In 2012, at a former shipyard on the Johan van Hasselt kanaal off the river IJ in Amsterdam North, a group of architects started a project to convert a brownfield into a regenerative urban oasis. After their idea was selected at a tender run by the city’s municipality, De Ceuvel became a sustainably planned playground for creative and social entrepreneurs. This circular office park now hosts a thriving community of entrepreneurs and artists. The site includes creative workspaces, a cultural venue, a sustainable café, spaces to rent, and a floating BnB.
The community converted old houseboats into a workspace and they planted phytoremediating plants to clean the soil. De Ceuvel became a playground for sustainable technologies — the inhabitants are innovating ways to be energy self-sufficient and process their own waste. The community uses a number of methods to reimagine urban sustainable living such as compost toilets, heat exchangers, helophyte filters, phytoremediation, solar panels, struvite reactor, biogas, and upcycling.
This video is one of the episodes in the documentary series WATT IF – Energies for climate created by Olivier, makesense reporter, in partnership with EDF.
makesense is a global organization that inspires and empowers citizens, entrepreneurs, and organizations to build an inclusive and sustainable society together. Energies for Climate is a global campaign aiming to accelerate the transition towards low-carbon and accessible energy for everyone.
Follow De Ceuvel at https://deceuvel.nl/en/
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