This research project focuses on how to provide the necessary infrastructure for citizen participation systems and encourage the inhabitants to get involved in the decision-making process in the communities by developing an alternative strategic framework, which offers a step-by-step community activation system. The main location of this study is Tarwewijk, a problematic neighbourhood in Rotterdam south with a super-divers context.

Living in Rotterdam, we make eagerly use of all cultural attractions the city has to offer. We visit a museum on a free weekend, go to the library to study, spend an evening at the cinema or theatre and go out for dinner with friends and family. Without much awareness, using the cultural infrastructure of the city engages us in informal learning processes; triggering new interests, expanding our personal skills and strenghtening our social network.
But for many residents of Rotterdam, using cultural facilities as leisure is less presumable: a limited cultural offer in Zuid marginalizes the opportunity of using the city structure as learning environment.
That is the premiss of this thesis: the city of Rotterdam is dealing with an unequality in tangible and intangible cultural network between the city centre and Zuid, which has a great impact on the quality of life in the entire city. It is time to plan a future in which Zuid can take a stand in the cultural offer and become an equally appreciated part of Rotterdam.
This graduation project unravels the importance of the relationship between city structure, the cultural network and education for the talent development of
the youth. Because making space for the youth, means making space for the future. The outcome of this project is an exploration of a new experience-based learning environment, translated into the Talent Lab, a place where children can learn in the direct network of the city.

By translating the Maghreb mosque type to the Dutch urban context the design provides an appropriate and recognisable building for the Moroccan community in Bloemhof, a neighbourhood in the south of Rotterdam.