The call for Let it Grow’s second Incubation Programme is now open and is accepting applications until 10 September 2017. Let it Grow believes in the value of plants and flowers to ensure happier and healthier city living. Let it Grow’s Incubation Programme is a five-month programme based in Amsterdam and is designed to accelerate entrepreneurial teams that work with flowers and plants in new ways. Successful applicants will receive €10,000 (no equity will be asked in return), a dedicated mentor, workshops/trainings and access to their extensive network of professionals. The first programme had a Net Promoter Score of +90. Apply now at letitgrow.org/apply
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Join AMS Institute's Scientific Conference, hosted by TU Delft, Wageningen University & Research, MIT and the City of Amsterdam.
Do you want to learn from and network with the best researchers and scientists working to tackle pressing urban challenges?
AMS Institute, is organizing the AMS Scientific Conference from April 23-25 at the Marineterrein, Amsterdam, to address pressing urban challenges. The event is organized in collaboration with the City of Amsterdam.
The conference brings together leading institutions in urban research and innovation, thought leaders, municipalities, researchers, and practitioners to explore innovative solutions for sustainable development in Amsterdam and other global cities.
Keynotes, research workshops, learning tracks, and special sessions will explore the latest papers in the fields of mobility, circularity, energy transition, climate adaptation, urban food systems, digitization, diversity, inclusion, living labs experimentation, and transdisciplinary research.
Attendees can expect to gain valuable insights into cutting-edge research and engage in meaningful discussions with leading experts in their field. You can see the full program and all available sessions here.
This year's theme is 'Blueprints for messy cities? Navigating the interplay of order and messiness'.
The program
Day 1: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Keynotes by Paul Behrens of Leiden University and Elin Andersdotter Fabre of UN-Habitat will be followed by a city panel including climate activist <strong>Hannah Prins</strong>. The first day concludes with a dinner at the Koepelkerk in Amsterdam: you're welcome to join our three-course meal with a 50 euro ticket.
Day 2️: Amazing discoveries
Keynotes by Carlo Ratti of MIT and Sacha Stolp of the Municipality of Amsterdam discuss innovation and research in cities. <strong>Corinne Vigreux</strong>, co-founder of TomTom, and Erik Versnel from Rabobank will participate in the city panel.
Day 3️: We are the city
Keynotes by Paul Chatterton of Leeds University and Victor Neequaye Kotey Deputy Director of the Waste Management Department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana. They discuss how we shape the future of our cities together. This will be followed by a city panel including Ria Braaf-Fränkel of WomenMakeTheCity and prof. dr. Aleid Brouwer of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
To buy tickets: You can secure your conference tickets through our website.
Dinner tickets: On April 23 we’re hosting a dinner at the Koepelkerk in Amsterdam. Tickets for this can be added to your conference pass or bought separately.
😀Resultaten - Is betrokkenheid van de gemeenschap de moeite waard? 😀
We hebben uiteenlopende en interessante reacties ontvangen van stedenbouwkundigen, architecten en gemeenten. Als u wilt weten wat andere professionals denken, vul dan deze enquête in met uw e-mailadres en wij delen de inzichten met u.
Bedankt! 😀
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We've received varied and interesting responses from urban developers, architects, and municipalities. If you want to know what other professionals think, please fill out this survey with your email, and we will share the insights with you.
Thank you! 😀
The global distribution of the 15-minute city idea 5/7
A previous post made it clear that a 15-minute city ideally consists of a 5-minute walking zone, a 15-minute walking zone, also a 5-minute cycling zone and a the 15-minute cycling zone. These three types of neighbourhoods and districts should be developed in conjunction, with employment accessibility also playing an important role.
In the plans for 15-minute cities in many places around the world, these types of zones intertwine, and often it is not even clear which type of zone is meant. In Paris too, I miss clear choices in this regard.
The city of Melbourne aims to give a local lifestyle a dominant place among all residents. Therefore, everyone should live within at most 10 minutes' walking distance to and from all daily amenities. For this reason, it is referred to as a 20-minute city, whereas in most examples of a 15-minute city, such as Paris, it is only about <strong>the round trip</strong>. The policy in Melbourne has received strong support from the health sector, which highlights the negative effects of traffic and air pollution.
In Vancouver, there is talk of a 5-minute city. The idea is for neighbourhoods to become more distinct parts of the city. Each neighbourhood should have several locally owned shops as well as public facilities such as parks, schools, community centres, childcare and libraries. High on the agenda is the push for greater diversity of residents and housing types. Especially in inner-city neighbourhoods, this is accompanied by high densities and high-rise buildings. Confronting this idea with reality yields a pattern of about 120 such geographical units (see map above).
Many other cities picked up the idea of the 15-minute city. Among them: Barcelona, London, Milan, Ottawa, Detroit and Portland. The organisation of world cities C40 (now consisting of 96 cities) elevated the idea to the main policy goal in the post-Covid period.
All these cities advocate a reversal of mainstream urbanisation policies. In recent decades, many billions have been invested in building roads with the aim of improving accessibility. This means increasing the distance you can travel in a given time. As a result, facilities were scaled up and concentrated in increasingly distant places. This in turn led to increased congestion that negated improvements in accessibility. The response was further expansion of the road network. This phenomenon is known as the 'mobility trap' or the Marchetti constant.
Instead of increasing accessibility, the 15-minute city aims to expand the number of urban functions you can access within a certain amount of time. This includes employment opportunities. The possibility of working from home has reduced the relevance of the distance between home and workplace. In contrast, the importance of a pleasant living environment has increased. A modified version of the 15-minute city, the 'walkable city' then throws high hopes. That, among other things, is the subject of my next post.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your interest in Let it Grow and our Incubation Programme! Our programme is definitely open to those who are using plants as part of their product offering. The most important thing we look at is how plants and/or flowers are integrated in that product offering and if we see this as adding value to urban areas. We look for innovation in the way green is integrated and applied.
Your company does use an interesting technique, and you are spot on when it comes to the amount of waste that is generated with billboards and signage.
I would recommend you to get in touch with the lead of the Incubation Programme. She's back from her holiday next week (June 14). She'll be catching up on a lot of work, but please do email her at irene[at]letitgrow.org. You might be able to connect with her about the options for you to apply to our programme.
I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please do let me know. Here to answer any I can!
Best,
Shari (Community Builder Let it Grow)
Hi Shari,
What a great initiative! Quick question. Is this program open to start-ups that would like to use plants as part of their product offering? I work with Amsterdam to produce their urban communication using what is known as Natural-Media or green graffiti.
For years, I have been looking at developing living billboards and signage. Outdoor advertising in Amsterdam alone is responsible for producing 7000 to 9000 tons of greenhouse gases each year. In the EU each year the outdoor advertising industry consumes as much paper as a one meter wide piece of paper that wraps our planet 3.9 times. Average life cycle is 12 days and most of it is burned or down cycled. Using plants to create patterns has been done for centuries but rarely has this been used as a communication medium though plants are perfect for this.
However, this is just one technique of a portfolio of techniques that I use. You can check out my business at www.naturalmediaexperts.com
I am not sure I fit the bill but I certainly find this a valuable way to help develop the technique of using plants as a communication medium.
Thoughts?
Jim