EO Wijers 2014-2015

The LOVE ELECTRIC FESTIVAL is Karres en Brands’ submission to the 10th Eo Wijers Competition in collaboration with Grontmij and Marc Buiter. The competition is organised every three years by the Eo Wijers Foundation, with the goal of improving the spatial quality of the Netherlands on a supralocal scale. The 10th Eo Wijers Competition will be held in the Stedendriehoek region and focuses on the theme ‘Urban regions in transition’. 

The Stedendriehoek region, a collaboration among the Dutch Municipalities of Apeldoorn, Zutphen, Deventer, Brummen, Epe, Lochem and Voorst, has the goal of being 100% energy neutral in 2030. Despite the inspiring initiatives of citizens, companies and regional governments, the transition is still moving too slowly. If the region continues in the current direction, a maximum energy neutrality of 20% will be achieved. In short, a trend shift is needed that will lead to support and upscaling, and as a result, to faster energy transition.

The core of the collaborative proposal is to get to whole region – companies, public institutions, governments and citizens – involved. This can be achieved through a ‘multi-level governance strategy’ that generates enthusiasm among all parties and appeals to their organisational capacities, thus paving the way for an exponential upscaling that leads to energy neutrality in 2030. This strategy is called LOVE ELECTRIC FESTIVAL (LEF).

The LEF is not a drawing table solution, but a true electrification of the process. Inspired by ongoing ‘regional exhibitions’ and events from abroad, such as the Olympics Games, World Expos, and Live Earth Road to Paris, there will be ongoing construction in various places throughout the region supporting the transition to an energy neutrality. 

With the power of the landscape as a basis, namely a combination of still unused land (former wasteland to be used for new construction sites and designated nature areas known as ‘EHS areas’) and the current energy landscape (network, initiatives, heaviest users such as mobility, cattle farms and top users), three sites have been selected from which the Love Electric Festival can evolve. For each site, a team entered into discussion with the most important parties involved in order to make a first step toward upscaling and broadening. In doing so, a seed was planted for the LEF and the teams demonstrated that this is an achievable strategy.