Searching for the soul of the city
How to develop the Oude Noorden, Agniesebuurt and Provenierswijk in Rotterdam as a cultural district?
By Nora Prins
03-12-2009 /views: 5011 in past 12 months.
During our last year of our studies ‘Urban Planning & City Development’ and ‘Engineering’ at the ‘Hogeschool Rotterdam’ we are working on a project in collaboration with ‘Inspiring Cities’.On occasion of the screening of ‘Urban Goddess: Jane Jacobs Reconsidered’ and the book presentation of ‘The death and life of great American cities’ written by Jane Jacobs, we are challenged to think about three districts in Rotterdam as a Cultural District. These districts are the Oude Noorden, the Provenierswijk and the Agniesebuurt.
Our interpretation of a Cultural District is an area characterized by high cultural values. The district has to be a dynamic place with different (also non cultural) functions. People of different ages with different goals make the district lively by using the area at any time. As a guidebook we use the ideas and thoughts of Jane Jacobs about Cultural Districts and dynamic areas. A lot of people from Rotterdam don’t know the area as a place with high cultural values. When we walked through the area our first impression was a dynamic atmosphere. We noticed a lot of individuals who manage a cultural company or workshop, in addition there are a lot organisations with initiatives based on art and culture. We mentioned that the area show little consistency. If you’re walking through the area, you will pass several boundaries and barriers. What do residents, visitors and company owners think about the area? According to them, what are the biggest problems in the area, are there actually any problems? What would they like to change so that improvement occurs? First of all it is important to know the meaning of a Cultural District, and to find out which cultural organisations are located in the area. To know more about the thoughts of residents, visitors and company owners, we would like to get in conversation with them. These conversations will lead to some options for improvement in the area. We think the area has high potentials to become a Cultural District, but there are a few essential links missing. To create a Cultural District in this area, the current initiatives has to be more visible. A lot of organisations and workshops are not visible on the street, visitors don’t know what is happening inside the buildings. The barriers in the area, like the Schiekade and the Hofbogen, divide the area in several parts. Saturday the 31th of October we participated in the Jane Jacobs walk in Rotterdam Noord. We heard a lot of interesting stories and examples about the area and Jane Jacobs point of view. We would like to get in contact with a lot of people and organisations who can tell us something about the area and we are open to all relevant reactions, experiences, stories and opinions about the area as a Cultural District.After the walk, the movies "Urban goddess, Jane Jacobs reconsidered" and "New York City and the World" were showed what we believe are worth seeing.Beyond expectations, there were a lot of visitors from all over the Netherlands. The event was sold out and everyone was very enthusiast during the day.We as students have learned a lot of this walk we received a lot of new input from participants and speakers. It was especially interesting to see how people experience the district in different ways.
In conclusion it was a very successful and fun day, especially to see how talking about Jane and the district bring people together.
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