Western cities are rapidly densifying, and new building typologies are beinginvented to mitigate high-rise and balance residential, commercial andrecreational functions. This vertical urbanization requires rethinking thetraditional design of public space to promote citizens’ well-being. While the scarce studies on high-rise environments indicate several risks, including social fragmentation and privatization of public functions (Henderson-Wilson 2008; Love et al., 2014), mental stress and undermining attention restoration (Mazumder et al., 2020; Lindal & Hartig 2013), evidence on the potential salutary and mitigating effects of architectural design qualities is limited (Suurenbroek & Spanjar 2023).The Building for Well-being research project combines biometric and socialdata-collection techniques to address this gap. It builds on studies investigatinghow built environments allow user engagement (Mallgrave 2013; Simpson2018) and afford important activities (Gibson 1966). This case study focuseson the experiences of predominant users of the NDSM Wharf in Amsterdamas it is transformed from a post-industrial site into a high-density, mixeduseneighborhood. Using eye-tracking, field and laboratory-based surveys, itexplores how residents, passers-by and visitors visually experience, appreciateand perceive the restorative value of the wharf’s recently developed urbanspaces.Thirty-six university students were randomly recruited as test subjects for thelaboratory test and assigned to one of the three user groups. The residentand passer-by groups were primed for familiarity. Each group was assigneda distinct walking mode and participants were told to imagine they werestrolling (residents), rushing (passers-by) or exploring (visitors). The exposuretime to visual stimuli of participants was five seconds per image. Afterwards,they reported on the perceived restorative quality of ten urban spaces,focusing on: (1) sense of being away, (2) level of complexity-compatibilityand (3) fascination, based on an adapted Restorative Components Scale (RCS,Yin et al. 2022; Laumann et al. 2001). Self-reported appreciation per scenewas measured on a 10-point Likert scale and subjects indicated elements inthe ten urban spaces they liked or disliked (see Figure 1). A semi-structuredon-site survey was also carried out to investigate user experiences furtherand for triangulation. Thirty-one users, consisting of residents, passers-byand visitors to the NDSM Wharf, rated their appreciation of the site and itsperceived restorative and design qualities (following Ewing & Clemente, 2013)on a 10-point Likert scale.The meta-data analysis of RCS statistics, appreciation values, eye-trackingmetrics and heatmaps reveals distinct visual patterns among user groups. Thispoints to the influence of environmental tasks and roles (see Figure 2). Strollingand exploring resulted in a comprehensive visual exploration of scenes with ahigher mean total fixation count and shorter mean total fixation duration thangoal-oriented walking. It suggests that walking mode determines the level ofopenness to the environment and that architectural attributes can also steervisual exploration. Scenes with the highest appreciation scores correlatedwith the RCS outcomes. They displayed coherence and opportunities forsocial engagement, contrasting with scenes with inconsistent industrial andcontemporary features. These findings provide spatial designers with insightsinto the subliminal experiences of predominant user groups to promote wellbeing in urban transformation.
US new media artist Ben Grosser and I met at the 2013 Unlike Us #3 Institute of Network Cultures event in Amsterdam where he presented his Demetricator, a free web browser extension that hides all the metrics on Facebook. I have followed his work ever since. We got in contact again in 2019 when he premiered his video art clip Order of Magnitude.[1] The cut-up piece features Mark Zuckerberg’s obsession with growth. Instead of taking the traditional critical approach, Ben Grosser magnifies particular words that return in each and every one of his sentences: more, millions, billions, trillions. Covering the earliest days of Facebook in 2004 up through Zuckerberg’s compelled appearances before the US Congress in 2018, Grosser viewed every one of these recordings and used them to build a supercut drawn from three of Mark’s most favoured words: more, grow, and his every utterance of a metric such as two million or one billion. Inside the exploding galaxy of Facebook there are no limits of growth. After a few minutes the viewer gets exhausted and is ready to swipe the video away, stand up and walk out: the exact opposite response to what we experience when we’re on Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp. The emptiness of the guy suffocates. Well done, Ben.
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Vanuit verschillende organisaties is de afgelopen jaren gekeken naar de potentie van nieuwe technologie, zoals robotisering, om meerwaarde te leveren voor het domein van Hulp bij het Huishouden (HbH). Omdat er nog weinig onderzoek was naar de inzet van robotstofzuigers, startten de GGD en de gemeente Amsterdam samen met zorgaanbieders Tzorg en Cordaan Thuisdiensten in 2020 een pilot. Twintig HbH-cliënten in Amsterdam kregen drie maanden lang een robotstofzuiger in gebruik. Uit die pilot bleek dat de inzet van robotstofzuigers zorgt voor tijdswinst, voor verlichting van de werkzaamheden van thuishulpen en dat cliënten zelfredzamer worden (Cosijn, 2018). Gezien het kleine aantal deelnemers waren de resultaten echter onvoldoende overtuigend om een definitief besluit te nemen over de inzet van de robotstofzuigers. Ook eerdere pilots in andere gemeenten leidden niet tot overtuigende conclusies (Stam, 2013; Das & Kuil, 2015). Daarom is besloten in Den Haag en Amsterdam een uitgebreider onderzoek te doen met meer deelnemers. Daarvan doet dit rapport verslag.
