You can learn to think differently ReUrbA has produced some impressive publications: glossy brochures, impressive reports and, of course, this site. But let's stop and think for a moment. Many organisations use their publications mainly to show that they exist. To put it more crudely: to show the organisation providing the subsidies that the money is being well spent. This is of course important, but it is even more important to know what effect the message is having on the ultimate target group. Take a look at your own bookshelves. They probably contain dozens of wonderful publications. And as planners, urban renewers and architects, we will have made sure that they are all brilliantly designed too. But does anyone actually read them? I tend to flick through them and, from time to time, pick out things that fit in with what I'm doing. And I doubt if I'm the exception. But that's something of a waste.

Only a tiny fraction of all the expertise that has gone into these great publications gets passed on. The reason is simple. With all these publications, the main thing people think about is themselves. Does this give a good impression about my project? Is it good for my standing? Will people be impressed by my project?
The kick of publishing should really be based on something else: the description of your own experiences in such a way that other people benefit. That is by no means easy. All sorts of things that you yourself find important suddenly seem much less relevant. In addition, you have to look at things from the point of view of other people rather than from the perspective of your own project.
Despite the obstacles, we have been trying to do this with ReUrbA. We wanted to pass on our expertise and insights about the lifestyle theme to our partners; we think this is a principle that has been underestimated in urban restructuring.
But how do we go about this? Of course, there will be a brochure and there is a lot of information on this site as well but what we really want is for other people to internalise the philosophy. You can't achieve this by acting as though your approach is the only acceptable one or by pretending that the usual practice is totally outdated.
Nor is there much point in overwhelming other people with your wonderful case histories. Because what matters is not whether you have achieved great results; other people must be able to achieve results with your approach.
In order to share our experiences with the ReUrbA method, we called our partners to a special meeting in London.
First of all, we asked them about their approaches. And we asked them whether they would have tackled things differently in hindsight. The result was a fascinating discussion, precisely because we were talking to each other on the basis of respect for each other's approaches.
It was only after this stage was completed that we took the opportunity to explain about our method (and, in all honesty, what we said was not very different from what you see in most brochures). Immediately after that, we started working with the ReUrbA method. All the participants at that meeting became consultants for an actual project and we encouraged everybody to use what they had learnt about the lifestyle approach in that practical consultancy work. Not in an office but in the actual reality of a deprived area of London.
I can assure you that it works. Everybody tried to use the new approach to become an even better consultant and the element of competition resulted in very useful recommendations. That was good news for the host project but even better for the participants themselves, because now they really understand the benefits of thinking and working in this way. And that is something that is not easy to get out of books.
Follow our example!

Mark Reede, project manager ReUrbA²