A public sector that adequately makes use of information technology can provide improved government services that not only stimulates business development it also intensifies citizen participation and economic growth. However, the effectiveness of IT and its governance at both national as well as on municipality level leaves much to be desired. It is often stated that this is due to a lack of digital skills needed to manage the IT function and alignment with business. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the effect that digital leadership competences and IT capabilities have on digital transformation readiness within Dutch municipalities. Based on an analyses of survey data from 178 respondents we recommend municipalities to implement a range of activities that all are related to realize the ability to constantly apply strategic thinking and organizational leadership to exploit the capability of Information Technology to improve the business.
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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to see how a more developed discipline – corporate real estate management (CREM) – can add value to a less developed discipline – municipal real estate management (MREM) – to contribute to their professionalisation. Design/methodology/approachEvery year since 2008 (except for 2013), municipalities have been asked to complete a questionnaire on how they manage their real estate. With these results, it is possible to perform quantitative analyses on both trends and the current situation. In addition, municipalities’ descriptions of their real estate management have been analysed in a qualitative way. FindingsMunicipalities are concentrating their real estate tasks in the municipal organisation to link their real estate, their policies and the citizens/tenants. Remarkable is the diversity of the functions and the broad definition of “the real estate employee” (organisational structure). Municipalities make strategic and organisational changes that aim to improve both the real estate portfolio and the municipal organisation (operations). The next years, municipalities will focus in particular on vacancy rates, organisation design, collaboration, ownership and the sustainability of the portfolio (direction). Originality/valueQualitative and quantitative research are combined to compare theory with practice on CREM and MREM. The results contribute to the professionalisation of Dutch municipalities.
This contribution concerns the province of Drenthe in the Netherlands, focusing on four municipalities in the southeast of Drenthe where real estate vacancy is a top priority of ministers and interested parties. This study introduces questions, ideas and solutions. The municipalities are developing and are responsible for the developments in the field of economic developments, community real estate, vacancy and reallocation. But what is the uniting force? The skill in managing community real estate lies in asking questions and having patience with answers. Answers may develop by asking questions and entering into the dialogue with the community. Municipalities are continually attempting to establish a balance between the opportunities of interested parties and those of themselves. A balance between public values, legitimacy and organization (capacity). Einstein discovered surprising answers because of the many questions he asked. Always asking questions stimulates personal knowledge, expertise and skills. Just like sailors running a tight ship who are always on the lookout for wind and currents. The study in economic developments, community real estate, vacancy and reallocation was carried out by the readership for Community Real Estate with 77 professionals in four municipalities with a total population of 195,000 and a surface area of approximately 1,200 square kilometers, comparable to the province of Utrecht
In June 2016, two Dutch SME companies which are active in the area of urban solid waste management approached the International Environmental Sciences department of Avans about the current R&D activities on urban solid waste management in cooperation with the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) Brazil. The companies had interest in developing activities in Brazil, since they are aware of the great potential for exporting both knowledge and technology. Solid waste poses a major problem in Brazil which affects 200 million residents. The Brazilian municipalities collect around 71 million tons solid municipal waste on a yearly basis and only a tiny percentage of this collected waste gets recycled. As such. the overwhelming majority of the collected urban solid waste goes to landfills. Within the State of Minas Gerais there are 850 towns of which 600 have less than 20.000 residents and are agriculturally oriented. Current organic waste composting practices take place under very poor conditions (pathogens and weeds still remain in the compost) and most often the resulting compost product is not well received by its residential and agricultural consumers. As such there is huge room for improvement. The SME companies work with Avans and UFMG to address these challenges. The joint research team consisting of the two Dutch SME companies and the two Research and educational institutes have defined the following research question: What is the current status of organic solid waste management in Minas Gerais and how can cooperation between Brazil and the Netherlands result in a win-win for both countries? Two individual KIEM VANG proposals have been defined in order to address these challenges. The planned activities are a joint effort with professor R. T. de Vasconcelos Barros of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) and are executed within the Living Lab Biobased Brazil program (www.biobasedbrazil.org).
The livability of the cities and attractiveness of our environment can be improved by smarter choices for mobility products and travel modes. A change from current car-dependent lifestyles towards the use of healthier and less polluted transport modes, such as cycling, is needed. With awareness campaigns, cycling facilities and cycle infrastructure, the use of the bicycle will be stimulated. But which campaigns are effective? Can we stimulate cycling by adding cycling facilities along the cycle path? How can we design the best cycle infrastructure for a region? And what impact does good cycle infrastructure have on the increase of cycling?To find answers for these questions and come up with a future approach to stimulate bicycle use, BUas is participating in the InterReg V NWE-project CHIPS; Cycle Highways Innovation for smarter People transport and Spatial planning. Together with the city of Tilburg and other partners from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and United Kingdom we explore and demonstrate infrastructural improvements and tackle crucial elements related to engaging users and successful promotion of cycle highways. BUas is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the project. To measure the impact and effectiveness of cycle highway innovations we use Cyclespex and Cycleprint.With Cyclespex a virtual living lab is created which we will use to test several readability and wayfinding measures for cycle infrastructure. Cyclespex gives us the opportunity to test different scenario’s in virtual reality that will help us to make decisions about the final solution that will be realized on the cycle highway. Cycleprint will be used to develop a monitoring dashboard where municipalities of cities can easily monitor and evaluate the local bicycle use.
