WeblogGuest blog: Young professionals, a fairground, Inner Space and drug dealers... |
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On Wednesday 4 June RIO Nuevo, a network of young spatial planning professionals, came together in Deventer. InnovationNetwork has asked RIO to look for ways of transforming ugly or unsafe places into pleasant locations through minimal spatial interventions.
The meeting centred on the concept of Inner Space, where the idea is that by creating more peace and space within people’s heads, you can reduce their claims on space in the 'real' world. Could this line of thought perhaps point us in the right direction? Gaston Remmers delivered his presentation with passion and the group listened closely to what he had to say. For me, it was familiar territory. During my time at InnovationNetwork I was one of the contributors to the book about Inner Space, but this was my first time seeing Gaston present the story. From time to time we were distracted by screams of excitement from the kiddy rollercoaster as the fair outside was in full swing. Which was actually quite appropriate. Children are young and reckless and, as far as I can remember, a ride on the rollercoaster certainly creates a lot of inner space. After the presentation Gaston invited the audience to have a go at some Inner Space exercises, where you had to close your eyes, breathe calmly and try to let the energy flow to your toes. Then you were to imagine that you were in a wonderful place and, after that, concentrate on some unpleasant event in your life. When I opened my eyes again and looked around, I noticed that the space really did feel different. Light and shadow were more defined and the space that I was sitting in seemed larger – albeit only briefly because very soon the clamour from the fairground started pouring back into my ears. But how do you translate this feeling of Inner Space into the daily practice of spatial planning? That’s a difficult question and there are no ready-made answers. But I was intrigued by the young professionals’ insistence that spatial planning is really about the question behind the question. What makes people feel that a location is unsafe and why do they want to make it better? And a similar approach came to the fore during conversations about Inner Space with the slightly more seasoned professionals. So Gaston’s story may well have practical relevance – and we at RIO will definitely be taking it on board in our search for maximum spatial quality through minimal intervention. After the presentation the RIO people went on a cycling excursion through Deventer. At the Havenkwartier (harbour district) we paused for an explanation of the developments in that area. It so happened that our group of 15 cyclists had stopped right beside two parked cars. The occupants were clearly irritated by our presence and we soon found out why... We had innocently disturbed a cannabis deal. Evidently we are not alone in looking for some Inner Space - but I think we’ll stick to Gaston’s method! |
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