When looking at the future, no one can predict what it holds. Rijkswaterstaat started ‘Expedition RWS 2050’ to gain insight into possible futures of the Netherlands and the role that Rijkswaterstaat can play within these futures. A collaboration with the TU/e had to ensure a visualisation of these futures, with intentionally provocative prototypes as a result. In order to achieve this, two scenarios were created of possible futures of the Netherlands. One scenario focuses on a CO2 positive world with more local businesses and nature, while the other one portrays a world in which we live in harmony with AI and data. These scenarios resulted in two organisational prototypes, displaying Rijkswaterstaat in these worlds. One prototype presents Rijkswaterstaat as an organisation that recruits on values, rather than skills. The other prototype presents Rijkswaterstaat as an organisation that works under the command of AI, with individual operational scores.

With: S. van Eck and B. van der Lugt