#Public participation
Requests

🌍✨ Join Us in Making a Difference! ✨🌍
We're excited to launch a groundbreaking project aimed at transforming e-waste into educational opportunities! 🚀📚 As part of our commitment to sustainability and digital literacy, we're collecting smartphones, laptops, and other electronics to support vibrant educational workshops in Rwanda.
Why join us? By participating, you'll:

• 🌱 Support environmental sustainability by helping reduce e-waste.
• 📖 Contribute to enhancing digital literacy among underserved communities.
• 🤝 Be part of a global movement advocating for responsible technology use.
• 🎓 Help provide essential skills that can transform lives and foster long-term growth.

We're looking for individuals and organizations to donate devices, share expertise, or sponsor our efforts. Every contribution makes a real difference, and together, we can create a more sustainable and inclusive future. 🌟
Let's reshape the future, one device at a time. Join us in this exciting journey and be credited in our upcoming documentary that highlights the collective efforts of our incredible partners from Germany, Latvia, and the Netherlands. 🎥🌍
CONTACT US THROUGH EMAIL - madaralace1999@gmail.com

Hallo allemaal, Fijne woensdag, 😀 (English below)

Wij willen graag begrijpen en leren oof participatie in de gebouwde omgeving de moeite waard is en welke uitdagingen je daarbij bent tegengekomen.

Vul deze enquête van 30 seconden (max. 1 minuut) in en kijk wat andere professionals ervaren.

Cheers,

Playground Team

www.plgrnd.city

----------------

Hello all, Happy Wednesday, 😀

We would like to understand and learn if participation in the built environment is worth it and what challenges you have experienced with it.

Please complete this 30-second (max 1 minute) survey and see what other professionals experience.

Cheers,

Playground Team
www.plgrnd.city

My name is Arshitha and I am currently a Master's student at the University of Twente, I am doing my thesis on the topic of 'Inclusion in Smart Cities'.

I am currently looking for researches or members of the city administrations or NGOs in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Hamburg who are interested in participating in a research interview for my Master Thesis Project.

The study's main objective is to look further into actual strategies of digital and social inclusion initiatives that can be implemented for the development of a Smart City that is inclusive and accessible to it’s citizens. I want to get real-life insights and learn about the barriers that organizations in the implementation of digital inclusion projects and use to it make a reference framework for my thesis project.

The interviews will be semi-structured and I hope to complete it by the end of April 2024. It should not take more than an hour or an hour and a half.

If you are interested in participating, please send me an email at: 
a.r.jayasinghrajaflorence@student.utwente.nl
Phone Number: +31 645213887

Dear reader,

I am Estefanía Morás, and I am a master student in Industrial Design at the University of Twente, currently working on an exciting research project. This project focuses on supporting transdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder collaboration in smart city initiatives and is supervised by Dr.ir. Deger Ozkaramanli (link). Current issues in smart cities cannot be tackled by a single profession or a discipline, yet bringing together multiple stakeholders from different backgrounds requires tools and methods that are tailored to their needs to ensure fruitful collaboration. I would like to address this challenge by designing a toolkit (physical or digital) that will facilitate managing value conflicts that may emerge among various stakeholders when trying to jointly define a ‘problem’ or find ‘common ground’.

To do this properly, I need input from both researchers and practitioners. This will ensure that the toolkit will be both evidence-based (based on the latest scientific research) as well as relevant for practitioners working in smart city projects such as yourself. Would you be available for a 1-hour interview with me to discuss a specific smart city project that you have been involved in? The emphasis in this interview will be on the opportunities and challenges that emerged in the collaboration (the process) and not so much on specific smart city technologies.

The date of this interview entirely depends on your availability, but if possible, I would like to meet before the end of September.

Hi everyone, I am Kyaw and currently studying master's in Urban Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change at Erasmus University Rotterdam. As I am currently doing my master thesis in Buiksloterham, I would like to conduct the interviewees with the residents and future residents of the district.

I would like to ask the questions about why the residents are using renewable energy systems in the existing households in that neighbourhoods and how they can communicate with their neighbour to increase the sense of community.

Please let me know where I can find the interviewees and distribute the surveys

If you are a user of voice assistants, you have probably experienced misunderstandings, especially if you are a woman or have an accent.  One of the reasons behind misunderstandings is bias in voice biometrics. This is not a problem if you’re a white US male, but for the rest of us, voice-based systems may be biased.

If you use Google Assistant, whether you use the Assistant App, use Google Home, or Google Nest, you can help mitigate bias in voice biometrics by donating your voice records.

In the process, you will be able to explore your data before committing to donate it.
To do so:

1. Download a copy of your Google Assistant records (See detailed instructions)
2. Upload your data to our Data Donation Platform and explore it
3. Decide what exactly you want to share and donate your data!

We will use the donated data to develop design guidelines and construct an evaluation dataset that reflects real-life usage conditions of voice biometrics technology. In addition, you can participate in a follow-up interview to delve into your personal experience with voice assistants and further explore your data.

This project is part of my PhD research and your contribution would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to reach out :)

Dear Amsterdam Smart city community

I am reaching out to you to present a bit more of my project of Piss Soap and to ask you to vote and support my project at the New European Bauhaus Prize.
You can follow the link that will lead you to the voting page.

Piss Soap is a finalist in the section of “Rising Stars”, category Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking

Please vote, share and support and make sure to check all the amazing projects around sustainability, inclusivity and a greener future together.

"Piss soap is made entirely out of human activity waste materials, namely wood ashes, used cooking oil and urine. All these materials are easily gathered locally, in Amsterdam. The gathering of material and production of the Piss Soap is locally implemented and redistributed to the public cleaning services as well as the inhabitants. Piss soap has a regenerative impact in our cities, allowing to transform in a creative and useful way, wastes that our cities congregate."

If you have any question or comment do not hesitate to contact me

Hello there,
Do you know about initiatives, projects, groups that are working to decrease the cost of living of a Dutch household? Energy, rent, food, care, etc, all those field could be interesting for our research. Successful or less, is not important, I am looking for lessons learnt.

We are an innovation studio funded by PostNL and Dasym looking into Application of technology to increase disposable income in the household (also by unlocking the potential of the neighbourhood).

Let me know if this resonates or rings any bell!
Gianluca

Dear community,

To finish my studies at Hotelschool The Hague, I am conducting a research project. My research examines how the level of self-efficacy of residents in intensively visited cities can influence the creation of social cohesion. Over the years, the city of Amsterdam has become flooded with tourists and will therefore be the main focus of this research.

Are you, or have you been, a resident of Amsterdam? Then please do take five minutes out of your day to share your experiences with me. It would mean a lot!
In case of any questions or remarks, do not hesitate to contact me at 781008@hotelschool.nl.

Sharing is much appreciated and thank you very much in advance!

Link to the survey: https://lnkd.in/gtDReWrX

Warm regards,

Manon Gravesteijn

Beste netwerk,
Voor mijn studie Construction Management & Engineering (CME) aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven ben ik op dit moment bezig met mijn afstudeeronderzoek naar de effecten van autodelen op het reisgedrag van individuen. Daarvoor wil ik een aantal minuten van jouw tijd vragen.

Hoe kun je helpen?
Door het invullen van de online enquête, help je mij bij het verzamelen van gegevens voor het onderzoek naar deze effecten. Voel je vrij om het ook te delen met je eigen netwerk.

Via onderstaande link is de online enquête te bereiken.
ONLINE ENQUÊTE: https://tueindhoven.limequery.com/143597?lang=nl

Ik wil je alvast bedanken voor de aandacht en tijd! Deelname wordt enorm gewaardeerd. Indien je verdere verduidelijking of informatie wenst, neem dan gerust contact met mij op via email (g.a.h.mutsaers@student.tue.nl)

For those of you who know, Marineterrein Amsterdam has been a test area to explore responsible counting of crowds (big and small) in a living lab environment. Summer temperatures are bringing large numbers people to the Marineterrein to cool off - but earlier this winter / spring, the crowd monitor revealed some fun facts about how people made use the inner-city living lab during the Covid19 lockdown.

This summer we’re collecting feedback from the Marineterrein community and the general public. Have you ever been to the Marineterrein? If so, how do you feel about counting people in public space? In this 1 minute survey we ask 5 simple yes/no questions to help us improve your experience on the smart city campus.

Your help is appreciated!

Begin dit jaar is het ‘Manifest Burgerberaad Klimaat en Milieu’ gelanceerd. Een coalitie van burgers en organisaties roept de politiek op een ambitieus burgerberaad in te stellen, waarin burgers maatregelen bedenken om de klimaatcrisis te bestrijden en biodiversiteitsverlies tegen te gaan. Ik ondersteun dit manifest van harte omdat ik erin geloof dat een grotere betrokkenheid van burgers bij deze grote uitdaging leidt tot betere en eerlijkere oplossingen. Jij ook? Teken het manifest!

De opwarming van de aarde raakt alles en iedereen. Om de aarde leefbaar te houden zijn snel grote veranderingen nodig. De Nederlandse overheid (gemeenten, provincies en Rijk) lijken nog onvoldoende in staat om tot een toereikende, integrale aanpak van de klimaatcrisis te komen. Een belangrijke barrière is dat moeilijke keuzes (bijvoorbeeld rondom de plaatsing van windmolens of het inperken van de intensieve landbouw) uit de weg worden gegaan. Ook worden burgers onvoldoende en vaak veel te laat betrokken bij de voorgestelde oplossingen, wat leidt tot vertraging en weerstand.

Waarom een burgerberaad?
Een burgerberaad is een onafhankelijk georganiseerde werkwijze waarbij een gelote dwarsdoorsnede van de Nederlandse bevolking zich laat informeren door experts en belanghebbenden. Vrij van lobby en verkiezingsdruk ontwikkelen zij maatregelen die eerlijk en toereikend zijn, en bovendien gesteund worden door de samenleving. Onder andere dit rapport van de OECD laat zien dat deze democratische methode in het buitenland goed werkt om hete hangijzers aan te pakken. Een belangrijke voorwaarde is dat het proces transparant wordt ingericht.

Lees en teken het manifest

Dear AmsterdamSmartCity,

Today I start my dissertation project for Oxand. Together we will be working towards defining clearer goals for Gemeente Amsterdam's smart city objectives! We will approach this challenge by taking the #SmartCity principles and observing them through the lens of #SystemEngineering.

I am looking for members who are interesting in helping me identify stakeholders, current challenges facing the municipality, developing projects, objectives that must be fulfilled and much more!

As societal values change and the deployment of sensing technology becomes more ubiquitous, what are our digital rights in a 21st-century city?  This dilemma is forcing municipalities to make difficult decisions about practice versus the policy of collecting data from public space. In collaboration with the City of Amsterdam, The City Innovation Exchange Lab (CITIXL) has created the Responsible Sensing Toolkit -  a six-step process to help navigate this new landscape in a fast and effective way. The toolkit was co-designed by experienced city innovators to empower municipalities, organisations, and communities to implement open and inclusive sensing solutions for our 21st-century cities.

We are currently seeking cities to test the step-by-step process to guide the design and implementation of crowd sensing pilots in public spaces.  For complete details about the Toolkit and how your city can participate please visit http://www.citixl.com/responsible_sensing_toolkit/ or contact CITIXL co-founder Paul Manwaring at paul@citixl.com

Ecodam is a young initiatief aimed at creating a place where young people will learn about and help build the circular economy. Ecodam is not highbrow and elitair but inclusive, hands-on, fun and accessible. We use design thinking principles, letting visitors operate as designers and makers. Thinking of new solutions for real problems and making new, circular, products.

Ecodam is currently looking for partners to help us realise our dream and a location for a pilot lab.

ideas and tips are welcome!

Do you know a great example of high density living environments built within the last 30 years? Share your knowledge and contribute to the creation of an open repository via Crowd Creation. To be truly exemplary, the area should include a mixture of functions (at least some of them high-rise) where the physical fabric retains a human scale at street level despite the high density.

You may wonder who's asking for and compiling this information: the Chair of Spatial Urban Transformation at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences is committed to building an open-access repository. Sharing best practices across the globe is becoming increasingly vital, especially as many of our western cities are on the eve of unprecedented densification. As a humble thank you for helping to guide this societal challenge, they've allotted 12 rewards for contributors. Click here to submit a project.

Societal Context
Like many of our Western cities, Amsterdam is on the brink of intensive urban densification. The metropolitan area of Amsterdam plans to add 100,000 new dwellings, mostly within the existing urban fabric. Compact studio apartments and new situational typologies of high-rises are part of the program, which will increase the densification even further. How are we to retain a human scale in these new high-density environments, especially at the street level where our social fabric is shaped? This calls for a new array of examples and precedent studies of successful existing "Great High Density Environments." What are their design properties and how are they programmed? How do they succeed in retaining a human scale?

Amsterdam - Image Courtesy of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Sensing Streetscapes Project

These questions are central to the Sensing Streetscapes Project initiated by the Chair of Spatial Urban Transformation at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). In a consortium of spatial design offices and clients of large scale projects, action research is explored along three lines. First, building on the classic works of Allan Jacobs, Jan Gehl and the like, six of the most-used reference locations for these new environments are deconstructed by research through design. Second, neuro-architectural technologies (eye-trackers) are deployed to uncover the visual impact of the applied design principles: What are the patterns? Do these design solutions indeed mitigate the high density and intensity to a human scale on the level of the streetscape? Finally, an algorithm is developed to trace the most suitable best practices via AI. That’s where you come in.

Cassilis Road, London - Image Courtesy of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Repository of Great Examples by Crowd Creation
Some high profile examples of great high density environments are well known, like in Vancouver, Toronto, London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Manhattan. Yet what lesser-known examples of Great High Density Living Environments are out there for us to learn from? Share your knowledge and contribute to the creation of an open repository via Crowd Creation.

In order to frame the search, a list of desired characteristics:

• Residential environment in an inner city area
• Built within the last 30 years – or about to be 'opened' soon
• Built for High Density with some high-rise buildings
• Success in creating a human scale at eye-level on the street
• Some level of mixed functions, green design, etc. - anything that increases the livability of the environment

Click here to submit a project.

Hardman Street, Manchester - Image Courtesy of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

You are, of course, allowed to offer one of your own projects as an example. The deadline for submissions is January 29th, 2021 and as a modest gesture of thanks for helping address this societal challenge, 12 rewards are available to contributors. Out of the projects that fit the characteristics, consortium members will select the contributors who delivered either multiple great examples, surprisingly interesting examples, or in-depth descriptions and pictures. 12 entrants will be randomly selected to be rewarded:

• 2 will receive personalized book selections on this topic (favorites of the Chair)
• 6 will receive an Amazon gift card with a value of €50
• 4 will receive a ticket to the Media Architecture Biennale 2021
• Winners will be notified personally

Visit the results at https://sensingstreetscapes.com. The website will remain open afterwards, so feel free to keep sending your examples!

Hey! I am a student from Finland looking to write my dissertation about the way city based festivals can thrive sustainably in a 'post-Covid-19' world and tackle sustainability issues with the support and co-creation of initiatives of the 'smart city' as well as city council.

Essentially I am aiming to argue how 'smart city' initiatives such as seen in Amsterdam and Helsinki could help festival management engage better with tackling sustainability issues cheaply, by for example offering event spaces, expertise, waste management which can be expensive processes...

Any advice is much appreciated, thank you !!

Hi im currently doing a dissertation on smart city technology in Amsterdam im really wanting to have peoples views on it. How they feel about the tecnology and whether they have liked the changed around roads and bike lanes etc in the past 10 years or so, im really wanting to know if people know about all the tech incorporated into the city. If anyone would like to get intouch if you feel you could help please send an email to sunnyhowd@outlook.com or message me on here would love to hear from you all!

Kind Regards
Sunny

For my Master's Thesis, I am pursuing the topic of Smart Cities from the perspective of the citizen. Primarily, focusing on first, the awareness among citizens about their cities "smart initiatives" and secondly, the extent to which they participate and would like to participate in such initiatives. My sample population consists of normal citizens as I would like to investigate how much the average citizen is aware of these things. However, I am looking for people on this forum who have somewhat of a previous experience either about or working with smart cities who I could hopefully conduct a short interview with so I could use that as sort of a benchmark when compared to normal citizens of a city.

Having spend a decade researching microbial barrier coatings that address surface sanitation challenges, I'm delighted to now look for distributors who are seeking eco-friendly products and services to enhance the urban environment. See www.ingeniatouch.com for details.