Utrecht researchers in winning team for sustainable housing tender
Circular economy researchers from Utrecht University are part of a team that has won a tender for the Municipality of Amsterdam to develop a sustainable circular housing cooperative. Kieran Campbell-Johnston and Jesus Rosales Carreon are part of a team of architects, former squatters, activists and researchers who have together developed the successful bid for de Nieuwe Meent - a new housing cooperative in Amsterdam Oost.
The Municipality of Amsterdam set out a bid in 2018 calling for applications for a new development on the Archimedesplantsoen in Amsterdam Oost. The tender required the building to be run through a housing cooperative - where an association of leaseholders rents the properties to its members. Whilst such cooperative style housings are common in Germany and Denmark, it is a first for Amsterdam. The tender also required applicants to demonstrate their commitment to the social and environmental sustainability of the building and community.
The project offers a radical model for organising housing in Amsterdam
Amsterdam struggling with rising rents and high demand for social housing
After being among several finalists, de Nieuwe Meent has now won the tender. Based on the principles of communing and communal sharing of spaces and resources, the project offers a radical model for organising housing in Amsterdam, a city struggling with rising rents and high demand for social housing.
De Nieuwe Meent will consist of 50% social housing units. The other 50% will consist of mid-segment housing groups, where 4-6 people share facilities, including kitchen, utilities and social areas, with the option to share the rent based on income level.
A project committed to sustainability
The project was commended for its commitment to sustainability and circular economy, and in particular for its interventions to reduce the material and energy impacts of the building throughout its lifecycle (construction, use-phase and demolition). Other sustainability-related aspects focused on how residents could share facilities or household appliances and how flora within the gardens and green roofs could help the local biodiversity.
An exciting opportunity for radical urban living
“We’re so thrilled to have this opportunity to plan a more radical vision of urban living, one that can deal with the environmental and social challenges facing urban spaces," says Kieran Campbell-Johnston, a PhD researcher at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. "In particular, the cooperative will focus on members not as owners of an individual property or unit, but more as active organisers and managers who can have common responsibility of care for the building and other members”.
The cooperative will focus on members as active organisers and managers who can have common responsibility of care for the building and other members.
A model where all actors share responsibilities and benefits
“It is widely acknowledged among stakeholders that the building sector still works in silos,” adds Jesus Rosales Carreon, an assistant professor also working at the Copernicus Institute. “Stakeholders in close vicinity can have the same objective, but may not information or talk amongst themselves. This leads to wasted time and cost, not to mention missed opportunities in the realms of circular economy and sustainability. We expect that De Nieuwe Meent approach will create space for effective collaboration, knowledge transfer among the different stakeholders leading to the possibility for implementing new configurations or testing of new materials. Long nights and meetings await us, but we believe we can develop a model where all actors involved share responsibilities and benefits.”
Get involved
The project is now moving into the predevelopment phase, where the cooperative will start finding new members, co-designing the living spaces and fundraising. Interested to find out more? Follow the project's developments on their website, Facebook or Instagram.