Woensdag 20 juni – Urban conference: Together. Strategies on How to Make the City of Tomorrow. De eerste open bijeenkomst van WeMakeThe.City die ik meemaak. Het is een soort ‘setting the stage’:

We set the stage for the five-day WeMakeThe.City festival and we will look at approaches that successfully experimented with the collaboration between multiple stakeholders through a variety of lenses. We learn how this is not just a strategy to solve problems but a way to pursue innovation. Amsterdam has a rich history of multi-stakeholder approaches, initially meant to protect the city from being flooded by the high sea level. But over time, this has resulted in a fertile ground for collaboration, now known as the Amsterdam Approach. In 2016 Amsterdam won the Innovation Capital of Europe award, because of its urban innovation ecosystem consisting of stakeholders from public, private and non-profit sectors, which work together to make the city better. Collaboration pays off and makes our future cities more resilient, successful and inclusive. 

Meteen al een paar inspirerende sprekers, om te onthouden: Gabriella Gomez-Mont (Mexico City / Laboratorio Para La Ciudad), Flor Avelino (Rotterdam / Drift – Erasmus Universiteit) en Matthijs Bouw (Amsterdam – New York / One Architects).