Living Based on Values: the Neighborhood as a Space for a Good Existence

Living from Values: The neighborhood as a space for a good life

It seems like an enormous challenge, and indeed it is. But we have no choice but to strive for a radical improvement in the way we shape our lives and our neighborhoods; things must get better.

How can we develop an area based on the question “What is a good life?” Can we use Socratic Design to create a good, humanizing narrative, a story in which we design a strong, vital democracy? In which governance can assume a new role? In which residents can live and reside according to their values?

Holendrecht comes across negatively in various statistics: (energy) poverty, the healthcare crisis, youth issues, crime, social media addiction, educational failure, a housing shortage, and migration issues define the picture. There are examples of psychological suffering among young people, the systemic experience of racism, various subtle forms of exclusion, hidden poverty, and victims of perverse bureaucratization and systemic ethnocentrism.

Due to this framing, the many good (literally) heartwarming interactions in the neighborhood often remain out of sight. Science focuses primarily on abstract, hard data in its description!

For the Socratic Design approach, it is crucial to take the concrete, lived experiences of the people themselves as the starting point!

How do we build a neighborhood?

Our thinking and actions consist of many addictive patterns of which we are unaware. These are personal—and cultural—thought addictions. In everything we do, including the design of a neighborhood, countless (hidden) patterns are at work. These are often cultural and philosophical presuppositions. Scientists, architects, and technical experts are also full of addictive thoughts. Residents, builders, and civil servants are as well. Many thought addictions originated as a shield against childhood pain and are, as such, dopamine-bound. We operate with many of these shields inside a so-called suit of armor. That armor is sturdy because our organizations also encourage it.

Fixed patterns and Introversion in Young People

We often do not dare to speak up. Among ourselves, too, we do not dare to express ourselves and are often introverted. We often do not see the real people; as a result, it is difficult to develop properly, and important matters do not get addressed. There are patterns among young people in Southeast that are difficult to break. You have to fit into a certain mold to belong.

If we are going to reflect on what constitutes a good life, we must first examine our own thinking. This applies to residents, administrators, and stakeholders involved in this process.

What is the state of the Dutch story? Following the collapse of pillarization, there is a market-oriented individualism in which the struggle for identity and the struggle for recognition become the main focus. Self-realization becomes more important than collective well-being. The human being is defined primarily as a consumer, with economic science becoming the guiding principle for all interactions: the 'homo economicus'. Self-realization then becomes primarily enrichment through property. Sociologist Hans Boutellier convincingly demonstrates how we have lost our story as a nation .

Our world and our self-image are shaped by a particular way of thinking; this thinking is firmly etched into philosophical presuppositions. An example is the presupposition that possession is sacred (John Locke): it is possession of the “I”; every collective value is a threat to the sacred concept of “individual possession.” “You are only human if you possess something.” We see this addictive presupposition—with a modern variant—reflected in our neighborhoods: “you count if you own the biggest car possible.” Possession as a value translates into a narrative where a house has investment value and land sales are a source of income for the municipality. That, too, is quite addictive!

Central to the Enlightenment is Descartes’ motto: “I think, therefore I am.” Children at school are dismissed as “insufficient” based on certain cognitive tests (IQ, etc.). Consequently, in certain neighborhoods, we see no grammar schools: “the children have too low an IQ score.” Feelings are irrelevant.

The Western self is a rational actor. The Algerian thinker Houria Bouteldja asks herself the question: “which self is that? ….the one who conquers and plunders…who steals, rapes and exterminates peoples… I am the modern, male, capitalist, imperialist man …on that label you were born…”

The dominance of reason over feeling and the body is another assumption that we experience firsthand every day! Just like the dominance of reason over nature, which is conceived of as a mechanism.

It is a relevant fact for Southeast, where residents hail from all parts of the planet, to bring all those diverse cultural addictions to the surface.

The old story that elevates itself to 'reality'

Our story contains many flaws from the past, in which colonial and ethnocentric thinking are key ingredients. For native Dutch people, a narrative has been developed that relies primarily on the addictive notion that “We live in objective reality.”

This presupposition is rooted in the idea that science is the only access to the truth, with observable and measurable quantities as the basic material. Your inner self or your feelings are irrelevant to knowledge development. The story in which we live primarily emphasizes “that it is not a story.” Philosophy shows that it is indeed a story, full of presuppositions. This scientism (an excessive belief in science) is active in education, healthcare, urban planning, digitalization, and innovation. Many abstractions are showered upon us, or we practice them ourselves.

Science and technology determine our way of life and (implicitly) transmit values and assumptions. Economic science – for example – leaves a heavy mark on overall government policy; it is based on abstractions that determine what is good, profitable, cost-effective, efficient, monetizable, etc. Land development ultimately determines the social fabric and the composition of the neighborhood.

If people in a neighborhood cook for each other or spend a lot of time together, that does not show up in the picture. If a fire is started in a building, or if a major theft takes place, these lead to an increase in Gross National Product: these are measurable things. We can design an economy of values in which giving meaning is central; we can design different routes for entrepreneurship. A good story and values make a “meaning economy” possible.

Control We currently primarily monitor where we have spent our money and whether it is being spent well. However, we monitor little to none of the real impact we are making in response to our set goals. If I am asked to provide these figures, I will do so, and we will all continue to do so because we are loyal to the system.

According to many critics, psychology focuses too much on observable disruptive behavior in children, leading to all kinds of diagnoses that are often medicalized. Many mental illnesses are actually a consequence of loneliness and a lack of human contact. But the soul cannot be perceived, and is therefore a non-item for science! Just like love or a sense of community. Starting from the social fabric as a foundation leads to different designs!

Who determines what a good existence is? It is urgent to let people decide for themselves what they find valuable. Not the scientist, nor the technician, or the psychologist. Perhaps to create a narrative in which the soul is central, and not material reality. In which forming a community is a fundamental value. Perhaps many of the previously mentioned problems would no longer arise at all in a better, more humane design.

That is why this project is worth everyone's effort! It is the first time we are asking citizens to philosophize about their future!

The municipality is also plagued by thinking rooted in unconscious philosophical presuppositions that sometimes actually cause problems.

Space for meeting. There are negative stereotypes, and loitering youths are one of them. We are out on the street because we cannot invite our friends home; the house is full. It is of great necessity that we can come together; to talk to each other about the issues at hand. If there is space, no one is bothered. A place where we can be ourselves. You find a safe space in your home, a space where you can talk to people, and that creates a home.

The municipal government is not infrequently held jointly responsible for the problems, but due to internal bureaucratization and fragmentation, it is often struggling to cope with multiple challenges.

In this context, Hobbes's philosophy is crucial to understanding certain government thinking and actions: “man is a wolf to man,” meaning the government is necessary so that its citizens keep the peace. Consequently, distrust is the basic architecture of government action, as well as of our self-image and view of humanity. The childcare benefits scandal is a painful example of this systematic distrust. We also see this reflected in parking fines; but also in education, where children are screened for fraud from the very beginning; and among doctors who spend increasingly more time filling out control Excel sheets. Perhaps we in the street also distrust our neighbors too much. What does a neighborhood look like if you proceed from the premise that we are social animals, have a need for physical contact, and have a great deal of trust in one another?

Many departments within the municipality also have a reflex of distrust and control towards other departments. Digitization can facilitate a different philosophy of government, provided it is designed.

Global trends and forces are reflected in the neighborhoods.

The local signs of the crisis are further exacerbated by national and global trends! Polarization, extremism, populism, and digitalization are eroding our principles of the rule of law democracy.

We desperately need the municipality to protect us against all forms of algorithms that drastically manipulate our society. From child to elderly. The fallout from these digital systems is identical worldwide; but as mentioned, it settles in a neighborhood. If Amsterdam can establish a powerful “good” practice, that will be of value to the entire planet.

It is of vital importance for democracy that we can involve citizens in the design of their own existence. If global forces (Musk, Big Five) begin to determine our narratives, then the response must be a powerful, humanizing story.

Populism and extremism feed on discontent, whether or not fueled by echo chambers, and whether or not by the marginalization of entire population groups. Participation and neighborhood rights are good attempts to achieve greater resident involvement. But with that, we have not yet changed our narrative.

Deliberative Democracy

The municipality is far removed from where we live. The frame is always risk avoidance when it comes to young people. If we start from the neighborhood and formulate assignments based on that knowledge, better support will be created for the things the municipality carries out. We need to get the residents' knowledge to the right place within the municipality so that good and appropriate plans can be written.

Residents, stakeholders, experts, and governments alike are trapped in addictive patterns. The question “what is a good life?” must begin with those it concerns.

In doing so, the inhabitants are invited to examine their thinking and, in collective wisdom, create new imaginings of their desired existence.

The municipality can start thinking and acting from a different perspective during this process, moderating the transition once the involved civil servants are aware of their thinking addictions and their own innovation potential. The organic, adaptable municipality that knows exactly which hoops need to be jumped!

Companies and housing corporations are also invited to develop different ways of thinking and acting. We are in this together, primarily as concrete individuals, with all our cultural and worldly addictions and the will to do good! In this regard, a conditio sine que non is the realization that, wearing our armor, we constantly fall back into old procedures and addictive thoughts, and that we can only adopt different habits and ways of thinking through conscious reflection or self-observation (proprioception). We must also apply that awareness or alertness to our procedures and professional interactions.

We see that a tripartite dance is needed between residents, the municipality, and partners. The process will have to clearly shape this.

The grand narrative of Vital Democracy with Socratic Design is precisely that: together, we gradually design the basic assumptions of a good existence using collective wisdom, and create concrete visualizations upon them.

Socratic Design dialogue with young people about Living in Southeast, De Kazerne, Reigersbos, Amsterdam Southeast (12-01-2024) See also the post: How a dialogue became the starting point of Jongeren.Wonen.Holendrecht

Socratic Design Dialogue on Area Development, Strategy Factory, Amsterdam Southeast 28/01/2025 See also the post:

In Trieste, the high number of suicides led to a successful redesign of the community. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/italian-city-nearly-halved-its-suicide-rate-shifting/

Socratic Design dialogue with young people about Living in Southeast, De Kazerne, Reigersbos, Amsterdam Southeast (12-01-2024) See also the post: How a dialogue became the starting point of Jongeren.Wonen.Holendrecht

Socratic Design dialogue with young people about Living in Southeast, De Kazerne, Reigersbos, Amsterdam Southeast (12-01-2024) See also the post: How a dialogue became the starting point of Jongeren.Wonen.Holendrecht