First day of WUF.
Impressions? Not as quiet as my first impression in the photo! For me the main thing, despite all the sessions that are organized, is meeting people, often after a few, sometimes after many years.

In sessions, presentations are often too short to really get into and discuss subjects. Attendance ranges from the crowding of doors and sitting on the floor of a session of slum dwellers international, to an empty room for a session that just didn’t happen.

Anything memorable apart from meeting old friends? A presentation on planning in Palestinian refugee camps, told in stories, with the question of how to plan with people for future development of a camp where they don’t want to be in the future. The answer? Talk of improvement and not development, but get on to address intolerable living conditions. Subtle, but important in the context.

In the same session, the moderator asked what presenters had learned from their experience. One lesson shared was that participation in planning was not just about asking a lot of people questions about what they felt, but a negotiation where the planner has to engage with their own contribution. Participation is not abdication of the responsibilities and contributions of the professional, but an ongoing exchange where all sides should contribute. That sort of participation needs to be based on trust, and that takes time and needs the experience that comes from time spend in the field.

Let’s see what day 2 has in store.