Urban Minds is a project-based Swedish consultancy company with extensive knowledge on urban development projects at different scales. In 2018, Urban Minds started working on a project together with the municipality of Knivsta. The municipality is located centrally between Uppsala and Stockholm, a fast-growing region. The Swedish state and the municipality have come to an agreement which states that 15,000 new homes will be constructed in a mixed and sustainable urban structure by the municipality in exchange for the state expanding the railway from two to four tracks.

Based on available documents and meetings with our client Urban Minds our project group decided on three different interventions to be considered for the sustainable growth of the area. We suggest implementing these interventions in the Urban Development Strategy of the municipality of Knivsta.

On our webpage, you will find more information about the project and the three different interventions. These will be explained with the help of recorded videos and short summaries. You can also access the report written by our group to read up on the details of our recommendations.

The pier in Holwerd is important for the region as it functions as a gateway to the nearby island of Ameland, transporting visitors and necessary supplies. However, the passageway requires more amounts of dredging year by year. While this is not only harmful to the environment, it is also increasingly expensive and causes delays for the ferry service. These problems require a new solution while also providing an opportunity for regional development!

A local pressure group, Holwerd aan Zee, wants to ensure that the pier stays near Holwerd while also seizing the opportunity to make the pier attractive for tourists and visitors, creating socio-economic opportunities for the struggling village. Our project aims to assist this local pressure group in developing an appealing and sustainable vision for the new pier by incorporating it with its natural environment, the Wadden Sea.

This report gives insight into the problem while providing a solution that consists of a functional part, aimed at decreasing dredging and ensuring reliable transit to Ameland, and a multifunctional part, focused on recreation, tourism and environmental aspects.

It is widely accepted that the greatest problem humanity faces to date is climate change. Food production is responsible for roughly 26% of the greenhouse gas emissions, with agriculture constituting a significant portion caused by anthropogenic activities. It is evident that changes in the agricultural sector and the food industry are needed to tackle climate change.

One promising solution lies within microalgae. They contain a wide range of essential nutrients that are beneficial to human health and could be used as an additive in food products. They are able to grow in diverse environments and produce more biomass per hectare than other vascular plants commonly used as food crops. Furthermore, microalgae do not require cultivation on agricultural land and therefore non-fertile areas can be used. When algae are industrially grown, they can take up CO₂ emitted from other industries to reduce environmental impact across these industries, a concept called Industrial Symbiosis.

This is where Omega Green comes into the picture; a company based in the Netherlands that is convinced that algae could significantly contribute to healthy and sustainable food by cultivating algae indoors and being in Industrial Symbiosis with other industries.

Groninger initiative Zon op alle Daken challenged the students to think about combining an electric car sharing system with their existing business of providing solar panels to people that do not have the financial means to participate.

On the 29th of January you will be able to hear all about the results of the project, and will be taken through the process, but on this website we have outlined some of the essentials:

The website provides you with a small summary of the components of our project: the importance of sustainability, the role of Zon op alle Daken and the role our report plays in all this.

We will provide you with the highlights of our project, give you a short insight into the different parts of the report and give you the opportunity to read it all in full.

Finally, we will try to convince you why electric shared mobility is the way forward, by way of the 3 sustainability pillars: People, Planet and Profit.

We hope you visit our website, join our presentation and consider making the transition away from the polluting ways of fossil-fueled vehicles!

The picture included is courtesy of Smart Energy Water

To visitors of Zernike Campus, the fact that several parties on campus are working on sustainability is currently not visible from the outside. This is limited by a lack of application of innovations. The following FPI project aimed to make Zernike a representation of the world of tomorrow. This is done by outlining a plan to add small, complementary innovations with high visibility that can be incorporated into existing plans, while at the same time contributing to a new vision for the campus.

The vision strives to bring together the campus’ stakeholders and to make a sustainable Zernike a common goal. The main aim is to make the unseeable seen. Along with this comes a focus on enhancing social cohesion and collaboration among the different parties at campus, to improve the awareness and appreciation of sustainability. The website shares the pillars on which this project is built, and it gives an impression of the proposed innovations.

In line with the agreements made during the Paris Climate Accord, the Dutch government has committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 49%, compared to 1990 levels, by 2030. Of that, the built environment; residential, commercial, and office spaces, accounted for 24.4% of the national GHG emissions in 2018. Lefier is a social housing corporation operating in the north of the Netherlands with the goal to become carbon neutral by 2050. They strive to provide good living conditions at affordable prices. They own 24 residential monuments in the city of Groningen and have requested advice on which energy-saving interventions are feasible and available to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings.

Historic buildings “(...) are tangible remnants of the past and make an important contribution to the appearance, identity and quality of the city and its surroundings. They ensure that the history of the city is visible and can be experienced. Monuments provide a nice overview of the different periods in which they were built and the changes they have undergone” (Gemeente Groningen). Energy savings from monuments can be achieved through physical and behavioural interventions, as long as the following criteria are respected:

1. Conservation comes before innovation.

2. Respect the construction history.

3. Additions and changes are reversible.

4. New materials are compatible and trusted.

5. Renew with original materials.

Follow the link to find out more!

What we buy has one of the most profound effects on climate change. Therefore, there is a great appetite to change our purchasing habits. In this project, the objective was to help the Province of Groningen to improve the sustainability of their procurement process. The Province of Groningen is a regional government found in the north of the Netherlands. They have an exemplary function to society, their actions serve as a benchmark for other public authorities or businesses in the region.

The Province of Groningen has prioritized sustainability for many years. Their policy for purchasing decisions considers sustainability. However, some improvements can still be made.

We have researched how the province currently approaches their purchasing and what possibilities for improvement exist. Based on this comparison we have given advice on how to improve sustainability methods of purchasing. Although, continued research is necessary to find new possibilities, since sustainability is an ever-changing topic.

Interested? More information can be found on our webpage.