Citizens worldwide increasingly take the lead in tackling urgent challenges in their neighborhoods. This third paradigm shift follows government’s monopoly on service provision and, in more recent years, domination of market forces.
To achieve durable results citizens needs methods, data and structural financing. The challenge is to make every voice count while taking on entrenched urban governance systems & processes designed for different times. That starts and ends with the community building, local ownership of neighborhood spaces and processes with a strong digital component.
We focus on the Dutch Living Lab test case Who Owns the Heemraadssingel? The Heemraadssingel is a 1.5 kilometer canal in Rotterdam West dating back to the first plan for wastewater evacuation in the 19th century.
As a community we have taken the lead. We conducted research, created design plans and developed concrete solutions. The next step is building the supporting digital tools & data methods. Thus, a superdiverse neighborhood becomes a community through shared action. This workshop reinforces the journey towards a replicable community owned system designed for adaptation in other European cities.