BuurtTransform links the tasks of a neighbourhood
Every neighbourhood faces several transitions at once: energy system, climate adaptation, mobility, social and economic tasks, and urban development. BuurtTransform addresses them in coherence, so every intervention delivers multiple returns rather than digging up the street five times.
Digging up the street once instead of five times
Tackling the transitions of a neighbourhood separately means digging up the street five times and leaving societal value on the table. BuurtTransform links the tasks, so every intervention delivers multiple returns — with ratios from 1.2 to almost 17 times the investment per model neighbourhood. Accessible education and the low-traffic neighbourhood stand out.
To the six partsWhy link tasks
Making a neighbourhood more sustainable, climate-resilient, better connected and socially stronger often happens in separate tracks, each with its own budget and timeline. That means opening up the street several times and missing chances for interventions to reinforce one another. BuurtTransform links those tasks into one integrated neighbourhood approach: insulation ties into participation, greenery cools and captures water, a low-traffic street makes room for play and encounter. That way every euro returns multiple value, from 1.2 to almost 17 times the investment per model neighbourhood, alongside public support and lower implementation costs.
The six parts of the approach
Five transition pages with 21 linked tasks between them, plus the method that shows how a municipality chooses which tasks to link.
Three instruments form the core
The Neighbourhood Passport maps a neighbourhood with data across five transitions, the Neighbourhood Agenda gathers the resident perspective through ten formats, and the Societal Impact Analysis quantifies which linked tasks deliver the most societal added value. Together they lead to a substantiated neighbourhood agenda in which the neighbourhood has a say. The full working method is set out on the page about the Transform method.
Origin and further development
BuurtTransform originated in Transform, a learning programme of the province of Zuid-Holland with the municipalities of Schiedam, Delft and Vlaardingen, from December 2021 to April 2022. Squarewise, Van Vieren and New Economy developed the approach further into the freely available platform buurttransform.nl (in Dutch). The platform describes 21 linked tasks across five transitions, each with the societal value and costs for a model neighbourhood of around 2,500 households.
Figures and source
The ratios between value and cost range from 1.2 to almost 17 times the investment per model neighbourhood, with accessible education (eleven times) and the low-traffic neighbourhood (seventeen times) as standouts. All figures come from the Societal Impact Analysis of Transform Zuid-Holland, built up from societal cost-benefit analyses and comparable projects, and are available at buurttransform.nl (in Dutch).
Frequently asked questions
What is an integrated neighbourhood approach?
A way of working in which a municipality addresses several transitions — energy, climate, mobility, social and urban — in coherence at neighbourhood level, so interventions reinforce each other and the street is opened up only once.
What does linking tasks deliver for a municipality?
Multiple societal value per intervention: the 21 linked tasks return 1.2 to almost 17 times the investment per model neighbourhood, alongside public support and lower implementation costs.
Who is BuurtTransform for?
For municipalities, provinces and housing associations drafting a neighbourhood implementation plan or neighbourhood agenda who want to connect policy domains.
Where does BuurtTransform come from?
From Transform, a learning programme of the province of Zuid-Holland with Schiedam, Delft and Vlaardingen (2021–2022), developed further by Squarewise, Van Vieren and New Economy into the platform buurttransform.nl.
Frequently asked questions about BuurtTransform
According to this approach, there are 21 linked tasks across five transitions: energy system, climate adaptation, mobility, social and economic tasks, and urban development.
According to this approach, they are five transition pages — energy system, climate adaptation, mobility, social-economic and urban development — plus the Transform method that shows which tasks to link.
According to this approach, accessible education (eleven times the investment) and the low-traffic neighbourhood (seventeen times) stand out, within a range of 1.2 to almost 17 times per model neighbourhood.
According to this approach, the societal value and costs apply to a model neighbourhood of around 2,500 households, with figures from the Societal Impact Analysis of Transform Zuid-Holland.
According to this approach, climate adaptation in the neighbourhood has five linked tasks around the green-blue package of measures.
According to the Transform method, the Neighbourhood Agenda gathers the resident perspective through ten formats, so the neighbourhood has a say in a substantiated neighbourhood agenda.
According to this approach, all figures come from the Societal Impact Analysis of Transform Zuid-Holland, built up from societal cost-benefit analyses and comparable projects, available at buurttransform.nl.
According to this approach, New Economy — with client the province of Zuid-Holland and partners Squarewise and Van Vieren — delivered the further development and impact analysis in the 2021–2022 period.
Exploring an integrated neighbourhood approach for a municipality or province? contact@neweconomy.eco — or visit the platform at buurttransform.nl (in Dutch).