Sustainable Urban Development

AESUS – a research project of the Urban Regions in the Delta programme (NWO)

The Analysing and Exploring Sustainable Urban Strategies (AESUS) project aims to develop a new generation of models that integrate societal developments, urban processes and changes in accessibility with sustainability issues. Such models can be used to better understand the complexity of reality, help shed light on potential future developments and evaluate possible impacts of alternative development strategies.

In the Netherlands several models are available that describe part of the complex relationship between urban dynamics and sustainability. Currently, however, these are not equipped to deal with contemporary spatial development issues and recent changes in the policy context (e.g. deregulation, decentralisation) in which these developments unfold. Nor are these models used in combination to offer an integrated view on the sustainability issues related to urban development. Within this project we aim to improve existing models and apply them in an integrated way to better understand increasing regional differences in urban development and propose and evaluate different urbanisation strategies. This is done in the context of expected developments along the hinterland-corridor surrounding the A2 motorway that connects Amsterdam with Belgium.

The project focuses on the following research themes:

1. analysing regional differences in growth (and shrinkage) of population and employment;
2. developing new planning and design concepts to deal with contemporary urban development processes and current changes in the policy context;
3. develop and integrate spatial decision support tools that can be used in national and regional spatial planning and development processes (in particular the Land Use Scanner model and Urban Strategy framework).

For more information, see the project website: http://aesus.verdus.nl, or download the project description.

Organization of the project indicating the four sub-projects/work packages and overall themes addressed

Publications related to Sustainable Urban Development

Springer	Koomen, E., Dekkers, J.E.C., Broitman, D., Analyzing and simulating urban density; Exploring the difference between policy ambitions and actual trends in the Netherlands (forthcoming), in: Thill, J-C. (eds.), Spatial Analysis and Location Modeling in Urban and Regional Systems. Advances in Geographic Information Science Series, Springer, Heidelberg, 2016.
Springer	Broitman, D., Koomen, E., Regional diversity in residential development: a decade of urban and peri-urban housing dynamics in The Netherlands, Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, 2015.
CEUS	Broitman, D., Koomen, E., Residential density change: Densification and urban expansion, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 54, pp.32-46, 2015.
Rooilijn	Jacobs-Crisioni, C.G.W., Koomen, E., Telefoonantennes als voelsprieten voor levendigheid, Rooilijn, 48 (2), pp.150-157, 2015.
full paper available from ESB website	Slaakweg, A., Daalhuizen, F., Koomen, E., De economische vitaliteit van kleine kernen, Economisch Statistische Berichten (ESB), 100 (4701), pp.20-23, 2015. Remarks: A Dutch national newspaper summarised part of the results almost correctly in a short article
	Broitman, D., Koomen, E., The attraction of the urban core: centrality, intensification and residential density gradients, Abstract and presentation at the 54th ERSA congress, August 26-29th, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2014.
	Broitman, D., Rijken, B., Koomen, E., Simulating urban densities in the face of local flood risk, in: Global Land Project (eds.), Proceedings of the Global Land Project 2nd Open Science Meeting, Berlin, March 19-21, 2014. Amsterdam/Berlin/Sao Paulo, 2014.
Rooilijn	Dekkers, J.E.C., Koomen, E., Broitman, D., De verstedelijkingsparadox; verdichtingsambities in de praktijk, Rooilijn, 47 (1), pp.22-29, 2014.
	Koomen, E., Westerink, J., Nedkov, S.B., Gebiedsontwikkeling dichter bij de burger, Rooilijn, 47 (4), pp.280-285, 2014.
	Koomen, E., Rijken, B., Recent applications of a land-use change model in support of sustainable urban development, in: Lee,D.B., Dias,E.S., Scholten,H.J. (eds.), Geodesign by integrating Design and Geospatial Sciences, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 2014.
	Lavalle,C., Baranzelli, C., Barbosa, A., Batista e Silva, F., Jacobs Crisioni, C.G.W, Mubareka, S., Perpina Castillo, C., Vandecasteele, I., Barranco, R., Koomen, E., Hilferink, M., Extended impact assessment of European Unions legislative and non-legislative measures: applications of the Land Use Modelling Platform (LUMP), in: Global Land Project (eds.), Proceedings of the Global Land Project 2nd Open Science Meeting, Berlin, March 19-21, 2014. Amsterdam/Berlin/Sao Paulo, 2014.
	Rijken, B., Koomen, E., Simulating Urban Redevelopment to Explore Sustainable Urban Development Pathways, Abstract and presentation at the 54th ERSA congress, August 26-29th, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2014.
	Slaakweg, A., Vitaliteit van het Nederlandse platteland; Een Kwantitatieve analyse van de verandering in vitaliteit op het Platteland tussen 2000 en 2010, Bachelor thesis Earth and Economics, VU University Amsterdam, 2014. Remarks: Evaluated: 1 July 2014 – Supervisor: Koomen, E.
	Broitman, D., Koomen, E., Crisis, regions and housing stock: a decade of urban and peri-urban housing dynamics, in: Book of abstracts Regional Science meeting Dutch-Israeli workshop, Groningen, the Netherlands, 3-4 October, 2013.
	Broitman, D., Koomen, E., Rijken, B., Built-in or build-out: Regional growth and residential spatial dynamics in the Netherlands, Abstract and presentation at the European Regional Science Association Conference August 27-31th, Palermo, Italy, 2013.
Springer	Dias, E.S., Linde, M., Rafiee, A., Koomen, E., Scholten, H.J., Beauty and Brains: integrating easy spatial design and advanced urban sustainability models. Chapter 27, in: Planning Support Systems for Sustainable Urban Development. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, CUPUM 2013, Springer, Berlin, 2013.
	Koomen, E., Rijken, B., Broitman, D., Stedelijke ontwikkeling in tijden van crisis; analyse en vooruitblik, Abstract and presentation at Ruimteconferentie 2013, Den Haag, 21 mei, 2013.
	Koomen, E., Rijken, B., Applying and improving planning support systems for sustainable urban development, in: Geertman, S., Stillwell, J., Toppen, F. (eds.), Proceedings of CUPUM 2013, The 13th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management. Planning Support Systems for Sustainable Urban Development, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 2013.
	Koomen, E., Rijken, B., Recent applications of a land-use change model in support of sustainable urban development., Abstract and presentation at Geodesign Summit Europe, GeoFort, Herwijnen, the Netherlands. September 19, 2013.
	Linde, M., Nedkov, S.B., Redefining the Smart City: Smart and liveable cities through participatory Geodesign, Abstract and presentation at the Geodesign Summit Europe, Geofort, Herwijnen, the Netherlands, 19 September, 2013.
	Rafiee, A., Dias, E.S., Batty, M., Scholten, H.J., Energy aware interactive design; experimenting with city morphology, Abstract and presentation at Geodesign Summit Europe, GeoFort, Herwijnen, the Netherlands, September 19, 2013.
	Rafiee, A., Dias, E.S., Koomen, E., Between Green and Grey: towards a new green volume indicator, in: Geertman, S., Stillwell, J., Toppen, F. (eds.), Proceedings of CUPUM 2013, The 13th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management. Planning Support Systems for Sustainable Urban Development, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 2013.
	Rijken, B., Koomen, E., Broitman, D., Zondag, B., Simulating residential density change, Abstract and presentation at the European Regional Science Association Conference, August 27-31th, Palermo, Italy., 2013.
	van Kouwen, M., Nationale landschappen op de schop. Vernieuwing of achteruitgang?, Bachelor thesis Earth and Economics, VU University, Amsterdam, 2012. Remarks: Supervisor: Koomen, E.