Column by Eduard Voorn

© Ralf Emmerich

Eduard Voorn is a freelance journalist with a focus on economics, and first and foremost a Rotterdammer. He lives in the villagey outskirts of Rotterdam Central District, eats his pizza at Bird, raises a pint at Biergarten or Weena, gets his caffeine fix at Lebkov, catches the latest flicks in Pathé Schouwburgplein and sees Scapino at Theater Rotterdam. His kids were born in the nowfamous Mecanoo architectural firm’s first project on Kruisplein.

TAKE DOWN BERLIN WALL OF SCOOTERS

I applaud Giof Palumbo. Who? He and his scaffold-building team made it possible for me to walk high above Coolsingel to the roof of the Bijenkorf. While world-renowned architects like Winy Maas of MVRDV dream up spectacular structures, it’s people like Giof who scale great heights to build them. Walking the urban boulevard designed by another famed designer – Adriaan Geuze of West 8 – was an awesome experience. Along the way, I was struck by two things.

From a height of twenty or thirty metres, Coolsingel looks pretty green.

Adriaan left a sizeable number of leafy mammoths standing, but also added many trees. Provided they get enough water in the ever-warming climate, this canopy will help to cool our urban environment. This is a vital necessity in the redevelopment of Hofplein as well. Right now, there’s too much hard paving in central Rotterdam as a whole, including Rotterdam Central District (RCD), and in recent weeks we’ve all been feeling the heat. The 150 or so new trees to be planted on and around the greener Hofplein should make air temperatures feel at least 7 °C cooler.

The other thing I noticed was less pleasing. Looking down in the other direction, I saw a mess of electric as well as regular scooters and bicycles parked every which way in front of the Bijenkorf. With this ‘Berlin wall of two-wheelers’ blocking up the pavement, pedestrians can literally take a hike. Sure, I know: Dutch people, and rules... Around Central Station, in the heart of RCD, geofencing has succeeded in corralling e-scooters into zones, but for the rest people dump them anywhere. One effect of this is that city officials in more and more places are having second thoughts about electric transport, just when we ought to be making mobility greener.

As in my previous columns, I say we involve generations Y and Z in this problem. They are the ones using scooter-sharing platforms and working in RCD and the office strips fanning out to Blaak and Westblaak. How? By organizing walk-and-talks with mobility providers and city hall policymakers. I’m convinced they’ll stumble across some interesting ideas. Also worth considering are monetary incentives for parking outside the city centre. That would get people moving while at the same time clearing up the clutter on Coolsingel’s bike and scooter path.