21st Century (2000–present)

Rotterdam Hart van Zuid

2016– · Netherlands · Western & Central Europe · Post-industrial regeneration and waterfront urbanism · Planned by City of Rotterdam; Ballast Nedam/Heijmans consortium
Zuidplein in Rotterdam-Zuid, the area being redeveloped under the Hart van Zuid project.
Zuidplein in Rotterdam-Zuid, the area being redeveloped under the Hart van Zuid project. · CC0

Core idea

Upgrading Zuidplein/Ahoy center with public realm

Why it matters

Regeneration in disadvantaged south of city

Description

Hart van Zuid, launched in 2016 by the City of Rotterdam with a Ballast Nedam–Heijmans consortium, is a long-term regeneration programme for the area around Zuidplein and the Ahoy complex in Rotterdam-Zuid. Its key moves include a rebuilt bus station, an expanded Ahoy convention centre, a new arts centre and swimming pool, and a substantially improved public realm knitting together shopping centre, metro and surrounding neighbourhoods. Delivered through an innovative long-term public-private contract, it works at the scale of a district centre for the city's southern half.

Significance

Hart van Zuid is significant as a deliberate attempt to redirect investment to Rotterdam-Zuid, among the most disadvantaged urban areas in the Netherlands, using a centre-upgrading rather than wholesale-clearance approach. It is frequently discussed alongside the Nationaal Programma Rotterdam Zuid as a test of whether public realm and facility-led regeneration can address entrenched socio-economic inequality.

What shaped it

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.