Utrecht Life Sciences’ Post

Thanks to Roel Vermeulen🟥 and Francois Busquet , PhD for inviting me to speak about air pollution health impacts to policy makers in EU. Despite significant improvements in air quality over recent decades, nearly everyone in Europe—94% of the population—still breathes air that is harmful to health, creating a substantial health burden. This highlights the urgent need for stronger implementation and enforcement of EU air pollution legislation, alongside additional reduction measures in European cities. The exposome framework presents a valuable tool for urban planners, helping them prioritize policies and interventions that maximize health by simultaneously reducing exposure to air pollution, other harmful pollutants and stressors, and climate change drivers. 👇

🗞️ 🔗 WISER #press ❓ What happens when scientists, citizens, and city planners redesign a neighborhood together? 🫂 University of Twente researchers in Enschede are piloting a new approach to decision making, working directly with the municipality and residents of the Twekkelerveld neighborhood to co-design public spaces that meet local needs. 🌳 Researchers asked locals to help them in co-designing greener, healthier, and more inclusive spaces to boost their well-being. Putting residents’challenges, wishes, and values at the center, the study aims to gather proposals and ideas from the community and stimulate dialogue with it. "We see this as an opportunity to bring citizens and decision-makers closer together. We hope to provide input for the city’s plans and planning.” 🔵 Led by Carmen Anthonj and @Javier Martinez from from UT’s Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente, the study brings together residents, the municipality, and innovative tools like UrbanistAI, allowing people to visualize changes to their streets adding trees, benches, water fountains, or playgrounds with just a few clicks. This local case study aligns with the Horizon Europe project WISER exploring how urban spaces can shape healthier, fairer, and more sustainable futures. “Another reason for selecting Twekkelerveld is its diverse community. Access to public blue and green spaces is beneficial for all, particularly in areas with disadvantaged groups where there may be fewer private gardens." The study involving #Enschede #citizens relates to bigger projects focused on the role of green and blue spaces and their impact on people’s wellbeing, Co-Designing Climate-Sensitive Blue and Green Spaces with Vulnerable Urban Populations, a collaboration project funded under the Alliance VU-UT and Coalition Responsible Societies. Damiano Cerrone 👉 Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/da-DEsu5 ✅ Follow us for more updates on WISER research and our journey towards well-being in sustainable cities. #WISER #UrbanWellbeing #SustainableCities #CitizenEngagement #GreenAndBlueSpaces #UrbanDesign #HorizonEurope #Enschede

🔔 NEB – R&I Open Call for proposal A call for proposals is open under the New European Bauhaus Facility's Research & Innovation component as the first-ever multiannual funding instrument dedicated to NEB projects, funded through Horizon Europe. 🟢 Topic: The impact of common spaces on neighbourhood communities 📌Reference: HORIZON-NEB-2025-01-PARTICIPATION-01 📆Deadline: 12 November 2025, 17:00 CET Expected outcomes: ✅ Better understanding of the effects of the design, aesthetics and other features of common spaces on inhabitants’ behaviour, health, sense of belonging, diversity and inclusion, security, resilience, and opportunities to produce social, cultural and local economic value. ✅ Enhanced capacities of relevant stakeholders to integrate insights in policies, strategies, plans and measures for the regeneration of common spaces in neighbourhoods. Proposals must: 🖊️ Study a range of common space projects in at least 3 EU or associated countries, collecting data and drawing evidence, to better understand: - the impacts of common spaces on community, - the effects of design, maintenance, built environment, and cultural heritage - the role of NEB values in shaping these effects, - how diverse groups experience common spaces, - seasonal variations in use and their impact 🖊️ Provide recommendations for stakeholders involved in the regeneration of common spaces 🖊️ Follow a transdisciplinary and participatory approach through the integration of different actors and disciplines 🖊️ Involve social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines, experts, and institutions to ensure that the research produces meaningful, significant societal impact. 👉 Interested? Find full details and application info on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal - https://lnkd.in/dgkgeJR2 #BURST #BurstGroup #NEB #BuiltEnvironment #CulturalHeritage #HorizonEurope #NewEuropeanBauhaus #CommonSpace #SocialInclusion #UrbanRegeneration #Innovation #ParticipatoryApproach #SSH #Design #Community #Resilience

Are Urban Living Labs really giving everyone a voice?   A new study takes a closer look at how knowledge is created in Urban Living Labs – collaborative spaces where researchers, citizens, and city planners work together to shape better cities.   In their recently published article, the authors reveal that even though these labs aim to be inclusive, funding structures, academic norms, and dissemination formats often sideline citizen voices, despite researchers’ best intentions.   – One argument we make, says Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren, is that overly targeted calls for proposals at EU level limit the opportunities for both citizens and researchers, to seriously influence the design of urban labs that aim to create an inclusive transition towards more sustainable cities.   The article offers useful insights for anyone involved in urban innovation – especially those designing EU-funded projects.   Read the article: ‘Epistemic justice in urban living labs: a framework for analysis applied to transport planning’ https://lnkd.in/dg-DHarE Authors: Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren, Marjolein Hantson, Chiara Vitrano, Louise Sophie Sträuli, PhD, Tanu Priya Uteng, Jean Ryan   #UrbanInnovation #CitizenEngagement #InclusiveCities #UrbanLivingLabs #KnowledgeProduction #EUProjects #CoCreation #EpistemicJustice #ResearchEthics #InclusiveInnovation

Are you interested in urban sustainable and accessible mobility? September 4, NIRAS and KTH Royal Institute of Technology hosts the TOD2 conference in Copenhagen – an international conference on next generation Transit-Oriented Development, where they going to explore how mobility hubs can shape the cities of the future. The conference will bring together different speakers on urban mobility and share insights from researchers and practitioners on how TOD principles can be applied in different contexts. For more information and registration: https://lnkd.in/dJmqGY4X Last day for registration is Thursday August 27. The TOD2 (Transit-Oriented Development) project is part of the ERA-NET Cofund Urban Accessibility and Connectivity (ENUAC) Sino-European call, issued through a joint collaboration between JPI Urban Europe and the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2022. The project investigates station areas in Sweden, Denmark and China to develop a TOD2 framework with perspectives on public spaces, shared mobility and innovative mobility hubs, and carbon-neutrality toolboxes. The project aims to contribute to achieving decarbonisation and decreased oil dependence in European and Chinese cities. Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/d5Yc-CHT

🏙️💡 Paper Alert! "Strategic Socio-Technical Innovation in Urban Living Labs: A Framework for Smart City Evolution" This research proposes a framework for smart city evolution through socio-technical innovation in urban living labs, fostering collaboration between technology, policy, and community for sustainable urban development. 🔗 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/d5Q7j4Ej #Research #SmartCities #UrbanLivingLabs #Innovation #SustainableDevelopment #MDPI

Who benefits from the way our cities are designed, and who is left out? | Meet Roberto Rocco, one of our speakers at Design Innovation Sessions. On Monday 20 October, we will focus on how design can bridge the gap between policy ambitions and the lived reality in our cities. Roberto Rocco, Associate Professor of Spatial Planning and Strategy, Department of Urbanism at TU Delft, has done extensive research on how informal institutions shape and influence planning practices at the local level. In his keynote, he will introduce spatial justice as a critical framework for shaping inclusive urban policy and design. His message to the next generation of designers, researchers, and changemakers: 💬 “Design is never neutral. Every spatial decision reflects values, power, and priorities. Always ask: Who benefits? Who is left out? Let justice guide your work—challenge exclusion, listen deeply, and design with, not for, communities. The most enduring change begins with radical empathy and structural awareness.” Curious? Come and see Roberto, and many more inspiring speakers, on October 20 at CLICKNL's Design Innovation Sessions at Natlab. ➡️ Sign up now to claim your spot: https://lnkd.in/eCHBpnK3 ➡️ Check out more announced speakers: https://lnkd.in/eNsBPenY  🤝 Free network lunch and Dutch Design Week wristband are included.

A positive decision by the #AHRC to extend the funding of the four green ecosystem transition projects, via the Design Museum's Future Observatory. These are large-scale and complex design projects that are seeking to effect change in systems characterised by (amongst other things) inertia. This requires giving researchers and practitioners longer-term timelines for intervention programmes than hasn't been standard up to now. Funding social challenges in this way seems like a step in the right direction to me.

𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆? 🏙️ The transition to sustainable mobility is well underway, despite the uncertainties. But for change to be meaningful, it needs to be backed up by science. In the sixth issue of #CitiesInMotion, we see how collaboration between citizens, cities, regions, and research institutes supports the #MobilityShift. Research plays a fundamental role in identifying the challenges of #UrbanMobility and determining which solutions are more effective. In Slovenia, the groundbreaking work of the Transformative transport planning research group of the Urbanistični inštitut Republike Slovenije / Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia shows how urban planning must shift its priorities, focusing on people, accessibility, and liveability 🏘️ At the same time, in Stadt Karlsruhe, a partnership among research institutes and public and private actors has transformed TechnologieRegion Karlsruhe GmbH into a leading hub that is building the mobility of tomorrow 💡 In this week's post, we shine a spotlight on these two examples of #research pushing for innovation: 🔋 Karlsruhe Mobility Lab Forward: Written by Jochen Ehlgötz (p.35-38) 🍃 Paradigm shift: Interview with Aljaž Plevnik, Luka Mladenovicč, Andraž Hudoklin, Mojca Balant, and Tom Rye (p.50-53) We collect the most inspiring urban stories in our magazine, check out our latest issue 👉 https://lnkd.in/eTXFmPvS #CitiesInMotionVI #AccessibleTransport #Innovation #SmartMobility

🔓 OPEN ACCESS: What factors affect public acceptability of parking space reallocation? In this new study from Germany, Katharina Götting, Ulf Liebe and Prof. Dr. Sophia Becker (Technische Universität Berlin, RIFS Research Institute for Sustainability | at GFZ, University of Warwick) identify key positive influences: ✅ Equality-based distribution rather than equity-based ✅ Smaller changes ✅ Citizen participation ✅ Aligned pull measures (e.g. price reductions) Read below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/ePPhBx4R