In the context of the Smart and Healthy City program by the Dutch ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, BURA (formerly known as marco.broekman) was to develop for a spatial study on the A20 highway zone in Schiedam. The municipality of Schiedam and the ministry had selected multiple locations in Schiedam to study in depth, including the station area and A20 highway zone. Since these two areas are highly related to each other, both geographically and thematically, BURA (formerly known as marco.broekman) was requested to study these areas in conjunction to each other. The project explores the societal issues of health around infrastructure with the methodologies of research by design and participation workshops.

The vision is not a large-scale intervention, but a step by step acupuncture strategy, which connects the North and South of Schiedam, in the long term. Part of the vision is to improve the connections, adding programs, improving the micro-climate through innovative experiments and address new stakeholder alliances. The integral urban vison and agenda links subprojects together and has led to the formulation of five icon projects, that will be elaborated by the different stakeholders like RWS, Ministry, municipality and NS.

The transition to a healthy city is not just a technical matter. It also calls for a change in the development process. In this project, new links were established between disciplines, sectors and hierarchical levels of government, with parties from the area. Governors of both Schiedam, NS, Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, and Government Advisor Rients Dijkstra have expressed appreciation for this integrated approach. In this project BURA (formerly known as marco.broekman) used research by design as a tool to identify problems and make choices clear.