Including natural systems in Loosduinen’s smart city strategy
Den Haag’s borough of Loosduinen includes an enormous variety of subcultures, architecture, and natural landscapes. When approached for defining the area’s smart city strategy, UNSense aimed for a contextualised, nature-inclusive narrative. 

The built environment and its surrounding nature often constrain each other. Loosduinen has the potential for the opposite effect: the area houses a unique mix of city, nature and technology, all of which allow each other to flourish. Think of Solleveld: a dune landscape popular for hikes, but also a natural drink water filtration system for 1.4 million people in the area. Or the ‘Zandmotor’: a sand island functioning as a nature-inclusive coastal defense system. Over the course of 30 years, it will slowly distribute its sand along the coastline, without disturbing the local ecosystem, which now includes, in addition to numerous fish and birds, also kite surfers.