With the Clappform platform, Heijmans has comprehensive and data-driven insight into neighbourhoods and districts. By combining various (public) data sources with insights from conversations with residents, a rich, up-to-date, and nuanced picture of an area is created. This helps to make social challenges around well-being, quality of life, and social cohesion clearer. 

The challenge 

Well-being and quality of life are increasingly central to area developments. The challenge, however, lies in making these ambitions tangibly measurable. How do you gain insight into what is actually happening in a neighbourhood? How do you substantiate choices with facts instead of assumptions? And how do you monitor the effects of interventions over time? 

Municipalities, housing development corporations, and project developers often work from separate policy domains: health, housing development, safety, and quality of life are organised separately, even though they are closely interrelated in practice. This leads to fragmented decision-making and missed opportunities for integrated collaboration. 

"Very often something is tried as a point-to-point solution. That works less and less well. What we are doing here is connecting a great many policy domains."  
- Tom Griffioen, Head of Business and Data, Clappform 

What is the Impact Scan? 

The Impact Scan is a data-driven dashboard that gives organisations an integrated picture of a neighbourhood or district. Open data sources, such as CBS, GGD, RIVM, and police data, are combined into a single overview. This picture is supplemented by qualitative research and conversations with residents, so that hard figures and practical experiences reinforce each other. Users can, among other things, bundle, compare, and flag data sources, and engage residents. 

With the Impact Scan, Clappform and Heijmans support municipalities, developers, and other stakeholders in making well-founded decisions. By bringing data and practical insights together, a solid foundation is created for future-proof area development, enabling better conversations and well-informed decisions.  

Collaboration in practice 

During a DMI meeting, Tom Griffioen (Clappform) and Maaike Schravesande (Heijmans) got in touch with each other. It soon became clear that they were working on the same challenge from different perspectives: realising healthier and better living environments. Heijmans as an area developer and construction company, Clappform as a data platform for data-driven decision-making. 

That meeting led to a concrete collaboration. Together, they developed a dashboard that gives municipalities and developers better insight into the opportunities and challenges in a neighbourhood or district. An initial scan of an area in Hellevoetsluis immediately showed the added value: obesity and lack of exercise emerged as key areas of concern. This literally brought the social domain to the table during area development. 

"By being able to carry out an impact scan and thus look more broadly, we can understand a municipality much faster. And we can also identify shared ambitions more quickly and speak a shared language." 
- Maaike Schravesande, Heijmans 

Case study: Hellevoetsluis 

During an area development in Hellevoetsluis, the Impact Scan revealed that obesity and lack of exercise were significant themes in the neighbourhood. As a result, the municipality actively involved the social domain and the local welfare organisation in the design process. The result: different design choices, greater support, and broader collaboration between disciplines that normally operate separately. 

More than data 

The power of the Impact Scan does not lie in the technology itself. Data is the starting point, not the destination. The scan provides an initial guiding picture, after which the real value is created in the conversation: with residents, with policymakers, and with other stakeholders. 

"Humans must always still make a judgment. We have not tried to change the way the area developer does their work. It is really about the step before that." 
- Tom Griffioen, Head of Business and Data, Clappform  

Because the Impact Scan works with local comparisons, the methodology is applicable in any municipality. Whether it concerns an inner-city district, an expansion site, or a completely new development area: the scan makes local differences visible and compares them alongside the municipal and national average. 

What are the benefits?  

A single dashboard combines social, physical, and health data into a complete and integrated overview of the neighbourhood. This enables developers and municipalities to identify shared ambitions faster and speak the same language. By combining open data with conversations with residents, a complete and balanced picture of reality in an area is created. In addition, it makes it clear how interventions are having an effect, allowing for timely adjustments based on facts instead of assumptions. 

Curious about what the Impact Scan means for your municipality or project? We would be happy to explain how data and resident insights together contribute to data-driven area development. 

Want to read more about this collaboration? Read the article on the DMI-Ecosysteem website via: DMI-Ecosysteem Article