Frans-Anton Vermast
Title
Amsterdam Smart City: the Bottom-Up approach
Name
Frans-Anton Vermast, Physical Planning Department City of Amsterdam
CV
Since the advent of the Amsterdam Fibre from Home Initiative, Frans-Anton Vermast (1969) has been involved as a European public and government affairs advisor (including regulatory issues). His immense knowledge and expertise on Open Access Communication Infrastructure is highly sought-after by local governments globally.
He has acquired substantial business and regulatory knowledge on Open Access Communication Infrastructure based on fibre-optic techniques in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe.
Mr. Vermast is also the Senior Strategy Advisor for Low Carbon and Connected Urban Planning at Amsterdam Smart City since 2008. He is an expert in searching for the possibility of novel appliances and services based on the combination of electricity and (broadband) connectivity. Furthermore, he specializes in the holistic approach of Smart Work, Smart Grids, Smart Living and Smart City, which aim to reduce CO2 emissions to create a more sustainable environment and boost social and economic benefits.
Mr. Vermast has extensive Dutch, European and global experience in the facilitating the participation of local governments, municipalities and communities in these initiatives.
Summary
Bottom up approach through citizens engagement is the key success factor of Amsterdam Smart City. Best-next and worst practises in living labs approaches including Climate Street, Smart Work Centres and Smart meters show how the use of the combination of electricity and connectivity through a smart grid can reduce CO2 emissions significantly.
Amsterdam Smart City is not used as a city marketing tool and we are not afraid to mention the failures and lessons learned. With an open platform where products and services are user centric together with the best apps can make Amsterdam a more liveable city.
Filip Canfyn
Title
Affordable housing? Local housing development!
Name
Filip Canfyn, Director of urban planning and development, City of Kortrijk
CV
Filip Canfyn (°1959) studied engineering and architecture and worked as architect and project manager before entering the real estate world. As development manager he initiated major urban projects for Heijmans (1997-2003) and Vooruitzicht (2004-2007). Since 2008 he is a civil servant (urban projects manager, City of Kortrijk). He will leave Kortrijk in september 2013.
Filip Canfyn is also active as consultant, teacher and writer. He recently published "Housing for 200.000 Euro all-in" and "Urban quarter renovation". He is expert on behalf of the Flemish Government in the Flemish Housing Council.
Summary
In order to keep cities alive, relevant and sustainable housing and especially decent affordable housing should be a priority.
Affordable housing is not only a question of justice and solidarity or an assurance for security and social stability but most of all an opportunity for business and profit.
Affordable housing has to be organised on a local level, with a city council in charge of land and rent and private providers taking care of development, construction and sale.
Norbert Pralle
Title
Connecting Europeans and Requirements. Lessons learned from the Stuttgart21 Railway Hub - before being built.
Name
Dr.-Ing. Norbert Pralle, Head of Innovation Management, Zueblin AG. Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, STRABAG Group
CV
Trained geophysicist, geologist, and geotechnical engineer
Head of Innovation Management at Central Technical Office Ed. Zueblin AG since 2008
Head of Corporate Social Responsibility of STRABAG Group since 2011
Council Member in European Network of Construction Companies for Research and Development (ENCORD) since 2004
As of 2004 active member of European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) , and as such committed in Research for Future Infrastructure Networks of Europe (reFINE)
Summary
Transport infrastructure, such as railway lines, ship channels and roads are the lifelines of our society. Its competitiveness depends on the effectiveness, which is governed by being robust and smart – two aspects, which become very prominent, as many infrastructure lines are facing major renovation. Although most people would not argue with the importance of highly effective infrastructure lines, and ask for more efficient, intermodal connectivity, citizens very critically eye large infrastructure projects. This presentation deals with the need for modernizing our lifelines, and the people’s wish to have a say, of how it should be done.
Peter Bishop
Title
The Temporary City – using temporary interventions for long term prosperity.
Name
Prof Peter Bishop
CV
Planning Director in Central Londonfrom 1987-2006 working on major projects including the Kings Cross development.
Appointed the first Director of Design for London and then Deputy CEO of the London Development Agency.
Responsible to the Mayor for architecture and design, land development and environmental initiatives.
Joined Allies and Morrison as a director in 2011 and appointed Professor of Urban Design at University College London.
Planning consultant to the international law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner.
Commissioned by the government in 2011 to carry out “The Bishop Review” into national design policy.
Published the book “The Temporary City” (Routledge 2012).
Summary
We are conditioned by our thinking to assume that our interventions in cities will be lasting, will have permanence, yet history tells us otherwise.
The economic downturn coupled with radical changes in lifestyle, working patterns and technology is causing us to rethink.
With uncertainties around long term funding and a fragmentation in the political consensus, temporary interventions are now increasingly seen as a method of utilising vacant land and buildings and stimulating stagnant city economies.
This talk will consider ways in which this trend can be harnessed to shape cities and stimulate prosperity in an uncertain world.
Jean-Christophe Vanderhaegen
Title
Building the WikiCity and connecting the unconnected: how perpetual collaboration across all facets of the society will generate new jobs and reduce poverty
Name
Jean-Christophe Vanderhaegen, Director-General, Confédération Construction Bruxelles-Capitale
CV
He is the Director General of the Confederation of Construction (CNC/NCB). The CNC/NCB represents for over 14.000 affiliated small, medium-sized and large Belgian firms which are active in every possible area of the construction industry. He is responsible for Brussels and the Brabant Region.
In 2003 he wrote the study “Disabilities and ageing, challenges for the City” and in 2005 “The future of our senior citizens and the creation of their dwellings : challenges and opportunities.”
In 2006, 2007 and 2008, he organized the conference “Better Life Time - A constructive response to the demographic changes” in Brussels. This conference was intended for all businesses, self-employed people, associations, institutions, individuals, agents and public authorities wishing to increase their knowledge of this phenomenon and to be a driving force in their respective area of operation.
He was the chairman of the European Committee of the International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing (IAHSA) and is the co-founder and vice chairman of the European Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing (EAHSA). In this function he also serves as a fellow of the World Demographic Association in Sankt-Gallen, Switzerland and is guest lecturer at SciencesPo in Paris.
He is a member of the steering committee of Actiris, Bruxelles Formation and Syntra, a board member of the Brussels Regional Development Agency (SDRB-GOMB) and the Domotic Lounge, an SME located in Kortrijk. Since 1995 he serves as a member of the Brussels Development Commission (CRD-GOC) and the Social and Economic Council of the Brussels Capital Region (CESRBC). He is also a member of the Brussels Housing Council.
Prior to coming to the Brussels Confederation of Construction, he was an attorney at the Flemish Brussels Bar. He received a Bachelor in Law of the Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix de Namur (FUNDP) and a Master in Law at the Faculty of Law of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
Summary
Smart cities are generally associated to carbon footprint reduction.
But the digital revolution is enabling a more global transformation of cities. The old industrial age model of the city is giving way to new open networked models of everything from local government to education, transportation and economic development.
The arrival of large numbers of new residents in Brussels can create opportunities for innovation and progress in social, economic and cultural development. By building a new WikiCity, by establishing a network of perpetual information and collaboration across all facets of the city (public authorities, citizens and business world), by connecting the unconnected (the poor, the arriving immigrants, the lesser educated), a smart Brussels city will continue to grow, address the real world challenges and create a more sustainable environment.
Sebastian Serrano
Title
Name
Sebastian Serrano, Scientific advisor at Innoviris
CV
Summary
