Because of its port and its connections with the rest of the globe, Rotterdam has attracted people from all over the world for many decades. This has led to an urban population that anthropologist Steven Vertovec has started to call ‘Superdiversity.’ Superdiverse cities like Rotterdam bring with them a next stage in the integration process, where ethnicity is no longer the most important let alone the sole factor with which people define themselves. Instead of the old dividing lines of ethnicity or language, superdiversity seems to create new connections. In other words: the simple pie chart of ethnicity becomes mixed up in a fluid composition of overlapping and mixing colours. In this studio, we will imagine an entirely different development for this area. One that is not based on the investments of financial giants, or the megalomaniacal ideas to realize a Manhattan on the Maas. Instead, we will try to imagine a city that is based on the kaleidoscopic area that lies around it. We will try to imagine a brand-new city center for the South of Rotterdam which is based on the superdiverse conditions of its population. A development that is not based on the middle class image the city council wants to project but on the real identity of the city.
The studio is spread over two subsequent Fridays and Saturdays, filled with lectures, excursions, and conversations, with individual research and one collective Wednesday evening. Regular tickets available for 200 euro. Registration deadline: 10 February 2022