Build back better
A historical research on the ‘Wederopbouw’ and what has not been built
T. de Boer (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
John Hanna – Mentor
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Abstract
The reconstruction of Rotterdam after the bombing in World War II is a well discussed subject. The literature and the public opinion are positive and negative on the outcome of the reconstruction of Rotterdam, although it seems to lean more toward a negative narrative. Both plans, Plan Witteveen and the executed Basisplan are discussed and compared a lot.
Nevertheless, the research on if Rotterdam would be a better city if the first plan was executed has not been done. In this thesis the answer is tried to find on what Rotterdam would look like if Plan Witteveen was executed and if the city would have had a more human scale. It turns out that Rotterdam would been a greener city, with more water, space for pedestrians, humanscale architecture, something that is tried to accomplish by urbanists in current times.