The City Deal: cooperation between educators and the city

The city The Hague and Leiden University can potentially mean a lot to each other, and the city is a very rich environment for doing research. Moreover, the city The Hague provides ample opportunities for teachers and students to make education livelier and provide real situations to theoretical content. The knowledge that this yields can, in turn, contribute to solutions for issues faced by residents, the municipality and social organizations. The “City Deal Kennis Maken Den Haag” (this means Getting to know The Hague, but also ‘making knowledge’) aims to extend the cooperation of various educational institutions and partners in the city.

City labs

This is in particular done through city labs, often in the form of physical locations in the city where researchers, students, residents with the municipality and social organizations come together and discuss certain themes. In the coming period, City Deal Kennis Maken Den Haag will focus on making the collaboration between the city and knowledge institutions more sustainable and expand it. To achieve this, City Deal Kennismaken Den Haag will first map the various city labs and initiatives of the participating knowledge institutions. These will be cataloged on an interactive website, so that residents, students and teachers have a clear overview of what happens in The Hague, and where.

Interactive talk shows

The City Deal is also committed to sharing knowledge by organizing “Den Haag Draait Door”; interactive talk shows where various city labs and stakeholders engage with citizens and interested parties. Currently, more attention is paid to integrated and engaged education and research; the city is a useful breeding ground for issues, projects and new approaches. By deepening existing connections and partnerships, the city and knowledge institutions can mean more for each other.

Enriching the city and education

On the 29^th of May, the second edition of Den Haag Draait Door was organized (online). It was a fruitful event, during which teachers from Leiden University, The Hague University of Applied Sciences and representatives from The Hague municipality met and shared their interest and ideas on how and where to build connections and start projects. The meeting showed that there is a great breeding ground for further integration and that although institutional barriers have to be overcome, the commitment is promising. Urban Studies was represented by Dr. Katja Lubina, Dr. Sandra van Dijk and the meeting host was Jetse Siebenga, programme coordinator.

Would you like to join and gain in dept insight in The Hague?

Would you like to join the City Deal Kennis Maken? There are two working groups with both room for two more students on the team. The first group focuses at developing (research) questions in and around city labs and the second focuses on sustaining and extending the city deal network. Students who participate are a full member of the team. You will receive a small remuneration, and it will approximately take 4 hours per week of your time. And of course, endless insights, networking contacts and interesting conversation topics in return!

If you would like to stay informed about the City Deal, please send an email to t.f.lamers@luc.leidenuniv.nl to receive the newsletter four times a year)