Polyphonic Cities: public values for an inclusive environmental vision Polyphonic Cities: public values for an inclusive environmental vision

The conversation was held via zoom (in Dutch), on 26 March from 13:00 to 14:30.

Moderator Farid Tabarki will speak with Frank van den Beuten (project manager Environmental Vision, municipality of Amsterdam), John de Ruiter (advisor Next City, municipality of Rotterdam), Vivianne Buteijn (policy advisor social policy, municipality of Dongen), Arjen Vedder (urban planner, municipality of Zwolle) and Martin Verwoest (urban planning supervisor, municipality of Leiden).

As a result of the online conversation Farid Tabarki will write an article about the processes, values and bottlenecks behind the urban environmental visions of the cities of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Dongen, Leiden and Zwolle. The presentations by Martien Kuitenbrouwer (public mediator) and Paul Gerretsen (Vereniging Deltametropool) will be replaced by a written dialogue between the two, about the processes behind the introduction of the New Environment Act. Both texts will be published online end of April.

By 2024, every city in the Netherlands needs to have developed an environmental vision - the local translation of a new environmental law with fewer rules than before. Energy transition, the circular economy, ecology and social inequality will need to be taken into account. The complexity of the task calls for an integral, inclusive approach to the city, determined more by underlying values than by merely solving the spatial puzzle of regulations and zoning laws.

Polyphonic Cities reflects on the future of the city, and the need to think about the values behind urban development in a fundamentally different way in response to the climate crisis.

The conversation will be in Dutch; more information on the programme is available here.