The project aims to improve the social integration of migrants in both China and the Netherlands by obtaining a better understanding of the impacts of social housing programmes and market forces on the urban housing of different migrant groups, and by assessing the impact of innovative social housing programmes on the social integration of migrants.

Rural-urban regions feel an increasing need for landscape services such as clean drinking water, recreational space and space for living and working. While these demands are greatest in cities, the potential to provide these services is greatest in rural areas. It is possible to manage this - under the right preconditions - but it does require spatial interventions, strong policies and the financial-organizational matching of supply and demand. Landscape services can thus form the necessary extra link in the transformation towards sustainability, contributing to a more beautiful landscape and fertile soils for current and future generations.

Energy communities (ECs) are seen as one of the cornerstones of the sustainable energy transition. Yet, ECs’ success is limited by two main factors: (1) grid capacity at distribution system level, and (2) the ability and willingness of people, public and private entities to engage in joint activities in the energy sector by means of forming a “community”. This project investigates whether “mobile” ECs, based on electrical vehicles, can address these limitations. Specifically, electrical vehicles provide opportunities for: (1) energy transport outside the fixed grid, and (2) broadening the range of communities that can form ECs.

Een groeiend aantal Nederlandse huishoudens dreigt in financiële problemen te komen. Sociale beleidsprogrammas voor deze huishoudens lijken niet optimaal te werken doordat ze gebaseerd zijn op achterhaalde gedragsveronderstellingen. Zijn de nieuwe gedragsinzichten de toekomst voor sociaal beleid? Of worden de mogelijkheden overschat? Onderzocht zal worden in hoeverre nieuwe inzichten uit de gedragswetenschappen bij kunnen dragen aan het verbeteren van sociale beleidsprogrammas voor financieel kwetsbare huishoudens. Het onderzoek zal bestaan uit een literatuurstudie en uit veldexperimenten die uitgevoerd zullen worden binnen twee sociale beleidsprogrammas van de overheid: Toeslagen en Vroegsignalering van huishoudens met probleemschulden.

Digital tool for optimal plastic recycling. Do you discard plastic waste in a separate bin, or is your waste sorted in a recycling center? Waste collection differs per region because each region deals with different waste streams, human behavior, and technical possibilities. Unfortunately, current policies are far from optimal: only 30% of Dutch consumer waste plastic is recycled. Therefore, MUNITION will develop a digital tool, calculating the optimal solution for plastic recycling based on regional specifics with which regional stakeholders can together develop evidence-based choices between pre-sorting or post-sorting to increase the amount of recycled plastic.