Outdoor Office Day
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
Outdoor Office Day is a cross-border annual event and an open invitation to take work outdoors in the urban nature and to join a fast growing global movement of people who actively connect daily working routines with nature. It is a day specially designed to celebrate connecting work, wellbeing and urban green by enjoying walking meetings, making your phone calls outdoors and reading, writing or learning in an urban park in your neighbourhood.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
Each year we invite companies and self-employed professionals, but also city councils to literally take their work outdoors.The first edition of Outdoor Office Day took place on 18 June 2019 in the Dutch city of Utrecht. For one day people working in the area of Hooch Boulandt and Moreelse traded their offices and desks to meet each other outdoors. Hundreds of people held walking meetings, read, met or learned on two locations which would later become green hubs of the city. This was a big placemaking event. Smaller events took place in Amsterdam, Tilburg or Rotterdam. In 2020, despite the physical limitations we encountered due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Outdoor Office Day welcomed participants from all over the world. Hundreds of people worked outside on a number of locations.
Last week - on May 27th 2021 - the third edition of the Outdoor Office Day was held. This project is entirely driven by volunteers and this year we have partnered with the Dutch City Deal ’Space for Walkability’ and the platform 'All about Health’, part of the Dutch National Prevention Programme. Outdoor Office Day consolidated its cross-border appeal: looking up for the #OutdoorOfficeDay on all social media will show the scope of the event. It transformed into a movement in Europe and beyond.
During the pandemic lots of people discovered the beneficial effects of taking work outdoors from time to time. Working outdoors is more and more relevant: Charlotte Petersson and her colleagues from University of Malmö just published their first paper on ‘Outdoor Offices’. Meanwhile in USA 'Meet with Spot' is launching their first app made for walking meetings. Companies are trying to rethink 'going back to the office'. The time is right to rethink the relationship between work, wellbeing and urban nature. The long term goal is to inspire creating more healthy green urban environments.
Key objectives for sustainability
The project has more objectives. The degree of urbanisation in Europe is 75% (https://www.statista.com/statistics/270860/urbanization-by-continent/). This number is growing. Cities must adapt in order to become a healthy habitat for all those living, studying and working there. European is already focussing on a healthy Union. Prevention and the promotion of health-enhancing physical activity must be part of this.
The first objective of the Outdoor Office Day is to literally take work outdoors: a very small intervention we all can accomplish at an individual level. We must move more and to spend time (together) in the nearby urban nature. They both - nature and movement - have a positive effect on our physical and mental wellbeing. Outdoor Office Day invites all participants to leave their desk and plan for example a walking meeting or make a phone call while walking (see the attached poster which was widely spread this year). Both employees and employers are triggered to rethink their priorities.
The second objective has a strong placemaking character: we must rethinking the cities, more exactly the places where we are spending our working hours. Not every person had 'urban nature' close by. Simple actions as greening parking lots, greening roofs or entire (business) areas are the answer. It is a two-way dynamic: if people experience nature during work, they will demand it. If cities and businesses are greening urban areas, people will organically make use of it.
Outdoor Office Day is here to inspire. Based upon on the feedback we received the last weeks, we are sure that in a post Covid19 Europe many cities and companies will use #OutdoorOfficeDay as local inspiration.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Outdoor Office Day started as a Dutch project and became a cross-border movement. Thousands of people all over the world asked themselves on May 27 the questions: where and how do I want to work today? The quality of the experience is unique for each person who got involved, saw the poster, visited out website, asked a question, tagged us, made a picture, wrote a blog, invited a colleague or even stoped for a second to reflect upon their well being a work.
In terms of aesthetics: what can be more beautiful than hundreds of smiling faces? We invite everybody to use the #OutdoorOfficeDay on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram. The images are saying it all.
An Outdoor Office Day can be easily accomplished at individual level: the ones who take good care of themselves are taking work outdoors often and joined us immediately. When placemaking is involved (the group level): aesthetics depend on the party who embraces the concept.
For our first Outdoor Office Day in the city of Utrecht (see website) we worked together with 'Ondernemersfonds Utrecht'; two outdoor locations were transformed in co-working spaces. Tables were brought outdoors, walking meeting routes were created by Weeting and the local entrepreneurial fund invested and partnered with us to make this event happen.
Depending upon the space, ambition, plan or involved parties the concept can be modified and widely applied.
Key objectives for inclusion
Outdoor Office Day is an open invitation.
Anyone can participate: self-employed people and office workers, companies and municipalities. Any city can be part of this and lead the exploit of being or becoming a better place. We are inviting everyone to become part of the movement for free. We also welcome partners or sponsors: with their help we can also support small organisations, co-working locations and event spaces who are in need of exposure during these times.
Results in relation to category
Outdoor Office Day is not a product. It is a project and a movement entirely driven by volunteers. Even without any marketing budget and big teams we managed to move cities and companies. Winning the support of the New European Bauhaus would mean an even bigger impact. To quote the initiative,the New European Bauhaus is about "imagining and building together a sustainable and inclusive future that is beautiful for our eyes, minds, and souls." Outdoor Office day shares the same dream.
We are spending a big part of our life working. We proposed Outdoor Oddice Day in this category because we see work as a very important element of the daily life. The relationship with nature during the many hours we are all spending at work is very relevant. We are more productive and creative after immersing ourselves in nature.
The momentum for Outdoor Office Day has grown during the pandemic. Over the last year millions of people have created office spaces in their homes to meet colleagues and customers online. A growing number is using their balconies, private gardens and rooftop terraces to create their own nature desks. Green spaces outside home are no longer only used to relax: people go out to work and meet business contacts and colleagues in public parks. This means that for the first time people actively use urban nature nearby home to study, work and hold walking meetings (#weetings). This spontaneous global movement clearly shows that people feel the strong desire to also focus on their physical and mental health during working hours. This builds the momentum which will continue to grow post Covid19.
How Citizens benefit
Except the individuals involved in participating to on the day self to the Outdoor Office Day, we were pleased to welcome local and international platforms and organisations: London National Park City and the National Park City Foundation, Salzburg Global Seminar en the fellows of the Parks for the Planet forum and the Dutch platforms All about Health (part of the National Prevention Programme, developed by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport) and all the partners of the City Deal 'Space for Pedestrians'. The event this year took place simultaneously with the international WALK21 conference in order to enhance the relevance of movement for those who work. The goal was to connect nature, work and health.
Innovative character
Outdoor Office Day inspires to rethink the relationship between work, well being and urban nature on a very accessible level. With a small amount of effort, people, companies and cities can experience work in a totally new - and healthy - way. The participation is free of charge and open to everyone regardless how big or small the organisation is. We stimulate everyone to be as creative as possible. Our role is to inspire, brainstorm when asked, share the positive examples, build bridges. With the impulse of such a prize our impact can only further grow and professionalize.
