Moving, Meeting, Playing, Sports (Participation-01, Participation-03)

Vision BOSS 
The municipality of Assen has the ambition to develop along three guiding principles: Green City of the Northern Netherlands, Dynamic Capital and Connected City. Space in the city is sometimes scarce, so it is important to design public space in a multifunctional way. 

The BOSS approach focuses on designing public space in such a way that it encourages movement, meeting, playing and sports. The better the environment is designed for this purpose, the more pleasant our residents experience and use public space. 

Goals of BOSS 
The main goal is to create a public space that encourages exercise/moving, meeting, playing and sports. But that is not the only thing: 

• (re)landscaping offers opportunities to make the space climate adaptive and green with attention to biodiversity. With comfortable, safe and attractive walking and cycling routes. 

• By stimulating encounters, BOSS plays an important role in combating loneliness. It will invite residents to come together and feel involved in their immediate surroundings. It also focuses on inclusion with accessible routes for the disabled and elderly.   

• Public space can also be used for sports and exercise. For children and young people, sports and exercise are essential for, among other things, healthy ageing, mental health and social contacts.

How does BOSS work? 

BOSS is working on an integrated approach to public spaces. Working closely with the housing corporation and the welfare organisation, we discuss internally which area we are going to work on and what tasks, opportunities and wishes there are, and within which frameworks we work. Residents and other stakeholders are informed that we want to work on their neighbourhood. They are given the opportunity to contribute ideas and input, which will be incorporated into (a) design(s). After a final test with colleagues and residents, we proceed to implementation. 

BOSS in Europe 

The BOSS project aligns well with LIFE and New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles by creating sustainable, inclusive and beautiful public spaces that encourage movement, meeting, play and sports. With attention to neighbourhood involvement and natural elements. It reflects the NEB vision by combining climate adaptation with social inclusion and design. 

For the (re)design of our neighbourhoods, we want to look for innovative applications to implement the principles of BOSS and NEB. We especially want to focus on the combination green and sports/movement. We have been inspired by the NEB Facility HORIZON calls of 2025: 

• HORIZON-NEB-2025-01-PARTICIPATION-01: The impact of common space on neighbourhood communities; 

• HORIZON-NEB-2025-01-PARTICIPATION-03: Beautiful, sustainable and inclusive street furniture for the transformation of neighbourhoods.

And see opportunities in this to get started in Assen. Therefore, we are now exploring which research question or questions are interesting and fit our idea of greening our neighbourhoods with innovative applications and new ideas. What should we think about, what type of research question? What has already been done and can we learn from? Are there any research questions for which we can offer a practical case study? 

Contact details 
Sanne Ploegstra (Project secretary) – s.ploegstra@assen.nl  
Allart van der Haar (Policy Implementation) – a.haar@assen.nl 
Paolo Bakker (European Project Advisor) – p.bakker@assen.nl 
Mira Hamraoui (Coordinator European Affairs and Projects) – m.hamraoui@assen.nl