Rotterdam Renewal: Mayor promotes co-creation

Co-creation Rotterdam’s Mayor Ahmed Abu Taleb gave an inspiring talk at the graduation of the Urban Management and Development Masters programme at IHS, the Netherlands. The place was the Floating Pavilion, part of the city’s Climate Change Initiative. The participants of the course might have been focusing on getting their diploma’s, but the Mayor helped […]

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Planning in fashion

New "creative class" shop in Rotterdam south "Damage Playground"

Planning is not often seen as fashionable, but things are changing. Rotterdam is a city that has to try harder than many others to re-invent itself.     Rotterdam South , or Zuid is an area which scores high on most of the problem indicators.  Unemployment is high, incomes are low, and  integration of immigrant population is a priority. […]

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WUF Naples, the end

Day three was the end of the programme, barring the closing ceremony. I met a lot of people, so can only report on a few sessions. Here are the highlights for me. The SIGUS programme of MIT ran a session looking at lessons  from incremental housing over extended time periods. The case of Lima was fascinating […]

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Day 2 WUF

What themes seem to be emerging? Difficult to tell without the impossible ability to attend ever session, but words I am hearing more are: Urban planning – linked in part to the new director of Habitat. Story telling as part of presentations, especially from people from Low income residents groups and those working with them. […]

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First day at World Urban Forum, WUF

First day of WUF. Impressions? Not as quiet as my first impression in the photo! For me the main thing, despite all the sessions that are organized, is meeting people, often after a few, sometimes after many years. In sessions, presentations are often too short to really get into and discuss subjects. Attendance ranges from […]

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Crossing borders

      This web site/ blog  has been in planning for some time, but implementation has finally happened.  I hope you enjoy it, find something useful and even contribute. Urban Planning is (as always) in a state of flux, but if it didn’t exist it would have to be invented. Building bridges is about […]

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World Urban Forum, Naples

The  biannual super networking event is nearly with us.  I will participate and will try to post some comments if it becomes clear what the urban future will really be.  Don’t hold your breath!

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Rotterdam new Central Station development

Rotterdam’s new Central station during construction in 2012.  The station renewal is a major strategic infrastructure project linking inner city renewal with high speed rail link to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris and London.  The station is also linked by metro to The Hague via  Randstadt rail – using a former commuting rail line now linked […]

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YouTube and Google Earth: Ghost cities

The continued improvement of Google Earth coupled with access to video on Youtube has provided some great insights into urban development dynamics. China’s ghost cities reviews what happens when investment does not link closely to the market.  There are many other videos on YouTube with similar themes. For IoS : http://youtu.be/pbDeS_mXMnM

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Rotterdam

The Erasmus Bridge Rotterdam

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