Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Two diplomatic postings researching innovation, mobility and urban design at the consulate in Istanbul and the embassy in Tokyo.
Two postings inside the Dutch foreign service in 2018. Istanbul came first. The brief there mapped the Turkish green and smart mobility ecosystem, named the stakeholders that mattered, and produced the opportunity analysis for Dutch organisations looking to enter the sustainable transport sector. Policy reports on Turkish science and technology and coordination of visiting delegations sat alongside. Tokyo followed in autumn, with the desk split between the embassy and Shibaura House, a public architecture and civic space in Minato. The work ran metropolitan design impact research on public space interventions and compared how design thinking travelled between Japanese and Dutch urban contexts. A featured talk at FORUM DESIGN KYOTO closed the posting, on inclusive design.