Project

Rotterdam's urban management of the future

During the design process, the issue of managing and maintaining the public space is often neglected. Yet the lifespan of the public space depends on an effective management and maintenance plan. Rotterdam aims to upgrade its public space through the ambitious '7 Stadsprojecten' (7 City Projects in English) urban development programme. Architecture Workroom Brussels is supporting the city in setting up a learning and testing environment for the implementation of 'Urban Management 2.0'.

In the '7 Stadsprojecten', different types of public space such as water and elevated parks, squares and boulevards are tackled comprehensively. The aim is to address major transition issues by making the city more sustainable, greener, climate-robust and inclusive.

 

Work on the city does not stop after the design and implementation phases. The public space also needs management and maintenance long after that. In order to work more efficiently at both the management and the design level, the Urban Management department is setting up a programme with the motto 'design-based management is 'management by design'. How can the city services develop methods for 'design-based management' and 'management by design' in the future? How can structural cooperation between the departments of Urban Management and Urban Development be achieved?

 

In this project, Architecture Workroom is supporting Rotterdam Urban Management in setting up a learning and testing environment to improve cooperation between the various city services. The '7 Stadsprojecten' provide the momentum that will allow us, together with the Urban Management and Urban Development departments, to develop 'Urban Management 2.0' by immediately testing it in practice. In a series of ateliers, one focusing on the management tasks in the '7 Stadsprojecten' and the other on the common renewal challenges in the post-war expansion district of Reyeroord, we will examine how both city departments can rethink their role and work together on the new shared tasks that need to find their place and space in the city. The insights from these ateliers are bundled in recommendations and work trajectories for Rotterdam's urban management of the future.

Commissioning parties: Municipality of Rotterdam - Urban Management Department

Year: 2020-2021

Related Projects
2021: City Deal Public Space
Related Projects
2019: Lead Group in Urban Management – 10 keys for the management of the future
EN FR NL
WORKROOM

Since 2010, Architecture Workroom Brussels has focused on the future of our living environment. The organisation began as a safe haven to address the link between space and societal transitions, aimed at fostering a futureproof design practice, commissioning and building culture.

It has now become evident that the transformation of our streets, neighbourhoods, and landscapes is both a prerequisite and a lever for achieving societal goals in synergy. Yet we observe that these transformations remain difficult to imagine and implement. They span so many sectors and involve so many actors that responsibility falls on everyone, and therefore, ultimately, on no one.

That is why we make it our mission to create the space that connects them. And with this refined mission comes a new name: WORKROOM, House for transformation. WORKROOM is the shared space where the future of our living environment is not only imagined but also organised.

We are currently taking the lead on three mission-driven transformations:

  • SOCIETAL INCUBATORS - By 2030, stakeholders from the youth, culture, sports, care and education sectors will join forces to create renewed societal spaces that tackle loneliness and counteract the fragmentation and pressure on public infrastructure.
  • FOSSIL-FREE NEIGHBOURHOODS - By 2030, at least ten neighbourhoods will be underway with the transition to fossil-free energy in an inclusive and affordable way, with a view to completely phase-out fossil fuels by 2040.
  • SPONGE LANDSCAPES - By 2030, we will have achieved our water, agriculture and nature goals through a single, coherent approach at catchment area level, in which strong regional coalitions collectively enhance the landscape's sponge capacity.

To make these transformations a reality, WORKROOM works shoulder to shoulder with pioneering designers, local authorities, organisations and businesses, governments, knowledge institutions and impact investors.

Through co-creative design, we imagine shared pathways to the future in exhibitions, publications, innovation programmes and public programmes. These are the workrooms where we connect the actors capable of realising these transformations. From there, we design shared ownership and the organisational, funding and policy models that lead to real change.

The name is simpler. The stakes are higher. WORKROOM is the shared space where we tackle the social and spatial transformations that no one can achieve alone. In an era of polarisation, compartmentalisation and instability, that is perhaps the most radical thing we can do.