What a week!
The stay on the island has really changed my perception of Texel and the way Tesselaars think and act. Besides the conversations with the Tesselaars on Monday evening, the visit at the water treatment plant was the real eye-opener for me. I came to the Island with the idea to improve the sub-system with all kinds of technical innovations. But after seeing the treatment plant I had no Idea on how we could improve this system. How can we as TU Delft contribute to a more sustainable Texel with technical innovations if they are already doing so well? For me the answer was simple: we just can’t do that.
This was to be discussed on Tuesday evening were I totally disagreed on the way we wanted to continue with the group work, but I didn’t have the solution either… However, I was already thinking about this, weeks before we went to the island. In my 3th column I asked myself the following:
“This again made me wonder to which extend a feasible design solution is going to be a physical entity like the designs I make in my architectural projects. A crucial part of the physical design solution is the process it takes to realise it, so this should also be part of the research we do and the final design we present. This could be everything from business models to governmental policies and so on”.
I think this Tuesday evening group discussion was very fruitful and guided us towards the right solution in the end. As I mentioned in the last line the design could also be a business model; and I think we’re pretty close to that. Instead of a socio-technical system, the final design is more like a socio-economical business plan for the Island.
I am truly astonished about the amount of work we all have done during the week, especially since so much changed as a result of the things we learned on the island itself. I was even more astonished by the reaction we got from the Tesselaars after our presentation. So wonderful to see that they actually agree on our proposal and really want to continue working on it. I have done many projects together in a group, but to be honest; I have never felt so proud about the final result as I do this time!
I will definitely return to the island somewhere in the near future, but I think that’s going to be during summer, because I would also love to enjoy the island with a nice weather. The island now looked like an oasis of tranquillity and I’m curious to see how all these tourists change the island during the holiday seasons.
I’d like to thank everybody for the amazing time and I hope to see most of you soon when we’ll be having a well-deserved drink.
- Jesper
