This way to the future, or which way?

I have spent the last week in Rotterdam for the Informed Cities Forum run by ICLEI- at what you might feel is an all too common event aimed at bringing people together to discuss a common theme and interest. That interest being how we create liveable cities that not only reduce the harm we are causing to the environment but create spaces for it and us to thrive. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the thoughtful approach, the participants and the speakers. It strikes me that the lessons in Rotterdam are not about renewable energies- of which there is great stuff happening elsewhere (Mark Snow, Engineering University of New South Wales/ Freiburg) but is in the lessons we can take in the planing, integrated transport, conservation and biodiversity of place instead.  I also happen to have fallen in love with yet again, another city, the pictures should tell you why.

This is the local award winning food market that has you salivating around the stands until you can't resist, and yes, that is a swing on a food stall. This is one example of the bold architecture across the city, and whilst I suspect not even the locals would argue it always leads to such spectacular results I admire this city of risk and reward without the expense of the people living within it. 

Rotterdam is a Vibrant city in transition, no coincidence given the focus of the forum and throughout the two days we were presented with cities who have undertaken transition management with the support of DRIFT (Dutch Research Institute for Transitions) and MUSIC (Mitigation in Urban Areas). But what does this mean? Well, there are 5 cities in transition; Aberdeen, Rotterdam, Montreiul, Ghent and Ludwisburg and they all signed up to co-create a new vision for the cities with it's inhabitants leading to innovative projects, collaborations and unsurprisingly similar challenges. 

I hope that we can soon stop two commonalities I observe within the social sector, the first being the rhetoric that Local Authorities are not worth or worthy of our engagement and that they are unable to work cross departmentally. I am also guilty of this but I was reminded that people do not (I hope and suspect) go into a job wanting to make things worse. We have to rethink how we enable space for innovation, compromise, compassion and consideration for each other. It is never going to work if we are looking for answers- this suggests you know what you want to do and so there is no room for collaboration or co-creation. We need to be committed and start asking the right questions. Nils Goransson Grunditz spoke of an interdisciplinary group who are able to work and inform decision making across functions of the Municipality. Shane Waring from Dublin City Council of the BETA projects programme established to enable Intrapreneurs to exercise innovation time to work on projects outside of their role but for the benefit of the city. It's being done, it's just about learning from people where this stuff is happening and looking at how that might work in your locality. If you, and those around you implemented BETA what good ideas might come to you from your organisations/ colleagues/ partners and the people you work with? 

The second, is our silo approach to tackling some of our societal issues. It is not ok for someone to suffer poor health but because they recycle we are satisfied because we are interested in tackling environmental issues. The concept of common welfare should be across the board. The Municipality or Local Authorities may well have a responsibility of the guardianship of common welfare but we each have a duty to it, to Build Up small seeds of change and to Break Down structural barriers. 

That said, no good trip is without it's visits to meet some of the most challenging, inspired and inspiring social entrepreneurs and with a packed agenda it was a difficult choice but I went to visit SCRAP-xl a 'supermarket' for scrapped materials to look at circularity- a hot topic in Rotterdam. 

SCRAP-xl is based in the Zoho district, a regeneration area of the city in which the Station Hofplein, the location of the forum, was also located. The area is becoming a magnet for the creative and entrepreneurs of the city and is seeing a rejuvenation to its offices and the former viaduct. 

Following an introduction to the Scrap market Cesare Peeren an architectural engineer and co-founder of Superuse Studios introduced his work and this was truly impressive! It started as an architectural design firm in 1997 which became Superuse in 2012. Superuse are a pioneer in the field of sustainable design. They are internationally renowned for their design innovation, sourcing local and sustainable materials making use of wasted resources and energy.