The Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam is doing well. In 2018, the economy grew by 3.4 percent, whereas the growth rate in the Netherlands was 2.7 percent. With 4 percent, unemployment is exceptionally low; entrepreneurs are concerned about the scarcities on the labour market. Growth is expected to decline in the coming years to 2.8 percent…

HERILAND is a pan-European research and training network, officially launched on April 1, 2019. Its major aim is to empower a new generation of cultural heritage managers. Universities in the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Italy and Israel join forces to reach this ambitious goal. Within VU, three faculties are involved: The Faculty of Humanities is…

An increasing part of international trade involves re-exports. In the Netherlands, e.g., re-exports constituted 54 per cent of total exports of goods in 2015. Re-exports are products imported into and exported from an intermediary country. Activities in the intermediary country may involve, e.g. repackaging or adding user manuals in the language of the destination country,…

How do we keep urban areas attainable, liveable, in a sustainable way? This is in short the question that the IP-SUNTAN research team addressed in the past three years. Research groups from Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Vienna worked together on this ever-hot topic, witness the ongoing media attention that all groups received, in particular Spatial Economics’ head of…

By Joris Klingen Urban policy makers in many cities are promoting cycling as part of a sustainable and reliable transport system. Cycling is linked to several positive outcomes. There are health benefits, it does not generate pollution, and bicycles make more efficient use of road capacity compared to cars. One of the ways through which cities…

Recently, department member Carolyn Fischer, in cooperation with other researchers, had their article on ‘Policy design for the Anthropocene’ published in Nature Sustainability, a special edition of Nature. The authors investigate the complexities of the complexities of designing policies that can keep Earth within the biophysical limits favourable to human life. Abstract: Today, more than ever, ‘Spaceship Earth’ is an…

By Erik Ansink Reactions by policy-makers and part of the general public to recent events like (1) the European school climate strikes, (2) the proposed US Green New Deal, and (3) the Dutch Urgenda lawsuit showcase that the costs of climate change policies are high. At least, they are perceived as being too high compared…

Bo Andrée  is working on an ambitious high-profile project at the World Bank: the Famine Action Mechanism (FAM). Bo is the leading data scientist at the World Bank in charge of the technical development part of the FAM, and is also working at the VU on finalizing his PhD thesis on spatial time series modeling.…

Short-term rental (STR) platforms, such as Airbnb, have grown spectacularly in recent years. Since its launch in 2007, Airbnb has grown into a multibillion dollar business, now offering more than 4.5 million listings in over 190 countries worldwide. Airbnb allows individuals to list their spare room or entire apartment for a self-established price to potential guests from all over the…

Africa’s energy sector is vital to the continent’s future development and yet remains the most relatively poorly understood part of the global energy system. Africa is rich in both renewable and fossil energy sources: its energy mix is dominated by bioenergy, it has a huge solar energy potential, and renewable energy technologies (mainly hydropower) already…