Abstract. In recent years circular economy has become more important for the development of many places including cities. Traditionally, urban development policies have mainly been aiming to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of neighbourhoods. However, technical and ecologic aspects have their effects too and need to go hand in hand. This paper is based on an urban area experiment in the Dutch city of Utrecht. In order to assess urban area developments, typically rather straight-forward quantitative indicators have been used. However, it has proved more complicated to assess multifaceted developments of the area studied in this paper. With the City Model Canvas a multi-layered model is being used to better assess the impact of the urban development being studied. Key findings include that the project studied resulted in more space for companies from the creative industry and the settlement of local ‘circular’ entrepreneurs and start-ups, although it remains unclear to what extent these benefit from each other’s presence. The increase in business activity resulted in more jobs, but it is again unclear whether this led to more social inclusion. From an environmental point of view the project activities resulted in less raw materials being used, although activities and public events bring nuisance to the surrounding neighbourhoods.
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Amsterdam strives to combat a shortage of homes by launching an ambitious housing development scheme for 32 designated most deprived neighborhoods. After decades of urban renewal projects, the local communities still suffer from difficult to resolve socioeconomic problems. Aside from a minimum of 40% social dwelling units, 40% of homes are reserved for the middle class and only 20% for high-end. Mixing income segments on its own will not lead to an improved socio-economic status of the inhabitants thus, a new urban renewal program has been developed. On top of that, the new progressive municipal council, intends to democratise the urban renewal processes towards more community-led developments with local support and structural solutions. Some experts may argue that we require a radical new way of planning whilst others counter, that current standardised planning procedures cannot be easily changed.In partnership with themunicipality, we reflect on Amsterdam’s urban regeneration program and enhance collective crossborder learning by organising monthly learning sessions with the managers involved. Now that thefirst phases of the planning process have been completed, we follow a Grounded Theory (GT)method to structure the collected data and analyse the perceived barriers hindering the modernisation of planning practice. Observations and promising actions to make the participation process more inclusive, interactive and influential will be discussed. One example is that some managers on the ground who have to work with the system, are taking short cuts in planning procedures to ensure that citizens’ needs are incorporated in the developed plan. These disruptiveinterventions may be used to formalise and implement new policy and more effective pathways ofcommunity-based development.
Biomimicry education is grounded in a set of natural design principles common to every known lifeform on Earth. These Life’s Principles (LPs) (cc Biomimicry 3.8), provide guidelines for emulating sustainable strategies that are field-tested over nearly four billion years of evolution. This study evaluates an exercise for teaching LPs to interdisciplinary students at three universities, Arizona State University (ASU) in Phoenix, Arizona (USA), College of Charleston (CofC) in Charleston, South Carolina (USA) and The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) in The Hague (The Netherlands) during the spring 2021 semester. Students researched examples of both biological organisms and human designs exhibiting the LPs. We gauged the effectiveness of the exercise through a common rubric and a survey to discover ways to improve instruction and student understanding. Increased student success was found to be directly linked to introducing the LPs with illustrative examples, assigning an active search for examples as part of the exercise, and utilizing direct assessment feedback loops. Requiring students to highlight the specific terms of the LP sub-principles in each example is a suggested improvement to the instructions and rubric. An iterative, face-to-face, discussion-based teaching and learning approach helps overcome minor misunderstandings. Reiterating the LPs throughout the semester with opportunities for application will highlight the potential for incorporating LPs into students’ future sustainable design process. Stevens LL, Fehler M, Bidwell D, Singhal A, Baumeister D. Building from the Bottom Up: A Closer Look into the Teaching and Learning of Life’s Principles in Biomimicry Design Thinking Courses. Biomimetics. 2022; 7(1):25. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7010025
R-LINK onderzoekt hoe kleinschalige bottom-up initiatieven in de gebiedsontwikkeling kunnen bijdragen aan het oplossen van maatschappelijke vraagstukken. Deze kennis helpt bij het creëren van vitale en inclusieve stedelijke regio’s. R-LINK is een samenwerkingsverband van kennisinstellingen, bedrijven en maatschappelijke organisaties met een liefde voor ruimtelijke kwaliteit. Wij zijn nieuwsgierig en tonen betrokkenheid vanuit kennis. Dat doen we door met behulp van experimenten vernieuwende concepten te ontwikkelen. De nauwe samenwerking tussen onderzoek en praktijk helpt ons in de zoektocht naar haalbare oplossingen. Hoe kan gebiedsontwikkeling door kleinschalige initiatieven worden bevorderd, terwijl tegelijkertijd grootschalige stedelijke ambities en maatschappelijke opgaven worden gerealiseerd? R-LINK volgt 14 Nederlandse gebiedsontwikkelingsprojecten gedurende een aantal jaren nauwgezet. Zo kunnen we beschrijven wanneer nieuwe initiatieven slagen, en welke condities daaruit zijn af te leiden. Een multidisciplinair team van onderzoekers beschrijft en analyseert de samenwerking tussen overheden, bewoners en marktpartijen. Ook buitenlandse voorbeelden worden in het onderzoek betrokken. R-LINK heeft de ambitie om met plezier, energie en reflectie veranderingen in gebiedsontwikkeling op gang te brengen die door overheid, markt en samenleving gevraagd worden. Wij willen cocreatie en innovatie bevorderen, zijn bereid te luisteren en staan open voor iedereen – van eerste gebruikers tot politici.
