Breaking Barriers

The Drecht cities are at a crossroads, their relevancy is completely based on the maritime industry and the harbor of Rotterdam. The cities have more to offer but sadly all their opportunities are missed due to some massive barriers in the cities. The cities are divided by a highway, the river maas and heightened train tracks.

We propose that instead of trying to fix the cities with one massive project that they can’t afford the cities should work with several smaller Key Strategic Projects. By connecting these new projects with the things that are already great, the old city of Dordrecht and the riverside and shopping district in Zwijndrecht, the cities can finally get out of their slump. We propose a new central station for Dordrecht, a new creatives/makers district in the parts of the harbor that are closest to Dordrecht and a sports/culture park in Zwijndrecht. This way all of the bad areas of the cities will be lifted up and will connect with the good areas. By doing this the positive change should spread to the surrounding areas  To make all of this possible we had to make a phasing plan and economic analysis alongside the city planning to work around the small budgets of the municipalities. This project was done with 8 people who all assumed different roles ranging from landscape architect to economic affairs. My role was regional planner, so I was responsible for the connection to the bigger scales, which according to the municipalities was exceedingly well done.

Collaboration with  Willem Wijnen, Tycho van Gelder, Juliette Brouwer, Alex Zwanenburg, Annelotte Beutler and Diederik Bouter
Winner ‘Best Strategic Project’ (awarded by the municipality)
Winner ‘Best Project’ (awarded by the municipality)
Published in local newspapers + municipal newsletters