To protect the quays, garbage trucks must be phased out of waste collection along the quays. This requires a change to the current waste collection system. But how can the City move away from heavy garbage trucks while ensuring waste is still properly collected?
This challenge was explored by students in the Living Lab course of the MSc MADE program, the joint master's degree of Wageningen University & Research and TU Delft, at AMS Institute, earlier this year. Working on behalf of the City of Amsterdam's Bridges and Quay Walls Department, David Bögner, Mannan Gupta, Lalith Aaditya Karthikeyan, Tommer Smits, and Wessel van Elzakker focused on the Wallen area.
More Than a Technical Challenge
The project involved more than just desk research. Students went into the city, spent time at community centers, spoke with residents, interviewed commercial and municipal waste experts, and organized workshops. Based on these conversations, the students found that rethinking waste logistics requires more than a technical solution; it includes a significant social component. It requires coordinated municipal policies, earlier and deeper involvement of commercial operators, and active engagement of residents.
Reflecting on the process, the students said: “The more we spoke with different stakeholders, the more we realized the problem was a communication issue rather than a technological one. Many solutions are already there. It is the will and collaboration of private and public stakeholders that could greatly scale the existing solutions.”
Walkshops and Prototyping
Following AMS Institute’s Urban Living Lab Way of Working, students hosted a co-creation session to co-design a household waste solution using floating garbage boats, a measure currently being developed by the City of Amsterdam's waste department.
To understand how floating garbage boats could work for residents, students organized a number of participatory sessions during the co-creation, including a so-called walkshop. The students walked with residents through the Wallen area while discussing possible locations for floating waste-collection points. Rather than finding the perfect location, the aim of this walkshop was to understand the reasoning behind residents' choices.
The students also worked with maps and prototypes to visualize and design the perfect waste collection system with the residents. These exercises helped make abstract ideas more tangible and created space for dialogue.
Understanding Scale and Complexity
The project provided valuable insights into the scale and complexity of the challenges the City of Amsterdam faces with its old quay walls. Mannan Gupta, one of the students, stated: “Working with the Engineer’s Bureau and all its stakeholders gave me an impressive understanding of the complexity of the urban challenges that the municipality of Amsterdam has to deal with and the effort it puts in solving them in a multidisciplinary manner”.
Based on their findings, the students developed a set of recommendations that frame the transformation of waste collection as a socio-technical challenge. Seeing the value of the prototyping exercise, the students developed a 3D miniature set that can be used for future co-creation sessions.
Read their recommendations on Openresearch Amsterdam.
Group Picture of the Co-creation Session