A step further because of the Amsterdam Smart City Demo Day.. Recap of our Demo Days, no. 5

In December, all partners from Amsterdam Smart City came together for the already well-known Demo days. Demo Days are part of our innovation process and intended to boost the progress of the various innovation projects, put requests for help on the table, share dilemmas and involve more partners. We host them every 8-10 weeks.

Amsterdam Smart City works on four themes (four transitions) that all have an effect on each other. That is why during Demo days we actively look for the cross-over. Circular economy and Energy met each other, just as Mobility & Digital City. Which topics and projects were discussed? Get a quick overview!

Sustainable air conditioners
Because our summers are getting hotter, we notice a growth in sales of air conditioners. However, current air conditioners are not efficient and will overload the electricity grid. So we need a good sustainable alternative! But who is the problem owner? The municipality, housing associations or others? And what are possible solutions? Rafael Senden of the Energy Transition Team of the City of Amsterdam asked these questions to the public. Rafael: “Through Amsterdam Smart City I got in touch with people who experience the problem in practice. This has given me new insights. Now I know for example, that others are working on solutions for the demand for cold.”

Energy as a Currency
Mees Kusen, trainee at Amsterdam Smart City & Johan Cruijff ArenA, is working on an assignment on the issue of "Energy as a Currency" introduced by Huib Pasman of the ArenA. Mees has a call for the public: a survey is online on the Amsterdam Smart City platform and he is looking for more respondents. Just donate 5 minutes of your time: <https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/requests/how-valuable-is-energy-to-you>

Masterclass Environmental canvas
Melika Levelt from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) introduced the Participation Canvas: a tool for anyone who makes plans with a spatial impact and wants to engage citizens. The Canvas helps to gain more knowledge of an area and thereby also to have a better justification of plans and policy. Melika has developed a manual for the Canvas and will give a masterclass on January 23rd. Do you want to join? Do you have a real-life case? Or do you want to work with the canvas in a different way? Then contact Melika via <a>m.levelt@hva.nl</a>.

Energy transition in Hoofddorp
The center area of Hoofddorp needs to get rid of natural gas. Existing stores, offices and (stacked) housing as well as all plans that are under construction must acknowledge this. Each party can solve this individually, but a collective solution is probably better and more sustainable for everyone. How can a cooperation be initiated, taking into account everyone's own wishes and speed? Rolf Steenwinkel from the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer asked who wanted to participate in this question. HvA, Kennisland, Arcadis, Pakhuis de Zwijger and Alliander indicated that they want to cooperate with Rolf. A catch-up session is planned for January.

An inclusive neighborhood-oriented approach for the energy transition How do we link the energy transition to other social challenges in the neighborhood? Nora and Dave from Kennisland are looking for the connection between spatial issues on the one hand and social issues on the other. For example: if an installation of a heat network in a street is necessary, this might be a unique opportunity to start a conversation with the residents. You are already working in the neighborhood, so use this as an opportunity to look at the neighborhood in an integral way. Partners thought of possible pilots for an integrated and inclusive strategy in an area where the energy transition and social issues come together. After coming up with physical places it was time to diverge: write down as many spatial and social issues as possible and think of possible "linking opportunities". For example: organizing collective purchases with information evenings from the municipality to remedy loneliness among the elderly, resolving housing scarcity and zero-emission zones for cars through good metro connections, renew obsolete public space and the green integration of electricity stations. Dave van Loon, Kennisland: “The mix of attendees from the business community, governments and knowledge institutions meant a mix of various perspectives, which was extremely useful for us. It was useful to test our ideas and to investigate where and how we can continue to work together.”

Circular furniture chain
In the other workshop, under the leadership of Yanti Slaats from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, we made a start with completing an ‘Engagement Diagram’ for the furniture chain. This diagram, developed by the AUAS, helps to gain insight into the involved stakeholders. The first step is to map the different types of stakeholders; business, government, academia, society, media, environment. Then determine to what extent these stakeholders are already involved and whether they should be involved more or less. We have made considerable progress with the group in mapping the stakeholders around the furniture chain. “Every time we introduce a project at Amsterdam Smart City, it helps us a step further. Today we have made a first move to map all stakeholders around the furniture chain. The group had nice new insights’’, according to Yanti.

Catalyst
Giovanni Stijnen told about the Nemo project Catalyst in the Digital Perimeter project (ArenA area during UEFA2020). Here, safety is given shape digitally. Catalyst will facilitate discussions with local residents and visitors about this method of security. The residents will also talk to the professionals who work on safety in order to achieve better results and conditions together. So after an Amsterdam Smart City evening in Pakhuis de Zwijger in March 2019, Nemo will now collaborate with, among others, the municipality of Amsterdam, the Johan Cruijff ArenA and the police.

T****echnology diploma
Frenk Storm talked about the speed of digitization. A beautiful PowerPoint led the audience from old game computers, Kodak and cassette tapes to Pokémon Go and autonomous transport. With the presentation Frenk wanted to show that it is important that education is better connected to the rapid technological changes. Frenk represented a group of partners who have been collaborating since October on the idea of a "technology diploma". Pakhuis de Zwijger, Waag, Nemo, Municipality of Haarlem, Municipality of Amsterdam, RHDHV and Eurofiber have the joint mission to contribute to technology wisdom in Amsterdam with this new initiative.

Competitive mobility data
Lizann Tjon (CTO, municipality of Amsterdam) mobilized a large group for the working group on competition-sensitive mobility data. The municipality of Amsterdam wants to remain an open, accessible city for everyone. Therefore it is valuable to get data from different companies, for example about how often they drive in specific places. Lizann wanted to know from the group when they would be willing to share data with the municipality. The group quickly agreed; the municipality must clearly state which data it needs and because of which ambitions. Lizann: "We spoke with various partners (business, knowledge institutions and municipality) about the added value of data sharing and the role of these partners. One of the suggestions was to start at street level and see how it works when different parties exchange their data to map mobility flows. This is an interesting idea that I would like to investigate further with Amsterdam Smart City.’’

Smart Parking
Haarlemmermeer wants to improve parking in the municipality. For example by reducing cars looking for a parking spot and thereby reducing the pressure on the streets. This prevents unnecessary transport movements and therefore unnecessary emissions. Haarlemmermeer has therefore started a Smart Parking pilot. The aim is to develop a system that is not only suitable for Haarlemmermeer, but scalable to other cities. Preventing search traffic and unnecessary kilometers seems very desirable. However, the group agreed that simplifying parking can lead to perverse effects: more car use because the irritation about not being able to find a parking space diminishes. The assumption in the group: especially in large cities where car traffic is being reduced, a facility such as Smart Parking will not be embraced quickly. Unless it focuses much more on public values, such as improved air quality. So don’t focus on convenience, but on actively controlling traffic flows, ensuring that cars stay outside the center, away from neighborhoods or schools. Christine from Haarlemmermeer: "The table discussion was very nice. There was a lot of recognition on idea of collaborations between public and private institutions. What data do we collect? And if the government is about "the public values in society", how do we fulfill this role when it comes to parking data and "the public value in the digital society?"

Smart City School

Hein and Jurenne from the Johan Cruijff ArenA have plans to start a Smart City School. There is a lot of talent in the southeast of Amsterdam and there are companies looking for talent. However they cannot find each other. The Johan Cruijff ArenA wants to play a role in getting young people in the southeast more active in the digital economy. It became clear that the Johan Cruijff ArenA has a number of unique elements. Of course ‘football’, but also the presence in the area and the relationships with companies. This allows the ArenA to offer something unique to young people. Frenk Storm pointed out to the group that the success of, for example, the swimming diploma is that it is mandatory. Other points for success that were mentioned: involving the target group in the development, paying attention to digital opportunities and the "teach the teachers" principle. Hein & Jurenne: 'The Demo Day helped us to strengthen our vision, also in how we can apply strategies from digital innovation to social innovation and how we can better meet our wishes with the Amsterdam Smart City School and learning styles of young people. The working session on the Demo Day also made us more aware of the Unique Selling Points of an Amsterdam Smart City School: we can use the image and also the coaching principles from football even more effectively to attract young people in the region.

How do you feel about these projects? Do you have input for the partners? Or do you want to share your ideas during the next Demo day? Drop a line and let us know!

Happy holidays!

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Naomi Vrielink, Projectmedewerker at Future City Foundation, posted Apr 22nd

Op 20 en 21 juni reizen we af naar het zuiden om daar van Sittard-Geleen en Heerlen te leren. Ervaar in Heerlen en Sittard-Geleen hoe de slimme stad in de praktijk toegepast wordt en waar deze slimme toepassingen het fysieke en sociale domein verbindt.

In Sittard-Geleen zie je hoe zij in hun proeftuin Zeeheldenbuurt in gesprek gaan met de inwoner over activiteiten en bewegen. In Heerlen-Noord leren we van de stappen die worden gezet in een van de gebieden van het Nationaal Programma Leefbaarheid en Veiligheid op gebied van kansengelijkheid. En bij de Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen gaan we in gesprek over hoe onderzoek en organiseer je samen met diverse partijen digitalisering enerzijds op gebied van circulariteit, anderzijds in het kader van bestaanszekerheid en particpatie. De gebundelde kennis van data science en mensgerichte Artificial Intelligence (AI) leidt tot nieuwe slimme digitale ontwikkelingen en diensten, die de kwaliteit van leven verbeteren.

Conceptprogramma
Dag 1: Proeftuin Zeeheldenbuurt Sittard-Geleen
Met de proeftuin Zeeheldenbuurt speelt de gemeente Sittard-Geleen in op drie thema’s, (Smart City, Participatie en Klimaat adaptatie). Samen met buurtbewoners en vakspecialisten (extern en intern) zijn ze in één buurt aan de slag om een betere toekomstbestendige leefomgeving te creëren en ontmoeting te stimuleren.
De gemeente luistert aan de hand van ‘slimme’ toepassingen naar de inwoner, houdt 0-metingen en monitoren, werkt aan een Digital Twin meetnetwerk en bekijkt dit alles gezamenlijk door de glazen van VR-brillen.
Kortom: Hoe kun je in deze buurt samen een Klimaatbestendige betere leef en ontmoet- omgeving creëren? Welke lessen leren we hier? Wat vinden de buurtbewoners van deze aanpak?

Dag 2: Van de Brightlands Smart Services Campus naar Heerlen – Noord
We starten deze dag in de Brightlands Smart Services Campus met twee parallelle tracks na een gezamenlijke aftrap over hoe de Brightlands Smart Services werkt.

Circulaire track
CollaborAll/Monady laten aan de hand van de transformatie van het voormalige DSM-hoofdkantoor in Heerlen zien hoe hun Circulaire Build Hubs werken. De Circulaire Build Hub zorgt ervoor dat al die individuele partijen met elk hun eigen informatie, specialistische inzichten, data, specificaties etc. op een makkelijke en betrouwbare manier naar dezelfde fysieke en digitale werkelijkheid kijken én handelen. De Circulaire Build Hub voorkomt onduidelijkheid, missers, onnodig werk, uitlopende planningen en onnodige kosten, vermindert risico’s en zorgt ervoor dat alle informatie in samenhang beschikbaar is. Dit bevordert efficiëntie en draagt bij aan de overgang naar een circulaire economie door duurzaam materiaalgebruik.

Sociale track
De Brightlands Smart Services Campus huisvest het ELSA Lab armoede en schulden. Dit lab richt zich op het voorkomen van geldproblemen, de bestrijding van schulden en armoede én het verbeteren van de financiële gezondheid. Leer wat hier wordt gedaan op gebied van AI en wat nu al de opbrengsten zijn. Daarna horen we van het Atelier Sociaal Domein van HS Zuyd hoe zij ervaringskennis hoe een samenwerking met ervaringsdeskundigen, onderwijs en onderzoek zorgt voor een betere match tussen vraag en aanbod.

Heerlen- Noord
In de middag bezoeken we Heerlen-Noord, waarin het sociaal en fysiek domein weer samenkomen. We maken een wandeling door een stukje Heerlen-Noord en bezoeken de Sjpruutshop. Een plek waar ouders van pasgeborenen gratis spullen kunnen halen voor de baby en voor de gemeente een vindplaats van de mensen voor wie we aan de slag zijn. Vervolgens lopen we via een opgeknapte kerk (tot limburgs archief), door een tweetal wijken (horende tot de armste wijken van het land). We leren hoe verduurzaming, renovatie tegen de achtergrond van het willen behouden van uniek cultureel erfgoed, namelijk de mijnwerkerswoningen samenkomen.
_______________________________________________________________
Datum: 20 en 21 juni
<strong>Tijd:</strong> 10.00 – 17.00 uur
<strong>Locatie:</strong> Sittard-Geleen, Brightlands Smart Services Campus en Heerlen- Noord

Meld je hieronder aan:

Herman van den Bosch, professor in management development , posted Apr 22nd

Urbanisation in the US is undergoing major changes. The image of a central city surrounded by sprawling suburbs therefore needs to be updated. The question is what place does the 15-minute city have in it? That is what this somewhat longer post is about

From the 1950s, residents of US cities began moving en masse to the suburbs. A detached house in the green came within reach for the middle and upper classes, and the car made it possible to commute daily to factories and offices. These were initially still located in and around the cities. The government stimulated this development by investing billions in the road network.
From the 1980s, offices also started to move away from the big cities. They moved to attractive locations, often near motorway junctions. Sometimes large shopping and entertainment centres also settled there, and flats were built on a small scale for supporting staff. Garreau called such cities 'edge cities'.
Investors built new suburbs called 'urban villages' in the vicinity of the new office locations, significantly reducing the distance to the offices. This did not reduce congestion on congested highways.

However, more and more younger workers had no desire to live in suburbs. The progressive board of Arlington, near Washington DC, took the decision in the 1980s to develop a total of seven walkable, inclusive, attractive and densely built-up cores in circles of up to 800 metres around metro stations. In each was a wide range of employment, flats, shops and other amenities . In the process, the Rosslyn-Balston Corridor emerged and experienced rapid growth. The population of the seven cores now stands at 71,000 out of a total of 136,000 jobs. 36% of all residents use the metro or bus for commuting, which is unprecedentedly high for the US. The Rosslyn-Balston Corridor is a model for many other medium-sized cities in the US, such as New Rochelle near new York.

Moreover, to meet the desire to live within walking distance of all daily amenities, there is a strong movement to also regenerate the suburbs themselves. This is done by building new centres in the suburbs and densifying part of the suburbs.
The new centres have a wide range of flats, shopping facilities, restaurants and entertainment centres. Dublin Bridge Park, 30 minutes from Columbus (Ohio) is one of many examples.
It is a walkable residential and commercial area and an easily accessible centre for residents from the surrounding suburbs. It is located on the site of a former mall.

Densification of the suburbs is necessary because of the high demand for (affordable) housing, but also to create sufficient support for the new centres.
Space is plentiful. In the suburbs, there are thousands of (semi-)detached houses that are too large for the mostly older couples who occupy them. An obvious solution is to split the houses, make them energy-positive and turn them into two or three starter homes. There are many examples how this can be done in a way that does not affect the identity of the suburbs (image).
New construction in suburbs

This kind of solution is difficult to realise because the municipal authorities concerned are bound by decades-old zoning plans, which prescribe in detail what can be built somewhere. Some of the residents fiercely oppose changing the laws. Especially in California, the NIMBYs (not in my backyard) and the YIMBYs (yes in my backyard) have a stranglehold on each other and housing construction is completely stalled.

But even without changing zoning laws, there are incremental changes. Here and there, for instance, garages, usually intended for two or three cars, are being converted into 'assessor flats' for grandma and grandpa or for children who cannot buy a house of their own. But garden houses are also being added and souterrains constructed. Along the path of gradualness, this adds thousands of housing units, without causing much fuss.

It is also worth noting that small, sometimes sleepy towns seem to be at the beginning of a period of boom. They are particularly popular with millennials. These towns are eminently 'walkable' , the houses are not expensive and there is a wide range of amenities. The distance to the city is long, but you can work well from home and that is increasingly the pattern. The pandemic and the homeworking it has initiated has greatly increased the popularity of this kind of residential location.

All in all, urbanisation in the US can be typified by the creation of giant metropolitan areas, across old municipal boundaries. These areas are a conglomeration of new cities, rivalling the old mostly shrinking and poverty-stricken cities in terms of amenities, and where much of employment is in offices and laboratories. In between are the suburbs, with a growing variety of housing. The aim is to create higher densities around railway stations. Besides the older suburbs, 'urban villages' have emerged in attractive locations. More and more suburbs are getting their own walkable centres, with a wide range of flats and facilities. Green space has been severely restricted by these developments.

According to Christopher Leinberger, professor of real estate and urban analysis at George Washington University, there is no doubt that in the US, walkable, attractive cores with a mixed population and a varied housing supply following the example of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor are the future. In addition, walkable car-free neighbourhoods, with attractive housing and ample amenities are in high demand in the US. Some of the 'urban villages' are developing as such. The objection is that these are 'walkable islands', rising in an environment that is anything but walkable. So residents always have one or two cars in the car park for when they leave the neighbourhood, as good metro or train connections are scarce. Nor are these kinds of neighbourhoods paragons of a mixed population; rents tend to be well above the already unaffordable average.

The answer of the question in the header therefore is: locally and slowly

Xander Bakker, Community Manager at Green Innovation Hub, posted Apr 22nd

Groepsfoto van alle deelnemers en aanwezigen tijdens de Green Innovation Hub Contest 2024 in Almere.

Almere, 18 april 2024 – Scale-up Vennster uit Nijkerk is de winnaar van de Green Innovation Hub Contest 2024. In deze wedstrijd presenteerden negen start-ups en scale-ups hun innovatieve oplossing voor een duurzame en inclusieve leefomgeving. Met hun methode en intelligente participatie app Parta wist Vennster de jury te overtuigen om hun product samen met de inwoners van Almere in te zetten voor de Almeerse woonwijken Hortus en Pampus.

De sociale app stelt een gemeente in staat om een brede doelgroep te bereiken, dit gaf uiteindelijk de doorslag om met de winst er vandoor te gaan. Het product zal verder ontwikkeld worden in samenwerking met de gemeente Almere en andere organisaties die betrokken waren bij de contest. Ook wint de scale-up een reis naar de Smart City World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, de productie van een eigen bedrijfsfilm en krijgen zij begeleiding om het bedrijf verder te ontwikkelen.

Partner en eigenaar Lonneke Dikmans van Vennster nam de Golden Award in ontvangst: “Wij zijn heel blij dat we hebben gewonnen, omdat het een erkenning is van onze missie. Wij willen zoveel mogelijk mensen in Nederland met elkaar in contact te brengen met onze methode en app en daarmee maatschappelijke uitdagingen oplossen, zoals de energietransitie.”

GIH afbeelding 1
Vrnl: Lonneke Dikmans (eigenaar en partner bij Vennster) ontvangt de Golden Award van Lisa van der Heijden (adviseur community management FDS & Digilab bij Realisatie IBDS) en Geert-Jan Put (hoofd economische ontwikkelingen bij Gemeente Almere).

Jaarlijkse wedstrijd voor duurzame startups en scaleups
In april 2023 werd de eerste editie van de Green Innovation Hub Contest vanuit de Green Innovation Hub georganiseerd. Civity uit Amersfoort ging er toen met de hoofdprijs vandoor. Ook volgend jaar zal er weer een contest worden uitgeschreven. De Green Innovation Hub is een samenwerking tussen Gemeente Almere, Provincie Flevoland en VodafoneZiggo.

Nico Bettings, director Fixed Network (VodafoneZiggo) licht toe: “De manier waarop we werken, wonen, leven en communiceren met elkaar verandert in een hoog tempo. Nieuwe innovaties zijn daarbij essentieel. Ik vind Vennster hier een fantastisch voorbeeld van. Ik hoop dat deze prijs hen een duwtje in de goede richting geeft, met alle expertise die in de hub aanwezig is.”

Innovatiekracht in Almere
In heel Nederland, maar zeker in Almere, is de roep om duurzame en innovatieve leefoplossingen groot. De komende tien jaar zullen er één miljoen huizen worden gebouwd en nieuwe wijken ontstaan, inclusief de gehele infrastructuur. Het doel is deze gebieden zo duurzaam en toekomstbesteding mogelijk neer te zetten. Daaromis de Green Innovation Hub in 2023 neergestreken in Almere en richt de wedstrijd zich op innovaties die in deze nieuwe woongebieden toegepast kunnen worden.

Geert Jan Put, hoofd economische ontwikkelingen bij Gemeente Almere licht toe: “We zitten qua gebiedsontwikkeling in de grootste transitie van de afgelopen jaren. Almere groeit met meer dan twintig procent per jaar. Onze stad is daarmee de proeftuin van innovaties die bijdragen aan een toekomstbestendige en duurzame woonomgeving. De oplossingen die tijdens de Green Innovation Hub Contest zijn gepresenteerd, dragen ieder op hun eigen manier bij aan een duurzame en natuur inclusieve stad. Ik blijf de organisaties met interesse volgen.”

GIH afbeelding 2
Vlnr: Danny Frietman (Green Innovation Hub), Harm Dijkstra (Provincie Flevoland), Nico Bettings (VodafoneZiggo), Caspar de Jonge (DMI-ecosysteem), René Visser (Green Innovation Hub/VodafoneZiggo) en Geert-Jan Put (Gemeente Almere) na ondertekening samenwerking Dutch Metropolitan Innovations en Green Innovation Hub (van links naar rechts).

Volgende fase Green Innovation Hub
De Green Innovation Hub is onlangs verhuisd naar gebouw Floor aan de Hospitaaldreef in Almere. De finale van de Green Innovation Hub Contest vond hier plaats. In het gebouw is tevens tijdens de avond het CityLab Almere geopend waar Vennster hun product kan presenteren aan geïnteresseerde bedrijven, overheids- en onderwijsinstellingen binnen en buiten Almere. Met het nieuwe kantoor is de grootte van de hub bijna vertienvoudigd. Per 1 juli komt daar zelfs 1000 m2 extra ruime bij. Daarmee kan het nieuwe gebouw worden opengesteld aan startups en scaleups die nog kantoorruimte zoeken. Geïnteresseerden kunnen zich via de website van de Green Innovation Hub kenbaar maken.

Over de Green Innovation Hub
De Green Innovation Hub is een broedplaats voor ontmoeting, samenwerking en innovatie. Partijen ontwikkelen digitale oplossingen voor een gezondestadsomgeving, lokale voedselzekerheid, mobiliteit, circulair bouwen, energiedistributie en sociale verbondenheid tussen stadsbewoners. Gezamenlijke innovaties worden gevalideerd en opgeschaald op speciale ‘greenfield’ locaties. De Green Innovation Hub is een open ecosysteem van het bedrijfsleven, overheden en onderwijs.