A NWO and FAPESP sponsored international collaboration project between the University of Amsterdam and Universidade de São Paulo.

This project deals with the topic of self-build housing and local facilities in Brazil and the Netherlands. Self-build is defined in this research as the practice in which people produce their own house and (collective) neighbourhood facilities.
This can be with or without the hiring of outside expertise (architect, constructor, labourers etc.) or official funding outlets (bank loans, mortgages etc.). Formal institutions and governance systems face increasing difficulties in both countries to satisfy the need for good quality, affordable housing, which is an important condition for sustainable urban development.
Brazil has a long history of low quality informal self-build housing areas that face the challenge to improve regarding tenure security, safety, access to basic needs like sanitation, energy, water and public transport.
On first sight conditions in the Netherlands are completely different. However, also here we see growing attention, and even stimulating policies, to enhance self-building of housing and facilities to create more affordable, consumer-tailored housing options for low-income people.

The main research question is “How is the capacity for self-regulation in practices of self-build housing and facilities related to formal governance and regulation domains and how can this relationship be optimized to create more sustainable forms of urbanization?”
This question is studied more in detail – and with the use of different methodologies – by addressing sub-research questions regarding the mapping of self-build practices, the experience of self-build practices by residents and their socially sustainable effects in terms of provision of affordable housing and enhanced networks in each locale. In all these questions the relationship between the practices of self-regulation and the formal governance practices and regulations play a sensitizing role.

Research Methods

Methodologically, the project aims to combine more class policy and planning studies with ethnographic methods. The work is organized in several distinctive workpackages that have their own end products. Most studies on housing compare systems internationally on the basis of quantitative measurements with little regard for local complexity, diversity and cultural contingency. By introducing ethnographic elements this research project aims to better understand informant discourses and connect them to material, cultural and historic contexts.

Contracts, deeds, by-laws and other regulatory instruments are used as planning tools to regulate actors (from the public, private and civil sectors) involved in the regeneration of previously developed land. PARCOUR argues that contractual relationships create a specific form of governance that have important implications for the democratic legitimacy of projects for Sustainable Urban Development (SUD).

By studying diverse planning tools in Brazil, UK and the Netherlands, PARCOUR will engage in the comparative evaluation of public accountability in relation to residents. It is also important to acknowledge that both the realisation of the public interest through the use of these planning tools and the accountability of the public sector in contractual processes are under researched.

The main outcome of PARCOUR will be the clear evaluation of public accountability, and clear definition of public interest, focusing on dissemination of this knowledge among public authorities with interactive research.

Project phases

The project has 3 phases:

1. Desk research: Understanding different ways in which the public interest is constructed and operationalised in diverse contexts;
2. Field work and analysis: Testing the legitimacy of the planning tools that are able to implement actions for the public interest;
3. Dissemination: Distributing the results to academy and practice.

Funding

A total budget of approximately 5.4 million euros was jointly made available by the research councils FAPESP (Brazil), ESRC (United Kingdom) and NWO (The Netherlands). The joint call is part of the policy of NWO to stimulate research cooperation with emerging science nations and to stimulate research on sustainability.

• NWO funded project 1 Oct 2015 - 1 Oct 2018

There is tremendous urgency for reducing cities’ energy footprint through behavioral change. However, we hardly know how to enable individuals to learn to use energy responsibly in their daily lives. This newly funded project combines information, cognitive and social sciences into a real-life experiment in urban neighborhoods.

CODALoop will provide:

1. a deeper understanding of learning and behavioral change to reduce energy consumption in an urban setting;
2. a tested prototype of an interactive web-based platform for sharing data about individual and community energy consumption choices;
3. a tailored set of policy and market recommendations for the wider application of this platform.

Consortium

UvA/AISSR is the main applicant of this project. The project is coordinated by Luca Bertolini who is also director of the Centre for Urban Studies. Dutch partners are: prof. dr. ir. Luca Bertolini (PI, UvA), Federico Savini PhD (UvA), Karin Pfeffer PhD (UvA), Beatriz Pineda Revilla (UvA), Alessandro Bozzon PhD (TUD), Stefano Bocconi PhD (TUD), Amsterdam Economic Board/Amsterdam Smart City, PBL, Nudge.

• Funded by: the ERA-NET Cofund Smart Cities and Communities programme.
• Project duration: May 1, 2016 - April 30, 2019.

The new research programme 'Smart Cycling Futures (SCF)' investigates how smart cycling innovations ─ including ICT-enabled cycling innovations, infrastructures, and social innovations like new business models ─ contribute to more resilient and liveable Dutch urban regions.

Cycling booms in many Dutch cities. While smart cycling innovations promise to increase cycling’s modal share in the (peri-)urban transport system even further, little is understood of their impact or cost and benefit. Cycling innovations benefit urban regions in terms of accessibility, equality, health, liveability, and decreasing CO₂-emissions when socially well embedded.

Going beyond analysis, this research consortium will assess the economic, social, and spatial impacts of cycling on urban regions. It brings together four Dutch regions through academic institutions (three general and one applied-science universities); governmental authorities (urban and regional); and market players (innovative entrepreneurs). Together, they answer practice-based questions in a transdisciplinary and problem-oriented fashion.

Consortium

UU (prof. Rob Raven), UvA/AISSR (Marco Brömmelstroet and Luca Bertolini), TUE, Tilburg Universiteit, Windesheim, Min. van WVS, Stadsregio Amsterdam, gemeente Amsterdam, gemeente Eindhoven, gemeente Utrecht, gemeente Zwolle, provincie Noord-Brabant, provincie Utrecht, provincie Overijssel, CROW.

• Funded by: NWO
• Project period: April 2016-March 2021

During the last decade, the acknowledgement of the social and environmental costs that are connected to transport and mobility patterns based on individual motorised traffic has been consolidated and the shift towards more sustainable mobility is reflected in the policy instruments for the current programming period. Walking and cycling, and active mobility in general, are being supported to cover shorter distances, as it is normally required in urban and functional urban areas. However, people switching to active mobility have to deal with severely inadequate conditions of walking and cycling infrastructure, often unaccessible, unsafe, discontinuous and not ensuring connections from point A to B. Their characteristics are completely different in the various countries, but differences are also between neighbouring cities, due to a general lack of standards in approaches and requirements recognised and applied in the EU. Local and regional administrations taking advantage of the funds available are now rushing in building walking and cycling facilities, but do not fully consider all factors influencing the decision on the characteristics that the infrustructure shall have and it urgent to act.

CYCLEWALK MODE will provide an opportunity for the local and regional administrations involved to compare and share approaches and ensure more informed decision making process on walking and cycling infrastructure, with the result of increasing the share of active mobility and low carbon mobility. Through study visits, complemented with assessment walking and cycling tours, technical working tables with stakeholders, and the Urban Cycling Institute providing trainings and full technical and scientific advise to the technical offices and the regional experts and universities, the project will ensure taking up of quality criteria for proper walking and cycling infrastructure in the policy instruments and projects, implemented according to share standards.

• Funded by: ERDF Interreg Europe
• Project duration: 01-01-2017 - 31-12-2021

On 22 July 2018 the new ‘Noord/Zuidlijn’ metro line connecting the North and the South side of Amsterdam through the city centre has been inaugurated. What is the impact of such a large-scale new infrastructure for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area?

By comparing the situation before and after it goes into operation, the Noord/Zuidlijn offers a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of a large scale new infrastructure on mobility patterns and behavior, socio-economic and spatial aspects, as well as quality of life. The research project is a collaboration between different universities and local government bodies. The focus of the contribution of the University of Amsterdam is on assessing effects on land use and public space.

• Project duration: 1 June 2017 – 30 July 2021
• Partners: City of Amsterdam, Vervoerregio Amsterdam, Delft University of Technology, University of Amsterdam (UvA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI)   
• Related information: Noord/Zuidlijn

The Mobile City innovation program caries out experiments that develop and test innovations for the integration of mobility, technology and place in city (regions).

The experiments are organized together with public and private stakeholders, stimulated by five provinces. The practice orientated combination of experiments and knowledge development aims at building a better integration of mobility and the city, on different scales, in urban regions.

Partners: University of Amsterdam, University of Twente, Radboud University, Design Academy Eindhoven, UUM (Formerly Het Noordzuiden), Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, Provinces of Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Utrecht, Gelderland and Noord-Brabant.

Marginal groups are often characterised as politically inactive. Challenging that idea, this study uses innovative methods to involve stakeholders in studying how citizens voice demands in ways that are not recognised by formal participation procedures. The results offer new insights in citizens’ politics and practices for inclusive urban development.

This project draws on a precise comparative, inter-disciplinary methodology to examine the inter-relationships between contemporary investment flows into the housing markets of major metropolitan centres and the governance arrangements and public policy instruments that are designed to regulate them. Our case studies are the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, Greater London, and Grand Paris. The project asks what is governed in major cities and draws on two streams of analysis: mapping and explaining the types of investment that are shaping housing production in the 3 cities; and developing understandings of the effectiveness of public policy instruments that are in place to regulate them. The project is timely as major cities have been faced with unprecedented development pressures as their populations and economies have expanded and their built environments have become highly attractive locations for global investment. These pressures have been particularly acute in the production and consumption of housing, where the impacts of investments on markets, citizens, and places are generating a widely perceived crisis and set of governmental challenges to produce affordable housing.

The project follows two streams of analysis. First we examine investment landscapes and the effectiveness of regulations and policy instruments that are designed to control them. We do this systematically and comparatively. Second we analyse the types of investment that are shaping housing markets and their impacts on people and places. We explore its sources, objectives, and designed outcomes. The research meets an increasingly urgent need to develop better understandings of the complex relationships between markets, planning controls, and the quality of life of citizens in a context of escalating political tensions between different socio-economic groups and major global economic and social changes.

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Principal Investigator: Charalampos Tsavdaroglou

Supervisor: Maria Kaika

Academic Area: Migration, urban studies, social movements

Duration: 1 September 2018 – 30 August 2020

Funding: EU Horizon 2020 (Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 795992)

The ongoing refugee streams, that derive mainly from the Middle East and North African conflict areas, are a central issue to the growing socio-spatial debate on the different facets of contemporary crisis. The moving populations that cross boundaries heading to the European North, destabilize both territorial certainties and established governance politics. A noticeable body of literature is currently emerging, exploring aspects of social philanthropy, humanitarianism, NGOs’ activities and State immigration policies related to the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe. In this literature refugees are often seen as passive recipients of state, NGO or philanthropy led practices. However, there is little attempt to research how the refugees themselves self-organize, and enact the production of collective housing and shared common spaces based on principles of self-organization and mutual help. The proposed project aims to fill this gap. Following the recent spatial approaches on “commons” and “enclosures” the research project intends to explore forms and modes of refugee led solidarity housing commons, and compare and contrast these with State-run refugee camps.  

The project focuses empirically on Turkey, Greece and Serbia and in particular, in Istanbul, Athens and Belgrade. These cities are at the epicenter of the refugee crisis. Since, March 2016, when the borders in Balkan countries were closed for all third-country migrants and the EU-Turkey deal was signed, thousands of refugees were trapped in Turkey, Greece and Serbia. It is estimated that there are more than 500 thousand refugees in Istanbul waiting to cross the borders to Europe. Athens is the main refugee transit city in Greece with almost 20 thousand refugees whilst approximately 10 thousand refugees are currently trapped in Belgrade.

Main project objectives:

The research aims to examine how the newcomers themselves challenge existing socio-spatial power relations and the provision of housing in State-run camps and produce solidarity and common spaces. The proposed project aims to move beyond current debates on philanthropy, humanitarianism, NGOs and State immigration policies, in order to research the refugees’ self-organized practices and efforts to produce alternative housing

This research addresses the pressing academic and social need to:

1) Enhance qualitative and quantitative data availability in order to compare and contrast refugee housing conditions and rights in different geographical locations

2) Assess the impact and importance of alternative housing

3) Compare and contrast existing strengths and weaknesses in institutional frameworks at national and EU levels.

Responding to this need, this project aims to examine the refugees’ right to housing as it is expressed by the Turkish, Greek and Serbian States housing policies and the way these policies relate to the solidarity housing practices in each country.