CITY TALK:
The once firmly established practice of urbanism in the Netherlands is shaking on its foundations. Are zoning plans, spatial development strategies and the aesthetics committee becoming obsolete? The economic crisis has made the big project developers cautious and stimulated the development of new methods of city making. Citizens also want to participate more often in the creation of their own living environments and will no longer accept the standard solutions that a lot of big developments offer. That is why for the ‘City talk: BottomUp Urbanism’ 130 architects, urbanists, designers, public servants and
BOTTOM-UP
citizens involved in bottom-up urbanism practices and lots of eager
URBANISM
students gathered to exchange ideas and visions concerning this hot topic. This article provides the highlights of said city talk. TEXT: RICK ABELEN, JUSTIN AGYIN & BRAM NUIJTEN
Eleven former factory buildings form the base
initiative as a contact point for stakeholders for
value in this period and attract investors. The
of the NRE-terrain. A perfectly accessible area
instance. The process should be self-regulating,
iconic complex is located in the west of the city
at the end of the Eindhoven canal and on the
but municipalities have to safeguard the quality
and is easily accessible. At the Factory you can
edge of the city center. Nevertheless, this part of
of the project. Accordingly, a professional should
enjoy food and drinks, sports, music, art, culture
Eindhoven is unfamiliar territory for the ordinary
keep his or her status as such. The question that
and weekly events.
Eindhovenaar. Magdaleen Kroese, architect
we should ask however is; when can we still talk
at MAG Architecten and involved with the
of a bottom-up initiative?
The area is developed by architects who took
“Transform temporality into permanance”
the lead. There however was space for initiatives
development of the NRE-terrain, tells about the bottom-up initiatives at the NRE-terrain and the constraints, opportunities and threats. Kroese talks about the creation of the initiative. Since 2014 the municipality works with enthusiastic founders and future residents and users to transform the area. It has become a location
by other stakeholders, such as the beer brewers of Oersoep. It is essential to involve people and give them opportunities, accordingly to Bijl. Through involving people and by seeking for co-creation to promote development-concepts, it is possible to create a sound social urban development.
where the municipality has given people the
According to Arie Willem Bijl, the next speaker
opportunity to develop their own dreams, and
at the City talk, one thing we can be certain of is
It is important to respond to temporary entrepre-
where the rich history and industrial character of
that the conventional way of area development
neurship and create added value to projects.
the area is revaluated.
is definitely over. Municipalities should facilitate
Temporary entrepreneurship creates an attractive
initiatives of stakeholders. He introduces us to
effect on people, what results in social develop-
Magdaleen Kroese emphasizes trust between
the Honig Factory in Nijmegen as an example of
ment. Bijl states that, it is essential to transform
stakeholders to be crucial for such bottom-up
what he has been working on and how bottom-
the temporality into permanence. This is possible
developments. The intention is to create a proj-
up urbanism can be interpreted. The former
by making use of the positive energy that has
ect with social value. Therefore, the municipal-
Honig Factory is designated as the new hotspot
been created with this development.
ity should not steer the process, but coach the
in Nijmegen until 2022. The vision is to create From Nijmegen we move back to Eindhoven with Proeftuin040. With this platform Niek van de Klundert wants to break down the old stereotype of Eindhoven as an ugly concrete city, turn it into a city booming in urban farming and raise awareness amongst people about green spaces and the production in urban environments. The platform is a continuation of an urban camping Van de Klundert and his team set up during the Dutch Design Week of 2012, where they wanted to deal with urban wastelands in a creative way. The platform wants to contribute
8 | CHEPOS
CITY TALK: BOTTOM-UP URBANISM