Workshops for students and young professionals

As planners, we sometimes get lost in the present and forget about the long term. Daily, most of us are working in the here and now, often with time horizons of 20 to 30 years. Not to mention politics and society – which are most of the time where the issues of the day reign. However, we also know that much of what we build will be difficult to reverse and will affect our living environment and society for about 80 years.

The decisions we make regarding spatial development today could potentially impose significant challenges in ensuring the livability of the Netherlands in 2100. As planners, it is imperative that we engage in thorough reflection on long-term perspectives: What forthcoming changes should we anticipate, and how can we adequately strategize for them? What are the repercussions of our current actions, as well as the inactions we may be overlooking? Moreover, what opportunities are we safeguarding for future generations to uphold the safety and livability of our country? Innovation in the world of spatial planning starts with exchange of knowledge and assessing scenarios. This is what the workshop bring to us!

The workshop:  

Deltametropolis Association – Young Planners Framework, is a workshop composed of moments in which the participants (students and young professionals in the field) will experience and react to probable future scenarios from a planning perspective. 

During the workshop, the participants will be asked to make decisions driven by emergencies, pressures and needs of short- or long-thinking strategies. Analysis on different scales, including the national, province, and neighborhood levels. Compare and evaluate the choices made at every round table discussion. Using different scales and approaches, the framework applies to a series of spatially connected topics and then can be discussed at different scales and levels of decision-making.  

Aim:  

Throughout the workshop, the participants will be asked to apply different tools (from sketch-making to digital analysis) and methods (from scenario building to strategic planning) to unravel probable future scenarios. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to work in teams and apply their soft skills to real-world case studies, further enhancing their ability to tackle complex problems related to spatial planning.   

The Young Planners Framework: 

The Young Planner Framework is made up of a structured timeline separated into four intervals of 25 years, starting in 2025 and ending in 2100. During each interval, participants are faced with a set of different conditions and challenges, relevant to the workshop’s theme. In addition, the decisions and thought processes of the participants are shifted throughout the workshop. Decisions are driven by emergencies, pressures and needs of short- or long-thinking strategies and the products should reflect the applicable viewpoint.  

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Scenarios:

The framework also requires the participants to make decisions driven by four different viewpoints or scenarios ranging from short to long-thinking strategies. Unleash the short term and let’s go all the way, Unleash the short term but take it easy, Take care for the long term and let’s go all the way, and Take care for the long term but take it easy. All of these scenarios have different characteristics that distinguish one from another.   

The Young Planner Framework has already been used in several round table workshops, in collaboration with partners and members of the association, for a broad variety of project discussions. The workshops have been executed with the students of BUas, IHS, OST institute and University of Readings, as well as at the CoP work conference. You can find more about these workshops on related news pages.