After eleven weeks of more than 150 conferences, lectures, workshops, brainstorming sessions and debates, the question is: Now, What’s Next?
On 23 April 2016, the seventh edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, IABR–2016–THE NEXT ECONOMY, about the relationship between spatial design and the economy of the future, opened its doors. After eleven weeks of debate by designers and academics, administrators and policy makers, stakeholders and entrepreneurs, city dwellers and audiences from the Netherlands and abroad, the program WHAT’S NEXT? closes on 3 July by striking a final chord: NOW, WHAT’S NEXT? What have we learned? And what can we pass on to the designers that continue to work on the city of tomorrow?
NOW, WHAT’S NEXT? starts at 2 p.m. at the auditorium of the IABR–2016, at the heart of the exhibition, and consists of two parts: a final Next Steps with Ruimtevolk, and the last Next Salon.
In recent weeks, the series Next Steps with Ruimtevolk confirmed yet again that other ways of making city are needed if we want to see our cities CO2 neutral, socially inclusive and productive. These major challenges not only require new ways of funding and governance, but renewed and alternative design and planning practices as well. Designers, it was felt, should be more concerned with the role design can play in the solving of social issues. How can we connect long-term strategies and large-scale programs to regional and local challenges? What part can design play in connecting ambitions, scale levels and parties? Can design contribute to the development of new governanceand funding models? On 3 July, Ruimtevolk’s Sjors de Vries addresses the question What’s Next? one final time and he is answered by, among others, Kim Putters (director The Netherlands Institute for Social Research), Hans Tijl (director Spatial Development, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment), Elma van Boxel (ZUS Zones Urbaines Sensibles), Joachim Declerck (partner AWB and member of Curator Team IABR–2016) and Indira van ’t Klooster (ArchitectuurLokaal).
After the break, Maarten Hajer examines the most urgent issues he distills from the debate held during the IABR–2016. With Mark Swilling (guest curator Urban Africa, IABR–2016), he discusses general highlights of ten weeks of program, including crucial issues of how to getto new, sustainable forms of urban development, and if we can go ‘beyond gentrification’. With Maike Boggemann (Project Manager Strategy and Scenarios Team at Shell) he discusses the role design plays and can play in major social transitions, more specifically, the impact of the IABR–Atelier 2050–An Energetic Odyssey. With Nahyun Hwang (Adjunct Assistant Professor in Architecture at Columbia University and partner at NHDM Architecture Urbanism, New York), he looks ahead at ‘the city as a campus’. With Freek Persyn (partner 51N4E and Curator Team IABR–2016) he elaborates on the role of design as an instrument for urban dialogue, with reference to projects in Tirana and Brussels. And with urban sociologist Arnold Reijndorp, he talks about a new public domain for Rotterdam South.
After these two sessions, at 5.30 p.m., the conclusions of the afternoon are presented to a panel of designers: Nathalie de Vries (founding partner MVRDV, chairperson Association of Dutch Architects and professor at the Baukunstklasse of the Düsseldorf Art Academy), Rients Dijkstra (founder Maxwan, government advisor on Infrastructure and the City, Professor Urban Design Delft University of Technology) and Joachim Declerck (partner AWB, Curator Team IABR–2016). Their response is also a call to the profession and to policy makers: now, what’s next?
The exhibition THE NEXT ECONOMY is open from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. There are guided tours and there is special attention for the IABR–2016 program Next Op Zuid. The ‘Kaart van Zuid’ presents a first selection of responses to its open call for ideas for the public space of Rotterdam-South. And our caféserves a lunch comprising 100 percent local products.
Admission to IABR–2016–THE NEXT ECONOMY is free this Sunday only. We recommend you to reserve your ticket in advance at our online ticket shop.
For more information and program updates, please visit www.iabr.nl
Date: Sunday 3 July 2016
Time program: 2 p.m. – 6.00 p.m.
Location: Fenixloods II, Paul Nijghkade 19, Rotterdam
Language: Dutch (before the break) and English (after the break)
Admission is free, we recommend you to reserve your ticket in advance at our online ticket shop
Opening hours exhibition: 12 p.m. – 7 p.m.
