Dare to imagine urban futures together

We are continuously moving in-between spaces; inside—outside, outside—inside. But how do we create a ground and space where we can meet one another to foster new green connections? On Thursday February 29th an interdisciplinary group of students got together in a Think/Do Tank, at the campus of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS), to ask ourselves the question, how can we (re)CrAFt our surroundings and make it a space that can connect people though a greener and more sustainable way?

The event is part of CrAFt - Creating Actionable Futures, an EU-funded project that supports cities to become climate-neutral, beautiful and inclusive. It was hosted by the Core Group of students, which is an international group active within the project aiming to create and share knowledge about urgent issues by proposing participatory models and setting up mechanisms to engage other students across CrAFt cities. One approach is a Think/Do Tank, which is an activity where people, through embodied methods, can come together to reflect on, assimilate and propose actions for any urgent issue proposed.

The aim of this Think/Do Tank was to reflect upon our immediate surroundings, through the lens of the New European Bauhaus value, 'beautiful | sustainable | together', which responds to needs beyond functionality. The event became a meeting ground, where participants could speculate upon the (urban) future of the terrace at AUAS.

To reflect on the day, Sophie Dandanell, who is currently participating in the Core Group, and Matthijs Schut, participant in the event and Green Team intern at ELIA, met over a cup of coffee to chat about the Think/Do Tank.

Matthijs, could you give a run-through of the day?

The day was kicked off in the auditorium with the Core Group introducing us to CrAFt and the New European Bauhaus initiative that it is a part of. Some ice-breakers about what the gardens meant to us and what we could imagine them to be catalysed our creative flow and allowed us to learn more about each other. The first part of the day ended with an engaging panel discussion between Mariken Straat, a gardener and educator, and Amalie ‘Sveske’ Ourø, an artist representing the student-led Garden Department. They discussed a variety of topics, including how gardens could interact with the broader ecosystems and how grassroots organisations could contribute to developing this relationship. Mariken also passed around a root from her garden, allowing the audience to interact with a piece of the nature we were discussing.

After a lovely, vegetarian lunch we did a group exercise, passing around yarn between the gardens’ stakeholders to represent their interdependent nature. We then split off into smaller groups, taking a walk around the AUAS roof terrace, which we then tried to reimagine to be a more beautiful and actively shared space. After a lot of fun discussions and designing, each group presented self-made three dimensional models of the terrace as their group imagined it could be, a fitting and rewarding end-product of the day.

Sophie, was there anything about the way we approached the challenge of reimagining the terrace that surprised you?

One thing that emerged when the Core Group was reflecting upon the day was that it is so hard to have control over an event, despite having a defined plan - so I think we all learned how one can surrender to non-control, which can feel so counterintuitive. I was especially surprised with how the brainstorm went, as we had not planned for the participants to create physical 3d-models and we only had brought paper, sticky notes and pens. However, everyone suddenly began building these beautiful models of what the terrace could look like!

Matthijs, it makes me wonder about how being in space together, when one participates rather than just observing, allows you to surrender to time and space, to the non-control of it all?

The letting go of control was definitely not innate; so much of how our homes, cities, and even green spaces are designed seems geared toward control for the sake of efficiency, a perspective we had to abandon to really get creative. It did feel increasingly positive the more we let go, as the idea of treating nature as a participant in our space very much excited the group, and fueled our collective inspiration. This was an important aspect of the day to me, as we connected over our shared passions for nature and positively reinforced each other’s hopes and ideas. The ease with which the group connected and cooperated by the end of the day was surprising to me.

Sophie, how did you design the activities of the day to connect the group?

Within the New European Bauhaus arts and culture plays a huge role. It enhances participation and inclusion through embodied approaches. I think what we tried to do was to have spaces where people could DO things in space together. For example, we developed an exercise with yarn, for people to physically manifest and visualise connections and entanglements between systems, systems as in structures in the city, humans/non-human! I find that exercises often have the potential to help see, and to understand, otherwise boring spaces in a new light, as you through moving connect to the space on a sensorial level! During the day, we did several exercises moving our body together - an icebreaker, a walk, throwing yarn.

Matthijs, I am interested in knowing how you found this, was there anything which stood out to you in particular?

I really enjoyed the physicality, as exercises such as when we all built a yarn web were not just thought-provoking but also fun and intuitive. The walk we took around the terrace was most memorable, as we discussed this grey and seemingly uninteresting place and came to see it from the others’ perspectives. It was a good way to start off the group exercise where we reimagined the space, because the very different input from everyone’s observations was inspiring and invited us to take our ideas in different directions.

Sophie, after seeing the groups present their redesigns of the terrace at the end of the day, what was your most important takeaway?

One thing that comes back to me again and again when I think about the day is that the roots of sorrel are not only strong, but flexible. This for me encapsulates the learnings that came through during the presentations. We need to dream together to create anew! We are all coming from different lives and points of view, but surrendering to non-control, becoming flexible, helps us deal with the many challenges and urgent issues of today’s world. The energy of the day made me reassured by starting with these small actions, being together - things will start happening on a more grand scale too!

Matthijs, did you take any new dreams home?

The day opened me up to the hope that, even if living in a city, I and the environment I create could contribute to the ecosystem around me, and actually be a part of nature rather than just consuming it.

Sophie, was that what you were going for, as organisers?

Thank you, I think that is amazing to hear, as we have to start looking at our cities to see how we can contribute to the ecosystems around us! Through the Think/Do Tank(s) I hope that we are able to plant seeds, and start conversations so that a new cityscape can emerge!

To conclude our conversation, we began to wonder whether you, the reader, would feel motivated by our story to take action at home. Where would you begin if you wanted to establish more green connections in your city?