Across European cities local entrepreneurs are joining forces in new ways, forming collectives to stimulate business growth and innovation and to create a more attractive business environment. The value of such collectives is increasingly recognized by local governments and policy measures to stimulate these initiatives are being developed. Amsterdam hosts different collaborative initiatives, including 39 business improvement districts (BIDs).The Knowledge Mile is such a collective in which shopkeepers, other local SMEs, residents work together to collectively improve a large retail area. The city of Amsterdam is also a stakeholder. Government can fill an important role in enabling the creation of collective resource management in urban settings. However, if effective regulation is missing, citizens and governing bodies have to look for incentives to find new means of addressing governance. As such, the potential for collective management of urban commons may be greater than realized so far, as there is still a lack of knowledge in this area. In this paper, we aim to bridge this gap. By means of an embedded case study approach, we analyze the interaction between the stakeholders in their development of a green zone, the Knowledge Mile Park, in the Wibautstraat. In the coming years, roofs, facades and ground level will be changed through a collaboration of residents, entrepreneurs, researchers, civil servants and students in a metropolitan Living Lab. In this Living Lab, solutions for a healthy and social environment, climate resistance and biodiversity are jointly developed, tested and shown. In our study, we will analyze the role of the governing bodies in such initiatives, and make recommendations how collectives can become more mainstream with new kinds of institutions, without an undue burden on the community.
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Rapportage onderzoek naar effectiviteit van BOOT (Buurtwinkel voor Onderwijs Onderzoek en Talentontwikkeling).
The potential of technological innovation to address urban sustainability has been widely acknowledged over the last decade. Across cities globally, local governments have engaged in partnership arrangements with the private sector to initiate pilot projects for urban innovation, typically co-funded by innovation subsidies. A recurring challenge however is how to scale up successful projects and generate more impact. Drawing on the business and management literature, we introduce the concept of organizational ambidexterity to provide a novel theoretical perspective on sustainable urban innovations. We examine how to align exploration (i.e., test and experiment with digital technologies, products, platforms, and services) with exploitation (i.e., reaping the financial benefits from digital technologies by bringing products, platforms, and services to the market), rooted in the literature on smart cities. We conclude that the concept of ambidexterity, as elaborated in the business and management literature and practiced by firms, can be translated to the city policy domain, provided that upscaling or exploitation in a smart city context also includes the translation of insights from urban experiments, successful or not, into new routines, regulations, protocols, and stakeholder/citizen engagement methods.
Retailinnovatie in Rotterdam onderzoekt de innovatiekansen van bestaande MKB‐retail-ondernemingen met een fysieke vestiging in de Rotterdamse binnenstad. Daarnaast wordt de ontwikkeling van de binnenstad als relevante betekenisvolle context voor MKB‐retailers in Rotterdam onderzocht. Samen met MKB’ers en andere stakeholders worden nieuwe retailconcepten en diensten ontworpen, gedemonstreerd en getest. Centraal staat de vraag: Welke nieuwe concepten, diensten en toepassingen zijn op korte en middellange termijn nodig ter bevordering van innovatievermogen, concurrentiekracht en toekomstbestendigheid van bestaande MKB-retailondernemingen met een fysieke vestiging in de Rotterdamse binnenstad en hoe kan de ontwikkeling van het binnenstedelijke winkelgebied hieraan een bijdrage leveren? Belangrijkste doelstelling van dit project is versterking van de MKB‐retailers in de Rotterdamse binnenstad door ze te ondersteunen in het benutten van hun innovatiekansen. In vergelijking met grootwinkel-bedrijven hebben MKB‐ retailers onvoldoende middelen en spankracht om de actuele innovatie-opgave voortvarend op te pakken. Bovendien staat de positie van MKB‐retailers in de binnensteden onder druk door de zogenaamde filialisering van winkelketens. Innovatie dient nog een breder doel. Kleine retailers zijn medeverantwoordelijk voor het imago en de belevingskwaliteit van de Rotterdamse binnenstad. Ze geven samen met grootwinkel-bedrijven, horeca-ondernemingen en cultuur kleur aan de binnenstad. Vanuit Hogeschool Rotterdam wordt dit project gedragen door Kenniscentrum Creating 010, Willem de Kooning Academie, Instituut voor Communicatie, Media en Informatietechnologie en de opleiding Small Business & Retail Management. Een belangrijk deel van het onderzoeks‐ en ontwerpwerk wordt verricht door studenten binnen het curriculum van genoemde opleidingen. Ze worden daarbij gecoached door docentonderzoekers en lectoren en ze werken intensief samen met de consortiumpartners: zeven MKB-retailondernemers uit de Rotterdamse binnenstad en vier MKB’ers uit de creatieve zakelijke dienstverlening met bijzondere expertise op hert gebied van retailinnovatie. Het consortium wordt gecompleteerd door twee grootwinkelbedrijven, een vastgoedexploitant uit de Rotterdamse binnenstad, een ondernemersorganisatie en Stadsontwikkeling Rotterdam. Creating 010 draagt de wetenschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid voor het onderzoek.
The increasing concentration of people in urban environments in an era of globalisation means that social, economic, and environmental resources for living and working are under pressure. Urban communities experience increased stress levels due to inadequate and overburdened infrastructure and services, challenges due to ethnic and cultural diversity, socio-economic inequalities as well as the impact of environmental degradation. For these communities to build resilience under these circumstances therefore requires a multipronged approach. The underlying question this project will answer is: “What are the key characteristics of experiencescapes that contribute to resilience-building in communities?” The project will dive into the identification of building blocks of experiencescapes and roles of relevant actors that can support communities in building resilience. Within the context of a multidisciplinary approach, this project applies a range of qualitative research methods, such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, storytelling techniques, life stories, as well as various biometric quantitative methods, available through the experience lab of BUas. The outcome of the project will enable practitioners and researchers alike in various sectors to understand what and how they can contribute to creating an environment in which people can meaningfully interact in a way that builds resilience in communities. This outcome is communicated not only through academic publications and conference contributions, but also through public reports and a handbook for practitioners and students. These reports and handbooks support identification and application of building blocks of experiencescapes that support building resilience in communities. Finally, the knowledge generated in the project will contribute to the development of curricula of various educational programmes at Breda University of Applied Sciences by expanding the scope of experience design into the area of people-to-people relationships.
