Bypassing the Obvious: Implementing Cutting Edge Ideas for Futuring Urban Landscapes

Abstract

Vulnerable regions in particular especially face increased risks in periods of disruptive change. This mechanism is fed by a strongly felt uncertainty about the future, consisting of unprecedented events and is strengthened by an unshakeable faith in past approaches, reinforcing the problems. It is a common response to deal with these risks using traditional planning approaches. In other words, the problem here is that the current ‘regime’ (the set of policy responses) is embedded in the existing landscape of standards, habits, norms and approaches that lead to repetition of former solutions, which are often the obvious ones. This incrementality of the regime is in nature withstanding creative transformations. Unsafe planning is required to overcome a locked-in situation, especially in dynamic circumstances. The Toukomst Groningen project tries to escape this mechanism. In this article the crucial elements to achieve this are investigated and whether this is successful. In the Groningen region incremental planning has led to an increased vulnerability of population, nature and the land. People no longer trust their governments. In this article an alternative approach is investigated giving space to the most peripheric ideas in society, sublimating these into an overall ‘mindblowmap’ and implementing this long-term vision by executing a travelling circus, engaging the local residents in the realisation in order to rebuild local trust.

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