This paper presents five design prototypes for cool urban water environments developed in the 'Really cooling water bodies in cities' (REALCOOL) project. The REALCOOL prototypes address an urgent need: urban water bodies, such as ponds or canals, are often assumed to cool down their surroundings during …

Blue spaces in cities are often regarded as adaptation measures that effectively reduce urban heat. Therefore, urban professionals like to integrate blue infrastructures in climate resilient designs. However, several studies indicated that the cooling effect of small water bodies is often small or absent. …

This study investigates whether a system of hub locations distributing goods across the water to the city of Amsterdam can be a potential future solution to guarantee same-day delivery to shopkeepers. A simulation model was developed to analyse the logistics performances and to optimise the number of …

Urban green and shading are adaptation measures that reduce urban heat. This is evident from meteorological measurements and investigations with surveys and has been described in many papers (e.g. Klemm et al., 2015). The cooling effect of these adaptation measures is reflected by lower air temperatures …

This paper presents an analysis of two comparable studies with LEGO Robotics-based activities in a social skills training program for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). One study has been carried out with a group of 16 children in the Unit of Pediatrics Psychology and Psychiatry in HSJD in …

Robot-assisted therapy has been researched for more than a decade and has been dominated by the seal shaped robot Paro. It is however unclear unto what extent the development of Paro has been based upon requirements that are mentioned by care professionals. In this pilot study we interviewed two groups …

Robot assisted therapy has been applied in care for older adults who suffer from dementia for over ten years. Strong effects like improved interac-tion and signs of a higher sense of wellbeing have been reported. Still it is un-clear which features are needed and which robotic pets would are suitable …

In de jaren ’60 van de vorige eeuw is een deel van de Drachtstervaart gedempt, waardoor boten niet langer het centrum van Drachten konden bereiken. Tijdens het dempen van de vaart is een kokerriool geplaatst die als berging dient voor de riool overstorten. Er zijn plannen ontstaan om de vaart weer open …

This paper presents a study on (1) how children experience a pet robot, (2) how they play with it and (3) how children’s perceptions on and interaction with pet robots are interrelated. The study features different types of subjective and objective techniques to assess the degree of perceived social …