In 2001 the 1950s satellite town of Hoogvliet located to the southwest of Rotterdam, was on the verge of large-scale redevelopment. The plans encompassed housing districts, a never-completed shopping centre, transport infrastructure, industrial zone, harbours and recreational developments.

The strategic position of Hoogvliet within the Rotterdam region (at the hub of the transport infrastructure and at the intersection of the old and new Maas Rivers) and the scale of the restructuring of housing stock necessary (the replacement of 8,000 units) and building new housing required substantial investment by a large number of private and public parties.

An International Building Exhibition (IBE) was established to stimulate and encourage cross-party working and interaction, and to generate attractive and sustainable forms of urbanisation. The IBE was set up for ten years under the theme WiMBY! Welcome into My Backyard! a provocation and direct challenge to the prevailing concept of NiMBYism (Not in my Backyard). NiMBYism in the Netherlands refers to both the individuals resistance to development due to the fear of personal impact as opposed to wider social good, and the common unwillingness of large institutions, companies and governmental organisations to share their knowledge and coordinate their agendas in communal projects.

Operating as a small private-public steering organisation and think tank, WiMBY! aims to raise the profile of Rotterdam’s urban planning and architecture and contribute to the repositioning of Hoogvliet as a sustainable and attractive place to live and work, whilst combating the worldwide presumption that such New Towns are prone to rapid decay.

Approach
WiMBY! focuses primarily on the initial phases of various regeneration projects (research, initiative-programming, conceptual design) by intervening in processes and advising on the allocation of public resources. However, existing organisations must deal with the development, management and implementations of projects themselves.

The WiMBY! approach is based on the premises that:

• rapid social and cultural changes are a source of enrichment.
• understanding of the complexities of spatial functions can inspire new possibilities.
• interaction and collaboration between different parties results in projects with greater life expectancy.
• cohesion and collaboration should be advocated in education and culture.

Hoogvliet’s reputation is poor in comparison with other Dutch developments because of problems of poverty, pollution control zones and the overbearing presence of industry and infrastructure that no longer have a positive economic impact upon local residents. WiMBY! acknowledges these factors but believes the solution is to practice urban planning without attempting to adhere to any prescriptive model of a ‘good town’. Rather, the methodology should be to make the best of the given set of physical, infrastructural, economic and cultural circumstances.

WiMBY! demonstrates that the very elements that generate the poor image of Hoogvliet can actually provide the springboard for its renewal. The programme aims to capitalise on the social, physical, and economic assets of the location: from the vast construction of new residential areas, motorway networks, new metro line and light railway to its large numbers of young people from different ethnic backgrounds who use schools, discos, sports fields, and music studios. Combined, these elements create a rich spawning ground for creative activity.

Recent and Ongoing Projects
The WiMBY! initiative has developed an inspiring and integrated range of projects, from temporary installations to long-term programming of cultural facilities.

The largest and most complex WiMBY! project is the Hoogvliet Campus which is expected to open its doors in 2010. Three local schools have joined forces to build a cluster of facilities and buildings around an underground station. The extensive new centre will allow pupils to progress from course to course and choose the most suitable path of study more easily. WiMBY! has provided a website to allow local people and other stakeholders to track and influence the Campus’s development, design and construction.

In 2005, a block of flats called Westerstein will be renovated. The flats benefit from a tremendous mutual bond between its residents that has developed over time. In the lead-up to this renovation, the WiMBY! Initiative devised the Inside Out project. In the summer of 2004 large-scale visual displays on façades and a publication were produced to present a physical portrait of residents’ memories of their loved ones through text and images. Its aim was to document the importance of social relations in times of great change.

Other projects include the 2003 Heerlijkheid Summer Festival where 4,000 residents and members of Hoogvliet societies, clubs, and businesses came to celebrate Heerlijkheid Hoogvliet, an area that will be developed on the northern outskirts of Hoogvliet.

The Big Fix-up was an exhibition and publication that aimed to shed light on the renovation process currently underway in New Towns in the Netherlands. The exhibit provided a theoretical context for the guiding principles that are applicable to post-war neighbourhoods, by showcasing comparative case studies.

The WiMBY! initiative has devised a 10-year programme of exhibitions, installations and education initiatives which places the creative and sustained engagement of residents and stakeholders at the core of Hoogvliet’s large-scale development.

www.wimby.nl