Developers of charging infrastructure, be it public or private parties, are highly dependent on accurate utilization data in order to make informed decisions where and when to expand charging points. The Amsterdam The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in close cooperation with the municipalities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and the metropolitan region of Amsterdam developed both the back- and front-end of a decision support tool. This paper describes the design of the decision support tool and its DataWareHouse architecture. The back-end is based on a monthly update of charging data with Charge point Detail Records and Meter Values enriched with location specific data. The design of the front-end is based on Key Performance Indicators used in the decision process for charging infrastructure roll-out. Implementing this design and DataWareHouse architecture allows all kinds of EV related companies and cities to start monitoring their charging infrastructure. It provides an overview of how the most important KPIs are being monitored and represented in the decision support tool based on regular interviews and decision processes followed by four major cities and a metropolitan region in the Netherlands.
Urban farming projects often involve the (temporarily) redevelopment of urban space by local co-productions of citizens and/or entrepreneurs. To realize their ambitions these coalitions often need support of public (government) resources such as time, money, space and regulation (Green Deal Stadslandbouw, 2013). This paper asks the question to what extent the development of urban farming projects can be understood as an example of planning through direct citizen participation/ participatory governance (e.g. Cornwall, 2004; Roberts, 2004) and what this means for the role of the municipal planning professional or civil servant in making these projects successful. Literature on the role of the municipal planner or civil servant in urban farming projects mainly concerns the role as enabler of projects given the many difficulties for projects. However, when looked at the development of urban farming as an example of citizen participation/ participatory governance and the transfer of social functions towards society other roles and tasks of planners seem to be important to make urban farming successful. This discussion paper looks to the role of planners and civil servants in some related government domains such as landscape (e.g. Van Dam et al. 2008, 2010, 2011) and neighbourhood development (e.g. Frieling et al., 2014) to complement our understanding of the role of planners in making urban farming projects successful. With this analysis the paper sets the scene for further research into tools for the planning professional or civil servant to support urban farming. In the paper the situation in Amsterdam serves as an example.
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.
The impacts of tourism on destinations and the perceptions of local communities have been a major concern both for the industry and research in the past decades. However, tourism planning has been mainly focused on traditions that promote the increase of tourism without taking under consideration the wellbeing of both residents and visitors. To develop a more sustainable tourism model, the inclusion of local residents in tourism decision-making is vital. However, this is not always possible due to structural, economic and socio-cultural restrictions that residents face resulting to their disempowerment. This study aims to explore and interpret the formal processes around tourism decision-making and community empowerment in urban settings. The research proposes a comparative study of three urban destinations in Europe (The Hague in the Netherlands, San Sebastian in Spain and, Ioannina in Greece) that experience similar degree of tourism growth. The proposed study will use a design-based approach in order to understand tourism decision-making and what empowers or disempowers community participation within the destinations. Based on the findings of primary and secondary data, a community empowerment model will be applied in one the destinations as a pilot for resident engagement in tourism planning. The evaluation of the pilot will allow for an optimized model to be created with implications for tourism planning at a local level that can contribute to sustainable destinations that safeguard the interests of local residents and tourists.
Air-to-Water (A2W) systems are innovative technologies which make possible to supply drinking water to regions without any nearby surface or ground water source. Such systems use green energy (solar, wind) to condense air humidity and provide fresh water in rather remote locations. As water production is area dependent, they operate at relatively small fluxes (few cubic meters per day, per unit), which makes them especially suitable for small isolated communities that are not supplied by municipal water supply services. Even though they have reached quite high technology redness level (TRL), in-situ, real scale, tests are still required to optimize energy performance and evaluate production at very specific meteorological conditions. In this project we propose an in-situ evaluation of the performance of a real scale A2W system produced by a Dutch company (Dutch Rain Maker, model AW-25) in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil. The cooperation with a HBO institute (Water Technology lectoraat, NHL Stenden) will provide the necessary analytical and technical support as well as extra expertise to conduct the tests. The project uses the opportunity given by the state government of Ceará State which built an infra-structure to provide space for in-situ tests for experts and companies who would like to test water technology solutions for arid regions. Finally, it is also intended to help establishing partnerships between European SME and Brazilian end users, i.e. municipalities of the Ceará state and small agriculture companies in the region.
This project aims to contribute to the transition from proprietary smart city software to the design & employment of ‘public software’ that can be deployed by cities in their operational and policy processes, in order to better safeguard public values. With the advance of smart city technologies, software deployed by municipalities can no longer be understood as just a productivity tool. The mechanics and algorithms operative in the software and the data it collects have become key elements in the execution of urban policy and have started to become a resource for decision making processes. That means that transparency and data-ownership are becoming important public values in software deployment. Most proprietary software systems that cities are currently using in their operations do not fulfill these requirements. Therefore a transition is needed to the deployment of what we call public software. To bring this transition about, for municipal governments it is important to learn more about the process in which public software can be procured, deployed and shared between cities. For creative industries players such as developers and creative agencies, it is important to gain further knowledge about what role they can play in this process and learn more about possible business models to sustain the production and upkeep of public software. This project addresses these knowledge gaps through three workshops in which the most important issues for this transition will be identified, leading to a Guide for the Deployment of Public Software as well as a research agenda and an international network of stakeholders.
