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Cover page information
Name student: Meike van Dinther
Student number: 202578
Study program: ULP Year 4
Hand-in date: 09/02/2024
Internship period: 01/09/2023 till 01/02/2023
Placement company: STIPO
Supervisor: Hans Karssenberg
Placement supervisors: Olaf Ernst and Simon de Wijs
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Title page
Personal information
Meike van Dinther
[email protected] – [email protected] – [email protected] –
[email protected]
+31642628652
Tilburg
Placement company
STIPO V.O.F.
Overhoeksplein 2-210, 1031 KS, Amsterdam
www.stipo.nl
Hans Karssenberg
[email protected]
+31615071155
Monday till Friday
Placement Supervisors
Olaf Ernst and Simon de Wijs
[email protected] – [email protected]
+31610303877 (Olaf) and +31648372168 (Simon)
Both on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday is meeting day.
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Table of content
COVER PAGE INFORMATION ............................................................................................................................... 2
TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................................................................... 3
INTRODUCTION TO THE PLACEMENT COMPANY ....................................................................................................... 5
STIPO.............................................................................................................................................................. 5
The team ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Core values..................................................................................................................................................... 5
The STIPO-approach ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Projects .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Organizational Chart ..................................................................................................................................... 7
STIPO Network ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Position of the company compared to its competitors. ................................................................................. 8
Other activities............................................................................................................................................... 9
REGULAR WORK ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................................................. 10
COMPANY ASSIGNMENT 1 ............................................................................................................................... 11
COMPANY ASSIGNMENT 2 ............................................................................................................................... 12
LEARNING GOALS .......................................................................................................................................... 13
PLANNING ................................................................................................................................................... 14
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Introduction to the placement company
“STIPO works to create better and more attractive cities and regions. They strive to be the
linking pin between the inhabitants and the organizations within cities. With a
multidisciplinary approach of working together, we will solve the issues cities have to face.”
– STIPO
STIPO
STIPO started 30 years ago. They have created an own philosophy which includes their work
fields, their core values, their approach, and their philosophy. Their work fields are focused
on connecting the inhabitants to the organizations within the city and they focus on
• Area development for long term value
• Sustainability, climate adaptation and energy transition
• Public space measured with human measures.
• Transformation of building for social impact
• Co-creation from top-down and from bottom-up
• Working integral from ‘Software – Hardware – Orgware’. Special development
(hardware), fed by and meant for the social and economic use (software) and use the
multidisciplinary strategy, coalitions, and instruments (orgware).
• Translation of expertise and practical experiences from all over the world to projects
in the Netherlands
STIPO shares and develops their knowledge by training, conferences, publications, and
workshops.
The team
The team itself has a core of broad-oriented professionals with different (educational)
backgrounds. Urban development asks for spatial strategies, management, economic
developers, organizational developments, social and psychological, and cultural – for
example. People working at STIPO differ from partner to employer, to associate to
international representative in the local office, to intern, and to young entrepreneur.
The team currently consists of 19 people in total. Hans Karssenberg is my company
supervisor, and he is one of the partners and founders of STIPO.
STIPO has a quality philosophy, which is focused on long-term quality, and a bureau
philosophy, which is focused on acting as a resource instead of a goal.
Core values
STIPO has 6 core values, that are formed after studying the characteristics of areas that are
long lasting. These values shape the way of working to create these better cities.
• Long-lasting quality
• The soul of the space
• Public quality
• Plurality
• Human measures
• Ownership
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Open source
Besides this, STIPO strives to be open-source and network-focused. This means that they
share their knowledge with the public and they are pro-active in organizing moments to
share each other's knowledge. They are always open to new insights on one hand theoretical
and the other hand in practice.
Team development
STIPO focuses on development as a team but also as an individual. Enjoy your work, take
responsibility, be proactive, and be involved with each other, and the 'team' feeling will arise
by itself.
The STIPO-approach
STIPO states that having a vision in mind is not enough. This vision also needs to be
implemented in practice and in the system itself. The combination of the 'what' and 'how'
are essential for these development processes. This approach is a collection of insights that
serve as an inspiration source to accomplish our ambitions.
The essential skills for work field according to STIPO are
• Vision and social passion
• Focussed on co-creation, networking and coalitions.
• Creativity and innovation
• Ownership
• Strategic ability in thinking and acting
Projects
STIPO initiated over 25 projects, that differ in the work fields mentioned above. STIPO often
has a different role in projects or initiatives. They offer services such as:
• Management tasks for executing projects, programs, and processes.
• Formulate advice, strategic concepts, and visions
• Executing (field) research, analyzing the space and the community
• Work on co-creating projects, participation, community-building, and area coalitions.
• Conducting trainings, workshops, readings, and presentations
• Written books and publications that are related to knowledge development and
sharing this knowledge
• Coming up with initiatives that can redevelop the city itself and the buildings in the
city
• Organise training, conferences, and excursions for their network to share each
other's knowledge in a proactive way
Their target groups are very diverse. The people they work for are:
• The municipality
• Project developers
• Investors
• Inhabitants and enterprise groups
• Societal initiatives and institutions
• provinces and ministries
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• knowledge institutions
• Anyone who sees the importance of long-term quality and human scale in cities and
areas. We often work for combinations of clients.
Organizational Chart
What I want to show with this chart, is that everyone that works at STIPO is equal and has a
different role within the organization. Everyone has their expertise which is valuable for
STIPO. I think the chart speaks for itself. All circles have their headings, and the overall circle
is the STIPO organization itself. I put myself between the team and the organization. That's
because I am part of the team within STIPO, but as an intern, I think I am a bit on the outside
as well. I work on many different things and help with Placemaking Week Europe for
example.
STIPO Network
Because STIPO is working with many different stakeholders and parties, it is very difficult to
determine the most important ones. The stakeholders that are connected to the most things
are the projects I am working on or the people I am working with.
Link to network: https://embed.kumu.io/54a1ae97e6fdf8ace6bcbb2fcdac8e98
Pakhuis de Zwijger
This place is an accessible, independent, and safe public meeting place for everyone. A
contemporary ‘praathuis’ with a strong online environment that has chosen dialogue as its
form of discussion. A place where we jointly formulate ambitions and present different
opinions and insights to arrive at creative solutions to the urgent and complex social issues
of our time. The collaboration between STIPO and Pakhuis de Zwijger is the exchange of
their expertise.
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Placemaking Europe
This is a European network that connects practitioners, academics, community leaders,
market players, and policymakers across the field of placemaking. The collaboration
between STIPO and Placemaking Europe is based on knowledge. They share knowledge of
specific subjects, and they help each other in their development process. Placemaking
Europe is a network of placemakers all over Europe. Once a year they all come together on
Placemaking Week Europe. This week is full of subjects that matter to everyone and
expanding knowledge on this.
Stadmakersfonds
This fund started because people within STIPO noticed that there is a huge gap between the
City makers and impact investors within a city. It is very difficult for upcoming city makers to
get a loan at the bank, because of the insecurities it has. Het Stadmakersfonds guides linking
city makers and impact investors within a city. "'Stadmakers' (City makers) are passionate
pioneers of area development, using impact entrepreneurship to make cities sustainable,
inclusive, and attractive. In this way, they add social and financial value to their surroundings
and are well worth the investment. STIPO and the Stadmakersfonds are closely working
together because of the same board members and the shared thoughts about cities and
their development.
The city at eye level
This is initiated by STIPO itself but can also be seen as a partner of them. It grew into
collaborations all over the world. It works on urban development, from a people's point of
view. With subjects from Area Development to transformation of public spaces, to city-wide
public space strategies, this initiative offers a lot of variety. Again, they want to share their
knowledge with their network, and they do so in the form of lectures, trainings, conferences,
books, and the Place Game.
PlacemakingX
They are a collective-impact network of placemaking thought leaders, public space activists,
regional network leaders, and professionals from all over the world. They have diverse
experiences and backgrounds but share a common purpose. PlacemakingX has over 100
pioneers and 1500+ advocates in 85 countries. They strive to make the spaces we live in into
places we love. They want to Create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable world through the
convergence of values, passion, and action around our public spaces. STIPO is part of this
huge network, which makes it easy and nice to work together.
Position of the company compared to its competitors.
STIPO is different from its competitors because it can act from different approaches. They
can be managers in projects, formulate advice, work in a co-creative way, share their
knowledge in the forms of training, etc they invest in other initiatives that are important in
their opinion and which can make a difference in society. STIPO is an independent, strong
organisation/ initiative that can work on its own, but also needs help from other funding
institutes.
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Other activities
Placemaking Week Europe will be organized from the 26th to the 29th of September. This
year's festival will explore 4 overarching themes that correlate with these approaches to
placemaking as well as with, in this case, the city of Strasbourg's distinct goals. In this week,
multiple speakers and hosts will be present to give readings and discussions about subjects
that matter to this year's themes. There is a large diversity of people present during these
days, which makes the event very dynamic and interesting for everyone, even when you are
not a speaker.
Crash Courses are training we as interns get from Hans Karssenberg or Jaap Schoufour. Hans
and Jaap are both partners from STIPO and have their expertise. The training will be given
around every 2 weeks on Friday and all have their subject. The subjects that will be
explained are Fundament, Participation, City at Eye Level, Placemaking, Organic and
Creative, and Public Development. The training will be focused on a case STIPO worked on
and based on that they are elaborating on the topic. The trainings are very interesting,
informative, and useful for the future!
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Regular work activities
My daily work activities vary in 4 different projects. I am working on het Cultuurhuis in
Almere, het broedplaatsbeleid in 's-Hertogenbosch, het Stadmakersfonds and the trainings
in Lansingerland. For these 4 projects, I am doing most of the work activities behind the
scenes. I am joining the meetings, creating reports, creating posters, helping with
preparations, making notes, and doing research. My logbook describes what my week looks
like and what I did during the week. My work schedule shows the important meetings I have
and what it is about. A combination of that described my regular work activities in my
opinion.
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Company assignment 1
Introduction
The first company assignment is for Het Stadmakersfonds. This assignment will focus on
connecting the upcoming entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. Het Stadmakersfonds is the
matchmaker between the Stadmakers and the investors. They want to create a lively and
inclusive city by investing in initiatives that are focused on societal goals and help realize an
economic profit. The project I will be working on will be contacting all the umbrella
organizations that know the upcoming growing entrepreneurs. By contacting them, we will
get more information about the entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, and in this way, het
Stadmakersfonds can capitalize on that.
Reason
This project will be a tool/ grip to respond to the developments in the upcoming years. Het
Stadmakersfonds has the desire to grow and become well-known across the country and to
do so, this information is necessary.
End product
The product will be a report of all the desk- and field research I conducted during my
research. The product will be a tool for the Stadmakersfonds to use immediately. This report
will show an overview of all major emerging creatives in the cities. With the help of a
colormap, I will provide an overview. This will make it easier for the city maker fund to see
who they should approach, see if there is enough space in the city, and possibly sound the
alarm with the municipality. It will be a trade-off between advising the municipality and
responding to its demand.
Theory
For this assignment, communication skills are required. I will be in close contact with many
people/professionals, so professional communication skills are necessary. The research
project we did in year 3 can also help find the right approach for this research. Think about
'research' questions. With this I mean come up with things you want to investigate and start
doing research from there on, diverse, and converge the data. Investigative skills are
necessary as well. So, think about which approach is the best and which sources to use.
Societal skills are maybe even more important. Know what the wishes and needs are of the
city makers and think about that while talking to them and making decisions.
Approach
The approach for this project will become clearer after the Placemaking Week in Strasbourg.
I already got a small introduction to the assignment, but the details will become clearer after
that busy week. I assume that I will be using STIPO's and Stadmakersfonds' networks during
this research. I will start by investigating this network and reading literature about societal
enterprises. After that, I will focus on the national 'koepelorganisaties' that have a good
insight into what is going on. After that, I will focus on the important cities (Haarlem,
Alkmaar, Purmerend, Hoorn) and see what the possibilities are and what is going on in those
cities. The rest of this process will become clearer later.
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Company assignment 2
Introduction
My second company assignment will be creating a manual for STIPO. This manual will give a
clear explanation of the method and the tools to work with 'Integrale visie, Menselijke maat
en Stad op Ooghoogte.' STIPO has different manuals already, such as the Eye Level Game
and the Place Game. My task will be creating a new manual that provides all the information
needed, tools to use this manual, and extensive explanation so everyone can understand it
and work with it.
Reason
This project will be a tool for people to use. In this way, they get to know the STIPO way of
thinking. The different approaches to looking at, organizing, and programming a city can be a
real eye-opener for people.
End product
The product will be the manual itself in Dutch but also English. I will start working on this
after Placemaking Week Europe, so for now the only information I got, is that I will have to
make a manual that looks like the already existing manuals. These can be found on the STIPO
website.
Theory
For this assignment, research skills are necessary for sure. I will have to dive into the theory
of STIPO and need to understand why they have this approach, how this approach works,
and how to explain it easily and understandably. The most important theory I will use is the
theory of STIPO itself of course.
Approach
The approach for this project will be, to first investigate the different cases that we will be
working with during the 1st Lansingerland training. This training will focus on this subject, so
as a preparation, I must work out all the different cases. Secondly, I will be looking into the
theory itself, so I can observe during the training what the ideas are and how to explain
them to people, so they know how to work with it. And as last, I will work on expanding my
knowledge, diving into the theory even more, and working on an understandable manual.
The exact theory and approach will become clearer after the Lansingerland training and after
the Placemaking Week Europe.
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Learning goals
1. In the upcoming 4 months, I will develop my knowledge of policies and strategies
that the municipality is dealing with and how to work with them collaboratively, by
closely following het Broedplaatsbeleid in 's-Hertogenbosch.
2. In the upcoming 4 months, but mainly during Placemaking Week Europe, I will
develop myself in terms of professional communication and work together with
professionals in the field.
3. In the upcoming 4 months, I will develop my green energies, by cooperating with
others who are more laid back and have a different approach to things.
How to achieve this?
Goal 1
1. In the upcoming 4 months, I will develop my knowledge of policies and strategies
that the municipality is dealing with and how to work with them collaboratively, by
closely following het Broedplaatsbeleid in 's-Hertogenbosch.
2. This Broedplaatsbeleid will have a huge impact on the city of 's-Hertogenbosch
because it offers them a tool to use for creating more open and better broedplaatsen
in the city. It helps with the development of the city in terms of stimulating young
creatives and helping them to find affordable and good places to work. If I achieve
my goal, it has an impact on my knowledge which can be useful for the future.
3. I will keep working with Jaap Schoufour on this project, and he will explain every
detail of this policy. I will go with him to the city as much as possible and work on my
knowledge development.
4. My first step Is going to be to collect information about atelier rent prices and see
what the differences are between cities. The rest will become clear during the project
itself.
5. I will need guidance during the project, and extra information about the topic itself
and the rules associated with it.
Goal 2
1. In the upcoming 4 months, but mainly during Placemaking Week Europe, I will
develop myself in terms of professional communication and work together with
professionals in the field.
2. If I develop myself in terms of professional communication, it will be easier for me in
the future to communicate with experts and I know which questions to ask and in
what way. What kind of collaboration skills are needed and how to collaborate with
people that I never worked with before? This will mainly have an impact on myself
and just a bit on my surroundings.
3. During the Placemaking Week, I will be working with many professionals from all
over the world and I have to guide them through the program, so I will be working on
this
4. Going to the Placemaking Week will be my first step and during the rest of my
internship, I will be working with many other professionals to achieve this goal
5. The team of Placemaking Week Europe will be helping me during the week by
guiding these people, so I know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.
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Goal 3
1. In the upcoming 4 months, I will develop my green energies, by cooperating with
others who are more laid back and have a different approach to things.
2. If I develop myself on my green energies, I will be more relaxed and probably easier
to work with. I have more red and blue energies, which are almost the complete
opposite of the green and yellow ones. By having a bit of them all, I think I will be an
easier person to work with and it will be easier for me to adapt myself in specific
situations.
3. To achieve this, I will be working with people who already have green energies and
observing how they work, how they communicate, and what their visions on specific
situations are. In this way, I hope to take the best things out of them and use them
myself.
4. I already started with this in my first week at STIPO and I will keep doing this during
the rest of my internship. All the people I am working with are completely different,
but most of them have this energy in their way of working.
5. I don't think I need extra help from people to achieve this goal, but I do need other
people as a role model for me.
Planning
See pages below
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Week Education dates Deadlines Important moments
1 04/09 Weekly meeting
05/09
06/09 Meeting Frederique
07/09
08/09 Crash course 1: Fundament
09/09
10/09
2 11/09 Weekly meeting
Stadmakersfonds meeting
12/09 Stadmakersfonds meeting
Scrum Cutluurhuis Almere
Broedplaatsenbeleid meeting
13/09 Meeting lectures
14/09 Stadmakersfonds meeting
Mentor moment Hans
15/09 Weekend 2 Cultuurhuis
16/09
17/09 Weekend 2 Cultuurhuis
3 18/09 Weekly meeting
Keynote meetings
19/09 Stadmakersfonds
Keynote meetings
Meeting Salman
20/09 Flyering
21/09 Keynote meetings
Langsingerland Meeting
22/09
23/09
24/09
4 25/09 Weekly meeting
26/09 First draft Placemaking week Europe
placement plan Strasbourg
27/09 Placemaking week Europe
Strasbourg
28/09 Placemaking week Europe
Strasbourg
29/09 Placemaking week Europe
Strasbourg
30/09 Weekend 3 Cultuurhuis
01/10 Weekend 3 Cultuurhuis
5 02/10 Meeting lectures Weekly meeting
03/10
04/10
05/10 1st Lansingerland training
06/10 Crash course 2: Participation
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Meeting Hans about goals
07/10
08/10
6 09/10 Weekly meeting
10/10
11/10 Meeting lectures
12/10
13/10
14/10
15/10
7 16/10 Weekly meeting
Lansingerland meeting
17/10
18/10
19/10
20/10 Crash course 3: City at eye level
Weekend 4 Cultuurhuis
21/10
22/10 Weekend 4 Cultuurhuis
8 23/10 Weekly meeting
2nd Lansingerland training
24/10
25/10 Meeting lectures
26/10
27/10
28/10
29/10
9 30/10 Weekly meeting
Lansingerland meeting
31/10
01/11
02/11
03/11
04/11
05/11
10 06/11 Weekly meeting
07/11
08/11 Meeting lectures
09/11 3rd Lansingerland training
10/11 Crash course 4: Placemaking
11/11
12/11
11 13/11 Weekly meeting
14/11
15/11
16/11
16
17/11
18/11
19/11
12 20/11 Weekly meeting
21/11
22/11 Meeting lectures
23/11
24/11
25/11
26/11
13 27/11 Weekly meeting
28/11
29/11
30/11
01/12
02/12
03/12
14 04/12 Weekly meeting
05/12
06/12 Meeting lectures
07/12
08/12
09/12
10/12
15 11/12 Weekly meeting
12/12
13/12
14/12
15/12
16/12
17/12
16 18/12 Weekly meeting
19/12
20/12 Meeting lectures
21/12
22/12 Crash course 5: Organic & Creative
23/12
24/12 Christmas
17 25/12 Christmas
26/12 Christmas
27/12
28/12
29/12
30/12
31/12 New year
18 01/01 New year
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02/01
03/01 Meeting lectures
04/01 Crash course 7: Public
Development
05/01
06/01
07/01
19 08/01 Weekly meeting
09/01
10/01
11/01
12/01
13/01
14/01
20 15/01 Weekly meeting
16/01
17/01 Meeting lectures
18/01
19/01
20/01
21/01
21 22/01 Weekly meeting
23/01
24/01
25/01
26/01
27/01
28/01
22 29/01 Weekly meeting
30/01
31/01 Meeting lectures
01/02
23 09/02 Final deliverables
25 19/02 Final assessment
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