diverge · Ideation, Systems Thinking, Knowledge Sharing · 60–240 min · 2-12 people · medium energy
Dérive
Small groups drop their usual reasons for moving through a city and let themselves be pulled by the terrain: a street that looks interesting, a sound, a change in atmosphere. They note where the mood of the city shifts, where they feel pushed or drawn, and where the invisible borders are. Afterwards they turn what they found into a shared map.
When to use Dérive
Use on an urban design, placemaking or service project when the team needs to see a city or neighbourhood from outside its usual routes and assumptions.
What it solves
Project teams know a place only through the routes they commute and the data they are given, so they keep designing for the same few spots.
How to run Dérive, step by step
- Form groups of two or three and give each a starting point and a return time (5 min).
- Brief: follow what draws you, not a plan. Notice changes of atmosphere and where you feel invited or pushed away (5 min).
- Drift. Take notes and photos at moments where the feeling of the place changes (45-180 min).
- Return and draw your route on a shared base map, marking zones, borders and attractions (20 min).
- Compare maps between groups and discuss what they show that official maps do not (20 min).
Materials needed
- Base map of the area
- Notebooks, markers
- Phones for photos
- Optional: dice or random prompts to choose turns
Facilitator tips
- Keep groups small; Debord noted that above four or five people the drift loses its character.
- Agree on safety: no entering private property, stay together, keep a charged phone, meet at a fixed time.
- Add a simple random rule (left at every second junction) if people keep walking familiar routes.
Common pitfalls
- Turning it into a sightseeing tour of known landmarks.
- Coming back with photos but no mapping step, so the insights stay anecdotal.
Variations
- Guided drift: give each group a theme such as 'where would a newcomer feel lost?'.
Running it online or hybrid
Remote groups can each drift in their own city and bring back photos and maps for a joint session.
What it produces
A hand-drawn 'psychogeographic' map of atmospheres, borders and passages, plus photos and notes from each group.
Origin
Theorised by Guy Debord in 'Theory of the Dérive' (1956, republished 1958) as a technique of psychogeography developed by the Letterist and Situationist groups. — source
Build a session around Dérive
METODIC places Dérive inside a complete, timed session plan — agenda, worksheets, facilitator guide and slides — matched to your group and goal.