The coming months BURA Urbanism will be working together with Stec Groep on the Verkenning Vitale Binnensteden (Exploratory research on vital city centers). This research by design project will research the futureproofing of the inner cities of the 6 biggest municipalities in the Netherlands for the Dutch ministries of BZK, EZK en JenV. City centers are constantly changing but the COVID crisis is accelerating some of these trends and developments. Problems like declining visitor numbers and a rise in empty buildings used to be mostly associated with smaller municipalities but are now quickly becoming issues in the big cities as well. The vitality of the inner city areas is under pressure while at the same time opportunities are rising to increase the quality of life and economic value of the city centers.

The Verkenning Vitale Binnensteden’s main goal is to provide a clear picture of the challenges city centers face and to research which approach is best fitted to solve them. With spatial and functional analysis and research by design a general overview of the challenges will be created. This will include shared challenges as well as a city-specific analysis. We will project scenarios for the cities development to show how they can develop towards a vital future and will also show which tools can be used to get there.

The aim of this initial survey is a research- and development agenda with different possibilities for development, the policies and approach and the possible tools needed. The agenda will form the starting point for possible cooperation between the parties involved.