Placemaking Rotterdam:
An attractive and flexible place for economic, social and cultural interactions among residents and users of Noordplein
students, university and residents unite to make better public spaces
We believe that the responsibility for transforming our
Since January 2015 our “Oude Noord” team has
that by bringing different forces together we can achieve
a more attractive and better-utilized public space.
cities should be shared among different actors. We think
been working on the Noordplein development to make it
inclusive and effective ways of making our cities work. Despite its location, less than 10 minutes walking from As urban researchers, we have identified public spaces
Rotterdam Centraal, next to the Rotte river and its
as the key building block of our cities. Streets, squares,
large area, the Noordplein is usually empty and used
parks are the spaces where people meet, discuss and
just as a crossing route between the shopping streets
where a lot of economic activity takes place. Therefore,
Noordmolenstraat and Zwaanshals and the river side.
we think that good public spaces – or PLACES - are of key importance for making our cities work. Good
Besides its physical characteristics, the stimulating
public spaces can increase social cohesion, stimulate
multicultural environment of the neighborhood and the
businesses and real estate and have environmental
enthusiastic spirit of the people indicated for our team
qualities.
the high potential of the plein to become a pleasant public place for Oude Noord or even whole Rotterdam.
Together with the students of the Urban Strategies and Planning (USP) specialization of our MSc in
On the 21st of February we conducted the first
Urban Management and Development, we have
consultation event of our place-making activity. We
been working on the development of strategies that
had prepared for all event details, including advertising
make public spaces more attractive and used by a
in advance, inviting residents and identified key
number of functions: in one word placemaking! IHS
stakeholders, preparing the venue in Noordplein itself
as an academic institution at the crossroads between
and the two-hour program, in which we discussed with
education, research and practice wants to step out and
the participants problems they find in the plein and how
use its unique holistic perspective to make an impact on
they would envision the plein in the future.
the city of Rotterdam. Working on the ground is part of our training strategies: we want to engage with real cases and continue to contribute to make Rotterdam a better place more than 55 years after being funded to bring the expertise gathered in the post-war reconstruction to the world. Today we bring to Rotterdam urban professionals from all over the world and we want to contribute with our international perspective to the development of the city. Over the last two years IHS has been directly involved in the Zomerhofkwartier through research, education and the development of a number of students’ initiatives. Now IHS is working on real cases in three different areas of Rotterdam.
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of such areas, interviewing local stakeholders and consulting with residents. Now they have developed integrated strategies to improve the quality of public
On the consultation day itself we had to deviate from our original plan and implement our plan B due to bad weather conditions. We needed to move to an in-doors location, the community center next to the plein and
spaces [see details in other articles].
accessible as we would have been in the open-space of Noordplein. But we somehow managed to mitigate this, by dividing our group into two: one group waiting for visitors in-doors and the other walking in the plein and gathering interested pedestrians ideas. Moreover, we placed a banner with a big sign and decorations on the façade of the community center to attract pedestrians. In the end, the event was a great experience for us; we learned a lot from it and most importantly we were able to gather many ideas and visions of participants from different age groups and income levels. And based on the request of some participants, a second event was planned two days later as a continuation of the consultation, in which more ideas were generated. From the input of all the participants ideas we tried to formulate a common vision, objectives and priority projects for the Noordplein: Four objectives: “Facilitate and promote various economic activities, collaborations and new linkages between stakeholders, stimulate diverse interactions between residents and non-residents of various backgrounds and create a clean, eco-friendly environment” And six projects: “Noordplein Themamarkt, Temporary kiosks, Water recreational activities on the Rotte river, Landscaping of the plein, Weekend shows and Sports tables”.
Presenting back the ideas to citizens and local stakeholders is just the first step of our commitment
After prioritizing the projects based on feasibility criteria
to make a real impact on the city. We hope for their
and stakeholder commitment, we are presenting to the
enthusiasm and engagement to implement some
public. Finally, revising the proposed projects according
activities in the coming months. From our side, we are
to the people’s feedback, we hope to have helped the
willing to provide support with our expertise and make
Ik ben Oude Noorden
the public spaces of our city work!
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specialization have been researching different aspects
less participants because we are not as visible or
enthusiastic community of Noordplein take the first steps towards realizing their “Dream Noordplein”. [ D. Tawakol; E. Kusparyati; M. Kiley; R. Cahyono; O. Arango ] [ contact: donia_tawakol@hotmail.com ]
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During the last few months, students of the USP
conduct our consultation there. This meant unfortunately
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Ik ben Katendrecht Making Buizenpark a better place Coming to Katendrecht from the Wilhelminapier,
you immediately experience its unique character,
industrial heritage and the transformations that are happening. That is why we selected this as the area we wanted to work on. Over the last months, we have been investigating the neighbourhood, identifying strengths, challenges and interesting spots to work on. We have decided to work on Buizenpark as for us, it has the potential to be one of the most attractive areas of the neighbourhood and potentially of the whole city. The park is a quiet spot with a great view on the Maas, but it has the potential to be used more by both local residents and people coming from other parts of the city. We designed a consultation program for collecting ideas and desires about the future of the park from residents and users. We faced climate challenges that made it impossible to hold the consultation in the park. Nevertheless, we received a great support from
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Making place together in Afrikaanderwijk de Schalm School that kindly hosted on a very rainy Friday afternoon. School children were a great source of ideas and energy, as they pointed out their dreams for the park. We received ideas from parents, park users and local stakeholders and used them as input for our integrated strategy for the park. Based on the consultation we developed a vision for Buizenpark: an enjoyable place which will enhance interaction between people of diverse socio-economic background. We foresee that this vision can be achieved through some specific actions, like a community garden, a food kiosk, sheltered benches, a pet service point, a movable stage for performances and a multipurpose playground. We want to share our ideas with residents and local stakeholders, in order to receive feedback and discuss [ A. Nyarko; A. Sepulveda; E. Kolodkin; M. Tardif; O. Odukoya ] [ contact: katendrecht.park@gmail.com ]
[ IHS ] [ Institute for Housing & Urban Development Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam ] [ www.ihs.nl ] [ Urban Strategies Planning] [ A. Jachnow; E. Keunen. A. Tsatsou; B. Zamora Auza; C. Capra; A. Maragdouli ]
In the last two months we have been around and
about in the vibrant and diverse neighbourhood of
Afrikaanderwijk in Rotterdam South and we had the chance to get in contact with people living and working in this area. We were inspired and influenced by on going activities initiated by residents, area based entrepreneurs and municipality representatives. Our first activity in the area took place on a stormy Saturday in February. Next to the monument for the Gastarbeider on Afrikaanderplein, we set up a Turkish tea circle, a wheel of season and storymapping activities. Despite the windy and rainy weather conditions, we got in touch with residents and Afrikaanderplein market visitors and we were able to collect various ideas, impressions and perceptions of the plein.
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NEDERLANDS ANDERE ZIJDE!
Ik ben Afrikaander wijk After the experience of the consultation day we identified several opportunities for the interface area, between the park and the market and spotted potential place-makers among the local people. After assessing different possibilities, our team started developing an integrated strategy for the area including three place-making ideas combining social, cultural and physical aspects of the neighbourhood. Now, we want to discuss our ideas and strategies together with invited stakeholders in Afrikaanderwijk. We are presenting three place-making projects including a fence photo gallery displaying local art, a pavilion for self-organized activities and a market concept with local character. In cooperation with the neighbourhood we want to develop the ideas further and make Afrikaanderplein a more attractive, used place and focal meeting point of the buurt of Afrikaanderwijk. [ C. Thanner; D. Andoh; G. Mukova; K. Grut; M. Appiah ] [ contact: gloriangela06@gmail.com ]
URBAN STRATEGIES PLANNING