A History of Urbanism in Rotterdam

As first-time visitors to Rotterdam, the southernmost port city forming the Netherland's major metropolitan region, what better way to become acquainted with how the city deals with its transportation and land use issues, than to hear from two of Rotterdam's 'plangineers' and professors at the Rotterdam Hoge School. I use this as their job title because of the institution's progressive interdisciplinary curriculum in which civil engineering, planning, and architecture are well  engouh integrated to be taught alongside each other in one lecture.

Rotterdam: A "Brief" History 

70% of Holland is below sea level (shocking, right?). But the Dutch are also notoriously known for having one of the oldest water management regimes-- in fact, it's the oldest of all governance systems in the country-- to deal with this issue. The cities we see along the delta region today were those settlements that managed to drain the silted areas by building dams, hold back seawater through dykes, and gain wealth by trade along the waterways. Rotterdam, among others, succeeded and managed to overtake nearby Delft in trade power as well, mostly due to its strategic location in a less sedimented area.

Rotterdam was shaped historically by a number of planning decisions. Many of these are regarding the city's sanitary condition and grey infrastructure, but also its connectivity with the rest of the region and within the city. Making the decision to build train lines connecting to the north (Amsterdam and the Hague), the east (to Utrecht), and the south (to Antwerp, Belgium), as well as building a train line in the middle of the city, ensure full connectivity to other major economic hubs in nearby and connectivity within the city's bounds. It ensured development would occur in all areas of the city. Bridges also formed a major foundation, in order to avoid one part of the city being solely commercial, and the other side solely residential.  Mixed use land patterns was important to ensure the skyscraper areas did not succumb to the suburban involution, a problem that affects downtown areas of Vancouver today.

Over time, Rotterdam's land use changed from long and narrow meadow blocks, which were eventually subdivided into housing lots still visible today. The urban fabric has changed and been influenced by a number of architectural influences, including classicists- which is why we still see some brick row houses also found in Amsterdam, as well as modernists (like Haussmann) who appreciate grandiose Parisian boulevards, and high rises. One professor called the architecture in the city "eclectic", while another more critical professor believed it to be rather "chaotic".

What differentiates Rotterdam from the other delta cities in the Netherlands is its larger scale, a shift that took place both before and after its destruction in the Second World War.  Rotterdam plays on a global platform, with an outward looking planning approach, visible by its more prominent architecture - a landscape I'd regard as les modest and European and more international (explained by the various international architects whose high-rises dot its skyline).

Image Source: http://www.kunsthal.nl/

In addition, Rotterdam underwent a post-modernist movement, with focus equally being paid to quality of life. Rotterdam still has soft infrastructure in the form of greenspace and emphasizes art in public space as an important amenity, as much as transit infrastructure and connectivity. It boasts an impressive, although industrial, landscape, unlike any other in the Netherlands. In constructing Rotterdam's landscape, planning and engineering process is equally important. For instance, when developers and architects compete to establish a construction project in Rotterdam, planners outweigh both monetary and non-monetary benefits. They do not only consider the costs (bottom line) of the project, but also the social benefit of the project. It is not necessary the lowest cost project that wins the project opportunity. If the benefits are environmental or aesthetic or social, the project has good chances; for instance, if the project promises to hire contract workers from low-education background, extra points will be rewarded for the project's potential non-monetary social benefit.

While definitely understated, Rotterdam is the very cool sister city of Amsterdam and may overtake Amsterdam in popularity in the near future. 

A Celebratory and Critical Assessment and Traffic and Urban Transformation Policies in the Hague

Today, we took the hour bike ride from Delft to Den Haag (The Hague), one of the four major metropolitan centres, including Amsterdam and Schiphol, comprising the Netherlands' major agglomeration. This agglomeration is the fourth largest in Europe. Once there, the municipality's  traffic policy department gave us and overview of its transformative policies before enthusiastically embarking with us on a walking tour for a more on the ground experience to witness the transformations to this area since the 1970s

Once a parking lot, this space has been handed over to the public realm and Mother Earth

Historical Traffic Policy and Change

Admirably, The Hague's officials applied a proactive approach when dealing with the disruptive culmination of events including the 1973 oil crisis, a devastating increase in death from traffic-related incidents, and congestion on roadways. To break the habit, officials applied a 'build it and they will come' approach by installing bike lanes and storage facilities, halting plans to build more freeways, and devise other innovative solutions to increase connectivity, including introducing train and light rail systems, park and ride programs, and creating daily bike rental programs.

In addition, they placed parking facilities underground, and transformed parking lots into public spaces which are now used for  public seating areas, art installations, and cafes for local businesses. Based on the tour guide's explanation, it appears that the Hague's officials ensured sufficient and iterative decision making based on multi-stakeholder consultation. They admitted that one failure while building a bike lane resulted from neglecting to consulting the businesses owners, and rather only seeking the opinion of cyclist community.

All that glitters is not gold... 

Having a planning background, I fall into the habit of gathering various social groups' perspectives on an urban development issue. While the traffic policy officials were excited to show us the positive changes from their plans, where I remain skeptical with the Hague's urban policies is its slightly neoliberal approach. For instance, our tour guides mentioned that public land is up for grabs to sell and convert to a train station expansion. Beyond this, I felt hesitant about the number of urban megaprojects in the central area. Moreover, the architecture mimicked the modernism hailed in the 1950s (a bit too Le Corbusier for my taste).

An immigrant neighborhood bordering the downtown Hague seemed to lack proper bike lane facilities. While millions of euros are feeding into these downtown infrastructural improvements, I wonder if these peripheral areas get the proper attention they need. It wouldn't be the first time UMP get all the funding (Vancouver is particularly guilty!). Furthermore, with all the changes occurring in the core, are these residents at risk of displacement? Are their voices heard?

While the Dutch remain proud of their bicycle utopia, after experiencing a week of cycling in Delft and the Hague, and previously another week in Amsterdam, I am still a bit critical of their system.   During the tour, we discovered a newly opened underground storage facility with capacity for 400 bikes that was already full. While biking is definitely one way to encourage sustainable communities, I'm not sure I'm all that ready to "go Dutch". Perhaps we ought to look more to multi-modal solutions to enable flexibility and fairness in traffic for urban quality of life.

Miami's Model of Increasing Participation in Public Space Enhancement

As a former Miami resident, I used to complain on a daily basis about the limited public spaces throughout the city. Most spaces either catered to consumptive opportunities, like bar patios, malls, and theaters, or to recreational purposes only, like basketball and tennis courts, or pools, but simple hang out spots that were also aesthetically pleasing or plain cool (besides our beach) were rare.

In the last five years, the city has experienced a rapid turn around and we can partially thank the Miami Foundation for that. The foundation, which offers a multitude of grant programs, has established a Public Spaces Challenge to invite programming and design ideas from local citizens on how to revitalize public space in the city and increase genuine participation in planning efforts. Following its infamous area code ("305"), the competition offers a total of $305,000 yearly and selects a number of projects, ranging from events and ongoing programs to physical installations.

The platform itself is innovative. On the design competition's web page, members of the public can pin their concepts on a map of the city to specify its location and add a small blurb (along with images and detailed descriptions) of how this idea might improve the city. Comments are allowed as well to help facilitate conversation around the idea during the selection process and encourage collaboration among diverse members of the public.

Some innovative ideas from this year's challenge:

• Containers in Community/ Brickell Exercise Box: this neighborhood scale installation takes old materials to create 'mini parks' on parking spots. It borrow ideas from urbanism concepts such as shipping container construction and parklets, but the innovative approach lies in its desire to draw Miamians outside to exercise and continue their traditional indoor gymming habits. The project is recreational in nature but solves a number of urbanism issues including public health, slow streets, and reuse of building materials from the nearby port.

• Roots Collective Black Marketplace: this project is self-proclaimed to promote small business development in Little Haiti, a predominantly black working class neighborhood in North Miami, through a monthly meeting that encourages networking through ideas sharing to bridge the equity gap and empower the local community across cultural boundaries. The concept tackles a fundamental issue related to immobility and missed economic opportunity of residents in a low-income black community. In addition, local art, dance, and music are leveraged to preserve unity despite rapid redevelopment in the surrounding area. 

Participants pin their ideas to the map. Image Source: OurMiami Miami Public Spaces Challenge 

Visit the Miami Foundation Public Spaces Challenge website here