Round Table n°6 - The battle of imagination: where does Europe fit in?
THE BATTLE OF IMAGINATION:
WHERE DOES EUROPE FIT IN?
Thematic Talk n°6
PRESENTATION
Historically, competition between states has promoted a degree of development in terms of technical progress. It has also been the source of intense antagonism, which in the 20th century plunged Europe into the chaos of the World Wars. The European Union was therefore built more on a desire for peace than on a sense of community.
Now more than ever, this promise of peace represents a foundation of the European framework. However, is this promise the only future narrative we can offer to the citizens of Europe? What is our dream for Europe? Must we abandon the ideal of European unity in order to imagine other possibilities? What do we desire for the future of this Europe? What shared imagination do Europeans want to work towards so as to envisage a desirable future? Meanwhile, on an international scale, major and competing transnational narratives are now at play: between the “American dream” and “Chinese miracle”, how can Europe develop its own great narrative, one true to its values?
The video in French is available by clicking on FR in the banner at the top of the page.
Adèle BERAULT
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION & PARTNERSHIPS OFFICER
OF THE LILLE METROPOLE 2020 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL
.
Scott LONGFELLOW
MANAGER OF BUREAU DES USAGES OF RF STUDIO
Scott Longfellow has degrees in both political science and creative industries management. He quickly specialized in design, convinced of its transformative potential for society. For seven years, he managed the Designer’s Days Association and programmed its festivals. He has curated several exhibitions and was a professor at the French Institute of Fashion. In 2017, he joined Ramy Fischler to create the Bureau des Usages, a unit for planning and speculative design linked to the agency.
Daniel KAPLAN
CO-FOUNDER
OF PLURALITY UNIVERSITY
Daniel Kaplan explores the future from the angle of innovation and the imagination. A pioneer in digital technology and the Internet, entrepreneur and researcher, in the 1980s he created one of the first digital communication agencies in the world, followed by the Fondation internet nouvelle génération (Fing) in 2000, which “produces and shares new, actionable ideas to anticipate digital transformations”.
Since 2017, he has managed the start-up project “Réseau Université de la Pluralité”, an open, international network of men and women who mobilise the power of the imagination to expand the field of future thought: artists, utopians, designers, and many more.
Jennifer-Ellen RUDKIN
ANALYST AND DESIGNER
EU DESIGN POLICY LAB
Jennifer-Ellen Rudkin (PhD) is a designer and researcher exploring the possibilities of Design for Policy. Her interests focus on developing a design activity that participates in current emerging social and societal issues. Trained at the ESADSE (École great Supérieure d’Art et de Design de Saint-Étienne, France) and at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA), she holds a PhD in Design from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
Prior to joining the EU Policy Lab team, she worked on the direction and coordination of international projects, events and workshops at the intersection of Design and Foresight; notably on the Future of Work, on Food Futures and on the development of Futures Literacy Labs, at UNESCO. She also taught Design at the Design School of East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai, China.
