2001-2008 WiMBY!

For six years Crimson Architectural Historians and journalist/politician Felix Rottenberg have immersed themselves in Hoogvliet, the modernistically planned New Town in the harbour area of Rotterdam. Their mission was to transform this bland and boring borough into a vibrant urban area. While the biggest housing demolition project of the Netherlands was being carried out around them, they tried to respond to the challenges posed by Hoogvliet and by thousands of similar post-war towns and housing projects over the whole world.

Going by the moniker WiMBY! (Welcome into My Backyard!) Crimson and Rottenberg have spared nothing or noone to fulfill their mission. They retold the eventful history of Hoogvliet in a dramatic manner; they mobilized local entrepreneurship and talent and have worked with the best architects and urban planners to develop a co-housing project, schools, a community park and a cultural center. They have organized many festivals and events and struggled with bureaucracy and mediocrity. This richly illustrated book is an epic, hilarious and sometimes grim report on six years of autonomous urban renewal from within. Welcome!


menu