Wind energy Bay

^{image: van Paridon x de Groot}

The opportunities of the energy transition
How can the transition from fossil to renewable energy be a driving force for the economic and spatial development of the city and region of Groningen? And what are the next steps in bringing the development perspectives towards implementation? IABR–Atelier Groningen presents the opportunities for economic and spatial development that present themselves when city and region act on the energy transition. Four spatial design proposals are developed: Energy Port, Biobased Economy for the North, Groningen Smart Energy City and Sustainable and Safe Villages.

The perspectives are based on an exploration of the economic opportunities the transition to renewable energy in 2035 can produce and show a future for Groningen as a coherent urban region with a strong relations between the capital city and the surrounding villages and ready for the Next Economy: the Nordic City.

Biobased Delfzijl

^{image: Maat ontwerpers}

The Nordic City
Nordic City tells a story about a future that is both viable and desirable and can actually become a reality. This story puts a firm spin on the image of Groningen by highlighting the opportunities of a region that is now mostly known for its struggle with persistent problems like earthquake damage and demographic and economic shrinkage. It is a story that can rekindle the confidence necessary to draw investments to the region, to realize the energy transition, to repair the earthquake damage and turn lost ground into a head start. Nordic City comprises proposals that are ready for implementation as well as far-reaching concepts that will take a little more time. Rather than being visionary, the story paves the way for new projects and encourages policy- and decision making. It shows that city and region can take a leading role if all parties and stakeholders involved are serious about the energy transition.

Economic opportunities and spatial quality
In the wider context, the energy region of Groningen clearly stands out. With its extensive energy-based knowledge infrastructure and logistic hub and landing point for power and data in the Eemshaven sea port, the region can develop into an energy hub that serves a large area.The economic effect of the energy transition becomes substantial when we take the connections into account that the energy sector can make with other strong urban and regional economic sectors: agriculture, chemistry, knowledge institutes, ICT, and construction.

Wind landscape as experience

^{image: van Paridon x de Groot}

By approaching the energy transition in conjunction with other spatial challenges, such as the decline in population, the quality of the Groningen landscape can be strengthened.Atelier Groningen shows that the energy transition will greatly influence residential environments, but that the integration of the corres- ponding provisions and networks can preserve and reinforce their quality if plans are implemented carefully in collaboration with the parties involved and designed with a sense of location, material, and detail.

Spatial design proposals
Four promising clusters appear when the energy transition is coupled with economic development and spatial quality. The clusters bundle the economic activities that will ensure that the energy transition will take root in the city and the region of Groningen.

Four spatial design proposals elaborate the perspective that the energy transition can offer the Groningen Region:
Energy Port: prospect for Eemshaven: center for offshore wind, biomass supply, buffering, and energy distribution.
Biobased Economy for the North: prospect for Delfzijl as 
a ‘green’ industrial complex and the center of the biobased activity in the region.
Groningen Smart Energy City: prospect for the
 Smart Energy City: the Ringstraat as a new urban environment.
Sustainable and Safe Villages: prospect for a Sustainable and
Safe Onderdendam: reparation, reinforcement and greening of homes.

The results of Atelier Groningen are elaborated in the brochure 'The Nordic City' which can be downloaded here.

Project Atelier Groningen is a collaboration of the IABR and an alliance of the Province of Groningen, the Municipality of Groningen, Eemsdelta Region and the Groningen-Assen Region. The atelier master is Jandirk Hoekstra (H+N+S Landscape Architects).

The research and design research has been done by the offices E&E Advies, Quintel Intelligence, van Paridon x de Groot (in collaboration with LINT), Maat Ontwerpers, the Atelier of the Chief Architect of the Municipality of Groningen (MD Landscape Architects, Specht Architects, Studio MARCHA!) and H+N+S Landscape Architects.

The IABR initiates and produces the Project Ateliers as a lead partner for the Regional and Local Design Dialogue Program, within the framework of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment’s Action Agenda for Architecture and Spatial Design 2013–2016.

RDM Campus

^{foto: Kim Bouvy}

More and more cities are reconsidering their role in the manufacturing economy under the influence of developments like reshoring, the emergence of new smart technologies, the ambition to develop a circular economy and an increasing social interest in (local) craftsmanship. For Rotterdam, this is a development that offers welcome opportunities.

In Rotterdam, a former industrial city, different actors are researching and exploring how the city can make better and more productive use of the opportunities available for socio-economic development, by focusing on the making economy. How can Rotterdam profit from the large flows of cargo that move through the port and city on a daily basis? Can large scale industry and small scale making-initiatives be connected in such a way that mutual (knowledge) exchange and innovation are fostered? Which role can education play?

IABR–Atelier Rotterdam has explored which (spatial) opportunities emerge when the Metropolitan region Rotterdam The Hague is looked at from the perspective of the next manufacturing economy. What are the most promising components and how can the making economy, by fostering new connections and crossovers, and by building on the specific spatial characteristics of city and region, add value locally? In recent years large investments have been made in the global economic agenda, with little regard for whether these activities really add any value locally, to the city and to its inhabitants.

Development perspectives Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague

Seven development perspectives for the Metropolitan Region
The Atelier proposes seven development perspectives that further develope manufacturing economy and contribute to a more resilient region. Rather than a coprehensive strategy, the Atelier has been working on a selection of strategic and protoypical interventions that strenghten the regional manufacturing economy and thus contribute to a more socially inclusive urban region. The perspectives have been elaborated on the scale of the Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague and cover the spectrum from urban interventionsl to regional systems. An elaboration of the seven perspectives can be found here.

Project Atelier Rotterdam is a collaboration of the IABR and the Municipality of Rotterdam. The atelier master is Daan Zandbelt (De Zwarte Hond). The Dutch offices De Zwarte Hond en marco.broekman, and L'AUC from Paris, France have been commissioned to do the design research and to develop pilot projects.

The IABR initiates and produces the Project Ateliers as a lead partner for the Regional and Local Design Dialogue Program, within the framework of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment’s Action Agenda for Architecture and Spatial Design 2013–2016.

Living Room of the Healthy City, IABR–2016–THE NEXT ECONOMY

^{picture: Lotte Stekelenburg}

IABR–Projectatelier Utrecht: THE HEALTHY CITY
The population of Utrecht is among the healthiest in the Netherlands. There are, however, marked differences inside the city. Utrecht is doing its best to address such persistent differences in health and life expectancy, but has to operate in a force field that is in full transition. The national government is delegating care tasks to municipalities. The consolidating health economy is passing into the hands of a few large parties that add little local value. In addition, the city of Utrecht expects its population to grow from 330,000 today to 400,000 in 2030 within the current city limits, which will result in a significant densification of its existing urban territory.

Health and urban development
To examine how health and urban development issues can be coupled, the Atelier investigated what innovative spatial development strategies can contribute to the creation of an inclusive, healthy city that prioritizes solidarity between different generations, cultures, and income groups. Atelier Utrecht focused on both spatial and programmatic transformations in the city as related to health and well-being, and on changes in the funding of health care.

IABR–Utrecht: The Healthy City

^{De Smet Vermeulen Architects}

To visualize the results of its explorations and to define where the opportunities for a healthier Utrecht lie, the Atelier zoomed in on a number of strategic test sites in two areas of Utrecht: Overvecht, the area with the weakest health statistics and Merwede Canal Zone, a transitional area between well- and poorly performing parts of the city.

The municipality as choreographer
The result comprises a number of promising scenarios that use densification as a catalyst to achieve a healthy city. Increasing the number of places for social encounter will strengthen social networks and thus the residents’ independence. Proximity encourages healthy mobility and, in addition, living, working, shopping, and relaxing all within walking or cycling distance stimulates local economic and social networks.

Level playingfield: municipality as choreographer

^{Architecture Workroom Brussels}

Besides spatial opportunities, municipal authorities are given an opportunity to position themselves as choreographers of a ‘cooperative’ urban development and to involve a variety of actors with very different investment potentials and ambitions in area and neighborhood development. Atelier Utrecht: The Healthy City provides insights that can also inspire other cities in the Netherlands and abroad.

The results of Atelier Utrecht were published in a book entitled From Cure to Care – Transitions in the healthy city of Utrecht. For more information, click here.

Atelier Utrecht is a collaboration of the IABR and the Municipality of Utrecht.

The atelier master is Joachim Declerck (Architecture Workroom Brussels).
The Belgian offices Achitecture Workroom Brussels and De Smet Vermeulen architects, and MUST urbanism from Holland have been commissioned to do the design research and to develop pilot projects. AORTA Center of Architecture is an active partner.

The IABR initiates and produces the Project Ateliers as a lead partner for the Regional and Local Design Dialogue Program, within the framework of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment’s Action Agenda for Architecture and Spatial Design 2013–2016.

2050 - An Energetic Odyssey

^{© IABR, Tungsten Pro}

The European climate objective – 80 to 95 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 compared with 1990 – requires significant system changes. The IABR–Atelier 2050 – An Energetic Odyssey shows how far-reaching the energy transition from fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas to an energy supply largely fed by renewable energy sources actually is. It is a (spatial) task that is still largely underestimated. On land, we will have to pull out all the stops in terms of energy saving, central and decentral initiatives with solar panels, wind, bio mass, geothermal heat, residual heat, and so on. Even making a maximum effort, this will prove inadequate. 2050 – An Energetic Odyssey represents a system leap that makes it possible to bridge this gap by the very large-scale production of wind energy on the relatively shallow North Sea for the countries that surround it.

Transition
The IABR–Atelier 2050 demonstrates what such an ambitious approach involves, what infrastructure it requires, what it means to link up with the nature of the North Sea, what role the entrepreneurial state plays, which innovations this requires, and especially which new economic dynamic this will generate, for instance in the offshore sector.
Research by design will facilitate this transition of imaginaries. The aim of the installation is to create a reference point for a broad dialogue between public and private parties and a new, appealing step towards the realization of large scale production, transportation, and storage of renewable energy on and around the North Sea. Development perspectives are outlined on the basis of a robust future scenario.

After IABR–2016–THE NEXT ECONOMY the installation has been reformatted. Click here to see the video

Towards a clean economy
The title of the project, 2050 – An Energetic Odyssey, is meant to provoke. Many people underestimate the scale of the challenge and think that the transition can take place with the support of small-scale projects alone (small is beautiful). However, the goal agreed upon worldwide – to limit global warming to 1.5 to 2 degrees – also requires more large-scale and drastic changes of the system. The good news is that, in principle, the production of North Sea energy can meet the demand. 2050 – An Energetic Odyssey shows that the Next Economy can be a clean economy.

IABR with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Van Oord, Shell, TenneT, Zeeland Seaports, European Climate Foundation, Natuur & Milieu, RWE, Port of Rotterdam Authority and Port of Amsterdam.
Concept: Maarten Hajer and Dirk Sijmons
Research by design and animation by H+N+S Landscape Architects, Ecofys and Tungsten Pro

^{Picture: Bas Bogaerts}

Atelier Brussels: The Productive Metropolis BXL
A productive city is a healthy city and requires an approach that strives for a strategic anchoring of the future of the economy in the fabric of 21st-century city. International challenges and trends underline the need to reintroduce the manufacturing industry to our regions: from manufacturing that makes the link between knowledge, innovation and production, to a circular economy committed to shorter chains and flows of materials and energy.

The Flemish-Brussels metropolitan region has a large number of low-skilled unemployed, while old industrial zones languish in the city and its outskirts. Atelier Productive Metropolis BXL proposes giving these old industrial sites a new lease on life by focusing on attracting innovative production activities. The city as a melting pot of knowledge and labour is seen as the ideal breeding ground, with opportunities for the Brussels Canal Zone and the adjacent industrial zones in Vilvoorde, for developing a circular economy, and for local assembly coupled with a global logistics system.

^{Map: Architecture Workroom Brussel}

The thesis central to the research agenda of Atelier Productive Metropolis BXL is that the foundations of the productive city of the future can be laid in the metropolitan area, while at the same time achieving social, ecological, economic and spatial gains on both sides of the regional border. According to Atelier Productive Metropolis BXL, the foundations of the productive city of the future can be laid in the metropolitan area, while at the same time achieving social, ecological, economic and spatial gains on both sides of the regional border. The Atelier explores a better match between the changing economy and the organisation of space for productive activities in the capital city's metropolitan area. How can spatial quality and the urban economy reinforce one another, and who creates the productive city?

^{picture: Bas Bogaerts}

Within the workshop, a number of prospective design research programmes are being conducted on the basis of specific case studies, always in close cooperation with the relevant actors in Flanders and Brussels. The totality of the ongoing processes, and spatial and governance challenges in the Brussels metropolis make this region an excellent testing ground for future spatial models, as an example for many other cities and urban regions in Flanders, Wallonia and Europe. Through design research and a programme of policy and stakeholder participation, Atelier Productive Metropolis BXL will go in search of the desired development models and spatial typologies for the productive city.

Atelier Productive Metropolis BXL is a collaboration of the IABR, Architecture Workroom (AWB) and Brussels and Flemish actors amongst which the Brussels-Capital Region,Ruimte Vlaanderen, the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM) and the Province of Flemish Brabant.

Albania should be considered a potentially rich country in terms of human capital and natural resources. How can these be activated to sustainably boost locally added value for what Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama has termed Next Generation Albania?
In response to Rama’s call to designers worldwide to contribute to Next Generation Albania, George Brugmans (IABR), Freek Persyn and Johan Anrys (51N4E, Brussels) proposed Atelier Albania.
The Atelier was established in February 2014 and integrated into the Albanian Ministry of Urban Development’s National Planning Office (AKPT), directly advising the Albanian government. AKPT’s director, Adelina Greca, is the Atelier’s director; Brugmans and Persyn were engaged as special advisors.

Introduction Atelier Albania by George Brugmans and Freek Persyn, Tirana 2014

^{© Atelier Albania}

Leapfrog
The challenges in Albania are immense when looked at from the perspective of having to catch up with the rest of Europe. On the other hand, all nations now face the challenge of how to successfully make the transition to the next economy, to a green economy in a resilient post-fossil future. Could Albania not skip the catching-up phase, and focus instead on how to leapfrog into the twenty-first century? To be able to do so, Albania must develop its own vision and strategy on the basis of the unique characteristics, cultural values, and scenic qualities of the country itself, and frame them in a global context.
Atelier Albania’s main ambition is therefore to design a sustainable economic development model for Next Generation Albania. Its first priority is to activate the potential of Albania’s territory by re-imagining it in terms of its natural ecology: a coherent ecosystem with a metabolism made up of material flows, such as water, food, and energy, the country’s main natural resources.
The main goal of the Atelier is to foster a culture of learning by doing, of national planning as a continuous work in progress, where planning becomes a strategic feedback loop that produces applicable plans and projects that in turn inform the process of planning, and so forth.

Three tracks
Now, almost two years after its inception, Atelier Albania has developed three main parallel tracks.
First, a series of international competitions has delivered pilot projects the most promising of which are now being nurtured towards implementation. These competitions scout the territory, find out the lay of the land and collect intelligence.
Secondly, a structural dialogue between different stakeholders and international experts has been stimulated that has led to the decision to reformat the National Planning Agency and to redefine its brief, which in fact should lead to Atelier Albania taking over most roles of the National Planning Agency.
Thirdly, the need for a coherent development frame, based on the ‘metabolism approach’ developed by IABR, has been advanced in order to give direction and focus to the immense challenge of spatial and urban development policies in Albania. This frame is needed to uncover, in an organic way, the leapfrog potential that the country has.

The Metabolism of Albania
The indispensable underpinning for such a coherent development frame was the research by design project The Metabolism of Albania, produced by iabr/UP (IABR’s division for project and knowledge development through research by design) in close collaboration with the urban design office 51N4E (Brussels).

^{picture: .FABRIC}

The project was put into operation by a coalition of Albanian, Dutch and Belgian partners: Atelier Albania, the Albanian Ministry of Urban Development and other ministries, the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, the TU Delft Chair of Landscape Architecture, .FABRIC, 51N4E and IABR.
Atelier masters were Brugmans and Persyn. The project managers were Marieke Francke (iabr/UP), Sotiria Kornaropoulu (51N4E) and Joni Baboçi (AKPT).
The Dutch Embassy in Tirana and RVO NL/Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands generously supported the project.

The results of the project are published as The Metabolism of Albania: Activating the Potential of the Albanian Territory (iabr/UP, 2016). A selection of the results is the basis for the presentation of Atelier Albania in IABR–2016–THE NEXT ECONOMY. More information here.