Lectures Management Consultancy &
Policy Advice
Lecture 1 16-3-21 Karré + Voorberg
This course bringing everything into practice and apply what we have learned, by working
with the municipality. Course is part of strategic collaboration GovLab010. We also have
interesting ideas to tackle these issues, so they are brought into the classroom to deal with
in this course.
This lecture:
- First hour city of rotterdam as strategic partner, 2 vice mayors
- Introductory lecture by Napels → transition challenges rotterdam is facing
- Then more about the course, etc.
2 Vice mayors
Judith Bokhove and Richard
Judith: responsible mobility youth care and dutch language skills
- Proud of flow of national and international students
- Students are important: living and working, help shape the city with the challenges of
now and in the future, helping make the city stronger and better
- Intensifying strategic cooperation in light of mayor challenges facing the city → start
with focussing on social impact.
- F.i. something that is her responsibility: youth counter, recovery plan after corona.
Rotterdam wants to help young people through the crisis, hence a recovery plan has
been drawn up → Rotterdam Stronger by Young People
- Motto: Stronger by Struggle (bombing)
- Can’t do this alone
- Name was given because young people are the future, so want to organize
plan together
- Plan 3 tracks:
- Involve young people: f.i. youth hubs, accessible places in social domain.
How do you see these youth hubs/? How to involve young people in these
hubs, what to do? Let imagination run wild
- Base: Opening places to study and internships
- Perspective: Provide rotterdamse starters beurs a fund to enable young
graduates to get first working experience.
Richard Moti: work income and national programme rotterdam south
- Opening places to study and internships
- Provide rotterdamse starters beurs a fund to enable young graduates to get first
working experience.
Questions to them
, - You look forward to input of young people, are there any other ways in which yong
people can give input in these processes? Any concrete steps? F.i. students beyond
this course
- It’s possible to act right away: youth panel on communications expressions,
experts groups giving opinion about all kinds of things, looking for people to
give input on communication and how to reach
- What will biggest challenge be?
- Richard: employment situation, we have highest unemployment rate,
especially for youth
Maarten Nijpels: transition challenges Rotterdam is facing
Project and transition manager at municipality → City of Rotterdam city of transitions
- Guiding Rotterdam through vast number of transitions, some already present
- Such as information transition
- Energy transition (Rotterdam has biggest fossil fuel industry of Europe)
- Nature transition: biodiversity is in decline, need more green and biodiversity
- Human problems: such as inequality in the city that is really big, differences in
income
In this lecture we cannot change the world, even the city, even too short to tackle even 1
transition, they are complicated! → Enough time to rise to the occasion and challenge
yourself. He will provide building blocks for proposals for the city. His goal: inspire and
challenge and provide food for thought!
“A talent for following the ways of yesterday is not sufficient to improve the world of today”
- King Wu-Ling 307 BC
- We need to improve ourselves
“Evolution is just a spcial case of the more general law of survival of the stable”
- Dawkins 1941
What do quotes have to do with each other?
- 1: points t need to adapt, renew, innovate. We and the city must adapt to changing
times
- 2: at the same time we look for stability and conservation of what we have
- People are inclined to say innovates left politica conversation, but we need both
things at the same time! We need to change and work towards stability and
conservation.
- Balance is resilience → keu: diversity equity and inclusion
Basic questions: what is life?
- Life is the ability to regulate changes
- Here we have the 2 things combined. Regulate and change to stay in a stable state
- In biological terms: homeostasis (essence of that ability to regulate)
- How to make the city into this balance between change and stability
- Example: your body is in homeostasis: regulate between lower and upper limits.
- Same goes for city processes: must be between upper and lower limits
1
,What is a human? They compose the city!
- How to go about looking at human fellows
- Humans are made by their environment: you need air, food, also fellow humans
- Body → emotions → environment → competences → culture → learning etc
-
- We are social beings: eusociality
- Different environments make different people, human beings need to adjust to
different environments, we need variation and diversity to adapt to different
environments, we need diversity!
Ashby’s law of requisite variety
- Law for this phenomenon: to deal well with the diversity of problems that the world
throws into a life system
- System needs a repertoire of answers at least as nuanced as problem
- Responses must be minimally equal to variety of stimuli from outside or perish, if
response is bigger you can adapt and survive
- You need different responses
Transitions: structural change in society in response to major challenges in environment
- Important that happens within transition: exponentiality, will give a choice!
- F.i. 1 million euro now, or 1 euro today, doubled tomorrow every day of the month →
this way you will end up with more than 1 billion. On day 21 already a million
- For a long time you think things are hardly changing, then suddenly there is 1 big
change that takes off → exponentiality
- Even how humans evolved, quite late in history of planet, and then entered
anthropocene, risking unprecedented destabilization, we can shape our future
- Strong acceleration of almost everything after 1950s:
- All kinds of socioeconomic trends follows exponential paths, population rises,
water use, urban population, etc. etc all in exponential ways
- Earth systems also exponential ways in opposite direction: carbon dioxide
increasing exponentially, ocean acidification, etc.
2
, - What happened after 1970s? Moore’s law → number of microchips double in
production and capacity each 2-3 years, happens still. Hmanity doubles computer
capacity, having huge impacts
- 2007: iphone was launched, facebook and twitter, etc. all 13 years ago, seeming they
are here everywhere and for ever now → exponentiality
- AI → learning by themselves (will pose other problem)
- Unemployment connected to changing society because of digitalization will become
problem
The 4 big gears
- technology acceleration →
- Market globalisation (together with monopolies and oligarchies) →
- Earth systems breakdown →
- Human stress due to all these things on almost every level, inequality, polarisation,
loneliness, health at stake. → disruption and dislocation
Big mismatch between social processes and own capacity to adapt → Big challenge!
- technology, individuals, business and public policy are all behind on these processes
to adapt
- → Mismatch between 4 gears and the way we shape and use our learning, training
and management systems, social security nets and government organization
- How do we manage ourselves? We need to do something about this gap!
- Look at us in this course
Four types of issues
Building blocks to incorporate in proposal: will show how within the city the managers and
council look at issues confronting city. Four types of issues
- 1. Distribution issues: want to do something, then where? Spread or concentrate?
- 2. System issues: How to optimize and integrate systems? Electricity? Water? All
over the city
- 3. Integration issues: How to fit something new into the city, how does it fit in already
existing physical and social space?
- 4. → On top of that transition issues: How to deal with transitions? Normal day to day
affairs are around question how to make it better, here how to do it different
Example car:
- Integration issue: navigation, air conditioning
- System issue: changing from petrol to electric
- Distribution issue: cannot keep adding cars all the time, will clog city. Do you go on
holiday or biking?
- Transition issue: self-driving car
Each type of issue has own compelling logic
- Distribution issues: How do benefits and burdens distribute? Balance between
multiple interests, make use of data, key figures, extrapolations of data and figurse.
Politics
- System issues: does it work? principles, protocols, models, standardization,
engineers solving bottlenecks of system
3
Policy Advice
Lecture 1 16-3-21 Karré + Voorberg
This course bringing everything into practice and apply what we have learned, by working
with the municipality. Course is part of strategic collaboration GovLab010. We also have
interesting ideas to tackle these issues, so they are brought into the classroom to deal with
in this course.
This lecture:
- First hour city of rotterdam as strategic partner, 2 vice mayors
- Introductory lecture by Napels → transition challenges rotterdam is facing
- Then more about the course, etc.
2 Vice mayors
Judith Bokhove and Richard
Judith: responsible mobility youth care and dutch language skills
- Proud of flow of national and international students
- Students are important: living and working, help shape the city with the challenges of
now and in the future, helping make the city stronger and better
- Intensifying strategic cooperation in light of mayor challenges facing the city → start
with focussing on social impact.
- F.i. something that is her responsibility: youth counter, recovery plan after corona.
Rotterdam wants to help young people through the crisis, hence a recovery plan has
been drawn up → Rotterdam Stronger by Young People
- Motto: Stronger by Struggle (bombing)
- Can’t do this alone
- Name was given because young people are the future, so want to organize
plan together
- Plan 3 tracks:
- Involve young people: f.i. youth hubs, accessible places in social domain.
How do you see these youth hubs/? How to involve young people in these
hubs, what to do? Let imagination run wild
- Base: Opening places to study and internships
- Perspective: Provide rotterdamse starters beurs a fund to enable young
graduates to get first working experience.
Richard Moti: work income and national programme rotterdam south
- Opening places to study and internships
- Provide rotterdamse starters beurs a fund to enable young graduates to get first
working experience.
Questions to them
, - You look forward to input of young people, are there any other ways in which yong
people can give input in these processes? Any concrete steps? F.i. students beyond
this course
- It’s possible to act right away: youth panel on communications expressions,
experts groups giving opinion about all kinds of things, looking for people to
give input on communication and how to reach
- What will biggest challenge be?
- Richard: employment situation, we have highest unemployment rate,
especially for youth
Maarten Nijpels: transition challenges Rotterdam is facing
Project and transition manager at municipality → City of Rotterdam city of transitions
- Guiding Rotterdam through vast number of transitions, some already present
- Such as information transition
- Energy transition (Rotterdam has biggest fossil fuel industry of Europe)
- Nature transition: biodiversity is in decline, need more green and biodiversity
- Human problems: such as inequality in the city that is really big, differences in
income
In this lecture we cannot change the world, even the city, even too short to tackle even 1
transition, they are complicated! → Enough time to rise to the occasion and challenge
yourself. He will provide building blocks for proposals for the city. His goal: inspire and
challenge and provide food for thought!
“A talent for following the ways of yesterday is not sufficient to improve the world of today”
- King Wu-Ling 307 BC
- We need to improve ourselves
“Evolution is just a spcial case of the more general law of survival of the stable”
- Dawkins 1941
What do quotes have to do with each other?
- 1: points t need to adapt, renew, innovate. We and the city must adapt to changing
times
- 2: at the same time we look for stability and conservation of what we have
- People are inclined to say innovates left politica conversation, but we need both
things at the same time! We need to change and work towards stability and
conservation.
- Balance is resilience → keu: diversity equity and inclusion
Basic questions: what is life?
- Life is the ability to regulate changes
- Here we have the 2 things combined. Regulate and change to stay in a stable state
- In biological terms: homeostasis (essence of that ability to regulate)
- How to make the city into this balance between change and stability
- Example: your body is in homeostasis: regulate between lower and upper limits.
- Same goes for city processes: must be between upper and lower limits
1
,What is a human? They compose the city!
- How to go about looking at human fellows
- Humans are made by their environment: you need air, food, also fellow humans
- Body → emotions → environment → competences → culture → learning etc
-
- We are social beings: eusociality
- Different environments make different people, human beings need to adjust to
different environments, we need variation and diversity to adapt to different
environments, we need diversity!
Ashby’s law of requisite variety
- Law for this phenomenon: to deal well with the diversity of problems that the world
throws into a life system
- System needs a repertoire of answers at least as nuanced as problem
- Responses must be minimally equal to variety of stimuli from outside or perish, if
response is bigger you can adapt and survive
- You need different responses
Transitions: structural change in society in response to major challenges in environment
- Important that happens within transition: exponentiality, will give a choice!
- F.i. 1 million euro now, or 1 euro today, doubled tomorrow every day of the month →
this way you will end up with more than 1 billion. On day 21 already a million
- For a long time you think things are hardly changing, then suddenly there is 1 big
change that takes off → exponentiality
- Even how humans evolved, quite late in history of planet, and then entered
anthropocene, risking unprecedented destabilization, we can shape our future
- Strong acceleration of almost everything after 1950s:
- All kinds of socioeconomic trends follows exponential paths, population rises,
water use, urban population, etc. etc all in exponential ways
- Earth systems also exponential ways in opposite direction: carbon dioxide
increasing exponentially, ocean acidification, etc.
2
, - What happened after 1970s? Moore’s law → number of microchips double in
production and capacity each 2-3 years, happens still. Hmanity doubles computer
capacity, having huge impacts
- 2007: iphone was launched, facebook and twitter, etc. all 13 years ago, seeming they
are here everywhere and for ever now → exponentiality
- AI → learning by themselves (will pose other problem)
- Unemployment connected to changing society because of digitalization will become
problem
The 4 big gears
- technology acceleration →
- Market globalisation (together with monopolies and oligarchies) →
- Earth systems breakdown →
- Human stress due to all these things on almost every level, inequality, polarisation,
loneliness, health at stake. → disruption and dislocation
Big mismatch between social processes and own capacity to adapt → Big challenge!
- technology, individuals, business and public policy are all behind on these processes
to adapt
- → Mismatch between 4 gears and the way we shape and use our learning, training
and management systems, social security nets and government organization
- How do we manage ourselves? We need to do something about this gap!
- Look at us in this course
Four types of issues
Building blocks to incorporate in proposal: will show how within the city the managers and
council look at issues confronting city. Four types of issues
- 1. Distribution issues: want to do something, then where? Spread or concentrate?
- 2. System issues: How to optimize and integrate systems? Electricity? Water? All
over the city
- 3. Integration issues: How to fit something new into the city, how does it fit in already
existing physical and social space?
- 4. → On top of that transition issues: How to deal with transitions? Normal day to day
affairs are around question how to make it better, here how to do it different
Example car:
- Integration issue: navigation, air conditioning
- System issue: changing from petrol to electric
- Distribution issue: cannot keep adding cars all the time, will clog city. Do you go on
holiday or biking?
- Transition issue: self-driving car
Each type of issue has own compelling logic
- Distribution issues: How do benefits and burdens distribute? Balance between
multiple interests, make use of data, key figures, extrapolations of data and figurse.
Politics
- System issues: does it work? principles, protocols, models, standardization,
engineers solving bottlenecks of system
3
