In the Netherlands, almost everyone has an image of 1930s neighborhoods, post-war neighborhoods, and Vinex locations. That is very different for the neighborhoods with social housing apartments from the 1970s and 1980s. They are forgotten, hardly known, even professionally. And that is a problem because a wave of restructuring and densification projects is imminent for these areas. They are related to the post-war neighborhoods, but also have fundamentally different spatial characteristics. Moreover, within the fragmented practice of spatial development, there is little shared knowledge on plans in other municipalities or housing associations. Even less is known whether these neighborhoods offer space for tackling the persistent housing shortage and solving other major social challenges, such as energy, biodiversity, circularity and inclusion. It is time for an inventory, and this project undertakes the challenge.In the planning for these residential areas, municipalities, developers and housing corporations set the framework, but it is the urban development and architecture firms that have to translate this into concrete design solutions. We focus on these SMEs. With this research project, we map out the ambitions, challenges and opportunities of the restructuring of these residential areas in three steps: What type of plans and ambitions are there for these residential areas? To this end, we investigate cases by means of policy analyses of the environmental visions and area visions. What characterizes the spatial-social structure of these neighborhoods? To this end, we make a comparative spatial-social analysis of several cases, also in relation to pre-war and early post-war ones. What opportunities and challenges does their restructuring offer? To this end, we use the acquired insights to explore strategies in co-creation sessions with external partners. In this presentation, we will share some of the outputs of this process.
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Cities are confronted with more frequent heatwaves of increasing intensity discouraging people from using urban open spaces that are part of their daily lives. Climate proofing cities is an incremental process that should begin where it is needed using the most cost-efficient solutions to mitigate heat stress. However, for this to be achieved the factors that influence the thermal comfort of users, such as the layout of local spaces, their function and the way people use them needs to be identified first. There is currently little evidence available on the effectiveness of heat stress interventions in different types of urban space.The Cool Towns Heat Stress Measurement Protocol provides basic guidance to enable a full Thermal Comfort Assessment (TCA) to be conducted at street-level. Those involved in implementing climate adaptation strategies in urban areas, such as in redevelopments will find practical support to identify places where heat stress may be an issue and suggestions for effective mitigation measures. For others, such as project developers, and spatial designers such as landscape architects and urban planners it provides practical instructions on how to evaluate and provide evidence-based justification for the selection of different cooling interventions for example trees, water features, and shade sails, for climate proofing urban areas.
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Het veranderende klimaat is vooral in binnensteden zichtbaar door de hoge mate van verstening die hier te vinden is. Juist op deze plekken zijn er weinig oplossingen voor hittestress en wateroverlast mogelijk, omdat de ruimte boven en onder de grond vaak beperkt is. In dit onderzoek werkten de Hanzehogeschool en The Leaf vof in een consortium met ondernemers en publieke organisaties aan het ontwikkelen van een oplossing voor deze problemen: de Leaf. Een ‘Leaf’ is een groene pergola die meerdere thema’s als hittestress, wateroverlast, biodiversiteit en circulariteit combineert in één oplossing. Het primaire doel van dit onderzoek was om de effectiviteit, haalbaarheid en rendabiliteit van een Leaf in de praktijk te toetsen. Daarvoor is een design thinking aanpak gevolgd, waarin verschillende methoden zijn gebruikt om onderzoeks- en ontwerpstappen te doorlopen. De uiteindelijke ontwerpen zijn uitgewerkt in fysieke prototypes met verschillende karakteristieken die vervolgens op hun effectiviteit zijn getest en vergeleken. Het onderzoek is met een interdisciplinair team van studenten en onderzoekers uitgevoerd, met ondersteuning van verschillende experts uit de praktijk.
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