Member Profile for AISSR, Amsterdam

Kenniscentrum Ongelijkheid Research Grant for dr. Julienne Weegels
CUS member dr. Julienne Weegels obtained a research grant from the new Kenniscentrum Ongelijkheid to work on an Amsterdam-based research project with dr. Thijs Jeursen (Universiteit Utrecht), Veronique Achoui (Restorative Justice Netherlands), and Fleur Souverein (Kenniswerkplaats Vrijheidsbeneming & Maatschappij).

UGoveRN Establishes Future Programming to Bridge Interdisciplinary Understandings of Urban Governance and Property Development
As Connect21 Project, the Planning+Property Chapter of UGoveRN is holding two more webinar sessions and one additional early career seminar. One future webinar will be on institutional learning for post-Covid-19 urban development, and the second upcoming webinar will be on (mis)matches between urban policies and real estate industry activities.

New Podcast Series "Onder Planologen"
CUS member Jannes Willems together with Peter Pelzer (Utrecht University) have developed a new podcast series about Dutch spatial planning for first-year students that currently follow Inleiding Planologie (Introduction Spatial Planning). The podcast is called ‘Onder Planologen’ and the first three episodes are now available on Spotify (in Dutch).

New computational model suggests the existence of polarization tipping-points
Politics around the world has in recent decades entered an era of political polarization, in which politics appears like a struggle between warring tribes. An interdisciplinary team of sociologists and physicists developed a computational model to analyse this rise in political temperature. They used their model to examine the potential link between social media and polarization and suggest the existence of polarization tipping-points, which can lead to run-away polarization. The results are now published in PLOS ONE.

Lifetime achievement award for prof. dr. ir. Luca Bertolini
The lifetime achievement award for adhering to the objectives of the Mobility and Urban Planning programme of the University of Ghent (which are interaction between mobility and spatial planning) will be awarded this year to Prof. Dr. Ir. Luca Bertolini.

ACES’s Ben Knapen appointed as temporary foreign minister
ACES wishes to congratulate Ben Knapen for his temporary appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Last month, it was announced that ACES’ advisory board member, Ben Knapen (CDA), will become temporary Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing Sigrid Kaag who resigned over the chaotic evacuation of Dutch personnel from Afghanistan.

Urban densification processes put increasing pressure on urban greenspaces
Through analysis of satellite imagery, researchers of the University of Amsterdam found a substantial loss of green space in the cities of Amsterdam and Brussels, 15.7% per capita in Amsterdam and 26.5% in Brussels. This loss can be directly linked to urban densification processes. ‘Additions of green space were insufficient to compensate for the loss of green space through new development projects.’ The authors call for integrative policy measures to overcome this conflict between densification and greening of cities. The results of their study are now published in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.