Abstracts Sociology

Research on implicative social design: Instigating sustainable changes in the Laak Noord social world by sustainable appliance of talents in The Hague:

by F. Heikamp

Society is changing. Technical progress has changed many social relations, for example, society has become more internationally orientated, it is housing many different cultures, and big cities have become more and more individualistic. These developments offer new possibilities but also bring a broad range of problems. Especially in the big cities, there are places where these problems seem to be collected, they reinforce each other while the possibilities are omitted. Laak Noord, a district located in The Hague, is one of those districts currently dealing with profound social issues. People living in Laak Noord are isolated and have little self esteem. They are not aware of possibilities they have. For these reasons a lot of their talents remain unused. The challenge in trying to solve these urban social issues is the nature of the problems: it is hard to pinpoint what causes the undesired situation since the issues are nontransparent and cause and effect are deeply intertwined. This graduation project aims to explore the possibilities of using products to implicitly guide people’s behaviour in a way that improves the social world of Laak Noord. A holistic approach is needed to solve these problems, for this reason, a very basic human characteristic is taken as a starting point in this project: the social phenomenon of group forming. The human need for social ties and the presence of social groups are seen throughout all cultures of all times. The benefits of social ties are evident: collaboration and sharing information enriches our lives by adding to it all that was learnt by our ancestors. It is important to use everyones knowledge and combine this within the character of The Hague. In order to achieve this, the identity of the Laak Noord people has to be integrated in The Hague. Individuals have peculiarities. Their personality and identity is expressed in their experience and skills. This is what makes them special and valuable. This is what forms their identity. A good group character will represent each and every identity of the small pieces it is build from. It is important that people see themselves reflected within the character of their surroundings so that they can feel at home. When people have a meaningful role within their framework of interactions they feel happy and respected. Connect people To make Laak Noorders part of the character of The Hague, it is important to extend their framework of interactions. New contacts will bring new ideas and enlarging their scope of possibilities. Weak ties connect people who would normally not be connected, this leads to new energy, new influences and ideas. Weak ties are ideal to achieve our goal to stimulate people to explore and develop their talents. Connect two different social worlds Talent development Engouraging people to use their talents by connecting two different social worlds to have new things to compare with. The focus is on people who know what there talents are but do knot know the value of them. The Tree of Talents The Tree of Talents…