Hans Karssenberg (Stipo Consult): “Invent the wheel, or find it?” “Is it a project manager’s task to think of solutions for himself, or is it his task to find his way to them?” Hans Karssenberg opens the training Communities of Practice for the European New Town Platform (ENTP). Stipo Consult, his company, leads many projects in The Netherlands and in international networks. Stipo Consult is a consultancy for people, place, strategy and innovation. The Stipo-approach is the basis of inspiration. It was developed at the University of Amsterdam and developed further in practice. One of the most crucial elements of the Stipo-approach is that there is a solution for everything, you just have to find your way to it. Usually taking on this role leads to better solutions than trying to invent the wheel for yourself. So learning from other projects elsewhere is important. However, people working for cities seem to find less and less time to actually learn from others, and find themselves more and more busy within the organization.
ENTP: great learning potential In this way, the ENTP has great potential. When Hans and Gerda Blom of Almere wrote the ENTP paper Urban Regeneration Challenges of New Towns, they discovered 8 themes within the urban regeneration that are unique for New Towns. For instance, many struggle with their city centre. Right next to the city centre start the residential areas that are the same as the areas at the edge of the New Towns. This means that there is no ‘breathing zone’ for functions that would like to be in the centre, but cannot afford the rents there and then end up in the zone next to the centre. Or do so in old towns, at least. New Towns could learn a lot from each other about questions like these. The feeling Hans and Gerda got, was that the ENTP could use its potential as a learning network much better, if it started several Communities of Practice underneath the ENTP ‘umbrella’.
And then, nothing happened The ENTP has embraced this ambition. Very soon, it took the first important steps: -
8 substantial aspects have been listed based on the priorities of the members many aspects have already a ‘cheerleader’ who will move the CoP’s forward participants have come forward who wish to bring in their experience in that specific aspect and wish to learn from the experience of others under www.newtowns.net a digital platform has been created where the CoP’s can exchange experiences and ideas.
And then, nothing happened. Now that the infrastructure has been set up, the ENTP has entered the phase in which steps must be taken to make the CoP’s really active. “And that’s why we are here today.” The aim is to start the discussion what steps to take in order for the CoP’s
Five preconditions for a successful CoP A CoP that exists digitally, but on which nothing happens almost daily, is as desolate as a new square in the city that is always empty. Installing the infrastructure is the first step, the second step consists of substantiating the preconditions for the functioning of the CoP’s. Based on experiences elsewhere, the following five preconditions can be specified for this: 1. Individual enthusiasm is the driving force Participation in the CoP is voluntary. There is no direct pressure or imposed obligation. The CoP operates therefore by the grace of the enthusiasm of the participants. They must be able to derive from it such inspiration that they will also be willing to invest time in active contributions, in sharing their experiences, asking questions to others and participation in discussions. 2. Touching the personal individual interest of the participants Individual enthusiasm can only come about if the subject directly touches the individual participant. For the CoP’s of the ENTP this means that not the ENTP coordinator should participate, but the expert in the field. The CoP about Civic Engineering is only useful, therefore, if the participants have to deal with social problems in their daily work. 3. Participants work on practice projects, equally combining learning and application Learning in a CoP is most successful if the participant is not only involved in the subject at policymaking level, but also works in practice on projects in this field. Learning in a CoP becomes much more effective if it goes beyond just ‘learning by reading’. A CoP works best if it is connected with the learning style ‘learning by doing’. What the participant learns in the CoP, he will apply in the practice of his daily work. The new struggles, questions and experiences resulting from this will be his new input in the CoP. 4. Learning is a social phenomenon People learn best in a social environment, because learning is a social phenomenon. The CoP must therefore also be a socially functioning entity. That does not mean that the members must meet each week, but once a year would be a fine objective. The CoP will only start operating effectively, after the 'digital members' have met physically and have exchanged and discussed their objectives. For the ENTP this means that all planned plenary moments should be used for exchange within the various 8 CoP’s, or that separate meetings must be created for this. 5. Leadership of several active members A CoP may be composed of many members, but not all of them will be able or willing to fulfil an equally active part at any moment. However, at least the active leadership of several very active members is required. If only one member is really active, he will have the feeling to stand alone and not to have sufficient replies. Two or three active member (which, over time, may always be different people) are necessary to have regular contributions in the CoP, due to which the at the time more passive members will also remain regularly involved and may become later active again. In the ENTP, a sixth precondition exists: all the members in the CoP must have sufficient command of the language to be able to write, read and speak about lessons and methods in their professional field.
An Action Plan Hans Karssenberg: “We will work on these preconditions today. We will have Klaas Kuitenbrouwer as guest speaker, who knows all there is to know about digital CoP’s. And later, we will have Jeroen Laven and David O’Connor of the international ErasmusPC network, the CoP on cities and culture that has started only 5 months ago and now has over 300 unique visitors each month.” The aim of the day is to make and Action Plan for each CoP present. Or, at least, today will be the start of writing an action plan. There are six chapters of the Action Plan that need answers. After Klaas’ introduction, the CoP members and ‘cheerleaders’ sat down in groups and worked on their ideas.
About Hans Karssenberg Hans Karssenberg is founder, director and senior advisor for Stipo Consult. Stipo is an Amsterdam based consultancy for people, place and strategy. The Stipo-method is the base for innovative projects, workshops, lectures and trainings. Hans Karssenberg has experience in leading a great variety of projects for local governments, housing corporations, regional bodies, provinces and international exchange networks. Recent examples include ReUrbA2 European project for urban regeneration (www.reurba.org); creation of the Cultural Coalition of the Olympic Area Amsterdam and of a new Stadion square; the award winning regeneration project Kultuurstraat in Enschede Zuid for combined social, cultural and physical development; Regeneration Plan for the business zone of Delft Zuid in cooperation between municipality and private developers; Stipo-training of staff in Goedereede; ENTP paper on specific Urban Regeneration Challenges for New Towns; and the Masterplan Regeneration Almere. See www.stipo.nl. Hans is joint administrator and contributor to the ErasmusPC network. This international network of volunteers researches the influence of culture on spatial development: www.erasmuspc.com. hkarssenberg@stipo.nl hans.karssenberg@erasmuspc.com
The 8 ENTP Communities of Practice and their challenges Urban Renewal 1. The broken economic life cycle - Filling in the gap between the garage and office building for further economic growth within New Towns. - Creating spaces and platforms for the creative class. 2. The identity gap - Developing an urban regeneration approach which creates more identity and civic pride within New Towns. This requires a guiding course that connects many smaller and larger interventions. - New Towns need more icons. These can be buildings, sites, or even resident celebrities, all of which can contribute to a stronger, more diverse image. - Get a better understanding of and approach to the ‘architectural heritage of tomorrow’. - Use these elements to improve the image with the outside world. 3. Have a heart - Continually developing the heart as a development in its own right, but also involving the surrounding residential areas, trying to create a ‘breathing zone’. - Specialising centres and sub-centres, and keeping up the infrastructure leading to the centre(s). Social Cohesion 4. Civic and social engagement - Generating social commitment. - Encouraging the public to get involved in the thinking process about their own immediate living environment. - Foster participation and communication. 5. Working on employability - Sustainable investment in job seekers, setting up small-scale projects in concert with local businesses. - Taking the lead in customized approaches. - Striking a balance between living and working. Sustainable development 6. Sustainable transport - Creating links between the periphery and the periphery. - Reducing private transport use and encourage public transport. 7. Socially balanced communities - Encourage woman to work. - Help the socially excluded (immigrants and elderly). 8. Economically healthy towns - Facilitate a good quality of living for inhabitants while still attracting businesses.