The world is rapidly transforming. Economic, ecological and technological developments transcend existing boundaries and challenge the way we innovate. The challenge we face is to reinvent innovation as well, changing the way organisations and industries innovate and cooperate. Only with a new approach we can design a better future: an approach where stakeholders from government, organisations, companies and users participate in new ways of collaboration; an approach where solutions are realised that makes our society future-proof. Participatory innovation means that the innovation team changes: expanding beyond the boundaries of the own organisation. For organisations and companies, this is a huge step. Every partner must be willing to think and act beyond their own borders and participate in a joint effort. Participative innovation is a new way of working, where new challenges are encountered. In the field of urban lighting, this transformation is strongly felt. This paper will further explore the challenge and describe a rich case study where participative innovation is used to rethink, redesign and realise the solutions to transform urban lighting from functional lighting to improving social quality.
Cities worldwide are growing at unprecedented rates, compromising their surrounding landscapes, and consuming many scarce resources. As a consequence, this will increase the compactness of cities and will also decrease the availability of urban green space. In recent years, many Dutch municipalities have cut back on municipal green space and itsmaintenance. To offer a liveable environment in 30 to 50 years, cities must face challenges head-on and strive to create green urban areas that build on liveable and coherent sustainable circular subsystems.
What will a shopping street look like in 2025, when online shopping continues to show double-digit growth? And what will 3D printing do to factories and logistic companies, when we can ‘print’ more and more products at home or around the corner?The digital economy is one of the most pervasive game changers in cities. It creates and destroys, and affects the way cities function in many ways. But what is exactly the digital economy about? How big is it? Which types of transformation is it provoking in urban economies? And, importantly, what can local governments do to cope with the digital transition and foster sustainable urban development?
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.
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.
Researching the enormous VINEX city expansion operations of 1995-2005. The research 'VINEXt' was launched in 2010 in response to an Open Call by the (then) Netherlands Architecture Fund. In VINEXt, we investigate the future-proofing of Vinex districts on a national scale. Using a number of future scenarios, four sample neighbourhoods are being studied to see where opportunities for development in the next 30 years lie or where threats may arise. The knowledge gained will be used to describe building blocks for the transformation of VINEX districts in general.Societal Issue: Times change and so do the inhabitants of modern suburbs. But these neighbourhoods can not automatically absorb these changes - how to stay functional and attractive in a uncertain future?Benefit to society: Working with scenarios provides insight in possible future demands and opportunities, and the extent to which the built environment of the Vinex areas can move with the tides of time.
