Each of the ebooks I've compiled from my blog posts and other publications contains essays on how to make our environment more livable and humane. Anyone can download these ebooks for free. There are also print-friendly versions available and most are available in English and Dutch. Below you will find an overview with links to all of them:
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Vacature: Programmamaker Ruimte & Wonen bij Pakhuis de Zwijger
Senior programmamaker Ruimte & Wonen
Creëer jij graag verdiepende, toegankelijke en inspirerende programma’s die de uitdagingen van stedenbouw aansnijden? Begrijp je het belang van samenwerken met verschillende belanghebbenden om rechtvaardige oplossingen te verkennen voor complexe vraagstukken? Kan je je effectief verhouden tot zowel leefwereld (burgers, maatschappelijk middenveld, activisten, NGO’s) als systeemwereld (overheid, kennisinstellingen, bedrijven), om innovatieve programma's te ontwikkelen rondom wonen, ruimtelijke ordening en duurzaam, creatief en inclusief bouwen?
Solliciteer dan nu voor de functie van senior programmamaker Ruimte & Wonen bij Pakhuis de Zwijger.
Full-time · Pakhuis de Zwijger
Over Pakhuis de Zwijger
Pakhuis de Zwijger maakt meer dan 600 programma’s per jaar over dringende maatschappelijke vraagstukken, met rechtvaardigheid als kernwaarde. We brengen belanghebbenden samen in verschillende formats om gezamenlijk oplossingen te verkennen. Dit doen we met een team van programmamakers, producenten, communicatiemedewerkers en technici.
Wat zoeken we?
Een creatieve en daadkrachtige programmamaker met inhoudelijke kennis van stedenbouw en ruimtelijke ordening. Je hebt het vermogen om effectief te schakelen tussen verschillende belanghebbenden, van lokale gemeenschappen tot zakelijke partners, om vernieuwende programma's te ontwikkelen die het publiek bewust maken van stedelijke en ruimtelijke vraagstukken en transities verder helpen.
Als senior programmamaker draag je bij aan de strategische ontwikkeling van de programmering. Je initieert en onderhoudt partnerschappen, werkt aan opdrachten en stuurt enkele programmamakers en stagiairs aan op jouw thema. Enige ervaring met leidinggeven aan een (klein) team is dus een pré. Door kennis en presentatie heb je inhoudelijk gezag in je werkgebied.
Jouw profiel:
- Actuele kennis en een stevig netwerk op het gebied van ruimtelijke thema’s.
- Strategisch inzicht; ervaring met het onderhouden van samenwerkingsverbanden en het aantrekken van nieuwe (financiële) partners.
- Creatief, leergierig en vol met originele ideeën.
- Communicatief sterk (zowel intern als extern) en cultureel sensitief. Je hebt een sterk vermogen om je in anderen te verplaatsen.
- Beschikbaar voor 40 uur per week waarvan gemiddeld één avond per week voor het draaien van een programma.
Bij Pakhuis de Zwijger hanteren we de CAO Nederlandse podia. Deze functie is ingeschaald in schaal 7 (minimum €3.516 en maximum €4.940), de precieze inschaling is afhankelijk van ervaring en kwalificaties.
Pakhuis de Zwijger is een cultureel-maatschappelijke non-profitorganisatie. Wij streven er naar een grote diversiteit aan identiteiten en ervaringen de ruimte te geven in ons team. Daarom moedigen wij nadrukkelijk mensen van alle culturele en genderidentiteiten en opleidingsachtergronden aan om te solliciteren.
Geïnteresseerd?
Solliciteer vóór maandag 13 mei 2024 via de onderstaande link. Voor vragen kun je contact opnemen met HR-adviseur Jip Gradener via: 06-13626126.
Acquisitie naar aanleiding van deze oproep wordt niet op prijs gesteld.
Demoday #23: Co-creating with residents in the heat transition
The heat transition is in full swing. Municipalities want their residents off the gas and want them to switch to renewable sources of heat. Unfortunately, heat grids have often led to frustrated residents. Which in turn has led to delayed or cancelled plans for the municipality.
Dave van Loon and Marieke van Doorninck (Kennisland) have looked into the problems surrounding heat grids and came up with a plan. In this Demoday work-session we dived into the problems surrounding heat grids and their plan to solve them. The session was moderated by our own Leonie van Beuken.
Why residents get frustrated with heat grid plans
Involving residents in the planning of a heat grid is difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort and the municipality is often in a hurry. This is why they choose for a compromise in which they already make the plan, but try to involve citizens at the end part. However, this leads to residents not having anything to say in the plans. They can block the plans, but they can’t really make changes. This leads to a lot of dissatisfaction.
This top-down approach doesn't seem to be ideal for involving residents in the heat transition. That's why Kennisland is working on developing a plan for early collaboration with residents in the heat transition of neighbourhoods, with a focus on connecting with the community's concerns.
They have seen that this kind of approach can be successful by looking at the K-buurt in Amsterdam-Zuid-Oost. In the initial stages, the first plan for the K-buurt didn't gain much traction. However, when they shifted towards a more collaborative approach, people felt empowered to engage, leading to a more meaningful participation process. Instead of traditional town hall meetings, discussions took place in community spaces like the local barber shop. This shift towards genuine participation and co-creation has resulted in a much-improved end product, one that residents truly support and believe in.
The plan for co-creation in the heat transition
The plan that Kennisland came up with consists of a few key points that are necessary for success:
• Engage with residents early on in the process.
• Also consider other issues in the neighbourhood. There might be more pressing concerns for the residents themselves.
• Ensure accessibility for everyone to participate.
• Truly collaborate on developing a list of requirements.
• Harness creativity.
• Work in a less compartmentalized manner.
They aim to form a neighbourhood alliance and organize a community council. Together a plan can be made for the neighbourhood that all residents can get behind.
This plan might take a bit longer at the start, but that investment in time will pay itself back in the end.
SWOT analysis of co-creation plan
After Dave and Marieke explained their plan we did a SWOT analysis with the group. We looked at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the plan.
The main strength that was pointed out was the ability to make a plan together with the residents. The residents experience the neighbourhood differently than a government official, which makes the final plan more beneficial to everyone.
The weaknesses the group saw in the plan were mainly that this could potentially slow down the process. Should we maybe do less participation instead of more and use force to get this heat transition going?
There were a lot of opportunities identified for this plan. The quality of the plan (and the neighbourhood) can greatly increase. By slowing down at the start we can actually accelerate and improve the neighbourhood on many levels. This plan also offers a great learning experience.
Finally, we went into the threats. One of the big threats that was pointed out was the lack of trust. If residents don’t trust the municipality and the process then it will never be possible to let this plan succeed. The explanation to residents also needs to be understandable. The explanation around a heat grid can get technical very quickly, and residents often don’t have the background to understand everything. The last threat that was pointed out was that if you get a lot of input from the residents for the plan, you also have to do something with that, and still be realistic. You have to work hard to manage expectations.
We completed the session by asking the participants if they knew any partners and places to collaborate with for this plan, or if they had any other ideas to make this plan successful.
We would now like to ask the same questions to you! Do you know someone who would like to partner up with Kennisland, do you know a place where this plan can be tested, or do you have any other ideas? Let us know by contacting me at noor@amsterdamsmartcity.com.
Demoday #23 Knowledge Session: An Introduction to Socratic Design
During our 23rd Demo Day on April 18, 2024, Ruben Polderman told us more about the philosophy and method of Socratic Design. It's important for a city to collectively reflect on a good existence. Socratic Design can be a way to think about this together, collectively.
Thinking and Acting Differently with Socratic Design
Together with his colleagues at the Digitalization & Innovation department of the Municipality of Amsterdam, Ruben explored how a city should deal with innovation and digitalization. Things were progressing well. The municipality could act swiftly; for example, promising Smart Mobility research and innovation projects were initiated with new partners. However, the transitions are heading in various directions, and progress remains limited. No matter how groundbreaking innovation is, there's a danger in trying to solve problems with the same mindset that caused them. The ability to perceive or think differently is therefore crucial. More crucial, even, than accumulated knowledge, as filosopher David Bohm suggested.
Through Socratic Design, we can collectively improve the latter. You work on your own presuppositions, enhance your listening skills, and deepen your understanding of our current dominant narratives to create new narratives and practices. Ruben guided us through examples and exercises to help us understand what narratives and presuppositions entail.
Narratives
"We think we live in reality, but we live in a narrative," Ruben proposes to the group. What we say to each other and how we interact creates a culture that shapes the group and its actions. Narratives are stories that guide our culture, values, thoughts, and actions. They are paradigms so deeply rooted that we no longer question them and sometimes believe there is no alternative. Our current dominant narrative has significant consequences for the Earth and humanity, and although it seems fixed, we can also create new narratives together if we choose to do so.
We must fundamentally seek a good existence within safe ecological boundaries. This should go beyond the transitions we are currently favouring, which sustain our lifestyle but just make it less harmful for the environment. If we want to create new stories with new, positive human perceptions and lifestyles, we must first examine our current narrative and presuppositions. We will need to deconstruct our current ways of living and thinking, much like the Theory U method mentioned during the previous Knowledge Session (see our recap article of this session).
Understanding Presuppositions
Ruben showed us various themes and images to collectively practice recognizing presuppositions. For example, a photo of a medical patient and doctors in action demonstrates that our feeling of "to measure is to know" is also crucial in healthcare. The doctors focus on the screen, the graph, the numbers, and therefore have less focus on the patient; the human, themselves. A photo of the stock market, where a group of men is busy trading stocks, also illustrates our idea of economic growth. Here too, there is a fixation on numbers. Ideally, they're green and going up, but meanwhile, we can lose sight of what exactly we're working towards and what exactly it is that we’re ‘growing’.
As a group, we discussed some presuppositions we could find in our field of work. For example, we talked about our need for and appreciation of objective data, and technologism; the belief in solutions rooted in technology and digitalization.
Fundamental Presupposition Shifts and New Narratives
If you flip a presupposition like Technologism and suggest that Social Interaction could be our salvation and solution to many of our problems, you set off a fundamental presupposition shift. If you translate this into practical actions or experiments, you can collectively understand how a newly created presupposition functions. As a group, we worked on this. During this session, I myself worked with an example from the field of mobility.
If I were to apply this new presupposition in the field of mobility and we look at the development of cars, perhaps we shouldn't go towards autonomous vehicles (technologism), but look for ways to motivate and strengthen carpooling (social interaction). As an experiment, you could, for example, set up an alternative to the conventional car lease plan. Employees of an organization don't all get the option to lease a car; instead, it's considered who could commute together, and there's a maximum of 1 car for every 4 employees per organization. Just like going to an away game with your soccer team on Sundays as a kid; enjoyable!
Read More
This session was an introduction and gave us a good initial understanding of this philosophy and method, but there's much more to discover. The method also delves into how presuppositions are deeply rooted in us, how we validate this with feeling in our bodies, and dialogue methods to collectively arrive at new values and narratives. There's more explained about Socratic Design on Amsterdam's Open Research platform.