Design to WINterswijk Destined to last
The project engages creative professionals from Winterswijk to make the local business park future-proof. Regional connectors and sustainable SME frontrunners in Winterswijk observe that small SMEs do not see sustainability as an opportunity and struggle to involve university students in innovation. There appeared to be a need for exploratory research focused on designing a method to collect and share this additional information and engaging students as boundary spanners.
Objective
The project uses a design-based approach to collect and share sustainability information. This aligns with a challenge from the Design Power Agenda (Agenda Ontwerpkracht), aiming to explore how to organize collective learning and distribute tasks (collective development). The central research question is:
“How can a practical form be designed on a business park for sharing sustainability information among SMEs, aimed at achieving common collaboration goals?”
The project addresses a knowledge gap: how SMEs can effectively collaborate on shared sustainability goals without central coordination. The project runs for six months and consists of three work packages: Goal Definition, Information Gathering, and Design. Within the project, local creative professionals organize design sessions and present their design to stakeholders within the ecosystem.
Results
- Clear collaboration and knowledge goals
Established during two initial meetings with practice and knowledge partners. - Data collection plan with templates and instructions
Developed by HU and HAN to support students in gathering information. - Collected and evaluated data, including SWOT analysis
Students collect data from practice partners, and researchers analyze the approach and the student’s role. - Design for sharing sustainability information
Created by creative professionals and presented to all stakeholders at the business park. - Reflection reports and evaluations
Students and creative professionals provide reflections on their roles and experiences; the steering group discusses follow-up research. - Requirements for data sharing (use case)
Derived from the design and assessed for feasibility by data specialists, with involvement from HU’s research group.
Approach
In this research, the design expertise of creative professionals working at SMEs on a business park is utilized. This involves two architectural designers (interior, construction technology) and a garden designer. Their design-driven approach is used to smartly collect and share sustainability information and aligns with the third challenge category in the Design Power Agenda (Regieorgaan SIA, 2022): the strength of collective development.
Education impact
Gaining experience with the voluntary standard for data collection on sustainability (VSME) and the role of the student as a boundary spanner between the field of sustainability and SME practice.
HU researchers involved in the research
Collaboration with knowledge partners
