Democracy means shaping the future together. This task is not getting any easier for anyone involved at the moment. This makes it all the more important to have well-designed formats at the start that provide a safe framework in which the most diverse stakeholders feel respected, heard and integrated. Based on my experience as a future facilitator of exciting world cafés, round tables, local council workshops and citizens' assemblies on hot municipal topics, the need has emerged to help villages, cities and regions adapt to the consequences of climate change in particular. As climate change is, in simple terms, change through water, and water is particularly "close" to us in many ways, this is the focus here.
Municipal Water Dialogs
on the National Water Strategy & local implementation
Weather extremes in the form of unprecedented heavy rainfall and storms on the one hand and periods of heat, drought and water shortages on the other are already leading to completely new challenges for many municipalities and districts. On March 15, 2023, the German government adopted a National Water Strategy that can serve as a guide for all social actors, whether municipalities, companies, associations or NGOs, to develop regionally meaningful perspectives and action plans based on 10 fields of action and 78 proposed measures. Following on from this, the water dialogues cover a wide range of topics, from the questions that concern people in the city on the subject of "water", to information on the specific situation and forecasts for the future, to concrete ideas and initiatives that make sense with regard to the future water supply for people and nature. In this way, the Water Dialogues can provide impetus for a "municipal water strategy".
Duration: 2.5 to 4 hours, once as an impulse or several times as a results-oriented process
Round Tables on hot climate and water Issues
In the case of contentious issues with an emotional risk of explosion, as is often the case with infrastructure projects, for example, it can make sense to bring all stakeholder groups to a round table in order to generate a moment where the focus is not just on one's own sense of mission, but on listening and empathizing with others. Of course, this can only succeed if there is the will to do so. However, opportunities must also be created and invitations extended, and experienced and integrative moderation is needed to ensure quality. Traditional information events, where experts take center stage, cannot meet this need for "deep exchange" and "being understood". It is therefore a question of the democratic culture that a city wants to stand for whether "round tables" are used as an instrument for opinion-forming and decision-making on topics that suggest such a procedure.
Be it challenges such as sponge city projects, irrigation associations, new water pipelines through nature conservation areas in order to better supply places affected by dwindling groundwater or the establishment of a "blue community", I would be delighted if we could facilitate the success of your project with our expertise!
Duration: as required
Henrik Langholf in conversation with Maude Barlow, the champion of the “human right to water” and founder of the global “Blue Community” initiative, about the goals of the “Water Festival Freiburg”
Future conference "Water innovative Region"
"It´s our turn!" Ernst Ulrich von Weizäcker
The future task of "water" (management of floods, drought, declining groundwater, etc.) is a good example of how the challenges involved can no longer be solved by individual players such as the regional water supplier, the responsible authorities, a specialist research institution, committed NGOs or citizens' associations, affected farmers or companies that develop water technologies or are particularly dependent on water for their production. A regional culture of cooperation needs to be established with foresight that goes beyond superficial acquaintance at conferences or isolated project partnerships and even more so beyond simplistic hostility or accusations.
"Water innovative regions" pursue a co-creative approach and promote the development of trust and connections between various stakeholders who would not have found each other without the overarching vision of solving water challenges in the region together in an innovative way. One way of establishing and advancing such a region is a future conference, ideally established as a ritual with continuity over several years.
Future conferences are a state-of-the-art participation tool that helps you to spark the commitment of regional stakeholders with a view to tomorrow and to incorporate it into an integrative, valuable process for your region. They enable a community experience and can be an important milestone in urban or regional development.
Duration: 1 to 3 days