The Covid-19 pandemic triggered governments and designers to revalue and redesign public spaces. This paper focuses on the various design responses to Covid-19 proposed and implemented in public spaces. In particular, we identify the kinds of challenges that such design responses address and the strategies that they use. We selected 56 design examples, largely collected from internet sources. By analyzing the design examples we identified five Covid-related challenges that were addressed in public space: sustaining amenities, keeping a distance, feeling connected, staying mentally healthy, and expanding health infrastructures. For each challenge, we articulated 2 to 6 design strategies. The challenges highlight the potential of public space to contribute to more resilient cities during times of pandemic, also in the future. The design strategies show the possible ways in which this potential can be fulfilled. In our next steps, we will use our findings to develop a program of possibilities; this program will contain a wide range of design strategies for responding to future pandemics and will be made publically accessible in an online database. The program contributes to more resilient post-Covid cities, by offering a variety of possibilities for coping with, and adapting to, pandemic-related shocks and stressors.
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Urban densification is promoted for sustainable urban growth, yet it also generates concerns about negative health impacts on local citizens. Engaging local citizens in the co-design of densification projects is therefore crucial to address their needs and concerns. The use of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technologies creates potential for advancing the participatory co-design of healthier urban spaces by allowing citizens to not only visualize but also experience the impacts of future designs or “what-if” scenarios. Theoretically grounded in an extended version of Sheppard's approach, which we call the Experiencing the Future Framework (EFF), we developed a study to create and evaluate an immersive VR application called CoHeSIVE. This application was designed to facilitate participatory co-design processes for healthy public spaces. CoHeSIVE, as the technological manifestation of our framework, was created through iterative workshops with end-user input. During the final workshop with 41 participants, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, including user behavior and experiences with CoHeSIVE, especially regarding its experiential and interactive components. The vast majority of participants had positive experiences and recommended CoHeSIVE for participatory co-design processes. Participants felt confident in their design outcomes and found the user interface easy to use and effective for making and communicating design decisions. The most preferred design attributes were found to be many and clustered trees, several benches, large grass areas, high-rise buildings, more lampposts and the presence of a fountain, showing that the design outcomes were meaningful for the selected local context. Future enhancements of CoHeSIVE might include adding more design attributes, enhancing visual representations, adding multi-user capabilities, integrating generative AI and expanding CoHeSIVE's applicability to other contexts.
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The concept of Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments (SHAFE) emphasises the comprehensive person-centred experience as essential to promoting living environments. SHAFE takes an interdisciplinary approach, conceptualising complete and multidisciplinary solutions for an inclusive society. From this approach, we promote participation, health, and well-being experiences by finding the best possible combinations of social, physical, and digital solutions in the community. This initiative emerged bottom-up in Europe from the dream and conviction that innovation can improve health equity, foster caring communities, and sustainable development. Smart, adaptable, and inclusive solutions can promote and support independence and autonomy throughout the lifespan, regardless of age, gender, disabilities, cultural differences, and personal choices, as well as promote happier and fairer living places.
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For the needs analysis, an assessment of the national (and local) status quo in the area of Healthy Ageing, specifically towards Active and Healthy Lifestyles. This status quo will serve as important starting point for the exploration of a potential shared goal of the local community of practice. This needs analysis report includes generic sections towards definitions and methodologies, and an introduction towards the topics assessed. Secondly, national/ local chapters will outline the situation in the communities of Groningen (the Netherlands), Odense (Denmark), Malaga (Spain), Kaunas (Lithuania) and Cascais (Portugal). Within each local COP chapter the partners taking part of the COP are described and the shared goals illustrated. These shared goals are: COP Groningen: “stimulating a Healthy environment (physical & social) with focus on physical activity”. COP Odense: “further develop and educate professionals who work on stimulating physical activity in community dwelling older adult”’. COP Malaga: “developing, implementing and evaluating outdoor fitness” COP Kaunas: “to provide opportunities for primary school children and Kaunas district community members older than 50 more opportunities for exercising and physical activity” COP Cascais: “develop, organize for and together with the stakeholders and end users (youngsters from 12-24 years old) activities focused on healthy lifestyle (e.g., healthy cooking workshops, parent-child physical activities etc.) embedded in approach GERAÇÃO S+ “.
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We are at the start of the research group ‘Entrepreneurship in Transition’, which is an initiative of Hanze University of Applied Sciences and Alfa-college to conduct research and valorise knowledge about the relationship between entrepreneurship and education, entrepreneurial success factors, retail and succession.In the research group, students of vocational education (mbo), university ofapplied sciences (hbo), staffand other partners involved, study the dynamics ofentrepreneurship in the northern region of the Netherlands. Our goal is to contribute to a sustainable social, cultural and economic healthy region through research and practises. An important parameter for the research group is the concept of explorative space. In short is this a space where people and organisations are encouraged and welcomed to explore their potentialities and find ways to actualise them.
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As societies age, the development of resources and strategies that foster healthy ageing from the beginning of life become increasingly important. Social and healthcare professionals are key agents in this process; therefore, their training needs to be in agreement with societal needs. We performed a scoping review on professional competences for social and health workers to adequately promote healthy ageing throughout life, using the framework described by Arksey and O’Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute Guidelines. A stakeholder consultation was held in each of the participating countries, in which 79 experts took part. Results show that current literature has been excessively focused on the older age and that more attention on how to work with younger population groups is needed. Likewise, not all disciplines have equally reflected on their role before this challenge and interprofessional approaches, despite showing promise, have not been sufficiently described. Based on our results, health and social professionals working to promote healthy ageing across the lifespan will need sound competences regarding person-centred communication, professional communication, technology applications, physiological and pathophysiological aspects of ageing, social and environmental aspects, cultural diversity, programs and policies, ethics, general and basic skills, context and self-management-related skills, health promotion and disease prevention skills, educational and research skills, leadership skills, technological skills and clinical reasoning. Further research should contribute to establishing which competences are more relevant to each discipline and at what level they should be taught, as well as how they can be best implemented to effectively transform health and social care systems.
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There is an increasing interest in outdoor play, both in research and in policy. However, in (re)designing, planning and managing the public space, there is still limited attention for children’s actual playing behavior. A lot of urban planning decisions are based on adults’ perceptions of children’s playing behavior and focus on formal play spaces, rather than on their actual behavior and on other, more informal, play places children might also use. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore where children play outdoors, with whom and what kind of activities they are performing there. Between February 2022 and March 2023 1,127 – mainly primary school - children were systematically observed after school in three post-war residential districts in three cities in The Netherlands. The majority of the children were between 5-8 years old (50%). Above the age of 8 years, substantially more boys (70%) than girls (30%) were playing outdoors. Most of the children (79%) were playing with other children, 8% were playing alone. The playground was the most popular play space (36% of the observed children were playing there), followed by public sports fields (14%) and sidewalks (13%). With respect to the type of activities, relaxing (21%) was the most common activity, followed by ball sports (14%), climbing or hanging (11%), swinging (10%), and riding on wheels (9%). This study showed differences in play behavior by gender, age, district and play space and stress the need for a broader definition of play, and for focusing on formal as well as informal play spaces.
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We are at the start of the research group ‘Entrepreneurship in Transition’,which is an initiative of Hanze University of Applied Sciences andAlfa-college to conduct research and valorise knowledge about therelationship between entrepreneurship and education, entrepreneurialsuccess factors, retail and succession.In the research group, students of vocational education (mbo), university ofapplied sciences (hbo), staff and other partners involved, study the dynamics ofentrepreneurship in the northern region of the Netherlands. Our goal is to contribute to a sustainable social, cultural and economic healthy region through research and practises. An important parameter for the research group is the concept of explorative space. In short is this a space where people and organisations are encouraged and welcomed to explore their potentialities and find ways to actualise them. This booklet is written as a metaphorical travel journey, it shows how the research group will move in the years to come. I present the crew, the vision and the ways we work. The last months have been busy, since we have already prepared and started this shared journey. During our preparations, we have made initial choices about travel companions , potential routes, visions on the trip, and the work ahead. Naturally, theteam will make alterations, variations, and harmonisations over the course of the trip.
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