BURA TALKS with Coalitie Ruimte voor Werk

Last Tuesday, Coalition Ruimte voor Werk was our guest for the third BURA TALKS of 2024 at BURA. As always, the evening focused on one of our areas of expertise, and this time it was ‘Productive Environments’. Recently BURA joint the ‘Coalition Space for Work’ as one the partners this coalition is a collaboration between (advice- and design) offices that researches, advices and supports in assignments focussing on the integration and development of space for (affordable) work in the city.
After a brief pitch, each speaker presented a statement for a debate with the attendees. Dr. Bernardina Borra (mensenwerk.city) spoke about her fascination with ‘work’ and ‘humans’. And she questioned what work actually is and to rethink it in terms of production that will contribute to sustainable living environments. Wout van der Heijden explained how work in the city has become an important topic for Kickstad. He argued that the challenge is so big that not only bottom-up approaches are needed, but plans at city-level are needed as well to bring work back into the cities as well. Jaap Schoufour and Hans Karsenberg from Stipo shared their experiences with breeding grounds policy in Amsterdam and their work on the Werkcorporatie for affordable business spaces in Amsterdam. They stated that a greater role for the government is necessary to stimulate and keep work in the city affordable, and that municipal ownership of real estate is essential for this.
The discussion with the attending experts that followed the statements delved deep in the realization of more space for work in Dutch Cities. Experiences and examples were exchanged regarding the necessary organizational forms, developers with a passion for urban work, and various buildings in which this is already in practice. BURA is part of the Coalition Space for Work and is involved in a variety of assignments related to working areas at different scales, both intensifying work program as well as mixing working with living. For us, it was an inspiring evening!
BURA TALKS is an invitation-only lecture series where BURA engages in conversation with a colleague firm and other guests around a central, shared theme.

For more information: pr@bura.city
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