Open Stad : Werken aan duurzame en democratische steden

In an open city, residents, entrepreneurs and social organizations think along with the municipality about what the city should look like. How does that think along? What does it deliver? And what does that require from all parties involved? In the magazine "Open city: working on sustainable and democratic cities" the researchers from R-LINK explain how it works on the basis of 14 practical examples. They also present 4 rules for successful step-by-step area development in co-creation between citizens, entrepreneurs and the government. A more gradual and searching form of urban development has emerged in the last ten years. Spatial planning is given a more "open" character there, both in the final image and in access for other players. This allows smaller-scale parties and citizens to participate in the process and the production of urban space. In such an "open city" there is more room for experimentation and better consideration is given to the dynamics and complexity of the city and its residents. This development of the "open city" fits in with the focus of the long-term NWO-VerDuS research project R-LINK. It examines how small-scale bottom-up initiatives in area development can contribute to solving social issues. In the magazine "Open city: working for sustainable and democratic cities", the researchers explore how this open, more demand-oriented and incremental approach to urban planning works in practice, including challenges and dilemmas. For this, we zoom in on the experiences of initiators and governments with 14 projects in Amsterdam and Groningen. In this way, the researchers come to important lessons for those who want to work for a more open city