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.
MULTIFILE
Cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable for climate change and there is an urgent needto become more resilient. This research involves the development of the City climate scanRotterdam (September 2017) methodology to measure, map, scan and assess differentparameters that together give insight in the vulnerability of urban areas and neighborhoods.The research at recent City climate scan / Sketch your city in April 2018 used storytelling andsketching1 as main method to connect stakeholders, motivate action, evoke recognition in ajointly formulated goal, such as taking climate action. The city climate scan also involved thedevelopment of a set of measurement tools that can be applied in different urbanneighborhoods in a low-cost low-tech approach with teams of stakeholders andpractitioners. The city climate scan method was tested in different cities around the globe(Rotterdam, Manila and Cebu) in groups of young professionals and stakeholders in rapidurban appraisals.
Cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change and there is an urgent need to become more resilient. This research involves the development of the City Climate Scan methodology to measure, map, scan and assess different parameters that provide insight into the vulnerability of urban areas and neighborhoods. The research involved the development of a set of measurement tools that can be applied in different urban neighborhoods in a low-cost low-tech approach with teams of stakeholders and practitioners. The City Climate Scan method was tested in different cities around the globe with groups of young professionals and stakeholders in rapid urban appraisals.For the Rotterdam City Climate Scan (September 2017), the following challenges were selected: risk of flooding, heat stress, water quality (micro-pollutants and plastic waste) and air quality. The Rotterdam climate scan is evaluated with their triple helix partners (public, private and academic partners). The conclusion is that the City Climate Scan approach helps policy makers and practitioners to gather valuable data for decision makers in a rapid appraisal at the neighborhood and city level. The results of the City Climate Scan methodprovides insights, creates awareness and brings together stakeholders. The most valuable deliverable is the concrete and tangible results. The participatory approach brings residents and practitioners together and provides insight into local problems, while at the same time the method facilitates the collection of valuable data about the robustness of neighborhoods. As a result of this positive evaluation, the City Climate Scan will be up scaled to a number of cities in Europe and Asia in the upcoming months.
In recent years, disasters are increasing in numbers, location, intensity and impact; they have become more unpredictable due to climate change, raising questions about disaster preparedness and management. Attempts by government entities at limiting the impact of disasters are insufficient, awareness and action are urgently needed at the citizen level to create awareness, develop capacity, facilitate implementation of management plans and to coordinate local action at times of uncertainty. We need a cultural and behavioral change to create resilient citizens, communities, and environments. To develop and maintain new ways of thinking has to start by anticipating long-term bottom-up resilience and collaborations. We propose to develop a serious game on a physical tabletop that allows individuals and communities to work with a moderator and to simulate disasters and individual and collective action in their locality, to mimic real-world scenarios using game mechanics and to train trainers. Two companies–Stratsims, a company specialized in game development, and Society College, an organization that aims to strengthen society, combine their expertise as changemakers. They work with Professor Carola Hein (TU Delft), who has developed knowledge about questions of disaster and rebuilding worldwide and the conditions for meaningful and long-term disaster preparedness. The partners have already reached out to relevant communities in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, including UNUN, a network of Ukrainians in the Netherlands. Jaap de Goede, an experienced strategy simulation expert, will lead outreach activities in diverse communities to train trainers and moderate workshops. This game will be highly relevant for citizens to help grow awareness and capacity for preparing for and coping with disasters in a bottom-up fashion. The toolkit will be available for download and printing open access, and for purchase. The team will offer training and facilitate workshops working with local communities to initiate bottom-up change in policy making and planning.
Restoring rivers with an integrated approach that combines water safety, nature development and gravel mining remains a challenge. Also for the Grensmaas, the most southern trajectory of the Dutch main river Maas, that crosses the border with Belgium in the south of Limburg. The first plans (“Plan Ooievaar”) were already developed in the 1980s and were highly innovative and controversial, as they were based on the idea of using nature-based solutions combined with social-economic development. Severe floodings in 1993 and 1995 came as a shock and accelerated the process to implement the associated measures. To address the multifunctionality of the river, the Grensmaas consortium was set up by public and private parties (the largest public-private partnership ever formed in the Netherlands) to have an effective, scalable and socially accepted project. However, despite the shared long term vision and the further development of plans during the process it was hard to satisfy all the goals in the long run. While stakeholders agreed on the long-term goal, the path towards that goal remains disputed and depends on the perceived status quo and urgency of the problem. Moreover, internal and external pressures and disturbances like climate change or the economic crisis influenced perception and economic conditions of stakeholders differently. In this research we will identify relevant system-processes connected to the implementation of nature-based solutions through the lens of social-ecological resilience. This knowledge will be used to co-create management plans that effectively improve the long-term resilience of the Dutch main water systems.
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.
