Project

The building blocks of Rotterdam neighbourhood Reyeroord

Since 2018, a great deal of work has been carried out in Reyeroord, a post-war neighbourhood in the south of Rotterdam. The municipality of Rotterdam conducted lots of experiments in the public space, to test various challenges related to the transition in the neighbourhood, and make them tangible for residents. We jointly mapped out all the Reyeroord experiments and resources from the past five years with Reyeroord+, the core team in the Rotterdam municipality. How could Reyeroord serve as a model for other neighbourhoods? We organised the lessons learned from Reyeroord's socio-spatial journey of discovery in a series of practical Building Blocks for other neighbourhoods of the future.

The municipality of Rotterdam is exploring how specific projects result in transformation in the city, using Reyeroord as a laboratory. It may seem like an ambitious goal, but Reyeroord demonstrates that a process of trial and error involving many projects simultaneously can accelerate transitions.

Since 2018, many local experiments have been launched in Reyeroord on different scales, around different spatial transformations and of different durations. They align residents' needs with the major transformations that the neighbourhood is facing. How can Rotterdam become a socially-sustainable, circular, climate-adaptive and technologically-innovative city? Some 25 experiments have already been conducted in Reyeroord, such as an energy house that provides information about the energy transition and a materials depot for the neighbourhood.

However, the experiments had not yet been examined in a uniform manner. Architecture Workroom Brussels held working sessions and individual interviews to compile an overview of all the experiments, bundled according to the various themes of the transition. Moreover, when working on the experiments, the neighbourhood deployed a variety of resources, for example, to activate and inform residents and enable them to apply and use the experiments themselves. We bundled the experiments and resources in a logbook, in a way that Reyeroord+ could identify with, but which is also insightful for other neighbourhoods. Indeed, Reyeroord could be a major source of inspiration for other neighbourhoods of the future; in Rotterdam, but also beyond.

The logbook includes the research that led to the development of a practical toolkit containing Building Blocks: concrete tools to create change in the neighbourhood. Any other municipality can use the toolkit to set up its own neighbourhood experiments. They are tips presented in a handy format, so that local actors can start implementing them right away.

YEAR: 2022-2023

THIS PROJECT WAS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN Architecture Workroom Brussels AND Reyeroord+ / Gemeente Rotterdam.

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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.