De opkomst van de zelfrijdende auto gaat steden veranderen. Dat is de verwachting die Except uitsprak bij de start van het onderzoek ‘Self-Driving City’ en waar onderzoekers van het SURF-STAD programma¹  zich de komende jaren over buigen. Alle grote auto-industrieën zijn er mee bezig en nieuwe innovatie bedrijven verschijnen op de markt. Uber en Google investeren in pilotprojecten terwijl Europese ministers zich buigen over aangepaste wetgeving. 

On 17th April 2015, IUCN organized the Leaders for Nature forum in Eindhoven. Except supported IUCN in a year long trajectory to prepare and guide the Forum in a new format. This included concept development, stakeholder involvement and preparation of the challenges.

The preparations resulted in 10 challenges brought in by the network of Leaders for Nature. Over 150 participants from business, NGOs and government joined the forum. Guided by Except, teams worked on the most pressing natural capital challenges.

Van het Zuiverste Water (translates in 'From the Purest Water') was a stakeholder trajectory led by Stadsstromen to help the Municipality of Almere futureproof their water management approach. Except was asked to assist during several meetings with expertise in illustration, design and stakeholder engagement.

The Dutch online Natural Capital Atlas offers hundreds of maps that portray ecosystem services in the Netherlands. The Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, initiator of the Atlas, wants to further develop the website with users. We guided a consultation process with municipalities and companies to identify their needs, and wishes. Results are a crystal clear list of directly implementable recommendations for accessibility, categorization, expanded data needs,  interactivity and functionality.

Download the report (in Dutch) with our findings at the bottom of the page.

Self-driving vehicles will change the urban environment drastically. The Self-driving City Research uncovers insights into the major changes, and how to adopt to them. Who will use self driving vehicles, what are their effects on the urban fabric, business, and on us all, the people? We show patterns and lessons learnt as well as five local in-depth case studies. All freely available below. The project is funded by The Dutch Creative Industry Fund, supported with knowledge from local governments, universities and industries. 

We’re working with Schiphol Real Estate and more than 70 stakeholders and experts on boosting sustainability and performance of the Schiphol Central Business District with the concept of a Catalytic multi-tennant office design.

The project realizes an integrated sustainable and self sufficient area, that is a healthy and inspiring place to work, with a footprint of over 20.000 m2 in an unprecedented sustainable and future proof building.

We brought together 60 participants of Dutch municipalities, Waterboards and business to discuss climate adaptation in a working conference.  What are the curent complexities in adapting our living environment to extremes in heat, drought and rainfall? These adaptations are often complex, multi stakeholder and multidisciplinary. How do we manage these effectively, including aspects such as finance?

The conference resulted in clear calls  for action for various players in the decision chain, from national platforms to finance institutions, and are rolled out with support of the Dutch Ministery of  Infrastructure and the Environment.