Given their immense ecological footprint and impact on human wellbeing, it is critical that cities make the transition to become sustainable and circular. Yet accessing the right resources and crafting the right policy isn’t easy. The Metabolic Cities Program is here to help.
For more information, read about the program here or look at the full Metabolic Cities Program brochure.
Get in touch by emailing <a>cities@metabolic.nl</a> or call +31 (0) 203690977
The Metabolic Cities Program guides cities to make data-driven decisions, steers and accelerates their progress to becoming sustainable leaders, and connects them to a change-driven network of other pioneers. With the Program, we are creating a knowledge community where cities can access joint research trajectories, discounted services, a network of peers and partners, and a growing library of data, tools, and best practices.
We will host one or more new joint research trajectories each year. These trajectories seek to answer critical challenges and provide a toolkit for developing smart policy and infrastructure.
Our first research trajectory will focus on spatial intelligence, in which cities learn how to apply policy goals spatially, understand the opportunities and barriers present in different neighborhoods, define KPIs to track progress, and pinpoint where, and how to jump-start implementation.
The year-long research trajectory helps cities implement city-wide sustainability goals at a neighbourhood level through data modeling tools and our advanced spatial planning approach. Through the program, cities learn how to apply their policy goals spatially, define KPIs to track progress, and engage with local stakeholders to jump-start implementation. Cities share lessons learned and can build partnerships around similar challenges and interventions. Key tools and takeaways include:
Metabolic
Sign-ups for the first Spatial Intelligence trajectory are now open until the end of May. Email cities@metabolic.nl or call +31 (0) 203690977
The Program will consist of a knowledge community where cities can access joint research trajectories, discounted services, a network of peers and partners, and a growing library of data, tools, and best practices. Cities across Europe can share lessons learned and can build partnerships around similar challenges and interventions.
During our Knowledge and Demo Day on 10 October (2024), Guus Kruijssen and Rombout Huisman (Province of North Holland) led a working session on their recent scenario studies – Smart Mobility North Holland 2050. In this report, I will share the four ‘Context’ scenarios they developed, the process, and the discussions with the session participants.
What do we actually mean by future visions and scenarios? What are the different types, and how can they be used? A discussion among the participants quickly highlighted the many different motivations, forms, and use cases. Rombout and Guus began by explaining their aim for this study.
The province of North Holland plays various roles in the field of mobility as a policymaker, road manager, and concession provider. Given the major challenges related to housing, CO2 emissions reduction, and road safety, their perspective on the future of mobility revolves around Reducing (travel), Improving (travel options), and Changing (travel behaviour). This perspective forms the basis for developing, operationalising, and maintaining their strategy – a cycle that spans approximately 50 years. However, digital developments and innovations are making the world change faster than ever, necessitating greater awareness of possible contextual changes. The key question is: how do the choices we make now relate to the different possible futures?
To explore this, a team of colleagues embarked on developing four challenging context scenarios. Working with internal and external experts, they moved from an environmental analysis and contextual factors to scenarios and strategic insights. The process and outcomes were kept administrative and had no political or policy-driven focus. The result is not a set of visions to choose from but rather a representation of various developments and challenges that may arise, to which you can assess your own projects and actions against.
Four distinct context scenarios were developed. Here is a summary and a few key aspects of each:
Rombout and Guus guided the group through the process and results of these scenario studies. We discussed the developments and contextual factors used in the study, and considered if anything was missing. They openly shared their approach and how they plan to use these insights to assess their own policies and projects, and welcomed questions and suggestions from the group. There was also room for discussing the challenges. Because, while people can easily align on scenarios, opinions can still vary greatly on how we should act on them now.
Many of our partners are already working with future visions and scenarios. See, for instance, our report on a session with trendwatchers from the Municipality of Amsterdam. The purpose, process, and impact on policy, projects, and actions vary across organisations. However, there was agreement that sharing methods and scenarios is valued, particularly in a neutral setting like our innovation network. It fosters mutual understanding and offers valuable lessons from each other's research methods and practical applications. In the coming period, we will explore how we can contribute to this in our network on various transition themes.
Would you like to know more about this study from the Province of North Holland? Feel free to send me a message, and I will connect you. Interested in brainstorming about how we can approach this more frequently or systematically within the network? Let me know at pelle@amsterdaminchange.com.
Hallo allen! Ik deel graag de uitnodiging voor een online webinar van EIT Urban Mobility. Op woensdag 𝟐𝟕 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 organiseert EIT Urban Mobility samen met Smart Dublin een interessant webinar over ‘actieve mobiliteit in de stad’.
💡 Ze presenteren een nieuwe, innovatieve oplossing die recent in Dublin in gebruik is genomen en gaan in op ideeën en uitdagingen rond Actieve Mobiliteit – een thema dat natuurlijk past binnen de slimme stad.
🏙️✨ Zeker de moeite waard om bij te zijn!
ℹ️ Het webinar is in het Engels. Doe je mee? 👉 Meld u aan voor deze webinar via : https://kennislab.typeform.com/to/J8Ef0Vd8
Hi,
I am a Master’s student at The Glasgow School of Art, specializing in Innovation Design and Circular Economy. Originally from Austria, I am very interested in gaining practical experience through a six-month internship in Amsterdam, a city known for its pioneering efforts in Circular Economy.
My goal is to build professional experience in this field and, ideally, to bring this knowledge back to Austria to help advance sustainable practices there.
For my Master’s thesis, I focused on the fashion industry, particularly on how the textile sector in Scotland can transition to a circular model, with a primary focus on my main stakeholder, <em>Johnston of Elgin</em>.
I would be very grateful to discuss any potential internship opportunities you might have. Please feel free to reach out to me!
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
CV
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fVwynP1zffNoemot534el961H-whrosY/view?usp=sharing
Best regards,
Larissa
