Does overspill from one field into another lead to new discoveries and productive output, or is the unexpected encounter made impossible by brand strategies and commercial considerations? The idea of ‘engineering chance encounters’ is very popular today in both architecture and urban planning — if you somehow plan people’s courses so they’ll bump into each other, imaginative thoughts that would not have occurred to them otherwise can and will.
Potential seems to exist somewhere between the role of ‘knowing janitors’, unlocking doors to new ideas and experiences, as ‘deal brokers’, negotiating access and as ‘intellectual cupids’, cementing collaborations and friendships.