Bossche Stadsdelta 's-Hertogenbosch

Forever young

‘s-Hertogenbosch is a water city. The Bossche Stadsdelta is the place where the Dommel, Aa, Binnendieze and Zuid-Willemsvaart flow together…

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Amstelstation Amsterdam

Waiting space becomes waiting place

WeLoveTheCity has untangled the maze of infrastructure around Amstel Station. Pedestrians walk across the green and car-free station square to…

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Spoorzone Almelo

Almelo Centraal

The municipality of Almelo has adopted the Almelo Central Development Vision and established the Municipalities Preferential Rights Act (WVG). This…

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Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa

Inclusive densification

Affordable housing is a universal fundamental right. But why is it still a global problem? More and more working Dutch…

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Cultural Estates Hilversum

Serenity in the Randstad

City dwellers crave for peace, space and nature, but unfortunately it cannot cost a penny. Many estates have therefore the…

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Cromhoff, Twekkelerveld, Rigtersbleek and Het Volkspark Enschede

Talent for Twente

After Amsterdam, Enschede is home to the largest and most diverse range of educational and knowledge institutions. The city is…

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Hamburg, London, Rome

Smarticipate

WeLoveTheCity is also engaged in the development of tools for better cities. Smarticipate is a striking example of this. The…

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Harbour Quarter Deventer

The Flemish Approach

Everyone knows: if you pass the old silos by the sluice, you are really in Deventer. Here, WeLoveTheCity introduced The…

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Paasbos Nijkerk

Co-creation for doers

WeLoveTheCity ordered 100 empty ‘Paasboxes’. Residents of Paasbos in Nijkerk drew, taped and wrote their wishes and ideas for the…

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Kolenkitbuurt Amsterdam

Reclaiming the street

Amsterdam West holds a special place in our hearts. It began with Mercatorplaza on the A10 West ring road. Together…

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Downtown Rotterdam

Club Cool

Rotterdam doesn’t have much space but it does need a lot of housing. That means densification. In the middle of…

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Watertorenpark Hengelo

A Vondelpark in miniature

It was an epic battle but it worked: Watertower Park Hengelo is complete! “Over the cycle highway F35 towards the…

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Waalsprong Nijmegen

Plant Your Flag

WeLoveTheCity believes that the energy transition will proceed more quickly if you give residents and entrepreneurs the space to implement…

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Urban Land Swap Winterswijk

The best city centre

In 1998, Andries Geerse drew up the structural plan for the historic centre of Woerden, which was proclaimed the best…

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The Village Arnhem

Smart & Slow

Since Dutch TV presentator Mies Bouwman’s crowd funding action in 1962, Het Dorp represents the emancipation of people with disabilities.…

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Overview

Smarticipate

Smarticipate

WeLoveTheCity is also engaged in the development of tools for better cities. Smarticipate is a striking example of this. The idea is simple: a resident wants more trees in her street and enters this in the Smarticipate App. The resident automatically receives real-time feedback: “Your street is indeed very stony and planting trees is a good idea. However, there is one but: you have placed the trees exactly on a gas pipe…” The resident had never been aware of ‘invisible’ gas pipes but is not discouraged by them. She draws an alternative on the Smarticipate App which she then shares via social media. Her neighbours react enthusiastically, which stimulates her to share the tree proposal with the municipality via the app.

Smarticipate is part of the European innovation programme ‘ICT-enabled Open Government’ (INSO-1-2015) with Hamburg, Rome and London as pilots. In these cities, WeLoveTheCity acted as a bridge builder between ICT developers, municipal services and citizens. Our Smartathons attracted over 750 participants who were eager to help make Smarticipate relevant, user-friendly and democratic.

WeLoveTheCity perfectly bridged the gap between participation, ICT and urban planning, and together we were able to gather and connect the knowledge of citizens and experts. The cooperation has also led to better working methods within our team, because WeLoveTheCity has clearly shown what is important to citizens and what is not.

Joanna Hammond, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Democratic? The Smarticipate App is strictly speaking not an app but an open digital platform on which anyone can develop his or her own app (or ‘topic’). For this reason, WeLoveTheCity wrote the guide ‘Grab your potential: How to create a new app’. The DIYers in Hamburg chose to make a Tree App, those in Rome and London an Urban Gardening App and a 3D Transformation App. And you know what the best part is? Everything works! So keep on up and make your own app for a better city.