The Soul of the City

Abstract

Essence of the research
This research thesis was built on the idea that the city identity should be developed by the citizens when rebuilding a city after disaster. This idea stems from the intertwined triangle of government, business, and society, where the psychological needs of the citizens are most underestimated. The citizen-centred focus on city identity creation within a post-disaster rebuild situation is an under-researched topic, especially connected to the focus on coping with a collective trauma. This thesis is pioneering in integrating these topics on a city scale.

The research
The objective of this thesis is to develop grounds to empower the disaster-struck citizens in their need to rebuild their city and their future, and to create ownership to give this rebuild a sustainable start and future from a citizen-centred perspective. This objective of the research leads to the following main research question:

“How can a theoretical backbone for the creation of -a citizen-centred rebuilding initiative that aims to produce a vision for a city in a post-disaster situation- be developed?”

The methods
The main research question is answered by deductive study combining both literature and case study. The City Identity Framework, CIF for short, consist of a combination of theory on disaster, trauma, city identity creation, collaboration and participation. Aceh (Indonesia), Christchurch (New Zealand), Napier (New Zealand), and Rotterdam (the Netherlands) are the studied post-disaster cities functioning as case studies. These cases were selected for 1) the well documented nature of the cases concerning the rebuild process and the role of the citizen within this process, 2) the difference in Zeitgeist and therefore collaborative approach, 3) comparability of regions including one outlier to add perspective, and 4) the level of impact of the disaster on both the city and the citizens.

CIF
This research results in the theoretical backbone for a citizen-centred rebuilding initiative that aims to produce a vision for a city in a post-disaster situation. Within this thesis 56 guidelines were developed, which are clustered in the following ten themes: 1) empowerment, 2) collective memory, 3) citizen and stakeholder inclusion, 4) resilience, 5) social and societal structures, 6) self-organise, 7) social cohesion, 8) ownership, 9) Soul of the City, and 10) citizen-centred. This thesis and more specific these clusters function as the basis and give input for the development of a practical tool for initiating a citizen-centred rebuilding initiative. To commence designing a design brief and interaction vision are included.