Student (archived)

Menno Schokker

As a fanatic mountaineer/outdoor adventurer an interest for climate change grew. Having seen countless (receding) glaciers, experienced nature in its most pure form, I am sincerely aware of the urgency. Meanwhile, I am interested in the management within the built environment, especially one the district/area scale. So I explore for ways to contribute to mitigating climate change through urban area development. I am also interested in the energy transition on the system scale. How do we move from a central fossil fuel towards a decentral renewable energy system?

I am following the MSc 'Management in the Built Environment' at the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.

Authored content ⁽³⁰⁾

Article

Lessons learned of the ESD course

I think it is suitable and worthwhile to use the last column to evaluate the ESD course. What have I learned, what can be improved? During the course, I grew sceptical. Studying an island where one has never been before, on a system level, with a group of 5 people, in the form of a course of just 5 ECTS, I found very ineffective. It resulted for me in disinterest, the first 6 weeks felt as a time…
Article

Collection of Twitter

For this week, I though it would be nice to collect my tweets the past few weeks and see what lines can be identified. I think it is amazing how much information there is and how much disappears. Below, there is so much info I have allready forgotten. However, I am convinced some insights stay in the unconscious mind. Maybe, and hopefully, by having seen and read all these articles and pictures
Article

Setting straight a stupid statement

In one of my first columns I advocated not to retrofit buildings so as to keep heat demand up in the areas where Smart Thermal Grids (STG), or heating districts, can be economically viable. I have to come back to this statement as it is incorrect. STG’s A thermal grid is ‘smart’ when it integrates and makes efficient use of potential future renewable energy sources as well as the operation of a…
Article

Motivation of sustainability issues

I am following the graduation annotation for sustainable development. I think it is important to have a proper motivation for everything…
Collection

Texel Week Final Products – January 2016

The final presentation exists in three parts, all grounded in research:

a forecast of the transition to a sustainable personal life on Texel in 2065 (have a look at the video/visuals) a general overview of the sustainable island in 2065, and possible transition pathways (report) an impression of the development of island tourism 2015-2065 (view the documentary)
Article

A) Some questions & thoughts

Why do students want to leave? How to make education in the island more attractive? Is ICT the only solution? Why is there a rumour that the highschool will close? Why is the highschool closing: lack of students, economical issues, lack of teachers? Do we need to redefine our goal or impose a restriction/limit which controls population growth? Do parents trust in online learning as a high
Collection

Appendices
Article

5.2 Interaction with other Sub-Systems - Expectations and possible tensions

The “teach your own” sub-system differs from the rest of the ST systems. It is both specific and general at the same time, and thus it can affect all of the Texel’s sub systems. This starts from the realization that knowledge is contained or should be contained into all aspects and activities of our lives, let alone into the effort for a sustainable transition. It is a key feature of every socio
Article

5.1 Summary & conclusions

Below a summary of 'Teach you own' system is presented. First of all, let us review the three pillars of Borras & Elder applied to our socio-technical system. What drives change? In Chapter 1 we decribed 'Teach your own' as a socio-technical system and realized that is is a transversal or horizontal subsystem affecting and needed by the rest of them. All the subsystems of 'Texel self-sustained…
Collection

Chapter 5. Conclusions

In this chapter we present a summary of the discussed key aspects and draw general conclusions. We also include our expectations and…
Article

4.2. An innovative technological solution

Why change is needed As said in previous section, the current situation is a decreasing amount of true Texelaars that are emotionally connected to Texel and a decrease in higher levels of education followed and work done by Texelaars. In order to get higher education or higher levels of job opportunities, people as of now need to leave the island, leading to less and less ‘Texel identity’. In…
Article

3.3. Analysis of current trends with respect to objective

As mentioned in chapter 1, there are multiple problems on Texel that need to be solved. The population is low educated in comparison with the Netherlands, there are few job opportunities, the available jobs doesn't seem to match the quality of the population, the business opportunities are small. All these problem are a result of the lacking educational system. The fundamentals in primary…
Collection

current developments

Section 3.2 showed that there is not yet a clear future vision for the educational system. Pilots are being done, some more successful than others. One clear development however can be seen: life-long learning and ‘adaptive education’, facilitated by online learning. As complexity of societal problems grows, there is an ever growing need for people to keep on learning during their whole lifetime.
Article

4.2. Consider to design an innovative technological solution and explain why and how this solution connects the current state with the desired future, and makes sustainability transition (system wise and in daily life) happen.

A solution could be a mix of online and traditional education. So a mix of classroom activities and online learning. High schools will cooperate on a national level, to give colleges on general topics for all students. Local high schools add local topics, among others for Texel a sustainable island topic. This will of course be facilitated by provided smart boards, laptops, simulation devices
Article

3.3. Analyse what current developments are going on the desired direction; and which not? Be aware that this also is a review (and if necessary improvement) of the sustainability criteria (defined in chapter 1).

Section 3.2 showed that there is not yet a clear future vision for the educational system. Pilots are being done, some more successful than others. One clear development however can be seen: life-long learning and ‘adaptive education’, facilitated by online learning. As complexity of societal problems grows, there is an ever growing need for people to keep on learning during their whole lifetime.
Article

3.2 Current trends and initiatives

Current trends and innovations in Texel, in the Netherlands and in other islands outside the Netherlands
Article

4.1 Literature: pathways

The main blockades and problems in innovations and the key for a green and sustainable future

In the text Islands at the Periphery, S. Moncada, M. Camilleri, S. Formosa en R. Galea, the focus is on the sustainable development of the EU and how islands are separated from these goals. There are three main problems why all the islands are excluded; 1) restrictive definition of island, 2) peripherality and insularity and 3) the lack of harmonised statistical data on fundamental factors.
Article

3.1 Literature: Action made by people and interaction

Interpretation of literature and application to ‘Teach your own’

Reference [1] introduces the concept of ‘ grassroot innovation’ . A grassroot innovation represents a natural and spontaneous (bottom-up) creation of movement. It differentiates from competitive market-based innovations in four different levels, ranging from organization to driving motivations. Grassroot innovations find strong resistance and difficulties even in surviving. Based on the grassroot…
Article

4.4 Pathways and milestones

Two different pathways to realise that sub-system in 2065 and milestones taking into account presence, stakeholders, regulations and rules.
Article

3.4 Trends and innovative technologies

Innovative technologies and relevant trends As it has been already discussed, technological innovations of our times have favored the development of new educational trends and methods. Online learning has changed the landscape of educational procedures for both students and teachers: scoring tests, grading papers, presenting subjects or giving feedback in an online environment are all totally…
Collection

Chapter 3: Transitions are made by people

In this chapter we explore universal trends regarding digitalisation and sustainable learning and identify which of these trends are…
Article

4.3 Presence in the future sub-system

This chapter is the continuation of 1.3, where the future ST sub-system was described. Here, some more details of this system will be covered. How will the technologies be embedded in culture and behaviour? In the future we can imagine the “teach your own” sub-system harmonically integrated to the socio-technical context of Texel. It is easy for Students to be adapted in new technologies; every…
Article

Anke van Hal (20/11/2015)

Prof. Anke van Hal is a Professor of Sustainable Housing Transformation at the Faculty of Architecture of TU Delft. She has been the first…
Article

Lars Hammer (6/12/2015)

Lars Hammer is a Texellar currently studying at the Faculty of Architecture in TU Delft. He grew up in the island and studied in Texel…
Collection

Interviews teach your own
Article

Green roofs surrounded by barriers

The aim of a paper I wrote a year ago was to scrutinize the barriers for establishing widespread green roofs (GR) in the USA, Australia, Hong Kong and Belgium and to look for similarities. In this way, one gets a start of an overview of the global situation. After having researched several papers and/or reports about barriers concerning widespread applicability of green roofs or green development…
Article

If the focus is not mitigating climate, no project can be sustainable

Literature about sustainable development and sustainable urban area development (SUAD) is vast and complex. Some of the classics, one of them being the report of the Brundtland commission, states that sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:…
Article

2.1. Literature: designing for presence

Natural presence is what mainly comes to our minds when referring to “presence”, i.e. being physically present in a real environment or, as Nevejan & Brazier (2015) mention, being present with a breathing body and a heart that beats . However, presence has acquired new dimensions nowadays, which are not only related to the previous interpretation. The ever spreading internet and the tsunami of…
Article

Keep many buildings inefficient, do not retrofit!

A research of CE Delft of the road towards an energy neutral built environment (BE) of the Netherlands (NL) in 2050 really gave me some essential insights. They looked at the BE in a way I never saw before: they categorized NL in a certain amount of typologies of neighbourhoods. So now, one knows what type of neighbourhood, with certain characteristics such as density and type of buildings, are…
Overview

Chapters

Menno Schokker

Authored content (30)

Lessons learned of the ESD course

Collection of Twitter

Setting straight a stupid statement

Motivation of sustainability issues

Texel Week Final Products – January 2016

A) Some questions & thoughts

Appendices

5.2 Interaction with other Sub-Systems - Expectations and possible tensions

5.1 Summary & conclusions

Chapter 5. Conclusions

4.2. An innovative technological solution

3.3. Analysis of current trends with respect to objective

current developments

4.2. Consider to design an innovative technological solution and explain why and how this solution connects the current state with the desired future, and makes sustainability transition (system wise and in daily life) happen.

3.3. Analyse what current developments are going on the desired direction; and which not? Be aware that this also is a review (and if necessary improvement) of the sustainability criteria (defined in chapter 1).

3.2 Current trends and initiatives

4.1 Literature: pathways

3.1 Literature: Action made by people and interaction

4.4 Pathways and milestones

3.4 Trends and innovative technologies

Chapter 3: Transitions are made by people

4.3 Presence in the future sub-system

Anke van Hal (20/11/2015)

Lars Hammer (6/12/2015)

Interviews teach your own

Green roofs surrounded by barriers

If the focus is not mitigating climate, no project can be sustainable

2.1. Literature: designing for presence

Keep many buildings inefficient, do not retrofit!

Chapters

Authored content ⁽³⁰⁾