a new social function while preserving its historic elements The design was created through a collaboration between MVRDV and construction economics consultancy SkaaL and is expected to be completed at the end of 2027 The church's pews will be repurposed into seating integrated within the glass walls serving as benches for swimmers on one side and bar-height tables for spectators on the other The original pulpit will be adapted to serve as the lifeguard's station Related Article Transforming Sacred Spaces: 17 Adaptive Reuse Projects Revitalizing Churches the design incorporates compartmentalized glass walls that preserve the surrounding stained glass and interior finishes The roof will be insulated from the outside to prevent excessive heat loss while maintaining the view of the original brickwork from the inside the existing roof covering is planned to be reinstated The wooden ceiling structure will be retained and enhanced with sound-absorbing panels to improve acoustics will be discreetly integrated into the basement recognizing projects worldwide that prioritize reuse and repurposing in architecture for the common good You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Another new example to highlight today is their forthcoming Heerlen Holy Water conversion in the Dutch countryside in collaboration with Zecc Architecten By inserting a climatised public pool space into the landmarked St the firm completed a transformation that once again confers a social function onto the space The design affords a unique kind of configurability thanks to an adjustable pool floor that can be raised to constitute a new space for intimate gatherings Construction is expected to be completed at some point in 2027 Hard to believe the conversion won't carry We need to find ways to ritually cleanse ourselves Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site Your comment will be visible once approved MVRDV and Zecc Architecten have won the competition to turn St built over a hundred years ago and offering religious services until 2023 into a public swimming pool for the Dutch city nicknamed ‘Holy Water,’ is the adjustable pool floor even to the point of concealing the water entirely resulting in a multifunctional flat surface for hosting different social and cultural events It can also be set to hold a shallow layer of water The lighting over the pool was inspired by the church’s original lamps These are reinterpreted with four suspended rows of fixtures that also serve as lane markers for swimmers A main challenge is to guarantee efficient and sustainable climate control without jeopardizing the integrity of the historical elements glazed partitions will delimit the pool space as well as protect the stained-glass windows and the artworks The original roof will be insulated from the outside to prevent excessive heat loss while maintaining the view of the original brickwork from inside Technical systems will be integrated into the basement freeing up the main space entirely for public use Construction work is programmed for completion in 2007 there arent any match using your search terms About  .  Contact  .  Donation Archaeologists have uncovered the earliest evidence of Roman settlement in Heerlen with the discovery of a 2,000-year-old burial belonging to a Roman soldier named Flaccus made during ongoing excavations at the Raadhuisplein (Town Hall Square) offers new insights into Heerlen’s history as Coriovallum a Roman settlement strategically located at the crossroads of major Roman roads One of these plates bore the abbreviation “FLAC,” a nickname for Flaccus The burial of Flaccus predates other known Roman graves in Heerlen and represents the oldest named individual in the city’s history such as pottery fragments from the first half of the 1st century CE as they could have been lost or discarded along the road Flaccus’ grave provides unequivocal evidence of early Roman presence including four matching plates and a personalized bowl were made in Italy and date to around the year 0 These items suggest that Flaccus was a Roman soldier stationed at Coriovallum during the early Roman expansion into the region Archaeologists highlight the rarity of identifying non-elite individuals by name in ancient contexts making Flaccus’ burial a significant discovery The presence of the name on a funerary object indicates the personal and cultural practices of the time Coriovallum was established at the junction of the Via Belgica and Via Traiana connecting Cologne (Germany) to Boulogne-sur-Mer (France) and Xanten (Germany) to Trèves (France) Coriovallum evolved into a flourishing civilian town by the mid-1st century CE remain the largest visible Roman ruins in the Netherlands Excavations at the Raadhuisplein will continue into December The artifacts from Flaccus’ grave will be cleaned and displayed at the new Roman Museum of Heerlen Clemens noted: “This find not only teaches us more about our past but also demonstrates the unique story of Roman Heerlen for the Netherlands.” More information: Municipality of Heerlen I read in other articles and postings that Flaccus was a Roman soldier or auxiliary in Legio XXX or hanging down” – often used as a cognomen (a nickname or family name); his contubernium mates (tent mates) would laugh that he of all legionaries should be remembered through all time … and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()) Learn how to describe the purpose of the image (opens in a new tab) Leave empty if the image is purely decorative Learn how to describe the purpose of the image (opens in a new tab). Leave empty if the image is purely decorative. Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Experts have for the first time been able to put a name to a Roman grave dating back over 2000 years in the Netherlands Archaeologists have unearthed a unique grave of a Roman soldier “from year 0” in the Netherlands, shedding light on the ancient civilisation’s presence in the region The 2,000-year-old grave was discovered in the municipality of Heerlen last month and belonged to a soldier nicknamed “Flaccus” who lived around 0AD They deduced the name from the word “Flac” carved into a bowl found in the grave. “Today, evidence was found of Roman habitation in the time of Emperor Augustus. A unique discovery that not only teaches us more about our past, but also shows how unique the story of Roman Heerlen is for the Netherlands,” Jordy Clemens, Heerlen’s council member for culture and heritage, said in a statement. Analysis of the newly found gravesite led researchers to date Heerlen’s earliest settlement to the Augustan era from 0 to 20AD. The gravesite was found during excavations at Raadhuisplein, the town square in Heerlen which sat near the historical roads Via Belgica and Via Traiana and was a key location in the middle of the Roman settlement Coriovallum, archaeologists said. Coriovallum stood out for its elaborate Roman bathhouse, the oldest stone building in the Netherlands built around 40AD. The structure also included a restaurant and a library, suggesting it was a meeting place and served multiple functions in the Roman era. The latest findings could provide new insights into the residential history of the city, archaeologists said. “Never before have we found a Roman grave from this period with a name.” Researchers also found a bronze skin scraper and four plates along with the bowl in the grave. They traced the pottery to ancient Italy, confirming that Flaccus was indeed a Roman soldier. Previous digs in the region, unearthing pottery shreds, could not prove the presence of a settlement as there was a possibility the artefacts could have been discarded during travel. The Flaccus grave offered convincing evidence of Roman presence in the region, researchers said. “It is a unique find because it is not only the oldest Roman grave in Heerlen but also because no name was known there before,” they explained. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies A 37-year-old man from Heerlen was arrested Saturday evening in connection with a stabbing that occurred during a carnival celebration in the city The suspect is being investigated for attempted manslaughter The stabbing took place in the early hours of Saturday at Pancratiusplein was transported to a hospital for treatment the incident followed a dispute inside a nightlife venue The suspect fled the scene on foot after the attack Authorities initially estimated the suspect to be around 35 years old based on witness accounts They later identified and detained the 37-year-old suspect Saturday evening Police have asked witnesses and anyone with footage of the altercation to come forward as the investigation continues LBV Magazine English Edition during archaeological investigations conducted in Heerlen (Netherlands) an exceptional discovery was made: the tomb of a Roman soldier named Flaccus dating to the late 1st century BCE and early 1st century CE represents one of the most significant pieces of evidence of Roman presence in the area It is the first time a tomb from this period has been found in the region with a name associated The team of archaeologists from ADC ArcheoProjecten uncovered a cavity filled with remains related to the earliest Roman occupation of Heerlen at the Raadhuisplein (municipal square) The shape of the remains and the materials found indicated it was a Roman burial site Among the unearthed items were ceramic pieces and personal utensils that provided crucial information about the deceased’s identity One of the most notable finds was a bowl bearing the inscription “FLAC” an abbreviation identified by specialists as a reference to the name Flaccus a bronze tool used for scraping skin and four ceramic plates were also recovered Analysis of the objects revealed that they originated in Italy corroborating Flaccus’ connection to the Roman army This combination of elements makes the discovery not only the oldest of its kind in Heerlen but also one of the few that allows for the identification of a specific individual from that era present-day Heerlen was known as Coriovallum and was strategically located at the crossroads of two major routes These roads facilitated trade and military movement making Coriovallum a key location within the Roman Empire was central to this community and remains a site where over 2,000 years of history converge The new findings provide valuable insights into how the city’s earliest inhabitants lived and their relationship with the Roman Empire Flaccus’ tomb not only confirms the presence of Roman soldiers in the region but also shows how these individuals were integrated into local society The wealth of objects found suggests that Flaccus likely held a privileged status within the community Archaeological work at the Raadhuisplein is ongoing and will continue for several more days Each new discovery broadens our understanding of Heerlen’s Roman roots uncovering details that were once thought lost to time These efforts not only preserve the city’s historical memory but also connect its current residents with their past highlighting Coriovallum’s importance as a site of historical and cultural significance Gemeente Heerlen Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email. 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WACH: Breakthrough in missing Malaysian Airlines flight search with Australian fisherman's discovery Archaeologists have discovered a unique 2,000-year-old Roman soldier's grave in Heerlen unearthed last month in the Dutch municipality represents evidence of Roman habitation in the area during the time of Emperor Augustus The grave site has provided researchers with crucial insights into the earliest settlement of Heerlen which they now date to the Augustan era between 0 and 20 AD The soldier was identified as "Flaccus" through the word "Flac" carved into a bowl discovered in the grave evidence was found of Roman habitation in the time of Emperor Augustus A unique discovery that not only teaches us more about our past but also shows how unique the story of Roman Heerlen is for the Netherlands," said Jordy Clemens Heerlen's council member for culture and heritage The grave was discovered during excavations at Raadhuisplein which held strategic importance in the ancient Roman settlement of Coriovallum The location sat near two significant Roman roads Coriovallum was notable for housing the Netherlands' oldest stone building The bathhouse complex included a restaurant and library serving as a multifunctional meeting place during the Roman period Researchers discovered several significant items within the grave including four plates and a bronze skin scraper The pottery items were traced back to ancient Italy providing confirmation of Flaccus's identity as a Roman soldier This discovery was particularly significant as previous finds of pottery fragments in the region could not definitively prove Roman settlement as they might have been discarded by travellers The latest discovery was particularly significant as previous finds of pottery fragments in the region could not definitively prove Roman settlement The discovery of Flaccus's grave marks a groundbreaking moment in Dutch archaeology being both the oldest Roman grave in Heerlen and the first to bear a name "It is a unique find because it is not only the oldest Roman grave in Heerlen but also because no name was known there before," researchers explained The grave provides definitive evidence of Roman settlement in the region during the time of Emperor Augustus offering new insights into the area's residential history Mission Statement: to assist the integration of foreign residents living in Spain and this is never more accurate than when you establish yourself as a foreign resident in a new country Being able to quickly familiarise yourself with the culture and customs can help ease the transition during a challenging time This is why Euro Weekly News makes it our mission to provide you with a free news resource in English that covers both regional and national Spanish news – anything that we feel you will benefit from knowing as you integrate into your new community and live your best life in Spain you can forget about translating articles from Spanish into awkward English that probably don’t make much sense Let us be your convenient and essential guide to all things that will likely affect you as a foreign resident living in Spain A groundbreaking find in the Netherlands reveals the grave of a Roman soldier from around 0 AD providing fresh insight into the early Roman presence in the region Archaeologists have made an extraordinary discovery in the municipality of Heerlen uncovering a 2,000-year-old grave belonging to a Roman soldier which dates back to the time of Emperor Augustus is particularly significant as it is the first Roman burial in the area to be identified by name dubbed ‘Flaccus,’ was identified from the word ‘Flac’ carved into a bowl found within the grave This marks an unprecedented moment in the study of Roman settlements in the Netherlands The grave was unearthed during excavations at Raadhuisplein which was once a strategic location along the Roman roads Via Belgica and Via Traiana This area formed part of the Roman settlement of Coriovallum a key military and cultural hub in the region This discovery is more than just an archaeological find; it offers new perspectives on the Roman occupation of the area “Never before have we found a Roman grave from this period with a name,” said archaeologists highlighting the grave’s historical significance In addition to confirming Roman presence in Heerlen the grave provides invaluable insights into the daily lives of soldiers stationed in the region The findings not only enhance our understanding of Roman settlements but also underscore the importance of Heerlen as a Roman settlement in the Netherlands The unearthing of Flaccus’s grave represents a major milestone in Roman archaeology enriching the narrative of ancient Roman life beyond traditional texts and illustrations Find more news about Netherlands Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain by delivering news with a social conscience we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home With around half a million print readers a week and over 1.5 million web views per month EWN has the biggest readership of any English language newspaper in Spain The paper prints over 150 news stories a week with many hundreds more on the web – no one else even comes close Our publication has won numerous awards over the last 25 years including Best Free Newspaper of the Year (Premios AEEPP) Company of the Year (Costa del Sol Business Awards) and Collaboration with Foreigners honours (Mijas Town Hall) All of this comes at ZERO cost to our readers All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE Download our media pack in either English or Spanish Gemeente Heerlen/FacebookArchaeologists excavating the grave of the Roman soldier Flaccus Archaeologists recently uncovered a 2,000-year-old grave from a Roman settlement in Heerlen The burial belonged to a soldier named Flaccus and it is now considered the “most unique evidence of Roman habitation at this location.” This indeed marks the first time that a Roman grave of a specific offering fascinating new insights into the ancient history of the Netherlands Gemeente Heerlen/FacebookVarious ceramic artifacts and grave goods were found including one that bore the inscription “FLAC” for “Flaccus.” The discovery was made during ongoing excavations at the Raadhuisplein (Town Hall Square) in late November 2024 The site contains remnants of the ancient Roman settlement of Coriovallum which was situated at the intersection of two important roads Archaeologists from ADC Archeo Projecten were assessing the area during a redevelopment project when they came across a bit of earth with discolored soil in a rectangular shape Gemeente Heerlen/FacebookThe grave showed evidence of cremation But what they found instead was evidence of a cremation burial they discovered various artifacts including a bronze strigil (a personal hygiene tool used for cleansing the skin) One of these plates bore the inscription “FLAC,” a nickname for Flaccus In a statement Heerlen council member Jordy Clemens said: “Today but also shows how unique the story of Roman Heerlen is for the Netherlands.” there had been no conclusive evidence of a Roman presence in the region during the first century C.E Flaccus’ burial predates all other known Roman graves in Heerlen individual burial in the city’s history and although there have been previous first-century C.E finds in the region — mostly pottery — none were sufficient to confirm with 100 percent certainty that the Romans were present in the region during this time Flaccus’ grave presents irrefutable proof that the Roman settlement in Heerlen existed around 0 C.E the researchers also found a bronze skin scraper and four different plates,” the statement continues It is a unique find because it is not only the oldest Roman grave in Heerlen but also because no name was known there before.” Raadhuisplein was once at the center of Coriovallum an integral Roman settlement during the era of their dominance in the region It emerged at the crossroads of two significant Roman roads: the Via Belgica This strategic location led to Coriovallum’s development into a bustling hub of activity According to Livius, one standout feature of Coriovallum was its elaborate Roman bathhouse, or thermae, constructed around 40 C.E. This bathhouse is recognized as the oldest stone building in the Netherlands, showing just how important the settlement was during the Roman era The well-preserved remains of these baths are now showcased at Heerlen’s Thermenmuseum Roman ReconstructionsA photograph from the original excavation of the Heerlen bathhouse in 1941 This bathhouse also contained a restaurant and a library bathhouses like this were common meeting places and often served multiple functions at least 46 ancient Roman kilns have been identified within the boundaries of Heerlen suggesting that the Roman settlement had also been an important production center for pottery The discovery of Flaccus’ grave is just the latest in a long line of important historical discoveries at Heerlen and given how important this Roman settlement once was After reading about the discovery of Flaccus’ grave in the Netherlands, learn all about the brutal Roman military punishment known as decimation. Then, learn about the unhinged Roman emperor Commodus Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications InstagramXThreadsSnapchatTikTokYouTubeLAD Entertainment Home> News> World News Archaeologists have made a huge discovery in finding the remains of a person that is believed to be from 'year zero' The uncovered grave was one from 2,000 years ago which belonged to a Roman soldier named 'Flaccus' They discovered his remains in the Netherlands, which also brought more attention to the civilisation's overwhelming presence in the region, and in fact the world, at that time in history They worked the soldier's name out after finding the name 'Flac' carved into an unearthed bowl that was in the grave itself Sharing the discovery on the official Municipality of Heerlen Facebook page Heerlen’s council member for culture and heritage released a statement on the team's discovery but also shows how unique the story of Roman Heerlen is for the Netherlands," Clemens wrote researchers deduced that Heerlen's first settlement would have been around the Augustan era from around 0 to 20 AD This gravesite was discovered in the midst of excavations at Raadhuisplein near a couple of historical roads in Via Belgica and Via Traiana It was found to be an important location in the middle of a Roman settlement named Coriovallum Cariovallum was known for its Roman bathhouse which is also the oldest stone building in the whole country but the building also had a restaurant and library which points towards the area being a multi-purpose building and a place of meeting in Roman times Archaeologists further explained that their findings would give us some new insights into the history of the city adding: “Never before have we found a Roman grave from this period with a name.” managing to trace the pottery back to ancient Italy confirming their suspicions that he was a Roman soldier In the past, digs in the area have uncovered nothing more than pottery shreds, not proving the presence of a settlement as these items could have been left behind during travel Flaccus' grave gave researchers eye-opening evidence that there was a Roman presence in the region as they further explained: “It is a unique find because it is not only the oldest Roman grave in Heerlen but also because no name was known there before.” Topics: History, World News he has always been interested in writing about a range of subjects After graduating from Oxford Brookes University with a BA in Media he got a job freelance writing for SPORTbible while working in marketing before landing a full-time role at LADbible he's unhealthily obsessed with Manchester United which takes its toll on his mental and physical health A 30-year-old man from Heerlen has died from stab wounds following an incident Thursday night Emergency services transported the victim to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries later that night A 34-year-old man from Heerlen was arrested immediately after the incident He remains in custody while police investigate the circumstances surrounding the stabbing Authorities are working to determine the exact details of the altercation that led to the victim’s death No further information has been released at this time Netherlands to welcome sprinting legend on July 24 and 26 respectively for exhibition races he should be back racing - albeit not competitively - as soon as this week in two of the ‘post-Tour crits’ where he had his own podium ceremony to recognise his legendary career Cavendish was announced to be starting at the criteriums in Chaam on Wednesday praising Van de Mortel - the owner of team Parkhotel Valkenburg for helping with fees “Cavendish won the sprint on July 3 and thus reached a legendary number of 35 Tour victories But he also won 17 stages in the Giro d'Italia and three in the Tour of Spain A true cycling great who also competed in Heerlen in 2008.” He’ll be joined on the start line in Heerlen by Dutch Astana Qazaqstan teammate Cees Bol and breakthrough rider Frank van den Broek after he netted a famous 1-2 for DSM-Firmenich PostNL on the Tour’s opening stage alongside Romain Bardet.  They serve as more of an exhibition for the public to enjoy than actual races with jersey winners from the Tour riding in their famous jerseys and often taking the ‘win’ and a nice appearance fee for taking part Roeselare:  1 Mathieu van der Poel, 2 Biniam Girmay, 3 Gianni Vermeersch Wateringen: 1 Jasper Philipsen, 2 Frank van den Broek Herentals: 1 Biniam Girmay, 2 Mark Cavendish Maarheeze: 1 Mike Teunissen, 2 Cees Bol, 3 Danny van Poppel Roosendaal: Biniam Girmay, Bauke Mollema, Dylan Groenewegen during which time he also wrote for Eurosport Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby GREEN+ - New data by the European Environmental Agency shows the concentration of particulate matter (PM 2.5) in European cities Heerlen is the Dutch city with the cleanest air according to new data from the  European Environmental Agency (EEA) No one of the Dutch cities surveyed belongs to the category of European cities with good air quality.  The EEA recently ranked European cities’ air quality based on the average levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in 2022 and 2023 PM2.5 stands for particulate matter particles 2.5 micrometers and smaller in diameter they can easily be inhaled and cause health problems PM2.5 comes from sources like vehicle emissions Bad air quality is behind 300,000 deaths yearly in the EU.  no Dutch city belongs to the cities with good air quality The 11 surveyed urban areas all fall under the fair air quality level – 5 to 10 μg/m3 of average concentration – with Eindhoven just making it into this bracket with 9.7μg/m3. In addition to Heerlen The EEA specifies that the ranking only includes cities that have urban or suburban air quality monitoring stations for PM2.5 and that are included in the database of cities established under the European Commission’s Urban Audit The EEA categorizes air quality as: Good for levels that don’t exceed the 5 μg/m3 WHO guideline; fair for levels above 5 and not exceeding 10 μg/m3; moderate for levels above 10 and not exceeding 15 μg/m3; poor for levels above 15 and not exceeding 25 μg/m3; very poor for levels above the EU limit value of 25 μg/m3 The presence of the airport, the proximity to major national roads, and many livestock farms around the city are some of the drivers behind Eindhoven’s relatively poor air quality, as per Henry van der Velden advisor on Healthy Urbanisation at the Municipality of Eindhoven In order to monitor air quality and then take appropriate measures to reduce air pollution the city council partnered up with the Dutch Institute for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).  The collaboration resulted in the Air Monitoring Network which groups detections from the national air quality monitoring network The monitoring network has already resulted in practical policies including a redesign of one of the main connecting roads in the city center as well as more public transport connections to the airport.  Most of the cities complying with the WHO guideline for PM2.5 concentrations are in the North of Europe except for the Portuguese Faro and Funchal – on the island of Madeira.  most of the cities with poor air quality are in the South and East of Europe The majority of the reported cities in the Italian Po Valley and in Poland have poor air quality The Croatian Slavonski Brod is the only surveyed city exceeding the 25 μg/m3 threshold with 26,5 μg/m3 Bucharest is the capital with the worst air quality (15,6 μg/m3) followed by Ljubljana (15,4 μg/m3) and Warsaw (15 μg/m3).  In April, the European Parliament approved a revised version of the Ambient Air Quality Directive The law sets more stringent air quality targets to be met by 2030 for some of the most common pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and fine particles Annual limits for PM2.5 will be more than halved EU countries can ask to postpone the deadline to 2040 if some conditions apply keeping in mind 2050 as the end target for zero air pollution.  will transform into a booming centre of theatre installations and all sorts of performances during the Cultura Nova festival Artists and ensembles from various countries will aim to move the audience at various special locations and stages Cultura Nova presents 10 full days of passionate and inspiring performances and artworks from a variety of disciplines The performances at Cultura Nova take place at a wide spectrum of locations around the city of Heerlen adding a degree of excitement and the opportunity for the visitor to explore the beauty of the region Open to visitors of all ages, there is also a series of performances geared towards children, making it a fun day out for the whole family Browse their incredible agenda and have a read-through of what they have to offer in 2024 Cultura Nova stages can be found not only in the city of Heerlen but throughout Parkstad Limburg - the conurbation that includes Heerlen and the towns of Kerkrade Check out the event website to see which locations are planning on hosting performances this year The prime locations for Cultura Nova performances typically include: The festival also attracts spectators from nearby Maastricht and, of course, visitors from over the German border, therefore, this is also the perfect event for expats in Germany There are so many performances to choose from in different locations around Limburg, so take a look at the Cultura Nova programme, book your tickets and plan your visit. The programme can be filtered to show you only the events that don't need Dutch to be understood Metrics details Studying steel microstructures yields important insights regarding its mechanical characteristics microstructures transform based on a multitude of factors including chemical composition Martensite-austenite (MA) islands in bainitic steel appear as blocky structures with abstract shapes that are difficult to identify and differentiate from other types of microstructures material science may benefit from machine learning models that are able to automatically and accurately detect these structures the training process of the state-of-the-art machine learning models requires a large amount of high-quality data we provide 1.705 scanning electron microscopy images along with a set of 8.909 expert-annotated polygons to describe the geometry of the MA islands that appear on the images We envision that this dataset will be useful for material scientists to explore the relationship between the morphology of bainitic steel and mechanical characteristics computer vision researchers and practitioners may use this data for training state-of-the-art object segmentation models for abstract geometries such as MA islands area of martensite-austenite in steel • Polygon Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14045789 These properties are depending on chemical composition and cooling rate as they influence the bainitic microstructure prior research lacks quantitative measurements with meaningful numbers of MA islands Often only the average size was used to interpret this sub-structure in bainite the average size appears insufficient to describe the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties the characterization of bainite microstructures on microscopy images poses a challenge and detecting a clear correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties is extremely difficult To improve reliability and reproducibility recent developments in machine learning provide a promising approach to tackle the challenge of microstructure description by computer vision the architectural developments show promise training object detection and segmentation models require a significant amount of high-quality annotated data and expert-annotated image sets are rare to come across the expected benefit of transfer learning (i.e. applying the knowledge gained while training to solve a particular problem to a different yet similar problem) is limited we contribute to both materials science and machine learning fields by providing (a) an image collection of steel microscopy on which blocky-type morphologies in bainite microstructures that are annotated by experts (b) metadata regarding the morphology of these structures Materials scientists may use the dataset to conduct bainite-related research and machine learning practitioners may utilize the data to train and test object detection and segmentation models In this section, we describe our method for generating the data, and measuring and calculating features. Fig. 1 represents the steps of our research process that includes data collection, annotation, feature calculation, and evaluation. The steps of the data generation process The images of various steel samples were acquired via a scanning electron microscope The MA islands that appear on these images were annotated redundantly by multiple experts as points-of-interest (POI) The set of POIs was refined into a smaller set based on the agreement of the experts using the spatial proximity of the individual annotations the experts drew polygons on the boundary of the MA islands that were previously marked by the majority of experts The agreed-upon POIs were also used to guide the automated contour detection around the MA islands The generated polygons were benchmarked against the expert-annotated polygons the morphological characteristics of expert annotated polygons were calculated retained austenite films reveal another topography effect in this type of microstructure Large MA islands commonly inherit large martensitic areas carbon can diffuse and stabilize more austenite in the MA islands during cooling Bainitic microstructures can consist of constituents with the order of magnitude on the sub-micron or even nanometer scale that cannot be imaged by light optical microscopy due to the limited spatial resolution Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) provides high resolution images (resolution limit less than 10 nm) of a probed surface suitable for refined and more complex microstructures emitted electrons from a field emission gun are focused on the sample surface These primary electrons are scattered on the surface Inelastic scattering excites electrons located close to the surface These excited electrons cause emission of secondary electrons Backscattered electrons and secondary electrons can be detected revealing local chemical (Back-Scattered Electron Detector) or topological (Scanning Electron Detector) gradients EBSD is a time expensive method which requires also additional time for postprocessing EBSD (or APT) is not suitable for an analysis on larger surface areas or on a larger set of samples SEM images were chosen to generate efficiently a high quantity of image data suitable to be used as training input for computer vision models Only secondary electron detectors were used that yield topographic information to take micrographs of local spots covering an area of nearly 650 µm2 the islands show a topographic effect in the SEM image This effect originates from the etching response and manifests in a brighter appearance from the outer rim to the centre of the island etching even reveals refined lath structures in the centre of the islands The complexity of the given task lies in differentiating the MA islands from occasional carbides (bright points) and film-type austenite These film-type structures occur as elongated and bright films with a thickness in the range of nanometer The images were acquired in a Zeiss Sigma field emission gun SEM with secondary electron and Inlens detectors by Oxford The SEM was operated at 15 kV with a working distance below 10 mm and with 60 µm aperture We used a web-based 2D image annotation platform for the acquisition of spatial annotations on image sets the annotation platform consists of two parts: a control panel that shows the task description and a canvas object that displays a single image from the dataset with a transparent overlay that records the spatial coordinates of annotators’ mouse clicks Two separate modes of operation are supported by the annotation software that were used in different steps of this study users are allowed to either mark multiple POIs or draw one polygon through consecutive clicks 2.580 images were annotated separately and redundantly by three domain experts the annotation task consisted of marking a point that is inside the blocky MA region The annotators were instructed to provide one and only one POI marker per structure we make the assumption that every marker put by a particular annotator belongs to exactly one MA structure that is visible on the image markers that are placed by different annotators may indicate the same MA structure which may mean that the experts agree on the existence of a particular structure Images were displayed in 1024 × 768 resolution and the coordinates of annotated POIs were recorded in that resolution scale the annotators marked all MA structures that they could identify on the images The distribution of the number of POIs marked on images by the experts A Example visualization of POIs marked by the expert annotators and blue colored points are the POIs provided by annotators Yellow points mark a POI that was agreed by two annotators Purple colored points denote the agreement of three annotators The number of POIs resulted by the agreement of all three annotators was 2.913 while the number of POIs agreed by two or three annotators was 8.909 we removed 63 images from the dataset because there were no agreed-upon POIs marked on them The red dots mark the agreed-upon POIs that were collected in the POI annotation step Polygon compactness measure ranges between 0 and 1 a perfect circle) and 0 indicates complete lack of compactness Formulas (1) and (2) show how aspect ratio and polygon compactness were calculated where P denotes a polygon TIFF files are the original outputs of the SEM and PNG equivalents are created to be displayed on web browsers for annotation purposes Note that only 1.705 of the images have polygon annotations associated with them The remaining image files are excluded due to suboptimal image quality or there are no agreed-upon MA-islands indicated on them These images are provided in a separate folder The description of the fields in the table are listed below Type describes the chemical composition of the steel The specifics of the composition are not included in this dataset Type property is only provided as a classification feature to indicate compositionally different classes Temperature is the temperature of phase transformation Direction indicates the direction on which axis the photograph has been taken It can be ‘Horizontal’ for left-to-right and ‘Vertical’ for top-to-bottom Distance is the distance to the edge of the sample cross-section in either horizontal or vertical direction The maximum distance in horizontal direction can be 24 mm and in vertical direction 13 mm These distances are a result of the deformation of the sample by compression Magnification is the magnification level while taking images with the electron microscope All images in this dataset were recorded under 4000x magnification Angle describes the tilt-angle (that was created by selecting a specific scanning electron detector) that was used during the photo making procedure ‘tilt’ indicates a tilt angle to create a bigger shadow on the sample This helps to see the different topographic elevations of structures better means that the electron ray flows perpendicular to the camera lens which is also called in-lens the image usually gets brighter than otherwise POI annotations table shows the entire set of annotations provided by all three experts Each entry consists of the image name and an X Y coordinate tuple that represents the offset coordinates of the point that was marked to indicate an MA structure by one of the experts This table also includes the coordinates of MA structures that were agreed by either two or three experts A: The list of POI annotations provided by the expert A B: The list of POI annotations provided by the expert B C: The list of POI annotations provided by the expert C doubleAgreement: The list of POI annotations on which at least two experts agreed tripleAgreement: The list of POI annotations on which three experts agreed The POI lists are stored as coordinate-tuples An example list that contains four points is as the following Each entry in the expert segmentation table represents a polygon that marks the boundary around an MA structure The POIs that lead to the drawing of a particular polygon annotation is also provided within the data table Polygons are defined by a series of consecutive point tuples such as the following example point: The point that marks the MA structure The point is defined with one tuple of coordinates polygon: The polygon that marks the boundary of the annotated MA structure The morphological features data table contains the measured and calculated features of the MA islands that are represented by polygon objects and polygon fields of the expert segmentation table and enriches them with the morphological features that are described below The points and polygons are represented in Shapely geometry objects with the purpose of facilitating measurements and calculations point_shapely: The Shapely representation of the point This point resides within the polygon of the annotated MA island poly_shapely: The Shapely representation of the polygon that represents an MA island polygon_area: The area of polygon that represents an MA island in pixel-units polygon_area_metric: The area of the polygon that represents an MA island in micrometers polygon_perimeter: The perimeter of the polygon that represents an MA island in pixel-units polygon_perimeter_metric: The perimeter of the polygon that represents an MA island in micrometers height: The height of the rectangle that bounds the polygon in pixel-units width: The width of the rectangle that bounds the polygon in pixel-units aspect_ratio: The height of the bounding box of the polygon divided by the width of the bounding box of the polygon This is an indicator of the shape of an MA island that is represented by the polygon polygon_compactness: Calculated Polsby-Popper compactness34 This table contains polygons (contours) that are automatically created by the baseline model The purpose of this table is to provide a benchmarking opportunity for computer vision researchers and practitioners These polygons were created with a simple contour detection method that uses optimal parameters for the set of images that were used in this study point: The expert-annotated point that marks the MA structure polygon: The expert-annotated polygon that marks the boundary of the MA structure point_shapely: The representation of ‘point’ in Shapely data format poly_shapely: The representation of ‘polygon’ in Shapely data format contour_polygon_shapely: The representation of the automatically detected contour in Shapely data format The evaluation table consists of three additional features on top of the baseline contour detection model; area of the expert-annotated polygons area of the automatically detected contours and the Intersection-over-Union (IOU) as a measure of segmentation accuracy area_contour: The area of the automatically detected contour in pixel-units area_poly: The area of the expert-annotated polygon in pixel-units IOU: The area of intersection of the expert-annotated polygon and the automatically detected contour divided by the area of the union of them This is a measure of segmentation accuracy We ensured the technical validation of the dataset and our curation approach focusing on three areas; POI annotations and the usefulness of the dataset for training and evaluating object segmentation models we were able to identify 8.909 MA islands that were separately annotated by at least two experts and 2.913 that were agreed-upon by three experts the quality of polygon annotations was controlled by two activities we automatically checked if the polygons are valid The validity of a polygon means that the polygon rings are closed the outcome polygons were individually displayed on base images and carefully visually inspected by the curators we used contour detection to segment the already-detected microstructures the contouring procedure uses POIs to automate the consecutive step which is to draw the boundaries of the MA islands that contain the POIs indicated by experts The contouring procedure detects the boundaries based on stark changes in color and intensity it produces polygons that are much more complex and detailed than expert-annotated polygons The purpose of applying the contouring procedure in our study is threefold we aimed at seeing whether there is a pattern that could be captured to train models We assume that the change of color and intensity comprises useful information regarding the boundaries of MA islands The comparison of contouring and expert-annotated polygons allows us to evaluate the importance of color and intensity changes in detecting boundaries of MA islands we aimed at evaluating contouring as a supporting tool for the polygon annotation task Due to the complexity and abstractness of the MA islands -and potentially many other microstructures that appear in steel- contour detection methods can assist the annotator by fine-tuning the curvature of the polygon boundary that is indicated by POIs placed by the annotator An example of a similar usage is the magic wand tool that is available in many image processing software products contour detection provides a baseline model for segmentation any machine learning model trained for the segmentation of MA islands must overperform the baseline model in terms of accuracy we compared the outcome of the baseline contour detection method against the expert-annotated polygons This may suggest that the change in color and intensity are a part of the decision taken by the experts when drawing the boundaries of MA islands Even though contour detection may not replace a machine learning segmentation model it has the potential to ease the polygon annotation task and improve the quality of expert-annotations Further research is required to improve the annotation procedure as well as to train segmentation models that can detect MA island boundaries accurately this dataset comprises a rich source for training such machine learning models The methods to visualize the polygons and points on the images are also provided within the code to allow researchers to visually inspect the geometries on the detected MA islands two Jupyter Notebooks were provided; one that contains the code that describes the data tables and calculates the morphological feature and another for contour detection and evaluation of the segmentation model and a full set of stepwise instructions to replicate the calculations in this study Carbide-free bainite in medium carbon steel Structure–properties relationship in TRIP steels containing carbide-free bainite Bainite in silicon steels: new composition–property approach part 1 The identification of cementite for differentiating between the various types of bainite in modern low-alloyed multi-phase steels; Zementitnachweis zur Unterscheidung von Bainitstufen in modernen Characterisation and quantification of complex bainitic microstructures in high and ultra-high strength linepipe steels Mechanical properities of an HSLA bainitic steel subjected to controlled rolling with accelerated cooling Effect of Molybdenum and Cooling Regime on Microstructural 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Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1556 (2015) Is Faster R-CNN Doing Well for Pedestrian Detection Search Area Reduction Fast-RCNN for Fast Vehicle Detection in Large Aerial Imagery In 2018 25th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP) A perspective on the morphology of bainite Morphology and properties of low-carbon bainite Influence of carbon concentration and reaction temperature upon bainite morphology in Fe-C-2 Pct Mn alloys The bainite transformation in a silicon steel Structural characterization of “carbide-free” bainite in a Fe–0.2 C–1.5 Si–2.5 Mn steel Preperation of carbide-free bainitic steels for EBSD investigations Methods to Classify Bainite in Wire Rod Steel Chemistry and three-dimensional morphology of martensite-austenite constituent in the bainite structure of low-carbon low-alloy steels The third criterion: Compactness as a procedural safeguard against partisan gerrymandering Iren, D. et al. Aachen-Heerlen Annotated Steel Microstructure Dataset. figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5185004 (2021) Butterworth, D. Source code for: Minimum area bounding rectangle. GitHub https://github.com/dbworth/minimum-area-bounding-rectangle (2013) Advanced Steel Microstructural Classification by Deep Learning Methods Iren, D. Aachen-Heerlen-Annotated-Steel-Microstructure-Analysis-Code: Nature SciData Release. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4075550 (2020) Download references This research was supported by the Province of Limburg We acknowledge the support of ArcelorMittal Maizières for contributing image data of wire rod steel in the framework of the knowledge-building program at ArcelorMittal we would like to pay our gratitude and our respects to our colleague Dr Amrapali Zaveri who contributed to the initiation of this research project and passed away in January 2020 Center for Actionable Research of Open Universiteit Sebastian Wesselmecking & Ulrich Krupp writing and editing the dataset descriptor U.K.: Reviewing and editing the manuscript S.W.: Reviewing and editing the manuscript The authors declare no competing interests Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ applies to the metadata files associated with this article Reprints and permissions Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00926-7 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics newsletter — what matters in AI and robotics research In the heart of Heerlen, the Netherlands, architectural collective Selvatico transforms a dreary car park rooftop into an urban garden that invites the re-appropriation of the space by local citizens titled ‘The Countryside’ creates a green recreational area that draws inspiration from the crop patterns that characterize the Dutch countryside Enhancing local biodiversity and fostering reconnection small sections of crops and gathering spaces host a curated selection of local plants creating a green oasis across Heerlen’s roofscape offering a new perspective on how citizens can contribute to a climate-proof living and working environment Selvatico transforms car park into urban garden | all images by Giovanni Nardi Selvatico’s rooftop garden reinterprets an infrastructural necessity into a public amenity that reveals the hidden potential of an urban ecosystem. The Amsterdam-based collective’s design concept brings the crop patterns found in the Dutch countryside into Heerlen’s city center The 1200 sqm concrete roof is divided into a series of crops each of which hosts a different type of vegetation 57 varieties of plant species are grown in movable planters made of wooden crates therein defining a system of social spaces for spontaneous meetings and interactions ‘The Countyside’ also comprises five ‘room’ types — the Wilderness Edible and Aphrodisiac — each defined by the density ‘We need to create dynamic and resilient landscapes that integrate organised planting patterns with ample space for human and non-human interactions This transformation will allow us to strengthen and safeguard biodiversity and even more to restore natural habitats our own roofs offer a great opportunity to take action and start the process of regeneration.’ explain the designers the intervention is part of SCHUNCK’s Heerlen Rooftop Project to create new urban spaces of connection the rooftop garden reveals the hidden potential of an urban ecosystem the composition defines a system of social spaces for spontaneous gathering 57 varieties of plant species are grown in wooden crate planters Selvatico creates a green oasis across Heerlen’s roofscape the design concept brings the crop patterns found in the Dutch countryside into Heerlen’s city center name: The Countryside  designer: Selvatico program: Heerlen Rooftop Project organization: SCHUNCK designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions’ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here. AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style Metrics details Hereditary Protein S (PS) deficiency is a rare coagulation disorder associated with an increased risk of venous thrombosis (VT) The PS Heerlen (PSH) mutation is a rare S501P mutation that was initially considered to be a neutral polymorphism it has been later shown that PSH has a reduced half-life in vivo which may explain the association of PSH heterozygosity with mildly reduced levels of plasma free PS (FPS) Whether the risk of VT is increased in PSH carriers remains unknown We analyzed the association of PSH (rs121918472 A/G) with VT in 4,173 VT patients and 5,970 healthy individuals from four independent case-control studies Quantitative determination of FPS levels was performed in a subsample of 1257 VT patients the AG genotype was associated with an increased VT risk of 6.57 [4.06–10.64] (p = 1.73 10−14) In VT patients in whom PS deficiency was excluded plasma FPS levels were significantly lower in individuals with PSH when compared to those without [72 + 13 vs 91 + 21 UI/dL; p = 1.86 10−6 mean + SD for PSH carriers (n = 21) or controls (n = 1236) respectively] We provide strong evidence that the rare PSH variant is associated with VT in unselected individuals we aimed to systematically determine if there was an association between PS Heerlen and VT by combining four French case-control DNA samples totaling 4,173 patients and 5,970 healthy individuals Genotype distributions of the rs121918472 variant within the four case-control studies are shown in Table 1 No homozygous carrier of the rare rs121918472-G allele was observed the AG genotype was more frequent in VT patients than in healthy controls and was associated with an increased VT risk (Odds Ratio OR) of 6.57 [4.06-10.64] (p = 1.73 10−14) The association was significantly heterogeneous across studies (p < 10−3) due to strong associations in the EDITH cohort (2.4% vs 0.4%) the EOVT/MARTHA cohort (2.4% vs 0%) samples but not in FARIVE study samples (1.1% vs 1.8%) Note that the observed AG genotype frequency was higher in FARIVE controls with hypertension (2.9% n = 343) in whom the frequency was similar to the other cohort controls Excluding the FARIVE study from the combined analysis increased the significance of the association between rs121918472 and VT (OR = 14.58 [7.42–28.65] We also examined whether the rs121918472-G allele frequency varied in specific VT subgroups such as in patients with provoked or unprovoked VT patients with deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism and patients with F5 or F2 G20210A mutations We did not observe preferential associations in any specific strata which is far lower than the gold standard of r2 > 0.8 for imputation quality and the increased risk associated with the imputed rs121918472-G allele was OR = 1.46 [0.28–7.58] Because 865 MARTHA/EOVT participants examined in the current study also took part in the INVENT study we were able to calculate the Spearman correlation between the true rs121918472 genotype as provided by Illumina Exome array results and the imputed dose-derived from GWAS arrays The resulting low correlation of ρ = 0.25 illustrated how imputation techniques are not reliable for inferring rare variants such as rs121918472 Free PS plasma levels (IU/dL) in MARTHA cases according to the rs121918472 polymorphism (age and sex adjusted P-value: 1.86 × 10−6) In the present study we systematically analyzed four French case-control collections totalling 4,173 patients and 5,970 healthy individuals and provide strong evidence that the rare PS Heerlen variant is associated with VT one might hypothesize that PS Heerlen could affect thrombosis risk by impairing TFPI function we provide evidence that PS Heerlen is associated with increased VT risk in individuals of the general population Further investigations are required to better understand the surprisingly high prevalence of PS Heerlen mutation in apparently healthy individuals from the FARIVE study Functional studies investigating the potential influence of PS Heerlen on VT risk would also be of benefit These results also raise the question of whether PS Heerlen should always be genotyped irrespective of plasma PS levels in thrombophilia screening Genetic outlier analysis was performed using IBS statistics and principal component analysis to detect individuals of non-European origin This led to a selected cohort of 2,630 VT patients and 3,414 controls typed with Illumina exome chips for final association analysis The overall rs121918472 genotype call rate was 0.98 with 0.97 in the FARIVE and EDITH studies typed with HRM and 0.99 in individuals typed with the Illumina Human Exome chips fasting blood was drawn for FPS measurement Quantitative FPS determination was performed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using the Asserachrom FPS assay (Diagnostica Stago) PS deficiency was defined as FPS plasma antigen levels <55 IU/dL−1 using the specific ELISA assay FPS data were available in 1,257 MARTHA individuals Genotype distribution of the rs121918472 was tested for deviation from Hardy-Weinberg (HW) equilibrium via the HW exact test Association of rs121918472 with VT was analyzed via the Cochran-Armitage trend test and by logistic regression analysis adjusting for age and sex Association of rs121918472 with FPS was assessed using linear regression analysis Analyses were first performed separately in each study and were then performed on all samples combined and further adjusted for the study group Informed consent was obtained from all participants and the study met all institutional ethics requirement The procedures employed were reviewed and approved by the Assistance Publique des Hopitaux de Marseille institutional review committee Protein S Heerlen mutation heterozygosity is associated with venous thrombosis risk Publisher's note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Re-evaluation of the role of the protein S-C4b binding protein complex in activated protein C-catalyzed factor Va-inactivation C4b-binding protein: a forgotten factor in thrombosis and hemostasis Protein S stimulates inhibition of the tissue factor pathway by tissue factor pathway inhibitor Plasma protein S deficiency in familial thrombotic disease an immunologic polymorphism due to dimorphism of residue 460 In vivo clearance of human protein S in a mouse model: influence of C4b-binding protein and the Heerlen polymorphism The Ser 460 to Pro substitution of the protein S alpha (PROS1) gene is a frequent mutation associated with free protein S (type IIa) deficiency Protein S inherited qualitative deficiency: novel mutations and phenotypic influence Deficient APC-cofactor activity of protein S Heerlen in degradation of factor Va Leiden: a possible mechanism of synergism between thrombophilic risk factors Meta-analysis of 65,734 individuals identifies TSPAN15 and SLC44A2 as two susceptibility loci for venous thromboembolism Genome-wide association analysis of self-reported events in 6135 individuals and 252 827 controls identifies 8 loci associated with thrombosis Heerlen polymorphism associated with type III protein S deficiency and factor V Leiden mutation in a Polish patient with deep vein thrombosis Protein S levels and the risk of venous thrombosis: results from the MEGA case-control study The Ser460Pro mutation in recombinant protein S Heerlen does not affect its APC-cofactor and APC-independent anticoagulant activities TFPI cofactor function of protein S: essential role of the protein S SHBG-like domain Finding the missing heritability of complex diseases Rare and low-frequency variants and their association with plasma levels of fibrinogen Contribution of Rare and Common Genetic Variants to Plasma Lipid Levels and Carotid Stiffness and Geometry: A Substudy of the Paris Prospective Study 3 PLINK: a tool set for whole-genome association and population-based linkage analyses Download references We are grateful to Rachel Peat for English editing and grammatical corrections This research was partially supported by the GENMED Laboratory of Excellence on Medical Genomics (ANR-10-LABX-0013) the French Clinical Research Infrastructure Network on Venous Thrombo-Embolism (F-CRIN INNOVTE) and the ICAN Institute for Cardiometabolism and Nutrition (ANR-10-IAHU-05) three research programs managed by the National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the French Investment for the Future initiative Trégouët: These authors contributed equally to this work Institut National pour la Santé et la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) Unité Mixte de Recherche en Santé(UMR_S) 1062 Team Genomics & Pathophysiology of Cardiovascular Diseases ICAN Institute for Cardiometabolism and Nutrition were in charge of statistical data analysis designed the participating studies and the overall project drafted the manuscript that was further revised by A.D. The authors declare no competing financial interests Download citation Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. Volume 11 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1242151 This article is part of the Research TopicLiving Labs and Open Innovation approaches to scale impact for human wellbeingView all 12 articles Cities are championing urban experiments in order to address societal challenges and increased urban complexity urban experiments are used as a method in a broader trend in public policy to align urban planning with citizen needs by viewing cities as platforms for societal transformation that require we demonstrate the impacts of placemaking and Urban Living Labs not only for healthy environments but also in facilitating transdisciplinary learning we elaborate on the Aurora transformation process in the neighborhood GMS in Heerlen-North as being one of the 16 Dutch neighborhoods that need extra attention to its socio-urban challenges due to the historical context and consequent local development providing two main results for ULLs as infrastructure for innovation for community wellbeing as an alternative spatial planning approach for urban contexts with extreme social-urban conditions that draw on the multitude of local values to generate and accelerate urban transformations going beyond the traditional impacts of urban transformations including public health equity and addressing social-economic determinants of community wellbeing as an infrastructure for education innovation encompassing and operationalising social learning theory it addresses societal issues in these neighborhoods or democratic decision-making more appropriately and enhances student learning through transdisciplinary collaboration among those involved and by connecting education We conclude the article by emphasizing its novelty Contemporary cities are going through an intense transformation phase driven by increasing urban complexity and grand societal challenges. Hence, there is a growing trend in public policy to align urban developments to citizens' needs by viewing cities as platforms for societal transformation toward addressing issues such as inclusion, equity, and human development opportunities [see, e.g., (1, 2)] we will focus on the articulation of the innovation and added value of both placemaking and the ULL set-up to demonstrate the impacts of such approaches not only for vital and inclusive environments but also in facilitating a transdisciplinary learning environment for students and other urban stakeholders with a focus on social learning theory there are diverse concentrations and clusters of multiple urban challenges One of them is the Aurora apartment building a social housing unit of over 200 dwellings housing a community from over 60 nationalities The housing block has been renovated recently and painted with the largest artistic mural in Europe This development aligns with national targets for housing associations to upgrade their housing stock energy efficiency wise as well as the present development perspective of the municipality to enhance the quality of the urban environment by emphasizing culture and arts while in parallel enhancing its local identity in link to its distinctive local qualities and historical context amidst the challenges faced by neighborhoods like GMS understand and examine the interplay between urban development approaches and strategies and public health equity and community wellbeing to improve both the quality of the built environment and the social-health fabric of these neighborhoods we asked ourselves the following research question: “How can Urban Living Labs as an (urban) innovation and learning infrastructure contribute to vital healthy and inclusive neighborhoods by physical and socio-spatial interventions in neighborhoods like GMS in Heerlen-North?” For illustration purposes, Figures 1–3 show the location and its context Aurora apartment building before painting and renovation (Source: Boa Mistura) Aurora apartment building after painting and renovation (Source: Boa Mistura) Aurora apartment building and GMS neighborhood incl the Maankwartier station area (Source: Boa Mistura) Recently, Horstman and Knibbe (9) have shown that the healthy city concept is about public space “The living environment of people with low incomes often contains more health threats than the public space of high income groups' [p. (21); own translation] or fewer social encounter opportunities to support their claim three perspectives on the built environment and the healthy city arise: 1. Public space for social interactions in the built environment. Here, the concept of “public familiarity” (21) is important as it emphasizes that social interactions increase feelings of safety and familiarity consequently leading to less social isolation in cities (22) 3. Social mixing in the built environment. Here, it is proposed that mixing certain socio-economic inhabitant groups automatically leads to more physical quality of the living environment, more social cohesion and increased social capital. However, research has shown the opposite of homogenous neighborhoods (25) and that social mixing assumptions pay too little attention to the historical context of places and the aspirations of community members (26) not only reshapes the physical environment but also reimagines the social fabric of these neighborhoods ULLs advance place understanding and placemaking through a process of collaboration and interactive learning among local stakeholders research in the public health domain has repeatedly shown the importance of social interactions and community engagement to address health disparities rooted in the (re-)production of the built environment examining how ULLs can function as innovation infrastructure by providing a social learning arena is essential in the pursuit of community wellbeing impacts in neighborhoods Against this background on the need for innovation actions on a local scale while having sustainability challenges on a higher scale it is important (if not a necessity) to develop the needed and appropriate knowledge and expertise to achieve the required innovation actions to govern those changes and achievements The social learning theory encompasses four elements arguing that engagement with social issues is fundamental to how learning takes place and how people become who they are (38) Drawing on these four elements enhances student learning impacts as it intertwines personal and professional development with locally relevant societal issues It also provides possibilities for transversal (students from different years in one discipline) and multi-level (vocational and master) collaboration and learning in addition to multidisciplinary perspectives Learning as belonging: Students are part of the ULL community; they learn within and with the local stakeholders and community actors engagement in and understanding of actual societal challenges can lead to the development of relevant knowledge Learning as becoming: Students collaborate with the ULL community to develop their own work identity relative to other disciplines professionals develop a broader understanding and knowledge base of the complexity and interconnectedness of actual urban questions Learning as experience: Students learn by working on real-life societal issues in a local context makes learning and working meaningful for students This will help to bridge the gap between abstract concepts and context-specific questions and needs Learning as doing: Students learn to take initiative and responsibility regarding societal issues and the ULL community to gain knowledge and skills and reflect on their own as well as other disciplines and monitoring of certain interventions on the local scale bridges the gap between diverse scales that students work on From neighborhood to building or product scale resulting in more interrelated hands-on knowledge development The Aurora apartment building area has gone through a process of transformation since the coal mine closure that left a strong stigma on the building and the inhabitants being a residence and area for mainly underprivileged communities and a place for drugs and prostitution Many efforts and projects have been implemented in the past 10 years to transform the place and bring better life quality and imago by the housing association Wonen Limburg Within this context of ongoing transformation it was an important step to work on the development of the courtyard of the Aurora apartment building to enhance the sense of community and the creation of a social place that is safe The Aurora apartment building courtyard is a parking lot for the tenants of the social housing association the parking lot is only rented out for two-thirds of its capacity and the residents experience the courtyard as a site for illegal activities (ranging from illegal parking to drug usage) and as a non-inviting stressing environment (i.e not climate resilient and physically closed) Wonen Limburg and the research center Smart Urban Redesign (SURD) developed a co-creation process to identify residential needs and wishes for the Aurora apartment building courtyard to transform it into a climate-resilient and community place that supports the residents in their daily life activities; a place where sense of community and collective identity can flourish urban vitality and social cohesion as impacts In this process, both learning together and making together as part of co-creation (17) are outlined in the Aurora Days and Aurora Challenge, respectively. Both worked toward the Spektakeldag festival on 4 June 2022 in which the housing association opened the largest mural of Europe festively (postponed earlier due to COVID19 measurements). In Figure 4 Aurora apartment building intervention co-creation process (Source: SURD) The Aurora Days included an informal pizza session These served (1) to get to know the inhabitants and for them to get familiar with the SURD students and staff (2) to gain insights into eight different locations around the area that concerns the community and that were emphasized by the community members in conversations during the pizza session and (3) to enhance place understanding of the direct context around Aurora with urban experiences from the community members In the photo group discussions and Walk and Talk sessions in-between result posters were hung up at all four the entrances of Aurora apartment building to allow for adjustments The Aurora Days were coordinated by a Built Environment and an Occupational Therapy intern duo at SURD and were supported and facilitated by researchers The Aurora Challenge was a multidisciplinary and multi-level design challenge held in the Aurora apartment building The Aurora Challenge took place in the week of 25 April 2022 to 29 April 2022 Four international and interdisciplinary student groups worked for 1 week non-stop on the design challenge to translate the collected insights from the Aurora Days into an urban design intervention The students ranged from first-year BSc students to second-year MSc students and came from the Netherlands The Aurora Challenge led to a winning design and local stakeholders that was showcased at the Spektakeldag festival on June 4th in 2022 the involved stakeholders have been working toward the implementation of the winning design scenario an active experimentation of the winning design elements on and based on the monitoring impacts after the Spektakeldag festival the actual intervention implementation in the Aurora courtyard The Spektakeldag active experimentation June 2022 (Source: SURD) the impacts and use of the circular products have been monitored by a MSc Architecture intern at SURD who lives in the Aurora apartment building and type of activity that took place around the circular furniture as well as if citizens used the circular furniture in “unexpected ways.” To illustrate it was observed that some children were climbing on the circular furniture that was otherwise assumed not being outside at all and social activities and interactions between children and their parents The Aurora apartment building courtyard in March 2022 (Source: SURD) The intervention implementation result April 2023 (Source: SURD) The intervention implementation impacts April 2023 (Source: SURD) As explained earlier, the social learning theory encompasses four elements arguing that engagement with social issues is fundamental to how learning takes place and how people become who they are (38) It should be noted that in practice the four elements are intertwined and reinforce each other the four elements are exemplified with a couple of examples from our experiences Learning as belonging: students are part of the ULL community; they learn within and with the local stakeholders and community actors As the Aurora apartment building process has been ongoing for almost 2 years now and citizens are taking ownership of the ULL third-year students who engaged themselves in the Aurora Challenge are actively asking partners like the housing association for internship positions or the SURD for graduation research positions in the current 4th year of their study citizens who co-hosted our photo group discussions during the Aurora Days are now actively supporting teachers in student assignment presentations to elaborate upon the historical context of the area the intern who lives in the Aurora apartment building is an actual part of the community and therefore a continuous presence both from the University of Applied Science—formal and personal—informal perspective a specific example of a spatial planning student is mentioned worthy to explain The student participated in the Aurora Challenge while being on internship at a private project developer While working on the Aurora Challenge and currently doing her graduation research at SURD she developed herself as an architectural activist against hostile architectural practices by the municipality that forbid certain activities for citizens in public spaces Her experiences in the ULL community made her aware of what she stands for and wants to stand for as a professional in the built environment discipline relative to other disciplines like health or nature; not as a private developer focusing on financial profit but as a local activist ambitioning community wellbeing for citizens in their own living environment the actual change achieved exemplifies this element Students reported that they experience the ULL community and its focus and activities as extremely motivating and valuable due to the fact that they see the concrete change and improvement from their efforts for the local community and their wellbeing In contrast to traditional classroom teaching the student learning curve is enhanced by working across various disciplines transversal educational institutes as well as actors covering the quadruple helix model and multiple development phases The process also allows students to change roles with other students When students are engaged long enough in the process they gain experience that allows them to be coach and guide other newly involved students in group assignments the interplay between student and coach roles is an important professionalization experience Similar impacts are observed among other stakeholders Social Learning in practice (Source: SURD) we want to highlight the novelty of our study in two ways which seems so necessary and promising for today's sustainability transitions and challenges on local and global scales the ULL functions as an alternative spatial planning and urban innovation approach to governing local neighborhood development in and for collective learning about a context of extreme urban and social conditions ULLs do so due to their potential and ability to bridge a multitude of perspectives and disciplines as well as go beyond particular and traditional development phases only by the creation of a flexible process that is open for continuous evaluation It has proven to function as a kind of platform that is able to respond to short-term urgent needs providing design scenarios and imaginative references for long-term development prospects it functions as an instrument to outline and accelerate placemaking processes and urban interventions that go beyond the design phases of urban development and explicitly experiment in practice by drawing upon local urban complexities for value creation community wellbeing as aspired by the local community The co-creation process and the urban intervention have positively impacted the community wellbeing and others have been actively engaged in the transformation process leading to a stronger sense of community we observe and notice increased levels of trust between stakeholders and ownership toward local issues and challenges we argue that the explicit combination of placemaking and ULLs puts the potentials of placemaking into practice and beyond project-based operations driving the pursuit of public health equity and community wellbeing impacts in neighborhoods We elaborate upon two main points for our discussion we notice that literature in itself from Placemaking ULLs and the Healthy City often refers to outcome indicators to focus on rather than process indicators that are important to create those wished-for outcomes we question whether the impacts of placemaking practices and ULLs from a public health domain perspective can rather be assessed and evaluated by outcomes or process indicators especially when drawing upon the local community and unique local values as a main driver of the activities and knowledge generation instead of political or policy motivations in practice and from social learning theory and our experiences so far it remains unclear on an operational level how to organize and facilitate this meta-learning we emphasize in an enumerative manner the implications for theory Our experiences show three implications for theory: and adjusted more intensively in practice to help stakeholders on a local scale Our experiences show two implications for policy: 6] argues that “a university living lab governance framework is needed to generate a culture of collaboration across research without stifling emergence and innovation.” While the authors provide recommendations like flexible coordination or relationship building between silos within the university that we acknowledge as well based on our experiences we also add to this that there is a need to redefine the role of knowledge institutes in today's society the funding system of education (and research) in the Netherlands is currently based on quantitative measures we do argue that qualitative measurements that are aligned with societal challenges and needs are required in order to guarantee quality education and research to address societal challenges and educate location-aware global citizens Our experiences show four concrete implications for practice: Community engagement: Practitioners in urban planning should prioritize community engagement and co-creation processes Placemaking and ULLs demonstrate that involving local residents and implementation of urban interventions can lead to more holistic and sustainable outcomes Transdisciplinary collaboration: Practitioners should foster transdisciplinary collaboration among students and community members as this enables a more comprehensive place understanding of complex urban and societal challenges with responsive solutions Experiential learning: Educational institutions and practitioners should promote the inclusion of Social Learning dimensions and researchers to actively participate in addressing local experienced societal issues within their contexts and domains it helps to bridge the gap between scientific and theoretical knowledge with practical application Tailored solutions: Urban planning practitioners should tailor solutions to the specific needs and characteristics of the place that they will intervene in Recognizing the uniqueness of places and their communities and involving them in the decision-making process can lead to more aspired and effective interventions Our experiences call for further research along the following lines: 1. First, and process-wise, more experiences and insights are needed into the diverse roles that stakeholders can or must play based on the activity and phase in the ULL. In particular, when engaging multiple disciplines and education. For example, Vinke-de Kruijf et al. (48) provide a robust review of research roles in transdisciplinary projects we observe and experience fluid roles during the process of urban interventions in ULLs that should be better understood to enhance effectiveness and comprehensive monitoring and evaluation activities in ULLs Our experiences made clear that impacts go beyond what individuals and stakeholders imagined and expected We argue it is important to understand the full impacts of ULLs to better understand their innovation potentials we not only call ULL practitioners to focus on development activities but also more on impact monitoring and evaluation activities; both formally and informally as well as on the short term and the long term Examples may be learning aspects or the maturity level of ULLs for impact creation we call for more research in the urban planning and health domains to their interconnectedness especially toward institutional causalities of public health equity in various geographical areas While our experiences show and emphasize the importance of ULLs to the quality of the built environment in relation to health impacts (and other domains) on the local scale it focuses on addressing observed societal issues; not the causalities of the societal issues in the first place we argue that understanding the institutional arrangement through which health as a discipline on the one hand and urban planning as a discipline on the other influence each other mutually It is crucial to understand these legal institutional causalities if ULLs as innovation infrastructures indeed want to scale up impacts for community wellbeing beyond the local scale and beyond the solution-focussed perspective The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article SB contributed to the theoretical and practical conception and design of the study NA and HS contributed to the theoretical and practical conception and design of the study All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version This research is based on diverse research projects and funds; the ELSA Lab Poverty and Debt funded by the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs and Kingdom Relations and the City Deal Kennis Maken programme funded by the Dutch Ministry of Science The authors would like to acknowledge that this article is based on the work of several years in Heerlen and with the team of Smart Urban Redesign Research Center and Anne van Dun and all the students who participated in the activities this paper is based on two previous versions presented at the Open Living Lab Days 2022 Conference Proceedings (section on top contributions) and the Repurposing Places for Social and Environmental Resilience 2023 Conference Proceedings (section on Educational Projects) The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher Actor roles in an urban living lab: What can we learn from Suurpelto Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar City labs as vehicles for innovation in urban planning processes Crossref Full Text | Google Scholar Transformative thinking and urban living labs in planning practice: a critical review and ongoing case studies in Europe Google Scholar The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design Google Scholar Policies and Strategies to Promote Social Equity in Health Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe (2006) Google Scholar An ecological approach to creating active living communities doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.27.021405.102100 8. 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