A central element of the Tällberg Forum 2006 was the “Design Workshops”. These focused on the challenges through the prism of ten particular geographical locations.
Each of the Ten Design Workshops at the Tällberg Forum 2006 focused on one particular geographical location. Their task was to develop ideas for workable strategies and policies for these locations that, on the one hand, meet the challenges posed by the economy-energy-environment equation, and, on the other hand, serve to further the development of democracy, rule of law and human rights.
Much too often these objectives are pursued separately. To develop strategies that pursue them simultaneously requires new models, and new thinking at a higher level of systems analysis. It requires the integration of issues related to innovation, business, finance, health, demography, constitutional developments, science, education, etc. The Design Workshops, while beginning with geography-specific issues, sought to place these in the wider international context to stimulate generic thematic discussions. In this way, the geographical locations are prisms through which the full system complexities were brought out.
The geographical locations are:
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Hackney, London, UK
- Bundelkhand district, India
- Mekong Delta – Lake Tonle Sap, Cambodia
- Kasese district, Uganda
- Lima, Peru
- Dalarna, Sweden
- China
- and the High North
Read the synopses from all of the design workshops
These locations were selected to provide a diversity of geography and themes. The preparatory work began six months prior to the Forum, consisting of a bottom-up process that conceptualizes the issues and sets out initial priorities. The process, the methodology and the presentations will differed in each case, to allow the Design Workshops to mirror the richness of the problems they sought to address.
The Design Workshops anchored the discussions at the Tällberg Forum 2006 in the concrete. They also allowed participants to pursue issues systematically over a sustained period of time during the Forum. Alongside the plenary sessions, the Design Workshops were a main element of the Forum this year.
The figure illustrates the task of the Design Workshops: to design policies and strategies that help move 10 geographical locations simultaneously towards sustainable growth and towards more sustainable societies.