Vertex Architectuur en Stedenbouw is co-founder of Veldacademie, a research lab focusing on future-proof and inclusive urban development through (action) research on the daily life in urban context. Since about 15 years the main focus concerns studying the behavior, experience and insights of citizens regarding everyday social-spatial demands like assisted living and healthy aging. Hereby the city is approached as an ecosystem.
Veldacademie collaborates with various universities and municipalities organizing urban living-labs in which citizens, local government, researchers and entrepreneurs commonly explore innovative solutions for urban issues and test them in practice. One of the main current projects is monitoring the program ‘Towards a Resilient Neighborhood Bospolder-Tussendijken’ in a deprived neighbourhood in Rotterdam. Community building is one of the major focus points of this program. Previous studies within this theme concern social-resilience in New York City, and Design for a Just City in collaboration with Harvard University.