City expedition Rotterdam Re:kreators rapport

CITY MAKERS SUMMIT 27 - 30 MAY 2016 CITY EXPEDITION GUIDE ROTTERDAM:

RAPPORT

0 3 7 2 E P O NEW EUR MAY 2016

Y T I C S R E K A M T I M SUM organised by:

Partners of the Day: AFRI KAANDER WIJK CO-OP

City in the Making

Re:Kreators Meet-up Rotterdam City Makers Summit: City Expedition Rotterdam Meeting the aspiring Re:Kreators, of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and beyond.

Re:Kreators of Rotterdam With two days left to go until the Summit, the European City Makers divided themselves over ten dutch cities. Sixty of them chose Rotterdam, to learn and share their city making knowledge and to explore the possibilities of our rising network: the Re:Kreators. We were joined by none less than the president of the European Commission of the Region, Markku Markkula.

The Re:Kreators are a European network of city (re)makers, like ZOHO in Rotterdam, Holzmarkt in Berlin and many others. The Re:Kreators find commonalities in their alternative approach to area (re)development.

We strive to enable sustainable, social and co-creative urban area development following fair principles. Our aim is to share our knowledge between our fellow members and to join our voices to strengthen our position throughout Europe.

City excusrion on bike

On May 28th the Re:Kreators came together with aspiring members, in Rotterdam. During the day we exchanged thoughts and experiences. We visited several undergoing initiatives in Rotterdam, such as: Marconia, Made in 4havens, and the Hoogkwartier. Some of these projects were initiated by current Re:Kreators members, but we also met several new city (re)makers, which will hopefully support the network in the future.

During the excursions the initiators presented their projects. Also they included the participants into their thoughts processes for the future of their projects. During this, many questions arose on a variation of different topics.

These discussions were latter integrated into workshops, at ZOHO. During these workshops we examined challanges such as financing, organisation, and the relationship between bottom level and top level of the governance system. During the workshops, we had the honor to receive the European delegation of Mr. Markku Markkula who reflected on our questions and on our findings.

This is a rapport on the discussions, conclusions and questions which arose on the 28th of May.

Discussion: The challange of financing One of the most prominent debate topics during the workshops, was money. City Makers in general, and Re:Kreators in particular, are not ‘in it for the money’. The whole purpose of the movement is to create a sustainable alternative to traditional city development. And the main critique for that traditional form of development is that it is too focused on money.

However, thought we focus our development in creating value for people, we can not extract ourselves from the monetary system completely. Though City Making is substantially cheaper than old-fashioned master-plan development, it is not ‘free’. City making requires time and resources.

Re:Kreators are already acchiving positive impacts for local communities. They create jobs, culture, art and improved public spaces.

They do this, by organising and connecting people. Bringing together entrepreneurial and stimulating them to work co-operate and co-create new businesses, functions, and activities. These mediating activities take a lot of time an effort.

Though the activities of these people are vital for the regeneration of deprived urban areas, they are still hardly recognised by authorities nor private parties. Like one of our Re:Kreators said to Markku Markkula:

‘We created the jobs, it is just that the jobs are not being paid.’

The lack of money has a crippling effect on the projects. It is not just that Re:Kreators need money for their own time and effort. More importantly, money is needed for investments in experimentation and expansion.

Getting recognition The problem of money, is strongly related to recognition. The organising approach of the Re:Kreators, can be hard to see from a governmental point of view. This has a lot to do with the governments - and private party’s - inexperience in city making.

We are aware that we should not try to solve this by holding our hands up towards the governments. If the Re:Kreators want recognition and payment for their efforts, they need to be adopted by the society as whole. In order to do that we have indicated what we think must change in the organisations and stakeholders with which we are now working.

Clients Clients should share the outputs of our activities with their colleagues and partners. So as to make our work more know in their respective professional fields.

Communities Should be more aware of the value of City Makers, and try to compensate for their efforts. This is not only important for the Re:Kreators to continue work, but also to retain his or her ‘neutral’ position in the stakeholder relationship.

Municipalities Should realise that Re:Kreators and City Makers are in fact ‘doing their jobs’. Therefore local municipalities should make as much of effort as possible to facilitate for our projects. This means monetary compensation, but also flexible regulations, and more importantly coorporation.

Re:Kreators The Re:Kreators themselves also have a big role to play. They need to organise their network in order to gain recognition from society.

The Re:Kreators should have a portfolio of projects, so that future clients (read: communities, municipalities, private parties) can get an impression on what to expect when a Re:Kreators is activated. The network should act as consulting service for governments and private parties. They should show the establishment the possibilities of City Making, and put local authorities in contact with residing Re:Kreators and City Makers.

Reflections of Markku Markkula After the workshops, there was a moment for reflection for the President of the CoR. A brief account of his reflections and conclusions follows here.

Markkula’s reflections on conclusions of the day was positive. Markkula agreed to the importance of mediators(read: City Makers or Re:Kreators) in the process of urban regeneration. However, he also stressed the crucial importance of the local communities of cities. Deprivation is not only countered by mediators, but also by a community that feels capable of taking matters into their own hands. The people need to shape their own environments.

Markku Markkula visits

ZOHO, and gets a tour by Jeroen Laven

Markkula argued that this is possible through the large body of knowledge which lies embedded within networks such as the Re:Kreators and the City Makers. The most important thing to do then, therefore it should be a priority to make our knowledge accessible to the greater public. The accessibility of knowledge and ‘know-how’ is a great factor in the facilitation of community led projects. This is why open source networks are so important for the future of our cities.

Another key point for the president, was the accessibility of the CoR. Questions arose from the audience on what kind of cooperative or organisations the CoR would deem worthy of investment. Markulla responded with the sympathetic line:

‘we are not interested in what you do with the money, we are interested in your impact.’

- Markkula

Excursion to the Hoogkwartier

The CoR and the EU realise that initiatives such as those of the Re:Kreators are far to varied and context related to be regulated from an international stand point. Markkula therefore made the case for flexibility and reduced bureaucracy. According to him the EU looks for three crucial elements: 1. Regional specialisation, and collaboration between specialised regions 2. Entrepreneurial spirit, and competitiveness 3. Fully functioning market

As long as initiatives support these desires, they can gain the support of the governing bodies of the EU. It is looking back on the reflections of the President of the CoR, we can state that the goals of the EU share many commonalities with those of the Re:Kreators. And we think our first encounter with the president is promising for future collaborations. We hope to build upon the contacts we made to further extend the positive impact of the Re:Kreators on Europe’s cities.The acknowledgment of city makers inside the Urban Agenda – Pact of Amsterdam signed on May 30 is an encouragement.

However, since a critical Markkula’s recognition of but there is still a long to put it in the words of

mass is lacking the journey is far from done. our role in urban regeneration is encouraging, way to go before city making practices are Markkula - truly mainstream.

For anyone interested in joining our ideals, we look forward on becoming a re:Kreator member.

The closer at the IABR.

Participants of the 28ste of May Name

Surname

Organisation

City

Dominiquea

Almeida

Amsterdam

Jos

Arends

Studio Ck9 + Open leercentra ROC

Unige

Bagdi

-

Amsterdam

Milan

Bcik

IPR Prague

Prague

Sylvine

Bois-Choussy

Paris

Jonas

Büchel

European network of cultural centers

Valentina

Coletta

Rotterdam-Roma

Mindaugas

Danys

valentina coletta_studio slug

Stan

De Kanter

Popup World

Amsterdam

Ann

Dom

Viccaro

Mauro Dominika

Maarten Vivian Paul

Francisco Alexandros

Alessandro

Baioni Belanska

Desmet

Bratislava

Urban Institute, Riga

Riga

Vilnius Urban Garden

Vilnius

Antwerpen

University of Seville

Seville

Pakhuis de Zwijger

Amsterdam

Bela Rua

Rotterdam

Pakhuis de Zwijger

Amsterdam

Filippidis

Grauvogel

Jeniffer

Heemann

Coen

Hermans

Heeringa

Karen

Hierqeus

Toon

Jansen

Marte

Kappert

Hans

Karssenberg

David

Kaspar

Nicholas

Rome

Fernández Rodríguez

Christian

Erik

Jelde Mesto

Almere

stipo

Elleswijk

Ghiabi

Toon

De stadsambassade van Almere

Rotterdam

Doumpa

Khashayar

IJsbrand

Freelancer

Jansen

Jutten

KarachalisS

HAVENSTEDER

rotterdam

SEYN - Sustainable Athens Energy Youth Network

Mörchenpark e.V. / re:Kreators

Berlin

Stipo

Delft

stadmakers & co (Almere)

Brussels Almere

stadmakers & co

Almere

marconia

rotterdam

Stipo, re:Kreators and The City at Eye Level

Amsterdam

city in the making

University of Thessaly - Refill URBACT

Prague Creative

rotterdam

Athens

Prague

Robert

Klaassen

Drechtstadsboer

Benjamin

Knödler

Veronika

Kovacsova

Free lance journalist

Ariane

Lelieveld

Jeroen

Laven

Jan

Lemmers

Alexandru

Matei

Reka

Matheiden

Tiago

Mota Saraiva

Irina

Paraschivoiu

Marta

Iryna

Marc

López-Marcos

Matsevko

neelen

Daniela

Patti

Dries

Perborde

Nicolas

Pieri

Hanna

Pintusava

Robert

Ploem

Levente

Polyak

Veerle

Rigter

Ines

Ania

Laura Roman

Marion Jan

Charlot

Peborde

Pilipenko

Popplow Romanets Roussel Rydén

Schans

Janna

Schlender

Martine

Sluijs

Marco

Stout

Maria

Dahlia Annet

Sitzoglou

Soliman Struik

Gustavo Alberto

Tánori Rivera

Gert Jan

te Velde

Ebami

Tom

Hanne

van Gils

Samantha

van den Bos

Dordrecht, Netherlands Berlin

Paradocks

Vienna

Ariquitectura, advies in gezonde zelfvoorzienende woningen en wijken

Rotterdam

stipo

rotterdam

ZOHO

Rotterdam

Cubicsphere / Stipo

Bucharest / Rotterdam

Center for Urban History in Lviv (Ukraine)

Lviv

Universidad de Sevilla

EUREKA

Seville

Budapest

rekreators

Lisbon

Odaia Creativa / Urban INC

Bucharest

stealth

rotterdam

Eutropian

Budapest

Pakhuis de Zwijger

Rotterdam

Guk

Berlin

Bioclimatic Cities Lab

Pau (France)

CAP ou pas cap

Paris

IHS, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Minsk, Belarus

Eutropian / KÉK

Budapest

Studio Davoo

Rotterdam

MATRIX CONSULTANTS

AMSTERDAM

co.city lab

Mainz/Germany

AVR Development CAP ou pas cap?

FÄRGFABRIKEN Pakhuis de Zwijger

Lviv

Paris

stockholm Amsterdam

Mörchenpark e.V.

Berlin

Pip&partners

Utrecht

stout/kramer

rotterdam

Resilient Thessaloniki stipo

Institute for Designing Social Impact None

Vanschagen Architecten

made in 4 havens ShareNL

Thessaloniki

rotterdam Leiden

Mexicali, Baja California.

Mexico.

Rotterdam rotterdam Amsterdam

Annet

van Otterloo

freehouse

rotterdam

Michiel

van Wickeren

DeDeelkelder

Utrecht

Ellen

Verbiest

We kopen samen de oudaan

Antwerpen

Bjørn

Margriet

van Raaij

Vd Heijden

Anne Sofie

Verheyen

Anamaria

Vrabie

Pieter

Wieringa

Philipp

Winter

Piet

Friso

Marta

Bouwdewijn Genea

vollaard

Wiersum

Zakowska

Canelles

Zeewaardig Service Design Elisabeth groen

city in the making

Rotterdam

Amersfoort

rotterdam

Urban Insights Center

Bucharest

European Cultural Foundation

Utrecht

Holzmarkt Berlin Magazyn Miasta (Cities Magazine), Res Publica Vechtclub Student

Brasov

Berlin Warsaw

Re:Kreators manifesto 1

We, the members of re:Kreators community, are people and initiatives who want to enable sustainable, social and participative urban area development following fair principles.

We believe in a way of living in the city that is inspiring, affordable and just. We create thoughtful, fun, meaningful and inclusive places that lift the spirits. We create ruptures and alternatives in people’s imagination about how a city could be, through space and collective ownership models.

2 We create value: increase of mental, physical and emotional usability of quality urban space.

We use existing resources, energy and qualities. We look for true, permanent change and commitment. We are open source. We share our knowledge to inspire others.

3 We see urban development in the interest of the people who live there and work in community-based, participative and inclusive ways.

Diverse groups feel at home in and feel ownership over our places – mentally, emotionally and in the say they have in the future of the area.

Objectives of the re:Kreators Association To connect

To create a European platform to connect, inspire and multiply re:Kreators around European cities. To improve the established re:Kreator projects. To develop sustainable structures among the partners of the network, and share them, open source, to help new projects come about through shared thinking. To make re:Kreators’ knowhow and experience accessible to others.

To strengthen To make re:Kreators’ position throughout Europe stronger, among others by driving interest in the values (social, cultural, environmental, economical) of re:Kreators initiatives. To make these values more tangible and visible in order to improve understanding and working relations between initiatives and institutions.

To act To create a continuous dialogue between stakeholders of urban development and decision makers. To influence the urban agenda of governments locally, nationally and on the EU-level. To improve understanding and working relations between initiatives and institutions. To match with possible investors. To create a permanent network of city makers.

Join Re:Kreators network

If you would like to join the re:Kreators network, please fill the information about your organization or area on www.rekreators.eu or send a mail to rekreators@stipo.nl. We will contact you about further steps, as soon as we review your application.