Addressing the Audience
Jaap Bakema and City Exhibitions
Dirk van den Heuvel (TU Delft - Building Knowledge)
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Abstract
This paper examines the case of Jaap Bakema (1914-81) as a precursor to participation and co-creation processes in city planning. Besides his architectural practice and prolific teaching, Dutch architect and Team 10 figurehead Bakema was deeply engaged in creating exhibitions to communicate his ideas to layman audiences. He played a role in de-signing the Dutch pavilions for Expo 1958 in Brussels and the one in Osaka in 1970, as well as in the city reconstruction festivals for Ahoy’ and E55, both in Rotterdam. These public events provided Bakema with opportunities to develop his ideological agenda for urban planning in relation to the large-scale modernization processes of the period and a new Dutch national identity within a Cold War geopolitical context, built on the idea of an open society.