HZ University of Applied Sciences and the Delta Climate Center are working on a transition program about learning to live, work, and research in times of systemic transition. How do we become skilled in unfamiliar territory? By making, trying, seeing what works, pausing to reflect on what feels uncomfortable, and starting again. By embracing our not-knowing and questioning what exists.
Education, research, and leadership thus become practices in which we jointly practice, embody, and shape the transition process, thereby contributing to the world of tomorrow. On September 22, Godelieve Spaas, Professor of Art | Culture | Transitions, and Jean-Marie Buijs, Professor of Governance of Regional Transitions, will share more about the transition program during the event 'Transition for Beginners'.
Two Inaugural Lectures
Stories change
Godelieve Spaas, Professor of Art | Culture | Transition, frees stories from numbers, habits, and systems. She investigates how old and new stories can expand the space for transition.
Stories move quietly through our lives. They settle into words, rules, models, and habits until they seem self-evident. What was once a story becomes a truth. A system. A number.
Stories matter. They determine what gets value, what is possible, and what disappears from view. Sometimes they harden into dogmas. In this way, systems solidify and we become disconnected from what truly sustains, connects, or limits us. Godelieve Spaas frees stories from numbers and systems. By retelling, questioning, and changing them, she tries to break free from the structures that hold us in place. She experiments with stories that create space for relationships, multivocality, and vitality.
Governance between steering and flow
Jean-Marie Buijs, Professor of Governance of Regional Transitions, investigates how, in transition challenges, we jointly develop governance capacity between steering and flow in a changing delta region. Direction is often sought through steering, but what if everyone steers? And where do we end up if we follow the flow, or instead challenge it? From these big questions, we look toward the future. At the same time, we connect this to the challenges in the areas of water, energy, nature, and space in the region. Governance of transitions thus takes shape as collective learning. It is precisely at the boundaries between organizations, interests, and perspectives that space arises for new initiatives, experiments, and rules of the game. In this way, governing becomes a form of co-creation.
I'll sign up (Open in new window)