Joey Wagemans
Last week, we, as a group of students from the TU Delft, designed the future of Texel over a timeframe of 50 years. The results have been presented to the people of Texel. They were surprised, but still content. The biggest surprise was a flood happening in 2031 that would completely destroy a part of the island.
Of course, this flood isn’t based on a calculation, but it’s nice to have such a disaster in a 50 year plan. Why? Well, nobody is able to see 50 years into the future. Anything can happen, which means something bad is sure to happen. By taking such a disaster into account beforehand, the result becomes more realistic.
In this specific scenario, the flood turned out to be a good thing. A disaster can completely destroy the social structure, making room for a new infrastructure that is more up to date with the ideals of the local community and the zeitgeist. Secondly, it can set people into motion. People who didn’t have a sustainable mindset might get it after their house is destroyed by global warming. It might be the final factor that is needed for people to take action.
The next question that arose, took a different turn. If disasters can turn out to be a good thing over the course of 50 years, shouldn’t we create an artificial disaster? An interesting concept, but we should make sure that nobody gets hurt. If we know one thing, it is that “acting as God”, might end up with a different effect than we actually planned. Who should be the person to control this artificial disaster? How do we make sure this person doesn’t have too much power? These are important questions that need to be answered before we start thinking about an artificial disaster.
Perhaps the idea of an upcoming disaster can be enough. Perhaps people get scared by the idea a flood might be upcoming in 2031 and start acting on it now. So, dear person who is reading this, why don’t you turn to your neighbor today and convince him or her a big flood is coming in 2031.