This collection of articles contains contributions to the research project ‘From Prevention to Resilience’ (FPtP). In this project, the research team has generated insights and tools for designers, policymakers, and other professionals to contribute to more resilient cities and neighborhoods. The point of departure was public space as a site for intervention, while learning from the ongoing developments revolving around the Covid-19 pandemic. During the early phases of the pandemic, governments initially focused on preventing the virus from spreading. Public spaces came to be seen as potential places for contamination. In response, fences, markings, and barrier tapes were put into place to orchestrate people’s movement and promote physical distance. With our research project, we explored the role that public space could play besides such often ad hoc preventive measures. What other challenges can public space tackle with regard to the various shocks and stressors that hit cities and neighborhoods, now and in the future? And how to tackle these challenges in an integral way? An integral approach to designing public spaces involves many disciplines, and it is to a great extent dependent on local governments’ take on public spaces. To this end, we asked relevant experts to share their disciplinary reflections on a design perspective we have developed in the FPtP project, called Human / Non-Human Public Spaces. An earlier version of this design perspective was handed over to experts to provide feedback from an urban climate adaptation perspective and from a governance and cultural change perspective. Stephanie Erwin and Jeroen Kluck provide concrete feedback on the design perspective and offer a discussion in relation to the field of urban climate resilience. Alex Straathof offers an essayistic text in which he reflects on some of the key notions of the design perspective, reflecting on some of the key notions of the design perspective based on cultural theory and his experience with interventions on the neighborhood level. In parallel, we commissioned two independent experts in the field of spatial development and governance to make a preliminary analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the government perspectives on public spaces. Both experts were given the same question, but they applied different methods. Hugo Verschoor Plug conducted an analysis on two national policy documents and six ‘omgevingsvisies’ – i.e., strategies on spatial planning and the environment – of large and middle-sized cities: Amsterdam, Breda, The Hague, Groningen, Rotterdam and Zwolle. Denise Vrolijk was asked to interview professionals from a cross-section of Dutch Cities in order to obtain their perspectives on how local governments viewed the role of public spaces in relation to resilience. Together, these analyses provide an overview of the current state of affairs in public space and urban resilience. We thank the authors for sharing their expertise and insights and thereby contribute to the FPtR project. This project is funded by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), part of the subsidy round ‘COVID 19: Maatschappelijke Dynamiek’, project nr. 10430032010029.
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Het is ironisch dat in een tijd dat van bedrijven een maatschappelijke missie wordt verwacht, Triodos bank worstelt met haar aandeelhouders. Triodos Bank is daarmee een test-case voor de maatschappelijke relevantie van het Nederlandse corporate governance systeem, volgens Frank Jan de Graaf.
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In het project ‘Landbouw in Klimaatrobuuste Beeklandschappen’ (SIA PVG.DZ21.03.004) zijn het bodem- en watersysteem, het agrarisch perspectief, de verdienmogelijkheden binnen dit landschap en de rol van governance uitgewerkt. De methodieken zijn aan de hand van drie verschillende casusgebieden opgesteld, getest en repliceerbaar gemaakt en hebben verschillende producten en rapportages opgeleverd. De gebruikte casusgebieden zijn het Koningsdiep (FR), de Buulder Aa (NB) en het Vechtdal (OV), drie verschillende maar wel vergelijkbare gebieden op zandgronden waar de aanwezigheid van lokale laagtes en hoogtes voor complexe dynamiek zorgen op het gebied van droogte en wateroverlast. Dit deelbestand is onderdeel van het grotere geheel. Houd er rekening mee dat deze informatie is gepubliceerd op 28-02-2025 en onderhevig kan zijn aan wijzigingen.
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