The Netherlands Imagines
The Netherlands Imagines (in Dutch: Nederland Verbeeld(t)) is a public and research project by the Urban Futures Studio that brings together citizens, experts, and policymakers to collectively work on the future of the Netherlands in the face of major spatial challenges. Through (the enabling of) futuring, the project creates soft spaces where imagination is stimulated through collaboration between societal actors, policy makers, and scientific partners, transforming uncertainty into actionable possibilities. By connecting local initiatives across the country and making them visible, Nederland Verbeeld(t) demonstrates how imagination and participation can break through planning deadlocks and foster new approaches to shaping our shared future. The project team consists of Maarten Hajer, Jesse Hoffman and Abe Hendriks.
The Netherlands faces unprecedented spatial challenges—from rising sea levels to housing shortages, energy transition, and agricultural transformation. Yet public discourse often focuses more on current problems than on possible futures. Meanwhile, planning decisions have become increasingly complex, cutting across government departments and layers, making it difficult for policymakers to align and engage meaningfully with society.
Publications
Utopianism in state–society interaction: reflections on the transdisciplinary intervention ‘Places of Hope’ by Hoffman, J.S., Versteeg, W., Hajer, M.A. (2024)
Futuring
The Urban Futures Studio introduces futuring; this implies a fundamental reimagining of the relationship between policy, science, and society through collective imagination. By breaking free from problem-focused deadlocks, Nederland Verbeeld(t) introduces a new way of developing policy that weaves together scientific insights, governance processes, and societal engagement through shared acts of imagination. Rather than treating the future as something to predict and plan for, this approach positions the future as something we actively create together, placing imagination at the heart of effective governance for complex spatial challenges.
At its core, futuring recognizes that governance processes often stall due to a narrowing of perceived solution spaces. By shifting emphasis from the traditional “science-policy interface” (where policy is made based on scientific insights and followed by participation) toward a new interweaving of expertise, policy development, and citizen involvement, we create opportunities for collective vision-forming about the Netherlands’ future.
A three-stage journey
Nederland Verbeeld(t) unfolds in three connected phases, aimed at generating broader conversation about the spatial future of the Netherlands, particularly among policymakers, to develop “landing rights” for complex spatial decisions by reimagining how we collectively envision the future, moving beyond compensation toward active co-creation of viable pathways that can gain genuine societal support across interconnected challenges.
- In phase 1 through the summer of 2025, we are building coalitions and learning by means of a research documentary where we bring together successful futuring initiatives from across the Netherlands—from Wageningen University’s “2120 map” to transformative projects like the “Veenmobiel” and various participatory approaches. This documentary will showcase what works and what doesn’t in engaging policymakers and citizens with strategic spatial choices.
- In phase 2, we deepen the democratic process by actively involving different groups around major challenges, particularly policymakers but also citizens and experts. Through vlogs, mockumentaries, and social media, we’ll create positive conversations about possible futures.
- In phase 3, we plan to culminate our project in a major manifestation, where visions of the future from across the country are being actively discussed, with the manifestation as a platform where science, policy and society meet across new artefacts.
Nederland Verbeeld(t) is a research and public engagement project that explores how different ways of imagining the future can help overcome societal deadlocks. By collecting and connecting initiatives from across the country, we demonstrate how citizens, artists, and local governments are already experimenting with new forms of participation and future-making. These developments deeply impact communities, citizens, and businesses across the Netherlands. Rather than just compensating affected parties, Nederland Verbeeld(t) actively involves people in shaping their own future. This is especially important as many people—even within government—struggle to maintain perspective amid the complexity of these challenges. Led by Prof. Dr. Maarten Hajer, the Urban Futures Studio brings expertise from landmark exhibitions like the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam and Places of Hope. We’re collaborating with various ministries and the Delta Programme to develop “landing rights” for policy, ensuring that scientific insights connect meaningfully with local knowledge and lived experience. By bringing together diverse perspectives and employing creative visualization techniques, we help communities envision and work toward futures they actually want to inhabit.
Spicing up the science-policy interface — a new kind of engagement
We’re moving away from the traditional approach, where policy is first created based on scientific insights, followed by participation. Instead, we strive for a new interweaving of expertise, policy development, and citizen involvement. By using techniques beyond language alone and organizing the process differently, we create new opportunities for joint vision-forming about the future of the Netherlands. This project is part of the Urban Futures Studio’s broader mission to develop new ways of connecting imagination with governance, building on our experimental governance approach.