Slimme technologieën zoals sensoren kunnen helpen bij het oplossen van stedelijke uitdagingen. Echter, hoe verhoudt het verzamelen van data zich tot publieke waarden? Het Responsible Sensing Lab onderzoekt hoe deze waarden kunnen worden geïntegreerd in het ontwerp van sensorische systemen in de publieke ruimte.
Het Responsible Sensing Lab werd officieel gelanceerd tijdens een interactief livestreamevenement in januari 2021. In de kern is het een laboratorium waar rigoureus, transparant en repliceerbaar onderzoek wordt uitgevoerd naar hoe slimme technologieën in de openbare ruimte zo ontworpen kunnen worden dat ze bijdragen aan een ‘verantwoorde’ digitale stad.
Een Lab voor een ‘verantwoorde’ smart city
De overheid gebruikt steeds meer ‘slimme’ technologieën: van apparaten die allerlei metingen verrichten (zoals sensoren) tot technologieën die processen in de stad regelen, zoals verkeerslichten, oplaadstations, adaptieve straatverlichting, slagbomen en digitale signalen.
Het Responsible Sensing Lab onderzoekt, ontwikkelt en integreert slimme technologieën zoals hierboven beschreven om stedelijke uitdagingen op te lossen. Tegelijkertijd onderzoeken we hoe je publieke en democratische maatschappelijke waarden kunt integreren in het ontwerp van deze innovaties.
(Her)ontwerpen, prototypes en implementatie
Binnen het Responsible Sensing Lab worden academici in contact gebracht met uitvoerders die verantwoordelijk zijn voor de digitale systemen in de stad. Het Lab nodigt deze verschillende partijen uit om samen met de gemeente Amsterdam te werken aan het (her)ontwerpen van verantwoorde sensoren in de publieke ruimte en prototypes te testen.
Oftewel, het Lab is een plek waar teams bestaande uit multidisciplinaire stakeholders – zoals computerwetenschappers, beleidsmakers, psychologen, ontwerpers en hardware-experts – zich kunnen richten op bestaande hardware-, software- en andere stedelijke sensorische systemen.
Kernwaarden
Binnen het Responsible Sensing Lab gebruiken we de waarden van de gemeente Amsterdam (Tada, Agenda Digitale Stad) als startpunt. We onderzoeken wat deze waarden betekenen als ze worden toegepast in hedendaagse software en hardware en in het vormen van beleid. Door het toepassen van deze waarden in het ontwerp van de 'smart city', stellen we de beleving van de inwoner centraal.
Daarbij laten we ons inspireren door de methode ‘value sensitive design’. Deze benadering helpt ons te focussen op ontwerpkeuzes die inherent zijn aan het type sensorische hardware, de distributie van intelligentie tussen cloud en back-end en interactiemogelijkheden van burgers.
Er is een driejarige samenwerkingsovereenkomst tussen de gemeente Amsterdam en AMS Institute. Binnen het Lab werken we nauw samen met experts van de faculteit Industrieel Ontwerp van de TU Delft.
Amsterdam gets world’s first fleet of autonomous boats. While the first prototypes of self-driving cars are taking to the road, Amsterdam ushers in a new chapter in the international push for autonomous vehicles. Roboat is the world’s first large-scale research that explores and tests the rich set of possibilities for autonomous systems on water.
In a collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute) has started the world’s first major research program on autonomous floating vessels in metropolitan areas. Roboat is a joint five-year project, conducted by researchers from MIT, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and Wageningen University and Research (WUR). The five-year program has a budget of €25 million and is set in Amsterdam.
Om de dieren uit de vis- en vleesindustrie te voeren is er veel voedsel nodig. Een belangrijk onderdeel van dit voedsel zijn eiwitten, die weer afkomstig zijn van landbouw en visvangst. Dit zorgt voor een enorme druk op ons ecosysteem.
De ruimtevaart vormt een goed voorbeeld om dit systeem duurzamer te maken. Astronauten beschikken over een gelimiteerde hoeveelheid voedsel en drinken. Om te kunnen overleven is er een circulair systeem nodig. Het Micro-Ecological Life Support Systeem Alternative (MELiSSA) is in de jaren 80 ontwikkeld om afval te herwinnen voor voedsel, meststoffen en water. Hier kan op aarde veel van geleerd worden.
In dit circulair systeem staan de purple bacteriën centraal, deze kunnen als voedsel dienen voor de mens. Voor zijn doctoraat heeft Abbas Alloul deze bacteriën onderzocht. Er wordt voorgesteld om purple bacteriën te gebruiken om afvalwater van specifieke industrieën te herwinnen en op te waarderen. De eiwitten uit de bacteriën kunnen hergebruikt worden als voederingrediënt en de biomassa als meststof. Dit concept is in samenwerking met AMS toegepast in Amsterdam, waarbij het afvalwater van een lokale brouwerij hergebruikt wordt om purple bacteriën te produceren. De resultaten zien er veelbelovend uit.
Biobased plastics for nature restoration: PRO-PHBV experiment
The PRO-PHBV project has entered its experiment phase. The project is working on creating biobased plastics for both the future industry and nature restoration.
What are we experimenting?
The main goal of the experiment is to create a bio-composite material from PHBV, a bioplastic that breaks down naturally. Unlike many other plastics, PHBV doesn’t compete with food crops, because it comes from bacteria that eat wastewater. This material has the potential to replace regular plastics like polypropylene, which could help reduce carbon emissions and encourage recycling.
The experiment aims to understand how well the PHBV-based bio-composite breaks down in natural conditions. Different samples of the composite, with varying PHBV-to-biomass ratios and press temperatures, are placed underwater for observation. By monitoring the weight changes and photography, researchers are learning how the material naturally breaks down.
Ecosystem restoration
PHBV’s potential goes beyond plastics replacement – it can also help restore nature. As part of thePRO-PHBV project, researchers are studying how PHBV-based structures can assist in bringing back natural environments. These structures could temporarily support young water plants, aiding in ecosystem revival. The ultimate goal is for the structures to biodegrade once they’re no longer needed.
Testing at the Marineterrein Living Lab
The experiment isn’t just taking place in the lab. The testing of this prototype is happening in real-world scenarios and living labs. Samples of a bio-composite consisting of PHBV and biomass are being tested in the water at Marineterrein to see how quickly they biodegrade in natural conditions. Additionally, there are plans to test the user acceptance and performance of a bio-composite from PHBV with leather waste.
The Green Holistic System (GHS) is an innovative circular and nature-based system targeting sustainable water management, habitat provision, food security, and climate adaptation goals in urban areas.
Contribution to urban transition
The Green Holistic System (GHS) project vision is focused on creating climate-resilient and -adaptive cities, which can respond to climate change challenges. Thus, several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are targeted, such as Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12), Climate Action (SDG 13), and Life on Land (SDG 15).
The main objectives are to ensure circular and sustainable water management while supporting urban biodiversity. The idea proposes a dimension of coexistence and mutual support between urban nature and urban citizens. The GHS prototypes are made of a biodiverse green-roof, which hosts more than 40 native plant species (Dakbloemenweide). It is visible to pedestrians and isolated enough to allow nature to thrive, thus adding aesthetic and ecological value to the city. Additionally, it provides thermic insulation to the building, it can retain rainwater, and drain and store the excess water to reuse for irrigation.
The first prototype was built last year, and the team is currently working on the second prototype in collaboration with AMS Institute. The new prototype has been recently selected as a pilot site for testing green-roofs' use to remove pollutants from wastewater, within theAquaConnectproject. In fact, the green-roof vegetation can act as a filter for sewage water treated with nanofiltration, which can be used to irrigate urban parks and urban green.
The relevance of this experiment is particularly evident in these recent years of severe drought. As water scarcity threatens human wellbeing and the environment, considering the possibility of transforming wastewater into a resource for maintaining a healthy green infrastructure could contribute significantly to a sustainable urban transformation.
In the condensed urban area it can be a challenge to manage urban green infrastructure. This research develops design knowledge for integrating multiple ecosystem services of small and interstitial informal green spaces (IGS) in the condensed urban area.
When urban spaces are abandoned and left for nature to evolve, they often become havens for plants, birds, insects, and microbes. These spaces are like niches where spontaneous ecological processes inside the city occur. Nowadays urban environments are becoming increasingly congested and departing from nature. Leftover spaces offer opportunities to reinvite natural processes in the city and further let people appreciate the world of non-humans. In this context, deliberate design can enhance the biodiversity of the site while releasing the plural meaning of processes taking place in leftover green spaces that enabling citizens to better engage with these spaces. A real-life laboratory of wilderness is created on a once-neglected green parcel in Marineterrein Amsterdam. This field lab serves as a testing ground for design principles and the exploration of new uses and perceptions in this semi-wild environment, offering initial insights into embracing more spontaneous nature within the city of Amsterdam.
Informal green spaces
The city is planned with designated spaces that serve various functions, and this applies to urban green spaces as well. These green spaces are purposefully designed, for instance, as recreational parks or affiliated green spaces for environmental benefits. To guarantee the functionality of these green spaces, prescribed rules of regulation and maintenance are implemented, which keep the defined profile of these green spaces. For instance, gardeners would trim overgrown branches of trees, erasing weeds such as nettles and ragwort, and mow the lawn on a regular basis.
However, in the gaps that are left within the functioning urban system, we could discover alternative green spaces that that defy the typical characteristics of urban greens we are familiar with. These areas lack a predefined role in the urban system, allowing them to grow freely and evade the control of urban planning. Referred to as informal green spaces, they exist amidst formally designed and managed urban greens, offering unique opportunities for alternative processes to unfold. These informal green spaces are commonly found in abandoned old industrial sites, areas where buildings have been demolished, or simply overgrown patches next to roadsides. The defining feature of these informal green spaces is the absence of human manipulation, allowing spontaneous natural processes to take over and transform these areas over time. Gradually, these spaces can become as reservoirs of wild flora and fauna, accommodating species that find difficulties to thrive in everyday urban parks and gardens. The presence of informal green spaces provides a contrast to the carefully planned and managed urban green areas. They serve as a reminder of nature's resilience and its ability to reclaim spaces once shaped by human exploitational activities.
Informal green spaces do not only offer reservoirs of urban wilderness but also serve as catalysts for the emancipation of citizens and unlock new opportunities for outdoor activities and experiences. These spaces can be adventurous playgrounds for children, allowing them to unleash their creativity in the wild setting. They also provide neighborhoods casual meeting occasions, places for a leisurely stroll or for walking dogs. Some other informal green spaces, being more secluded, may provide a tranquil retreat where people can rest, disconnect, and restore their minds. These spaces open up new opportunities to reconsider urban environment, and more importantly, challenge our existing approaches working with urban nature.
However, not all aspects of wild nature in informal green spaces are favored by people. Since these spaces are unmanaged, they can sometimes be perceived as too untamed, unattractive, and potentially hazardous due to the presence of rats, insects or overgrown vegetation. People do not perceive these green spaces as valuable, or as something that can be engaged with, or an ecosystem that one wants to care for. This is where the design of informal green spaces plays a role.
A field lab on Marineterrein, Amsterdam
To test the abovementioned design roles, and investigate how people interact with the site, we initiated a field lab on two neglected green parcels, approximately 470 m2 in total, situated on Marineterrein in Amsterdam, in the vicinity of the AMS-building. These parcels are located in-between the water border on west-side and AMS building on the east side and are part of a cluster of green spaces previously designed by BOOM Landscape. Whilst the neighboring parcels were planted as flora gardens, these two parcels were kept as experimenting sites to test plant growth with brackish water conditions with minimal maintenance. The design of the site is conducted by following three design principles: 1. Understanding the existing site conditions; 2. Staging diverse natural processes; 3. Stimulating people’s engagement and experience.
An ongoing experimental space for research on urban greenery
Ongoing research activities are planned in the field lab, to experiment with preliminary research prototypes and methodologies. A privacy-friendly MM wave sensor that could monitor visitor movements and identify popular areas of engagement within the site. The methodology has been developed by the Responsible Sensing Lab at AMS, with the primary objective of creating new methods forprivacy preserving crowd sensing systems.
Project leaders
Prof. dr. Dipl.Ing. MA (AA)Sanda Lenzholzer, Wageningen University, department of Environmental Sciences, chair group Landscape Architecture |e-mail
dr. ir. Agnès Patuano Wageningen University, department of Environmental Sciences, chair group Landscape Architecture |e-mail
Spore's smart biowaste bins identify contamination and improve collection efficiency
Many Cities worldwide are responsible for waste collection. Often they are also required by law to separate biowaste at the source. How to identify contamination and efficiently collect waste? Spore designed a solution to tackle both: smart biowaste bins.
(Bio)waste collection in cities
In Amsterdam, as in many cities worldwide, it is common practice for citizens and businesses to separate waste in order to utilize the growing array of recycling options and work towards greener environmental solutions. To illustrate, Amsterdam residents are required to sort household waste by type (e.g. glass, paper, plastic packaging and drinks cartons, textiles) and put it into the correct designated containers for municipal organizations to collect.
In addition, increasingly (government) organizations around the world are required by law to separatebiowasteat the source - such as in Europe, Australia, Singapore, California, and New York. This also accounts for more and more parts of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.
Hence, it's becoming common practice for residents to separate organic waste, such as food waste, and deposit this in a special bin. This may then be used by your municipality to create fresh compost. Alternatively, you can purchase your own compost bin.
These smart bins know their contents and reduce transportation costs by 40%
The bins developed by Spore include sensors that identify biowaste contamination and monitor capacity. This way, Cities can not only adhere to laws involved with separating biowaste at the source. These bins also allow municipalities to improve collection efficiency and reduce transportation costs by 40%. Furthermore, at the household level, Spore distributes composters to make composting at home easy.
How Spore got ‘boosted’
Spore's entrepreneurs joined the AMS Startup Booster to accelerate their journey to product market fit. Before taking part in the Booster, Spore was focusing solely on aconsumersegment. The team wanted to find a way to scale up their composters to the metropolitan level. Also, they expected to learn about how municipalities adopt urban innovations that help them to achieve their environmental and social goals.
As a result of taking part in the incubation program, Spore focused more onmunicipalcomposting solutions. The entrepreneurs learned that Cities will be required by law to separate biowaste at the source. Contamination is one of their biggest problems as this prevents biowaste from being composted or upcycled into compost products. Now, Spore shifted the business focus to exploring biowaste bin sensors that gather useful data on contamination and capacity.
What challenges did the team experience during the program? One of the key takeaways from this team is not to get too attached to your initial idea. And their favorite part of the program? The weeks leading up to the final pitch. That is when all their hard work came together and breakthrough ideas came forth.
For a period of 4 months, the AMS Startup Booster offered Spore access to the testing area of Marineterrein Amsterdam Living Lab, a Makerspace at AMS Institute, workshops and training, and connections with a large ecosystem of academics, city officials, private and public organizations.
With the help of the experts involved in the program, the entrepreneurs formulated a stronger value proposition and learned the importance of conducting small experiments and setting targets to reach overall company goals.
AquaConnect Demonstrator – climate resilient water harvesting for urban greenery
Amsterdam intends to prepare for future droughts periods by accessing new urban water sources for greenery functions. This project investigates the possibility of accessing water harvesting in urban sewage systems.
The need for climate-resilient water harvesting
The impact of climate change is visible everywhere. For the metropole region Amsterdam, the climate impact on the water sector is observed in more drought periods and increased saltwater intrusion. This will pressurize the demand for more drinking water in the near future.
Suppose the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam will execute their extensive construction plans for future housing. In that case, the local water company, Waternet, expects that the drinking water supply will no longer meet the demand within 5-10 years (Waternet 2021). In their forecast, Toekomstvisie drinkwater Deel 1, 2021, Waternet expects that the resource availability will be sufficient, but that the purification and transport capacity will need to increase significantly. In addition, climate change, the energy transition, and the biodiversity crisis will make the drinking water provision even more complicated.
As a result, new methods for circular water need to be developed. In this project, we focus on urban water functions that have not been prioritized as the first to meet their demand, such as trees, urban green spaces, parks or open spaces that contribute to a healthy environment for citizens and, thereby, maintain biodiversity. First, we must identify alternative water sources like stormwater, local wastewater treatment and reuse, surface water use, or saline canal water. Secondly, we must develop methods to collect, store, combine and access these local urban sources. Finally, we need to demonstrate more efficient use for existing water applications.
Making use of the urban sewage systems
Amsterdam intends to prepare for future droughts periods by accessing new urban water sources for greenery functions. Greenery functions contribute to healthy living for citizens. This project investigates the possibility of accessing water harvesting in urban sewage systems. During droughts, the urban sewage systems are expected to act as a reliable and available source of fresh water by quantity, not quality. Therefore, new concepts need to be developed that allow water mining from urban sewage systems that can extract a suitable water quality for greenery functions and maybe also for urban agriculture functions. The research questions will focus on suitable water extraction technologies and solutions to process the remaining brine in a circular way.
Details of the AquaConnect Demonstrator project
The aim of this project is to demonstrate water resilience innovations for urban greenery functions in periods of droughts. Building the demonstrator will gain experience in designing and practically implementing water-resilient innovations in an urban context. Here it is important that:
It is shown that such an innovation is technically possible.
All stakeholders are involved in providing feedback on social and policy issues of the innovation.
Incorporate the circularity aspect of the innovation: how to deal with potential residue fractions (concentrates, brine fraction).
Investigate the governance, organization, and economic viability of these kinds of innovations.
Method:
Design and demonstrate a concept to harvest water from a sewer system in Amsterdam at the Marineterrein, an experimental area for urban innovations.
The concept will use direct nanofiltration membrane technology to extract water from the sewer, probably with an additional preprocessing step.
A mass balance analysis for the whole city will be made to show that this approach is scalable for urban applications.
Investigation of the circularity of the residue (concentrate/brine).
Perform a SWOT analysis on decentralized water mining in the urban context.
Deliverables:
A semi-full-scale mobile demonstration plant at the Marineterrein Amsterdam, possibly applicable at other sites like Oosterpark and Vondelpark.
A report describing results and discussion of efficient water use for greenery in the urban Amsterdam area.
Digital demonstration model for the urban area under investigation to simulate future scenarios (smart grid).
A decision support mechanism to decide on water transport to further away locations or involve water purification activities for nearby water users.
In a circular society, we aim to close waste streams in order to keep valuable resources in the loop. One of these resource-rich waste streams is wastewater. CINDERELA transforms urine from wastewater into a nutrient-rich fertilizer.
From urine to plant 'food' CINDERELA is a demonstration plant that transforms urine into nutrient-rich fertilizer. The plant is located at Marineterrein Amsterdam Living Lab (MALL), and consists of a refurbished shipping container – containing a laboratory and two urine-diverting toilets – and an adjacent greenhouse which also serves as a meeting space.
Visitors of the Marineterrein who use the toilets can witness how their urine is stabilized and purified in a bioreactor, and then distilled and concentrated into organic plant 'food'. At the demonstration plant, the urine is separated by the diverting toilets after which it is treated and 100% converted to usable raw material streams: nutrient-rich fertilizer and 'clean' water.
These two resulting products: the fertilizer – free of bad odor, pathogens or micropollutants – and water, will be used in the greenhouse and vegetable garden adjacent container, showcasing how nutrient-recovery technologies can be implemented to turn waste into resources and close the nutrient loop/create circular food systems.
Toilets that 'save' urine from the sewage system So what actually makes urine a valuable organic waste stream? Its Nitrogen and Phosphorus content makes it a good fertilizer and compost accelerator. However, as you can imagine, it needs to be treated first to remove its bad odor and contaminants. In our innovative CINDERELA project all available nutrients are recovered from urine.
In order to achieve this, a new type of toilet is used – developed by EAWAG, EOOS and LAUFEN – which looks just like a normal toilet. The only difference is that these toilets have an internal curved section that catches liquid on and around the bowl. By collecting the urine before it ends up in the sewage system, these toilets allow this waste stream to be re-purposed.
Separating urine before it ends up in the sewage systems is an effective recovery approach, as urine makes up roughly ~1.5% of the volume of sewage yet contains ~55% of its Phosphorus content and 80% of the Nitrogen (the two main nutrients needed for a fertilizer).
CINDERELA’s urine to fertilizer process is largely based on the “VUNA” process developed by scientists at EAWAG. “Aurin” is the resulting fertilizer commercialized by EAWAG’s spinoff “VUNA”.
Why is it important to recover nutrients from our wastewater? Nitrogen and Phosphorus are among the nutrients which can be recovered from urine. These two nutrients together with other macro- and micronutrients are essential for plant growth and thus the production of our food.
However, the current model for managing these nutrients in our food cycle is out of balance and unsustainable. Modern agriculture relies heavily on the use of mineral/synthetic fertilizers as a source of nutrients. This is problematic because both the production and usage of these nutrients cause problems:
(1) production of mineral/synthetic fertilizers is dependent on fossil and mineral reserves.Nitrogen fertilizers are derived from the energy-intensive conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia (known as the Haber-Boshprocess). Phosphorus is obtained from the mining of phosphate rock reserves, which are finite and limited to a few locations around the globe.
(2) the intensive use of fertilizers is increasing (roughly doubling) the input of available nitrogen and phosphorus into natural ecosystems which has severe ecological consequences.The over availability of fertilizers used on fields ends up in our water systems. This causes eutrophication: a dense growth of plant life that can disrupt existing eco-systems. Circular use of Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) (e.g. recycling the nutrients in our wastewater back to food production) is essential to, on the one hand, reduce our dependency on fossil and mineral reserves, and on the other avoid the negative ecological impact of “waste” nutrients ending up in the environment.
Closing the loops The process of transforming urine into fertilizer in itself sounds innovative, we can imagine. On its own, this concept of recovering nutrients from urine is not new as there are several projects in place in which this is done. There are however a few reasons why our CINDERELA project is particularly innovative:
Firstly, let's start of with the way the urine is collected in this project. In many cases, projects (can) only make use of urinals. The toilets available in this project can be used by anyone, which enables us to collect greater amounts of this waste stream, without the need to change user's habits.
Secondly, many of the existing projects that focus on recovering nutrients from urine are limited to retrieving struvite (which contains phosphorus, and limited amounts of nitrogen). In this project, all available nutrients are retrieved. Adding to this, the residual water, after struvite recovery, is still water waste. At the CINDERELA demonstration plant, the full urine stream is treaded and reused. Plants and greens will be grown with the recovered nutrients as well as the water;
Thirdly, at this living lab plastic is collected separately – according to type and quality – to be recycled using AM techniques. After washing and grinding this plastic, it is used in 3D printing to make components to build a customizable freestanding planted wall – a perfect spot for the plants and greens to grow.
Last but not least, 'closing the loop' with regard to all the above: the CINDERELA living lab contributes to creating a local circular system as the entire loop of organic and inorganic waste streams is closed; from urine to fertilizer and water, from plastic to a plant-wall.
Larger project scope This experiment is part of a larger European project that focuses on recycling resources and waste material in the construction center. The overall objective of CINDERELA is to unlock the potential for a resource-efficient urban and peri-urban construction sector by developing a new Circular Economy Business Model (CEBM) for use of secondary raw materials (SRM) produced from different waste streams – such as wastewater – within urban and peri-urban area. Read more about the project here.