Urban Tour #2

In just a few years, a complete wasteland was transformed into a lively area that is now bustling with life. The central axe of this all is the striking bright yellow boardwalk: the Luchtsingel.

In 2011, the municipality of Rotterdam organized the first city initiative, an administrative instrument to stimulate administrative renewal and citizen participation. The inhabitants of Rotterdam were called upon to submit projects that would enliven the city and improve the quality of life in the city. An amount of 4 million has been reserved from the city initiative to implement the project.

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A Board of Experts was installed to make a selection of projects independently of the College. Twenty Rotterdam Ambassadors traveled through the city in search of projects. The Board selected 10 entrants to present their project plan from which they made a selection of five finalists. All residents of Rotterdam were then given the opportunity to vote for their favorite initiative. After a campaign period of one month, the Luchtsingel won with 48% of the votes.

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The initiator behind this drastic urban intervention was architecture office ZUS. They moved their own office to the Schieblock, an icon of the rebuilding period in Rotterdam. Once they were in place, they gathered all sorts of creative agency’s around them, starting with small start-ups, but later even attracting established cultural entrepreneurs, clubs and festivals. The 350-meter-long Luchtsingel formed the collective element with which ZUS blew new life into an area that had become in decay and isolated. It was this elongated wooden construction that became the backbone of a large urban development project. Within no time, the Central District – with the brand-new Central Station as its centre piece – and the renovated Hofbogen got connected in an innovative way, resulting in an uplift for the entire area. From drinks in a sunny backyard to dancing in Rotterdam’s latest pop temple and from urban farming (DakAkker*) on a roof to jumping on a trampoline in the Pompenburg Park.