Grants boost collaboration between university and The Hague
How can we make our cities greener and more people-friendly? Two Campus The Hague projects have secured a grant from the Municipality of The Hague. The researchers and students from both projects are working with city residents to find sustainable solutions to local issues.
The innovative Sustainable City Lab has received a 50,000-euro grant that will allow it to continue and expand its activities in 2025. This mobile lab, which takes to neighbourhoods in The Hague on converted cargo bikes, brings together students, residents and researchers to tackle local sustainability challenges like urban greening, waste reduction and energy transition. Thanks to previous collaborations, various initiatives have already been realised, including an app to help coaches advise residents on energy saving. ‘This support from the Municipality of The Hague will allow us to strengthen our connections and enter new partnerships’, says coordinator Gerard Breeman.
The Hague Climate Café
This spring, Sustainable City Lab is also holding a Hague Climate Café. Students and researchers will have the chance to talk with residents and organisations about how to reverse global warming and what can be done locally before setting to work with all the suggestions. Sustainable City Lab will also undertake city-university activities focusing on topics such as sustainable food and promoting biodiversity. ‘We are going to work with local residents to measure the biodiversity of gardens and urban green spaces, says Breeman. ‘The team will use the research methods developed by PhD candidate Joeri Morpurgo to measure plant and insect diversity in The Hague.’
First-year Leiden University College students
The second project, which has also received a 50,000-euro grant, will enable first-year Leiden University College (LUC) students to help resolve issues in The Hague. The Global Challenges: Local Engagement programme will be revamped from the next academic year, allowing first-year students to connect local and global challenges. ‘Cultural, political and economic developments are not happening elsewhere but on our doorstep’, LUC Dean Giles Scott-Smith explains. These include loneliness, food inequality and the increasing gap between rich and poor. Practical assignments on important issues like these will make LUC students feel more connected to the city where they study and live, says Scott-Smith.
The new programme will also include a Dutch language and culture course for international students, with extra emphasis on being polite and respectful to the local community. ‘LUC is making the most out of its location with this programme and is responding to the city’s unique identity’, says Scott-Smith.