Noord-Brabant
COLIN operates in the province of Noord-Brabant. This province has 2.4 million inhabitants. The main economic drivers are high-tech, design and logistics although the agricultural sector is in terms of landscape still an important sector. The five biggest cities of Brabant (Breda, Tilburg, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Eindhoven and Helmond) and the Province (authority) are united in an alliance called BrabantStad. Their common agenda aims ‘to create an excellent environment for economic and social development towards a high quality of life and, through this, to achieve an innovative and globally competitive region’ (Provincie Noord-Brabant, 2010, p.3). BrabantStad is a candidate for the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) in 2018. Leitmotiv is ‘the art of living together’. ‘It is an expedition to explore the unknown; being able to trust each other, finding smart solutions, defining rules together, using each others knowledge and the wisdom of previous generations in order to move forward’ (2018Brabant, 2010, p13).