4 REFOCUSING
4 REFOCUSING
Phase 4 . Refocusing - Integrate the new gained knowledge and decide on a potential set of experiments
This phase involves the digestion of the key points resulting from the phases before , thereby deepening awareness and understanding . With this newly-gained and richer perspective , promising experiments can be evaluated according to their potential to live up to societal trends , their leverage effects to influence trends towards a certain direction , their interplay with existing systems and structures , and the extent to which the municipality can engage with them . This filtering of attention to certain experiments and surrounding experiments should then be summarized in a document , listing those experiments of which the potential has to be tested ( as we will see later , by taking step A of the strategy ’ s second part - ‘ A-B-C of experimenting ’).
Tasks to take in this phase could be :
Task 4-1 : Assess the extent to which different possible futures resulting from phase 3 are aligned or in contrast to the desired sustainability path of society . Task 4-2 : Assess the power relations that are driving future developments , raising the question which ones are dominating .
Task 4-3 : Evaluate whether the assumptions that are underlying mobility planning practice are aligned with the results from phase 3 , and which assumptions might have to be reconsidered and adjusted .
Task 4-4 : Evaluate with the new gained knowledge what experiments might be able to live up to the trends or influence them in a desired direction ( leverage effect ).
Task 4-5 : Examine how those experiments could play together and how they relate to existing elements of the mobility system . Is there a difference in the importance of the experiments - which ones are strategically most important and why ?
Task 4-6 : Evaluate which experiments are promising . For this , the literature on the management of strategic experimentation proposes three criteria : * it should seem promising to stakeholders surrounding the suggested experiment , * the organisational features of the suggested experiment and how compatible they are with the potential users ’ needs and values , * the presence of a gardener / change agent , who can exert driving force for the innovative experiment . Task 4-7 : Evaluate what space the planning system allows to work on each promising experiment and how the constraints could be turned . Task 4-8 : Take the insights from task 4-4 , 4-5 , 4-6 and 4-7 and initiate for each experiments step A ( rticulating expectations and adjusting visions ) in part two .