“That future… Is it really a future? Or is it simply our place in time?” – Justien Marseille
On March 17, 2025, we gathered at BlueCity in Rotterdam for the ESCalator ‘Futuring in Systemic Co-Design.’ Many Rotterdammers still remember BlueCity as Tropicana—the once hypermodern tropical swimming pool built along the Maasboulevard in the 1990s. “Back then,” Justien Marseille pointed out, “developers would have considered the idea of a green, circular hub on this site as unthinkable—‘preposterous’ even.” And that was exactly what we explored that afternoon:
How can we design systemically for what has yet to unfold? Together, we delved into the role of futuring in Systemic Co-Design. Caroline Maessen opened the session with a nonlinear perspective on time: “Time is like a handkerchief. You can crumple it, bringing moments that seemed far away suddenly close. Or you can tear it, making something feel miles away from today again.” With this in mind, shaping the future is about recognizing meaningful patterns within the vast landscape of possible futures.
A selection of what we discussed:
- Future practices help us gain insight into what could happen ‘later’ or ‘elsewhere’ and enable us to act now, shaping what is yet to come. What future practices do we already know?
- When exploring the future, it is important to first define our focus: which future are we looking at? The expected future? The possible future? The preferred future? And how does this influence the way we work? We categorized different approaches, such as ‘the Psychology of the Preposterous’ and ‘the Politics of the Preferable.’
- How can these practices be applied in different contexts? We explored this through the case studies of NADR, SURF, and Vonk. Many thanks to Peter Joore, Gül Akcaova, and Gerard Nijboer for sharing their insights.
It was a valuable afternoon—thank you to the organizers and everyone who joined this inspiring gathering. And if thinking about the future ever makes your head spin, just remember: time is only a dimension. (As Remko van der Lugt put it.)
This ESCalator was a collaboration between Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, led by Remko van der Lugt, Anja Overdiek, Justien Marseille, and Caroline Maessen.
