The Soft Wall: Reframing Safety Between Port and Village
Safety-fying Port-Nested Village from Overlooked External Safety Risks of Working Port
E.B. Boo (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
R.S. Guis – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
F.R. Schnater – Mentor (TU Delft - Building Design & Technology)
F.L. Hooimeijer – Mentor (TU Delft - Environmental Technology and Design)
A. Romein – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Education and Student Affairs)
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Abstract
Heijplaat village, completely encircled by the Waal/Eemhaven in Rotterdam South, is categorized by the municipality as a “very safe neighbourhood.” This graduation project problematizes such evaluation under the same safety index as all other neighbourhoods in Rotterdam, despite its one and only geographical specificity.
Safety is a complex yet crucial aspect in the discussion of building social sustainability. Notably, the Rotterdam municipality launched a new safety initiative (“Veiligheidkoers”) in 2022 to make the whole city, including the port, more resilient. Traditionally, the port and the neighbourhood have been approached as separate entities with distinct natures and expertise. However, as the leading contributor to the delta and the water-related dialogues globally, discussion of the port-city interface is critical and immediate in the Netherlands, especially because the impact of what the port brings to the city, and even more significantly, what the port brings to the people, is transboundary. In this sense, the case of Heijplaat-Waal/Eemhaven presents a unique classification of “port-nested-village,” calling for a specialized and nuanced approach to reframe the notion of safety in the port-city interface.