02-02-21 // FINAL REFLECTION

• FEEDBACK BUDDY LYNN

• FEEDBACK BUDDY ELKE

• REFLECTION JESSE

• REFLECTION AMBER

This is our final reflection. We tried to reflect on every blog, but this reflection is more focused on how we experienced the process of our project. In this reflection, we will mostly reflect on the project process and our own process, but also on the feedback from our feedback buddies. Our sharable partly serves as a reflection already, but in this reflection, we will elaborate more on our growth on a personal and professional level. 

We have used the Double Diamond model in every "Challenge the Challenge" to illustrate our process. Our last project phase was in the Development phases: the start of the actual design process, the actual making of the solution to the problem defined in phases one and two. Although we now understand the situation better, we have taken a critical look at the different perspectives, and know what problems this neighborhood is facing, we are actually still in the middle of the development phase. You don't come up with a solution overnight, especially when the problem is quite abstract, as in our situation. Because what's the problem? We believe it largely has to do with the missing connection in the area. It takes time to create this connection and to investigate whether connection is what the neighborhood needs. During the gatherings that we are going to organize in the near future, we will work towards that so-called 'solution'. We will experience where the energy lies when people participate in a gathering together, see what assets are available in the neighborhood, and on which shared ambitions we can build. 

FEEDBACK BUDDY LYNN

Lynn has been our feedback buddy throughout our project. We really appreciate her taking the time and effort to read our blogs and contribute to our learning process. We want to thank her very much.  The latest feedback she gave us:

08-1: very clear overview of your reasoning and the process that was happening, good that you start the blog with the fact that you're going to use a different approach, and end the blog with the actual explanation of the new approach! 

11-1: very good you give a heads up, there is a summary/conclusion at the end! Nevertheless, the information between is quite clear and direct ánd interesting to read! For now, you have reached out to a small group of people, do you have any plans for future gatherings and communication to enlarge this group of involved stakeholders? 

20-1: I really like how you explained your steps and (future) process based on tools such as books etc. Furthermore, it is especially good that you explain why you have or have not done specific things!! good reflection. 

26-1: véry clear (sub)titles!! This makes your blog so much easier to read! I think you made a lot of progress regarding summarizing, concluding, and analyzing through this project! I noticed the last few blogs from November/December on were quite more easy and fun to read!!! Good job guys!!

Lynn has mostly given positive feedback on the pieces we have written. We are pleased that Lynn has clearly seen our progress and that we have made clear steps. To answer Lynn's questions: in March we hope to organize gatherings with both the (small) group of stakeholders we have spoken to in the second round and the group of stakeholders we have spoken to in the first round. We do not immediately have a plan or the intention to expand the group of stakeholders; the stakeholders we have spoken to so far are stakeholders who have contacted us on their own initiative or have been linked to us via another stakeholder. We hope that through the gatherings that we are going to organize, more people will experience the possibilities that the gatherings will offer.

FEEDBACK BUDDY ELKE

Elke has also taken the time to read our latest blogs and give feedback. Although Elke became our feedback buddy at a later point in the process, we also want to thank her for the moments we looked at our process together. The feedback she gave us on the latest blogs: 8-01: Good and strong that you explain which different approach you now have on the interviews. Is it correct that the paragraph 'The ABCD strategy recognizes ...' explains that you are not using it? Because does that area and its connections not yet have specific assets, so you choose not to use that model? The next paragraph explains well how you are going to focus on the positive, which is also clear. 11-01: Clear how you handled the discussions and good short summaries. Also clear conclusion with a reflection on the conversations, the model, and yourself. It's great how you include the model in the reflection, the process and use it to reflect on the reactions. 20-01: paragraph 'The focus on the assets ..' good and clear that you use the model to make and understand that division between the stakeholders. About the “By” stakeholders section it would also be interesting to reflect very briefly on how that is going now and you would like to see it differently in the future. Because if I understand correctly, it doesn't say it yet. I think I understand principle 2, but in the first paragraph it feels a bit like you are going against the “by”. Or should I understand that you want to set up and acknowledge this together with the residents? Demarcation is also clear and good in my opinion. To reply to Elke’s feedback: We will certainly map the assets in the neighborhood, but because we noticed that the neighborhood is minimally connected, we will first look at how the neighborhood could become more connected. We therefore do not use ABCD as the main approach, but as a tool to ultimately make the connection even stronger. At the moment, we haven’t therefore focused directly on the assets in the interviews, but we have looked at where the energy lies and what motivates people. Ultimately, the assets will therefore play a role, and we will certainly take these assets into account, but at the moment we have not mapped the assets yet because we first want to further explore the other possibilities. We will go into it more deeply in our reflections. At the moment the focus is on the TO / FOR and WITH spaces in this area; stakeholders are involved to a certain extent but have indicated that the information provision is lacking and feedback is rarely given when they provide input. In addition, the BY space is not yet within reach; stakeholders are passive about improving the area by themselves. In general, they think that the frustrations and shortcomings should be resolved by external parties. After we had various conversations with the stakeholders, we noticed that there are also people who do want to take action themselves to improve the livability in the area, but that they function as loners. The neighborhood is not connected, and we believe that is the reason that people themselves cannot reach that BY space. We will therefore initially facilitate the process of connecting stakeholders in certain ways. Until we leave the process, the emphasis will therefore be on the WITH space. Ultimately, we hope that by facilitating the process in the WITH space, the stakeholders themselves will be able to facilitate the BY space. You can also read more about this in our reflections.

REFLECTION JESSE

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REFLECTION AMBER

Jesse and I started this project exactly four months ago. Four months, when I say that out loud I realize how fast time is passing. Because although we have been working on this project for four months, I can still very well remember the first week of our project. The week in which we were asked whether we could create a 'positive buzz' in the Emmasingelkwadrant and think about how the nuisance in the area could be reduced. Although we soon realized that creating a 'positive buzz' and reducing nuisance should not be the aim to work towards, those were the questions we started our project with. We had no idea what the situation in the Emmasingelkwadrant looked like but soon realized that the questions with which we started our project were not the questions that we should focus on as Community Designers. The different perspectives of both the municipality and the stakeholders in the neighborhood made this clear to us. Now, four months later, we have grown in the process, both on a personal and a professional level. The feedback moments and the continuous reflection on our process contributed to this. This is the third, and last, extensive reflection that I want to share with you.

ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & REKINDLING DEMOCRACY

In the last project phase, we used ABCD as a guiding principle for our approach. Although I was completely convinced that applying the ABCD method should be the goal of our project, the book Rekindling Democracy made me think. An asset-based perspective works from the belief that lasting change only happens from the bottom up; it comes about when local people discover they have invaluable capabilities and can create and build power by coming together to carry out the common good. What I have often noticed in the conversations we have had with the stakeholders in the Emmasingelkwadrant is that they lead them to believe that the most valuable resources exist outside their neighborhood in institutions such as the municipality. According to Cormac Russel (2020), this is a half-baked truth. Even if it were entirely true, an attempt to free up those external institutional resources without first freeing up local capabilities almost always results in top-down solutions that simply don't work. Just looking at the question the municipality asked us at the start of our project: 'Can you create a positive buzz in this neighborhood?', Without knowing whether 'positive buzz' matches the needs of the stakeholders in the Emmasingelkwadrant. That's why I believe it is so essential to start with what's strong in the neighborhood. 

Still, the dominant narrative focuses on shortcomings, which is something we've also experienced in our project. We therefore started with what was wrong, but in our case, it was a conscious choice; starting with what is strong should not blind us to what is wrong, because it does not mean that we ignore people's problems, concerns, or circumvent issues. It's not about what we acknowledge and ignore, but where we choose to start. That is why we chose to first understand the situation, to be a listening ear, and to give stakeholders the opportunity to share all their frustrations and shortcomings. To then continue with the possibilities, the local capacities, to what’s strong. 

Rekindling Democracy emphasizes that we should use ABCD as a lens and set of practices to open our eyes to what is present and possible in local neighborhoods. ABCD is a description of how a neighborhood becomes a community and is therefore not a model. It is a description of how people generally come together to gain power and have a good relationship with each other. Asset Based Community Development provides a positive description of how others have engaged in building their own communities in the past. Still, ABCD should not be considered a goal in itself, something that I did consider before I actually dived into the ABCD theory and the book Rekindling Democracy. ABCD is a tool for an alternative future. An alternative future requires collective commitment. Creating a community culture is therefore not an arbitrary act of kindness on the part of individuals, but the collective's ability to bring out kindness as 'our way' here. As we quoted in our sharable: ‘’The whole is greater than the sum of its parts’’. The message should therefore not be "please convert to the ABCD way" but "grow a culture of community matters". I initially saw the method, ABCD, as a message that I had to convey to the neighborhood, but the method should serve as a tool to encourage community weavers. 

After delving into ABCD and Rekindling Democracy and talking to the last group of stakeholders last month, I believe that Community Designers should focus on connecting, mobilizing, and discovering the building blocks that exist in every community. In the Emmasingelkwadrant there are a great number of waking and sleeping assets, most of which are invisible and not yet manifest. With a new 'lens' you can discover what is really present in a neighborhood. We, as Community Designers, were that new lens, a lens that has never been used before and that was willing and able to understand the situation in an independent and critical way. If you are a stakeholder yourself and want to discover what the neighborhood has to offer, you should dare to throw the old lens away. Part of this discovery process is zooming out and looking at the situation with a helicopter view. It is difficult to see possibilities when you are distracted by something else, such as frustrations and shortcomings in the neighborhood. But because we are not part of the neighborhood and worked as an independent party, we were able to look at the situation from a helicopter view and paint a critical picture. 

What I noticed is that the BY spaces are subordinate to the TO / FOR and WITH spaces; the Emmasingelkwadrant is known for the sum of their problems and needs, not for their abundance of hospitality, proactivity, and dedication. The citizens who occupy the BY spaces are not seen as the main drivers of the desired future for the neighborhood. I believe that these people should be the driving force. There is a group of people who just want to talk about what is not good about the neighborhood, but we have discovered that there is also a group of residents and entrepreneurs who want to actively think about the possibilities in the neighborhood. According to many stakeholders, the livability has deteriorated, mainly due to poor maintenance in the neighborhood, but that does not mean that this should distract people to look further at what is possible. By discovering with the stakeholders what IS possible, how the assets in the area can be used, and how the stakeholders can take responsibility and action themselves, a positive step can be made towards the BY space. In the near future, I want to focus much more on making this BY space a reality. In the first instance WITH the stakeholders by facilitating the process and gatherings, but eventually with the goal that we can step out of the process at a certain moment and the BY space can become reality.

Asset Based Community Design and Rekindling Democracy have helped me to look critically at myself as a Community Designer. We had chosen ABCD as a method to use, already early in the process, without actually knowing if it would fit the process. I realized, partly due to Rekindling Democracy and the various feedback moments, that you should not connect theories, models, and methods 'just to connect it', but that it should actually strengthen your process. During the last round of conversations with the stakeholders last month, I noticed I entered the conversations differently comparing the first conversations. ABCD should serve as a tool that strengthens the process, not as a message to the stakeholders. That is why I did not directly focus on the assets of the stakeholders but looked at what the stakeholders got energy from, what motivated them and what the possible shared ambition is in this neighborhood. By not seeing ABCD as a goal, but as a tool to strengthen the process, I believe that there is a lot to be achieved in this neighborhood (Russel, 2020)(Landelijk Samenwerkingsverband Aandachtswijken & Fontys Hogeschool Sociaal Werk Eindhoven, n.d.).

COMMUNITY DESIGN(ER)

When I started this project, I had rarely a clue what a community is all about. And I believe that is not strange; it is a widely used term that can arise around any topic where people feel the need to connect and take responsibility. Community Design has therefore always been the vaguest course to me; for Experience Design and Process Design I always knew how to start right away and I rarely got stuck in the process. When I got stuck, I quickly knew how to move on. This is different from Community Design; I had the feeling that I was starting something without knowing what I was actually getting into. No clear starting point, no guideline where this project should lead to. Nevertheless, this lack of clarity ultimately helped me to discover where Community Design is about and develop myself as the Community Designer I want to be. 

The need for connection and the willingness to take responsibility was clearly not there in the Emmasingelkwadrant when we started this project. It was important to understand the situation before we knew what we could contribute as Community Designers. I say 'as Community Designers', but as the process progressed, I have let go of 'being a Social Innovator' or 'being a Community Designer'. I looked at what was needed and facilitated the process on the basis of that. In a situation where different stakeholders are involved, different perspectives are present, you cannot facilitate a process based on models or theories. We just started doing, talked to different stakeholders, and reflected on every step we made. Based on all the different conversations and reflections, we determined our next steps. I believe that is where Community Design is all about: as a Community Designer you are not responsible for carrying out a specific assignment from a client, neither you are there for yourself. You are there to follow the energy, react to the needs and the possibilities you discover. Your responsibility is to get the best out of the people involved, to empower people, and facilitate this valuable process. It is a quest for the possibilities and strengths of communities, creating value together and creating in a co-creative way a breeding ground in which initiatives have birth and grow. 

This is only possible when you try to understand the different stakeholder perspectives. In habit 5: seek first to understand, then to be understood from the book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, Stephen Covey (2013) advocates that In order to effectively interact with someone, you first need to understand them. People typically seek first to be understood and do not listen with the intent to understand. This is something that I also noticed at the municipality; they do not listen empathetically to the stakeholders but are focussing on being understood by the residents, entrepreneurs, and others involved in the Emmasingelkwadrant. With empathic listening, you listen with your ears, eyes, and heart. You listen for feeling, meaning, and behavior. Emphatic listening will only succeed if it comes from a sincere desire to understand. That is something I was striving for and consider as an important attitude I took in this process: listening to the stakeholders with a sincere desire to understand the different perspectives. 

Besides physical survival, the greatest needs of a human being are psychological survival; to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated. When you listen with empathy, you help someone with psychological survival. After that need is met, you can focus on Influencing or problem-solving. The moment one of the stakeholders looked me right in the eyes and said: "I have never had once the idea that someone from the municipality listened to me and actually tried to understand what I am saying. You do, thank you for that", was the moment I realized: I help these stakeholders with psychological survival. This is what Community Design should be about; these conversations is what the stakeholders needed: someone who really listened to them with the intent to understand, someone where they could vent their frustrations about the neighborhood, and thereby make room again to continue, to discover the possibilities, dare to look to a positive future again and explore the opportunities of creating a connected neighborhood. Community Design is all about creating value by bringing stakeholders together and facilitating the process of co-creation to solve complex problems in an innovative way. Although we have spoken to different stakeholders already, we have not yet brought the stakeholders together. However, we have created fertile ground to ultimately achieve this. You cannot bring stakeholders together if there is no opening for it yet. We have now created that opening, by empathic listening and trying to understand the different perspectives, and that is what we will continue to build on (Covey, 2013). 

That is why I am proud of myself, as a Community Designer, but also as a professional-to-be: I have made people trust again in the possibilities in this neighborhood. I have taken a critical look at the situation; I have not accepted one perspective as the truth, I have experienced all the different perspectives and sketched a clear picture for myself. There is no right or wrong in this, a perspective, an opinion, remains personal. I did experience shared needs and perspectives, which I paid extra attention to and which I continued to build on. I tried to discover how a community in the Emmasingelkwadrant can function from the inside. But at the same time, I tried to explore from the outside what role a community could play in this area. I identified my own values, beliefs, and attitudes and act accordingly in relation to other stakeholders. The steps I considered taking, and the steps I eventually took, have shaped me into the Community Designer I am today.

LEARNING GOALS

At the start of this project I formulated a number of learning goals: I wanted to better understand 'the municipal world', I wanted to work (together) with all kinds of people, I wanted to expand my network and know the ins and outs of being a Community Designer. Although I set these goals, I did not expect to reach these broad, formulated goals. I had no idea what it would mean to work with different types of people and I had no idea what "being a Community Designer" actually means. Although I did not consciously focus on my learning goals during the project, I do know that I have grown in this process by looking at my learning goals. I have come into contact with so many people that not only my own network has expanded, but that I have also learned how to understand and deal with the different perspectives, thoughts, and opinions that people have. As I mentioned above, I have tried to actually understand people, to sketch a critical picture of the situation, without allowing my own opinion to play a clear role in it. Ultimately, I was there for the people, for the stakeholders, and not for myself. Still, looking at myself, I was able to learn from these people in a positive way and thereby develop myself on a personal and professional level.

However, "the municipal world" remains a complex world. I have noticed that many people within the municipality think in a certain way and do not easily deviate from it. In the beginning, I therefore found it difficult to share my perspective on certain situations. I felt we were not being taken seriously, we are "just the students who have yet to learn". When we created something, like the flyer and the text for the website, it was often modified by someone from the municipality. After the first two months, I was able to get over this. Mainly because I increasingly realized that what we were doing was valuable for both the people in the Emmasingelkwadrant and the municipality. When the municipality also realized that what we were doing was valuable, and felt the urgency of being actively visible in the area, I had the idea that they too were starting to rely more and more on us and were more open towards our way of working and thinking.

Maybe that was because I also started to rely more on myself as a Community Designer. As I mentioned before, I didn't have a clear idea of ​​what Community Design or being a Community Designer actually entails. As the process progressed, I began to understand and rely more on myself as a Community Designer. It is difficult to explain on paper how much I have grown in this process, how much I have learned as a Community Designer and how grateful I am that I got the opportunity to facilitate this process. I am proud of what I did, proud of what I achieved till now. When I look back at the process, it sometimes feels like we haven't achieved much yet. We have not yet been able to bring people together and nothing tangible has emerged from our contributions. Nevertheless, I believe that we have created fertile ground for connections and a possible community, we have made people believe again in the future of the area and we have made the municipality feel the urgency to be actively visible in this area. We have already achieved something that the municipality had not even come close to. I actually listened to the stakeholders, looked at what the neighborhood has to offer and even built a kind of "bond" with those involved. All in all, that commitment, the willingness to hear and understand different perspectives, actually being there for the stakeholders, and trying to get the best out of those involved, has helped me to better understand Community Design and to develop myself as a Community Designer.

As a Community Designer, you have to find the right time to step out of the process, but that moment has not yet been reached. Our project is so big, diverse, and not possible to complete in 4 months. We do not want to be the students who don’t do anything with the input that is given, as this has happened before. We have now created fertile ground, and that fertile ground must not be lost. That is why we will continue and do whatever is necessary so that the stakeholders, the (possible) community, can eventually continue and function without us. So why have we chosen to complete the first part of our project now? As I said: our project is so big and diverse, we have already put so many hours into it, that you also have to decide an endpoint for yourself. We have spoken to all the people who would like to speak to us and the next step will be to bring these people together. Therefore this is a good bridging period and time to complete the first part.

Jesse and I agreed at the beginning that I would do this project for 15 ECTS and Jesse for 10 ECTS. It shouldn’t be the time and effort we put into this project. ECTS are linked to hours of work, which I personally find very unrealistic. We have already put so much time and effort into this project that we passed those hours for a long time already. That was of course our own choice: we did what was needed for the project, without looking at how many hours we actually worked on this project. The project took a lot of time and effort, and we were willing to put that time and effort into it. Sure it is great to have some ECTS on Osiris, but this has been one of the few projects where I have rarely thought about the ECTS. I want to start graduating from mid-February, so of course, it is important to get the 15 ECTC, but actually, I only thought about the ECTS at the beginning of this process and now that the end is near. This often had to do with the "realness" of our project. We had a valuable role; there is so much going on in this area, but no one has ever taken the time and effort to REALLY be there for the stakeholders and listen to what they have to say. I have followed the energy, done what it took to make the process run smoothly, being there for the people where needed, and empowering them. I have written three extensive reflections, but it remains difficult to express how valuable this process has been. I can safely say that I am proud of what we have achieved so far in a relatively short period of time. I look forward to the rest of the process. 

COLLABORATION

When we started this project, I gave Jesse two options: either go with my pace, which means working hard. Or we will both do a project individually, for the same client but looking from a different angle. He chose the first option. Although I initially wasn’t sure if Jesse could keep up with my pace, he definitely didn't disappoint me. I often had to remind him of a few things, but if I reminded him, he actively started working on it. In the end, I am happy that we did the project together; without Jesse, it would have been a lot harder for me. Jesse lives in Eindhoven and already had the necessary connections. I think we complemented each other well: Jesse with his connections and the way he analyzed things, and I just provided structure and elaborated everything extensively. It was a valuable process, for both of us, in which we learned a lot from each other but also benefited a lot from each other. Again: I look forward to the rest of the process, in which we will definitely need each other again.

REFERENCES

Covey, S. R. (2013). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Landelijk Samenwerkingsverband Aandachtswijken & Fontys Hogeschool Sociaal Werk Eindhoven. (n.d.). Wijkontwikkeling op eigen kracht. Budel, NB: Drukkerij Vos. Retrieved 13 January, 2020, from file:///E:/NHTV/Fourth%20year/Community%20Design/Gemeente%20Eindhoven/Theories/ABCD_2009.pdf

Russel, C. (2020). Rekindling Democracy: A Professional’s Guide to Working in Citizen Space. Pacific Northwest: Cascade Books