Future Smart Cities II – Design for our Future Self 1

Future Smart Cities II
DESIGN FOR OUR FUTURE SELF
Imagine yourself in 2025 or 2050

We had a great session yesterday connecting designers, architects, social scientists, policy makers and social innovators from Lisbon, Amsterdam, London and New York to discuss the challenges and opportunities of an aging society.

In Lisbon (left) we were joined by Pedro Veiga (FCCN), Ana Fatia (Action for Age), Susana António (Think Public Portugal), Luis Jeronimo (the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation) and Pedro Rocha Vieira (Experimenta Design). In Amsterdam (centre) we were joined by Peter Roelofsma (HealthLab), Sabine Wildevuur (CareLab, Waag Society), Wytse Miedema (Aging Well, Almere Municipality), Martin Kriens (Amsterdam Smart City)  and Sacha van Tongeren (Waag Society). In New York (right) we were joined by Matthias Hollwich (HOLLWICHKUSHNER). In London we were joined by Annabel Knight (The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), Kevin Johnson (Aging Well, Cisco IBSG)  and Diogo Vasconcelos (Cisco IBSG).
 
Demographic changes are likely to place huge burdens on pension systems as well as health, housing and care services. There are a raft of new and emerging social needs – such as loneliness, and isolation which will need new and fresh thinking if they are to be addressed. Even though the scale of the challenge is daunting there are a number of new projects and new approaches – around design, ICT and architecture – which could point a way forward.

Each of the projects showcased yesterday have at their core the notion that the elderly are a resource, that all projects should be user driven and user centred –  or put another way, developed by and with, not for, the elderly.

The discussion started with a presentation of the pioneering and innovative HealthLab project by Peter Roelofsma. The HealthLab project is based on three main strands: ICT to support the elderly to
remain active and live independently, for longer in their homes, through for example, virtual coaches; a social or multi-cultural aspect which places importance on social relationships and provides opportunities for developing and cementing social ties; and architecture which provides the setting for independent living but also the spaces for meeting and social interaction. In this way, the project is developing a holistic approach to ageing.

Then we discussed the need to move away from ICT driven innovation and
explore other fields, other perspectives and approaches to innovation in
the context of ageing. We talked about smart architecture and Matthias
Hollwich presented some of his most recent projects, including BOOM.

Boom is a retirement village like no other – a community oriented development in Palm Springs for LBGT retirees. With projects like these, Hollwich’s remark that “there are 17,000 nursing homes in the US and 17,000 reasons why not to go to a nursing home” is definitely true.

We’re hoping to continue this discussion next month. For more information contact julie@dialoguecafe.org

Event 3/3/11 DESIGN OF OUR FUTURE SELF 2 2

Cultures in Dialogue 0 Reply

Dialogue Cafe featured in UP!

The main idea of this project was creating a global and independent platform that permits intercultural dialogue. The Dialogue Cafe is already open and working in Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro and Amsterdam and its major objectives are encouraging the exchange of experiences collaboration between organisations and individuals from very different cultures and backgrounds. This is exactly what happened when the Amsterdam café opened recently. Students doing Master’s degrees in Lisbon interacted and exchanged experiences with artists and social entrepreneurs who were in the Rio de Janeiro and Amsterdam cafés. Oslo, São Paulo, Warsaw and New York also joined the global get together via link-ups from local Cisco offices. The opening finished with a jam-session with musicians in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro playing for a virtually connected audience.

The alliance between cutting-edge video-conferencing technology and yet unexplored possibilities of global social networks makes the potential of this project almost limitless, considering that it seeks to establish local partnerships for the development of the places in each city. In Lisbon, for example, this partnership was made with MUDE РMuseu do Design e da Moda, a place that is special for both its location and the number of visitors it gets every day, making ideal for sharing experience and knowledge. Guimaṛes, European Capital of Culture 2012, will be the second Portuguese city to be part of the Dialogue Cafe network.

“Cafés were always places for conversation and the exchange of experiences. And it is precisely that aspect that Dialogue Café aims to tap into, but this time on a global level, using the technology we now have and which allows us to talk almost face-to-face with someone of the other side of the world”, explains Sara Piteira.

To read the rest of this article click here.

Event 3.3.11: Future Smart Cities II 0 Reply

Future Smart Cities II
Design for our Future Self: Imagine yourself in 2025 or 2050
3rd March 2011

Waag Society’s Creative Care Lab & Dialogue Café are delighted to invite you to the second Smart Cities session, Design for our Future Self, an intercultural public meeting about smart solutions for the complex issues related to an ageing society on March 3rd 2011 at 4-6 PM CET.

The session is part of Future Smart Cities, a series of intercultural meetings between Brazil and the Netherlands on the future of cities and new opportunities for solving social, economic and environmental challenges through social and technological innovation. We’ll discuss design solutions and approaches with designers,
architects, care providers, housing corporations, elderly people and
design students.

For this event, we will be joined by guests in Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam and New York including Matthias Hollwich from Hollwichkushner, Sabine Wildevuur from Waag Society’s CareLab, Wytse Miedema from Cisco’s Ageing Well Programme and Ger Baron from Smart Cities at the Amsterdam Innovation Motor. Participants will be connecting from around the world through Dialogue Cafe’s state of the art videoconferencing facilities. For this occasion, we will also be connecting to Cisco’s offices in New York.

Time and Place

Amsterdam
De Waag, Nieuwmarkt 4, Amsterdam
3rd of March, from 4PM-6PM (Amsterdam time)

New York
New York / Cisco office
3rd of March, from 10 AM-12AM (New York time)

Rio de Janeiro
Dialogue Cafe Rio de Janeiro
UCAM, Rua da Assembléia, 10, Rio de Janeiro
3rd of March, from 1 PM-3 PM (Rio time)

More about Future Smart Cities

Creative Care Lab hosts the second edition of Future Smart Cities about AGEING. Within the domain of healthcare Waag Society’s Creative Care Lab researches and develops creative technology for innovative applications following the principle of users as designers. Creative Care Lab has a long history in research, conceptualizing innovative ideas and building demonstrators working with (rapid) prototyping. New technology can support people with problems of mobility to express themselves, to stay independent and participate fully in the information society. Design for our future self is the title of Creative Care Lab’s public agenda and an open invitation to all in order to help develop a better caring society for our future selves.

The world is facing a growing ageing society. By 2020, 25% of the population in Europe will be over 60 and the 80+ populations are estimated to double by 2050. This means a ratio of two working adults for each person in retirement. Brazil is facing similar challenges: there will be 64 million Brazilians over the age of 60, and 14 million over the age of 80, by 2050. These demographic changes are placing huge burdens on pension systems as well as health and care services. Issues like isolation, loneliness and wellbeing need full and focused attention in policy. The scale and complexity of the challenge is daunting. Enabling people to work longer and live independent lives will have significant ramifications for the labor market, health and care services, public finance, housing and transportation amongst others.

How can we build urban environments that are safe and healthy for an ageing society? How can we avoid social isolation and loneliness? What are the barriers encountered when building for an ageing community? What are the innovative approaches in the field? What are the most promising new models of care? What new technologies support the elderly to live active and independent lives?

The program Future Smart Cities II: Design for our Future Self is dedicated to these questions and will discuss new ideas and social innovation for our future self. We will discuss smart solutions for the complex issues related to an ageing society with designers, architects, care providers, housing corporations, elderly people and design students. Imagine yourself in 2025 or 2050?

During the session we will showcase, HealthLab, one of the projects currently being developed by the Creative Care Lab. This project envisions to install a number of user-oriented environments for experiment (Living Labs for Care and ICT), where tangible applications will be developed. In these open experimental environments care and knowledge institutes, the government and small to large companies will be enabled to develop realistic solutions for one of our major social and political problems: how can we guarantee the quality of care and control the cost within an ageing population?

Partners in this project are: AMSTA, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Hogeschool Inholland, Gemeente Amsterdam, Almere Health City, Sigra, Amsterdamse Innovatiemotor, Amsterdam Living Lab.

Smart Cities Event at Dialogue Cafe 0 Reply

Future Smart Cities I
Entrepreneurship and the Development of a Sustainable Smart City

Yesterday we held the first of a series of intercultural meetings between Brazil and the Netherlands on the future of the city, in light of technological developments, globalization and new opportunities to solve social, economical and environmental issues. The meeting took place between Dialogue Cafe Amsterdam and Rio de Janeiro.

In Rio de Janeiro, we were joined by Paulo Maurício, Manager of Planning, Environment and Innovation/ LIGHT (Grid Operator Brazil), Pietro Erber, Director of the National Institute for Energy Efficiency, and in Amsterdam, by Ger Baron, Programme Manager of the Amsterdam Innovation Motor and Leo Paulissen, Strategic Advisor to Liander (Grid Operator Netherlands).

Dialogue Cafe wins GOOD DESIGN Award! 0 Reply

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Dialogue Cafe has been awarded the GOOD DESIGN Award from the Chicago Athenaeum/the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

Founded in Chicago in 1950 by architects Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., GOOD DESIGN bestows international recognition upon the world’s most prominent designers and manufacturers for advancing new, visionary, and innovative product concepts, invention and originality, and for stretching the envelope beyond what is considered ordinary product and consumer design.