GrondGids
Discover the invisible world under your feet
The GrondGids is an interactive platform that playfully gives residents insight into the underground ecosystem of their neighborhood, from energy and water networks to greenery and data. It encourages continuous participation by bringing residents, asset managers, and municipalities together, enabling them to make better-informed decisions about the sustainable development of their living environment. Watch the trailer here.
At home, we expect electricity from the socket, water flowing from the tap, and a toilet we can flush without worry. Yet once we step outside, we rarely consider the underground infrastructure that makes this possible, or the ways in which this hidden activity shapes the design of our public space.
With the GrondGids, we bring that invisible world to life. This interactive platform, developed in collaboration with Studio Metaform, takes residents on a journey of discovery through their own underground neighborhood. Guided by the character Count GrondGids, they set off from their front door and follow a route past underground infrastructure and locations where the above and below ground intersect, from power substations to trees, manholes, and underground waste containers. What was once hidden becomes tangible and understandable.
The GrondGids shows that our living environment is not a collection of separate elements, but a connected ecosystem in which energy, water, data, and greenery are continuously intertwined. Due to climate change, the energy transition, and grid congestion, this (underground) public space is increasingly under pressure. For that very reason, the GrondGids clarifies how choices made at home directly impact the public realm.
But the GrondGids does more than inform. The platform stimulates continuous participation by bringing residents, asset managers, and municipalities together in a new local process of collaboration. In a playful and accessible way, it fosters understanding of the interconnected nature of urban challenges and creates room for informed decision-making. Residents not only develop knowledge about their neighborhood, but also a sense of ownership.
Although our private spaces are connected to a complex urban network, that network often remains invisible and abstract. The GrondGids opens the door to this hidden layer and translates complex challenges, from the energy transition to climate adaptation, into an experience that feels close and relevant. Through this IX experience, we make both the necessity and the coherence of spatial interventions understandable, transforming participation into an ongoing process of engagement, knowledge sharing, and collective care for a sustainable living environment.
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