#Healthy urban living
Projects

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.

Context
Africa is the fasted growing continent on the planet, measured both in GDP as in population, which historically is accompanied with a growth in energy consumption. With an eye on the Paris Agreement and COP26 it is clear the energy should be Low or even Zero Emission. However, it is important this does not stifle the economic growth allowing millions to climb out of poverty. With this in mind the EU funded the SESA project that aims at mitigating climate change while improving access to sustainable energy under affordable, reliable conditions.

Project brief
SESA is a four-year (2021-2025) EU H2020 funded R&D project designed to combine innovative energy access solutions for a range of applications in both urbanised and rural contexts in Africa. These solutions will include decentralised renewables (solar photovoltaics), innovative energy storage systems (including second life batteries), waste-to-energy systems (biomass to biogas), smart microgrids, (micro) mobility solutions, climate-proofing, resilience and adaptation, and rural internet access.
SESA focusses on testing, validating and replicating those energy innovations through co-developed demonstration actions in 9 sites across the continent (1 Living Lab for testing, 4 for validation and 4 for replication).
The collaborative project is the result of a strong partnership between leading European and African universities, research centres, industry actors, local governments, knowledge and implementation organizations and networks.

Objectives
The main goal of SESA is to support a diversity of affordable solutions that help provide access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy services for all, creating new business opportunities and developing concepts that can directly contribute to a low-carbon development. It further provides policy makers with recommendations aiming at creating a favourable regulatory environment to ensure long-term impacts of the solutions developed. In addition, a key deliverable for the project is the SESA Toolbox, which will contain materials relating to the following main building blocks:

• Impact assessment
• Capacity building
• Business plans and models
• Innovations tested in demonstration actions
• Design, operations and management for different solutions
• Financing & funding options
• Policy support

Cenex NL’s key contributions
Cenex NL leads the work package responsible for the development of the key repository of the project, the so called “SESA Toolbox”, and the evaluation of the project results available in the toolbox. Our team will be involved in three tasks:

1. Build a scalable and harmonised toolbox for advanced implementation, management and operation strategies of efficient sustainable energy solutions.
2. Develop an evaluation framework based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of the proposed solutions.
3. Assess the impact of the solutions developed in at least five the demonstration and validation projects using the framework developed in the previous task.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation progamme under grant agreement No 101037141

City Managers Association in Romania (AAPRO) was founded in 2010, as a follow-up of a pilot project called “Public Administrator – a success factor for an efficient management at local level” carry out by the Central Unit for the Public Administration Reform (a structure within the Romanian Ministry of Administration and Interior Affairs).

AAPRO is commited to form a national, relevant, elite and professional Body of City Managers, who must have a clear image on the background of this career and become responsible for their professional conduct and self-improvement.

The initiative to introduce the City manager position at each local level in Romania targets an higher lever of professionalism at counties, municipalities, cities and communes staff.

The romanian equivalent of the city manager can be hired upon the Mayor’s proposal or the one of the local council (wich must give the final aproval anyway), after a transparent selection process. His main responsibilities are to coordinate some of the public administration affairs and services (on an agreed agenda) and to do other specific tasks delegated by the Mayor / President of County Council, all of these concluded in a management contract, based on clear management objectives and performance criteria.

The City Manager is one common thing among the efficient and successful local governments
all over the world. Adopting him in the romanian administration was a step from public adminsitration to public management, focusing on delivery good qaulity services for the citizens. The Public Administrator, as we call it here, is not another birocrat, but a strategist, a visonary, balancing day-to-day (organizational) problem solving with planning and shaping the future, acording to the adopted local strategy and the community aspirations.

At the local level, the elected body and the technical staff, coordinated by the Mayor or the President of County Council and the Public Administrator, must first find aut and understand what people want, need and hope, then come up with a strategy, an action plan, seek for solutions, means and resources, involve the local actors such as bussines community and civil society, and communicate at any moment what has been done so far, and what is is comming.

In this picture, the City manager has a leading role, he is an communicator, technology facilitator, and can be, if the Mayor delegates him, even budget chief authorizing officer. Currently, in Romania activate more than 700 Public Administrators (the number varies from month to monyh), as follows :

• Out of 41 counties, 34 ocupied positions and 7 vacancies
• Out of 103 municipies, 56 ocupied positions and 37 vacancies
• Out of 216 cities, 60 ocupied positions and 65 vacancies
• Out of 2850 communes, 550 ocupied positions and 350 vacancies

Those above figures makes 459 vacancies in total, with the observation that, in many cases, we are talking about small comunes with scarce Romanian City Managers Association (AAPRO) conducted a survey among its members that identified the needs for training, building local capacities on climate protection, urban regeneration, structural changes and energy policies, concept of smart city and creatively intelligent communities.

Establishing appropriate training structures for the now and future City Managers is essential for supporting the development of the cities and climate strategies (it aims to encourage cities and municipalities to take concrete actions for climate protection in Romania), urban regeneration and structural changes, concept of smart city and creatively intelligent communities.

This project focuses on the competences that the city managers must have in order to achieve a multiplication effect through their contribution. The nationwide implementation of a systematic local energy management using the City Managers can thus make an important step to tapp existing saving potentials in different regions and to establish a sustainable portfolio management.

We hope that, with your support, that the outcomes of this important project, can be forwarded on an extended scale to the local institutions (schools, hospitals, etc) and communities, as good practices, improving the energy efficiency status and reducing the energy poverty, urban regeneration and structural changes, concept of smart city and creatively intelligent communities.

The pilot group will be composed of 50 to 80 city managers upon their self enrollment and applying few clear selection parameters : level of municipality, experience, english language, etc. The target group will be afterward authorized to further train other city managers and employees of the local municipalities. This core team is expected to disseminate the information and to act as an experts group in our Association.

As Romania has (at this moment) a deficit of at least 250 city managers, the learning and workshops center will be powerful tool, a public management academy and a testing facility for the ones applying for this position.

Our idea: The Supportclub, let’s look after someone, as a team
The Supportclub makes volunteering for another person fun and easy to do. Our app carefully designs teams around a person in need, based on skills and fields of interests. Our network partners invites people that need a little help or company, informal care to make a profile as a supportee. Our campaign recruits people that want to help somebody, the supporters. They also make a profile.

The Supportclub app matches supporters based on their interests and skills. The app creates (temporary) teams around a supportee, e.g. Annie → Support team Annie. The Supportclub facilitates the teams to work together for Annie providing handy features like notification, a calendar, chat and monthly meet-up for the team.
 
The Supportclub proposition for supporters:

• look after a person that needs some help (18+)
• in a carefully designed team
• for a fixed period of time
• with social team activities
• facilitated by an app

Join the Supportclub!
 
The Support club proposition for supportees:

• Do you need some help or company?
• Register yourself at The Support Club and get a team. Three to five people that are willing to look after you. They do it together and make new friends while doing it.
• You let us know what your needs are and we do the rest.

Join the Supportclub!  

Pientere Tuinen is een 3-jarig project dat begin april 2023 is gestart. Tot eind 2023 kunnen nieuwe deelnemers aansluiten bij het grootste participatieproject in Nederland. Pientere Tuinen is een samenwerking van 7 publieke en private partijen.

De aanpak in Pientere Tuinen draait om drie samenhangende onderdelen.
 
1. Data verzamelen met een slimme sensor en een interactief/educatief dashboard van de eigen tuin voor de individuele inwoner,
2. Kwantitatief (data-analyse) en kwalitatief (interviews/surveys) onderzoek naar strategieën voor een gezonde leefomgeving en duurzame gedragsverandering,
3. Advies op maat aan bewoners over de inrichting en het beheer van de tuin

Het doel van Pientere Tuinen is een groenere, gezondere leefomgeving te creëren door het bewustzijn en de motivatie bij tuinbezitters te vergroten. Dat doen we door data te verzamelen, onderzoek uit te voeren en meer maatwerk te bieden in de advisering en voorlichting aan bewoners.
 
Enkele voordelen van uw deelname aan Pientere Tuinen op een rijtje
- Tuinbezitters krijgen een bodemsensor die drie jaar lang hitte, bodemkwaliteit en het vochtgehalte meet, waarvan resultaten zichtbaar zijn op een dashboard
- Tuinbezitters krijgen (mede op basis van de data) specifieke voorlichting voor het vergroenen van de tuin door middel van tuintips, stappenplan en mogelijke (wijk)workshops
- Deelnemende organisaties zijn onderdeel van het grootste participatieproject van Nederland met ca. 5.000 deelnemers en meetpunten door heel Nederland
- Deelnemende organisaties worden betrokken bij twee langdurige, landelijke onderzoeksprogramma’s naar motivatie voor vergroening en gedragseffecten van verschillende interventiestrategieën, en data-analyses van milieu- en gezondheidsaspecten
- Als organisatie bent je zelf als partner zichtbaar in een landelijke PR- en communicatiecampagne rondom het project.
- Je leert zelf binnen de community over structurele, duurzame vergroening met uw inwoners onder andere van de onderzoeksprogramma’s en andere projectpartners

Photo: Daan Rozinga, The Incredible Machine

The Responsible Sensing Lab is currently working on a few projects regarding smart doorbells.

Smart doorbells are like a security camera's, but available for everyone. Always on, and owned by private parties, the smart doorbell is destined to have an impact on our privacy. As of now, there could be thousands of smart doorbells in Amsterdam, filming public space. We don t have a clear view on the numbers, and we do not know what the owners do with the collected data. Smart doorbell owners are often not aware of the privacy issues.

One of the Responsible Sensing Lab's projects is Shutterring. The Shutterring project aims to make smart doorbells more responsible by ensuring the privacy of bypassers and owners while keeping the main functionality of the device intact. Shutterring is a design by The Incredible Machine.

Inspired by Shutterring, the Lab has started another project regarding responsible smart doorbells: Challenging the design of smart doorbells. In order to challenge the current design of smart doorbells (IoT doorbells with integrated cameras) a few alternative smart doorbells have been created through speculative design. The goal of this project is to kickstart a conversation about how to deal with the presence of smart doorbells in the city of Amsterdam. How could smart doorbells be designed in a way that they align better with the values of the city and its population?

The Responsible Sensing Lab team will present both their smart doorbell projects during the demo day on 11 October. Stay tuned!

Growing population, aging infrastructure, lack of mobility-related resources, and inefficient transport networks are leading to higher traffic congestion, road safety, and supply of mobility services in urban areas. It has become important for cities to look for smart mobility solutions to tackle these problems. Intelligent Transportation System is one such innovative concept that enables reliable and more personalized travel experience to move around in cities. Let’s have a look at the concept in detail.

What is an Intelligent Transportation System?

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) strives to innovate, plan, operate, evaluate, and manage transportation systems by leveraging advanced information and communication technologies. ITS refers to the use of technology to collect and analyze information related to the sector to deliver integrated transportation solutions.

It focuses on various modes of transportation, infrastructure, vehicles, traffic management, stakeholders, and smart mobility. From a holistic point of view, it rectifies errors related to transportation, infrastructure and enables systematic management of the entire transport system by leveraging a wide range of technology. It is one of the important components of many innovative transportation solutions like Mobility as a Service, Connected, and automated mobility.

Moreover, effective use of infrastructure, capacity, technology in ITS requires a lot of planning well in advance by ITS specialists. That can be implemented by collaboration or public-private partnerships. Because there are so many things that need to be taken into consideration while implementing ITS, e.g., transport modes, design, routing, vehicles, technology type, and traffic flows, to make transportation safe and well-coordinated.

What is the need For ITS?

Transport authorities continue to raise the bar for safe and hassle-free transportation for commuters, but there are other challenges that commuters face related to urban congestion, inadequate road infrastructure, aging infrastructure, road safety, inefficient public transportation, and higher energy consumption. ITS can play an important role in solving these problems and better manage and control the transportation systems in real-time.

ITS facilitates new opportunities and more transportation choices integrated with easy-to-use technology. It is a multi-disciplinary concept that presents much-needed and cost-effective transportation solutions for smart cities. ITS can:

• Use resources and infrastructure effectively (existing as well as new)
• Plan, design, and implement comprehensive transportation systems
• Offers multi-modal, adequate, and on-demand transportation options
• Enhance public transportation management and its attractiveness
• Combat urban congestion
• Improve road safety and security
• Reduce fuel and energy consumption levels
• Control and manage traffic in the cities
• Make transport safe, efficient, manageable, and sustainable

We gooien in Amsterdam nog steeds ons gft-afval bij het huishoudelijke afval. Zonde vinden wij! Van dit gft-afval kan namelijk goede compost gemaakt worden. Daarom zijn we in mei 2020 samen met Stichting Onschatbare Waarde van start gegaan met het project Van Afval naar Oogst.

De centrale locatie van het project is in de buurttuin van I Can Change The World With My Two Hands, een initiatief van Onschatbare Waarde, in Amsterdam West. Onze gezamenlijke ambitie was 100 Amsterdammers te betrekken bij afvalscheiding en hergebruik. Meer dan 100 mensen hebben zich aangemeld en leveren nu wekelijks hun gf-afval in bij de buurttuin waar waardevolle compost van wordt gemaakt.

De Gezonde Stad werkt aan een groene, circulaire en inclusieve stad, niet door er lang over te praten, maar door te doen, samen met een community van bewoners, bedrijven, overheden en andere organisaties. We planten bomen, leggen buurtparken en moestuinen aan, we organiseren events om lokaal voedsel op de kaart te zetten, we zijn trekker van het platform Van Amsterdamse Bodem en we sluiten kringlopen, zodat afval weer tot iets waardevols kan worden omgezet.

Volg ons op social media of check degezondestad.org om op de hoogte te blijven.

Hello smart city lovers! What do you think of this proposal for a Sound Garden @ Marineterrein?

We are proposing a welcome and open place of musical exploration and reflection for all Amsterdammers and visitors to Marineterrein.

It invites you to stay and play, to enjoy the wonder of sounds, and to discover music inside yourself.

Solidary, Creative Economy, for Communities and With Communities!
Thousands of other initiatives around the world!

(Ana Luíza Farage Silva)

At some point people realized that they needed each other to do something other than "subsist". From there, they decided to organize themselves in something called communities in order to improve their lives and practice a good "survival". Over time, they realized that the law of the strongest could hurt and decided to affirm social contracts to live together and in harmony.

Some people understood that they should give up some freedoms for this, others did not. Over time, these communities have been forming their stories, generating their identities and dynamizing their cultures. When communities became organized, they started to be called societies.

How many societies do we know? How many societies do we live in? Within these social contracts, many have little and few have a lot. Much what? Wealth? Yes, few have access! Access to quality education, decent health, respectful housing, nutritious food and so on.

How many can do what they want and how many cannot do what they need? It is in this concern that I perceive (as several others have already noted) that everything tends to come together. The better structured places attract bigger investments that generate bigger chains that attract even more investments and keep developing (or just growing) more and more. The point is that where there is little, little remains.

Does it have to be this way? If you were a government official and were going to choose to develop a state, would you give growth incentives to regions that are already more advanced or encourage the development of those that still have almost nothing? The prudent answer may be: "it depends" ... if you just want to develop faster, it may be easier to encourage the growth of the wealthiest regions.

After all, their chain is greater and they can “pull” other cities in the process of growth. But if you think about it on the other hand, you can see that there is no certainty that the poorest cities will be fostered by the richest. Will the access ever get there? With this in mind, several concepts and practices have been developed. Have you ever heard of Creative Economy? Basically, knowledge, creativity and intellectual capital are the production factors of this economy.

In this process, cultural production is used as a historical factor in the formation of identity and income generation in that community. In other words, a new look at the solution of the structural problems of society, the economy and culture are sought from the identity of that population.

In other words, development is sought from the convergence and respect for the roots of that people's history with cultural, social and economic objectives. Discussions, initiatives and studies have been taking place throughout Brazil with the aim of expanding this concept: the first International Forum of Creative Cities in Rio Quente took place in September 2013 http://rioquente.go.gov.br/cidades-criativas/, the IV Minas Gerais Meeting of Public Administration, Solidarity Economy and Social Management (IV EMAPEGS) addressed this theme in Viçosa this year http://www.emapegs.ufv.br/ and so on.

In addition, another concept has been addressed, created and practiced. Have you heard of Solidarity Economy? The concept of solidarity started to be guided at the end of the 18th century, but it has not yet been completely assimilated to the market. In this context, solidarity economy means interdependence and is based on the principles of cooperation, self-management and brings an economic dimension to society. In other words, we think of a market geared towards people, not people geared towards the market.

Despite the various difficulties faced by the Solidarity Economy, such as mapping, production flow, obtaining credit, advice and collective work, many advances and initiatives have taken place in Brazil. Have you heard of the Center for Solidarity Economy of Tocantis? UFT's NESOL? They have been working hard on this process: http://www.fapto.uft.edu.br/conhecimento/index.php/uft/14-nucleo-de-economia-solidaria-da-uft-nesol. Many communities have also realized that they live on the job, but remain in poverty. So they decided to challenge all the pre-established and create social currencies. That is, they realized that they had to develop some way to encourage the money to circulate more within the community itself, with the possibility of exchanging it for the real. Some initiatives have been implemented in Brazil. The first was Banco Palmas, at the Palmeiras complex in Fortaleza (CE). http://www.bancopalmas.org.br/oktiva.net/1235/nota/12291. Today there are more than 110 community banks, a chain, across Brazil. Several other initiatives in the world have been taken, but it is clear that challenges abound.

52wekenduurzaam nodigt je uit om je eigen leven stap voor stap duurzamer te maken. Een jaar lang iedere week een kleine verrassende en duurzame stap. Om te zien of het bij je past. Word je er gelukkig van, dan hou je het vol. Zo niet, dan skip je het. Wij onderzoeken wat er wel kan. Uitdagend, leuk, leerzaam en gratis. Loop je een stukje met ons mee?

Wij denken dat we met elkaar op een gemakkelijke manier veel duurzamer kunnen worden. Door elkaar te inspireren en uit te dagen. Door leuke en verrassende dingen te onderzoeken. Om zo je eigen versie van een duurzame leefstijl te ontwikkelen. We streven naar 5000 deelnemers in 2021. Hoe meer mensen meedoen, hoe beter. Voor onze Totale Impact Score, maar ook voor jezelf, want samen is veel leuker dan alleen. Dus geweldig als je nu al je gezin, je buren, vrienden en collega’s inspireert om ook mee te doen.

Te wicked? Niet voor ons.

Wij werken allemaal aan urgente, complexe, maatschappelijke uitdagingen. Issues die schier onoplosbaar lijken, van dilemma’s en paradoxen omgeven, nog niet duidelijk hoe het moet. Wel is duidelijk dát het moet, dat we elkaar nodig
hebben en dat we er NU aan moeten beginnen. Om met de woorden van Jan Rotmans te spreken; we leven niet in een tijdperk van verandering maar in een verandering van tijdperk. En hier hoort een nieuwe gereedschapskist bij.

En of je nou aan energietransitie werkt, andere mobiliteitssystemen, creëren van waterstofhubs, peer to peer autodeelsystemen, het maakt niet uit, we zien dat al deze opgaven op enig moment tegen gelijksoortige barrières aanlopen. Op samenwerking, financiering, privacy, onvoldoende aansluiting op de maatschappij, om maar een paar voorbeelden te noemen.

Unieke samenwerking
Als Amsterdam Smart City netwerk willen en kunnen we deze opgaven niet laten liggen. Door het bundelen van onze kennis en expertise kunnen we als netwerk iets unieks bieden en de wil en durf tonen om deze barrières te doorbreken. De betrokken partners die dit uitdenken en begeleiden zijn RHDHV, Kennisland, Drift, NEMO, Arcadis, Alliander, HvA en Metabolic. Zij bundelen hun expertise en ervaring om de echte vragen boven tafel te krijgen, tot nieuwe manieren van samenwerken te komen en barrières te doorbreken. We richten ons met name op de start van de samenwerking. Gezamenlijk ontwikkelen we een ‘wicked problem aanpak’. Op een nieuwe manier, lerend door te doen, exploratief.

Waar moet je aan denken?
Wat is eigenlijk het echte probleem? Wiens probleem is dit? Hoe kijken anderen er tegenaan? Welke andere partijen lijken nodig? Hoe vind je ze? Hoe ga je om met eigenaarschap en botsende frames? Hoe zorg je dat je al in
een vroeg stadium de maatschappij (bewoners, ondernemers, werknemers, etc) betrekt en hun ervaringen in het project trekt? Het wicked problem team zet nieuwe methoden in voor het beantwoorden van deze vragen. En het creëren van de benodigde commitment om het vraagstuk aan te pakken. Niets staat van te voren vast, want we passen ons aan aan wat we tegenkomen. Met elkaar ontwikkelen we een nieuwe aanpak om de barrières te doorbreken.

Personal protection products made with high plastic recycling content (all green parts) Other parts still work in progress

Product made with 100% recycled plastics from the maritime industry (obsolete fishing gear and ropes)

Like cities worldwide, Marineterrein Amsterdam faces major challenges. For example in mobility, circularity, and (ethical) digization. To come up with innovative solutions, there is a need for physical location, knowledge and collaboration. Marinetterein Amsterdam Living Lab (MALL) is a place where this happens.

The Marineterrein uses the terrain as experimental environment for its own development. The partners work together to stimulate collaboration between companies, scientists, students and government agencies. This creates (scalable) experiments that are tested on the grounds, and ultimately applied in urban environments.

MALL is a place to research, experiment and test in a real-life setting. To achieve this MALL partners bring together their expertise, network, and communities in the field of research, innovation, urban development and experimentation at this unique location in Amsterdam.

Everyone is welcome to test at the Marineterrein. Given the special location, high demands are made on parties who come to develop and test on the Marineterrein. In addition to thematic alignment with the themes of the parties, careful consideration is given to whether the applications are innovative, whether they ensure connection between people and knowledge and to opt for a clear focus within a relevant issue.

Current Experiments
• CINDERELA | CINDERELA is a demonstration plant that transforms urine into nutrient-rich fertilizer. The plant consists of a refurbished shipping container – containing a laboratory and two urine-diverting toilets – and an adjacent greenhouse which also serves as a meeting space.
• Roboat | autonomous floating vessels that create a more dynamic urban infrastructure, and provide new ways of transporting people and goods.
• Space for Food | the European Space Agency (ESA) explores the potential and scalability of applying space technology for applications in urban contexts.
• Smart Roof 2.0 | an innovative, lightweight, blue-green roof equipped with a Permavoid drainage layer that stores rainwater and provides plants with water during dry spells.
Curious to see what else is being tested? Click here for a full list!

Open Calls
• Amsterdam Drone Lab | drone flight testing facility at the heart of the Amsterdam city centre.

Want to start testing in the heart of Amsterdam?
MALL provides a publicly accessible but privately governed site in the heart of Amsterdam. This ensures you to test and implement solutions in the public space under credible circumstances with less restrictions. From quay walls, to buildings and roofs. The infrastructure of the site has been set up in such a way that experiments can be easily set up.
Submit your experiment!

Collaboration
MALL is a collaboration between Marineterrein Amsterdam and Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, with partners Amsterdam Smart City and NEMO Science Museum.

Via diverse pilots, burgermetingen en evenementen brengen we de leefomgeving van Noord-Holland in kaart en zetten we deze gezamenlijk om in actie. Door data samen te verzamelen, zullen we ook samen op zoek gaan naar oplossingen. Deze aanpak noemen we citizen sensing. Hollandse Luchten maakt gebruik van experimentele technologie en onderzoekt de waarde van nieuwe sensortechnologie voor inwoners van Noord-Holland.

Via diverse pilots, burgermetingen en evenementen brengen we de leefomgeving van Noord-Holland in kaart en zetten we deze gezamenlijk om in actie. Door data samen te verzamelen, zullen we ook samen op zoek gaan naar oplossingen. Deze aanpak noemen we citizen sensing. Hollandse Luchten maakt gebruik van experimentele technologie en onderzoekt de waarde van nieuwe sensortechnologie voor inwoners van Noord-Holland.

Pilots
De belangrijke doelstelling van de pilot opzet van Hollandse Luchten is het betrekken van burgers rondom data verzameling om zo op basis van nieuwe inzichten een leefbare en duurzame samenleving mogelijk te maken. Door open innovatiemethoden in te zetten in combinatie met het gebruik van betaalbare open hardware en nieuwe digitale mogelijkheden, worden burgers betrokken en ontwikkelen ze handelingsperspectief in het aanpakken van belangrijke maatschappelijke uitdagingen. Hollandse Luchten maakt hierbij gebruik van experimentele technologie en onderzoekt de waarde van nieuwe sensortechnologie voor inwoners van Noord-Holland.

Partners
In dit project onderzoeken we in opdracht van Provincie Noord-Holland hoe door middel van open source en betaalbare meetsensoren, burgers meer inzicht kunnen krijgen op de luchtkwaliteit in gebieden waar de leefkwaliteit onder druk staat. Hier werken meerdere partners aan mee o.a.: RIVM, Omgevingsdienst IJmond, Omgevingsdienst Noordzeekanaal, TATA Steel, Smart City Haarlem, Gemeente Zaanstad, Gemeente Haarlem, Buiksloterham Circulair, Brak! IJmuiden en Waag.

Citizen Sensing
Citizen sensing is een nieuwe manier om de leefomgeving in kaart te brengen. Een belangrijk onderdeel van deze leefomgeving is de luchtkwaliteit. Traditioneel gezien wordt luchtkwaliteit gemeten door officiële meetstations van partijen zoals het Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM) en de GGD. Deze meetstations geven nauwkeurige maar plaatsgebonden data. Luchtkwaliteit kan echter sterk verschillen per locatie en tijdstip. Omdat er relatief weinig meetstations zijn wordt de luchtkwaliteit op veel locaties of geschat via berekeningen en voorspellingen of niet gemeten waar dat wel belangrijk is. Hoe is de luchtkwaliteit van een basisschool of voetbalclub naast een drukke verkeersweg, bijvoorbeeld, of voor mensen die in de buurt van een fabriek wonen?

Citizen sensing probeert dit gat op te vullen met burgermetingen van luchtkwaliteit. Met goedkope en toegankelijke open-source sensoren kan de luchtkwaliteit door heel het land in kaart gebracht worden. Op deze manier kan citizen sensing lokale problematiek aankaarten en biedt het data om verandering teweeg te brengen. Met data kan bijvoorbeeld een nieuw gesprek op gang gebracht worden dat gebaseerd is op een beter inzicht van de situatie. Ook kunnen oplossingen beter worden afgestemd op de werkelijke lokale situatie. Het RIVM onderzoekt dit van hun platform Samen Meten aan Luchtkwaliteit. In de volgende video leggen ze uit waarom dit belangrijk is.

Waag en Citizen Sensing
Voor Waag is Hollandse Luchten een belangrijk project binnen haar onderzoek naar burgergedreven dataverzameling over de kwaliteit van leefomgeving. Waag deed hier eerder in Europees verband onderzoek naar onder de noemer Making Sense. In samenwerking met o.a. Barcelona, Pristina (Kosovo) en Amsterdam werd in negen pilots gekeken naar dit soort onderzoek. Over dit project verscheen de documentaire: Citizen Science Revolution.

In het Nieuwe Werken staan gezondheid en vitaliteit centraal. Voor iedereen is bewegen en werken in het stedelijke groen een ‘must’. Wist je dat wetenschappelijke onderzoeken hebben aangetoond dat een groene omgeving bij mensen creativiteit stimuleert, de concentratie verbetert en een rustgevend effect heeft? Buiten bewegen is noodzakelijk voor je gezondheid. Het sluit perfect aan bij de breed gevoelde noodzaak om het werkgeluk en het welzijn van medewerkers te verbeteren.

Staat het idee van een #OutdoorOfficeDay je wel aan?

Verlang je ook naar een werkoverleg buiten in het stedelijk groen, in de omgeving van je kantoor? Wil je bij voorkeur je plannen wandelend bespreken met een collega? Of gewoon ergens in een park in de buurt een werklunch organiseren? Of het liefst dat belangrijke telefoongesprek buiten voeren?

Initiatiefnemer Nature Desks wil ook andere mensen, organisaties en bedrijven in Nederland uitnodigen om ook dit jaar op 23 juni hun ‘werkplek’ letterlijk buiten in het stedelijk groen te plaatsen.

Ook jij kunt aan de slag met deze landelijke Outdoor Office Day! Ga naar buiten. Maak je collega’s enthousiast en verzin een gaaf idee voor de #outdoorofficeday!

#UrbanNatureAmsterdam, de eerste papieren groene en blauwe kaart van de stad.

Amsterdam is veel meer dan een verzameling straten, gebouwen, cultuur en economische activiteit. Het doel van deze stadskaart is om te laten zien dat we leven temidden van parken, (binnen)tuinen, plantsoenen, natuurspeeltuinen, groene daken, meren, grachten, rivieren, polders en bossen. Een uniek groen en blauw stadslandschap dat we ongemerkt delen met meer dan 10.000 soorten flora en fauna.

In the light of the technologization and digitalization we're going through at the moment, we recognize the need to rethink urban design. Thanks to the internet, we can be anywhere we want. Thus changing the needs of a city's citizens. Additionally, smart city applications in public space raise questions regarding privacy and ownership.