Vie - Living in Motion - Regional Implementation Program
On May 26, 2021, the Executive Committee of the City Region of Parkstad Limburg (consisting of the municipalities of Heerlen, Kerkrade, Landgraaf, Brunssum, Voerendaal, Simpelveld and Beekdaelen) underscored the importance of regional cooperation in the field of vitality and health in the broad sense by adopting the Regional Implementation Program Vie, which was previously set as a condition for the allocation of a subsidy of 4 million euros from the Regio Deal for Vie.
Whether it comes to life expectancy, labor participation, healthcare costs, obesity or exercise standards, Parkstad Limburg invariably finds itself on the wrong side of the lists. The urban areas of Parkstad in particular have even more unfavorable figures when it comes to educational disadvantages, low literacy and poverty, for example, compared to the rest of Limburg and the Netherlands.
Parkstad also scores low in terms of (perceived) health (67% compared to 76% nationally).
Health affects people directly because poorer health can have a great impact on themselves and those around them and is often associated with a poorer social position. Healthy and vital people are able to contribute more to society and the economy and have more control over their lives than unhealthy people. On the other hand, socioeconomic factors affect health negatively, as, for example, a person experiences enormous stress and is able to function more poorly due to not having a job or being in debt. Health is one of the dials, where within Parkstad, for example, efforts are being made to intensify Kansrijke Start and the implementation of the Healthy Elementary School of the Future, but is mainly seen as a derivative of these socioeconomic disadvantages.
Within the Region Deal, therefore, programs and projects work to break through these socioeconomic disadvantages that have often existed for generations, combined with addressing physical tasks in different neighborhoods (renovate, demolish and rebuild the built environment) that land together in an integrated area-based approach.
With the Vie Regional Implementation Program, Vie fulfills and supports its (supra-)regional role in the field of Vitality and Health in the broad sense by collecting and accelerating good examples, but also by coming up with new solutions for old and existing problems (A role in which Vie obviously does not intervene in the policy choices made by municipalities. Nor will Vie take over implementation outside Kerkrade).
A central place to experiment
Physical investments are needed to enable and enhance non-physical developments. At the same time, non-physical developments are needed for physical developments to succeed. You cannot have one without the other. Examples combining these physical and non-physical developments are Heerlen Noord and Rolduckerveld in Kerkrade. So when it comes to addressing vitality and health in the broadest sense, they act as a kind of living labs.
Innovation Hub
A different approach and approach to vitality and health requires innovation and room for experimentation. For the development and acceleration of innovative ideas, the Vie Innovation Hub is deployed, in which solutions to problems surrounding health and vitality are identified and, during the process, Vie participates in finding solutions by organizing differently and innovatively, such as through the LEEF Fund. In order to have sufficient clout, Vie and the Innovation Hub operate from a separate, small, agile organization. Depending on the issue, the Vie Innovation Hub always operates with changing partners from a network organization in which it plays a primarily coordinating role. The goal of the Innovation Hub is to bundle and secure knowledge and expertise and, with the use of provincial, national or European subsidies, to find and develop innovative solutions to catch up with health inequalities in Parkstad-Limburg.
