How do we recognise objects in our surroundings? How do we ‘read’ our landscape and the energy technologies that are present within it? The term ‘distinctiveness’ can help us to answer this question. The distinctiveness of an energy technology refers to the unique characteristics that form the character of the technology and make it recognisable in the landscape. Distinctiveness consists of three components: internal logic, representation, and communication with the environment.

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The design of the energy system influences the design of the neighborhood. We can make different choices in how collective we want the system to be. A energy system based on individuality demands space, both under and above ground. Together with DEP, Urban Synergy and Generation Energy we created 4 types of energy systems and corresponding neighborhood designs. 1. Balanswijk version 1.0 with lithium-ion batteries 2. Balanswijk Collective Heat with hight temperature heat grid 3. Balanswijk All Electric Collective with low temperature aqua-thermal energy 4. Balanswijk All Electric Individual with geothermal loops and heat pumps.

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The design of the energy system, and therefore the neighborhood itself, significantly influences how people live in this neighborhood, how they organize themselves, how they travel, and what activities they undertake. The environment creates conditions, opportunities, and boundaries. The design of the energy system, and therefore the neighborhood itself, is of great importance to the behavior of people in the neighborhood. What if every neighborhood would have an Energy House, a space where the energy system is accessible and that facilitates the exchange of energy and functions as a space for social interaction.

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Een belangrijk deel van het ontwerpend onderzoek ten behoeve van het Masterplan voor Boven- en Ondergrond voor Almere Pampus was gericht op het ontwikkelen van ontwerpprincipes voor een gebiedsontwikkeling waarbij water en bodem sturend zijn. Daarbij werd en wordt gebruik gemaakt van verschillende datasets: grondboringen, sattelietmetingen, bodemmodellen etc. Door middel van intensieve expertsessies met geologen, hydrologen, ingenieurs en andere bodemexperts kon het ontwerpteam een interpretatie maken van al deze bodemdata.

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Which neighborhoods are most effected by an energy crisis?
By superimposing several map layers, it becomes clear in which neighbourhoods the housing stock is the least insulated, the gas consumption is the highest, the most tenants live and where the community is the most vulnerable.

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The visual essay that Desiré van den Berg developed for the City Deal Public Space shows how public space is permanently subject to work. If you look closely, you can also see expressions of the underground infrastructure and underground soil life everywhere in the above-ground space.

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Buikslotermeerplein has a special place in the hearts of many residents of Amsterdam Noord. Conversations with local residents bring back memories of crowds on shopping nights, the annual funfair, children’s parties in the Bowling alley, eating in the wok restaurant, climbing the crocodile at Hema Square, mounting the stairs to the bus station, and many other things. These memories determine the appreciation of Buikslotermeerplein, even more than the buildings and public spaces that are in dire need of renovation.

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When working on the Bowling, a continuous dialogue is maintained with residents, entrepreneurs, visitors, and other users of the Buikslotermeerplein area.

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Light has long been seen as a positive force in our environment. Artificial light allowed us to overcome nature’s darkness. It is Enlightenment in its most concrete form.

Light represents economic activity: Factory workers in brightly lit production facilities during the night shifts, office workers burning the midnight oil, greenhouses that illuminate the cloud cover and window displays bathing their merchandise in light at night.

Light stands for (social) safety. Streets, squares and highways are lit to improve visibility for road users. The more different traffic participants share a space, the more light is required.

Light gives identity to a place. Remarkable buildings, infrastructure and objects deserve iconic lighting. Let there be no doubt about their importance. Places where many people gather are also brightly lit: Festivals, concerts and football matches. The more people, the more light, it seems.

All these reasons for illuminating our environment form layers of light. They amplify each other and sometimes try to overpower each other out. After all, in a brightly lit environment even more light is needed to highlight. Light can be seen as an ‘augmented reality’, a technical layer added between our experience and true darkness. Darkness has not disappeared, but is concealed in the light.

More light is not always better. Human health does not benefit from all this light. Our body needs darkness to relax. This also applies to flora and fauna. Patterns of nocturnal animals such as bats and insects are disrupted. It turns out, even trees are stressed by nights that don’t get dark anymore. Our overexposure disrupts all kinds of systems. We ourselves are part of these systems, of a larger whole. Stories from the past often emphasize our cultural connection with the stars and the universe. We experience that connection with a glance at the natural night sky. Illuminating the starry sky is not sustainalbe if we want to be careful with ourselves and our earth. Unnecessary light is a pure waste of energy.

Could we deal with light in the city more carefully? Can someone turn off the light?

Read more about this nightly expedition at Stad in de Maak: https://www.stadindemaak.nl/nachtexpeditie-rotterdam/

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A folly is a construction that is intentionally useless or bizarre. A folly is a non-conventional building, unsuitable for housing or other functions and serving no other purpose than decoration.

In the past, follys were used a lot as additions to estates. In particular from the late 18th to early 19th centuries it was fashionable to have some romantic elements built. Popular were reconstructed ruins and caves, fake chapels and shelters for hermits.

Source: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folly

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This system of importing, intensive domestic production, high-value processing, handling and transshipment has been almost perfected in The Netherlands. Speed is of the essence, so these industries are located along infrastructural networks.

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Review

Flourishing Foodscapes – Han Wiskerke & Saline Verhoeven

The resident of a house without a refrigerator has little need for a supermarket chain that sells cartons of imported milk. Residents of poorer neighborhoods of Dar es Salaam therefore share the cooling of dukas. These neighborhood shops with extended opening hours therefore play an important role in their social life. This apparently self-evident example makes it clear that the logic of a kitchen is related to the system of food distribution in a community and the agricultural production in a region.

Connecting the different scales is one of the design principles that Han Wiskerke and Saline Verhoeven propose in the book Flourishing Foodscapes. Landscapes that go beyond the production of our food and strengthen the social significance for farmers and consumers. The authors explicitly do not focus on the well-known examples of urban agriculture. Based on a thorough analysis they look at the relationship between food and space. They rightly note that the separation between city and countryside is outdated. Food landscapes are complex regional systems that face many challenges, a nexus of food, health, climate change, energy, water, environmental quality and social inequality. These are related problems that are largely caused by the way we deal with our food.

For designers looking for inspiration outside the vegetable garden and hobby chicken

Yet this book is hopeful, thanks to the power of the design. Both developed and green example projects show realistic alternatives for current sectoral practice. Food is not always the starting point. Water and waste are higher on the agenda and are more likely to lead to concrete changes. Food can be cleverly added. And if food forms the basis? Three utopian designs for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area show a hopeful future is ahead, even for this agro-industrial foodscape.

The book offers clear principles for designers looking for inspiration outside the vegetable garden and hobby chicken. But actually everyone who works on an integrated environmental vision should try these food perspectives. There’s more to explore than just the agricultural sector.

Everyone working on an integrated environmental vision should try these food perspectives

This review appeared in Ruimte + Wonen #1/2019

Flourishing Foodscapes is available at Valiz.

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A transparent food chain is the foundation for a beautiful rural area. Based on this belief, Peter Hermens and Klasien van de Zandschulp are the initiators of HalloBoer. HalloBoer! is a website that literally puts farmers and products on the map.

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Temporary use prepares the site for a new future.

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Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby

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Almost everyone in Enschede knows someone who has worked in the Van Heek factories or at the Polaroid. The site is part of the collective memory of the city. The buildings play a role in this, but the true value of this heritage lies in the stories of entrepreneurship and hard work.

Enschede’s textile industry started flourishing in the nineteenth century followed the construction of rail links with Germany and the west of the country. The city was the industrial powerhouse of that time, and Van Heek one of the largest companies in the country. After the war, however, textile production quickly disappeared to Eastern Europe and many of the buildings were demolished. Fortunately, the monumental Gebouw Zuid was preserved – one of the first applications of reinforced concrete in the Netherlands where architect Arend Beltman used knowledge from Berlin and thus produced a weaving mill with two floors full of daylight.

Polaroid settled in this building in 1964 to supply the European market. New buildings for the production, assembly and storage of instant film appeared along the old industrial street. Unfortunately, this industry also collapsed. At least, that is how it seemed: a number of former employees gave Polaroid a restart and produce film on the site again.

The economic use is an important part of the identity of the area. This involves flexible use of the buildings: They are constructed, adjusted time and time again, demolished and rebuilt again. This evolution of industrial heritage only stops when the economic value disappears.

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The sci-fi rom-com ‘Her’ by Spike Jonze shows a world in which technology functions so well that it becomes virtually invisible. In this future we see no cars and the phone – a beautiful small pocket book – rarely appears. The vast majority is controlled by artificial intelligence. All other communication between technology and its users happens through personal conversations.

Images: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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The Brussels canal zone is like a mirage: those who are looking for a relaxing place along the canal will surely be disappointed. In the middle of the busy European metropolis you do find the openness that is lacking in other places. However, this space is mainly utilitarian and almost entirely designated for the infrastructure. As a result, leeway is limited and must be found elsewhere.

En Place is a proposal for the encremental transformation of the area, with a mobile multi-functional city platform as a catalyst. This varied and stacked public spaces for play and relaxation moves across the channel. In addition to the temporary center that its presence establishes, it also facilitates developments in its surroundings. Temporary bridges make connections between the plateau to new gardens and squares. This way it shows the potential of these adjacent plots. En Place contuously changes position, to stimulate the entire zone with small impulses, rather than one central location.

Design Rick ten Doeschate, Jouri Kanters, René van Poppel, Gerjan Streng

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Something special is going on in Eerbeek: The paper industry is a source of excessive energy, but this remains largely unused. So far, only Coldenhove swimming pool is heated and a pilot project will supply houses with locally sourced gas.

A quick win can be achieved by tax-exempting water purification. This will make the paper industry more efficient and creates space for new forms of production in the neighborhood. Open plots in the forest become a unique testing ground for aquaponic cultivation.

Visitors can enjoy a beautiful entrance to the sustainable leisure park Coldenhove, along showcase aquaculture projects, in new electric transportation en route to one of many swimming pools heated by residual heat.

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The Twentekanaal runs from Zutphen to Enschede, with a branch off to Delden at Almelo. The canal connects the cities of Twente to the national network of waterways. Several industrial locations are located along the route. The Lochem canal zone is one of them. Ever since its realization in the 1930s, the Twentekanaal has been a striking appearance in the landscape due to its linearity.

The Twentekanaal will become an energy panorama. New wind turbines are tightly aligned here. Willows and reeds on the riverbanks produce biomass. Small energy collectives appear at farm yards. At the industrial sites, a new generation of cleantech and manufacturing industries flourishes. The Twentekanaal links a wide variety of energy experiences.

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The area between the the IJsseldijk and the line Apeldoorn-Epe-Zwolle is an exception in the region. The landscape is open and of a large scale, which contrasts to the dense wilderness of the Veluwe and the small-scale landscapes around Deventer and Lochem. Large farms in this area will inevitably grow bigger. Vacancies at smaller farms and outdated farm yards will occur.

Here cleantech start-ups can pioneer, make noise, actively test existing techniques and build surprising inventions. The area is ideal for installing wind turbines, from traditional models to new experiments. The farm yards in transition manifest themselves as green-lined islands in the landscape.

When the techniques have matured and require upscaling, the region has plenty of opportunities closeby, such as the new production locations along the Twentekanaal energy panorama.

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Like many places in the Netherlands, the Stedendriehoek is facing a major restructuring of its housing stock. Tens of thousands of homes built between 1965 and 1980 need renovation in the coming fifteen years.

A central heating network is a better investment than post-insulation of cavity walls and roofs. To this end, Apeldoorn will create a heat circuit, an above-ground loop that connects heat-supplying companies with heat-demanding locations. Companies participate via (mandatory) sustainable park management and the residents via the corporations. This loop will be accessible as cycle and walking route with international allure.

Apeldoorn has a total of 381 commercial buildings over 500 m2, with a total roof area of 85 hectares. The current generation of heat pipes can achieve a yield of 2.3 GJ / m2 / year. So, 85 hectares will give Apeldoorn a potential of 2 PJ / year. For comparison: the total heat demand in the area for houses built between 1965 and 1980 amounts to 495 TJ.

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Stedendriehoek has an active social life. In the cities, but especially in the villages. In Bathmen, 30% of the residents are members of the sports club ABS. This large grassroots network of the sports club can scale up into an energy club.

A process that starts with a charity run to raise awareness is continued with a solar panel campaign and ultimately leads to a joint energy fund that instals community-owned wind turbines. Biomass is harvested around the sports fields and new techniques such as heat-generating artificial turf are integrated during the next renovation.

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Stedendriehoek has many holiday resorts. In particular, the concentrations on the Veluwezoom and around Lochem stand out. These resorts function as isolated companies, despite their proximity. Can that be done differently?

In a not too distant future guests expect a network of electric mobility offering a smooth ride from their homes to the resorts. Electric vehicles and bicycles will be available at every holiday park. The holiday homes gradually transform into self-sustaining units within the regular maintenance cycle. A seemingly small contribution to the overall energy balance will give a huge boost to the marketing of the region. Every visitor can experiences the comforts of cleantech.

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Each village and every landscape in the Stedendriehoek has its own character. All can contribute to the desired regional energy neutrality of the region.

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Brick is used ubiquituously in Tilburg

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For the first time in history, over half the world’s population lives in urban areas. Opportunities offered by cities appeal and attract people. The countryside, however, is rapidly developing as well. More than ever it has become a place of residence and employment. It accommodates both the urban excess and evolution according to its own logic. The urban denizens find leisure on the countryside while countrymen shift their focus from production to service-related industries. Will these changes leave room for the essential production of our food? Will this occur even more intensively on the countryside or do we have to find room in our cities? The city and the country are closely related and cannot be considered separately.

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In 1929, Richard Clyde Perky constructed this tower in Sugarloaf Key hoping that bats would eat malaria-spreading mosquitoes in Key West. Unfortunately, the bats soon left the tower. Two comparable ‘hygiostatic’ towers by ecologist Charles Campbell, meanwhile, are currently in use as bat nurseries.

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Since 1923, The Piushaven connects the center of Tilburg with Eindhoven, Antwerp and the Randstad, via the Wilhelminakanaal. The port has been used extensively in the first years to bring sand, grid and coal into the city.

The harbor’s importance decreased in the sixties with the rise of road transport, the construction of the national highway system and the disappearance of industrial sites from the city. The southern branch was even filled in in 1983. The protest that followed ensured the port’s preservation afterwards. In recent years, the area has been developed into a bustling expansion of the city center.

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In the belle époque of the nineteenth century, people wanted to show their wealth. A beautiful estate was often accompanied by a building to house exotic birds. Along ponds special duck houses were constructed. Some of those are now listed as national heritage.

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Coldenhove swimming pool has been using the residual heat from the nearby paper mill for decades.

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Every year, Industriewater Eerbeek (IWE) receives 4 million liters of hot water from the paper mills.

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Sediment flows can be converted into bio-based structures off the coast: they become basins that retain water between the tides. The water flowing in and out drives turbines to generate energy.

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Tidal energy is a commercially promising form of energy from the ocean. The technology – similar in operation to wind turbines – is advanced, but has only modest power generation so far. Great Britain has big plans and has invested millions in recent years, particularly in Scotland. Dutch companies see tidal energy as an important future export product.

source: “Getijdenenergie in een stroomversnelling”, Kennislink

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Years of dredging the shipping lane to Antwerp, has made the canals in the Westerschelde deeper. This has increased the flow rate of the water while the estuary’s storage capacity diminished. Coastal defense and biodiversity suffer from the strong currents in the Westerschelde. Extensive deepening and widening of the navigation channel reinforce this. The ecology on the mud flats and salt marshes is under pressure while the cost of coastal protection increases.

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