About Us
Stipo is a multi-disciplinary consultancy team for urban strategy and city development. Its operating area consists of spatial planning and strategy with economic development, culture, urban anthropology, community planning and placemaking. Stipo, based in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, is affiliated with the international network Inspiring Cities and has extensive experience in international exchange settings. Stipo works for cities, housing providers, regions, ministries, private developers, knowledge and innovation centres, international networks and universities.
Stipo stands for Strategy, Innovation, Process development and Open-source. Stipo started at the University of Amsterdam in 1995, and is based on the principle to create stronger cities and stronger societies. Stipo’s core values are the breathing city (long lasting quality), the public city (public realm quality) and the soul city (identity). Stipo approaches the city as a whole with connecting spatial, social, economic, and cultural components. The Stipo team works by the innovative and strategic Stipo approach on urban development. Stipo works in collaborative networks, involving partners and co-makers from both the ‘planned city’ and the ‘lived city’. The Stipo approach ensures that results are not shelved, but used. It is only by integrating content, process, and management that we can safeguard real innovation, improvement, and production - and this is the ultimate objective. Often the Stipo approach leads to new ideas for cities. As a public developer we make ourselves co-responsible to bring these ideas from the strategic level to implementation, always with the co-makers we involve in the projects.
Stipo has an extensive experience in innovative projects, both in The Netherlands and internationally. Stipo shares its knowledge through training programmes, concept development, complex project management in urban practice, knowledge exchange, and social media. The Stipo Academy shares knowledge and insights in the what and how of urban development. Recent themes are the shift from making to being a city, new investment strategies, smart cities, urban development after the crisis, collaborative urban development, co-creation, incubator strategy, organic renewal, urban anthropology and urban psychology, cultural clusters, social enterprise, public squares, area coalitions, child-friendly areas, co-working, vacant buildings, temporary use, the future role of housing providers, synchronicity, soul and plinth strategy.