Gaasperdam, located in Amsterdam’s southeastern region, is a diverse neighborhood with a population of approximately 30, 000 residents. The area is characterized by a mix of social housing and privately owned homes, with several residential high-rises built during the 1970s and 1980s. In terms of education, …

Community energy can be conceptualized as a social movement, which aims to develop a sustainable, democratic, and localist energy system. Community energy organizations often take the form of cooperatives and strive for a high level of participation at the neighborhood level. Recently, community energy …

Community energy can be conceptualized as a social movement, which aims to develop a sustainable, democratic, and localist energy system. Increasingly, community energy initiatives aim to develop citizen-led heating projects. District heating projects are characterized by costly investments, a substantial …

One neighborhood in Groningen, the Netherlands, is a neighborhood housing about 12,000 citizens with on average a low-SES background, showing a less healthy and active lifestyle. In the past, initiatives have been undertaken to promote active lifestyle by implementing outdoor facilities stimulating physical …

As a counterreaction to projects attracting the creative class, other projects have stimulated the craft-based talents of poor neighborhood residents. One example is the Freehouse Foundation in Rotterdam. Freehouse facilitated cooperation between residents and designers and artists. We investigated whether …

Take a chance to help people living in poverty! In 2016 and 2017; I conducted two different research projects in Gitega, Kigali-Rwanda. Gitega is a neighborhood in Kigali-Rwanda where sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement, maintenance of housing, transportation, …

Citizen participation is booming, especially the number of urban bottom-up initiatives where information and communication technologies (ICT) are deployed is increasing rapidly. This growth is good news for society as recent historical research shows that the more citizens actively and persistently interfere …

The past decade has shown a great rise in digital tools to measure various aspects of daily life. Such measured data does not exist in a vacuum and is increasingly integrated in newly designed interactive products. Meanwhile our cities are moving toward smart infrastructure and supporting innovation …

Local governments are increasingly looking for new ways to involve citizens in policy and decision-making, for example by combining public sector data sources with data gathered by citizens. Several examples exist of data gathering where personal mobile devices act as data collectors. While these efforts …