The integrated story of public space is now ready for implementation.

Authors: Jesse Keil and Susan Konings

Public space is under pressure, as the more than 400 participants present at the City Deal's closing public space event know all too well. Cities are becoming increasingly dense, and intense use is causing infrastructure in public spaces to erode faster and faster.

Broken streets can almost be repaired again through new spatial interventions once the work is completed. From heating grids, tree roots, electricity and sewerage cables, to children's play areas: claims to space have different owners and different time frames. While municipalities do not have any It is an endless source of time, money and manpower.

Civil servants, spatial designers, area managers, asset managers and other spatial professionals came to the final event in Amsterdam to find out how they can contribute to the solution. WaThe city deal expires after today; The spatial and organizational puzzle does not.

Atelier expert Thijs van Spaandonk has already shared six tips at the closing event, which are collected “Integrated Story” Roadmap. According to Van Spaandonck, the biggest challenge lies at the tactical level, between long-term integrated ambitions and concrete implementation.

Organizing the tactical space is the first piece of advice through which Van Spaandonck hopes to achieve better coordination between the municipal strategy and the implementation level. There must also be new surface management, and municipalities and partners must learn how to implement urban programming for more connectivity opportunities and more efficient use of space.

The municipality is the manager responsible for bringing together the goals, ambitions, interests and rules of all parties of the chain.

According to the studio director, available resources and capacities must be used more intelligently to achieve the integrated approach, including through new investment alliances between water boards, non-life insurers and building owners. Finally, integrated work must become “in the capillaries of every organization.” .

More difficult than expected

The latest event presents a mostly positive picture of the future, with a slight sigh of relief. Through the City Deal, professionals from twelve municipalities and four Union ministries were able to achieve this integrated approach.

Municipalities such as Groningen, which wants to reclaim space from the car through its own design guidelines for the quality of public spaces, and the municipality of Apeldoorn, which has begun to redefine roles and tasks within its own institution.

Or the municipality of Leiden, which has already coordinated its management plans for the next 30 years to use the earthworks as efficiently as possible. It thus frees up space for future heating and power infrastructure.

Individual efforts by City Deal municipalities fit this integrated story, but the task of helping municipalities implement has not been entirely successful. “This turned out to be more difficult than expected,” says Van Spaandonck.

Municipalities and spatial partners face many challenges, as was evident in the final event. According to some, there is enough space, but there is no room to think of creative solutions.

“We are fighting over the same tangerines, while one person may only need the peel and another the juice,” one official said. Other attendees talk about the challenge of breaking old habits, zoning, and sector budgeting.

This can also be seen in tool development. To make the integrated approach to public space more transparent, City Deal Public Space has developed a toolbox containing 24 tools.

The starting point was to design a single tool. However, this has turned out to be impossible in practice, says Hein Feldmaat of consulting and engineering firm Tao. “The 24 tools are now all a piece of the puzzle.”

Examples in the box include a collaboration guide, a step-by-step plan for communicating with network operators, and Waaier for integrated programming. The toolbox also contains articles and reports from participating municipalities. The tools are divided into process, data, organization, culture, finance, legislation and regulations. the Tools Wakes up City Deal website.

Additional attention has been paid to applying tools at the tactical level, because this receives insufficient or even non-existent attention in many organizations, says Feldmatt. The tactical level relates to district and district plans.

In general, the goal of the toolkit is to bring the three levels closer together, and for example, people working at the strategic level also think about the tactical story. Ultimately, practical examples should also be added to the tools.

Further development

It is also necessary to continue the City Deal activities now completed Integrated Collaboration Platform in Public Space (ISOR) Prove. The City Deal will therefore structurally continue and will retain a collection point for the tools and methods gathered over three years. The site aims to further develop the tools and apply them widely.

An invitation to join has already been sent out to all G40 cities, but the digital call at the final event from Amsterdam Councilor Melanie van der Horst was clear: big or small, all municipalities are welcome to ISR.

Finally, Marcel Coleman, Head of Spatial Management at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, said that the government will once again be more present in the spatial field.

“As a government, we want to stay in touch with what is going on across the country. There is interest in structured cooperation, so that we can coordinate with the regions.

It is also linked to the Ministry of Interior and Royal Relations. “We are busy working on the initial draft of the spatial planning policy. But paper remains paper if we cannot share what is needed with our local partners.

Saskia de Haas, City Manager of Amsterdam, shares in a “Final Look” session what she and many municipalities need: “standards for all municipalities”. and amending regulations. Government assistance is urgently needed for this purpose.