1Greening Rotterdam South

Assignment for Designing Cities (www.coursera.org/course/designingcities) Martin van Elp (www.martinvanelp.nl)

November 12, 2014

1 Make Rotterdam South attractiveRotterdam South is perceived as a rather unattractive part of Rotterdam. However, this part of the city has some great facilities. The top arrow points to the Head of South, with a theatre, offices, shops and high-rise apartment buildings. The bottom arrow points to the Zuiderpark, the Zuidplein shopping mall and the Ahoy multifunctional venue.

2 ProposalTo make (part of) Rotterdam South more attractive as a place to walk and stay, this presentation proposes to add more high quality green to the streets between the Head of South and the Zuiderpark area.

To achieve this it is necessary to lower the amount of “stone”, grass and large open spaces along the depicted (green) corridor.

The municipality will probably be the main investor in this, although including private parties is not entirely impossible.

www.openstreetmap.org

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November 12, 2014Assignment for Designing Cities (www.coursera.org/course/designingcities)

Martin van Elp (www.martinvanelp.nl)

3 More green, less stoneMany locations along the corridor consist of paved roads, sidewalks and squares. The whole look of the corridor is one of stone and concrete. To make the corridor more walkable it seems desirable to add more green.

This slide shows three examples where hedges, trees and flowerbeds are added.

Less stone, more green

www.openstreetmap.org

3Less grass, more trees

November 12, 2014Assignment for Designing Cities (www.coursera.org/course/designingcities)

Martin van Elp (www.martinvanelp.nl)

4 More trees, less grassWhen there is green along the corridor, this is often merely grass. At some point, grass alone cannot add more value: diminishing returns. To make the corridor more attractive it seems desirable to add more trees instead.

This slide shows three examples where trees are added.

www.openstreetmap.org

4Less open space, more cozy

November 12, 2014Assignment for Designing Cities (www.coursera.org/course/designingcities)

Martin van Elp (www.martinvanelp.nl)

5 More cozy, less open spaceLastly, there are some large open spaces along the corridor that either have too much “stone” or too much grass. At the scale of these large open spaces, the result is even worse than in the previous cases. This slide shows the most striking example.

www.openstreetmap.org