Families Archives - CommuniCity

Brainstorm en concept – Virtual Reality Training

Challenge: Wildcard – Propose tech solutions contributing to a breakthrough in intergenerational problems.

Brainstorm en concept – Virtual Reality Training Intergenerational Problems

On behalf of the City of Breda, brainstorm en concept has developed a new VR-interactive application with social impact, as it will contribute to the improvement of intergenerational issues. The aim of this interactive training is to bring different age groups together and create more understanding and empathy for each other. Three different locations in and around Breda have served as locations for 360-degree films, in which young participants have played the scripts co-written with the elderly. This way, a young person can now look through the eyes of an older person to experience their issues in daily life and sympathize with them. It is possible to implement the application on other Meta Quests by us to make it available for other organisations and hopefully bring a stronger positive impact in other cities.

XS2Content (XS2AUDIO BV) – Video Avatar Influencers

Challenge: Breda: How can resilient role models help families to develop healthy relationships?

XS2Content (XS2AUDIO BV) – Video Avatar Influencers

According to figures from the Trimbos Institute, last year 10.2% of 12- to 14-year-olds used an e-cigarette. In the first two years of secondary school, young people often come into contact with ‘vapes’. GGD West-Brabant aims to positively influence young people to prevent them from starting to vape.

The European CommuniCity project aims to use new techniques to improve interaction and communication within communities, focusing on enhancing social cohesion and facilitating engagement and collaboration. The Hilversum-based tech startup XS2Content has been selected for this project to find a technological solution for the municipality of Breda to positively influence young people not to start vaping. XS2Content has developed a plan to use animated ‘Video Avatar Influencers’ in co-creation with health institutions and the target group itself to positively influence children not to start vaping. The avatars, tone of voice, and content will be co-created together with the involved parties. They will be loosely based on popular influencers (YouTube/Insta/TikTok) amongst the target group to increase impact and appeal. Naturally, this will also take into account the diversity of cultural backgrounds within the target group and how these specific subgroups want to be addressed. The videos will be produced in portrait format so that they can be used on popular social media platforms such as TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, amongst others. Texts can also be adjusted, optimized, or updated afterwards on the XS2Content platform.

KU Leuven – Breaking Boundaries with Situated Surveys

Cross-Border Pilot with Prague

Challenge: How to engage the citizens in participatory planning?
Cross-Border Pilot with Porto and Amsterdam

KU Leuven – Breaking Boundaries with Situated Surveys

How to involve residents in urban decision-making and take their insights into account? With the fast development of European cities, which are becoming denser and more diverse, it is essential to engage citizens in how the city should grow. The Situated Surveys of KU Leuven gave us an answer by bringing a part of the urban planning process to the residents’ everyday-life. In Prague, Porto, and Amsterdam, the project’s Citizen Dialog Kit survey devices allow citizens to share their thoughts on a simple, immediate, and inclusive bottom-up urban planning approach. The easy-to-use devices are distributed in public places and gather real-time feedback from the participants. This solution addresses contextual and social challenges, improving the quality and sustainability of city decision-making and overall fostering a more satisfied and inclusive European community.

Associação Fraunhofer Portugal Research – Porto Sense

Challenge: How to improve the thermal comfort and overall health in residential buildings?

Associação Fraunhofer Portugal Research – Porto Sense

Household environment profoundly impacts human health. PortoSense aims to improve thermal comfort and the overall health quality within residential spaces. The proposal intends to develop a user-friendly tool that offers residents in-depth knowledge of homes’ environmental conditions and crucial data about their living spaces in an accessible manner, and to combine a human-centred design and co-design sessions to prototype a digital recommendation system to passively enhance living conditions.

The proposal includes a collaboration with residents in urban rehabilitation areas, conducting focus groups to identify needs, evaluate sensing systems, and empower users with best practices. Summing up, PortoSense is developing a digital solution that not only monitors living conditions but empowers users with clear data for effective action. In an sustainability-driven age, this pilot aims for life improvements without the complexities of major renovations.

CoTown Kasmoni Community Exchange

Challenge: How to involve residents in a community savings supporting social initiatives?

CoTown BV – CoTown Kasmoni Community Exchange: Empowering Amsterdam’s Shared Prosperity

The Community Credits and Savings pilot project aimed to develop a community platform and offline activities to facilitate resource sharing, funding opportunities, and collaboration tools between local corporates and governments for social impact projects, local businesses, non-profits, and residents. The pilot involved extensive feedback sessions and co-creation workshops to ensure the platform meets community needs. Key features include the creation of a digital platform and a series of offline activities and events to strengthen social bonds in Amsterdam Zuidoost. The pilot successfully engaged the target group, resulting in a comprehensive report about the project concept and the specifications of the community platform ready for further development and broader implementation. Future plans include additional research and workshops, community events and collaborative prototype development to ensure ongoing improvement and adoption.

Video avatar translation widget (XS2 Content)

Challenge: AI-generated video making healthcare information more accessible
Video avatar translation widget

The Municipality of Amsterdam seeks solutions to help enhance citizens’ understanding of the Dutch National Immunisation Programme and improve overall health outcomes, particularly among those with low literacy skills and those from diverse backgrounds. XS2Content (XS2AUDIO BV) will address this need through the application Video avatar translation widget.

Target Groups:
•People who speak a different language
• Low-literacy individuals
• People with low family care
• Parents and young people with a Moroccan or Turkish background

Objectives:
• Reach hard-to-reach target groups through the use of video content in addition to text
• Reduce video-creation time by leveraging AI technology
• Convert existing text into spoken videos with real-life, lip synced avatars in multiple languages
• Make healthcare information more accessible by converting written content into video format
• Ensure easy accessibility by sharing videos on social media and web-widgetsany