Home Work Oost-Vlaams Kerngebied

Strategic cooperation to make Ghent area sustainable

Together with Architecture Workroom Brussels and the Province of East Flanders, we helped local governments to use demographic growth as a lever for sustainable spatial planning.

Client

Province of East Flanders

Deliverables

Project strategy

Communication strategy

Digital strategy

Baseline

Visual language

Online simulator

Copywriting

Need for a fresh external view

The Ghent area faces tough challenges. Almost 40,000 more people are expected to be living in the area by 2035, with a resulting need for additional housing, facilities and workplaces. Moreover, the shift to a sustainable society is pressing. But how do you achieve that, create more futures for more people? The Province, Departement Omgeving, International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam and Architecture Workroom Brussels addressed the issue in the IABR-Atelier Oost-Vlaams Kerngebied project. Shaved Monkey stepped in when the project needed a boost. There was a need for an external, fresh perspective to take a critical look at the communication strategy the project had been using up to that point and guide it towards a new approach.

Understanding the playing field in depth

Through several workshops, we first dismantled the complex situation the project was in. We explored the energy on the IABR/OVK side, looked at the lessons from the journey already undertaken and took stock of the situation. In addition, we mapped the entry points and barriers to re-engaging stakeholders and explored the touchpoints where we could reach them.

In search of a new story

In the next phase, we started working both conceptually and strategically with the knowledge we’d gathered to come up with the first creations (story and boilerplates) and ideas for implementations to achieve the goal. We then joined all the dots (the opportunities, touchpoints, messages, the phases ahead) and put them down in a strategic communication plan to work towards a new and clear final goal.

Online tool simulates your future

In the final stage, we made our ideas a reality. ‘More People, More Future’ was the name of the online tool we launched at the end of our strategic and creative collaboration. Not only did we realise this online tool, we also designed a visual language and wrote the necessary copy to make complex urban planning scenarios attractive and easy to consult. The simulator allows local governments to look into the future of their municipality, discover where the promising places are and which spatial choices are possible to realise a sustainable society.