This essay is a contribution to the research project ‘From Prevention to Resilience’ funded by ZonMw. Motivated by the Covid-19 pandemic, this research project explored how public space and forms of civic engagement can contribute to working towards more resilient urban neighborhoods. The project engaged a community of practice (CoP) to inform the research and to disseminate and critically discuss research outcomes. This essay, and the bundle it is part of, is the outcome of one of these engagements. The authors of this specific essay were asked to offer their disciplinary perspective on a first version of the Human / Non-Human Public Spaces design perspective, at that time still titled Nexus Framework on Neighborhood Resilience (click here and a PDF of this version will be downloaded). The authors were asked to do so based on their field of expertise, being climate-resilient cities. The authors have written this essay in coordination with the research team. To grasp the content of this essay and to take lessons from it, we encourage readers to first get familiar with the first version of the design perspective.
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This leaflet showcases a design framework for buildingcommunity resilience in urban neighbourhoods. Atits core, the framework challenges designers andother professionals to not only consider resilience inhuman communities, but also in other-than-humancommunities, including plants and animals. Theframework proposes a set of five concepts that helpbridging these two perspectives; each concept describesan important condition for community resilience toemerge for both humans and non-humans.
The thermal walk investigates the influence of urban design on the thermal experience of pedestrians moving through a certain urban area. Thermal walks are often used by scientists to understand how residents experience heat in urban environments. However, thermal walks can also be beneficial to urban professionals working at local governments that need to adapt urban areas to rising temperatures. Thermal walks can answer their questions such as: How hot is a shopping street, a residential area, a specific walking route through the city or a station area? Which adjustments are needed to create cool spaces? Which factors determine whether the outdoor space is hot or cool and which of these factors can be included in a heat-resilient design? A thermal walk reveals and lets participants experience which urban designs are hottest, coolest or most pleasant, and which factors play a role. Therefore, thermal walks can help urban professionals by:• Mapping the heat resilience of a specific area and understanding which adjustments can help to create cooler areas; and• Teaching them the phenomenon of urban heat and the factors that lead to a heat resilient design. On the 18th of June 2019, during the ‘We make the city’ festival, we used the thermal walk to investigate the heat resilience of the walking route on a former historic naval base in the city of Amsterdam, the Marineterrein. In addition, the thermal walk was accompanied by mini-lectures in order to teach the participants about the phenomenon of urban heat.
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Sinds januari 2015 werken we met lector Jeroen Kluck van de Hogeschool van Amsterdam in een onderzoeksproject 'De klimaatbestendige stad' [1] dat tot doel heeft te onderzoeken hoe gemeenten wijken en straten klimaatbestendig kunnen inrichten. De focus van het onderzoek ligt op het duiden van de urgentie van hittestress, op het ontwerpen van standaard klimaatbestendige situaties en op een afweging van kosten en baten (o.a. voordelen van vergroening). Onderzoekers en studenten van de Hanze en hogeschool Amsterdam hebben in dat kader gemeten aan de hitte tijdens de hete zomer van 2015. Ook zijn er testen uitgevoerd naar diverse groen blauwe voorzieningen in het stedelijk gebied naar het lange termijn functioneren ervan. In Hoogeveen is in workshops in detail gekeken naar oplossingen in diverse straten, in de laatste stap worden de kosten gedetailleerd en concrete inrichting van groen blauwe voorzieningen vergeleken met traditionele inrichting op diverse criteria.
