Cultuur&Campus Putselaan
In the heart of Rotterdam South, Cultuur&Campus Putselaan (C&CP) is a pilot for sustainable and inclusive urban development, (arts) education, culture and societally relevant research, from neighbourhood residents, local entrepreneurs and (arts) education institutions and the Municipality of Rotterdam. The C&CP project is funded by the prestigious New European Bauhaus Lighthouse Demonstrator strand of Horizon Europe. It facilitates the coming together of different types of knowledge - theoretical, practical, from the arts and sciences - with the lived experiences of residents in three ways: first, by co-creating a vibrant site of encounter, dialogue and shared learning, where creative placemaking and social entrepreneurship are facilitated; second, by empowering the co-design of impact-oriented learning curricula for more sustainable, inclusive, and enriching city-making; and third, grounding the approach in participatory research and citizen science, empowering residents to take part in the processes that shape their city and delivering a sound understanding of the area, its challenges and opportunities.
The C&CP is a partnership between four educational institutions in Rotterdam (EUR, Codarts, Willem de Kooning Academy, Hogeschool Rotterdam), the Afrikaanderwijk Cooperative, and the Municipality of Rotterdam. Within EUR, ERS colleagues Adrian Sneeuw, Emma de Mooij MA and Frauke Timmermans, and ESHCC colleagues Dr Amanda Brandellero, Dr Janna Michael and Prof. Martine van Selm, have been leading this initiative since its inception: first managing the C&CP application process, and now in the roles of project and academic leads. Since the official start of the EU-funded C&CP project in October 2022, the consortium has been collaborating on developing a new hub in Rotterdam South, where research, education, and social organisations come together, housed in a historic building on the Putselaan. While European Union funding is available for just three years (2022-2025), the partners have a commitment to continue with the changes they are already setting in motion. The aim of C&CP is to create change by pioneering and proposing a different way of looking at urban transition, especially territorial transition. Being a part of the C&CP project allows us, as EUR, to collaborate with residents from the neighbourhood, local social entrepreneurs, (art) education, and the Municipality of Rotterdam on creative placemaking, culture, and societally engaged research and education.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101079929.
Working in the city, with the city
At the heart of the project is the partnership with local stakeholders. From the start, C&CP has been a collective effort with consortium partners and stakeholders, striving to ensure that research, education, and creative placemaking activities at C&CP are relevant and useful for residents. The co-creation process provides valuable insights. Locally, there is a lot of mistrust in institutions, including EUR, due to negative past experiences (for example, extractive research practices – where researchers gather data and leave without any reciprocity). This came across very clearly during an initial round of consultation and data collection among residents and stakeholders: if we want to build a healthy and long-lasting relationship, it is fundamental to make a much-needed investment in sustainable relationships across the neighbourhoods. C&CP has to take time to build up trust, to place partnerships with community members at the heart of everything it does, and to provide compensation and recognition for stakeholders’ contributions to the project.
Adopting this approach also means opening up and sharing the C&CP hub through cultural programming. The project’s creative placemaking component aims to do just this, exploring opportunities for collaborations and synergies with the dynamic and strong network of social, cultural and ecological initiatives in Feijenoord and Charlois. Further benefiting from fertilisation across placemaking, education and research, C&CP co-hosts events that bring together the educational institutions and local creatives with the goal of collaboratively exploring societally relevant topics. This way, C&CP aims to bring together resources, knowledge, expertise, and networks for a lasting positive impact.
The building and location of the C&CP is meant to be supportive of those ambitions. Following the New European Bauhaus values, the renovation of the Putselaan building is aimed at transforming it into a sustainable, inclusive, and beautiful hub that can host learning, research and community activities in a functional and welcoming space. However, these ambitions also brought along various practical challenges, some of which are illustrative of the bigger challenges faced by C&CP and the involved partners. For example, access to the building and use of space raises discussions about how to balance openness and security, how to share IT across institutions with different software and set ups, or how to ensure the compatibility of uses. Simple and practical questions that can be a potential stumbling block for smooth collaborations. Such conversations have been a catalyst for many more reflections about how the C&CP project and approach is an invitation to think out of the box and do things differently when appropriate.
A project like C&CP challenges many of the ways in which we and other societal institutions approach things. It has meant reflecting on how we, as the university or municipality, are not the ones who should set the terms of engagement. Instead, we are the guests in this space: and while we move in, we often do not adapt to how things work there. To change the way we do things—to really open up our university—we need everyone - all units and Schools - on board for the change that impact drives.