Red&Blue Lab 03

Vereniging Deltametropool organized the third Lab of the RED & BLUE program at the HNI-Institute in Rotterdam. Besides discussions on the research being conducted in the work packages, the main focus points of this Lab were on the external stakeholders and when and how to involve them. The morning program was all about the researchers, their research and any problems they encounter. For each PhD and Postdoc, there was time for discussion and reflection by the rest of the group to help each other take a next step and to get new ideas.

In the afternoon, a roleplay game was organized. All participants were assigned a certain role derived from a matrix of stakeholders which was constructed based on the workshops during the previous Labs. These roles were chosen in such a way that they covered most type of stakeholders, ranging from investment managers of a bank to local environmental action group activists and a municipal urbanist. In different rounds, everyone had to imagine themselves in their role. This gave insight in what outcomes of the RED & BLUE research could be relevant for different kind of stakeholders, in what research phase(s) each stakeholder should be involved and what work packages are most relevant for each stakeholder to connect with. During the last session of the day, several stakeholders and RED & BLUE partners visited both physically and online. Everyone mutually introduced themselves and the topics they work on. This lead to several vivid discussions on what useful links can be made. All in all, it was a very useful day, where new connections were made and where mutual inspiration was gained.