Jan Åman is an entrepreneur, curator, writer and activist specialized in the intersection between cities, buildings, food, art and societal development. His extensive teaching and lecturing is based on bringing innovation needs into practical results IRL, then forming models to be implemented and scaled. His interest in societal and democratic processes is combined with a rather unique network within art, architecture, design and food, using top talent to deliver on citizen’s ideas and needs. Since January 2018 he is the creative director – responsible for strategy, narration and innovation – for the development of Duved, a small village in the North of Sweden. It has become both a local, national and international success story based on a very simple turnaround of how things are done. Duved shows that today it is the village on the country-side that is the engine of societal innovation, not the city. Åman’s strategy is to use the scale of the village as a tool to prototype and enhance local democracy models to make citizens part of creating the future of their own village (models for governance, food systems, affordable housing, mobility and knowledge production).
