Recreation, tourism and nature in a changing world : proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 2010

Proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 201

Healthy aging in complex environments : exploring the benefits of systems thinking for health promotion practice

Background Many different stakeholders and contextual factors influence the success or failure of health promotion activities. Conventional approaches and evaluation designs underlying health promotion interventions, often explicitly take contextual variables out of consideration by controlling them. In doing so, relevant information about why a project was successful or failed to reach success remains invisible and ‘black boxed’. Next to this, in health promotion practice, control over contextual variables often is not possible. Aim Given the complexity of health promotion practice, research approaches often do not fit the realities of practice. As a result, health promotion activities are not always experienced as meaningful by all stakeholders involved. This thesis aims to appreciate the complex environment in which health promotion takes place by applying a systems thinking perspective to healthy aging in order to contribute to more robust strategies and interventions to support the aging population. Methods Systems thinking aims to include a diversity of viewpoints on an issue. Therefore, to be able to answer the research questions, multiple methods were required. A combination of literature review, semi-structured and open interviews, interactive workshops, case study and survey research was used. Different sources for data collection included the aging population, local and national stakeholders, and AGORA project members. Results Part I of this thesis concludes that a systems thinking approach strengthens health promotion by 1) including diverse stakeholder perspectives, 2) explicitly addressing contextual factors, and 3) co-creating solutions with all involved. Following this conclusion, Part II addressed the application of systems thinking at the local level by investigating different stakeholders perspectives on healthy aging. Results show how there is a discrepancy between the way aging individuals experience healthy aging as an integral part of everyday life and the way services and interventions are presented with a focus on isolated health themes. Local healthy aging strategies can benefit by taking into account an assets based approach that better matches aging persons’ perspectives. Next to this, collaboration between local stakeholders can be facilitated when shared issues are made visible and contextual preconditions are taken into account. Since the operationalization of systems thinking in health promotion can benefit from learning experiences with application in practice, findings from Part II were discussed in interactive presentations and workshop formats within participating municipalities. This resulted in the co-creation of a model to facilitate collaboration and the co-creation of an intervention through application of this model. The salutogenic concept Sense of Coherence was identified as a promising concept to operationalize systems approaches in health promotion practice. It was therefore expected that quantitative measurement of SOC could provide useful information for both the development and evaluation of health promotion. The OLQ-13 scale to measure Sense of Coherence was therefore investigated for its psychometric properties. Results indicate difficulties with the use of this scale in aging populations. Deleting two items from the original 13 items, improved the functioning of OLQ. Conclusion The importance of the fact that health issues and possible intervention strategies are perceived differently by involved actors was argued within this thesis. Research is one amongst many stakeholders and a systems thinking approach implies linking all kinds of actors in order to enable co-creation of projects. Consequently, the definition of health risks, health determinants, and possible intervention effects have to be verified in both scientific research and everyday practice. Strategies to improve health are context sensitive, and consequently, certain strategies may not work in some settings whereas they function perfectly well in others. Measurement of successes of interventions should therefore use multi-method evaluations combining the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches to gain insight in the ‘black box’ of why an intervention failed or was successful. If not, alternatives are overlooked and at the same time successes may go unnoticed. </p

The Cultural Landscape & Heritage Paradox; Protection and Development of the Dutch Archeological-Historical Landscape and its European Dimension

To what extent can we know past and mainly invisible landscapes, and how we can use this still hidden knowledge for actual sustainable management of landscape’s cultural and historical values. It has also been acknowledged that heritage management is increasingly about ‘the management of future change rather than simply protection’. This presents us with a paradox: to preserve our historic environment, we have to collaborate with those who wish to transform it and, in order to apply our expert knowledge, we have to make it suitable for policy and society. The answer presented by the Protection and Development of the Dutch Archaeological-Historical Landscape programme (pdl/bbo) is an integrative landscape approach which applies inter- and transdisciplinarity, establishing links between archaeological-historical heritage and planning, and between research and policy. This is supported by two unifying concepts: ‘biography of landscape’ and ‘action research’. This approach focuses upon the interaction between knowledge, policy and an imagination centered on the public. The European perspective makes us aware of the resourcefulness of the diversity of landscapes, of social and institutional structures, of various sorts of problems, approaches and ways forward. In addition, two related issues stand out: the management of knowledge creation for landscape research and management, and the prospects for the near future. Underlying them is the imperative that we learn from the past ‘through landscape’

The significance of soils and soil science towards realization of the United Nations sustainable development goals

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

BK 10-15:

Over the years 2010-2015 TU Delft's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (in Dutch: Bouwkunde or BK) made good progress with its research by: merging the Architecture faculty and the Built Environment research institute; streamlining its PhD research by setting-up a graduate school for doctoral education; co-founding an institute for metropolitan solutions in Amsterdam together with MIT and Wageningen University (targeted yearly budget: 25 M€); implementing good research management; increasing the scientific output; managing a project portfolio with a yearly income of 1.5 M€ in research grants, 5 M€ in contract research and up to 2 M€ in other external funding; ranking 3rd in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015 - Architecture / Built Environment. Presented in this book is an overview of research data and policies, together with a selection of our finest research results: activities, organisations, facilities/assets, output, including indications of their use and recognition. Now it is not the time to become complacent. Instead, we should look ahead to face new academic and societal challenges and opportunities, knowing we can always do better

Innovation in smallholder farming in Africa: recent advances and recommendations: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa (AISA)

In the wake of a series of recent international events and initiatives focusing on understanding and fostering innovation1, there is growing awareness and interest in applying and making sense of the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) concepts and perspectives and what they offer for understanding and supporting innovation systems, processes and networks. This has particular relevance for African agriculture as it faces several challenges, such as increasing and intensifying food production in a sustainable way and nourishing its fast-growing population, adapting to the consequences of climate change, and finding its rightful place in an increasingly global and complex international scene. Several initiatives and programmes seeking answers to these questions jointly organised a series of events during a Week on Agricultural Innovation in Africa (WAIA) held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 25–31 May 2013, of which the international workshop on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa (AISA) on 29–31 May was a major part. Another key event during this week, was the Eastern African Farmer Innovation Fair (EAFIF) held on 28–29 May, which was linked to AISA