Placemaking Week Europe 2024 - Rotterdam

This session aims to explore and develop innovative strategies for integrating green spaces into urban environments through placemaking. By sharing our insights from the European projects Regreeneration and Greendense, participants will comprehensively understand the challenges and opportunities related to greening dense urban areas. Specifically, the cities involved in the projects are 10: Paris (FR), Barcelona (ES), Alverca (PT), Bucharest (RO), Dordrecht (NL), Bruges (BE), Mechelen (BE), Bremen (DE), Cork (IE), Nantes Métropole (FR).

This session will foster a collaborative environment where participants can exchange ideas and develop new approaches to urban greening, ensuring lasting impact. By integrating cultural capital and green infrastructures, the session aligns with the theme of co-creating inclusive, resilient, and dynamic urban spaces. Participants will leave with practical strategies and a deeper appreciation for the power of greening in urban development.

As we prepare our cities for the future, facing ongoing crises like climate change, social inequalities, population growth, and resource scarcity, we must also consider the needs of the other beings who we share our urban spaces with. Although urban planners and designers have developed tools to accommodate biodiversity, we still don’t fully understand the needs, desires, habits, and fears of the more-than-human worlds that surround us.

In this workshop, we will explore new ways to connect and strengthen the bond between urban communities and the non-human species that inhabit our cities through design. We will imagine what it’s like to scavenge canals for nest-building materials, navigate between glass towers at high-speed using sonar waves, stretch a lichen body in ultra-slow motion towards a moist crack, or search for food scraps in dark alley garbage bins. Together, we will practice shifting our perspectives, attuning to the more-than-human world, and uncovering the intricate web of entanglements that binds us.

These experiences will be documented and shared through drawing and collaging, and the insights gained will not only deepen our empathy for the more-than-human world but also inform and inspire future designs, guiding urban planners and designers in creating cities that are more inclusive, sustainable, and responsive to the needs of all species.

This session delves into the transformative potential of urban challenges, focusing on how vacant office buildings and department stores can be reimagined as vibrant, sustainable spaces. By examining five successful reuse projects from Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany, participants will gain insights into practical strategies and tools for revitalizing commercial areas. The session features a diverse panel of experts, including representatives from municipalities, investors, concept developers, and urban social designers, who will share their experiences and perspectives on creating lively communities and smart business cases.

Participants will benefit from engaging in an interactive "fishbowl" discussion, allowing them to contribute to and expand the "method box" of solutions for urban transformation. By learning from real-world case studies in cities such as Hanau, Lübeck, Berlin, and Amsterdam, attendees will acquire valuable knowledge to enhance their strategies for future urban development projects.
Reasons to Join:

- Discover innovative approaches to transforming urban spaces into sustainable hubs.
- Engage with a diverse group of experts and peers in a dynamic discussion format.
- Gain practical insights from successful case studies to apply to your own projects.
- Contribute to shaping the future of urban development and sustainability.

This is a deeper dive into the findings from the Wednesday session Diving into Afrikaandermarkt, Part 1: Field Trip*

This workshop explores the hidden power of Market Squares as dynamic, multi-use public spaces, using the Afrikaandermarkt as an interactive case study. The market is located on Afrikaanderplein, a large park in the middle of the multi-ethnic Feijenoord neighborhood in Rotterdam South.

We'll first explore the big picture with a short presentation, "Squares are the Hearts of Communities, Markets Their Soul: How Cities Put Them Together and Thrive." Then, people who attended the field trip on Wednesday will report back some of their ideas and opportunities for the Afrikaanderplein based on their Market Place Audits results. We'll then set pen to paper, breaking into a few small groups to explore the placemaking potential of the square and market and identify the potential for Rotterdam to further public engagement about this site.

*This workshop is recommended even if you missed the field trip on Wednesday, as we will cover the general principles of placemaking for market squares and demonstrate how to apply them to the local site.

Citizen involvement in Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) creation improves societal effect. Citizen participation in NbS production is understudied, despite evidence that it may shift behaviour, raise awareness, and encourage sustainable solutions.
 
Attendees will use human-driven 3D printing to build concrete structures that can sustain reed growth and merge human and environmental demands. This DIY activity will address aquatic nature-based solutions and alternative public engagement methods. The concrete structures can be installed in freshwater lakes as shore protective units to enhance biodiversity and support ecological systems and to understand how active engagement can change community values.

At the end of the workshop, attendees can take home a pre-made scale model of the structure they helped manufacture as a token of their participation. The role of this token in creating value from the experience will be addressed in the concluding survey questions.