Can we still trust you?

How can banks, museums, governments and other institutions regain a sense of trust from the public? That is the question that lies at the heart of an ambitious project titled ‘Trustville‘.

Initiated by communication agency Vandejong and its idiosyncratic founder and namesake Pjotr de Jong, Trustville encompasses a series of themed expert meetings focusing on new and innovative ways to overcome the credibility crisis that paralyzes our economic and political system.

Non-fiction was asked to join the editorial board of this interdisciplinary research project and the forthcoming book, which will be published by Valiz later this year. Surrounded by professionals from totally different backgrounds, including an advisor to the World Bank and a young labor union leader, we found ourselves rather optimistic about the current state of affairs and future perspectives.

OK, we don’t wanna downplay the impact of wrongdoers like “Bernie“, the Bushes and Kanye, but luckily we meet more and more trustworthy people and organizations everyday. Like the man who runs Amsterdam and the lady we recently heared talking about the ‘Just City‘, or the museum that opened on time and within budget and the bank who helped us setting up De Verdieping.

Being an office for collaborative actions, co-created visions and crowdsourced sollutions, we feel the obligation to provide sufficient counterweight to the skepticism that dominates the news headlines and the hearts and minds op people nowadays.

Gated communities, fenced off companies and Firewalls.. You don’t want to go down that road, because you might end up in Lars von Trier‘s hellish Dogville. Or even worse, the city of Trussville, Alabama or better know as ‘The Gateway to Happy Living‘. What a difference one letter can make..

Instead of a small dead-end town we prefer a place where people still communicate and connect with one another, whether it’s Amsterdam, Twitteropolis, Wikicity, Farmville or our own interpretation of Niketown. So we don’t have to travel very far to reach Trustville. We just have to help other people opening up their eyes, and it’s right there in front of us.

We’ll keep you updated on our journey into the known..

Still taken from Dogville (2003), directed by Lars von Trier