On October 17 students of Journalism and Media at the University of Amsterdam made a short documentary on housing in Amsterdam with a focus on nature inclusive building.

One of the projects, earlier featured in Mathias’ lectures on building for biodiversity, is De Warren, a cooperative housing project designed by Natrufied, (Boris Zeisser and others). Mathias was asked to explain about cost and return of nature inclusive building, as part of his research for nextcity.nl‘s “3rd Guide to Nature Inclusive Building” featuring monetary and non monetary aspects of designing and building for biodiversity.

Watch the short feature video of less then 6 minutes on youtube here.

On October 16 Boris van der Moehlen presented his Master project on the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. For Mathias as a teacher this was the last commission meeting, preparing the student to be ready for the final presentation.

Boris’ final project proposes a landscape design for an economy of sludge, turning the Belgian polder of Doel into a new form of agriculture with benefits for the Antwerp harbour, it’s economy and river traffic as well as the ecology of this newly developed estuarium between the river Schelde and the Northsea. A strategic and design project taking into account a larger ecosystem and the interdependencies in this time of energy transition, biodiversity loss and climate change.

It was a privilege and great fun to inspire Boris as a teacher and commission member and see his Master projects finding a perfect balance between utopia and dystopia, while at the same time coming up with a realistic proposal, featuring a new form of land use that can be scaled up to other river delta areas around the globe. The team of co-commission members consists also of urbanist Herman Zonderland of Amsterdam Municipality and landscape architect Jan Maas of Boom.

Fully booked celebration of 10 years nextcity.nl at the International Architecture Biennale exhibition in the New Insitute in Rotterdam on the 19th of Sepember. The event was ‘silent disco’ style amidst the exhibition with intimate earphones.

After a lecture by Mathias on 10 episodes of 10 years nextcity in 10 minutes Maike van Stiphout walked with the group through the expo and Sophie Floor Wartenbergh lectured on the development of urban ecology (see picture). A panel with young talent Bas Tibben and Michael Rikkelman concluded the content before the group mingled for drinks and networking on the sunny terrace.

A successful first Masterclass on the Omgevingsvisie Zaanstad (Urban Development Plan) ‘for Dummies’ took place on 27 August 2024. A diverse group became acquainted with this important vision document. Anne Langenesch and Mathias Lehner, both co-authors of the vision, gave a brief introduction and room for discussion and questions. For example, how to best read the vision, and the participants were introduced to the heart of the vision: The Five Principles.

There was also time to work with the vision in a practical way: Together, the participants looked at the year 2042 using self-invented personas, and what the day of these future inhabitants would look like. For example, the twins Summer and Joy (20), whom they had invented, but also the developer Henk (48) and the recently happily divorced and retired Hanneke (68). One thing was quickly clear: these persona’s were enjoying themselves in the future Zaanstad!

The feedback from the participants was too kind. ‘A lot of fun’, ‘Really nice to follow this master class’ and to top it all off: ‘Now I really feel like reading the entire vision!’

Hello everybody!

We kindly invite you for a little gathering celebrating 10 years of nextcity!

Thursday, September 19th, 2024 @ 15:30 hrs, New Institute

We are looking back with friends, but also 10 years into the future of nature inclusive cities with experts, practitioners and young talents. Enjoy a summerly program with little lectures, an informal panel and nature inclusive networking.

The session takes place right in the middle of the main IABR (international architecture biennale Rotterdam) exhibition ‘The Nature of Hope’ in the New Insitute in Rotterdam’s Museumpark. Haven’t seen the IABR exhibiton? This is an excellent opportunity (ticket/museum card required).

At 17:00 hrs we invite you for informal drinks on the terrace.

Join us and dive into the nature-inclusive city, meet inspiring colleagues and make connections!

There is a limited number of seats. Please let us know if you will join us via a short message to 10@nextcity.nl, so we can treat you for drinks and a special gift!

Togthere with Nanine Carree, Miranda Reitsma I was asked to give feedback at the mid term review and the final presentation on June 11the of the design course featuring the N203 at the faculty of Built Environment of the Amsterdam Univesity of Applied Sciences.

The students developed impressive ideas vor future transit oriented development (TOD) along the N203 road and the train stations parallel to it by solving complex spatial puzzles with fresh ideas and the drive to improve quality of life.

The new head of urbanism at the Amsterdam University of the Arts, Academy of Architecture, Anna Gasco, asked Mathias to teach for the P1 design studio in 2024.

The assignment for this multidisciplinary design class will address the public space and buildings as ‘skin of the city’ in the areas around train stations.

Nature-inclusive construction was the central topic of the expert session of April 9, 2024, hosted by Utrecht Province. As an expert in this field, Mathias Lehner was invited to deliver the key note. He took the audience through his vision with appealing nature-inclusive design examples, that increase biodiversity in the city.

The event was hosted by Bob Dijkman-Dulkes, manager of the Provincial accelerator program housing. Consecutive speakers were Remo Wormmeester and Martin Heinen of ecogroen, and Amber Holdijk explaining the experiences of Veenendaal Municipality with a nature inclusive system of points for building projects.

The expert session was part of the accelerator program for housing of Utrecht Province.

On 8th of April 2024 Mathias was chairing the design atelier for nature inclusive building held by Utrecht Province in the Municipality of Zeits.

The Municipality and developer BPD introduced case of former caming are situated on a larger estate to be converted into forest and park dwellings. Landscape architect Bosch Slabbers took on the atelier’s advice to develop a more nature inclusive plan.

The N203 is a provincial road of 2 by 2 lanes that runs for more than 10km as a traffic artery through Zaanstad Municipality. What is the future potential of this highway like road? Originally laid out in meadows at the backyard of the villages along the Zaan river the asphalt strip has become a spatial center piece – and barrier.

Upon initiative of and in collaboration with the Babel architecture centre Mathias is coaching students at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. In autumn 2024 a public exhibition will show the students’ works.