Jozien Timmers about Healthy Urban Living in Cartesius Utrecht
The real estate sector has a major role to play in the transition to a future-proof delta. A delta in which we are in balance with nature and in which everyone in our society can live, live and work happily. How can we use real estate to make a positive contribution to our society and planet? Our partner Holland Property Plaza asked Jozien Timmers as Head of Architecture Department at MRP and developer of the sustainable Cartesius urban district in Utrecht how she is taking sustainable construction to the next level.
Jozien Timmers about People, Planet, Property
Cartesius Utrecht Healthy Urban Living
Jozien: "Cartesius, which we are developing in cooperation with Ballast Nedam Development, will be a mixed-use, green, sustainable and healthy urban district of almost 3,000 homes, social and free sector mixed. In Cartesius, we make the promise that people will live healthier and happier lives for longer. We do this based on the scientific theory behind Blue Zones. Blue Zones are areas in the world where people age in a healthy way and live measurably longer. We want to apply and translate this theory to a city neighbourhood. In addition, with Cartesius we are trying to restore the balance with nature and minimise the impact of the built environment on the planet and
A great ambition, but also quite a challenge. How will you pull this off? What is your secret?
Jozien: "Our strength is that we take an interdisciplinary approach to this task. We look at the question from multiple sectors; so not only from the real estate sector, but also from the healthcare, education, municipal and government sectors. Step one in this is education, which means we analyse the challenges from a scientific perspective. Once the playing field is mapped, we move to step two: innovation. So what are the right solutions? And what are innovations (also outside the real estate sector) that we can implement? The third step is that we integrate everything with each other, collectively. For this we have signed a covenant, in which we have agreed to actually prove that we create a neighbourhood where people live longer and happy and healthy lives."
Read here the full blog of Holland Propery Plaza
