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Handbook for Strategic City-University co-operation

Worldwide, there is a growing recognition that strategic partnering between cities and universities can bring substantial benefits for both sides. The big question is how to organize such partnerships successfully. This handbook offers insights, best practices and advice for leaders in cities and universities that want to go beyond “ad hoc” projects and take the next step towards a strategic and sustainable partnership. The handbook identifies promising avenues, but also barriers and pitfalls and how to avoid them. Illustrated by a rich variety of examples from European cities, the handbook provides concrete advice on the various stages of strategic city-university collaboration. This handbook intends to provide inspiring practices and guidance to develop strategic interaction between city and university, considering the complex and layered nature of both. The focus lies on the more strategic, transformational types of collaborations, that are more complex.

City & University: a sympony for progress

How can university and city administration co-create the city? Where do their interests meet and diverge, and what is needed to exploit synergies? This report explores the potential for co-creation in five domains: urban economic development, internationalisation, urban attractiveness & city branding, science & society, and student life. We provide numerous examples from the 10 medium-sized European cities that participated in the EUniverCities project (URBACT). But also we discuss pitfalls and dilemmas. This publication is the final report of the project, synthesizing the main results and findings.

Sustainable strategies for heritage; towards a holistic valuation framework

Cultural heritage buildings and sites are threatened by the effects of climate change, especially in coastal zones. Risks not only include floods and submersion, but also less visible risks such as effects of moisture levels or, alternatively, drought. At the same time, it is important to involve people in the care of heritage buildings and sites, to stimulate them to cherish, admire, and to enrich their lives with the heritage locations, buildings and stories.This paper aims to contribute to our knowledge on the application of valuation approaches. The topic of heritage and sustainability calls for an approach that encompasses a broad range of values. Theoretically, this paper relies on the approach of ‘Design for Values’. This approach starts with the identification of the values that are aspired to in a design project. These values are connected to norms, which describe how the identified value can be reached. On a more technical or concrete level, requirements are noted down, which specify the precise conditions a design must fulfill. In this way, a ‘value hierarchy’ can be outlined, which forms a guide for the designing process. In a value hierarchy, the levels are connected in two ways: downward by ‘specification’, and upwards, by the phrase ‘for the sake of’. After the design is finalized, a verification step is needed to ascertain if the aspired values indeed have been achieved in the design.The empirical case study for this paper is provided by the investigations of the Wisloujcsie Fortress and surrounding area at the SOS-workshop in Gdansk in October 2022. In our investigation of the site several problems and challenges came to light, which we summarized in a SWOT-analysis. For sustainable development of the area and the conservation of cultural and natural heritage we identified values connected to heritage, water, public access, and social values, see figure 1. In the paper, we will further elaborate on the norms and requirements that follow from each of these values. Also, we want to reflect on a preliminary verification step. We conclude that to produce designs that successfully achieve the climate and sustainability goals of the SOS-Climate Waterfront project, a ‘model valuation framework’ could be a useful guide for the design process. The first elements of such a framework are presented in our paper. Applying such a valuation framework stimulates ethical reflection during the design process and evaluation of the result. It thereby strengthens the connections between sustainability goals and urban design.

Co-creatie in Hoogkerk Zuid

Heritage, social values and the threat of ruination

Valuation of heritage buildings is usually performed by architectural-historical experts, who use a typology of heritage values based on conservation philosophy. Increasingly, social and spirituality values are included in heritage assessment frameworks.What happens to valuation systems when external events influence the chances of survival of heritage buildings, such as earthquakes induced by gas extraction in the Netherlands? While the mining company uses a narrow economic perspective on value, the public fears for loss of character of their historic towns. New safety regulations constitute a new and even stronger threat to heritage buildings. Recently, a heritage assessment framework was published, to help with value assessments in the affected region. In this paper, we compare experts’ and laypersons’ values by analyzing the new assessment framework as well as public documents. We conclude that heritage value assessments should incorporate social values, including memories and symbolic meanings, to create a balanced valuation system.

Speech privacy in multiple-bed patient rooms

While research has shown the multiple benefits of single-bed patient rooms in hospitals, amongst which the experience of privacy and dignity, the majority of patient rooms in existing hospitals are shared. Transforming them into single-patient rooms can be time-consuming, costly or even impossible, which motivates this study looking into privacy in multiple-patient rooms. To share a hospital room, means to share sensitive information with total strangers. This may cause uncomfortable situations for both patients. Furthermore, the awareness of other ears in the room can withhold some patients from sharing important information during daily ward rounds The aim of this study was to investigate the acoustic effect and the acceptance of an adjustable sound masking system in a 4-bed patient room. The objective of the system is that when a doctor shares personal information with one patient, the other patients in the room are not able to understand the conversation.