At the end of November there was only one single guest at our supper Guus Beumer, director of Het Nieuwe Instituut, was our partner. A happy evening about the past, present and future of his organization.

Guus told us very animated how he became director of the HNI in 2015. Through the fashion companies Orson + Bodil and SO and through the cultural institutions Marres and NAiM/ Bureau Europe, he ended up in Rotterdam. He explained why and how the HNI is product is part a changed political reality since the Rutte I cabinet. With much less budget, the HNI now reaches a wider audience and at the same time the institute plays a mediating role in an economy dominated reality.

There is still dissatisfaction with (a certain generation of) architects about the disappearance of the NAi and they have difficulty with the new course. Guus is aware of criticism. But he is steadily implementing a policy based on broad network connections and operating on the basis of partnerships. The exhibition machine for a limited professional community has been replaced by a cultural knowledge platform for the benefit of various groups of stakeholders and interested parties.

That actually makes sense. A changing profession also requires a different institution. The NAi celebrated the architect as a person. As a master builder, as a visionary or as a hero of his time. No matter how nice this tradition is, it’s behind us forever. Many existing architectural firms are looking for a new role and a new business model. Young architects are already entering the practice with a more open attitude. Their reference is not an existing architectural firm, but rather a fashion company or design studio.

Petra Rutten (Frame Vastgoed ) and Hilde Blank (BVR , AM concepts ) were our guests on the last Monday of September. We had an interesting evening about the city, urban development and especially people who make it. We also had a wonderful evening. The dishes at restaurant The Walk’in Fish were delicious.

In her position as director of Housing at Frame Vastgoed, Petra is working on the inner city assignment of Rotterdam. As an investor and developer, Frame commits to areas in the city for the long term. With its own service company, Frame also handles a large number of management and maintenance tasks. Petra aims is to make the city of Rotterdam better at all levels.

As director of BVR, Hilde is involved in major spatial assignments throughout the Netherlands. Her clients are mainly government organizations. The company slogan is: “We bring air into complex spatial tasks and design catchy spatial finds.” In her role as director AM concepts, she works on innovative area concepts with in-house urban planners, architects and landscape architects from AM.

Petra and Hilde are both strongly socially involved. They see the search for connections between public and private interests as an important task in their daily activities. The value, quality and future of the public domain was therefore a prominent topic for discussion this evening.

Four nice guests for our dinner at the end of June Kristiaan Borret (stadbouwmeester in Brussel), Peter Vanden Abeele (stadsbouwmeester in Gent), Erik Pasveer (Stadsbouwmeester in Den Haag) and Ton Schaap (among other jobs supervisor Zuidas and city urban planner in Enschede). Jeroen de Willigen was one of the hosts this evening and he is a city architect in Groningen. A table full of men with a complicated, responsible job in their own city.

Kristiaan, Peter, Erik and Ton frankly talked about their public role, relation to politics and what tools they have to improve their city and make it more beautiful. Every city has its own political culture, economy, spatial structure and history. And every city has different spatial challenges. By naming the similarities and differences between the differences in Brussels, Ghent, The Hague, Amsterdam, Enschede and Groningen, the complexity of their work became clear.

It was a very nice evening in which our guests talked with love about the city and urban developments. Kristiaan, Peter, Erik and Ton perform their duties with great alertness and with great care. Step by step they make their city better. I wish every city a good city architect.

The last Monday of May we picked up our meetings with a new Souper and two interesting guests. Researcher Beitske Boonstra and moderator Bart Cosijn explained in detail what participation means and what it means to us.

Dr. ir. Beitske Boonstra is the founder of the research and consultancy agency BecomingPlanner. She is also a part-time scientific researcher at the University of Ghent, Department of Mobility and Spatial Planning. Her research focuses on citizen initiatives in the spatial domain, cooperative forms of urban development, and associated governance capacities. Beitske obtained her Masters in Urbanism at Delft University of Technology (2005) and her PhD in Spatial Planning at Utrecht University (2015). Her dissertation entitled -Planning Strategies in an Age of Active Citizenship: A Post-structuralist Agenda for Self-organization in Spatial Planning- examines the emergence of citizen initiatives in spatial development and examines the consequences this has for the role of spatial planners. From 2006-2016, Beitske worked as a researcher / advisor at TNO Strategy and Policy, where she did research on the interfaces between space, economy, technology and process innovation, and organized learning and innovation processes for governments. Beitske is a guest lecturer at several Dutch universities, a regular speaker at national and international conferences and a columnist for Archined.

Ir. Bart Cosijn is the discussion leader, moderator and Urban Dialogue expert. Bart graduated cum laude as an architect at Delft University of Technology. After 2 years of working at the architectural firm Rijnboutt, he was more interested in the interaction between people than between brick and concrete. In 2008 he therefore started his own practice for moderating public meetings and debates, participation programs and round table discussions. In addition, Bart advises governments throughout the country on participation and democracy and he regularly provides training sessions in conversation. Bart is the initiator and chairman of the Burgertop Amsterdam Foundation and was previously editor-in-chief of Ruimtevolk, Debate Coordinator Professional Association BNSP and Member of the Advisory Council on Citizen Involvement and Participation in Amsterdam.

Citizens' initiatives and the participation society are social phenomena of today, I thought. Beitske and Bart quickly make it clear that this is not the case. Centuries ago, civil society organizations were established such as corporations and water boards with a common goal that people could join. In our complex society, people know how to organize themselves again, now around a certain theme, a certain location or a defined subject. This is a positive development and increases social involvement. At the same time, there are now many situations in which people or parties are confronted with each other. For example, self-interest versus social necessity quickly becomes an issue. Professional knowledge and skills versus research by lay people and intuitive thoughts often arouses mutual mistrust. Consciously or unconsciously, politicians and citizens only seem to act from an acquired position. Democratic processes and citizen participation are therefore far too opposed to each other. Beitske and Bart have patiently explained to us that these two organizational forms complement each other well. Every day they both work hard to make that clear to others.

A special supper on Saturday December 15 with very special guests: our own families.

With Catherine, Hugo, Monica, Emile, Samantha, Ynte, Silke, Wopke, Daan (not on photo), Jason (not on photo), Joy (not on photo), Resi and Tom we had an unforgettable evening together in restaurant Huson.