In opdracht van het ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties heeft het lectoraat Changing Role of Europe van De Haagse Hogeschool de rol van de Dutch Urban Envoy geëvalueerd. De betekenis, de inzet, het vervolg en de toekomstige invulling van de rol van de Dutch Urban Envoy komen aan bod. Op basis van de inzichten van 37 interviews met 39 betrokken partijen (van het Ministerie van BZK, Nederlandse steden, Europese steden, koepelorganisaties, Europese instellingen en andere ministeries binnen de Rijksoverheid) en deskresearch zijn de volgende conclusies en aanbevelingen geformuleerd.
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The crossroads of living in cities on the one hand and ageing of the population on the other is studied in an interdisciplinary field of research called urban ageing (van Hoof and Kazak 2018, van Hoof et al. 2018). People live longer and in better health than ever before in Europe. Despite all the positive aspects of population ageing, it poses many challenges. The interaction of population ageing and urbanisation raises issues in various domains of urban living (Phillipson and Buffel 2016). According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2015), the population share of those of 65 years old is expected to climb to 25.1% in 2050 in its member states. Cities in particular have large numbers of older inhabitants and are home to 43.2% of this older population. The need to develop supportive urban communities are major issues for public policy to understand the relationship between population ageing and urban change (Buffel and Phillipson 2016). Plouffe and Kalache (2010) see older citizens as a precious resource, but in order to tap the full potential these people represent for continued human development (Zaidi et al. 2013), the world’s cities must ensure their inclusion and full access to urban spaces, structures, and services. Therefore, cities are called upon to complement the efforts of national governments to address the consequences of the unprecedented demographic shift (OECD 2015). Additionally, at the city level there is a belief to understand the requirements and preferences of local communities (OECD 2015). An important question in relation to urban ageing is what exactly makes a city age-friendly (Alley et al. 2007, Lui et al. 2009, Plouffe and Kalache 2010, Steels 2015, Moulaert and Garon 2016, Age Platform Europe 2018)? Another relevant question is which factors allow some older people in cities to thrive, while others find it hard to cope with the struggles of daily life? This chapter explores and describes which elements and factors make cities age-friendly, for instance, on the neighbourhood level and in relation to technology for older people.
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Abstract Background: COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China. The virus quickly spread and was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. After infection, symptoms such as fever, a (dry) cough, nasal congestion, and fatigue can develop. In some cases, the virus causes severe complications such as pneumonia and dyspnea and could result in death. The virus also spread rapidly in the Netherlands, a small and densely populated country with an aging population. Health care in the Netherlands is of a high standard, but there were nevertheless problems with hospital capacity, such as the number of available beds and staff. There were also regions and municipalities that were hit harder than others. In the Netherlands, there are important data sources available for daily COVID-19 numbers and information about municipalities. Objective: We aimed to predict the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants per municipality in the Netherlands, using a data set with the properties of 355 municipalities in the Netherlands and advanced modeling techniques. Methods: We collected relevant static data per municipality from data sources that were available in the Dutch public domain and merged these data with the dynamic daily number of infections from January 1, 2020, to May 9, 2021, resulting in a data set with 355 municipalities in the Netherlands and variables grouped into 20 topics. The modeling techniques random forest and multiple fractional polynomials were used to construct a prediction model for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants per municipality in the Netherlands. Results: The final prediction model had an R2 of 0.63. Important properties for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants in a municipality in the Netherlands were exposure to particulate matter with diameters <10 μm (PM10) in the air, the percentage of Labour party voters, and the number of children in a household. Conclusions: Data about municipality properties in relation to the cumulative number of confirmed infections in a municipality in the Netherlands can give insight into the most important properties of a municipality for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants in a municipality. This insight can provide policy makers with tools to cope with COVID-19 and may also be of value in the event of a future pandemic, so that municipalities are better prepared.
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The article describes what a restorative city is by looking at research, experiences in different countries and by describing the developments in Restorative City Wrocław. A restorative city is a city that recognises its urban environment as a network of relations in which – in the case of conflict – citizens, institutions and organisations choose a restorative approach to finding a solution in the first place. This necessitates proactive responses to conflict resolution, which go beyond criminal justice and crime prevention strategies that are still predominantly of a reactive nature. The concept of the restorative justice city builds a ‘criminology of trust’, for which crime is not a risk to be managed and controlled but a harm to be addressed by penal policies based on respect, solidarity, inclusion and active participation The restorative city concept, as also seen in Wrocław, is gaining momentum and while it is becoming an appealing policy transfer in an increasingly globalized world.
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This open access book presents a selection of the best contributions to the Digital Cities 9 Workshop held in Limerick in 2015, combining a number of the latest academic insights into new collaborative modes of city making that are firmly rooted in empirical findings about the actual practices of citizens, designers and policy makers. It explores the affordances of new media technologies for empowering citizens in the process of city making, relating examples of bottom-up or participatory practices to reflections about the changing roles of professional practitioners in the processes, as well as issues of governance and institutional policymaking.
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De wereld is in een rap tempo aan het vergrijzen. Tegelijkertijd volgt de ene technologische innovatie snel op de andere. Nederland vergrijst snel: op dit moment zijn er ruim 3 miljoen 65-plussers in Nederland. De verwachting is dat dit aantal zal oplopen naar ruim 4 miljoen in 2030. Van de 65-plussers is circa 1 miljoen alleenstaand op een bevolking van 17 miljoen. In deze deskstudie staat centraal wat de bereidheid van ouderen is om technologie in te zetten ten behoeve van sociale binding/activiteit en voor mobiliteit. Hierbij staan alleenstaande , zelfstandig wonende 65-plussers centraal
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Exhaust emissions from motorized vehicles are not only harmful to the environment but also to human health. However, motorists are not necessarily aware of the adverse health effects resulting from their emissions. In this work, we use the health aspect as a primary motivation factor in the design of an intervention targeted at reducing exhaust emissions. Based on research into the problem domain and the target group, we propose a design for a behavior-change intervention, consisting of an infrastructure of large public displays and a mobile application. In a design prototype, we incorporate two approaches, shaming and empowerment, designed to engage motorists with the intervention. An experimental evaluation of the prototype suggests that shaming can have a lot of potential in providing motivation for change, while empowerment is also needed inside the application for helping the drivers reduce their emissions by means of more efficient traveling. Based on the findings, we discuss the role of personal data in the intervention and outline possibilities for realizing the design as part of the built environment.
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This paper will describe the rationale and findings from a multinational study of online uses and gratifications conducted in the United States, Korea, and the Netherlands in spring 2003. A survey research method of study was conducted using a questionnaire developed in three languages and was presented to approximately 400 respondents in each country via the Web. Web uses and gratifications were analyzed cross-nationally in a comparative fashion and focused on the perceived involvement in different types of on-line communities. Findings indicate that demographic characteristics, cultural values, and Internet connection type emerged as critical factors that explain why the same technology is adopted differently. The analyses identified seven major gratifications sought by users in each country: social support, surveillance & advice, learning, entertainment, escape, fame & aesthetic, and respect. Although the Internet is a global medium, in general, web use is more local and regional. Evidence of media use and cultural values reported by country and online community supports the hypothesis of a technological convergence between societies, not a cultural convergence.
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This special issue includes five articles which cover a diverse range of issues related to recent advances in the design of technologies used in aged-care facilities and the built environment in general. Original item at Emerald: https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-06-2018-055
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Steden en wijken staan ook de komende jaren voor belangrijke opgaven op onder andere het gebied van armoede, duurzaamheid, veiligheid, welzijn en zorg. Deze complexe en taaie vraagstukken kunnen veelal niet door één of twee partijen van bovenaf worden opgelost. Ze vragen om een nieuwe aanpak met een grotere rol van de direct betrokkenen. Op steeds meer plekken in Nederland zien we dan ook dat groepen van diverse personen en organisaties met elkaar werken aan creatieve oplossingen voor vraagstukken op individueel, buurt- of wijkniveau. Zij bundelen hun krachten in nieuwe samenwerkingsverbanden om zo lokaal het verschil te maken. Deze samenwerkingsverbanden zorgen ten opzichte van het verleden voor verschuivende rollen, taken en (machts)verhoudingen. Er ontstaat een nieuw speelveld met deels nieuwe spelers en spelregels. Hoe je dit samenspel tussen burgers, ondernemers, maatschappelijke instellingen en gemeenten precies vorm moet geven, wordt nu uitgeprobeerd en ontdekt. Hoe verhouden bijvoorbeeld de burger en de professional zich tot elkaar? Welke complexe afhankelijkheden zijn er tussen de andere partijen? Heeft iedereen een gelijkwaardige stem? Tegen welke knelpunten lopen deze samenwerkingen op? Wat zijn belangrijke leerpunten en hoe kunnen we het leren over en binnen deze plekken optimaliseren? In dit boek gaan we aan de hand van tien casestudies en vijf interviews op zoek naar de antwoorden op deze vragen. Naast de grote verscheidenheid laten de voorbeelden ook zien dat de partijen op deze plekken in volle overtuiging gezamenlijk aan iets ‘nieuws’ bouwen ondanks hun verschillende achtergronden, belangen, denk- en werkwijzen. Daarmee zijn het voor ons plekken van hoop en verandering.
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