A question which regularly appears at dinner conversations is: 'Can one learn to be creative?' In the author's view, the question is similar to questions such as 'Can one learn to eat?' and 'Can one learn to breathe?' We all do it, but one can specialise oneself, one can learn to make delicious Japanese sushi's, or some heavenly Genovese pesto, or you practice yoga or scuba-diving and learn to breathe more efficiently. The same can be said about creativity: everyone is creative, but it can be practiced, enhanced and sharpened to lead to much more richness and quality.

Learning to become creative really happens through experience, by looking at other people practicing creative tasks, by trying recipes oneself, by finding out what works and what doesn't, and last but not least, by discovering oneself in the context of creative tasks. So the answer is 'yes, one can learn to be creative', but, like eating and breathing, we all do it already

Contents

Preface

0 Introduction

1 Setting the Scene

2 Creative Process

3 Culture and Rules for Creative Thinking

4 Idea Generation

5 Evaluation and Selection

6 Issues, Problems and Opportunities

7 From Idea to Concept

8 Process Facilitation

9 The Matter of Creativity

10 The Next Step?

11 Making Sense wit:h the Future Perfect - A Case

A Delft Approach?

Figures and Tables

Glossary

Literature

Index

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