Students of Delft left their save Bubble!

Last week I lived together with thirty students in a bubble called ‘Texel’. A week ago we left our own bubble called ‘Delft’. In our Delft bubble we researched the Texel context. From behind our computers we wrote smart reports about the people of Texel. The reports sketched a possible future for the Texelaar, a bright happy sustainable future in which the Texel people would be totally independent from the mainland. We invented smart solutions and ideas for the Texelaars to start this development right away. Once arrived in Texel and speaking to the locals, these solutions appeared to be not quite new for them…

In delft I worked in the food group in which we designed two pathways to arrive at the goal of a self-sufficient food-system. I pitched our idea the first day at Texel: a food platform that brings together the consumer and producer like the Allerhande magazine. Valerie, our amazing host of the week, told us that she liked the idea but that this was already there! She actually started the platform herself and also organized several other activities related to food. I was pretty shocked that we actually never heard of this and also a little bit ashamed.

Later that week I met several amazing locals who were real sustainable entrepreneurs in the field of food. The farmer of the Novalishoeve taught us everything about the closed loops on his farms and how he achieved them. The initiator of the Salt farm where potatoes and carrots are produced on salt land taught us everything about innovation in his niche market and how hard it is to deal with cultural beliefs. No one in the world believes we can produce food on salty land, so people don’t trust his products. But, we tasted the potatoes and they were great! Again I was ashamed we did not written anything about these two great locals in our report made in Delft before.

 I think the most inspiring person and the person I was most ashamed of not knowing before was the Food Community guru of Texel: Marieke Mast. Marieke Mast is the initiator of Texel Kost. She had the idea for a local, sustainable and fair food collective when she saw a milk float being transported off the island. Marieke thought it was really strange that the milk was collected on Texel, processed on the "other side" and then was coming back again in packages to the island. Only then more expensive and with much more mileage than if they could decrease immediately. That idea was the basis for the emergence of Texelse Kost.

This week truly taught me, next to the fact that it is apparently possible to work together with thirty different people and produce one kickass product (to quote the alderman), that for understanding the context of your research it is extremely important to leave your bubble and go into the field! Experience the elements of the surrounding, speak to the local people, watch, analyse and ask all questions that come up. Only by this way of working you will truly understand the local context and therefore the problem, which you like to solve. Whether it is a social-system problem, a technical problem or an architectural problem: understanding the context is crucial, no matter in what kind of discipline you are working in.