante lokale voedselketens waar true cost pricing integraal onderdeel van uit maakt. De ontwikkeling van een gemeenschappelijke Agrifood Data Common stelt bedrijven in de korte voedsel keten data in eigen beheer uit te wisselen. Kees-Willem zal ons meenemen in de dilemma’s waar je bij het inkoopbeleid tegen aan loopt en Jan voegt daar dilemma’s rond leveringszekerheid en voedselveiligheid aan toe en bespreken we hoe de Agrifood Data Common daar bij kan helpen.

Lenno Munnikes: De Supermarkt van de Toekomst
Lenno Munnikes, directeur-bestuurder van de Flevo Campus, houdt zich al lang bezig met het onderwerp voedsel. De Flevo Campus houdt zich bezig met stedelijke voedsel vraagstukken vanuit het perspectief van de consument. Almere is het Living Lab van de de Flevo Campus. Een van de projecten waar ze zich mee bezig houden is De Supermarkt van de Toekomst, waarbij ze kijken hoe ze meer lokale producten in de supermarkt kunnen krijgen. Maar wat betekent lokaal? En is lokaal ook echt duurzamer en gezonder?

Het derde onderwerp en spreker wordt binnenkort bekendgemaakt!

Agenda

• 15:30-15:45 Inloop
• 15:45-15:55 Welkom en introductie door Amsterdam Smart City
• 16:00-17:00 Inhoudelijk programma met de Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Big Data Value Center, Flevo Campus, & meer!
• 17:00-17:30 Q&A en panel discussie
• 17:30-18:00 Wrap-up en drankjes

Locatie

Wordt binnenkort bekendgemaakt! (Amsterdam)

Over Data Dilemma’s

Vier keer per jaar onderzoeken we de mogelijkheden om data en nieuwe technologieën te gebruiken om stedelijke en maatschappelijke uitdagingen aan te pakken, met de nadruk op verantwoorde digitalisering. Het doel is om data te gebruiken om steden veiliger, schoner en toegankelijker te maken, maar wat gebeurt er met alle data die wordt verzameld? Welke dilemma’s komen we tegen als we (persoonlijke) data verzamelen om de stad te verbeteren? Deze vragen zijn van belang voor iedereen: overheden, kennisinstellingen, bedrijven en het maatschappelijk middenveld. Het Amsterdam Smart City netwerk wilt graag met je verkennen welke beslissingen nodig zijn voor verantwoord gebruik van data.

On Thursday, March 7th, Amsterdam Smart City partners gathered for a day full of inspiration, exchange and connection with each other at our Transition Day! In this article, we give you a quick overview of the challenges we discussed, the inspiration session and the crash course drawing. Interesting in learning more? Read the challenge descriptions by our Program Managers Noor and Pelle (linked below).

About our Transition Days

Our yearly Transition Day is the day on which we investigate together with the network where we can make the most impact this year. Last year on, we mainly looked at the underlying barriers to the (then) surprising challenges and results. These challenges, such as mobility justice and human digitalization, are now completed or handed over. That is why this Transition Day we started working on new challenges. We started working on transition tasks that can only be advanced by working together, where we as a network can make a difference. Together with our knowledge partners and the challenge submitters from our network, we put together the 2024 full day program.

The Underground Challenge

In this session, we dived into the world of underground infrastructure. Many different stakeholders deal with the underground. Electricity cables, fibre optic cables, gas pipelines, heat networks, sewers, but also tree roots and soil, form a complex playing field with many different interests for the parties involved. Right now, collaboration, data sharing, and co-planning between these parties is sub-optimal. Therefore, we started the challenge: Understanding the underground: Collaborating, Sharing Data, and Co-Planning. You can find all the information on the challenge here.

Would you like to join this challenge? Please get in touch with Noor at noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com.

The Cooperative Challenge

In the past decade, we have witnessed a surge of cooperatives across society. This is great because cooperative initiatives can help drive sustainability and social goals. However, these initiatives always remain small-scale and localized and, in most cases, accessible only to specific and select demographics. In this session, we discussed the barriers to making cooperatives more mainstream. We decided to focus on the energy domain and defined the following question: How can we help to mainstream energy cooperatives and ensure that structures in society make room for them and barriers are resolved?

You can find all the information on this challenge here. Would you like to join this challenge? Please get in touch with Noor at noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com.

The Floating Urban Development Challenge

Due to lack of space and climate change, the future of living might need to partly move on to water areas. Researchers and designers are therefore imagining and conceptualizing floating urban development. However, to make it a truly realistic and imaginable future scenario, there are more hurdles to overcome. This challenge aims to change our collective belief in a way that living on water becomes as a serious option conceivable for everyone. We’ll work on creating imaginable and workable scenarios of urban development on water.

You can find all the information on this challenge here. Would you like to join this challenge? Please get in touch with Pelle at pelle@amsterdamsmartcity.com.

The Circular challenge

Circular initiatives often struggle to progress beyond the pilot phase. Numerous barriers hinder these circular initiatives, such as lack of data, implementation across the entire production chain, regulatory obstacles, and higher costs.

To overcome these barriers, adjustments to regulations are necessary to better align with circular initiatives, alongside the establishment of shared ownership within the production chain. For this challenge, we decided to focus on Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure. You can find all the information on this challenge here.
Would you like to join this challenge? Please get in touch with Noor at noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com.

Inspiration session: Collaborating and building Coalitions – Renée Schoonbeek | Arcadis

Renée Schoonbeek (Arcadis) kicked off the afternoon program with an inspiring session about the dynamics of successful collaboration. She shared two area development projects, one a success and one a failure. The collaboration success was the story of Hudson Square, New York. They successfully managed to get more green into the city, better facilities for bicycles and pedestrians, and renovated a public park. The keys to success were a grassroots initiative, clear goals, and a diverse coalition representing everyone from real estate to residents.

In contrast, the collaboration for the development of Feyenoord's stadium failed due to leadership changes, shifting market conditions, and lack of long-term commitment. Important lessons that emerged from this failure were to continuously focus on collaboration, avoid false consensus, invest in long-term commitment, and be vigilant towards signals of dissent within the collaborating parties.

Renée finished the session with an exercise. The most important thing in collaboration is to properly listen and ask questions. We practised asking questions with the technique “2 down, 1 to the side”. Where you first ask three questions. The 1st question is a rational question (what, who, where, why)? The 2nd question is a follow-up question, again a rational question for clarification or deepening. The 3rd question is an emotional question (how does that feel, how do you look back on it, what have you learned from it?). This exercise helped us to see things from the other person's perspective.

Renée’s key takeaway for reaching consensus in collaborations was to not only look at what you need from another person but also to see what you can offer. With this information in our back pocket, we were ready to start forming our own coalitions.

Crash course drawing – Thomas van Daalen | Flatland agency

From lines to inspiring discussion diagrams. Flatland Agency introduced us to the world of 'Visual Storytelling'. How can you support a story with drawings, or visually represent a summary of a brainstorming session? Thomas from Flatland gave us a masterclass in drawing, demonstrating how simple shapes can say a lot.

We concluded this inspiring day with drinks and also said goodbye to Leonie as program director. With tears and laughter, we thanked her for all her efforts and dedication and wished her all the best for her further recovery.

We would like to give special thanks to everyone that helped organize this Transition Day. Many thanks to RoyalHaskoning, Flatland, Hieroo, Drift and HvA, all contributors to the challenges and all those present!
Our next event (knowledge- and Demoday) is on the 18th of April. Would you like to participate in this Demoday, or learn more about the program? Please reach out to pelle@amsterdamsmartcity.com.

The heat transition is in full swing. Municipalities want their residents off the gas and want them to switch to renewable sources of heat. Unfortunately, heat grids have often led to frustrated residents. Which in turn has led to delayed or cancelled plans for the municipality.

Dave van Loon and Marieke van Doorninck (Kennisland) have looked into the problems surrounding heat grids and came up with a plan. In this Demoday work-session we dived into the problems surrounding heat grids and their plan to solve them. The session was moderated by our own Leonie van Beuken.

Why residents get frustrated with heat grid plans

Involving residents in the planning of a heat grid is difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort and the municipality is often in a hurry. This is why they choose for a compromise in which they already make the plan, but try to involve citizens at the end part. However, this leads to residents not having anything to say in the plans. They can block the plans, but they can’t really make changes. This leads to a lot of dissatisfaction.

This top-down approach doesn't seem to be ideal for involving residents in the heat transition. That's why Kennisland is working on developing a plan for early collaboration with residents in the heat transition of neighbourhoods, with a focus on connecting with the community's concerns.

They have seen that this kind of approach can be successful by looking at the K-buurt in Amsterdam-Zuid-Oost. In the initial stages, the first plan for the K-buurt didn't gain much traction. However, when they shifted towards a more collaborative approach, people felt empowered to engage, leading to a more meaningful participation process. Instead of traditional town hall meetings, discussions took place in community spaces like the local barber shop. This shift towards genuine participation and co-creation has resulted in a much-improved end product, one that residents truly support and believe in.

The plan for co-creation in the heat transition

The plan that Kennisland came up with consists of a few key points that are necessary for success:
• Engage with residents early on in the process.
• Also consider other issues in the neighbourhood. There might be more pressing concerns for the residents themselves.
• Ensure accessibility for everyone to participate.
• Truly collaborate on developing a list of requirements.
• Harness creativity.
• Work in a less compartmentalized manner.
They aim to form a neighbourhood alliance and organize a community council. Together a plan can be made for the neighbourhood that all residents can get behind.
This plan might take a bit longer at the start, but that investment in time will pay itself back in the end.

SWOT analysis of co-creation plan

After Dave and Marieke explained their plan we did a SWOT analysis with the group. We looked at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the plan.

The main strength that was pointed out was the ability to make a plan together with the residents. The residents experience the neighbourhood differently than a government official, which makes the final plan more beneficial to everyone.

The weaknesses the group saw in the plan were mainly that this could potentially slow down the process. Should we maybe do less participation instead of more and use force to get this heat transition going?

There were a lot of opportunities identified for this plan. The quality of the plan (and the neighbourhood) can greatly increase. By slowing down at the start we can actually accelerate and improve the neighbourhood on many levels. This plan also offers a great learning experience.

Finally, we went into the threats. One of the big threats that was pointed out was the lack of trust. If residents don’t trust the municipality and the process then it will never be possible to let this plan succeed. The explanation to residents also needs to be understandable. The explanation around a heat grid can get technical very quickly, and residents often don’t have the background to understand everything. The last threat that was pointed out was that if you get a lot of input from the residents for the plan, you also have to do something with that, and still be realistic. You have to work hard to manage expectations.

We completed the session by asking the participants if they knew any partners and places to collaborate with for this plan, or if they had any other ideas to make this plan successful.

We would now like to ask the same questions to you! Do you know someone who would like to partner up with Kennisland, do you know a place where this plan can be tested, or do you have any other ideas? Let us know by contacting me at noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com.

During our 23rd Demo Day on April 18, 2024, Ruben Polderman told us more about the philosophy and method of Socratic Design. It's important for a city to collectively reflect on a good existence. Socratic Design can be a way to think about this together, collectively.
 
Thinking and Acting Differently with Socratic Design
Together with his colleagues at the Digitalization & Innovation department of the Municipality of Amsterdam, Ruben explored how a city should deal with innovation and digitalization. Things were progressing well. The municipality could act swiftly; for example, promising Smart Mobility research and innovation projects were initiated with new partners. However, the transitions are heading in various directions, and progress remains limited. No matter how groundbreaking innovation is, there's a danger in trying to solve problems with the same mindset that caused them. The ability to perceive or think differently is therefore crucial. More crucial, even, than accumulated knowledge, as filosopher David Bohm suggested.
 
Through Socratic Design, we can collectively improve the latter. You work on your own presuppositions, enhance your listening skills, and deepen your understanding of our current dominant narratives to create new narratives and practices. Ruben guided us through examples and exercises to help us understand what narratives and presuppositions entail.

Narratives
"We think we live in reality, but we live in a narrative," Ruben proposes to the group. What we say to each other and how we interact creates a culture that shapes the group and its actions. Narratives are stories that guide our culture, values, thoughts, and actions. They are paradigms so deeply rooted that we no longer question them and sometimes believe there is no alternative. Our current dominant narrative has significant consequences for the Earth and humanity, and although it seems fixed, we can also create new narratives together if we choose to do so.

We must fundamentally seek a good existence within safe ecological boundaries. This should go beyond the transitions we are currently favouring, which sustain our lifestyle but just make it less harmful for the environment. If we want to create new stories with new, positive human perceptions and lifestyles, we must first examine our current narrative and presuppositions. We will need to deconstruct our current ways of living and thinking, much like the Theory U method mentioned during the previous Knowledge Session (see our recap article of this session).
 
Understanding Presuppositions
Ruben showed us various themes and images to collectively practice recognizing presuppositions. For example, a photo of a medical patient and doctors in action demonstrates that our feeling of "to measure is to know" is also crucial in healthcare. The doctors focus on the screen, the graph, the numbers, and therefore have less focus on the patient; the human, themselves. A photo of the stock market, where a group of men is busy trading stocks, also illustrates our idea of economic growth. Here too, there is a fixation on numbers. Ideally, they're green and going up, but meanwhile, we can lose sight of what exactly we're working towards and what exactly it is that we’re ‘growing’.

As a group, we discussed some presuppositions we could find in our field of work. For example, we talked about our need for and appreciation of objective data, and technologism; the belief in solutions rooted in technology and digitalization.
 
Fundamental Presupposition Shifts and New Narratives
If you flip a presupposition like Technologism and suggest that Social Interaction could be our salvation and solution to many of our problems, you set off a fundamental presupposition shift. If you translate this into practical actions or experiments, you can collectively understand how a newly created presupposition functions. As a group, we worked on this. During this session, I myself worked with an example from the field of mobility.

If I were to apply this new presupposition in the field of mobility and we look at the development of cars, perhaps we shouldn't go towards autonomous vehicles (technologism), but look for ways to motivate and strengthen carpooling (social interaction). As an experiment, you could, for example, set up an alternative to the conventional car lease plan. Employees of an organization don't all get the option to lease a car; instead, it's considered who could commute together, and there's a maximum of 1 car for every 4 employees per organization. Just like going to an away game with your soccer team on Sundays as a kid; enjoyable!
 
Read More
This session was an introduction and gave us a good initial understanding of this philosophy and method, but there's much more to discover. The method also delves into how presuppositions are deeply rooted in us, how we validate this with feeling in our bodies, and dialogue methods to collectively arrive at new values and narratives. There's more explained about Socratic Design on Amsterdam's Open Research platform.

From March 4 to April 5, Amsterdam Smart City (ASC) collaborated with international peers from 77 cities across Europe in a series of online knowledge and inspiration sessions during the Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) Implementation Lab. The focus was on sharing best practices and building knowledge for implementing Local Green Deals (LGDs) to accelerate the transformation towards sustainability based on the principles of good governance, policy integration, partnership with local stakeholders.
 
Colleagues, partners, and experts from the Amsterdam Smart City network shared insights in several thematic and training sessions, including:
•      Mobility & Transport Thematic Session: Pelle Menke shared the approach and lessons from ASC's Mobility Justice Challenge, while Diederik Basta introduced the City of Amsterdam's participation in the Gemini project, supporting residents in starting local, shared mobility cooperatives through a "Mobility as a Commons" (MaaC) approach.
•      Local Green Deals Training Session: Egon van Wees presented Amsterdam's experience in setting up nine Impact Deals with social enterprises under the CLIMAA Local Green Deals project. The evaluation indicates that these deals have resulted in the creation of 105 jobs for people with barriers to the labor market and a reduction of 92 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Amsterdam, in collaboration with Aalborg (Denmark), also developed a framework now utilized by other cities in setting up similar Impact Deals.
•      Social Economy Thematic Session: Frits Verhoef shared lessons from his involvement in two local energy cooperatives, including the pioneering work of NDSM-Energie in developing a 15MW wind park in the NoorderIJplas area, highlighting various financial and political barriers yet to be overcome. Frits also his work with MeerEnergie, a cooperative aiming to establish a heating network owned by local residents in the Watergraafsmeer district of Amsterdam, utilizing waste heat from nearby data centers.
 
What's Next?
Amsterdam Smart City is excited to host the ICC network in Amsterdam for a Mobility Field Visit in May, showcasing best practices for public-private collaboration in sustainable and smart mobility. We also look forward to connecting with ICC peers in person during the upcoming ICC conference in Porto in June.
 
More Information
For further details about the Implementation Lab and upcoming ICC activities, visit the ICC website: https://www.intelligentcitieschallenge.eu/events/icc-implementation-lab-1

Stakeholders in the Amsterdam Region interested in more information or wishing to connect to the ICC network during upcoming labs or other similar sessions can reach out to ASC International Liaison via cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com

Op donderdag 18 april zijn we met het netwerk te gast bij Ru Paré, een voormalig basisschoolgebouw in Slotervaart. Ru Paré is een community die bewoners en tientallen organisaties en initiatieven een plek geeft om samen te komen.

De Amsterdam Smart City Demodagen zijn regelmatig terugkerende middagen bedoeld om de voortgang van de verschillende innovatieprojecten aan elkaar te presenteren, hulpvragen op tafel te leggen, dilemma’s te delen en meer partners te betrekken bij een project en deze vraagstukken verder te brengen.

Verder hebben we weer onze gebruikelijke werksessies waarin we een aantal vragen met een kleine groep grondiger behandelen. De Demodag wordt voorafgegaan door een Kennissessie waarvoor deelname optioneel is. We sluiten af met een hapje en drankje. De middagen kenmerken zich door een zeer open en vrolijke sfeer.

Kennissessie

Voorafgaand aan de Demodag, organiseren we een kennissessie over een transitie-overstijgend onderwerp. Dit keer neemt Ruben Polderman (Gemeente Amsterdam) jullie mee in een introductie van Socratic Design: Een vernieuwende aanpak voor maatschappelijke uitdagingen en het herzien van ons denken. We accepteren vaak aannames over mens en wereld zonder ze te bevragen, maar deze vormen wel ons narratief en beïnvloeden onze leefomgeving en levenswijze. De Gemeente Amsterdam daagt ons uit om nieuwe, duurzame narratieven te verkennen en ons denken te analyseren. Doe je mee aan deze verkenning?

Werksessies

Energie | Co-creatie met bewoners in de warmtetransitie | Dave van Loon & Marieke van Doorninck (Kennisland) / Marije Poel (HvA)
Gemeenten en wijken zijn volop aan de slag met de warmtetransitie. De wijkuitvoeringsplannen worden ontwikkeld en aan bewoners gepresenteerd. Helaas wordt de bewoner behoorlijk laat in de planning betrokken, wat vaak tot veel ontevredenheid leidt. Deze top-down manier van werken lijkt niet ideaal te zijn om bewoners bij de warmtetransitie te betrekken. Daarom is Kennisland bezig met het ontwikkelen van een plan voor het vroegtijdig samenwerken met bewoners bij de warmtetransitie van wijken, waarbij vooral ook wordt gezocht naar aansluiting bij wat leeft in de buurt. Dit plan is al eerder besproken met diverse betrokken (bewoners)organisaties en de Hogeschool van Amsterdam. In deze werksessie willen we het idee toetsen en weer een stap verder brengen. We gaan input ophalen over het plan, onderzoeken welke mogelijkheden er zijn voor plekken om dit plan uit te voeren en financiering, en we gaan op zoek naar partners om hier concreet mee aan de slag te gaan.

Mobiliteit | Mobiliteitsrechtvaardigheid: samen definiëren, doemdenken en aanpakken | Afstudeerkring Mobiliteitsrechtvaardigheid HvA
In opdracht van de Provincie Noord-Holland en Amsterdam Smart City zijn Jackie Ippel, Timo van Elst, Merel Thuis en Jade Salomons aan de slag gegaan met een afstudeeropdracht rond het thema Mobiliteitsrechtvaardigheid. Binnen deze multidisciplinaire afstudeerkring voeren de studenten onderzoek uit op verschillende onderwerpen. Ze zijn nu halverwege hun onderzoek over ouderen in Purmerend, ervaringen van mobiliteitsarmoede, en de kloof tussen beleidsmakers en doelgroepen. Tijdens deze sessie willen ze samen met de deelnemers op zoek naar definities voor (mobiliteits)rechtvaardigheid en met behulp van doemdenken, omdenken en andere creatieve werkvormen oplossingen formuleren.

Digitaal | Data Commons: De Green Mile case | Lia Hsu (Amsterdam Economic Board)
Omschrijving volgt!

Pitches

True price lab HvA - Sjoukje Goldman Ph.D. (HvA)
Om bedrijven te ondersteunen die overwegen true pricing te implementeren doet het Centre for Market Insights (CMI) van de Hogeschool van Amsterdam onderzoek naar de communicatie over true pricing naar de consument. Van februari tot en met juni loopt er een pilot op onze economische campus, waarbij een deel van het assortiment in het bedrijfsrestaurant en de koffie’s in de espressobar voorzien van de true price (echte prijs). Met deze pilot doen we onderzoek in een real-life setting naar de bereidheid van de consument op de echte prijs vrijwillig te betalen.

Het belang en de waarde van ‘Hier-opgewekte en Hier-geconsumeerde’ elektriciteit als netcongestie en verduurzaming maatregelen. - Hugo Niesing (Resourcefully)
Deze pitch toont broodnodige innovatie over het elektriciteitssysteem van de toekomst. We sturen in de fysieke ruimte (gebied onder het Trafohuisje) en tijd (simultaan opwek/afname per kwartier).
FlexPower stuurt de publieke laadpalen aan, FlexCity de laadinfrastructuur bij mensen thuis. Wat zijn de overeenkomsten en verschillen, hoe kunnen deze twee initiatieven elkaar optimaal versterken? ‘Zelfconsumptie’ achter je eigen aansluiting en onder het trafohuisje, hiermee verbeteren we:

• De levensduur van het transformatorhuisje;
• CO2 uitstoot van de buurt;
• Onze energie onafhankelijkheid;
• De werkelijke kosten van elektriciteit en netwerkgebruik.

OUI - De eerste circulaire auto – Barend Koolhaas
De OUI is het eerste circulaire elektrische voertuig op vier wielen. Het concept combineert een maximum aan praktische doeleinden met een minimum aan impact op het milieu. Het stelt de vraag: wat hebben we echt nodig? Weinig dingen zijn zo destructief als de auto. Vervuiling, verkeersdoden, enorme verspilling van energie en natuurlijke hulpbronnen en landschappen en gemeenschappen die worden verscheurd door infrastructuur. Als we onze manier van leven opnieuw willen vormgeven, moeten we de auto herontwerpen. We moeten wandelen en fietsen prioriteit geven, maar voor sommige doeleinden hebben we iets groters nodig. Het hoeft niet snel te gaan en het kan heel licht zijn. De OUI is ontworpen om gedeeld, gerepareerd en hergebruikt te worden. Het is een soort Fairphone op wielen die overal ter wereld kan worden gebruikt. Vooral op plekken waar schonere, veiligere mobiliteit een noodzaak is.

We hebben nog ruimte voor enkele pitches. Heb je een innovatieve oplossing voor één van onze transitievraagstukken? Of heb je een hulpvraag die je aan het netwerk wilt stellen? Neem dan contact met ons op!

Klinkt het programma interessant? Je bent welkom om aan te sluiten. Laat het ons weten en stuur een korte motivatie naar pelle@amsterdamsmartcity.com of noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com. De Kennis- en Demodag is van 12:45-16:30 met een borrel na afloop

Due to lack of space and climate change, the future of living might need to partly move on to water areas. In our history of conquering the water, the Dutch have a head start in some of the challenges associated with living on- and with water. Researchers and designers are therefore imagining and conceptualizing floating urban development. However, to make it a truly realistic and imaginable future scenario, there are more hurdles to overcome. To realize floating neighborhoods, we’ll need to find solutions for more than only the technical aspects, like; financing, community support, ecological aspects, affordability, politics, etc.

Overcoming these barriers will be difficult. We’re currently focusing on urgent (housing)crises and our collective belief on urban development is mainly focused on ‘family apartments on land’. This challenge revolves around creating imaginable and workable scenarios of urban development on water.

In the past decade, we have witnessed a surge of cooperatives across society. From community-led energy projects to endeavours in collective mobility and housing, citizens and companies are increasingly organizing themselves to shape their surroundings, often driven by sustainability and social goals and most of them do this in a not for profit way. Despite this rich history and the ongoing proliferation of initiatives, cooperative efforts and their benefits often remain small-scale and localized and, in most cases, accessible only to specific and select demographics.

This challenge aims to help civil society organizations in the energy domain, such as energy cooperatives, to become more mainstream. We aim to create recognition, to create an understanding of mutual interests with the key stakeholders they have to work with, and to exchange knowledge for these organizations to grow faster or repeat.