Hello! I'm hoping (at the very last minute) to connect with some folks who might be interested in sharing their work with me through a brief informal tour or interview while I'm here in the Netherlands for the next 8 or 9 days. I'm here with the help of a small, self directed grant to develop a unit of study for my students in Chicago that will inspire them to better understand climate change as a global issue with which they can engage in creative ways in their local context. I'm interested in more or less any and all work happening around Amsterdam (or Utrecht, where I'll be from July 3-July 5, or Wageningen, July 5- July 7) that relates to the effects of climate change or mitigation/adaptation strategies. This could include any climate relevant public or private work in the electricity, transportation, building, industrial, agricultural, tech, or education sectors. For example, if you are involved with a start up that does circular economy work that reduces emissions, have a perspective to share on regional transportation, know something about zero emission architecture, or work in education and are interested in developing collaborations in terms of sustainability/climate curriculum, I'm interested in hearing from you and (in an ideal world) chatting for 30 minutes or an hour. My students are typically low income, racial minority teenagers who I believe need to be empowered to make the future as much as their economically well off and culturally "mainstream" peers. Most of my students are also soon to be voting eligible citizens of the USA, which seems relevant. Anyway, I appreciate you considering my vague request! I am of course thrilled about the wealth of resources available through Smart City Amsterdam (including the very cool new Amsterdam Innovation Tour app), and I've booked, for example, a standard tour on Friday through architour. But unfortunately my dates of travel did not align with WeMakeTheCity, the ASC Open House is not happening this Friday, and many of the other tour options are out of my price range as an individual traveling on a small grant. Thanks for any and all input. Cheers!
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Iskander Smit,
Futures researcher, curator, strategizer
at Cities of Things,
posted
State of Cities of Things: design for the interplay of humans, urban robotics, and physical AI
In 2018, the first paper on the Near Future in Cities of Things was published. Seven years later, we took the initiative to conduct exploratory research to reflect on the state of cities of things. Or, put differently: how should we assess the current state of urban robotics and physical AI?
In this interactive event, Iskander Smit will present the learnings from the research, and a panel of four of the approximately 25 interviewed experts will share their perspectives to kick off a discussion led by moderator Monique van Dusseldorp.
The central question is how the developments might impact and inspire the design of future cities, things, intelligent systems, and the interplay between these.
The panelists
- <strong>Maria Luce Lupetti</strong>; Assistant Professor in Design at Politecnico di Torino. She is co-director of POEL – Possible Entanglements Lab, a research group dedicated to investigating how people and technologies co-shape one another, and how design can help envision desirable configurations. She was the leading author of the first paper on Cities of Things in 2018. Maria Luce will reflect on the changes in human entanglement with the artificial world, particularly in complex technologies such as AI and robotics.
- <strong>Sen Lin</strong>; Senior Product Designer and AI Design Consultant. Sen was among the first students graduating in the Delft Design Lab Cities of Things. Sen just returned from a 2-month stay in China and will share his impressions from urban robotics there.
- <strong>Tomasz Jaskiewicz</strong> is a professor of civic prototyping at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Tomasz is a founding partner in the creation of the Wijkbot platform for research through prototyping into urban robotics. He will share the learnings between experiments.
- <strong>Vera van der Burg</strong> is a designer, researcher, and Ph.D. candidate at TU Delft's Designing Intelligence Lab. Her research investigates how training AI models can become a reflective practice. With her research, she was awarded as Dutch Design Emerging Talent and FD Talent. She will reflect on the relations we build while applying (physical) AI.
- <strong>Iskander Smit</strong> is the founder of the Cities of Things, an expertise center for urban robotics and physical AI. Applying research through (speculative) design, connecting experts in knowledge events, and publishing via his weekly newsletter.
Monique will involve other interviewed experts and participants in the event to reflect on the impact of urban robotics and physical AI on the practice of creative industries, design methods, and on relations between humans and AI.
Before and after, there will be space to connect with other participants and explore the current Wijkbots.
Schedule:
15h00 - Doors open, mingle, explore Wijkbots
16h00 - Welcome and introduction to the results of the research by Iskander Smit
16h30 - Introductions of the positions by the panelists
17h00 - Interactive discussion with panel, participants
18h00 - Wrap up and drinks with bites
20h00 - End
If you can only join part of the event, you are welcome to join later.
Find more details about the program on the <strong>Cities of Things website</strong>.
The event is powered by CLICKNL, and registration is free, including drinks.
Zéger Nieuweboer,
Founder / Teacher
at Learning is growing.nl,
posted
Arnhem food cooperative with Amsterdam roots
In 1901, sixteen dairy farmers in the vicinity of Amsterdam, decided to establish the "Ilpenstein" cheese factory. My grandfather, Piet Nieuweboer, was one of the directors of the cooperative. The reason for collaboration within the cooperative? Cheesemaking traditionally takes place at the farm itself. The cheese factory made it possible to use innovative cheesemaking techniques. Even more important was the collaboration to improve the distribution and marketing of the cheese towards customers.
With the course "Biologisch Tuinieren in de Stad", we have trained almost two hundred new urban farmers in the city of Arnhem. Organic urban farmers with a food garden of half a square meter till half a hectare. It is a dream that these organic urban farmers, and others, will eventually find and learn from each other. Our initiative is the establishment and growth of the "Biologische Stadsboeren Coöperatie Arnhem Groen". An organic urban farmers' cooperative focused on economic collaboration in a green Arnhem.
Manon den Dunnen,
Strategisch specialist digitaal
,
posted
Sensemakers workshop on open source LLM's
Michiel Bontenbal will give a practical update on running open source LLM’s locally
De workshop is in het Engels maar we spreken ook Nederlands!
Thanks so much Lotte! A very useful start, indeed, and something to get me started with tonight at Pakhuis de Zwijger. I will also connect with Metabolic. I know my whole approach here is a bit quixotic, and really appreciate your willingness to engage.
Hi @williamreed ! That's quite last minute, but there is an evening about how to talk about climate change in a fun way: https://dezwijger.nl/programma/eerste-hulp-bij-klimaatverandering Unfortunately this is in Dutch, but it could be a great way to meet people and entrance is free. You can also visit De Ceuvel (circular living lab), and try to contact someone from Metabolic, maybe @kateblack ? I hope this is a useful start!