Sustainable Soesterkwartier

The municipality of Amersfoort wants to construct an endurable and sustainable eco-town in the Soesterkwartier neighbourhood, by taking future climate change into account. The impact of climate change at the location of the proposed eco-town was studied by a literature review

High-Tech Urban Agriculture in Amsterdam : An Actor Network Analysis

The agriculture and horticulture sector in the Netherlands is one of the most productive in the world. Although the sector is one of the most advanced and intense agricultural production systems worldwide, it faces challenges, such as climate change and environmental and social unsustainability of industrial production. To overcome these challenges, alternative food production initiatives have emerged, especially in large cities such as Amsterdam. Some initiatives involve producing food in the urban environment, supported by new technologies and practices, so-called high-tech urban agriculture (HTUA). These initiatives make cultivation of plants inside and on top of buildings possible and increase green spaces in urban areas. The emerging agricultural technologies are creating new business environments that are shape d by technology developers (e.g., suppliers of horticultural light emitting diodes (LED) and control environment systems) and developers of alternative food production practices (e.g., HTUA start-ups). However, research shows that the uptake of these technological innovations in urban planning processes is problematic. Therefore, this research analyzes the barriers that local government planners and HTUA developers are facing in the embedding of HTUA in urban planning processes, using the city of Amsterdam as a case study. This study draws on actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the interactions between planners, technologies, technology developers and developers of alternative food production practices. Several concepts of ANT are integrated into a multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions (MLP) to create a new theoretical framework that can explain how interactions between technologies and planning actors transform the incumbent social\u2013technical regime. The configuration of interactions between social and material entities in technology development and adoption processes in Amsterdam is analyzed through the lens of this theoretical framework. The data in this study were gathered by tracing actors and their connections by using ethnographic research methods. In the course of the integration of new technologies into urban planning practices, gaps between technologies, technology developers, and planning actors have been identified. The results of this study show a lacking connection between planning actors and technology developers, although planning actors do interact with developers of alternative food production practices. These interactions are influenced by agency of artefacts such as visualizations of the future projects. The paper concludes that for the utilization of emerging technologies for sustainability transition of cities, the existing gap between technology developers and planning actors needs to be bridged through the integration of technology development visions in urban agendas and planning processe

Towards New Frontiers with B→πKB\to\pi K Decays

Exploring correlations between the CP asymmetries of $B^0_d\to\pi^0K_{\rm S}$ following from an isospin relation, we uncover new tensions with the Standard Model in data for neutral $B\to\pi K$ decays. Should this intriguing picture originate from New Physics, a modified electroweak penguin sector provides a key scenario. It includes models with extra $Z'$ bosons, which offer attractive ways to resolve anomalies in $B\to K^{(*)}\ell^+\ell^-$ measurements. We present a new strategy to reveal the underlying physics, apply it to current $B\to\pi K$ data, and discuss the excellent prospects for Belle II.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

The Relevance of Amenities and Agglomeration for Dutch Housing Prices

Dutch cities which combine a favourable location in terms of distance to work with a variety of urban amenities appear to be the most attractive locations for people to live. Relatively safe cities, offering a variety of history and culture events, as well as good restaurants have significantly higher housing prices. In addition, successful cities are places where people can optimize their job prospects, not necessarily only as a result of jobs in these cities, but also because of access to jobs in other Dutch cities.urban amenities, population growth, housing prices

Risk of criminal victimisation in outpatients with common mental health disorders

Crime victimisation is a serious problem in psychiatric patients. However, research has focused on patients with severe mental illness and few studies exist that address victimisation in other outpatient groups, such as patients with depression. Due to large differences in methodology of the studies that address crime victimisation, a comparison of prevalence between psychiatric diagnostic groups is hard to make. Objectives of this study were to determine and compare one-year prevalence of violent and non-violent criminal victimisation among outpatients from different diagnostic psychiatric groups and to examine prevalence differences with the general population.Criminal victimisation prevalence was measured in 300 outpatients living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with outpatients with depressive disorder (n = 102), substance use disorder (SUD, n = 106) and severe mental illness (SMI, n = 92) using a National Crime Victimisation Survey, and compared with a matched general population sample (n = 10865).Of all outpatients, 61% reported experiencing some kind of victimisation over the past year; 33% reported violent victimisation (3.5 times more than the general population) and 36% reported property crimes (1.2 times more than the general population). Outpatients with depression (67%) and SUD (76%) were victimised more often than SMI outpatients (39%). Younger age and hostile behaviour were associated with violent victimisation, while being male and living alone were associated with non-violent victimisation. Moreover, SUD was associated with both violent and non-violent victimisation.Outpatients with depression, SUD, and SMI are at increased risk of victimisation compared to the general population. Furthermore, our results indicate that victimisation of violent and non-violent crimes is more common in outpatients with depression and SUD than in outpatients with SMI living independently in the community

The Relevance of Amenities and Agglomeration for Dutch Housing Prices

In this paper we have combined concepts from the field of urban economics with views from the area of geographic economics (the New Economic Geography). This approach enabled us to depict both the significance of the characteristics of the city itself and that of its location. Cities which combine a favourable location in terms of distance to work with a variety of urban amenities appear to be the most attractive locations for people to live. These are relatively safe cities, offering a variety of history and culture events, as well as good restaurants. In addition, successful cities are places where people can optimize their career prospects, not necessarily – as often assumed – as a result of business districts in these cities, but access to jobs from these cities.

A review of electric vehicle charge point map websites in the NSR: Interim report

This interim report is a review of the EV charge point (station) map websites in the North Sea Region (NSR) with the aim to identify if there are any patterns, or any noticeable gaps on the information presented by the interactive EV charge point tools. For each example of the charge point (station) map website, a review has been undertaken by visiting the charge point (station) map website and recording if the site contains the information, which is of key importance from an EV user perspective, for example an interactive map; any information on the charger power of the charge points (stations); the type of connection of the charge points (stations); the addresses of the charge points (stations) and further helpful details