Notes from the Netherlands and France Citichat 1 November 2008

CITICHAT 4?/2008 - 1 November 2008


Notes from the Netherlands/France (unfinished) - this is a mystery - when downloading Citichats onto the blog I found this unfinished assume unsent Citichat!

Rotterdam, The Netherlands – population 600 000

Major construction activity around Rotterdam’s Central Station has been on the go for a number of years and I must admit didn’t look as though much had progressed since I was here eleven months ago. However, I understand that the construction activity encompasses a variety of initiatives. Firstly, it is to accommodate what is known as the High Speed Line (hsl). The hsl will more than halve the time to get from Schipol airport to Rotterdam (down to nineteen minutes from the present hour). The 300 km/hour service is scheduled to start operations in late 2009, early 2010. There will be 32 trains daily to Schipol, 32 to Breda, 16 to Brussels and 16 to Paris. The time to get station to station from Rotterdam to Paris will be two-and-a-half hours, quicker than a plane trip when taking the check-in and check out times into account! Secondly there is the new railway terminal being built on the site of the previous station square and thirdly the construction of underground facilities for all motor traffic, and, fourthly, a massive pedestrian square above it acting as the new station square which will be merged with a pedestrian promenade that will take visitors into the city centre. This “Rotterdam Ramblas” will link up the major cultural hotspots in the city. Mainly as a result of this initiative they are expecting the annual number of travellers currently arriving in Rotterdam, 35 million, to hit at least 75 million by 2025.In addition, a new business and activity centre is rising around this hub that will provide 300 000 sq metres of office space but developers will be required to set aside ground floor space for restaurants, bars, galleries and art centres which will all connect onto the pedestrian walkway. The new office space will be focused on three sectors. Maritime services (Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe); the health-care economy particularly related to research and the technology and industrial design sector.



Walking about Rotterdam I was struck by the quality of their architectural design and construction. Their new buildings are different without being kitchy and have a lighter element built into them.

Roubaix – France – population 700 00.

Roubaix, which falls into the larger Lille Metropolitan area, was one of the centres of the textile trade in France but the economic crisis in the 1970s and the decline of Roubaix’s traditional textile industry resulted in decline. Between 1990 and 1997 the city lost about 30 000 square metres of commercial space. The average income per person has dropped dramatically and unemployment is still currently around 30%. The city’s population of 70 000 represents 9% of the metro population but contributes only 5.5% of “commercial exchanges”. As a result the city does not enjoy a positive perception.

A new urban renewal process was started by the municipality in the 1990s. Two geographic areas were identified as being suitable to attract private sector investment and development with the objectives of:

1. regenerating the urban fabric and renewing the City’s image;

2. using public space in the city centre to create a new attractiveness to the site and

3. using important and well known shops and a new commercial project to launch commercial development in the city centre.

Roadways and public space was upgraded

Lille – France –

This is a fascinating city that is on the northern border between France and Belgium. It should be classified as a ‘city region spanning two countries’ and that is where huge complications arise due to the levels of competence or maybe more fairly the mandates that exist between varying beauracricies.

Brussels Belgium regional population 1 million city population140 000 – area metropolitan 161 sq kms city 33 sq kms.

Urban decay really took hold in the 1960s although a major effort was made to accommodate cars, zoning was eased which resulted in huge residential blocks being erected to accommodate the influx of foreigner workers. The city however was faced with the de-residentialisation of locals and an increase in unemployment. A dual process had to addressed – the physical re-development of the city and an increasing social imbalance. An overall revitalisation strategy was developed around four issues:

Controlling scale and size of development

Enhancing heritage

Improving the quality of the living environment

Focusing on the mix both social and functional.

A major problem that resulted from the flight from the city was the number of empty, abandoned sites and buildings. By 1995, this had amounted to 654. The Council strategy was to develop a two pronged attack. Firstly to implement a tax on the unoccupied part of the buildings and secondly to develop a regional compulsory acquisition order (expropriation). However the approach taken is a systematic one. A small group (7) of architects, urban planners, social professionals was gathered by the Council to identify the buildings and then engage with the owners. At a point when they felt that they were making no further progress they would start taxing the owner. The tax is calculated as the length of frontage of the building multiplied by the number of vacant floors at 450 euros – a 6 metre wide building with three empty floors would pay 8 100 euros as a fine. If this elicited no response the building could be expropriated. The issue was simply that there is a huge market for residential units and if only 50% of the vacant area of the buildings in question were redeveloped as housing units some 1000 units with a floor area of 70 to 09 square metres could be made available.

In 1996 a scheme was developed to also address the increasing number of vacant industrial sites. Here the Council themselves took the opportunity offered by very low market prices purchasing about 100 000.