Tude reil magazine web

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REIL

Rotterdam

Urban ecologies & mobilities

Eco-Innovation

re vie w Lab


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Courses & projects Advanced Concept Design Exploring Interactions Graduation Project Joint Master Project Urban environments and Infrastructures

PROJECT

Mentors Prof. Dr. Ir. Arjan van Timmeren Prof. Dr. Bert van Wee Prof. Dr. Ir. Fokko Mulder Prof. Dr. Ir. Han Brezet Prof. Dr. Ir. Joost Vogtlander Prof. Dr. Mr. Ir. Sicco Santema Prof. Dr. Paul Hekkert Prof. Ir. Matthijs van Dijk Dr. Ellen van Bueren Dr. Ir. Bas Flipsen Dr. Ir. Froukje Sleeswijk-Visser Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester Dr. Laure Itard Dr. M. Rajabalinejad Dr. Stella Boess Dr. Thorsten Schuetze Dr. Z. Rusàk Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer Ir. Egbert Stolk Ir. Ioannis Lampropoulos Ir. Satish Beella

Collaborators Marc Verheijen Michiel Hartman Onno Sminia Frank Rieck

Editors Dr. Ir. Stephan van Dijk Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester Ir. Satish Beella Dr. Stella Boess Bsc. Vi T.T. Nguyen Graphic design De Jongens Ronner Published by Technische Universiteit Delft P.O.Box 5 2600 AA Delft, The Netherlands www.tudelft.nl

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

Companies/Organizations BOOG Cultural funding & Innovation Stichting DOEN The City of Rotterdam Wheels4all/MyWheels

Contributors - Students A.Z. Hänsch Alec Momont Aline van Vliet Andre Taris Anna Palmer Anouk Zeeuw v/d Laan Aram Tardast Ariadni Gemenetzi Arthur Haarman Bas Mentink Bennett Cohen Boudewijn Boon C. Tessa van Doesburg Cansu Birgen Carien Feijen Carlos Varela Martín Casper Wennekers Cees Jan Stam Charlotte Verouden Daan Lips Daniella Mendoza David Lijnse Dennis Blok Diane Bellet Drim Stokhuijzen E. Bloemendaal Eelco Hoogduin Elena Koukouna Eleni Soerjo Emilie Fledrich Emilie Spronsen Esther Park Francien Freijser Frank van der Harst Froso Christofides George-Archimides Tsalidis Gerard Roemers Hansen Wei Harwin Schreijmen Hester Engelsman Isabel Ruiz Almeyda Ismini Stroumpou J. Raigosa Jaap Gerritsen Jaap van der Veen Jan-Willem Verluis Jasper Passtoors Jelle van Vegt Jennifer Wong Jérémie Uhlrich-Meunier Jessica Abad Kelly Joep Serrarens Joep van Genuchten Jonna Zwetsloot Julee Wu Julian van Vliet Juliane Kupfernagel Julie Poitevin Kah Kih Yau Karin Hauwert Karlijn Grevers Kars Rotteveel Kyle J. Wacyra Laura Schokker Laurence Henriquez

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Leontien Cenin Lisette van Niekerk Loes Dorrepaal Lorenzo Romagnoli Luuk Akkerman Luuk van Vliet Maja Valstar Malik Ivan Tas Man Yu Manuel Torres Margit Heine Marjolijn Wortel Mark Schipper Mark Sypesteyn Marloes Gout Mehmet Kuday Melanie Studer Menno Boerboom Mike van Paassen N. Schrauwen Natasha Schoon Nathalie Hultgren Ortiz Carretero Miguel Ángel Otto van Biessum Pau Huguet Peter Kiela Pim Tammes Quinton Jie R.E. Schuurbiers Radua Ibrahim Renske M. Verhulst Rhea Verheul Rink Weijs Robert Jan Volders Robert Korteland Roderick Huijgen Rowan Boeters Salar Vakili Samantha van der Drift Samy Andary Sanne de Groot Sarina Stevens Simon Love Sophie Boonen Stefan Akkerman Stefan Breedveld Stefan Heijboer Stratos Lysaridis Suzan Heykoop Terence Carter Tessa Florence Duste Theodora Skordili Thomas Zweers Tim van Veelen Verena Zelger Vid Štiglic W.H. Wu Wesley Crock Xie Pengcheng Yanzhu Zhang Yawen Diao Yusuf Ciftçi Zuzana Cabejšková


review

L I E R Urban ecologies & mobilities


Contents

INTRODUCTION

The Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

Keilehaven

In 2010 the Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab (REIL) project started to accelerate sustainable urban innovation in the city of Rotterdam. During two years more than 130 students and student teams have developed new solutions and designs for sustainability challenges in the urban metabolism of water, energy, transportation, materials and buildings. In this REIL Review the most interesting results and designs from the student projects are summarized and future directions for research, design and innovation for sustainable urban development are elaborated. The Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab has been an initiative of the Delft University of Technology, together with the municipality of Rotterdam, industry partners from the CleanTechDelta, and the University of Applied Sciences of Rotterdam (HR).

P. 22

P. 7

Urban ecologies Towards sustainable urban life

The energy balance of Merwe/Vierhaven

P. 11

Heijplaat P. 30

Futures of urban ecologies design P. 34 P. 14 Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Contents

Electric mobility

Urban mobilities Towards a mobile and sustainable city P. 37

Sharing mobility

P. 50

Connecting mobility

P. 42

P. 68

Personal mobility

CONCLUSION

P. 76

During REIL it has been a challenging and very satisfying period of creative and collaborative work. Looking back we can say that the topic of the ‘city’ and ‘urban innovation’ has become one of the most urgent, but also inspiring, topics to work on. Researching and developing solutions to tackle the city’s challenges in greening transport and mobility, sustainable energy, water management, circular economy, and ICT and smartness, is key to improve the quality of live in our cities for current and future generations. We have made some relevant observations for future research and design that we want to outline here.

Last words from the editors

Futures of urban mobilities P. 116

P. 121 5

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Introduction

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

Picture RDM Campus (source: http://socialpaths.wordpress.com)

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Introduction

The Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

In 2010 the Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab (REIL) project started to accelerate sustainable urban innovation in the city of Rotterdam. The Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab is an initiative of the Delft University of Technology, collaborating with stakeholders from the municipality of Rotterdam, with industry partners from the CleanTechDelta, and the University of Applied Sciences of Rotterdam (HR). The lab functions as an urban innovation think tank in which public management, design, architecture and engineering students from the University of Technology in Delft co-develop and design innovative solutions and concepts for urgent urban and environmental challenges in the city of Rotterdam. During three years more than 130 students (and student teams) coached by 20 different professors and researchers, have developed solutions and designs for sustainability challenges in water, energy, transportation, materials and buildings. In this REIL Review the most interesting results and designs from the student projects are summarized and future directions for research, design and innovation for sustainable urban development are elaborated.

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Introduction

The REIL Review is split in two main parts: Urban Ecologies and Urban Mobilities. The Urban Ecologies theme concerns research and design of innovation solutions for urban (re-) development and focuses primarily on sustainable urban design and the optimization and integration of local resource flows like energy, water, and materials. Aim is to minimize use of scarce resources like water, energy and materials, and maximize or substitute with renewable energy or environmentally friendly materials. Students and student teams have developed innovative solutions and designs for two main areas within the ‘Stadshavens’ (i.e. ‘Cityports’), namely Heijplaat and Merwe-, Vierhaven. The Stadshavens within Rotterdam, is one of the largest urban redevelopment areas in the Netherlands, and consists of the old port and industrial/transport areas located within the city of Rotterdam, bordering on the river Maas, close to the city center and next to large urban areas for living and (non-industrial) working. The traditional port, transport and industrial activities located here are being relocated to the port and industrial zones outside the city creating the opportunity for revitalization and redevelopment of these urban areas and improving the quality of life for Rotterdam’s citizens. The second part of the REIL Review is called Urban Mobilities and concerns research and design of innovative solutions for more sustainable urban transportation and mobility systems for the city of Rotterdam. The main challenge for Rotterdam is to improve accessibility of its city while reducing the environmental impact of transport and mobility modalities (CO2, S02, N0x, small particles emissions). Moreover, the safety and quality of mobility in Rotterdam should improve, in order to become attractive as a city for new inhabitants and new businesses. The students working on this theme, have developed novel and sustainable solutions for car/vehicle sharing, electric mobility and charging infrastructure, transport/mobility hubs and connections, and enhancing the personal experience during travelling across the city in public and private transportation modes. We will conclude this REIL Review with several strategic directions for future innovation based upon the results and designs developed during the REIL project. These strategic directions will form the guidelines for continued work on

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Introduction

sustainable urban innovation by the Delft University of Technology, in collaboration with its Rotterdam partners and members of the CleanTechDelta. The Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab is made possible by a subsidy from the ‘Pieken in de Delta - Zuidvleugel’ program from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, and is part of the CleanTechDelta innovation program.

Master Courses and Projects

Topics and themes

Advanced Concept Design

E-mobility, charging, V2H systems 18

Joint Master Project

Vehicle design for urban mobility

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Exploring Interactions

Personal urban mobility

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Urban environments and Infrastructures

Sustainable urban design

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Graduation projects

Car sharing Transportation hubs Life-cycle-analysis e-mobility Renewable energy grids

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Number of students

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Introduction

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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83 students

n a b r U ogies l o c E 3 research areas / Heijplaat / Keilehaven / Merwe- Vierhaven 11

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Picture Roof park Rotterdam (source: www.ijsselmonde-online.nl)

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Urban Ecologies

s d r a e l w To tainab s u S an life b r u In the Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab the challenges of enhancing the sustainability and quality of life in urban areas and neighborhoods in Rotterdam are addressed. The students and researchers participating in REIL specifically focused on several neighborhoods in the so-called ‘Stadshavens’ area, notably Heijplaat, Merwe- Vierhaven and Keilehaven. ‘Stadshavens’ (ie. ‘cityports’) consist of the old port areas and piers located within the city, next to large urban areas meant for living and recreating. The city of Rotterdam has decided that the traditional transport and industrial activities in the ‘stadshavens’ will have to relocate to the mainport and industrial zones outside the city, creating old abandoned industrial port areas in the city that need renovation, redevelopment and revitalization. For the Heijplaat and Keilehaven areas, more than 80 students of the MSc course on Urban environments and Infrastructures, have developed new urban designs in which the sustainability of the area is maximized with respect to four important ‘resource’ flows: energy, water, materials and transportation.

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The Environment Maximization Approach followed during the course, consists of two steps: 1. Diverge and maximize: Make four designs with a maximum sustainability performance for, respectively, themes as transport, material use, water, and energy. 2. Converge and integrate: Make an integrated design, in which to combine and optimize the designs made during step 1, and create optimal connections between resource flows. Moreover, the students have to develop an understanding of the complex social reality in which urban design takes place. The students have to make an analysis of the multiple actors involved in the design and redevelopment of the area, and in the final assignment, they have to reflect on the decision-making challenges faced when realizing their design. The students worked as multi-disciplinary teams and collaborated with local stakeholders and city representatives to develop the urban designs and design options. In total 20 different sustainable urban designs for Heijplaat and Keilehaven were developed. In the next sections we will present a selection of the best designs and solutions.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Heijplaat Students Karlijn Grevers, Marloes Gout, Leontien Cenin, Mike van Paassen, Jan-Willem Verluis, Natasha Schoon, Sarina Stevens, Eelco Hoogduin, Jasper Passtoors, Pim Tammes, Stratos Lysaridis, Margit Heine, Pau Huguet, Joep van Genuchten, Diane Bellet, Aram Tardast, Charlotte Verouden, Rink Weijs, Hester Engelsman, Cansu Birgen, Rowan Boeters, Samantha van der Drift, Ariadni Gemenetzi, Sanne de Groot, Elena Koukouna, Emilie Fledrich, Laurence Henriquez, Lisette van Niekerk, Mark Schipper, Frank van der Harst, Ismini Stroumpou, Jaap van der Veen, Karin Hauwert, Simon Love, Carlos Varela Martín, Rhea Verheul, Esther Park, Verena Zelger, Juliane Kupfernagel, Harwin Schreijmen, Tim van Veelen, Renske M. Verhulst, Kyle J. Wacyra, Loes Dorrepaal, Quinton Jie, Man Yu, Zuzana Cabejšková, Daniella Mendoza, Casper Wennekers, Gerard Roemers, Yanzhu Zhang, Arthur Haarman, Menno Boerboom, Froso Christofides, Julie Poitevin, Theodora Skordili, Yusuf Ciftçi, Suzan Heykoop, Radua Ibrahim, Jérémie Uhlrich-Meunier, Wesley Crock, Carien Feijen, C. Tessa van Doesburg, Robert Jan Volders, Jennifer Wong

Tutors Ir. Satish Beella, Dr. Ellen van Bueren, Dr. Laure Itard, Dr. Thorsten Schuetze, Prof. Dr. Ir. A.rjan van Timmeren, Prof. Dr. Bert van Wee

Course Urban environments and Infrastructures

Area Heijplaat originated as village for the employees of the Rotterdam Drydock Company (RDM) in the twenties of the last century. Parts of the village have been built between 1960 and 1970 and do not meet the present-day building standards and were recently demolished. The community of Heijplaat formulated some far-reaching ambitions on sustainability. Heijplaat aims to become a CO2-neutral city district in a few years1. The new sustainable urban designs for Heijplaat that have been developed by eight different student teams consist of four main components: the transport system, the water management system, the materials used and the energy system of the area. Firstly, common solutions that are used across all designs will be presented. Secondly, an integrated design of one of the groups is discussed, and thirdly interesting design solutions of other groups are summarized. These designs can be used as inspiration and solution directions for the ongoing transformation process at Heijplaat (IKS). Common design solutions With respect to mobility, public means of transportation and electric vehicles are promoted in the case of Heijplaat. The use of vehicles with internal combustion engines is restricted due to noise and sustainable issues. To optimize water resource flows, rainwater management via storages and green roofs and grey water management via living systems and sand beds are the main solution concepts. With respect to materials flows the designs focus on reusability and recyclability, especially during the process of deconstruction and reconstruction of the area. Sustainable energy sources such as solar PV, windmill, biomass and fuel-cell-powered cars are the main ingredients for energy management in the transformed Heijplaat neighborhood. 1 Municipality of Rotterdam (2010). Working Plan Climate Neutral Heijplaat. Innovation Program Climate Neutral Cities. Rotterdam (in Dutch).

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Picture Bird’s eye view Heijplaat

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Urban Ecologies

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Transportation

Picture Bike sharing and electric car (source: www.plugincars.com)

Moving within the area using a (electric) car rental service and a bike sharing system situated in the transport hub is recommended, while street parking for privately owned cars is not allowed. Commuters that wish to use the ferry or the bus can leave their cars at the transport hub that also includes the ferry terminal and the bus stop.

Figure The design of the Heijplaat area regarding transport

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To RDM Campus Bus stop north Bus route Carparking, car sharing, bike parking 4 minute walk Carparking, car sharing, bike parking Ferry station Bus stop south

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Figure Flow diagram for transport theme 8

Ferry terminal North Bus station

Center Rotterdam Private Transport Metro

Private Transport

Car sharing Car parking Bike parking

RDM Campus

Public Transport

South Bus station Heijplaat south

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

Road access

Car sharing Car parking

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Urban Ecologies

Water

Picture Heijplaat beach (source: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Heijplaat)

To reduce the amount of runoff water, several mechanisms will be implemented: green roofs (slow down the water flow created by precipitation and cooling in summer), a large park with ponds in the center (more water infiltration), brick roads (runoff water will be directed to small lake for seasonal storage via swales) and a brick square (emergency storage). While black water is directed to the sewage, grey water is processed by living machines (i.e. an intensive bioremediation system in which aquatic and wetland plants, bacteria, algae, plankton, snails and other organisms are used to provide specific cleansing or trophic functions) for re-use in the area or to put back to the river.

Figure The design of the Heijplaat area regarding water

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Living machine Cannals Swales Connection houses - Living machine Lake Square (emergency storage)

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Figure Flow diagram for water theme

Piping

Sewage

Housing

Living Machine

Rain

Lake

Rain (flooding)

Square

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Green areas

Evapotranspiration

River

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Energy

Picture solar panels (source: www.petecsolar.com)

The buildings will preferably have a north/ south orientation making use of passive solar energy; Special attention is paid to the north facing windows to absorb as much as possible diffuse natural light, while minimizing size of the window. The south facing windows are optimized to admit sunlight in the winter and to block direct sunlight in the summer. Several apartments share one reversible heat pump that provides cooling in summer and heating in winter. Concrete floors/ceilings with an integrated heating/ cooling system are suggested to provide the necessary mass and surface for buffering and exchanging energy. All buildings are equipped with as much as possible PV solar panels (Monocrystalline PV cells), the core electricity source of the area.

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Figure The design of the Heijplaat area regarding energy

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PV roofs Electricity and heating from outer CHP Heat pumps

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Figure Flow diagram for energy theme

Underground water

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PV cell

HOUSING

Heat losses

Electricity Heat pump

Underground water Heating

Underground water

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Urban Ecologies

Materials

Picture Concept House Prototype at Heijplaat

The materials from demolished houses (like wood or steel) can be re-used for other purposes in the Concept House Village in Heijplaat. The new design is mainly based on wooden structures. The wood will not only be used for the exterior facades of houses, but together with steel also for the inner structure.

Figure The design of the Heijplaat area regarding materials

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Ferry Station Compost Urban agriculture Bamboo production Public spaces

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Figure Flow diagram for material theme

New material construction; predominantly wood

Consumption

Urban agriculture

Windows Ferry terminal

Bamboo production

Concrete OLD HOUSES

NEW HOUSES Wood

Steel

Brick

Recycling

Compost Public spaces

Organic waste

Organic waste

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Pictures interior design of the Rotterdam Concept House Prototype Source RDM Campus Photographer Marijke Volkers

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Urban Ecologies

# Garage for water storage

Additional concepts

The parking place underneath the apartment buildings can also be used for water storage when needed (in case of floods). Picture Garage for water storage

# Circular solar PV farm A circular 56m radius solar PV farm can be put in the surface area of the Maas River instead of entirely using rooftop PVs.

# Circle point program In addition to fostering a safe cycling community on the Heijplaat, a cycle point program could provide incentive for active cycling by Heijplaat residents, a model that could be adopted by other cities if successful. The idea is to incentivize cycling while also promoting use of public transportation and local business through a point system. Essentially, special bikes or a kilometer tracker will be offered to each Heijplaat resident that track(s) total cycling distance travelled. At the end of each month, cyclists will be rewarded based on how many kilometers they cycled that month. Such rewards will be investigated but nascent ideas include topping up of OV-chip cards (EUR 50, 25, 10 and 5 based on amount cycled) or vouchers to local Heijplaat shops and amenities.

Picture Solar Lily Pads (source: news.bbc.co.uk)

Picture Cycling in Rotterdam (source: wikipedia.org)

# Algae Farm Part of the needed energy comes from sustainable energy sources that are situated next to the sustainability conference center. Algae farms create biomass and biogas; a bio digester creates biogas for cooking from domestic biomass; biogas is also transformed by combined heat-/ power-turbines into electricity and heat; and PV cells create electricity. Picture Algea farm

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Student E. Bloemendaal, A.Z. Hänsch, J. Raigosa, N. Schrauwen, R.E. Schuurbiers, W.H. Wu, Nathalie Hultgren, George-Archimides Tsalidis, Julian van Vliet, Thomas Zweers, Jonna Zwetsloot, Boudewijn Boon, Bennett Cohen, Bas Mentink, Melanie Studer, Maja Valstar, Marjolijn Wortel

Tutors Dr. Ellen van Bueren, Dr. Laure Itard, Dr. Thorsten Schuetze, Prof. Dr. Ir. Arjan. van Timmeren, Prof. Dr. Bert van Wee.

Course Urban environments and Infrastructures

Keilehaven Area Four student groups have worked intensively over four months in order to make a new urban design for the Keilehaven area. Keilehaven is currently a port area in the city of Rotterdam. This part of the Stadshavens is in transition form a fruit terminal towards a mixed living and working urban district. The designs of the students were driven by the idea of self-sufficiency in several aspects: water, energy, transport and materials. Common design solutions In all designs public means of transportation play an important role (the ferry, the ‘transferium’ and the existing and additional metro stations). The role of the personal car is reduced as much as possible. Instead, the inhabitants can use the existing bus line with additional bus stops and a re-directed route. In the water theme, separating water flows (grey water, yellow water and black water). Another key solution is the adaptive water management system for flood safety such as constructed wetlands, green roofs and facades, rainwater storage, building houses on raised land and floating buildings. Besides, to provide electricity and heat for the planned area, it was suggested to use solar PV panels and the biogas combined heat and power (CHP) system. The part of materials in the designs is mainly about the possibility to reuse and recycle those of the existing buildings.

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Picture Bird’s eye view Keilehaven

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Urban Ecologies

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Picture Final plan for the Stadshaven area

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Urban Ecologies

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Urban Ecologies

Water This design is focusing on the unique context of this area; living with water. Establishing a closed loop water system is one of the challenges. All the houses are equipped with water-saving appliances in order to lessen the use of clean water. Rainwater through the green roofs and permeable pavements is directed to the surface water storage. Together with the grey water from douches and washing

machines the rainwater is purified with helophyte filters to become service water. Black water (feces) from the toilet and the other organic food and garden waste of cooking are fed into the biogas tank for energy generation. The residues from the biogas plant and the. yellow water (urine) are treated and used for fertilization in the local farming. Picture Helophyte filters

Figure Water cycle, black water, grey water, yellow water and rainwater management

Flood risk Four measures could be applied in the area to reduce the flood risk. They are floating buildings, building on stilts, climate proof buildings (seal ground floor during flooding) and raising the terrain. The floating buildings contribute to the flexibility of the urban plan.

Picture Floating buildings, Rotterdam

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Urban Ecologies

Figure Transportation plan. A new bus route seamlessly connects Stadshavens to the wider transport system Picture Phileas bus, Eindhoven (source: www.vossloh-kiepe.com)

Transportation A main element of the transport design is the movable ‘transferium’ for water transport, which can be attached to different quays, depending on the demands of the area at a certain moment. Besides this the urban design encourages inhabitants to use public transportation and in the same time focuses on the concept of flexibility. At first, flexibility is established through a newly planned electric bus line through the area to improve the accessibility just like one of the other ideas from the other groups. The electric bus line is easily adaptable to the development of the area.

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Energy Most of the area’s energy demand would be met with close-by natural gas/ biogas CHP since it can economically make use of an existing nearby natural gas power plant with district heating. Besides this, solar panels will also be put on prominent roofs within the site in order to communicate sustainability to residents and visitors.

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Impression natural gas power plan Locally sourced bio-based materials 1 - Manure 2 - Chicken feathers 3 - PruningÂ

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Materials Bio-based renewable materials were selected for the new design with a focus on manure, chicken feathers and pruning wood. These materials are available on a large scale locally and regionally. Manure bricks can be used for the construction of outer walls. Pruning wood will be used as a mounting structure for semi-green walls and chicken feathers ideally will be used to insulate the walls.

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Urban Ecologies

# Separated slow and fast traffic zones The area can be divided into two parts: the slow traffic zone where no cars are allowed and the fast traffic zone where cars allowed for dis-/charging. Plus, a new bridge should be constructed to link the two wings of Keilehaven, providing a better connection within the area.

Additional concepts

Picture A proposal for traffic zones in the Keilehaven area

# AGV Shuttle bus for Keilehaven An electric shuttle bus in the form of an automatic guided vehicle (AGV), could be used to transport passengers between the metro stop Marconiplein and the Transferium on Keileweg. Charging facilities for the shuttle bus are placed in the garages. The vehicle can be charged here at night. Picture Automatic guided bus in Rotterdam (source: http://busfoto.nl)

# Satisfy user livability The area should satisfy user livability. This idea is elaborated in four different living areas, each of them is suitable for a specific life style:

# Upcycling of Textile

1. Living in apartments at the waterfront

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2. The small ground bound building near the water

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3. The urban-oriented living

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4. The urban living system

A nice idea that could be realized in this area is the upcycling of textile. Old and used clothes can be upcycled to be used as furniture (most likely for chairs and couches) or wall insulation. In particular upcycling textiles for insulation to be used in refurbishing the existing housing stock, can stimulate a local supply chain and the local economy. Picture HaKa Recycle office in Rotterdam. (source: www.doepelstrijkers.com)

Picture four living areas

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Urban Ecologies

Student Jonna Zwetsloot

The energy balance of Merwe/ Vierhaven

Tutors Prof. Dr. Ir. Han Brezet Dr. Ir. Bas Flipsen Prof. Dr. Ir. Arjan van Timmeren

Course Graduation Project Industrial Ecology

The largest challenge in implementing decentralized renewable energy systems is found in urban environments where the energy consumption is very concentrated. This challenge is addressed in a case study of the Merwe-Vierhaven area (M4Haven) in the Rotterdam Stadshavens. In the next 20 years the Merwe-Vierhaven will be transformed into an attractive and sustainable area for living, working and leisure activities. This MSc. graduation project investigates the energy options of M4Haven to create self-sufficiency of electricity in the year 2025. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Urban Ecologies

Figure energy balance framework

SUSTAINABILITY TARGETS

Agriculture

Built Environment

Industry

Electricity

Storage

Demand

Behaviour

Lighting

Number

Nr. of People

Appliances

Energy efficency

Fast traffic

CFL

Food

Supply

Tidal

Wind

Excess production

Mobility

Number

In candescent

Heating

Biomass

Import

PV

Fossil Fuel

Direct use

Slow traffic

Type

LED

ICE

Normal Charging

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EV

Smart Charging

V2G

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

To develop an optimal solution, four different aspects of the local energy system were investigated, namely, energy production, energy consumption, load shifting in smart grids and the usage of electric vehicles as energy storage devices. Two different future energy consumption scenarios were developed: the SMARTcity (current energy use with a small growth towards 2025) and the GREENcity (applying extreme energy conservation techniques to reduce the energy use). These two main scenarios were validated with EnergyPLAN (a free available energy systems analysis model). It is concluded that the best achievable energy balance in M4haven consists of a smart grid that is able to shift the load of flexible appliances and charge electric vehicles via smart charging, while local energy production is based upon a combination of biomass, wind, tidal and solar energy. Based upon this configuration it is possible to develop a neighborhood with 1700 households and to build houses up to a maximum of 3 floors per building. The energy demand of the households and offices together add up to approximately 11.08 GWh per year, of which around 50% is self-produced (local). It is not possible to increase the percentage of self-sufficiency for this configuration or to become fully self-sufficient, because there is a limit with respect to local renewable energy production options (for this type of urban area). In this configuration, priority should be given to the implementation of biomass production, wind and tidal energy systems. In the SMARTCity scenario, the present average energy consumption of a neighborhood is extrapolated to 2025 (consisting of a small growth). It is found that when you strive for net-balance (i.e. neutrality) of the energy consumption and production in the neighborhood (over one year period), none of the local renewable energy system configurations are realistic. Based on the SMARTCity scenario the only way to achieve

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

self-sufficiency is to host only a very small number of households and reduce the density of the area. In order to optimize the self-sufficiency of a neighborhood during redevelopment, it is most important to first reduce energy consumption. In the GREENCity energy saving scenario, this approach is followed and extreme energy reduction mechanisms are used to maximize self-sufficiency. Based upon the analysis it can however be concluded that it is not possible to realize full self-sufficiency by minimizing energy consumption alone. To increase self-sufficiency it is necessary to also optimize the renewable energy production mix. However, the problem in existing urban areas is often the restriction to a few (or even one) main energy production sources; within cities this is integrated solar energy in most cases. As these are intermittent energy production sources this limits the possibilities of local urban environments to be 100% self-sufficient at all times (e.g. day/ night). Possible solutions to still obtain a balanced energy profile are either, to import renewable energy from the external grid and loosen the constraint to produce all energy locally, or to integrate different types of energy storage options in the local smart grid (other than the storage in EV-batteries). Alternatively, self-sufficiency might be achieved on a different scale, such as city, province or countrywide. In general, it can be concluded that for concentrated urban areas (dense population) achieving 100% self-sufficiency (electricity) at local level is extremely difficult and is mainly determined (limited) by the renewable energy production sources and options available to that local context. Although energy consumption reduction measures do have an effect (and are of major importance), the resulting reduced energy consumption profiles in dense/concentrated urban areas can very often not be fully matched by local energy production. In those cases, self-sufficiency at neighborhood (highly local level) should not be strived for, but integrations with renewable energy production at district or city level (or even outside) should be realized.

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Urban Ecologies

Pictures Merwe-Vierhaven area

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

s e r u t n u a F urb es of ologi ec sign de In the Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab the challenges of enhancing the sustainability and quality of life in the old city port neighborhoods in Rotterdam have been addressed. Around 80 students have developed more than 20 urban designs for the Heijplaat, Merwe- Vierhaven and Keilehaven areas in which the sustainability of the area is maximized with respect to four important ‘resource’ flows: energy, water, materials and transportation. In the previous sections we have presented several examples of these designs. From these results we can extract some interesting topics for future research and design: The integrated approach based on the principles of industrial ecology is still difficult to apply in the present-day practices of city planning, especially when we have to deal with the largescale re-development of an existing port area and numerous involved stakeholders. It is recommended to develop together with local stakeholders (local government, urban and project developers, solutions providers, and citizens) a stepwise approach for an industrial ecology based urban planning tool, in which user and stakeholder involvement is timed correctly. This will assure that urban and techno-ecological solutions are not only feasible from a design or technical perspective, but are also aligned with stakeholders (economic) interests and institutional arrangements.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

The bio-based design solutions, like the helophyte and algae water treatment plant, living machines and the local production and treatment of biogas, are already proven technologies. However, the urban integration of these innovations need further development; not only the urban scale and physical restrictions are challenging, but also the specific interactions and behaviors required from the citizens requires special attention for the further innovation development. The results (specifically from the energy balance M4-haven project) underline the considerable efforts needed to realize an energy-neutral city district. The dilemma of creating on the one hand, a dense urban area (in order to finance all the amenities needed to make it an attractive area to live, work and recreate), and on the other hand, an area with sufficient space for local energy production, poses a huge challenge for product- and service innovation. Potential solutions that maximize local energy production and minimize the use of space (for living) need further development, for instance: • Building- and facade- integrated energy production solutions (PV, Algae, Wind) • Energy storage in an urban environment (EV- and stationary battery integration)

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Urban Ecologies

With respect to creating energy neutral (or positive producing) urban neighborhoods we see that the renewable energy potential of the area and the requirements for the number of households determine the amount of energy that can be locally produced. Especially in dense neighborhoods (large number of inhabitants and households), locally produced renewable energy (wind and solar PV) is often not sufficient to balance the concentrated energy demand of that area (even when energy-efficiency measures are taken to reduce energy use). This poses the question at what scale/ level energy neutrality (or positivity) can be achieved when (re-)developing neighborhoods. Based on the design results presented in this chapter, we can conclude that with current energy technologies, energy neutrality for densely populated urban areas is hard to achieve. There is a need to connect to energy sources or surplus from neighboring areas or other

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local activities (local workshops, industry). In this sense, the designer should not limit him/herself to local optimization of energy (and other resource flows) within the boundaries of the household sector within set area, but also take the connections and links with other sectors and neighboring urban areas (with surpluses) into account. Although these topics remain important for future research and design, the results from the 20 designs for urban ecologies in the city of Rotterdam do show that creating sustainable neighborhoods with a high quality of life is already possible in many aspects. Many ingredients for a sustainable urban design are already available and proven in practice. To realize these designs, stakeholders and citizens have to collaborate, embrace and seek mutual benefits and show true commitment to a better life for all of us.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Ecologies

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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48 students

n a b r U ilities b o M 4 themes / Sharing mobility / Electric mobility / Connecting mobility / Personal mobility 37

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

Picture MyWheels carsharing service (source: MyWheels)

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Urban Mobility

a s d r a d w n o T bile a e l o b m taina s u s y t i c Like many densely populated cities with large industrial zones, Rotterdam has urgent challenges in improving the sustainability of its transportation and mobility system. High CO2 emissions, air pollution and congestion problems within and to and from the city are challenges to be tackled in the next 15 years. Rotterdam as a city and in agreement with its many stakeholders and current industries have set ambitious targets to reduce CO2 emissions with 50% in 2025 compared to 1990 (Rotterdam Climate Initiative, 2010). Because Rotterdam is the largest energy port of Europe, including a strong and important petrochemical industry, and one of the biggest transportation hubs in the world, the potential for reducing CO2 emissions and energy use seem largest in the port of Rotterdam itself. However, mobility and transportation in the city and at neighborhood level are of major importance as well and will have a direct and visible effect on the quality of life in the city and for its citizens. Currently, the city of Rotterdam has a sustainable mobility strategy based on three principles: 1) clean use: limit the demand for unsustainable forms of mobility and transportation in the city by smart urban planning and infrastructure, offering alternatives for car use and influence behavior, 2) clean vehicles: stimulate the use of energy-efficient vehicles, like electric vehicles or fuel cell based vehicles, and 3) clean fuels: stimulate the use of biofuels, or renewable energy for electric vehicles (Rotterdam Climate Initiative, 2010).

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During the Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab more than 48 students and researchers from the TU Delft have worked on four mobility themes at REIL that were initiated by discussions and collaboration with stakeholders from the city of Rotterdam and industry. This resulted in 6 MSc graduation projects on mobility, and 37 MSc course projects in advanced concept design and interaction design. The four urban mobility themes are: sharing mobility, electric mobility, connecting mobility, and personal mobility. Sharing mobility concerns the question how to stimulate car or vehicle sharing in cities to improve vehicle usage in terms of occupancy and reduce vehicle ownership. Recent years show a growth in car sharing services (instead of owning a car yourself) strongly supported by web- and social media technology. One of the key factors for the growth and success of peer-to-peer car sharing services is the enhancement of ‘trust’ between users of the service. Two graduation projects focused on this factor and designed solutions to improve trust, trustworthiness and user involvement for up-scaling of an existing web-based P2P car sharing service in the Netherlands. Electric mobility is the second theme and concerns challenges of the introduction and adoption of private electric vehicles in urban life. Electric powered vehicles have a high potential

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility

for improving the sustainability of the current mobility and transportation system in the city (no local CO2 emissions or air pollution, and can be powered by renewable energy sources) but also still have limitations compared to conventional combustion engines powered vehicles. These are notably, the limited driving range (on average, 100-150 km on a single charge) and the need for a ‘new’ charging infrastructure at home, in public space or at work. Several students projects aim to solve these limitations and focused, for instance, on designing a new electric urban vehicle that is optimized for car sharing services, or on developing user-friendly, integrated and safe vehicle-to-home (V2H) systems that make charging easy and connect it to home energy management systems and local renewable energy generation. When introducing new mobility concepts and types into urban fabric, the ‘connections’ between the different transport and mobility modalities also have to be optimized. Especially if we want to stimulate citizens to make use of more sustainable mobility alternatives – easy connections and short transfer times are important. This challenge has been worked out by three student graduation projects in the theme of connecting

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

mobility. These involve the design of new transport and mobility hubs within the city of Rotterdam, linking public transport on land and water, to car sharing services, and to private mobility and vehicles. Lastly, the theme of personal mobility is about the personal experience of citizens in moving and navigating from A to B and how to enrich the physical environment and their journey with aesthetic and social experience and interaction, empowerment and exploration. A group of more than 18 students have investigated these opportunities to create a higher quality of life in the ‘mobile’ city during the MSc course in Exploring Interactions. In the next sections we will elaborate on these four urban mobility themes and present examples of student’s work from the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology, conducted at REIL. We conclude this chapter with a short summary of the results and directions for future research and design. References Initiative Rotterdam Climate. (2010). Rotterdam Klimaatstad: Actieprogramma Mitigatie 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2013, from www.rotterdam.nl/: www.rotterdam.nl/ BSD/Document/klimaat/MIGITATIE_JAARPLAN2010_72DEF.pdf

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Picture Traffic jam Rotterdam (source: www.nieuwsbladtransport.nl)

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Urban Mobility

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Sharing

Student Jessica Abad Kelly

PROJECT

MyWheels, successful P2P Car Sharing in the Netherlands

Tutors Prof. Dr. Mr. Ir. Sicco Santema, Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester

Graduation project Strategic Product Design

MyWheels, a Dutch non-profit organization and one of four main providers of car sharing services in the Netherlands, provides a hybrid of traditional business to consumer (B2C) and peer-to-peer (P2P) car sharing. Two graduation students help to introduce and scale up the P2P car sharing service of MyWheels. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Sharing / Urban Mobility

MyWheels, with experience in shared neighborhood car, intends to introduce a P2P car sharing service to the Netherlands. What are the challenges in introducing and providing such a system? And what are unique aspects of the P2P service to tackle these challenges? In-depth research activities (market analysis, customer research and P2P field research) were carried out in order to address the main user requirements and challenges of such a system in the Netherlands. As a result, seven main themes (Trust, Environment, Costs, Networks, Community, Sharing and User needs) were established to guide the design. The proposed P2P service was chosen to be a Web-based service. The design enhances trust among users while addressing the important user needs of control and convenience. It centers on the creation of meaningful and secure user interactions, supported by the business and legal aspects (a separated insurance package and a yearly statement of the user’s total gains). Some of the unique features of the P2P service design are trusted renters (car owners can name users as trusted renters which will give them certain privileges), search settings (allowing car owners to quickly browse through all renters and car renting requests), message and feedback (car owners can give feedback to car renters on their renting transactions). A three-step evaluation process, based on the guidelines, user interviews and feedback from MyWheels, shows that the design clearly addresses user needs and was positively received. Therefore, some of the features of the P2P service were implemented by MyWheels.

Picture The My Profile area displays the information that is visible to the logged in users. From a car owner’s profile page, renters will be able to place reservation requests.

My Profile

Jessica Abad Kelly Lives in Rijswijk | Knows English, Spanish | From Madrid | Born on April 16, 1985

I’ve had my Fiat Coupe for about 5 years. It’s a really fun car to drive and it’s quite unique! My favorite memory is driving in the Ardennes, this car is really great to drive on curvy roads. a SendSend me amemessage message

Car Details Model: Fiat Coupe Transmission: Manual Fuel type: Gasoline Color: Metallic green

Location

Rent this car!

Reserve this car

Year: 2001 KM: 170,655 Engine: 1.2v

€ 6 per hour € 50 per day

Availability

Verification Address Phone number 2 social media links

Feedback from Renters Koen Adams “Jessica’s car is so fun to drive, I will definitely rent it again!” Eva Jantsen “The Fiat was clean and easy to drive.” Figure VI.I C: The My Profile area for car owners

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Sharing

Student Jaap Gerritsen

PROJECT

MyWheels, interaction design of a peer-to-peer car sharing service

Tutors Dr. Ir. Froukje Sleeswijk-Visser Ir. Satish Beella Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester

Graduation project Strategic Product Design

It was found during an in-depth research that the weakest links in the car sharing process (P2P) of MyWheels is the personal interaction between the users. At this moment, the online service platform supporting the interactions between the users is still rather simple and potentials are not yet unfolded. Communication between the owner and renter is done completely outside of the platform. Thus, the new design goal is to increase MyWheels user involvement over the complete process. This will gradually enhance the trust among users, which is the key point for the long-term development of such a system. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Sharing / Urban Mobility

The proposed design supports following groups of functionality:

Picture Giving a thank-you is connected to the satisfaction of a trip.

Personality: It is shown in user profiles, Facebook integration and renting activity information. Communication: The system communicates with users via booking overview (my calendar and my notification), booking pop up and messaging. Experience: The captured experiences and the service rating are shared with the users on user profile and car profile pages. Gratitude: The user gratitude is expressed via awarding a thank-you and the thank-you monetary value could be spent on MyWheels gifts. The online prototype of the design has been tested with several car owners and renters to test on usability and on added value of the new features. All participants appreciated the new user interface with fruitful functionality, and they agreed that it is nice to have a way to thank the other person after a rental.

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Sharing

PROJECT

Weev, an urban EV sharing system Student Tessa Florence Duste, Andre Taris, Manuel Torres, Luuk van Vliet, Anouk Zeeuw v/d Laan

Tutors Ir. Satish Beella, Prof. ir. Matthijs van Dijk, Elmer van Grondelle MBA

Course Joint Master Project

In urban commuting, there is a shift towards increasing sovereignty with fewer responsibilities. Although existing mobility services (e.g. Car2Go) already allow a personal and sovereign option to urban travelers, they still lack to provide commuters an anticipated and synchronized service linked to other mobility systems. This missing link reveals an opportunity to design a synchronized urban system that would enhance the harmonization of city commuting, while still grant the sovereign mobility to urban travelers. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Sharing / Urban Mobility

Pictures Mobile interfaces Membership Registration

Weev is a personal urban mobility system, synchronized and complementary to the existing mass public transport, which attempts to amplify the sovereignty of urban commuters. Any citizen can start using the Weev by activating this complement service in their current public transport cards. The users can Share a trip, Drive a Weev or go for a Free Ride close to their final destinations, always being offered with the best choice available.

Picture Weev auto distribution map

Membership Registration

The Free Ride option provides a unique Tom Patts Weev 37 Weev 23 function, which boosts the balance distribution of Weevs in the city without intervention. The urban harmonization is not only promoted by simultaneously sharing a trip or guiding the driver through Drive it! Join the ride Join the ride low-traffic streets, but also by suggesting Drive sharing Drive sharing alternative public transportations in case a Weev is not convenient for the user. Walk 3 minutes Destination 254 W a shington Ave.

From

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Weev 13

From

Frederic

Last Name

Rotmensen

Date of birth

13-05-1989

Walk 3 minutes

Walk 5 minutes

Walk 2 minutes

First Name

Destination 254 W a shington Ave.

Type of Membership

Bus 23

Driver

Walk 1 minutes

Passenger

ObeliskTram stop Toronto

Driver License

Home

To

Browse

...

Walk 5 minutes Final Destination 254 W a shington Ave.

Height

Go!

Use Public Transportation

1,73

Mts 0,75 0,89

Sign in!

Tom Tom Patts Tom Patts Tom Patts Patts WalkWalkWalkWalk 3 minutes 3 minutes 3 minutes 3 minutes Destination Destination Destination Destination 254 W 254aW 254 shington aW254 shington aAve. W shington aAve. shington Ave. Ave.

Weev Weev Weev Weev 23232323

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Walk Walk Walk Walk 5 minutes 5 minutes 5 minutes 5 minutes

Walk Walk Walk Walk 2 minutes 2 minutes 2 minutes 2 minutes

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Tom Patts 13-05-1989 M

Bus Bus 23 Bus 23 Bus 23 23 WalkWalkWalkWalk 1 minutes 1 minutes 1 minutes 1 minutes

Expiration date

Obelisk Obelisk Tram Obelisk Tram stop Obelisk Tram stop Tram stop stop Toronto Toronto Toronto Toronto

18-09-2025

Weev Number

2648 0260 3694 7726 From From From From

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UseUse Public Use Public Use Public Transportation Transportation Public Transportation Transportation

+1 Minimum Weevs

The city departments also help identifying users heading near destinations, promoting the drive sharing.

Now

The self-sustainable distribution is achieved either by drivers heading the department, or promoting free rides to an specific location.

Maximum Weevs

Minimum Weevs

Now

When a department is reaching any limit of Weevs (max. or min.), it will start promoting the repositioning. In case of low battery, the system gives priority to use the Weev especifically reserving a parking charge point.

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Maximum Weevs

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Sharing

The vehicle, which is equipped with passive and active components, is designed to fit urban areas and the car sharing purpose, providing a hop on hop off system. The Weev is furnished with two in-wheel motors in the rear wheels and has a 250 km battery range that is charged by the inductive charging. The upward position (15째 angle of the upper leg) in the seats, which is a radical change in comparison to common passenger vehicles, contributes to an active behavior of the driver. The position was tested with users when driving and showed to provide sufficient control in use.

Picture Parking & charging

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Sharing / Urban Mobility

Picture External design of the Weev vehicle

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

Vehicle to home (V2H)

Eighteen different concept designs for new V2H systems have been developed to improve the integration between the house and the electric vehicle (EV) on the physical, data communication and personal level. This was done in collaboration with the SusLab and linked to the Concept House Prototype. Inductive charging is one of the common solutions among all the designs, for reasons of convenience and safety in comparison with

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

the conventional cable charging of EVs. The concept designs cover the connection among the user, the EV and the home; and in some cases the artifacts such as the EV and the concept house/garage/charging pole. Among all components of the V2H system, the interfaces between user and vehicle, vehicle and home or user and home are especially taken care of and elaborated in details, both in physical forms (e.g. charger, lighting system) and non-physical forms (e.g. smartphone application, voice).

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Picture The Concept House in Rotterdam (source: http://mrdh.nl)

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Electric / Urban Mobility

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

Student Luuk Akkerman

PROJECT

Suslab V2H system

Tutors Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester, Ir. Satish Beella

Course Advanced Concept Design

The hassle of charging and parking is one of the problems that electric car users are facing. The charging ritual is that the moment of coming home and putting the car key aside is the last moment the user is bothered with the V2H system up until the moment he takes the key to depart. This inspires the concept design V2H System. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Electric / Urban Mobility

The integrated V2H System consists of: • An apartment (block) garage with user-dedicated charging park spots, a solar powered and remote control garage door, and a showroom look • An EV charging manager with Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) control, where the user can set up the charging time and mode • A car key ring with a RFID chip for user identification

User comfort is the main criterion for the design. The user arrives at the apartment, opens the garage door with a remote control inside the EV, then drives the EV to the charging position, gets out of the car and logs in to the V2H System with his unique car key ring. The user then sets up the charging mode and logs off. The system also gives feedback in the forms of sound and voice. Besides, the interface provides an easy and joyful experience for end users. They are fully designed to maintain the relaxation of the home environment by demanding little effort from the user.

• A smartphone application for user control and system information • A web-based application providing user control, system information and comparison with other users.

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

Everyday use: Overview of the SusLabVehicle-2-home (Suslab V2H) system 10 steps of everyday use The concept idea of the SuslabV2H system

1

3

6

7

8

9

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

10

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1 Arrival with EV at SusLab apartment 2 Opening the garage door with a remote control 3 Driving to personal parking spot inside garage 4 Closing garage door by a remote control 5 Collecting belongings from EV and exit EV with car key 6 Walking to V2H manager located on wall inside the garage 7 Logging in by holding RFID equipped SusLab V2H keyring in front of V2H Manager 8 Feel welcome by text on Manager 9 Selecting desired charging mode 10 Logging out by selecting option on screen (or by leaving and no activity for one minute)


Electric / Urban Mobility

Pictures The concept idea of the SuslabV2H system

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

Student Stefan Akkerman

PROJECT

Bumper Dock

Tutors Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester, Ir. Satish Beella

Course Advanced Concept Design

As seen in practice, the products concerning electric mobility are often designed quite conservative, where EVs take the shape like vehicles and chargers are designed like pump stations. In the mean time, wireless charging by induction could open new possibilities for innovative products. After the interviews with an induction expert and an American induction charging company as well as visits to the EV-dealers, the idea of Bumper Dock was formed and developed.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Electric / Urban Mobility

The Bumper Dock is an inductive charging system for EVs, allowing the EV user to charge his or her car by driving toward a high-density flexible and waterproof foam pad in the front of an induction station. It consists of an induction kit for the car where the coils are placed behind the front bumper of the car and an induction station. The house computer manages the charging rate and decides if the energy should be taken back from the EV. The coil alignment is done via the x and y-axis movement of the coil in the station. When the driver is

close enough, he will get information on the screen about the distance between the bumper and the foam wall. It will also warn the driver when to stop. After that the screen will show the percentage of battery charged. The user can enter information regarding the moment he wants to use the car via a smartphone application.

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Detailed design of the Induction station

The Bumper Dock could be the new standard with induction charging and it adjusts to any type and size of the future EVs.

Advanced Concept Design

Advanced Concept Design

Pictures Position of the coils in the electric car and in the Induction station

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-9-

Bumper Dock

Bumper Dock

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

Student Vid Ĺ tiglic

PROJECT

The Plusminus concept, a physical interface for the V2H system

Tutors Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester Ir. Satish Beella

Course Advanced Concept Design

Another problem worth mentioning is how a physical interface and interaction can be realized for a Vehicle to Home (V2H) system. The PlusMinus concept originates from two ideas, which were conceived in the research phase of the project: upgradability and minimizing energy losses. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Electric / Urban Mobility

The PlusMinus consists of two devices – an EV charger and an energy management system (EMS), which can support up to 10 charging units. The charging unit has a prefabricated construction that can be easily incorporated in the building’s façade. It can be upgraded to a new type of plug by simply changing the cable. The plug holder is designed to support such changes. If it is decided that the charging unit is no longer needed, the cable is removed and the charger housing is simply rotated to face on the inside, as the backside can be used as a façade.

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A simple, but effective tensioning mechanism is devised to ensure the charging cables are not tangling on the floor and getting in the user’s way. The cable is tensioned by a heavy roller, which is guided by a railing. Besides, the whole EMS is fitted into a sheet-metal housing, composed of two parts: the management part (the energy management computer and circuit) and the battery storage. While the management part is essential for the V2H system, the battery part is optional and is a plug and play box for batteries.

Pictures The implementation of the PlusMinus concept in an apartment The PlusMinus components; The system in working. The system in the garage.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

Student Stefan Breedveld

PROJECT

The Valet parking service, right in your garage

Tutors Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester, Ir. Satish Beella

Course Advanced Concept Design

In order to simulate the optimal parking experience in a V2H environment, the Valet concept design is proposed with the main focus on the charging of electric vehicles. The choice of the concept is based on opinions of experts and stakeholders (end users, designers, car company and Suslab/V2H expert) with respect to a set of user criteria. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Electric / Urban Mobility

The valet is a semi intelligent to intelligent system. It is an integrated parking environment comprising different parts: Tablet/home control application: This could be in the form of a tablet like product (e.g. iPad), allowing the inhabitant to control and manage his energy consumption. This application can also emit a signal so that the car is ready to be picked up. Sound: The sound system comprises different sounds in order to communicate with the user. This will be switched on and triggered by either the car keys or the command from the home controlling unit.

Car interface: The interface integrated into the car will provide the state of charge, the message from the home controlling unit and the positioning of the charging system.

Pictures The implementation of the PlusMinus concept in an apartment;

Energy management system

Screen in the electric car, ready to drive off

The working principle of the tensioning mechanism The LED strip indicates different status: green – car is ready, orange – pending, blue – in charge

Proximity sensors: The proximity sensor with the range of 20 meters is used for recognizing the driver and then starting the sound and lighting system. Inductive charger: This charger will rise from the ground, only when a car is positioned on top of the system.

Lighting: A LED strip along the side of the wall will indicate the charging status: green – the car is ready to go, orange - pending action, the car is going to be charged in a while, blue – the car is being charged. Key control: The key can be used as a proximity sensor tool for starting up the garage within a certain range.

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

Student Stefan Heijboer

PROJECT

Battery Swapper, a broader view of the V2H system

Tutors Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester, Ir. Satish K. Beella

Course Advanced Concept Design

Unlike other designs, this design looks at the system through a broader and more integrated lens. The whole Battery swapper comprises a concept house, an electric vehicle, a battery switching system (BSS), a battery management system (BMS) with four batteries and an interface. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Electric / Urban Mobility

The concept house will be placed on top of an elevation where the airflow is created for the cooling purpose. This is in line with the Californian sustainable architecture, where the environment is used in a visible way to create a positive effect on energy usage (Reference). Furthermore, the concept house covers the drive, functioning as a carport, and keeps the BSS and the car clean. The electric vehicle should be able to park itself, and communicate with the BMS. In addition, the car should be compatible with the battery swapping system. The batteries are centered and placed as low as possible.

system in a weather resistant case. It is connected to the BMS and located beneath the parking space of the car, in the drive. The BMS manages which battery should be distributed to the car, and which battery should be charged/discharged. The software should also be able to learn from the user behavior.

Picture A model of the concept house located in a raised area

The system is controlled via a smart phone application. The interface communicates with the BMS through the Internet. Multiple users can be connected to- one system and the BMS can compare the user data from all users in order to make the system more efficient.

The BSS is a system that switches, stores and charges the four batteries of the V2H

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

The BSS is a system that switches, stores and charges the four batteries of the V2H system in a weather resistant case. It is connected to the BMS, which manages which battery should be distributed to the car, and which battery should be charged/ discharged. he BSS is located beneath the parking space of the car, in the drive. Due to customer wishes, it is designed to be customizable according to the drive’s surface. Tiles, grass or tarmac; when closed, the BSS looks like the drive.

Outer case

Picture Inner design of the battery switching system

Battery Better Place

Closing lid Gap for battery switch

Electrical motor

Inner case

Figures Operating principle of the BSS: after opening the lid, the inner case turns ninety degrees until the battery is visible; two gears transportate the battery to the car.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Electric / Urban Mobility

# The V2H User Interface

Other Vehicle2Home concepts

offers a function letting the user reserve a shared electric vehicle based on the user’s journey. (Malik Ivan Tas). Picture V2H User Interface: the reservation screen

# V2H energy office is an arm-band like device allowing users to manage their energy consumption by providing live feedback about the V2H Energy cycle. (Salar Vakili).

# The Reach is a simple-tech and familiar solution for charging EVs in the parking lot. The charging cable is placed inside a manual supportive arm hanging from the ceiling. (Peter Kiela).

Picture The design of the V2H Energy Officer

Picture The Reach; The components of the supporting arm.

# The flow parking concept

# The Battery wall is a solution to the energy-storing problem in a V2H system. The excess energy can be stored in a built-in battery wall while the electric car is not at home or fully charged. (Daan Lips).

in combination with the car sharing idea brings an innovative design of the garage. An inhabitant of the building can leave his or her electric vehicle (car, scooter or bicycle) in the back of the queue and then afterward pick up a fully charged one from the front of the queue. (Dennis Blok). Picture Design of the garage in the Flow parking concept

# A sharing community gives EV users the possibility to contact with their neighbors and to lend an EV from their neighbors when needed. (Terence Carter).

Picture The Battery wall is made of heat resistant plastic battery blocks, which are stackable

Picture A sharing community: The main screens; Users are communicating with each other for a car lending transaction

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Electric

Student Isabel Ruiz Almeyda

PROJECT

A Life Cycle Analysis of Binkie, an electric truck for trash collection in Rotterdam

Tutors Dr.ir. Joost Vogtl채nder, Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester

Graduation project Sustainable Energy Technology

Generally, it is claimed that electric drivetrains (electric powered vehicles) are more sustainable than internal combustion engines. The question raised in this project is: do we have enough information and empirical data to confirm that claim, with respect to the environmental costs and benefits during the life cycle of an electric vehicle? Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Electric / Urban Mobility

In order to get in-depth data in that respect, a detailed study about this topic is required. This research explores how the Eco-Costs/Value Ratio (EVR) methodology could be used as a tool for a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in order to measure the environmental benefits in terms of eco-costs1. This gives an output parameter, which afterwards is possible to compare with the traditional internal combustion engine. The research is a case provided by the GemeenteWerken Rotterdam and was supported with useful inputs from the Van Gansewinkel Group. The case of study is an Electric Vehicle (EV) called Binkie, a specialized EV dedicated to waste (trash) collection and first implemented in Rotterdam’s city center in April 2009. The LCA considers a – Cradle to Grave – perspective (Production, Useful Life and End of Life). In order to facilitate the analysis, a strategic system division by means of so-called ’Blocks’ was implemented

in which each part of the EV system is described and analyzed in each Block. Using this method, the final eco-costs calculations of the Binkie (with maintenance and 2 Battery packs) during 10 years of using (8 hours/day and 260 days/ year) were carried out.

Figure Eco-costs final calculation (with maintenance and two battery packs)

In addition, a polynomial regression analysis conducted with the data of the energy consumption, trash collected and distance (reported over a period of 3 months) shows correlations in the “Useful Life” phase. Overall, better understanding and more accurate conclusions about the EV performance and the Eco-costs of the EV system running were achieved. The flexibility of the proposed LCA model with Block structure allows it to be implemented in any other type of EV application. Eco-costs final calculation (with maintenance and two battery packs).

1 Vogtländer, J.G. et al.; LCA-based assessment of sustainability:

the eco-cost/value ratio (EVR), VSSD, Delft, 2010

Total Eco-Costs added Blocks full calculation with maintenance and two battery packages

Total Eco-costs (Euro)

Total Eco-costs (Euro)

26587.34

Carbon footprint (kg CO2 equivalent)

Carbon footprint (kg CO2 equivalent)

Total CED (MJ)

Total recipe (H/A Europe Pt)

Total Ecoindicator‘99 (H/A Pt)

107514.89

Total CED (MJ)

2260900.25

Total recipe (H/A Europe Pt)

10613.73

Total Ecoindicator ‘99 (H/A Pt)

6875.21

Eco cost per mass unit (Euro per kg)

4.59

18.54

389.9

1.83

1.19

Eco cost per Ton of trash collected*

0.002371498

0.009589954

0.201664429

0.000946708

0.000613245

Useful life Eco-costs calculation per Ton of trash collected (€/ton)*

0.001024641

0.009589954

0.201664429

0.000946708

0.000613245

Trash collected (kg)*

11211200

Energy -Electricity wise (kWh)*

121806

Energy in kWh per Ton of trash collected (kWh/Ton)*

0.010864671

*Calculated for ten years, working eight hours 260 days/year

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Connecting

PROJECT

Hubway, an Urban Mobility System Student David Lijnse

Tutors Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester Ir. Egbert Stolk

Graduation project Strategic Product Design

There exist urban issues for the current mobility systems, to name a few, sound pollution, parking problems, space storage and inefficient use of space, which ask for an innovative mobility system, the Hubway service. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Connecting / Urban Mobility

The Hubway is a new mobility system in the future urban environment, a system of hubs at various levels, which combines different modes of transportation. It is based on the use of travel or ‘user-ship’, rather than the use of a vehicle or ownership. There are four urban environments (walk shed environment, business environment, commute environment and infrastructure environment) and seven modalities (Bicycle, scooter, car, bus/tram, metro and train) in the design. By means of a morphological composition, five hub levels are constructed in a hierarchical order. The higher the level is, the more modalities the hub supports. To assure the user accessibility in a few minutes from any hub to other hubs within the Hubway operating area, an intricate network

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of multi-level hubs comprising the Hubway service’s infrastructure was proposed. The overall method applied is the Vision in Product design approach. The project was supported and inspired by the DIEMIGO team, a delegation of the three TU Delft faculties, Industrial Design Engineering (IO), Architecture (BK) and Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EWI). To complete the circle, a first glance at the implementation of the Hubway service is presented in a case study, the Diemigo2.0 case. It is primarily focused on one specific location (the HAKA building at the Vierhavens) to show a high-level hub design.

Picture A network for hubs

All in all, the Hubway writes a story about the way we travel in the future and how we can create a transportation system that is sustainable.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Connecting

Picture The Hubway design

dir H

access/exit route to/from car parking/Vierhavenstraat multi layer bike parking diverse car supply

automatic double layer underground car parking

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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central hall indoor bike lane


rect connection from HAKA hub to HAKA building

Connecting / Urban Mobility

mobility information desk

direct connection from XL shopping gallery to underground metro station

underground heavyrail service direct connection to Waalhaven

dynamic information wall

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roofgarden bike parking

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Connecting

Student Robert Korteland

PROJECT

Oasis/ A-C

Tutors Prof. Ir. Matthijs van Dijk, Ir. Satish Beella

Graduation project Design for Interaction

2021 will be a different time in many respects, the developments like multiculturalism and individualization will continue to change our experience of and behavior in the urban environment. How will our mobility behavior look like in the future? The goal of the research is to identify and structure the developments that will influence the mobility experience in 2021 in Rotterdam and to design appropriate concepts for this context. The project was initiated by design agency BOOG Ontwerp & Advies in collaboration with Stichting DOEN, was conducted in the city of Rotterdam. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Connecting / Urban Mobility

To accomplish the goal, the Vision in Product method was used. Among four defined mobility paradigm, due to polarization trends of mobility styles in the future, two mobility styles were chosen for further product development, “Comfort Zone” and “Master the flow”. Two designs were developed for these paradigm respectively, Oasis and A-C. Oasis is directed at people that look for comfort and that feel insecure in the hectic of urban life. It comprises a number of interventions (A green elevated stop and double-deckers, private seats and a green slope towards a quite stop) that allow passengers to separate themselves from the urban environment and its inhabitants in an unobtrusive way. A-C is directed at people that find the hectic urban environment inspiring and that want to engage in maintaining the livability of the

city. A-C is an application that allows people to attach requests to public transport and share their expertise of neighborhoods with other users. This way, people are offered starting points for engagement with other 7 passengers to nurture their interest in meeting new people and discovering new places, while being able to help others.

Pictures Oasis concept design; A-C concept design

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Connecting

Student Eleni Soerjo

PROJECT

Water Transport Hub for Stadshavens Rotterdam

Tutors Prof. Dr. Paul Hekkert, Dr. Ir. Sacha Silvester

Graduation project Integrated Product Design

The challenge given by the Gemeentewerken Rotterdam was to create a ‘climate-neutral transport hub’, for the future Stadshavens, which is a new city center district around the Maas with sustainable, highend working and living facilities. The goal for the new transport hub is to let people feel connected with the environment, by letting them rediscover the essence of things. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Connecting / Urban Mobility

The analysis phase consists of a background and an exploratory study plus a deconstruction in the domain of ‘sustainable transport hubs’. The concept development led to a double-layered concept, that provides this reassurance and connection of the user to the environment by integrating the ferry into the hub (eliminating the fear of missing the transport means) and creating an encounter with the elements of the environment in the places where users retreat and try to isolate themselves. The hub elements are oriented in a way that they always can connect to the traffic flows. They are made of the concrete-like

composite to emphasize the idea that the street is being extended by the hub. The ferries are built up from two base composite elements that are attached to an interlinked double body catamaran hull, creating a gross 15x3.1m deck surface sufficient for 25 passengers and 12 bicycles. The main shape of the ferry consists of a 2,5m high core which functions as seating and retreat space. The three types of seating (sky, water and wind) make users closer to the nature.

Pictures Users in the ferry; Overview of the hub on approach from the slow traffic entrance; The concept design integrates different transport flow

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figure 28 The concept design integrates different transport flow, in this case in Keilehaven, also leaving room for other surrounding facilities such as a sculpture garden for Atelier Van Lieshout

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

THEME INTRODUCTION

Personal mobility Consider how people live in densely populated cities like Rotterdam and think of the many smart and energy-efficient concepts and visions that have been developed in recent years to improve mobility in these cities. How many have failed and how many have succeeded on the long term? How do and will such concepts really work for people and be acceptable to them? To gain insights into this requires close contact with citizens, understanding their daily experience of city mobility and seeing how they interact with existing and new mobility concepts. In this section we will present the results of an exploratory interaction design case study of citizen experience in urban mobility. The study aims to identify salient themes in citizen’s daily experience of mobility and to identify stakeholder collaboration and communication opportunities. The study was part of a master education project in the ‘Design for Interaction’ MSc program at the Industrial Design Engineering Faculty of the TU Delft. In the project Exploring Interactions, eighteen design students researched the city mobility experience via explorative research in Rotterdam from the perspective of citizens. The assignment for the students was to investigate how people live and want to be mobile in the city: what should be the contours of their urban mobility options? In an iterative co-creation approach, the students developed interaction concepts that are designed

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

to enhance and integrate new forms and preferences for mobility in the city. Their assignment was “Mobile City, designing for tomorrow”. The 18 students’ individual findings and concepts were afterwards analysed as a multiple case study to identify salient themes and implications for city mobility. This multiple case study approach (Runeson & Höst, 2009) revealed four main themes related to the experience of daily life and mobility in the city and how it could become more sustainable, both environmentally, experientially and socially. These themes can serve as valuable thinking tools when considering city mobility design decisions and when identifying knowledge gaps on city mobility to investigate further. The themes can serve as 'drivers' for the development of visions and ideas by stakeholders on how to improve the integration of different aspects of the city and how to forge new and unexpected synergies. In the next part we will elaborate on these four themes and their implications, and after that we will illustrate them by students’ insights and co-created concepts. These concepts have value as ‘thinking tools’ and inspiration for interventions into city mobility experiences. Daily city mobility experiences Based on the exploratory research of the mobility experience of citizens in densely populated cities

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Picture pedestrian tunnel under the Maas river (source: www.nationalgeographic.nl)

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

(notably in Rotterdam and its nearby region) conducted by the 18 students, we can distinguish four main themes that offer opportunities for improved interaction and experience. These four themes are: choices, negotiations, guidance, and stopping and moving. With respect to the first theme ‘choices’ we see that citizens often make transport and mobility choices that do not support their own needs. They choose for unsustainable transport modes or refrain from mobility all together, caused by a lack of time and busy pressured lives at home and unawareness of mobility options or low relatedness to society (for certain user groups). There are opportunities to better support citizens in their transport choices in ways meaningful to them, by enabling them to ingrate mobility planning in their work and life arrangements, and daily life experience. The second theme ‘negotiations’ concerns the confrontation between ‘newcomers’ and the existing mobility or transport system. Citizens introduce new transport modes to the city that break existing routines, or are ‘newcomers’ to the city themselves and unable to get oriented. This leads to contested space in mobility encounters between citizens, creating frustrations, risks and potential for conflicts. Opportunities emerge to better understand new groups and find expressions for the integration of newcomers. The change they bring holds potential to boost a

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

THEME INTRODUCTION

city’s quality of life, image and tourism. The third theme observed in the students’ projects is about ‘guidance’ of traffic streams. Much of the city mobility is collective and streams of traffic are guided and flow in an organized way. They are however, contested in terms of prioritization. New types of streams and mobility users could be prioritized but also mingling and integration could be supported. There are opportunities to prioritize underserved streams such as pedestrians and the city can gain in image, air quality, vibrancy (through use) and safety. The final theme identified in the 18 projects is about ‘stopping and moving’ and the potential for improving daily citizens’ experiences during these situations. City mobility often means being slowed down or stopping and waiting, and of course moving around. Most city environments during ‘stopping or moving’ are frequently uninspiring and dull, and do not tend to address human experience beyond basic functionality. There are ample opportunities to enrich the physical environment and traveller’s journey with aesthetic and social experience and interaction, empowerment and exploration. This will contribute to a higher quality of life in the city. In the following sections we will illustrate these four themes by two student project findings and concepts each. Reference Runeson, P & Höst M 2009, Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering, Empir Software Eng, No. 14, pp 131–164.

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Personal / Urban Mobility

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal Sharing

PROJECT SUB THEME

Choices of daily transport

What is the situation

People make transport choices that do not support their own needs: unsustainable transport or refraining from mobility.

Key findings

This is because it starts with mobility choices at home where many choices and factors compete for the user’s attention – causing for example, unawareness in pressured lives, or low relatedness to society.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

Implications

To enable people to make daily transport choices that support their needs and are sustainable and inclusive, these choices need to be integrated into life and work arrangements at home in a meaningful way. Municipalities can achieve gains in citizen health, air quality and inclusiveness.

Student projects as examples

1. in already busy life and work arrangements – simplify busy lives 2. in the enhancement of life and work arrangements – enhance impaired lives 80


Picture Rotterdam Randstadrail Source: www.flickr.com

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

Student Otto van Biessum

PROJECT

WeTravel, influencing the moment of transport choice

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Key finding

Insights

“Feedback on transport choices needs to start when someone sets the alarm the night before, to wake up in time for a particular mode of travel the next morning. Feedback needs to be intuitive, positive, reflective, integrated, shareable.”

users found the key fobs too passive. Based on Consolvo, McDonald and Landay’s (2009) theory-driven design strategies, Biessum then sought to refine the intended interaction into being Abstract & Reflective, Unobtrusive, Public and Positive.

Focus

Final design

people often make daily transport choices that do not support their own needs: unhealthy and unsustainable. Biessum wanted to support people in acquiring a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

The final concept is an integrated app for smart watch, alarm clock and smartphone. It lets users log their behaviour, set goals, and notice feedback at several moments during the day.

References Consolvo, S., McDonald, D. W., & Landay, J. A. (2009). Theory-driven design strategies for technologies that support behavior change in everyday life. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 405-414). ACM. Picture Smart watch

Insights he researched at which moment people travel daily, how they travel, where to, and what for. He found that there are gaps in people's awareness during the day. This resulted in a design focus on alerts, integrated with people’s routines, surroundings and the things they use.

Intervention van Biessum sought to influence the moment of transport choice. Biessum focused on an interesting dilemma: people do not want an extra thing giving feedback - it needs to be unobtrusive. Yet people also forget to make conscious choices, so there still needs to be active feedback, offering reflection. He initially designed, prototyped and tested key fobs to provide feedback on the personal consequences of choosing, for example, the car.

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

Pictures Storyboard of the final concept

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Personal / Urban Mobility

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

Student Joep Serrarens

PROJECT

Get Out Together: influencing the choice to go out via social interaction

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Key finding

Intervention

“Focused preparation at home for grocery shopping, putting senior and volunteer on the same level, gives both senior and volunteer a warm feeling of taking part in routines and surprises.�

serrarens found that the best way of promoting mobility for seniors with physical limitations with grocery shopping is through personalized volunteer help. Based on the research Serrarens created personas and scenarios. These showed that a focused preparation at home would offer the most freedom to optimally experience leaving the house and interacting with the volunteer.

Focus Serrarens sought to support seniors with physical impairments in their transport choices. Some do not go out at all, or feel reluctant to make use of volunteer services. This example highlights the social aspect of mobility choices and how they are related to participation in society.

Insights An initial qualitative research consisted of two in-depth interviews with seniors over 75 years of age who experienced some physical limitations, plus observations, literature research and expert interviews with volunteer organizations. The research showed that the seniors experienced a spiral of decreased competence and relatedness to society when they go out less.

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Pictures The first concept of the booklets

Insights repeatedly testing different concepts for the preparation at home showed that by putting senior and volunteer on the same level of effort for one another it would make the senior feel less burdened receiving help. Different stakeholders recognized the potential of interacting like this.

Final design the final concept is a booklet that a senior and a volunteer use in order to plan activities and prepare something nice for each other. This would make the senior feel less burdened receiving help.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal Sharing

PROJECT SUB THEME

Negotiations between different modes of transport and different transport users

What is the situation?

citizens add new modes of transport to the city, or are themselves new and unable to get oriented. This breaks routines in mobility encounters between citizens, creating frustrations, risks and potential for conflicts.

Key findings

negotiations mean building relationships and establishing new modes of interaction. These negotiations need to take place at the systemic planning level but also, importantly, between citizens themselves. Citizens need to be enabled to adapt their routines.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

Implications

a municipality can strive to understand and develop scenarios for the needs of new groups and the change they bring, boosting the city’s quality of life, image and tourism. Doing this requires negotiations, flexibility, integration of new modes of mobility into the city. Companies like a train company can showcase their service orientation.

Student projects as examples

1. facilitating a new, 'green' mode of transport that fits people's needs: focus on signalling. 2. facilitating orientation for foreigners coming to live in Rotterdam. 88


Picture Different modes of transport

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

Student Roderick Huijgen

PROJECT

Surfing in the streets: facilitating a new, sustainable mode of transport

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Final design

Key finding “Longboard users are enabled to travel safely through the city at night by improving their relationship with other travelers through confident, clear and cool interaction.”

Focus longboarding is a new mode of transport for commuting: it is flexible in the city, requires no outdoor storage, is a healthy activity, and makes use of cycle paths. Student Roderick Huijgen is a longboarder. What is a longboard? It is a large, heavy, high quality skateboard. They come in many shapes and sizes. They are used mainly for travelling, not for tricks. Average cruising speed is between 10 and 30 km/h. The number of users is growing fast in the Netherlands.

Insights huijgen's short interviews with 19 longboard users during an event, in-depth interviews and observations with 3 longboard commuters, 7 interviews with cyclists and a survey on Facebook revealed the needs and problems of longboard users in traffic. Particularly travelling in low lighting conditions causes problems in signalling to other traffic users. Longboard users look like pedestrians but are faster, and other traffic participants do not give them room.

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A number of prototype tests with various types and positions of lighting on the longboarder led to positioning of the lighting on the hands in the form of a lit ‘sliding puck’ evoking an Ironman reference. This enables the longboarder to signal by gesturing with light, and thus be distinct from other traffic users. Regular traffic colours were found in tests to be confusing, so irregular colours such as blue should be used. Users can switch colours.

Pictures Investigating the positioning of lighting on the body for recognizability Designing, prototyping and street testing a signaling system for longboard users.

Insights the final prototype was tested by a user in the street. Huijgen also initiated a broad Facebook discussion by posting movies of the concept. Huijgen: “Although nearly everyone loved the concept and the reference to the Ironman inspiration, there were concerns about the use of unusual colours in traffic and how the police would react to them.” This is a pertinent question: how can and does a city integrate a new mode of transport such as this one into its fabric?

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

Student Julee Wu

PROJECT

Wanna ask the way? Ask the stranger in Red

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Key insight “Often, the types of questions foreigners have at the station are "Is this the platform to go to Den Haag?" For this, given today's peer-to-peer sharing culture, people no longer want to rely on queuing for official information.”

Focus julee Wu started her project from her own experience of being a foreigner unaccustomed to orienting in a language using the latin alphabet. This becomes a challenge in public transport, for example train stations. Wu's project focuses on Rotterdam Central Station.

Insights often, the types of questions foreigners have are "Is this the platform to go to Den Haag?" For this, given today's peer-to-peer sharing culture, people no longer want to rely on queuing for official information. However, some mediation is needed.

Insights

shared goal, having comfortable conversation. With that, Wu’s concept is very much in line with the current efforts to give the Dutch train stations more character and livable qualities.

Picture Final concept: signage at Rotterdam central station to encourage helpful interaction

Final design wu devised a systemic way the NS could overcome the dilemma that people want to interact directly, but neither help others nor feel comfortable asking for help: if a train station actively encourages mutual help, both asker and answerer will feel more ready to interact. Regular commuters would be enabled to volunteer as someone you can ask, simply by wearing a colour. Signs in the station could invite interaction:”Lost?”, “Want to ask the way?”, “Busy at the information desk?” “Then ask the person in this color”. Even shops could improve their attractiveness by encouraging this interaction. The train station itself could publish its colour of the day on the train information website. People checking for their train can ‘opt in’ to wear this colour that day. This way, people contribute to the station becoming a friendly station full of character.

wu investigated how people feel about asking and being asked the way by interviewing people in the station. She observed how people act and react when they want to ask the way or when asked the way. Through design and prototyping interventions Wu explored facilitating the asker - to be able to ask more easily - or the answerer - to approach people who look like they might need help. She found that in the Netherlands, people tend not to “disturb” someone else, even if that person looks lost.

Intervention wu explored interaction qualities that could facilitate mutual interaction between strangers. The interaction qualities that Wu sought to evoke are: easy and trusting, being linked through a

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

SUB THEME

Guidance

What is the situation?

Much of city mobility is collective: streams of traffic are guided and flow in an organized way. Which streams to prioritize, and how to integrate them with other streams?

Key findings

Pedestrians are currently not a prioritised stream. But they could be, starting from Rotterdam central station. In other situations, streams cannot be separated, they mingle. Here it is possible to calm down the situation, give it visual order and enable the traffic users to cooperate.

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

Implications

are to understand the experience of particular streams traffic users (perhaps now underserved) and their needs. This challenges the status quo of the city fabric. The city can gain in image, air quality, vibrancy (through use), and safety. Stakeholders such as builders can increase service quality and efficiency through new ideas.

Student projects as examples

1. prioritising and fast-tracking the pedestrian stream through Rotterdam from central station 2. creating corridors of shared space, enabling traffic users to give space to each others' flow.

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Picture Ridderkerk Interchange Source: http://wikimapia.org

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

Student Cees Jan Stam

PROJECT

The Pedestrian Highway

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Key finding

Final design

“Pedestrian commuters actually preferred walking in groups to solitary walking. They can be guided as a stream of traffic using colour and light. Using just sound is less effective at a station and its surroundings.�

The final design consists of displays in the station: an augmented city plan and route time. Additionally the traffic lights are phased along the travel routes to provide a smooth and clear pedestrian commute into the city. The concept provides the user with usable waiting time at the start. This otherwise fragmented time waiting at traffic lights, can now be used in the station, for example to get a coffee.

Focus Improve the experience of travelling through the city as a pedestrian commuter, arriving at the station in Rotterdam city centre.

Pictures Photos story Final Concept

Insights stam’s initial design goal was to find a way to enable pedestrians to choose different routes to avoid congestion. Early in-context tests led to several findings: the context was very susceptible to use of colour and light, unlike sound, which was very ineffective. Commuters also behaved differently and had different needs than Stam expected. Rather than being annoyed by crowds, the pedestrian commuters actually preferred walking in groups to solitary walking. The design direction became to create efficient pedestrian group travel in the city.

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Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab


Urban Mobility / Personal

Student Laura Schokker

PROJECT

‘Under Construction’ Creating corridors of shared space, enabling traffic users to give space to each other

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Personal / Urban Mobility

Key finding “When creating a diversion through building works, streams of pedestrian and bicycle traffic mingle. When it is not possible to separate them, it does not work to make cyclists step off. Instead, one can calm down the situation, give it visual order and enable the traffic users to cooperate.”

Focus The project sought to promote the feeling of safety in areas where pedestrians and cyclists share the same space because of construction work.

Final design Going back to the feeling of safety, Schokker re-thought her design direction and focused on awareness of people of what is around them. She proposed partition walls consisting of mirrored slats at an angle. With these mirroring partition walls, as a pedestrian you can always see the complete reflection on your right to see what is coming, and you can still have an open view through the slats on the left. The partition wall was designed to be particularly easy to set up, because partition walls are often set up by under-qualified personnel.

Pictures Early prototypes: drawing lines on the ground Full size test on location and materials studies for evaluation

Pictures next page Animation for scenario evaluation

Insights Initial interviews with ten citizens at the location of building works revealed many irritations around building works. An expert interview with Marc Verheijen, Professor of Infratecture at the Rotterdam University of Applied Science Rotterdam revealed that even near-accidents already affect people’s feeling of safety strongly. Schokker conducted early tests with lines on the ground. The idea was to make the bicyclists follow their ‘own’ line so that the situation would feel more structured. The finding was that not everyone understood the idea and some didn’t even notice the lines. People also tend to take the shortest route.

Intervention Schokker devised a set of interactive tiles. The idea was to make the bicyclists step off via messages or playful tasks, so there wouldn’t be any fast traffic in this area.

Insights From the reactions of the participants Schokker concluded that bicyclists are reluctant to step off unless forced to do so. She also found out that the design itself should not block the flow of people.

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SUB THEME

Stopping and moving What is the situation?

City mobility often means being slowed down or stopping and waiting, or, of course, moving around. City environments currently do not tend to address the human experience in this, beyond functionality.

Key findings

While city environments are often currently uninspiring, they could be so. They could be visually inspiring and refreshing, or they could be socially empowering by sometimes being indeterminate. Promoting cohesion between city travellers could also promote specific means of transport such as the bicycle. For that, it needs an active, yet simple and immediate social trigger. Promoting curiosity and city exploration also depends on the right tool, such as clues to the surroundings.

Implications

are to discover the potential in these environments and the journeys through them, and to open them up to human needs such as aesthetic and social experience and interaction, exploration as well as empowerment. Creating quality of life here affects other areas of people’s lives too as well as the quality and image of the city itself. To achieve this, a

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municipality or a transport company could develop new approaches to environmental planning (e.g. lab-type research and design approaches, a ‘city lab’?) that takes a cocreation approach that include, for example, citizens, user-centred designers, health professionals, artists, new media communities and citizen participation advocates.

Student projects Stopping

1. create the possibility of subtle surprise and inspiration through large scale environmental adaptations. 2. create the possibility of social interaction through environmentally small scale media interventions. This project is special in that it ends up being just a facilitator. It does not create the experience itself, but rather offers a platform through which people themselves come up with experiences they create.

Student projects as examples Moving

1. create the possibility of social interaction and belonging during routine travel 2. create the possibility of discovering one’s surroundings during one-off, leisure travel.

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Student Emilie Spronsen

PROJECT

‘Inspired to work’ Creating a moment of mental refreshment for people who take the subway

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

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Key finding

Insights

“My research showed that commuters experience the subway environment as uninspiring. However, I recalled moments when my own ‘zombie mode’ in the subway had been disturbed by something that gave me new energy psychologically. Environment adaptions can subtly surprise and inspire commuters."

two of the students found the experience of surprise pleasant, the third however, unpleasant and too invading. Spronsen concluded that there is a fine line between pleasant and unpleasant. A surprise should be within people’s field of view and not too invading.

Focus the project and its insights can serve as an inspiring vision on designing subway environments.

Insights spronsen set out questionnaires to commuters, observed their behaviour, shadowed a subway commuter for a day, and conducted expert interviews. She found that commuters need to display aloofness and disengagement in order to be ready to respond to unpleasant surprises (delays or trouble) while also contemplating the day ahead. Still, the subway environment is uninspiring to users. Aboveground and underground are not experientially connected. Durmisevic and Sariyildiz (2001) similarly claimed that the human aspect was neglected in building Dutch underground spaces. Spronsen: “I recalled moments when my own ‘zombie mode’ in the subway had been disturbed by something that gave me new energy psychologically." Drawing on Reisenzein (1994), Spronsen concluded that a surprise could be inspiring, but must be subtle in order to be pleasant.

Intervention spronsen conducted a design experiment on surprise: she placed three fellow students in a row like in the subway and gave them a newspaper to read. She sprinkled confetti over them from above.

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References Durmisevic, S. and Sariyildiz, S. (2001) A systematic quality assessment of underground spaces – public transport stations. Cities, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 13–23. Reisenzein, R. (1994) Pleasure-Arousal Theory and the Intensity of Emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 67, No. 3, 525-539

Intervention spronsen sketched several concepts. She selected a mobile, built a full scale prototype of it and tested it in the subway.

Insights observations and interviews showed that the prototype was not engaging. Spronsen again discussed more concepts with subway users and found that when you move through something like a tunnel, it feels intimate. Instead of a product she decided to design an environment, to achieve an intimate marveling experience for users.

Final design the final concept ‘Frameworks’, is inspired by Japanese torii gates and the beautiful shadows they create. It interferes in the dull subway environment as an undulating corridor of repeated frames above the escalators. The subway lighting creates a shadow and silhouette play between commuters ascending and descending. Catching only glimpses of oncoming travellers nourishes curiosity.

Insights to test the interaction qualities of her final concept, Spronsen conducted a role-play exploration with one participant using a scale model and first-person perspective movie. Even very subtle movements of the design made the participant feel claustrophobic. The object should not visibly move. Only the view should change as people ride the escalator. The object then subtly changes shape overnight.

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Picture Spronsen’s final design: ‘Frameworks’, a tunnel creating glimpses and play of light.

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Student Anna Palmer

PROJECT

‘Connecting Distractions’ Creating a moment of social connectedness for traffic users at intersections

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

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Key finding

Insights

“Shouldn’t users be informed why they should do this? Based on her explorations Palmer concluded that, no, they should explore the ‘why’ by themselves, and they did. Palmer’s work appeals to the role of technology in the street as a space where people find their expression. Palmer worked hard to achieve and keep indeterminacy in her concept.”

when iterating the quiz and in other tests, Palmer found that people really liked to interact with her and her colleagues. The quiz turned into a tool for interaction between people.

Focus the project took as its focus the situation of people waiting in public space, for example at a traffic light. What would best facilitate for people to discover this space and moment as an opportunity for city life and social interaction? Palmer: “I am proud that I dared to throw myself out there and test with real users. In total I iterated the interactions with over 20 tests and all the decisions shaping the final concept are directly based on user feedback.”

Insights palmer initially sought in her project to increase the bicycling flow in the city. Her early research showed that people who are waiting at traffic lights are often calm and do not always mind waiting. They are used to it and see it as inevitable. Palmer decided to focus on this wait and tried various ways of interacting with people during their wait. They seemed to enjoy it when something surprising happened.

Final design

References Saskia Sassen (2011) The Global Street: Making the Political, Globalizations, 8:5, 573-579 Knabb, Ken (undated) Guy Debord’s Theory of the Dérive. Les Lèvres Nues #9 (November 1956), reprinted in Internationale Situationniste #2 (December 1958). Accessible at http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/ theory.html. Last accessed 6 august, 2013.

the final concept, ‘The Screen’, consists of screens placed at different traffic lights all over the world and connecting random traffic lights. Video and audio is always streaming live, creating a global connection. The screen switches connection every day to a different traffic light in a new country.

Insights a question arising from this project for Palmer was: shouldn’t the users be informed why they should do this? Based on her explorations she concluded that, no, she wanted them to explore the ‘why’ by themselves. And they did. Once they interacted with the screen they explored what to do. Though not politically motivated as described by Sassen (2011), Palmer’s work appeals to the role of technology in the street as a space where people find their expression. Palmer worked hard to keep the indeterminacy in her concept that would facilitate this, which also harks back to the theory of the derive (Knabb, undated).

Interventions the first test was a quiz. A question was shown during the red light and the answer upon green light. This engaged people, they were curious about the answer. Surprisingly, people interacted with each other, too.

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Pictures Testing the final design using generic technology: connecting Sweden and the Netherlands

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Student Lorenzo Romagnoli

PROJECT

‘WINK’ Facilitating social interaction and a feeling of cohesion during routine city travel

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

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Key finding

Final design

“In groups with weak relationship like truck drivers, hikers, neighbours etc, people share simple gestures such as a wave to enhance cohesion within the group. I used this phenomenon for cohesion between urban cyclists, to encourage cycling. I found that there needs to be an active, yet simple and immediate social trigger."

after several iterations of prototyping and testing, Romagnoli designed and built a bike light that winks and makes noises at oncoming bike traffic. Romagnoli iteratively worked on its visual and auditory expression and sought to understand people’s response to it.

Focus

Insights

designing for cohesion between citizens is crucial in improving life in the city. This project seeks to enhance the group bonding between urban cyclists, making them feel more like a community and thereby wanting to take up or keep on cycling.

during the last test Romagnoli conducted, most users enjoyed the interaction with the prototype and appreciated the funny character of concept expressed by the sounds. However, they also felt that a long conversation between two Winks might become annoying, and in some situations experienced as awkward. Some users pointed out that the design of the animation could be simplified to be more immediately readable – does it really need to display an eye?

Insights romagnoli: “My design goal was inspired by behaviours I observed in groups with weak relationship like truck drivers, hikers, bus drivers, neighbours etc. In all those groups I noticed that people share some simple gestures such as a wave, even if they don’t know each other. This simple connection between people promotes cohesion within the group.”

Picture “It should be like a pet that makes you interact with other people” The prototype of Romagnoli’s final design

Intervention romagnoli: “I tried to trigger cyclists to wave at each other. To remove myself as an influence I made a waving sign. Yet when I operated the sign people waved at me, or not at all, rather than at the next person.”

Insights romagnoli concluded that a sign is not enough. Unlike Palmer he sought to promote direct, local person-to person interaction to enable them to feel like a community. Romagnoli concluded that people first need to feel some kind of connection to be able to communicate with other members of a ‘group with weak relationships’. Romagnoli refined his vision of the intended interaction:

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Student Aline van Vliet

PROJECT

‘City Exploration Guide’ Facilitating discovery of the surroundings during one-off leisure travel.

Tutors Dr. Stella Boess, Dr.-Ing. Anna Pohlmeyer

Course Exploring Interactions

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Key finding

Insights

“Abstract depictions encourage curiosity and discovery of Rotterdam for pedestrian leisure travellers coming from the station. They enable them to appreciate the surroundings."

users were able to orient in the faculty with its spaces and uni-colour surfaces. But it might not be conspicuous enough in a crowded city. And it did not encourage curiosity.

Focus

Intervention

this project focused on pedestrian leisure exploration of an unfamiliar city, starting from central station. Initial research revealed visitors’ difficulties to see the qualities of Rotterdam’s physical environment. This project sought to encourage the visitors’ curiosity towards it, through a new kind of tour or wayfinding. The tourist office could for example use it to offer a different experience.

a change in direction: from leading people back to the station, to just encouraging their discovery of the city. Various prototypes were again tested in Rotterdam, now in the form of booklets with images of buildings.

Intervention

Insights

the guiding idea is ‘encouraged curiosity’. The concept should help users navigate by focusing on what surrounds them. To understand navigation behavior, users were given various wayfinding assignments in Rotterdam.

users successfully navigated using images, and also became aware of the actual buildings. A black-white sketch representation of a building is clear enough to recognize and enhances the curiosity of the user towards its appearance and colors in real life. The users liked how this type of depiction drew their attention to the structure of a building. For one user the experience was also like being on a scavenger hunt, a fun challenge.

Insights in an unfamiliar environment, the demands of navigation limit your curiosity. Instructions like ‘left-right’ prescribe a specific route, whereas ‘warm-cold’ fits a more explorative mood and encourages curiosity.

Intervention an idea was to reassure visitors by enabling them to always find the station again. Various versions were prototyped and tested. For example, rainbow coloured concentric circles from the station are drawn in the city. Visitors get a card showing the colours. By spotting each colour in the environment they always know the direction of the central station. Van Vliet tested the idea in the faculty.

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Users testing prototypes of booklets in Rotterdam that encourage curiosity and exploration.

Final design fresh, striking colours on the front page of the booklet and the words ‘find your way’, ‘discover’ and ‘enjoy’ were chosen to attract users and express the experience with the booklet. The colours are contrasted with the black and white sketches inside that encourage users to be curious about their surroundings.

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Urban Mobility

s e r u t n u a F urb es i f t i o bil o m During the Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab more than 48 students and professors have worked on sustainable urban mobility challenges for the city of Rotterdam. They focused on four different sustainable mobility and transport challenges: improving car sharing, adopting electric mobility, connecting transport modalities and improving transfer, and improving the user experience of personal urban mobility. Based upon the students’ work, we can make some conclusions and recommendation for future research and design on urban mobility. For peer-to-peer car sharing services to work and grow, we have seen that building trust and trustworthiness between the users of these services is essential and that user involvement throughout the rental and sharing service needs to be better accommodated. Both are essential for the growth of the amount of participants (users) of the sharing service and the value, size and density of its network (and hence network externalities). The students’ projects have designed solutions for these issues, which have been implemented successfully by the MyWheels organization. The next phase in customer adoption and market penetration of car sharing services foresees growth of the customer base among two major customer groups: (1) increasingly existing car owners share their privately owned cars, and (2) new entrants to driving (18-30 year olds) choose P2P and B2C shared cars, instead of buying a car of their own. To realize this growth it is necessary to: • Continuously satisfy the customer and monitor this actively. Customer satisfaction and trust is essential to the functioning, growth and value of the car sharing service system. Developing mechanisms and functionalities to

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support this in an optimal way remains key to success and operations of the service. • To address different customers groups, user group specific business models for car sharing should be developed, that could enhance market penetration as well as growth of the customer base. • In the long run, there is a challenge to stimulate P2P-providers to also off-load their shared cars and use B2C shared cars. Based upon the current experiences with P2P car sharing services, the opportunity exists to develop similar design and business concepts for two-wheeler sharing systems, even though the initial investment costs (and fixed costs) for the user of two-wheelers is much lower than for cars, and hence the cost benefits for users are much lower. During the last four years we have witnessed a steady growth of the use of electric vehicles (both fully electric powered vehicles as well as hybrids) in our urban environments, primarily in specific niches and customer groups. Although limitations with respect to driving range, purchase price and infrastructure still exist, technological developments are going fast and battery capacity (and driving range) is increasing while costs are reducing, making EV’s more competitive with ICEs in the near future. The students’ work has primarily focused on developing electric mobility concepts for specific urban mobility niches in which these limitations do not play a role (small driving distances) and they focused on developing optimal user-centered (inductive) charging systems that integrate with the home (and local

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energy production). Based upon their work, we can make several recommendations for future research and design in electric mobility and charging: • The advantages of electric mobility are well suited for urban niche vehicles and car sharing services. EVs have no local CO2 emissions and do not contribute to air pollution, which makes it perfect for city mobility. Also the average driving distance in a city is very small, so battery capacity (driving range) is not a direct limitation. There is a large opportunity to develop and design shared EVs and specific electric urban niche vehicles that are lightweight, relatively cheap, easy and safe to charge, and easy to operate and with low maintenance costs. • The Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) projects show numerous ways to integrate charging, parking and energy management facilities at home to enhance the EV capabilities and synergy among the infrastructures. Inductive charging is one of the basic building blocks of most of the solutions. For integration with home energy management systems, and integration of the EV battery in that system, inductive charging should operate in both ways. Further research is needed to create bi-directional inductive power exchange with high energy-efficiencies. Moreover, the safety of inductive charging should be maximized. Several components of the students projects will be used to develop a first prototype of an inductive charging based V2H-system at Delft University of Technology. • There is still a need to develop adequate instruments to assess the lifecycle performance of EVs with respect to environmental and cost criteria. This should not only involve production, operation, maintenance and recycling phases of the lifecycle, but specifically with respect to the battery also second-life applications and disassembly. This will give us a better insight in the best application areas of EVs, but also which design elements should be optimized for the future. Optimizing the connections and transfers between different mobility and transportation modalities in the city was another challenge the students worked on. Safe, easy and efficient transfer between modalities enhances the possibilities of, and choices for, more sustainable mobility modalities over private ICE-based car use. Well-designed and well-connected transport hubs improve the accessibility and livability of the city in a major way. The projects like the Hubway and the Waterhub illustrate the challenges and provide directions for solutions that need further development:

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• Efficient operation of transportation hubs can benefit considerably from the integration of advanced logistics and ICT systems. To optimize connections, realize seamless transfer and travel, and reduce waiting times, optimization of traveller flows, transportation modalities and capacities is needed. Collaboration between urban designers, architects, industrial designers, ICT specialists and logistic experts is necessary. • The livability and quality of the space is also utmost importance in designing these new hubways and transfer terminal concepts. Involving architects and industrial designers in the process can improve the user experience in a major way. The students working on the theme of personal mobility have focused on the question how to increase the quality of the user experience during travelling in the city and cope with choices, negotiations, guidance and stopping and moving situations during their journey. The students’ work demonstrates ample opportunities to enrich the physical environment and their journey with aesthetic and social experience and interaction, empowerment and exploration. We can make several recommendations: • With respect to ‘choices’, citizens could be better supported in their transport choices in ways more meaningful to them, by enabling them to integrate mobility planning into their life and work arrangements. Municipalities can achieve gains in citizen health, air quality and inclusivity, and can look into facilitating the development of digital and social support for transport choices. Collaboration could be with transport companies, public services. • With respect to ‘negotiations’, the students’ projects show that understanding new groups and the change they bring holds potential to boost a city’s quality of life, image and tourism. Companies like a train company can showcase their service orientation. A municipality can strive to understand and develop scenarios for newcomers’ needs and how they could be integrated. It requires further research into negotiations between citizens and at the planning level. Pilot projects could test approaches. • The projects on ‘guidance’, show that rioritizing underserved streams such as pedestrians challenges the status quo of the city fabric. The city can gain in image, air quality, vibrancy (through use), and safety. Stakeholders such as builders can increase service quality and efficiency through new ideas. This requires looking into the modes of decision-making at a planning level of

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which streams to prioritize, and how to integrate them with other streams. It also requires further research into ways to design calmer interactions to allow for mingling. • The investigation of user experiences and interactions during ‘stopping and moving’ show that unicipalities could discover the potential in city environments and the journeys through them, and open them up to human needs such as aesthetic and social experience and interaction, empowerment as well as exploration. Creating quality of life here affects other areas of people’s lives too as well as the quality and image of the city itself. To achieve this, a municipality or a transport company could try out new approaches to environmental planning (e.g. lab-type research and design approaches, ‘city lab’) that take a

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co-creation approach and include, for example, citizens, user-centred designers, health professionals, artists, new media communities and citizen participation advocates. These conclusions and recommendation are based upon two years of students’ work on sustainable mobility challenges of the city of Rotterdam, in collaboration with stakeholders and companies. They offer excellent opportunities for future research and design in the next years and future collaboration. The Delft University of Technology, and its students and researchers, will continue work on these challenges and are determined to contribute to a more sustainable and mobile society for all.

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Final words from the editors

In the past two years the Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab project has successfully run and more than 130 students and 20 researchers and professors from the Delft University of Technology have worked on creating solutions for a more sustainable and vibrant city of Rotterdam. It has been a challenging and very satisfying period of creative and collaborative work. Looking back we can say that the topic of the ‘city’ and ‘urban innovation’ has become one of the most inspiring and urgent topics to work on and gained center stage in our national and European R&D agenda’s for the near future (e.g. EU Horizon 2020). Researching and developing solutions to tackle the city’s challenges in greening transport and mobility, sustainable energy, water management, circular economy, and ICT and smartness, is key to improve the quality of live in our cities for current and future generations. 121

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The work at REIL has demonstrated that the collaboration between students, researchers, designers, industry partners, governmental organizations, users and citizens opens up new ways of looking at metropolitan problems and creates novel solutions and insights, of which many examples are shown in this REIL Review magazine. We are proud to have worked with all participants in REIL and would like to thank all students, tutors and professors for their dedication, inspiration and time. We would also like to express our gratitude to our industry partners from the CleanTechDelta and the city of Rotterdam for the opportunities to collaborate and their time spent on helping students and sharing expertise and ideas. During all the different projects at REIL we have made some relevant observations for future research and design (besides the specific opportunities and agenda that we identified in the final sections of Urban Ecologies and Urban Mobilities). We believe four observations are essential: • If we really aim to improve the quality of life and the sustainability of our cities, we cannot neglect the importance of the citizen and its double role (responsible citizen vs. consumer/customer). To improve the widespread adoption of new sustainable products and services, involvement of the future user in the development process is critical to identify unmet user needs, align functionality, interactions and reliability with customer use, and satisfy economic and financial requirements and limitations of the customers. Involving users (citizen/customer) in these development processes is necessary but can also generate tensions and dilemmas that have to do with this specific double role. As a responsible citizen (or neighbor) users can demand and want specific functionalities and qualities of (public) products and services, that he/she is not willing to pay for as a price-sensitive customer or is to troublesome to use. In the development process we have to distinguish these different roles of the user at different stages in the process. We can and should solve potential tensions between these roles and design integrative solutions that satisfy both roles and not only one at the expense of the other. The Living Lab-approach as applied in the Concept House Village project (that runs parallel to REIL) is a method to gain early insights in the tensions between roles and ways to solve them. Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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• One of the ways to optimize the sustainability of the complex city metabolism (ie. its flows of energy, heat, water, materials and people) is to look for synergies and connections between flows and (sub-)systems. We can make cities more sustainable when we are better able to connect and combine ‘surpluses with deficits’ at various levels of analysis. However, by doing this we also create more complex systems, with more interdependencies between sub-systems and more complex control systems. There is a risk that a system with high interdependencies is also more vulnerable for errors, and failures can cascade throughout the system, disabling sub-systems one by one. This means that we, as designers, have to be aware of these interdependencies and we have to design for resilience of these systems (and not only efficiency). We also have to design for ‘simplicity’ and create city systems that are not too complex to be managed and planned. If the city system is too complex, we will also need a very complex control system that is usually very costly and often not as effective in the case of disturbances or failures. The current quest for ‘smart cities’, large ICT-platforms and ‘big data’ to manage and control the ‘whole’ city must thus be critically examined. We should prefer simplicity instead, and design systems that are simple and resilient. • Designing and implementing more resilient and simple sustainable city solutions and systems is also relevant for the citizen and its autonomy. While there is a tendency to create more complex city systems with higher interdependencies and more complex and larger control (and ICT) systems, this makes it much more difficult for individual citizens to have a say and effect on what is going on in its direct environment. Control and autonomy of the citizen is important for acceptance and adoption. For future research and design it is important to look at this aspect and investigate how we can assure and empower the autonomy of citizens in sustainable city systems. • For the successful development and implementation of new ideas and solutions for sustainable city systems the process and timing is crucial. The different stakeholders in the development of urban areas (city planners, industry, energy and service providers) can increase the effectiveness of their work by involving knowledge institutes at the 123

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right time in their design-/development processes. This would primarily be in the ideation and conceptualization phases where the involvement of students and researchers has proven to be effective for exploring, identifying, and evaluating new concepts and solutions. We have also witnessed several interesting spin-offs of the REIL student projects that will be pursued hereafter: • From the V2H-concepts developed, a research team from the Delft University of Technology is currently working on a first mock-up and prototype of the inductive charging Bumper Dock concept and integration with Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). It is the goal to realize a first prototype and integrate this with the already realized Concept House Prototype facility at Rotterdam Heijplaat. This will take form of a Vehice-to-Home innovationlab that will facilitate collaboration with partners from industry to test and improve V2H-solutions and the integration with HEMS and local renewable energy grids. • The solutions of the student projects on carsharing, user-involvement and trust-building have been used by the Dutch carsharing service MyWHeels and embedded in their web-platform. • The projects on personal mobility that investigated users experiences in (public) transportation in Rotterdam have resulted in new insights in how to improve these experiences and the potential role of public service and transportation providers in this. The user experience research team at Delft University will initiate discussions with these service providers (e.g. NS, RET, Prorail, and City of Rotterdam) to investigate the possibility of extension of the user-experience projects and detailing of some of the design solutions. After two years of REIL we believe that triple-helix collaboration on sustainable city challenges has worked out well and demonstrated the great contribution that can be made by young designers and engineers in solving sustainability challenges. Although the REIL project has formally ended (as part of the PID subsidy program), the Delft University of Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab

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Technology and the industry partners of the CleanTechDelta and the City of Rotterdam will continue collaboration on student projects in sustainable city systems and sustainable design solutions for transport, energy, waste, and water. The typical REIL activities will be embedded within the CleanTechDelta platform (CTD) and linked to the CTD innovation programs that are run by its triple-helix partners. This integration will enable use to work more closely together with industry partners and city stakeholders on sustainability challenges that are urgent and real, and for which collaboration is essential. We will continue and be inspired and look forward to solve today’s and tomorrow’s city challenges together with you.

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The Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab – REIL – is a multidisciplinary think tank/design studio to accelerate sustainable urban innovation in the city of Rotterdam, which was running from 2010 to 2013. At REIL, more than 130 design and engineering students from the Delft University of Technology have developed and co-designed innovative solutions to solve urgent environmental challenges in the urban metabolism of Rotterdam – water, energy, transport, material flows and buildings.

This REIL Review magazine presents the state-of-the-art of the students’ solutions and designs, and discusses future directions for research and innovation for sustainable urban development. It consists of two main parts: Urban Ecologies and Urban Mobilities. Urban Ecologies describes new designs and solutions to improve the resilience and sustainability of the urban metabolism. The Urban Mobilities part describes new solutions to create a more mobile, accessible and sustainable city.

The Rotterdam Eco-Innovation Lab has been an initiative of the Delft University of Technology together with the municipality of Rotterdam, industry partners from the Clean Tech Delta, and the University of Applied Sciences of Rotterdam.

2013


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