Pitches: Social

Three pitches on specific AI applications and challenges.

Local: AI Future Voices Panel 'engaging with the future'

We often design for people who do not yet exist. How can we give future generations a voice in today’s decisions? With the AI Future Voices Panel by Nina Kramer (Sustainable Built Environment Research Group, Avans University of Applied Sciences), you can engage in conversation with digital inhabitants of possible futures. Their stories and perspectives help us to view complex issues from a different angle and spark new conversations about the futur

National: Design a social city with input from residents via AI

Cities invest heavily in liveability, meeting places and social cohesion. But the bridge between what residents say and what is ultimately built or designed is structurally missing. Participation processes generate mountains of input — quotes, signals, concerns — that then remain scattered on paper. Municipalities and designers therefore don't know where and how to intervene.

Within the City Deal Over AI, a tool is being developed that changes this. The tool organises loose resident quotes and participation data, recognises patterns — where do people feel unsafe, where do they like to linger, where do they miss facilities — and projects these spatially on a map. This makes visible where the opportunities lie for targeted interventions. The tool then generates multiple concrete design options per location, from a seating element with play features to greenery with sightlines. The person makes the final choice; AI makes the conversation about it more informal and concrete.

The result: investments in public space that genuinely connect with what residents need.

National: AI-tooling Dutch Waterboards

The Dutch water boards, like all other government bodies in Europe, have to deal with a large volume of permit applications. Consequently, they have developed AI tooling that processes these applications quickly and effectively. This reduces the workload in the water boards' offices, but more importantly, fieldwork proceeds more quickly because applicants are assisted sooner.

And within the same service center, experiments are now also being conducted to accelerate (temporary) land acquisition agreements. After all, the water board regularly has to rent temporary land for the maintenance of waterways. It is a tedious task that can now be carried out more quickly and effectively, allowing colleagues to get to work sooner.