Building the future together: Project the Future & FutureLab

On October 1, the kick-off of Project de Toekomst took place in the CEC building in Amsterdam Southeast. It was a special day on which local residents, young people, educators, local initiatives, and social partners came together to work on one shared dream: a future in which the community itself is in control.

A new social reality

Project de Toekomst (PDT) is committed to a new social reality in which parents and educators are no longer merely a 'target group', but active partners and co-designers of their living environment. The project strives for a community economy based on equality, responsibility, and mutual reinforcement.

Project de Toekomst does this through six interconnected main programs , each with a unique focus but reinforcing one another. Together, they form the foundation for structural change from the community itself.

During the kick-off, various themes took center stage that deeply touch upon the reality of the neighborhood:

• Wasted dreams

• Needs that were never addressed and the pain of that

• Solutions and concrete agreements that we formulate together

The meeting provided space for personal conversations in small groups , networking moments with young people , and contact between initiatives from Amsterdam Southeast . It was a day of listening, sharing, connecting, and charting a course together.

FutureLab: building a human city

During the event , Dennis and Meshach from FutureLab had the opportunity to present their vision to young people, local residents, and partners. They spoke about how FutureLab is working to realize an incubator for a human city —a place where residents, organizations, and designers build solutions together that originate from the community itself.

An important part of this is the Holendrecht Youth Housing project , in which communal living and neighborhood development go hand in hand.

FutureLab's vision includes:

• Designing and realizing approximately 80 youth homes in Holendrecht ;

• Developing future scenarios for communal living together with residents , in which young and old people live together;

• Utilizing the values, habits, and stories of the neighborhood as building blocks for the new living environment;

• Promoting resident participation: residents themselves determine how their lives take shape, in both decision-making and implementation.