Future concept Kijkduin
Beach resort of the future
For the area of Kijkduin, UNSense Design & Strategy is designing a vision how to transform the predominantly natural and recreational beach area into a 365-days-a-year surprising and attractive place to be.
Compared to the busy beach town of Scheveningen, Kijkduin is still a relatively quiet and small-scale predominantly natural landscape and recreational area. The coming years Kijkduin will undergo a metamorphosis towards becoming Nieuw Kijkduin. Between the beach and the protected dune area a new skyline will arise, featuring nine apartment blocks with retail, restaurants, bars and a fresh food market on ground floor level, creating a mix of nature, culture, sports, entertainment and a high level of living and service orientation.
Together with FRED Developers, the municipality of The Hague and the city district of Loosduinen, UNSense has explored the possibilities for Nieuw Kijkduin to accomplish its goal of becoming ‘the beach resort of the future’ in terms of innovation and sustainability and a test lab for pioneering technology.
What is the best time of the day to go surfing?
As part of the UNSense Urban Strategies programme, we have explored the possibilities of using and implementing sensorial adaptive design in the public environment. Concepts have been created for the development of a learning, programmable and location-based service platform in the areas of shopping & leisure, parking and mobility. ‘We are still in the conceptual phase’, says Ben van Berkel, founder of UNSense.
‘Apart from efficiency and optimization of energy and mobility et cetera, our focus is especially on collecting and using data to create positive user experiences in the public environment. We have investigated what services we can we design and develop that fulfil the needs of future inhabitants and entrepreneurs, visitors of the area?’
As an example of how the future beach-experience will be like, Van Berkel says: ‘In the future you wake up and receive a message on your phone, based on your hobbies – surfing – and the actual weather forecast – perfect waves -, telling you what is the best time of the day to go surfing in Kijkduin considering the forecasted traffic.’
The app also offers the possibility to reserve a parking place upfront and a surfboard if you need one. You can also order foods and drinks that will be delivered right at the beach. Ben van Berkel: ‘The technology already exists. It is just a matter of connecting all data collected and make them actionable in order to create the best user experience. Next step is to prototype and run a pilot.