Our mission is to create stronger social connections in the neighborhood and among residents.You can contribute to out living investigation about neighborhood contact by living, working and sharing spaces here.
During the period that we are managing the apartment building in Vlaardingen Westwijk, we are working together with residents to explore how shared spaces can contribute to more community interaction and social cohesion.
Foto: Frank Hanswijk
We are looking for residents who want to actively participate in this research. This is more than just standard temporary housing: besides your own apartment, there are two common areas, three garages, and a storage area that can be used for activities you find interesting and valuable — accessible to both residents and neighbors.
By providing real-life examples, we aim to show municipalities and housing associations which elements truly work, so they can integrate them into future redevelopments and new housing projects.
Location: Apartment building at H. Th. Kuipers-Rietbergstraat in Vlaardingen (18 apartments). Available until spring 2027 (vacancy contract).
Foto: Frank Hanswijk
Interested?
Send an email to daan@stadindemaak.nl with some information about yourself and a short explanation of why you would be a good fit for the project. What is your connection to Vlaardingen? What you would like to contribute and achieve? Let us know.
For more background about our foundation, browse this website.
City in the Making celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2023! We celebrated this by emptying our storages and sharing our adventures and expertise in a book. Just before the summer of 2024, Magazijn was (finally) completed and furnished; a 320-page book and repository of all our stories about cooperative living and ‘commoning’ in the city.
Magazijn tells about a decade of City in the Making. About the small group of firebrands who, at the time – in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis – started to get vacant buildings back into shape and made them available for living, working and as collective spaces for the neighbourhood. And how this grew into a foundation that ensures that an alternative way of living is possible, next to the social housing with its long waiting lists and the speculative market of private rental and owner-occupied homes.
Commons on the rise We notice that cities are now ready for an alternative form of living, working and living together. Where 10 years ago terms such as commoning, shared households, and community were quickly dismissed as ‘communes’ and looked at with disgust, today the collective management and ownership of buildings, shared living and commoning are a desirable scenario for both residents and developers. This book contributes to an answer to the search for a way to make alternative, affordable and social living possible in times of a housing market that excludes many home seekers and lifestyles.
Stories, vision and photos It turns out that there is so much more to tell than we have done – with our hair covered in (re)construction dust – in recent years. The book is therefore a good opportunity to share our experiences with alternative vacancy management, with unconventional living and working programs and with commons and commoning, to tell about our vision on alternative and affordable living in the city, housing cooperatives and alternative neighborhood facilities. In addition, we show how the ideas of Stad in de Maak have enriched themselves over the course of that ten-year adventure.
The photos taken by Hans Werlemann in the early years capture this development. In addition, the portraits of the current residents by Frank Hanswijk show how lively our community is. In the interviews by Daphne Koenders you can read what our buildings mean to our residents and users. The interviews with the board provide insight into the activist, yet collaborativeattitude that Stad in de Maak characterizes. Of course, it also finally becomes clear what we actually do, among other things through the fold-out map (back of the dust jacket around the book) by Nadia Nena Pepels of all our buildings through the years.
Ambition We also take you along in our ambition to not only offer temporary housing, but to establish one or more permanent housing cooperatives. You will of course also read about our vision, mission, milestones and plans for the future and we will reveal big news: our first own building is a fact!
More about this soon in a next blog. For now, we hope that this Magazijn may enrich ‘home’ for you just after the summer break.
Magazijn, available and for sale Magazijn can be picked up for free by all (former) residents and workers of City in the Making from Thursday 5 September at Kiosk (Pieter de Raadtstraat 35B) as long as the – quite large – stock lasts. For opening hours (mostly Thursday, Friday, Saturday) see the website of Kiosk Rotterdam.
For others interested, Magazijn can be purchased at Kiosk Rotterdam and at NAi Boekverkopers / Booksellers (Museumpark 25) for € 29.50
Magazijn – Stad in de Maak
16.5×23.5 cm; 320 pgs. ISBN: 978-90-9038724-6 Editors: Ana Džokić, Selma Hengeveld, Daphne Koenders, Marc Neelen, Katarina Popović, Piet Vollaard. With photography by the City in the Making community, Frank Hanswijk and Hans Werlemann and the map in the cover was made by Nadia Nena Pepels.
Bakkerij De Eenvoud (‘Bakery Simplicity’ or ‘Common Bakery’), a neighbourhood bakery that is being built in the commons spaces of City in the Making, participates in De Burger Bepaald (The Citizen Decides). Inhabitants of Rotterdam Noord may divide 50.000 Euro’s among 65 local cultural initiatives, by online voting.
Bakkerij De Eenvoud will build a lime oven in De Stokerij commons, and together with neighbours and other bread enthusiasts bread will be made and stories and recipes will be exchanged. Learn to make your own bread from your neighbours and taste the warm bread we make for each other.
Last Wednesday 22nd the Bakery was kick-started. The first bread was baked and tasted. Together with City in the Making inhabitants and neighbours a special one-on-one model was made from dough and paper to test different positions of the oven within in the commons space at Pieter de Raadtstraat 35. Additional knowledge and flour was provided by windmill De Walvis in Schiedam.
