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. 

Passing time with Holland's Expert on Turbo Roundabouts

It's not every day you get a full-fledged explanation of the genius behind the roundabout traffic concept by the very inventor of the turbo roundabout. The turbo roundabout is a multi-lane traffic design that creates order out of complex intersections. Although the civil engineering science behind the scenes was a bit over my head, one lesson I've learned for any future planning projects in neighborhood traffic sustainability and safety is that roundabouts enhance traffic safety, efficiency, and mobility for drivers and cyclists alike.

According to statistics and simulation models shown to us, roundabouts hold sufficient capacity for the smooth flow of traffic, while preventing accidents, particularly T-bones which typically result in the worst damage. Most importantly, they slow speeds to protects cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers. After all, speed is a significant indicator of the severity of an accident.

Roundabouts can be optimized with the proper design features in order to avoid side crashes and overcapacity, including road dimensions and turning widths, redundant signage overhead and on the road itself, raised blocks, bollards, or other physical barriers to separate lanes, a raised center surface, and traffic signals about 30 meters from the entrance of the traffic circle to regulate traffic. With multiple lanes and entrances, complexity is increased, and other dividing lines and regulating measures must be put in place. Strangely enough, increasing roundabout complexity with good design can make drivers more aware and cautious about using them, and therefore, increase safety. In addition, tunnels and two-way cycling tracks on one side can be used to ensure cyclists' visibility, and thus safety, to drivers. Additional research has been done showing that when cyclists have to yield to drivers on entering and exiting roundabouts, accident frequency is reduced by about a half.

Lessons learned? Roundabouts are an essential component of sustainable and safe communities. Some unanswered questions of mine include whether roundabouts might help solve some of the more severe traffic problems in urban megapolises, particularly in the Global South, such as Jakarta, Manila, Hanoi, Sao Paolo, and Mumbai, which suffer from too many cars on the road and often have their own intuitive methods of organizing and moving traffic.

Metering is used to communicate to drivers when it is safe to enter a roundabout, while regulating the flow of traffic

Redundant and bold signage helps prevent lane switching once in the roundabout

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.

Neighborhood Design around Delft: Visits to Oost Tanthof and Delfgauw

Today we had the chance to get acquainted with Dutch urban form at a neighborhood scale while visiting Oost Tanthof and Delfgauw, residential areas of Delft, by bike. The Oost Tanthof neighborhood dates back to the 1980s, while Delfgauw, an area developed in the 90s which continues to functionally serve the Delft municipality. The latter consists of a higher-income demographic and more modern architecture. Unlike most of the residential areas of the United States and Canada, these Duch neighborhoods do not privilege sprawling development and autocentrism. Oost Tanthof enables circulation throughout the neighborhood and connectivity to the rest of Delft by supporting multi-modal mobility through walking, cycling, and bus transit. Delfgauw displays half automobile/ half bicycle infrastructure.

Lack of side friction in a typical American residential street encourages speeding. In addition, few sidewalks and bike paths and few services/ places within close proximity to go limit walking or cycling. 

 Tanthof applies the slow streets concept through speed bumps and the narrowing of streets, also known as 'road dieting'

Tanthof resembles the village-like built environment upheld by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and works as an admirable example of a 'walkable, sustainable community'. Notice through the photos how much attention is paid to diversity of housing types, mixed- use development, greenery, and modest density to accomodate families and senior citizens alike. Schools, shops, and recreational facilities exist within close proximity (1-10 minute walking distance) from homes. Although the central shopping strip did not contain much variety, with only a Jumbo supermarket, bakery, and hair dresser in sight, to name a few, it surely fulfills the basic needs for those living nearby. For more choices, residents can easily bike to central Delft.

Clearly, planners tried fitting in multi-family housing into as small land parcels as possible, without overwhelming the area with density and threatening its tranquil, residential character. Blocks are kept short and permeable through narrow walkways between housing developments. Traffic calming techniques are also applied through small speed bumps and road narrowing. Roads rarely impede connectivity, as leveled walkways connect buildings to each other-- for instance, at a school and an apartment building.

 Duplexes enable land use efficiency but the private entrances and backyards resemble those of a detached home. Privacy and density increases are reconciled by enabling a bit of room for backyard space with good access to natural green space. 

Shopping trips can be made most conveniently by bike, as few car parking spots are available and travel distances are kept to a minimum.

Narrow walkways enable pedestrian flexibility across the neighborhood and adhere to human scale 

The Emerald development in Delfgauw harbors more modern housing and a shopping mall-like center, with a few essential stores, like a bakery, large grocery store, hair salon, and some other specialty shops. The community felt less mixed use, as the shopping center was centralized, perhaps explaining why the neighborhood lacked some vibrancy. Nonetheless, the neighborhood still ensures walkability and bikability. Although the parking lot size and form resembled that of a typical American supermarket's, Emerald's lot could be accessed by bikes through ramps and contained sufficient bike racks.


The development contains a range of housing typologies. Some blocks had large enough lots for semi-detached duplexes and row housing with room for parking in front and back gardens. These 'houses' had their own entrances and could be accessed from both the front from the street and back from a narrow walking path. In this sense, it resembled a hybrid of an American suburb with the density of an old English suburb. Apartment complexes also existed nearby. The mixed demographic mirrors the diverse housing types: children, older couples, and young teenagers and students all frequented the streets of this neighborhood. In terms of traffic patterns, this neighborhood, although slightly less bike friendly and more car friendly, felt safe to cycle around and drivers were always cautious and yielded to us as we crossed roads on our bikes. Thank the speed bumps and narrow streets, which slow vehicle speeds, as well as Dutch laws which hold drivers fully accountable for any accidents.

For more information on cycling and traffic culture in the Netherlands, read here

The Emerald shopping center parking lot resembles that of an expansive American parking lot, with the exception of bicycle transport accommodation

The Emerald's mid rise development with rather green frontages and car parking offset further from homes to make room for a sidewalk at the entrance.

Sustainable Community Systems in the Netherlands: First Impressions from Delft

I attended a Critical Mass communal bike ride a few years ago. The event called "Go Dutch" ended with volunteers handing out t-shirts with the slogan "Get in touch with your inner Dutch". This all makes sense after visiting Holland, especially for the second time. The Netherlands boasts one of the most advanced cycling, water transport, and rail infrastructure systems, worthy of admiration by European municipalities and world cities alike.

Upon entering the Netherlands this time around, I was surprised by the proximity between cities. In fact, these cities make up an urban agglomeration comparable to Paris and other major European metropoles. Amsterdam, the Hague, Delft, Leiden, and Rotterdam can all be reached within an hour and half train ride of each other. When I went to Delft, what stood out most for me was how human-scale the neighborhood is; biking and walking comprise the dominant forms of transport.  As a planning and urbanism student, I noticed how the small scale architecture fits well with the small scale (although expansiveness) of the road network, but I wonder how much had to be adapted to the cycling. Each municipality is connected to others through the waterways and rapid bus and cycling transportation infrastructure.

One of my primary interests in the field of planning is gender mainstreaming within urban landscapes through design. Many cities, especially North American ones, do not consider the needs of women and children, especially with regards to safety and well being. Through Holland's bike system, engaging in risky behavior like riding a bike on a busy road full of cars isn't necessary. Thus, Delft's infrastructure does not limit women and children's mobility in the city. In addition, other safety considerations are taken into account, for example, the strong surveillance of bike parking facilities and separated bike paths (differentiable by pavement surface type and color). Delft offers a sound model of feminist planning in practice. 

Below are some highlights from today's bike tour of Delft: 

An advisory path that enables cyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles to share the road, but cyclists are still given preference. This ensures that cyclists remain the dominant form of transport and  These road networks are part of a larger regional network across the northern-eastern Netherlands and Germany. 

A woonerf, the Dutch word for "living street" creates a car-free residential zone and fosters a pleasant neighborhood experience. It is quiet, surrounded by greenery, and safe for play and recreational activities for families and individuals from all age backgrounds. At the same time, it is accessible to commercial use areas and transportation hubs like the Delft Central Station. 

A well-designed covered bicycle parking facility at the Delft Central station ensures that bikes can be parked safely and conveniently. It alleviates messy bike parking and cluttering of bikes on the streets, which would otherwise inconvenience other cyclists and pedestrian. Electronic monitoring helps keep track of how many bike parking spaces are available. To save space, bikes can be 'parked' on two levels. The facility is video-monitored and well-lit to ensure "eyes on the street". 

Bottoms up

Urban planning wasn't ever an actual 'thing' until humans decided to create some formal basis for how to design human settlement. Before that, it might have been a land's topography and climate that determined how a land was to be inhabitable, like Scotland's Skara Brae, or China's Banpo. Today's city all seem to aim for design homogeny that conquers the land rather than works it, a sad turn of events that is resulting in loss of cultural identity in many regions of Asia.

Cultural identity is important to keep a people rooted to their land, distinguish and love it enough to want to nurture it and to improve it for themselves and their community. Social sustainability is an activator of economic and environmental sustainability, and that is why public engagement has to be considered in the design process.

Top-down regional planning processes do nothing for the people. It is undemocratic because it doesn't consider the way the people want to live, but rather the planner's calculations of air pollution and traffic congestion which can offset the community's ability/will to be environmentally conscious. It is a muddled mixture of command-and-control forms of planning that really only caters to the transportation and land-use, which forgoes a comprehension of how people want to live. Depression has increased among the young as a result of highrise apartments that do not provide the opportunity for community building. A depressed city is an unproductive city.

Bottom-up approaches to planning however has its own set of problems. Firstly, you can't use a bottom-up approach where there is no bottom - in other words, new settlements have to be designed through a top-down approach. Secondly, as suggested by the first hurdle, a bottom needs to exist. Third, the community needs to be involved - therefore the community should be interested in being involved, and the bigger that community is, the harder it is to satisfy all voices. All of these factors indicate one thing: coordination of implementation is very hard to accomplish with a bottom-up approach.

The challenge is striking a balance between the two approaches, and one way to do this is by localizing the medication where its needed. If bottom-up approaches work best for smaller populations, keep these approaches to local areas to empower the people and make them feel that the city cares for their well-being. Top-down approaches frame the city through rational and system eyes, necessary to scale down the challenge of designing for high density to a solvable problem.

Now, this only really considers the approach to urban design. It's no surprise that top-down approaches are criticized for causing large-scale damage through poor policy (i.e. inadequate water/sanity coverage in Latin America). Where institutions are still being developed rather than established, it's better to keep the technical decisions to social monitoring, rather than governmental monitoring. Limit the scale of x, y, z development (height, length, width of a block). Promote walkable densities. Develop public spaces for public forums on these types of topic. Keep the city alive by keeping its citizens engaged.

Tabinda

Building Urban Resilience through Social Connectedness (pt 2)

When imagining the city and modern society facing social and ecological crises, we tend to turn to dystopian thinking thinking. This is a rather ineffective approach, as it paralyzes us from making necessary changes to adapt. Rather, we can take a disruptive imaginings approach, in which we begin to question our  perceptions, and cultural norms that dictate the way our modern urban lifestyle unfolds. This is what resilience thinking looks like. One way to conduct a disruptive imagining is to create a prototype in order to imagine how the world might look like if we were to build resilience. 

We wanted to imagine a different social future in our cities. Particularly, we were responding to a failure in medium-high density neighborhoods to foster healthy levels of social interactions among neighbors or building inhabitants. Following the Healthiest City Strategy, a government document that outlines goals for such a sustainable future, including a priority action in the realm of cultivating connections in the city, a group of students and I, under the guidance of Vancouver-based CityStudio, an innovation hub, and InWithForward, a service design firm, co-created a program called Rezcue Buddy to experiment with social connectedness. The exercise was done to determine whether we could meet the City of Vancouver's goal: "have each Vancouverite know four people in their network." 

We found this goal to be extremely challenging to meet, which demonstrates that due to a number of social, structural, and cultural boundaries, we are limited in bridging social interaction among strangers, and thus may limit ourselves in finding urban resilience.