During the design process, the issue of managing and maintaining the public space is often neglected. Yet the lifespan of the public space depends on an effective management and maintenance plan. Rotterdam aims to upgrade its public space through the ambitious '7 Stadsprojecten' (7 City Projects in English) urban development programme. Architecture Workroom Brussels is supporting the city in setting up a learning and testing environment for the implementation of 'Urban Management 2.0'.
In the '7 Stadsprojecten', different types of public space such as water and elevated parks, squares and boulevards are tackled comprehensively. The aim is to address major transition issues by making the city more sustainable, greener, climate-robust and inclusive.
Work on the city does not stop after the design and implementation phases. The public space also needs management and maintenance long after that. In order to work more efficiently at both the management and the design level, the Urban Management department is setting up a programme with the motto 'design-based management is 'management by design'. How can the city services develop methods for 'design-based management' and 'management by design' in the future? How can structural cooperation between the departments of Urban Management and Urban Development be achieved?
In this project, Architecture Workroom is supporting Rotterdam Urban Management in setting up a learning and testing environment to improve cooperation between the various city services. The '7 Stadsprojecten' provide the momentum that will allow us, together with the Urban Management and Urban Development departments, to develop 'Urban Management 2.0' by immediately testing it in practice. In a series of ateliers, one focusing on the management tasks in the '7 Stadsprojecten' and the other on the common renewal challenges in the post-war expansion district of Reyeroord, we will examine how both city departments can rethink their role and work together on the new shared tasks that need to find their place and space in the city. The insights from these ateliers are bundled in recommendations and work trajectories for Rotterdam's urban management of the future.
