Annemarij Kooistra is currently the director of a City Deal Network “Future Proof Inner City Canals”, where she plays a key role in building alliances of municipalities facing large renovation challenges of the historic canal walls, bridges and sluices in the city centers. A challenge of preservation of cultural heritage combined with necessary climate adaptation, modal shift in mobility and energy transition in the public space of the canal systems. Together with industry and research institutions best practices are shared and new standards developed.

In the city of Amsterdam she was as a program director responsible for the assessment of the civil structures, and the research program to develop futureproof solutions for Amsterdam bridges and canal walls. Innovations on monitoring and sensoring, assessment strategies, value based decision making and synergy between renovation and future proof public space were tested and implemented. And within the city deal network now shared and further developed.   

Scaling innovations and implementation of newly developed standards do not only ask for technical solutions. Real transition towards a net zero future ask for social innovations and new ecosystems. Leaving old ways that served us well in past decades is hard and should not be underestimated. Embracing the new can make us feel insecure. Creating a safe environment for leaving the old and facing the insecure and unknown future is part of building the alliances within the city deal.