In 2017 the municipality of Amsterdam launched a programme to combat a housing shortage and realise ambitious societal goals for 32 of its most deprived neighbourhoods. After decades of urban renewal projects, these areas still scored poorly on most socio-economic indicators. The programme aims to develop …

Background: Running has become one of the most popular sports and has proven benefits for public health. Policy makers are increasingly aware that attractively designed public spaces may promote running. However, little is known about what makes a running environment attractive and restorative for runners …

The debate about the world wide web is of vital importance. Will it remain the democratic place of unconditional meeting and community building, or will it become a tool in the hands of governments, trillion dollar companies and the mafia, in order to secretly establish a dictatorship of control and …

The rehabilitation clinic I designed for severe gaming addicts is conceived as an architectural antidote to the digital world and is based on the principles of social reintegration and physical reconnection. The rehabilitation clinic provides a 12-week programme for 13-25-year-old gaming addicts, …

Due to closure of the coal mines industry in Heerlen lots of people lost their jobs and decided to leave Heerlen. The decline of population and economy resulted in a lot of vacant housing and retail. Through a minimalistic architecture this project syncs the upcycling of plastic with new efforts of the …

Beyond the potential of new layers of urban infrastructure - sensor-laden networks, big data, artificial intelligence - to optimize cities functionally, lay promising opportunities to also use these technologies for new forms of social interactions. In an ongoing smart city development project, we explore …

Responsive public spaces use interactive technologies to adapt to users and situations. This enhances the quality of the space as a public realm. However, the application of responsive technologies in spatial design is still to be explored. What exactly are the options for incorporating responsive technologies …

Amsterdam is known worldwide for its historical beauty, liberal lifestyle and tolerant atmosphere. With 860,000 residents (fewer than 90,000 living in the inner city), Amsterdam received 8.3 million hotel guests in 2017 and is urgently searching for ways to better manage its immense popularity. Its reputation …

In the debate about smart cities, an alternative to a dominant top-down, tech-driven solutionist approach has arisen in examples of ‘civic hacking’. Hacking here refers to the playful, exploratory, collaborative and sometimes transgressive modes of operation found in various hacker cultures, this time …