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In urban planning, 3D modeling and virtual reality (VR) provide new means for involving citizens in the planning process. For municipal government, it is essential to know how effective these means are, to justify investments. In this study, we present a case of using VR in a municipal process of civic participation concerning the redesign of a public park. The process included codesign activities and involved citizens in decision-making through a ballot, using 3D-rendered versions of competing designs. In codesign, 3D-modeling tools were instrumental in empowering citizens to negotiate design decisions, to discuss the quality of designs with experts, and to collectively take decisions. This paper demonstrates that, in a ballot on competing designs with 1302 citizens, VR headsets proved to be equally effective compared to other display technologies in informing citizens during decision making. The results of an additional, controlled experiment indicate that VR headsets provide higher engagement and more vivid memories than viewing the designs on non-immersive displays. By integrating research into a municipal process, we contribute evidence of cognitive and engagement effects of using 3D modeling and immersive VR technologies to empower citizens in participatory urban planning. The case described in the paper concerns a public park; a similar approach could be applied to the design of public installations including media architecture.
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Due to a growing challenge to feed the world’s population and an increased awareness to minimize the impact of our food choices on climate change, a more plant-based diet has gained popularity with a growing number of plant-based products on the market. To stimulate a plant-based diet that also improves long-term health, data are needed to monitor whether these products are healthy alternatives to animal-based foods. Therefore, this study inventoried 916 plant-based meat, fish, and dairy alternatives from eight Dutch supermarkets. The nutritional quality of each product was assessed by (1) the Dutch food-based dietary guidelines and (2) the Nutri-Score. The results show that over 70% of meat, fish, and dairy alternatives have an A/B Nutri-Score (indicating high nutritional quality), but do not comply with the Dutch dietary guidelines. This is mainly due to high salt and low vitamin B12 and iron content (meat and fish alternatives) or low protein and calcium levels (dairy alternatives). In conclusion, the majority of plant-based products are nutritionally not full alternatives of the animal-based equivalents; however, there are still opportunities for reformulation. To aid the consumer in making healthy plant-based food choices, a better alignment between the Nutri-Score and the recommended dietary guidelines is needed.
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Swarm planning is a theory and practical approach to deal with uncertain futures. By anticipating scenarios such as a ‘post-carbon’ world and a ‘pre-adaptive’ landscape, it offers an alternative pathway to prepare for medium-term incremental and step changes. The focus is on the regional scale with a planning process to move from an unstable state (i.e. due to external impacts of climate change) towards a state of higher adaptive capacity. It increases the flexibility of spatial systems in two ways: assisting change in spatial land use over time; and catalysing the emergence of autonomous and more resilient developments. Swarm planning theory is used in two pilot designs and compared with regular planning processes. The results are presented in the form of new landscapes: the ‘Zero-Fossil Region’, where the design provides a spatial framework for a complete renewable energy supply, and the ‘Net Carbon Capture Landscape’, in which adaptation and mitigation strategies are designed to become carbon positive. The comparison illuminates the potential advantage of swarm planning to tackle climate change threats. La planification en essaims est une théorie et une approche pratique visant à traiter des avenirs incertains. Au moyen de scénarios prospectifs tels que celui d'un monde « post-carbone » et d'un paysage « préadaptatif », elle offre une voie alternative pour se préparer à des changements progressifs ou radicaux à moyen terme. L'accent est mis sur l’échelle régionale, avec un processus de planification permettant de passer d'un état instable (c'est-à-dire dû aux incidences extérieures du changement climatique) à un état présentant une plus grande capacité adaptative. Cela accroît de deux manières la flexibilité des systèmes spatiaux : en favorisant le changement dans l'utilisation spatiale des terrains au fil du temps; et en catalysant l’émergence de développements autonomes et plus résilients. La théorie de la planification en essaims est utilisée dans deux conceptions pilotes et comparée aux processus de planification habituels. Les résultats sont présentés sous la forme de nouveaux paysages : la « Région Zéro Energie Fossile », dans laquelle la conception fournit un cadre spatial permettant un approvisionnement énergétique entièrement renouvelable, et le « Paysage à Séquestration Nette de Carbone », dans lequel des stratégies d'adaptation et d'atténuation sont conçues pour assurer un bilan carbone positif. Cette comparaison se révèle éclairante quant à l'avantage potentiel de la planification en essaims pour s'attaquer aux menaces posées par le changement climatique. Mots clés: adaptation capacité adaptative cadre bâti résilience conception spatiale planification en essaims incertitude
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Balancing processes of external contingency and internal P-O fit is amongst the challenges facing innovative HE institutions today. This multi-level case study presents findings from a research & development program targeted to investigate and improve organisational-, leadership- and employees’ capacities to design, select and develop the human capital necessary to meet the strategic demands. The R&D project is framed as a collective organisational learning strategy with continuous alternation of research, design, pilots and implementation activities. Work in progress till 2020. At present 25 strategic personnel plans are developed for degree programs and other organizational units, each of which is tailored to the strategic horizon and market of that specific organisational entity. Furthermore, instrumentation to run a strategic personnel planning process for knowledge institutions is developed transferable to other institutions. Finally, input is provided for the development of strategic HRM for career development & mobility, professionalisation, team development and resourcing strategy. https://www.hec2019.nl/108493/wiki/449361/programme-abstracts
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The question of how to design climate-resilient landscapes plays a major role in the European projects in which the green university has been involved, such as Future Cities and F:ACTS!. These are projects in which various European organizations, government authorities and universities have joined forces to find an answer to climate-related issues. Van Hall Larenstein also collaborates with Almere, a relatively new Dutch municipality that is changing rapidly and that prioritizes climate resilience in its development. Over the years there has been a clear development in climate-adaptive planning, both in education and in practice.
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Een holistisch perspectief op binnenstedelijke herontwikkeling Spatial Planning http://www.uu.nl/agenda/promotie-een-holistisch-perspectief-op-binnenstedelijke-herontwikkeling Promovendus Rien van Stigt onderzoekt waarom het moeilijk is om milieukwaliteit een prominente plaats te geven in de besluitvorming over ruimtelijke plannen. In zijn proefschrift ontwikkelt hij een holistisch perspectief op het complexe proces van compacte binnenstedelijke herontwikkeling. De kwaliteit van de stedelijke leefomgeving is essentieel in duurzame stedelijke ontwikkeling. Die kwaliteit staat met name bij compacte binnenstedelijke herontwikkeling onder druk, en daarom is milieukwaliteit een belangrijke factor in het plannen van zulke ontwikkelingen. Uit de literatuur over de integratie van milieubeleid blijkt dat dit, vooral op lagere bestuurlijke niveaus, niet altijd goed lukt. Er is nog geen overtuigende verklaring waarom dit zo is. Promotor(es): Prof.dr. P.P.J. Driessen en Prof.dr. T.J.M. Spit
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From the article : "Based on a review of recent literature, this paper addresses the question of how urban planners can steer urban environmental quality, given the fact that it ismultidimensional in character, is assessed largely in subjective terms and varies across time. A novel perspective of urban environmental quality is proposed, simultaneously exploring three questions that are at the core of planning and designing cities: ‘quality of what?’, ‘quality for whom?’ and ‘quality at what time?’. The dilemmas that urban planners face in answering these questions are illustrated using secondary material. This approach provides perspectives for action. Rather than further detailing the exact nature of urban quality, it calls for sustainable urban environmental quality planning that is integrated, participative and adaptive" ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ) DOI: 10.1002/eet.1759 - Preprint available for free download.
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Despite the willingness of many educational institutions worldwide to embrace Education for Sustainable Development and Education for Sustainable Development Goals, critical scholars have pointed out that the very enterprise of sustainable development is not without its contradictions. Therefore, any education that engages with sustainable development needs to be carefully reviewed, rather than supported, in its ambition to promote the supposedly universally desirable aims. The rhetoric of sustainable development as meeting the needs of present and future generations is largely anthropocentric in failing to take nonhuman species into account when setting up pragmatic and ethical objectives. Similarly to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that have helped to raise living standards across the world, but have largely failed to address environmental sustainability challenges, the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) tend to prioritize “inclusive economic growth” at the expense of ecological integrity, which is very likely to negatively affect not only nonhuman species but also future generations and their quality of life. Thus, as this chapter will argue, universally applicable Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDGs) is problematic in the context of addressing the long-term sustainability for both human and nonhuman inhabitants of the planet. Given escalating climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and depletion of natural resources, this chapter questions whether ESDGs can qualify as a desirable “quality education”. The paradoxes of sustainable development and ways forward that seem a better alternative for ESDG include indigenous/traditional learning, ecopedagogy, ecocentric education, and education for degrowth, steady-state, and Cradle-to-Cradle and circular economy. Advantages of universal education are also highlighted, as any education that supports basic literacy, numeracy, and values attributed to the intrinsic rights of humans and nonhumans can help students to be equipped to deal with social and environmental challenges. https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-03897-893-0-1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Marine spatial planning (MSP) was developed as a place-based, integrated marine governance approach to address sectoral and fragmented management issues and has seen significant evolvement over the past two decades. MSP has rapidly become the most commonly endorsed management regime for sustainable development in the marine environment, with initiatives being implemented across multiple regions of the globe. Despite its broad and growing acceptance and use, there are several key challenges that remain, both conceptual and practical, that are negatively impacting the realization of MSP’s potential. These include institutional shortcomings, the exclusion of stakeholders, a failure to account for the human and social dimensions of marine regions, the marginalization of different types of knowledge, and the growing need to adapt to global environmental change. Although studies have examined the emergence of MSP in different geographical and institutional contexts, there is a lack of comparative analysis of how initiatives are progressing and if the foundational aims of MSP are being achieved. There is a need to analyze the degree to which MSP initiatives are responding to the environmental challenges that they have been set up to tackle and, as marine plans are setting out long-term visions for marine management, to understand if current initiatives are fit for purpose. This article responds to these concerns and reviews the evolution of MSP within 12 regional ocean areas. We utilize the term regional ocean areas to illustrate the geographical spread of MSP, with examinations conducted of the approach to MSP that specific nations within each of the 12 chosen clusters have followed. By critically assessing how MSP is progressing, it is possible to shed light on the opportunities and challenges that are facing current initiatives. This can help to reveal learning lessons that can inform future MSP systems and guide initiatives along more sustainable pathways.
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