Are you joining the design sprint?
Author: Anja Neskens
Photography: The Next Lab
Creative three-day sprint for more experience along the Via Belgica
It’s a wish often heard from both the partners working together on the Via Belgica project and from the public: let’s make sure there is more to see of our Roman past along the route between Riemst and Rimburg.
Would you like to help us? Then keep reading — we’d love to welcome you!
That wish sparked the assignment for a team of creative minds: to come up with 11 different elements that bring the Roman past to life in the streets and in the landscape. A diverse group of civil servants, entrepreneurs, students, and designers is taking up the challenge. The fuel for this three-day creative sprint comes from the results of a public survey conducted last summer, which also asked the question: how can we create more experience along the Via Belgica route?
Marieke Kraak and Jeroen Kraak from The Next Lab will be working with you. This process will be divided into several phases: a 5-day design sprint, of which we will spend 3 days brainstorming together as a team.This will take place on 25, 26, and 27 October (understand, ideate, and decide) at the Brightlands Campus in Heerlen. We know this is a significant commitment, but the design sprint cannot succeed without full participation on all three days.
On 8 November (families) and 10 November (55+), the designs will be presented to a test group. Their feedback will show whether the designs meet their intended goals. The comments from the test group will then be incorporated into the final designs. These will be presented on 20 November from 10:00 to 12:00 during an online session.
The 11 designs are intended for the municipalities of Riemst, Maastricht, Meerssen, Valkenburg, Voerendaal, Heerlen, Simpelveld, and Kerkrade. Heerlen specifically requested four ideas for the Roman Quarter.
Registration to join the test group is open until 15 September via email:
