‘Smart neighbourhoods should serve all city residents’

Afbeelding: Thomas Fasting

Congressen|14-09-2023 Edwin Nunnink9 min

The demand is great. According to the United Nations, in 2050, nearly 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas. It is the continuous migration from the countryside that keeps megacities such as Mexico City, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City shrinking and expanding. All those people looking for a higher standard of living in the city or, better yet, more income are major challenges for city authorities.

“When you drive through Ho Chi Minh City, you’re surrounded by 500,000 scooters. If you consider that 20 percent of them will soon be replaced by cars, the status symbol of prosperity, then you can sense what kind of problems this is going to cause.” When Peter Portheine speaks, he speaks from experience since EIPO has an office in the Vietnamese city of almost 10 million residents. EIPO stands for ‘Eindhoven International Project Office’, of which Portheine is the co-founder and director. The organisation advises on urban and economic development worldwide, with the director himself specialising in smart cities and the circular economy. Having an organisation based in a city of 240,000 residents located in a country with 17 million inhabitants advise megacities on how to deal with growth is quite special.

Smart village

Portheine explains that there is a nuance to this. Amsterdam is known worldwide for its integrated approach to urban development. But from an international perspective, the Netherlands as a whole is seen as one smart city. However, the Dutch involvement in megacity growth issues is based on something else, says Portheine. “In general, megacities raise the following issues: how do we maintain air quality, how do we manage water when most of these cities are located in a valley or a delta, how do you ensure sufficient sustainably generated energy, and how do you guarantee good accessibility?”

‘Technology is now increasingly being added as Netherlands third expertise’

“Dutch advice has always been sought when it comes to a Delta Plan (national plan against flooding) for the water management and development of the agricultural sector, because all those mouths have to be fed. Traditionally, the Netherlands has been very strong in these two fields. Technology is now increasingly being added as a third expertise.”

Brainport ecosystem

When people think of Dutch technology, they think of Brainport Eindhoven. The city in the southern province of Noord-Brabant is regarded as a bearer of the new economy and technological applications in the city. “It is not only the figureheads of Eindhoven University of Technology and chip machine manufacturer ASML that contribute to this reputation”, explains Portheine. “There’s a whole ecosystem behind it, which was activated in the late 1990s.” Back then, the electronics group Philips, also considered the founder of the city, had announced mass redundancies. Car manufacturer DAF, another innovative employer in the region, even had to close its doors, resulting in an unemployment rate of 25 percent.

‘Eindhoven is an example of smart specialisation, one of the strategic pillars of the EU’

These companies left a legacy of collaboration and social involvement in the DNA of the region. The mayor, the director of the Chamber of Commerce and the chancellor of the university jointly led the way to give the city an economic perspective. The triple helix of business, knowledge institutions and government provides the necessary transition for the region. “The success of ASML can be attributed to this. It was once a Philips spin-off that was sold because the company thought the risk was too high. Now, the chip machine manufacturer has a stock market value of more than 200 billion euro and ultimately determines what your smartphone can or cannot do and how fast”, says Portheine.

Smart specialisation

Eindhoven is an example of smart specialisation, one of the strategic pillars of the EU. As a small region, you cannot excel at everything, and you have to make choices if you want to stay relevant. Stakeholders all have to be on the same page, like in Eindhoven. With regard to the technological field in which this Noord-Brabant city excels, the competition does not come from the Netherlands or Europe but from a world player in a ‘big village’. Based on that practical experience and knowledge development, Eindhoven is the ideal base for EIPO and Portheine’s involvement in the development of smart cities and smart districts all over the world.

Half of the solution

“Smart cities doesn’t mean that you have a city full of technology. That’s a misconception I often hear. Maybe it’s actually the opposite: technology on its own doesn’t bring happiness. You only use it if it has a positive effect on people’s lives. And it doesn’t have to always be about objects. It can also be a very practical app”, says Portheine.

‘Smart cities doesn’t mean that you have a city full of technology’

“Technology is only half of the solution. A transition in behaviour is also needed. For example, look at the energy issue. It requires new technical solutions as well as another mindset about energy use.”

Trade shows are important

“In Asia, trade shows play an important role in this transition. It’s a gentle way of bringing about the use of technological applications and a culture change”, explains Portheine. “For instance, World Trade Centers are being built in a number of Vietnamese cities and seek to collaborate with trade show and conference organisers to offer a platform that can reach a larger segment of the population. The theme of events is often manufacturing industry 4.0, in which education also participates in enrolling new students. The government also contributes, often with a visitors day or dedicated event that informs the general public about the developments in a certain sector.” “In the manufacturing industry, it’s also increasingly more about lifelong learning, which is common practice in healthcare. It’s no longer simply product-oriented. That’s why you see events that are often a combination of trade show and conference.” [caption id="attachment_103573" align="aligncenter" width="750"] “In Asia, trade shows play an important role in this transition. It’s a gentle way of bringing about the use of technological applications and a culture change”, explains Peter Portheine.[/caption]

Exhibition and conference venues: moving or a change of function?
According to Portheine, conference centres are an integral part of the master plan for developing smart cities. “They belong to the ecosystem of living, working and studying. In Vietnam, there’s a focus on a high-quality economy based on the manufacturing industry, which requires a permanent type of presentation to companies and residents, both digitally and physically. To achieve this, a conference centre has to be part of the daily living environment.” Whereas Asia is mainly concerned with building new conference centres, Europe has a saturated market of existing complexes, many of which are still in the city. “In the context of urban development, you see the bulk locations disappearing to the edge of the city. In any case, the need for large venues tends to decrease, especially in urban areas, given that residents are fighting for the limited space available”, says Portheine. “The complexes that remain in the inner city need a change of function. The use of space is too large for a small number of events. A venue must be continuously functional, which can be done by focusing on more facilities and services for the residents, which also contributes to healthy exploitation. This does require a public-private approach. You cannot develop this from a commercial point of view. It has to be socially supported.”

City as a service

City councils have the important task of facilitating population growth. “That requires another way of thinking. The city as a service is gaining ground here. We need to start thinking in a more integral way across all disciplines. And circularity is a precondition. For every development, we need to look at the lifecycle.” From an energy point of view, it is better to develop a whole new city or district than to renovate an existing one, says Portheine. But the first step also has its challenges. “You can properly design new cities and neighbourhoods from a planning perspective with the pen of an architectural firm and the language of an urban planner. Such a master plan starts with making an inventory of spatial needs for housing, education and work. On top of that, there’s the necessary infrastructure, with the digital infrastructure being the most important today. Furthermore, that space must be able to breathe with the growth of the city, based on the desired development of the economy.

A city without a soul

“The biggest challenge is making sure that a city has a soul. You won’t achieve this by building an opera house. People want to recognise the vibe of existing cities in their own city. People often build satellite locations some ten kilometres from the big city. In the first five to ten years, it’s clinical, which is typical urban planning. People want to feel comfortable, pleasant and safe. It’s expats who are the last to live in new cities. The current strategy is to first develop social housing, where low-cost workers can afford to buy homes. Around those flats, there is a strip of local activity. People live cheaply and close to their work. A local microclimate is gradually created when, at some point, its heart starts beating very fast, like an infant’s. Then you gradually notice a wider variety of residents.”

Human side

“You should never lose sight of the human side of urban development”, explains Portheine. As an example, he gives the development of a smart district in nearby Helmond. The Brainport Smart District Foundation, of which he is the managing director, is creating a smart living and working district in which residents play a central role in developing their own living environment. The latest insights and techniques in participation, health, data, mobility, energy, and circularity are used to create a sustainable and beautiful living environment. The project is a collaboration between residents, professionals and other stakeholders. “You want to avoid fellow citizens seeing it as a gated community where privileged families live. You don’t want to be associated with the stigma of an elite behind an imaginary wall.”