No area development strategy, tender or design proposal today is complete without the phrase ‘putting people first’. But how credible are we as a profession if, at the same time, we keep ourselves under constant pressure to perform. It’s time to hit the pause button.
This column was published in Dutch in February 2026 on the platform gebiedsontwikkeling.nu.
Column: The forgotten human in ‘putting people first’
Online meeting. 4 pm. My counterpart asks if we can start five minutes later so she can quickly make some tea and grab a sandwich. She has not had time all day. We are discussing healthy interventions in a new residential neighbourhood. How to encourage future residents to move more and meet each other more often. Meanwhile, neither of us has left our chair or screen all day.
No area development plan, tender or design now proceeds without ‘putting people first’. We talk about healthy cities, vibrant neighbourhoods and places where people can move and unwind. About space for encounter and mental wellbeing. Yet we organise our own work in ways that directly contradict this. Overfilled diaries. Relentless deadlines. Permanent availability. Meetings chasing meetings at high speed.
Area development requires stamina. It is a marathon. So why do we keep operating in sprints? Athletes know they get stronger through rest and recovery. We systematically skip that step. Busy, busy, busy. Our creativity declines, our sharpness fades, our attention fragments. How credible is our plea for quality of life if we keep ourselves under permanent pressure? The biggest blind spot in ‘putting people first’ is ourselves.
Just over a year ago, a back injury brought me to a complete standstill. My body forced me to make abrupt choices, cancel commitments and put projects on hold. Real recovery only came when I pressed the work pause button for two full months last summer. Insights from pain science show that body and brain do not distinguish between physical and mental stress. For your system, running the Rotterdam Marathon is as taxing as an overloaded agenda packed with hard deadlines. For me to recover, all stress had to go. That period of rest brought not only physical recovery, but also clarity, creativity and focus. In hindsight, that enforced pause turned out to be the most effective way to perform well again professionally.
We like to complain about the work ethic of Gen Z. Those of us who came before were raised in the school of productivity. Busy is good. Busy matters. If you are busy, you must be doing something right. Our collective busyness is a comfortable system. Gen Z does something rather uncomfortable. They guard their work and life. And a new term is circulating: micro retirement. The principle is simple. Why wait until you are 67, or in their case probably 72, to do what matters to you? Why not step out of the routine now and then, for a few weeks or months, to recharge physically and mentally?
“The biggest blind spot in ‘putting people first’ is ourselves.”
I have started planning them myself, my micro retirements. I was offline for a while in January. The reactions vary. From what a great idea, I want that too, to this really is a first world problem. Or: that only works if you are self employed. My boss or family would never go for it.
Yet in our so called first world, chronic overload, stress and burnout are growing societal issues. Rest and distance are not soft indulgences. They are deliberate strategies to preserve creativity, imagination and strategic thinking. Exactly the capabilities area development depends on and the first to disappear under sustained pressure. It also helps keep people fit for the long run. After all, we are running a marathon, not a sprint. I know many professionals in municipalities, development firms and consultancies who stepped fully out of their work rhythm for a period, with the support of their managers, and returned noticeably sharper and more energised. I also know families with school age children who managed to take several months away, home schooling included.
I would not wish my back injury on anyone. But I would wish the energy and clarity that came out of it. That standstill showed me how little space we allow ourselves. If we cannot even organise the occasional step away from our own desks, how credible are we in what we plan, design and develop? Perhaps ‘putting people first’ starts a little closer to home.