Veehouderijsystemen voor gezonde dieren en mensen (KB-16-002.02-004)

Over the last years several housing concepts have been developed, that combine high levels of animal welfare and economic performance with low environmental impact. The attention for animal and public health issues has rightfully grown over that same time span. This project focuses on the integration of animal and public health objectives through the application of the Reflexive Interactive Design approach, as used in the projects Caring for Hens, Cow Power, Pork Opportunities and Broilers with Taste. Based on preliminary work and two design strategies, stakeholders and researchers have developed concepts for pig husbandry, that combine high levels of animal health and limited risks for public health with a high level of performance on other sustainability aspects. Resulting in two very different designs: ‘Big City’ and ‘Heerlijkheid’. The concepts demonstrate that the challenge can be met in very different, yet credible ways, both internally and externally. Also they show that properly dealing with concerns about public health requires a wider variety of strategies than technical management only, both in the interaction with animals and people. The stakeholders involved in the project were very enthusiastic about the broad approach used.

The design are not a goal in themselves, but a vehicle to generate knowledge and insights (both in research as well as policy and practice) on the possibilities to combine a high level of animal health and societally acceptable risks for public health with a range of other non-trivial sustainability goals.

In 2013 we will further elaborate on the designs and their underlying material. The designs will be evaluated on their performance, and reflected upon by third parties (landscape management, local governments, health care workers, arable land farmers) for feasibility. This evaluation will provide a list of strong and weak points to be dealt with in a next design round. Furthermore, the designs will be analysed on their underlying design principles that can serve as more generic guidelines independent of these specific designs.

Next to this a series of intermediate (communication) products will be made, partly meant to build up a network, and inform en engage new stakeholders.

Then, a second design workshop will be organized, using the results and evaluation of the first design round as a starting point. The mix of participants will change, to avoid group think and increase the number of perspectives integrated.

Finally, more fundamental research questions will be identified to be addressed in follow-up projects.