Due to climate change, rising temperatures lead to more extreme heat stress in urban areas. Last summer, there were poignant images of people looking for shade in cities. Trees are effective measures to provide shade and decrease the perceived temperature. However, trees cannot grow in healthy conditions due to the conflicting interests of the many functions and infrastructure in cities. Also time is a limiting factor; before trees are fully grown and can fulfil its various functions (shade, biodiversity, appearance), it takes not only physical space but also time. Alternative interventions, such as a pergola, can help increase urban resilience by reducing the negative impacts of climate change.Pergolas are known, for example, in more southern Europe cities. However, despite the described promising effects of the pergola in documents to reduce heat stress and provide shade, we barely see these structures in the Dutch public space. We all know the pergola as an esthetical piece in the backyard where it provides shade, privacy and contributes to well-being, but they are not widely used in the public realm.Next to that, there are few or no known preconditions for an urban pergola. The functions that an urban pergola can offer go beyond providing shade. The pergola might help reduce noise and pollution, provide a meeting place in a neighbourhood and support biodiversity. Since space is scarce in cities where many different interests come together, we want to explore the potential contribution of an urban pergola to different problems. Therefore, at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, we have worked on an urban pergola as a real 'boundary object' where we bring education, research, municipalities, and entrepreneurs across disciplines and sectors together to discuss the potential of such an object.For this workshop, we would like to show our first results of this interdisciplinary action research and continue answering the question: how can a pergola fit in the Dutch urban area? Therefore, we would like to explore the functions and forms of the urban pergola with stakeholders, such as municipalities, entrepreneurs, citizens, students, and researchers all from different disciplines. The desired outcome of this workshop is a joint proposal for implementing urban pergolas that can meet the versatile needs of cities and thereby make cities more liveable.
MULTIFILE
This article explains how considering the systemic character of influencemarket corruption can help the Council of Europe and its Member States in their fightagainst trading in influence. By applying article 12 of the Council of Europe’s CriminalConvention on Corruption on two recent cases in the Netherlands and France, it is beingtested whether the provision provides an effective solution for scrutinising the trading ininfluence phenomenon. Both cases provide an example of the trading in influence phenomenon,which is symptomatic in western influence markets and which has implicationsfar greater than the ones immediately apparent.
MULTIFILE
This report has been established within the Flexiheat project. Flexiheat has focused on increasing flexibility in district heating systems. The intelligent district heating network is a dynamic network: an open network where different waste heat and renewable energy sources are connected, that has multiple producers and groups of consumers and facilitates the connection between different energy infrastructures (gas, heat and electricity). Eventually this will lead to an optimal deployment of the available heat sources and an increased cost-efficiency of district heating. Flexiheat aims to develop new concepts for these intelligent, flexible district heating networks. One of the strategies is to allow third party access to the network. A smart control system is developed to manage the heat flows across the network. This system makes use of dynamic pricing. In this exploration the concept of third party access in relation to the Flexiheat project will be discussed. The development of new business and price models based on the Flexiheat approach has led to an analysis of possible alternative price models for consumers.
"My PD-trajectory aims to contribute to knowledge development in the domains of artacademic institutions, the queer/drag/HIV community, and advocacy as context for queer safety. Emphasis will be placed on how to write, document, design, and archive elements in order to shape language to actively comprehend each other’s affinities, aspirations, and propel visibility for emancipatory realities by creating empathy among differences. Incorporating the theorization of new terms such as “gift dragonomy” and “dragging as grafting” based on drag mothering knowledge will play an active role in preserving subcultural language while avoiding ‘representational fixity.”
R-LINK onderzoekt hoe kleinschalige bottom-up initiatieven in de gebiedsontwikkeling kunnen bijdragen aan het oplossen van maatschappelijke vraagstukken. Deze kennis helpt bij het creëren van vitale en inclusieve stedelijke regio’s. R-LINK is een samenwerkingsverband van kennisinstellingen, bedrijven en maatschappelijke organisaties met een liefde voor ruimtelijke kwaliteit. Wij zijn nieuwsgierig en tonen betrokkenheid vanuit kennis. Dat doen we door met behulp van experimenten vernieuwende concepten te ontwikkelen. De nauwe samenwerking tussen onderzoek en praktijk helpt ons in de zoektocht naar haalbare oplossingen. Hoe kan gebiedsontwikkeling door kleinschalige initiatieven worden bevorderd, terwijl tegelijkertijd grootschalige stedelijke ambities en maatschappelijke opgaven worden gerealiseerd? R-LINK volgt 14 Nederlandse gebiedsontwikkelingsprojecten gedurende een aantal jaren nauwgezet. Zo kunnen we beschrijven wanneer nieuwe initiatieven slagen, en welke condities daaruit zijn af te leiden. Een multidisciplinair team van onderzoekers beschrijft en analyseert de samenwerking tussen overheden, bewoners en marktpartijen. Ook buitenlandse voorbeelden worden in het onderzoek betrokken. R-LINK heeft de ambitie om met plezier, energie en reflectie veranderingen in gebiedsontwikkeling op gang te brengen die door overheid, markt en samenleving gevraagd worden. Wij willen cocreatie en innovatie bevorderen, zijn bereid te luisteren en staan open voor iedereen – van eerste gebruikers tot politici.
