Pilot Inclusieve Digitale Stadsontwikkeling Spoordok Leeuwarden

The Spoordok development area in Leeuwarden is being used to experiment with digital technologies for urban development, such as data platforms and digital 3D models of the city. These technologies offer new opportunities to develop and visualise plans and engage residents, but they are often highly technical and difficult to understand. This creates a risk of digital exclusion, limited citizen participation and reduced trust in digital decision-making.

In this project, the Municipality of Leeuwarden, creative technology partners, the Media Innovation Campus and NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences are exploring and testing how digital urban development can be made more inclusive, transparent and understandable. As part of this process, the Social Digital Standard (SDS) is applied to concrete digital applications. The standard aims to embed public values such as accessibility, transparency, privacy and citizen participation in digital services.

In an experimental lab environment, an Open Urban Platform and a Digital Twin of Spoordok are used to explore how these public values can be translated into design choices, data structures and user interactions. Residents are actively involved through participatory and interactive methods. The applications are tested with different target groups, including through a digital ‘walk through the future Spoordok’ and VR-based feedback sessions. Residents with lower levels of digital literacy are also explicitly included in these tests.

The insights gained are used to test and further refine the Social Digital Standard in practice. The project will deliver a practical blueprint for applying the SDS, including design and assessment principles, methods and process steps. This knowledge is intended to help other municipalities, organisations and creative technology partners incorporate public values into digital urban development from the outset.

€50,000 in PPP-funding will be allocated to the project.