Rotterdam

I know Rotterdam from my Urban Geography Study and later on I worked briefly for the Statistical department of ‘gemeente’ Rotterdam when they needed an extra hand on a project. I therefore think I know Rotterdam and can compare it with New York. I know all about New York, because I was there for a field trip of a week for the subject American Cities. I saw a lot and got tours behind the scenes from Port Authorities and others working in the Urban Geography field to make the city liveable and safe. I even was a guide for my fellow students in Chinatown and Little Italy. But I never saw the US Open a must for a tennis fan. I was there in May and the tournament is in September.

‘Nep’ New York

Rotterdam can claim to be the New York of The Netherlands in a lot of ways with their Highrise buildings and one of the biggest ports of the world. With the Port of Rotterdam winning big from New York, but in the other fields I think they are ‘Nep’ New York. I have 6 reasons for the claim ‘nep’ New York.

Roof Top Walk VS Highrise

Everything has to be green these days. Rotterdam looked at New York and the green roof where there. In June I walked the Roof Top Walk which is a preview of how Rotterdam is thinking of having green and blue roofs to be sustainable and be able to let people live on the roofs. It is a bit different than the Highline of New York which is a park on old tracks not in use anymore. People don’t live in Highline park but only recreate in this park. In The Netherlands there is a housing problem, and I am curious to see how a bit of living on the roofs will help Rotterdam solve the housing problem.

Port of Rotterdam VS Port authorities New York

Rotterdam has always been famous for its ports. At first the ports were in the city. With ships becoming bigger and bigger the ports moved to sea, the Maasvlaktes are the last ports built till now. The Dutch are famous for claiming land out of sea, which means The Netherlands grew with Maasvlakte 2 and the big boats could be handled in Rotterdam Port. The city ports got other destinations:

• Leuvenhaven are for recreants with small boats and tour boats

• There are even some people living on boats and Tiny Houses in the city port Wijnhaven

• More touristic use of the ports is on Kop Van Zuid, where there is a city beach at Rijnhaven and Wilhelminapier in the summer. No swimming there, but sometimes there is sand and beach volleyball to make it feel like a real beach.

Of course I have the need to compare the Ports of Rotterdam with the one- off New York. They both made a company to steer the ports, which makes it easier to manage the ports. The Port Authorities in New York are also steering the public transport stations in New York, which makes them a bit different from Gemeentelijke HavenBedrijf. Both have one thing in common if the port or part of the port isn’t used anymore for transportation of goods it is turned into a recreation area or housing.

Old factories and Warehouses

In both cities the blue-collar jobs moved away to sea. For Rotterdam this meant the boats becoming ships couldn’t enter the city ports and some of the ships are unloaded directly in boats with destination Europe further on land inwards. The old factories and Warehouses at the city ports became unused and transformed mostly into houses. Most of them are beautiful lofts with a big price tag on them, yuppies entering Rotterdam. Some of the old buildings people like me can visit by buying a very expensive cocktail with a beautiful view over Rotterdam. Other parts of the city ports the artists and startups moved in, making the areas around the city ports liveable and the place to be.

Chinatown

Each city must have its Chinatown. In Rotterdam Chinatown starts in front of the Central station, walkable. I can have all kinds of Asian foods and there are some Asian shops also. As is a tradition in Chinatown the street names are also in Chinese on the street signs. In both New York as Rotterdam Chinatown ate part of the surroundings to become bigger and in both cities Chinatown streets are recognizable immediately.

Both Katendrecht And Time Square Got Rid Of Their Stigma

Katendrecht was the no-go area of Rotterdam as Time square was this for New York before Disney decided to open a shop on Time Square. Katendrecht was the place for seamen who had been at sea for months to recreate when the boats where unloaded. With the ships now unloaded at the Maasvlakte Katendrecht became a totally different touristic area. The bridge connection between Kop van Zuid and Katendrecht made it possible for tourist to wander into Katendrecht. Katendrecht is reached from Kop van Zuid by a bridge like most peninsulas.  It is the up-and-coming part of the city with artists, small ‘koffietentjes’, het Verhalenhuis, some old buildings transformed into housing and new housing. It is still affordable and not as busy as Kop van Zuid. At the Katendrecht side there is a ‘Wandelpromonade’. To know more about Katendrecht and Kop van Zuid I took a guided tour with my fellow Social Geography peers.

Park around the museums

New York has Central Park with at each entrance at least one museum surrounded by cafes. Rotterdam has Museumkwartier, a neighborhood with most of the big museums of Rotterdam just a 15 minutes’ walk from Het Park, the oldest park of Rotterdam. This park lays between the Musemkwartier and the Euromast. There is music, festivals, markets and picknicks in the summer. It is one of the parks where all the population of Rotterdam ‘meet’ by recreating, because of the festivals and the famous restaurant Parkheuvel.