‘Wet’ policymaking: exploring the potential of open-water swimming in agonistically designing affective environmental policies.

Abstract

In the dryland of environmental governance, design can help cultivate what we call ‘wet’ policymaking: an approach that embraces affect, emotional engagement, and more-than-human (MTH) relations as integral to ecological decision-making. Drawing on fieldwork with open-water swimming collectives and policy initiatives in Flanders, Belgium, we explore swimming as an agonistic inquiry into wet policy futures, revealing the tensions between the prevailing dryness and the potential wetness of environmental—particularly water-related—governance. Theoretically, the paper weaves together affective agonistic democratic thought, political design, and MTH perspectives to articulate wetness as both a political and design orientation. We argue that open-water swimming in Flanders exemplifies a practice of political and ecological attunement that offers valuable insights into how to design wetly for ecological policymaking—immersing bodily in policy concerns and engaging affectively with MTH worlds.