09-11-2020 // THE NEXT CHAPTER

• CD LAB

• Meeting with Monique

• ED LAB with Mike

CD LAB

We spoke to several people from the municipality of Eindhoven. We have discussed and reflected on their perspectives, thoughts, and opinions in detail in "31-10-2020 // REFLECTION OCTOBER" and in the blog "05-11-2020 // CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE". It is time for the next chapter, a chapter in which we will try to identify and map out the needs and perspectives of the stakeholders in the Emmasingelkwadrant. So that we can ultimately connect all parties involved around the challenge.

The Emmasingelkwadrant is a fairly large area in which many stakeholders are located. How do you determine who you should involve (first)? During the LAB on 2 November, we presented this question to the other students. We, Jesse and Amber, came up with the idea to first talk to the entrepreneurs or an entrepreneur who has established himself at the Victoria Park. ZwartWit is a thriving restaurant where Jesse in particular had the idea that many people come here from the neighborhood. We thought: if we talk to the manager of this restaurant, he might be able to link us to other people or organizations in the area that we could approach.

We wanted to know if this would be the right approach with regard to stakeholder involvement. No concrete answer was given. That may also be difficult; how do you know if something is the right approach? It emerged that there is not by definition a right or wrong, but that it is interesting to look at stakeholders who may already make the neighborhood liveable. You cannot involve everyone (immediately), so you have to start somewhere.

Our fellow students mentioned possible ways to get in touch with stakeholders:

-          Open invite: who wants to be involved? Give stakeholders the possibility to share their personal details to come in contact with you.

-          Mystery connection: connect people with different perspectives and opinions (maybe interesting at a later stage).

-          Giving people flyers

MEETING MONIQUE

Every week we have a meeting with Monique, to update each other and discuss certain matters. This week we had our meeting Thursday, the 5th of November. We informed Monique that we worked out all the information gathered so far and from next week onwards we will focus on the stakeholders in the Emmasingelkwadrant. We also asked Monique if she would like to give a presentation about Placemaking in our CD LAB and participate (partly) in the LAB. She was open to that, so she will be present during our LAB on November 30th.

Although we mainly work in a process-based manner and describe everything on our blog, we wondered what the municipality would like us to provide. Monique indicated that it would be appreciated if the "end result" could be worked out briefly. We also agreed to give a presentation to those involved within the municipality about our process around the end of November. Pretty soon after this presentation, Monique will go on maternity leave. After the presentation, we will therefore discuss with Jesper and Monique how to proceed, especially since the municipality sees possibilities for Amber doing her graduation assignment at the municipality of Eindhoven and Jesse is also interested in continuing the project after January.

ED LAB WITH MIKE

Mike was (in)direct the person who linked us to this project. With his knowledge, we thought it would be interesting to talk to him about involving the (right) stakeholders. He invited us to participate in the ED LAB on the 9th of November. We also asked him: how do we determine which stakeholders we should contact? Mike also indicated that there is no right or wrong, but we have to consider the purpose for which we involve stakeholders and enter into dialogue with them.

After the lab, we decided to discuss this with each other. For what purpose do we enter into dialogue with stakeholders? We want to find out what is already going on in this area. We want to expose what is already there: what are the (hidden) themes and systems? There are actually two main themes:

-         Unfold stories: discover and explore what is already there and what has already happened. Unfold stories with a certain narrative value, such as success stories. Looking for existing relationships that we can build on. This is the current situation, the here and now.

-         Desired future: imagine how it could be. What are the needs, wishes, and values? Mapping opportunities. From building on… to….

We want to look at what is already there. And to the future, what is possible. Mike advised us to engage in a dialogue with stakeholders as organically as possible, so do not create too many stated questions. We have to sense what arises during the conversation and what can flow from it.

We have created a list of stakeholders that we think could be interesting to approach. Nevertheless, we decided to initially limit this list to four stakeholders: ZwartWit (restaurant), De Huiskamer (youth center foundation), The library, and TAC (Temporary Art Center). Four completely different stakeholders who see and speak to multiple people. We will continue to build on these stakeholders. What we mean by that is that we are going to ask these stakeholders who they think we should approach and why. In this way we let the stakeholders determine which stakeholders are interesting to come into contact with.

DOUBLE DIAMOND

We have gone through the discover phase and define phase. Nevertheless, we will go back to the discover phase. We have mainly discovered and defined the perspective of the municipality. We will now discover and define the perspectives of the stakeholders in the area.