Municipalities often collaborate with other stakeholders in smart city projects to develop and implement technological innovations to address complex urban issues. We propose the shared portfolio approach as an alternative way of collaborating, because we have identified possible limitations when the commonly used single-project approach is adopted in complex contexts, such as the smart city context. The portfolio approach enhances flexibility, an embedded focus and cross-project learning, because partners work on multiple projects – either in parallel or in succession – to develop multiple solutions to a specific problem. An in-depth case study is used to illustrate how the shared portfolio approach works. In practice, these insights can be used by public bodies who aim to collaborate in smart city development or by partners who work on smart city projects and wish to continue their collaboration in a portfolio setting. Conceptually, our paper develops a connection between cross-sector partnership literature and smart city literature by revealing how the shared portfolio approach could be an effective way to deal with the complexities of innovation in the smart city context.
The use of events as policy tools in cities has become widely recognized. However, most studies concerning this topic do not capture the complex interrelationships that underpin the development of an eventful city. This study applies a practice approach, in order to analyze the dynamics of the eventful city practice. It places the urban event practice centrally in the analysis and focuses on the actual "sayings and doings" of the practice. The event practice of the 2015 Incubate festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands, is analyzed by means of ethnographic methods, including participant observation and interviews. Incubate illustrates how both the city and the event are performed within the practice: the event shapes the city and the city shapes the event. However, the integration of the festival into alternative spaces in the city means that it does not increase the visibility of Tilburg, and therefore fails to deliver value to its eventful city policy.
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The tourism strategy of the municipality of Amsterdam and the Destination Management Organisation stress the importance of increasing liveabilty and enhancing a sense of unity through, also by connecting with residents. An important area in which they would like to achieve this, is Amsterdam Noord, a neighbourhood that was historically on the fringe of the city but is now appointed as one of the (to be further developed) multi-cores of the city. As such it is facing a rapid transformation on a social, cultural, economic and infrastructural level with an increasing leisure and tourism offer. The idea is to apply principles of regenerative tourism and community capacity building to ensure a sustainable tourism development, although it remains unclear how to do this in in practice. The current PD addresses this issue by investigating possible regenerative urban tourism principles and practices (here: collaborative interventions) that can be designed to increase local community building capacities, using a living lab setting in Amsterdam-Noord. It follows a participatory action research approach where the researcher is part of a living lab team and local eco system. By participating in local meet-ups as well as desk research and (group)interviews a further contextual understanding of how regenerative tourism can be conceptualised in an urban context is gained. Next, workshops, experiments and design-based interventions with local stakeholders will be done to construct different stories of place and new ways of performing tourism. The PD will contribute to knowledge development creating a conceptual framework for regenerative urban tourism. It will also provide academic and practical insights on with regards to stimulating capacity building and how to measure this within a tourism context (also in relation to co-creation and placemaking practices), what potentials can be tapped into and how small-scall collaborative interventions can influence wider system change.
In this project on volunteering in LTH organisation we focus on three aims:1. To explain why organisations in different LTH sectors and regions had, have or need volunteers, how they interact with these volunteers, and the consequences (benefits and challenges) of volunteerism for these organisations.2. To determine how to find the right balance between paid and unpaid staff within the same organisation, considering the LTH sector and region they belong to, in order to create a healthy ecosystem within it (bearing in mind that no organisation can have both volunteers and paid staff do the same job - see above).3. To understand the perspectives, motives and expectations of why people (decide to) volunteer, how they interact with the organisation (management, paid staff) during volunteering, in order to interest them, recruit them, make use of them and retain them. In addition, it is also our aim to explain the benefits and challenges for people to volunteer.In this study, we will use an integrated approach, which implies that we aren’t only interested in the people- or organisation-side of volunteering (actor-side). We will also focus on the interactions between volunteers, paid staff and organisation during volunteering (core of the practice) in a certain LTH organisation, sector and region in the Netherlands (context-side). Studying volunteering in its specific contexts (organisation, sector, region) using an integrated practice approach, hasn’t been done before. In addition, as more and more LTH organisations in the Netherlands rely on volunteers (for their survival), either for economic, social or community (mienskip) reasons (context-related conditions), there is a need for a better understanding of volunteering (as indicated by aim 1-3). Finally, as not much literature has been based on Dutch studies about volunteering and the recruitment and retention of volunteers, this project will fill this gap.Besides the aims as outlined before, a more specific goal of this project is to provide recommendations for a sustainable business model for organisations to embrace volunteerism without affecting the structure of employees. In close cooperation with different LTH organisations, we will develop interventions as policy making instruments (and therefore also for the whole region where they are located). Furthermore, this research will contribute to industry, research (see also below), education (idem) and society. Our ultimate goal is to foster the wellbeing of the volunteers, paid staff and organisations and overall to contribute to social sustainability within The Netherlands.The above-mentioned aims and conceptual model lead to the following research question: How can volunteering in the LTH sectors in Dutch regions be shaped in a sustainable way for both volunteers as well as organisations?In line with what we discussed earlier, this also means contributing to a more stable labour market in hospitality, leisure and tourism in which voluntary work is recognised as an important and indispensable component of a healthy labour ecosystem.The approach we intend to adopt is a qualitative one based on narrative inquiry. While in the literature a quantitative approach using surveys to gather data is mostly used in understanding volunteerism and in measuring motives, we will observe and connect with the volunteers’ work in each sector/case identified and collect and analyse their individual stories. In addition, and in line with our integrated approach, we will investigate how the LTH organisations connected to these cases view the role, value and future of volunteerism.Societal IssueOur insights into volunteers’ work in different sectors will improve their quality of work by revealing drivers of their satisfaction, turnover, motivation, and passion. Managers can use these insights to train and retain volunteers as an integral part of not only their events, but the broader community. It is well-known that robust volunteering programmes are a cornerstone of contemporary social cohesion, and our findings will show how storytelling can strengthen these processes.Benefit to societyThis project will contribute in three ways to the LTH sector. The three outcomes of this study are first around a better understanding of what meaningful volunteering is, second, around the value of volunteers to LTH organisations, and, thirdly, about the value of such activities to Dutch society.The project will provide practical advice to LTH organisations on which interventions to use and in which contexts. This tangible output might take the form of a report, guide(s) mentioned above, and/or another instrument that suits the needs of managers and volunteers. The instrument(s) selected by LTH organisations and volunteers will help to disseminate best practices as well as to highlight the potential of volunteers and volunteering to wider society, other organisations and to current and potential volunteers. By following the steps in or using these instruments, we believe volunteer organisations will be better able to profile themselves and to recruit and retain volunteers.The present study will bring innovation in the field by generating new narratives on volunteerism, and by designing an engaging and appealing path for volunteers to join organisations. At the same time, it will design a structure for organisations to work with volunteers in a sustainable way.Consortium partners: Rodney Westerlaken, Geesje Duursma (both NHL Stenden, Leeuwarden)
