oncepts
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Poo_David Dooghe
David Dooghe works as a researcher, strategist and designer mainly on urban questions.
The resulting projects can be temporary or long-term designs and strategies. These projects combine different scales and are characterized by their strong connection with the spatial, cultural, social and economical context of where they occur.
For David Dooghe the city is organic. Questioning the city and understanding its working principles is the path to a sustainable project.
For more information, click on the Project numbers:
P27_the International Perspectives / P26_Economics of Beauty / P25_the Vibrant City / P24_CityGallery Cool / P23_Defining the Metropolis / P22_House DDR'dam / P21_Soundpiece @ Schouwburgplein / P2o_between Space and Place / P19_the top is within reach / P18_Transformation as Inspiration / P17_the Art of an Urban Culture / P16_Youth and the City / P15_IFF@R'dam / P14_We love to build / P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre / P12_Caribbean Summer @Afrikaanderwijk / P11_Festivalscity_Rotterdam / P1o_TimeLine R'dam / Po9_Moving East / Po8_Keep it, Green it, Live in it! / Po7_Morpho-Logic / Po6_Luik, Liege,Luttich / Po5_House FDU'sel / Po4_Shelter / Po3_New Alliances / Po2_Tria / Po1_Loft for Rent
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P14_We love to build
An urban strategy on how the in-between-time of the transformation of an urban area can be used to develop an identity for this urban area.Rotterdam loves to build. In the former century Rotterdam could expand and built its housing demands on the unexploited areas or former industrial areas. Since the last decade these areas are harder to find. Now Rotterdam faces the transformation of existing housing areas, the time of designing starting from a tabula rasa is over and designing becomes working on a going engine.
‘We love to build’ is a strategy on how temporary functions and manifestations can keep an urban area part of the city in the in-between-time and how the temporary and long term functions and manifestations can support the identity of the new area.
This strategy is based on a toolbox with possible temporary and long term functions, differently depending on the scale of the area, the position of the area in the urban tissue and the functions the area will accommodate.
Next to the toolbox, the whole transformation process, starting from the intention of transformation until the final new use, has been catalogued and possible manifestations have been added. The strategy is the result of a design research of different transformation areas.
This urban strategy is part of the case studies that substantiate Festivalcity_Rotterdam, a strategy for the symbiotic collaboration of festivals and urban development, creating a strong identity for both.
Related projects: P11_Festivalcity_Rotterdam / P12_Caribbean Summer @ Afrikaanderwijk / P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre / P15_IFF@R'dam
2oo8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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P12_Caribbean Summer @ Afrikaanderwijk
An urban design project on the symbiotic collaboration between the community, connected by the Summer Carnival, and the district Afrikaanderwijk creating a strong identity for both.The Summer Carnival is the largest festival in Rotterdam. This procession, that takes months of preparation, is taking over the central city the last weekend of July, to disappear again for a year.
This urban design project uses the preparing program, long term and temporary, of the Summer Carnival as a catalyst for the development of a district. Looking at social, cultural and demographical data, the district of Afrikaanderwijk could be the perfect breeding ground in Rotterdam to create a cultural incubator for the community connected by the Summer Carnival.
This urban design project is part of the case studies that substantiate Festivalcity_Rotterdam a strategy for the symbiotic collaboration of festivals and urban development, creating a strong identity for both.
Related projects: P11_Festivalcity_Rotterdam / P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre / P14_We love to build / P15_IFF@R'dam
2oo8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre
An urban design project about the symbiotic collaboration of the different Rotterdam festivals and city centre of Rotterdam, creating a strong identity for both.The last decade Rotterdam has been the breeding ground for many festivals. These festivals are the celebrations of a community. The celebrations of most of these festivals take place in the city centre of Rotterdam. In the time-space capsule that festivals are, the city shows its different identities to others, citizens or foreigners.
The concept of this project perceives the city centre as a theatre. The Coolsingel and the Schiedamse dijk, with their different identities as economical, political, commercial and maritime centre become the central trillzone of Rotterdam with the public space as the main stage and the buildings as the scenery. Between this trillzone and the parking garages, public transport stops is the foyer of the theatre, the chillzone of the festivals. In this zone, shops, restaurant and cafes are supporting the experience of the whole festival.
The public space creates multi-functional (in space and time) urban locations. In daily use as well as when used for a festival, this space invites you to linger.
This urban design project is part of the case studies that substantiate Festivalcity_Rotterdam, a strategy for the symbiotic collaboration of festivals and urban development, creating a strong identity for both.
Related projects: P11_Festivalcity_Rotterdam / P12_Caribbean Summer @ Afrikaanderwijk / P14_We love to build / P15_IFF@R'dam
2oo8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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Po6_Luik, Liege, Luttich
A strategy to transform the shrinking city of Liege, this by focussing on the qualities of the city.In the industrial revolution, Liege expanded rapidly, a bundle of infrastructure connected Liege with the surrounding regions and cities. Now, since the economical decline, the city shrinks.
The strategy of this project is the elastic city. Looking at history, cities always have been shrinking and expanding. In the phase of shrinking, the city should decide what are its specific qualities. For Liege they are the good infrastructural connections and the nearness of the Ardennes, a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and old mountains.
The urban strategy proposes to invest and densify around the infrastructural nodes. The areas between these nodes, the big declining industrial areas and the worn out housing are slowly transformed to extensive forests like the Ardennes. These transformed areas host recreational functions, and routes connect them with the Ardennes. By transforming a part of the area, a new attractive green quality is created for the remaining houses.
Related projects about shrinking cities: Po8_Keep it, Green it, Live in it! / Po9_Moving East
2oo5 Liege, Belgium
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P11_Festivalcity_Rotterdam
An urban strategy on the symbiotic collaboration between festivals and urban development, creating a strong identity for both.With the bombing of its central city, Rotterdam lost the main part of its cultural facilities. After the war Rotterdam utilized temporarily cultural manifestations to celebrate the development of the city and the identity of Rotterdam.
The past decade Rotterdam acquired the title: Festivalcity of The Netherlands. This success caused a sprawl of festivals. The strong connection to the urban development and the identity of the city seems to be lost.
The strategy Festivalcity_Rotterdam sees the collaboration between the festivals and the city as the interaction between a tulip and its flower bulb.
The tulip is a metaphor for the festival that blossoms once a year and shows its beauty to all who want to see. The flower bulb is a metaphor for the supporting community that organizes the festival. The tulip cannot flourish without the bulb grounded in a fertile ground, the city.
The strategy is substantiated by case studies, which put principles on how festivals and the city can symbiotically collaborate in practice.
Related Casestudies: P12_Caribbean Summer @Afrikaanderwijk / P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre / P14_We love to build / P15_IFF@R'dam
2oo8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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P15_IFF@R’dam
An urban design project about the possibilities of a new symbiotic collaboration of the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the city of Rotterdam,The international film festival Rotterdam is one of the international known festivals of Rotterdam. During the ten day festival, the central city changes of atmosphere.
The urban developments of the south bank of the Meuse, with the replacement of a movie theatre from the central city to this area can give a new dynamic between the co-relation between the festival and the city.
In a movie, the watcher stands still and the scenery changes, inbetween the story evolves. In a city, the scenery stands still, the watcher moves and inbetween the story where he/she is part of evolves.
In this project the urban qualities of the different festival areas are empowered partly by the temporary interventions in the public space. Along the routes between these areas also more long-term interventions are proposed to support the filmic character of Rotterdam.
This urban design project is part of the case studies that substantiate Festivalcity_Rotterdam, a strategy for the symbiotic collaboration of festivals and urban development, creating a strong identity for both.
Related projects: P11_Festivalcity_Rotterdam / P12_Caribbean Summer @ Afrikaanderwijk / P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre / P14_We love to build
2oo8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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pdates
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You reach your destination!
What could be the role for the urban design and the designer now the long-term perspective seems to be under pressure by the focus on short time winnings?
For Plandag 2011, Planning of the future, David Dooghe wrote a paper on how the role of the urban design and designer is shifting.
The paper is published (in Dutch) in the book: Planning van de Toekomst, Plandag 2011, Redactie: Geiske Bouma, Friedle Filius, Elke Vanempten en Bas Waterhout. ISBN/EAN: 978-90-808545-0-5
The paper starts from 2 observations:
- Technology is developing at a speed limit and some of these implications of technology in products have mayor influence on the urban tissue. What is new today is old tomorrow, so how to create a long-term perspective of the design?
- Due to the end of the welfare state the government is redrawing. This creates a shift in the commissioning of the building projects from the public to the private sector. However, the private sector has different interests than the public sector. Next to the shift in commissioning there is a shift from supplier market to a demand market, giving more power to the future resident of the house. Where there used to be one strong commissioner, the public sector, there is now an abundance of parties, each with different interests. How will this influence the role of the urban designer in the design process?
At the moment the major part of the redevelopment projects in the Netherlands use the tubula rasa approach. First there are no more investments (public space and buildings) in the area. Because of this, people move out and the area gets a bad reputation, which finally results in the demolishing of the buildings.
To attract new buyers, a lot of money is invested in promotion, activities, ... with the goal to sell the houses and to start the rebuilding.
Within this tubula rasa approach there is no possibility to adjust to the external influences during the process, like technology or economy. Neither is the area inviting during the process, in order to more naturally attract future residents.
In the paper an alternative approach is given. By a strategic demolishing and rebuilding of the area in different parts and by the use of specific temporary functions, fitting for the new identity of the area, a more sustainable process is the result. By demolishing and rebuilding in parts, the adjustments, due to external influences, can be easier implemented. By use of specific temporary functions, the area stays more lively and therefor more inviting.
The urban plan should no longer focus on the final destination but on the steps needed to get there. The urban designer, as continuity in the process from drawing to rebuilding, takes care of the process and adjusts when necessary. By this the urban designer gets a central role in the process and the coalition of the different parties.
He/she does not focus as much on the final destination but on the steps how to get to that destination.
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DD@WenK Sint Lucas: From Brussels to Tirana.
David Dooghe is a studio mentor for the Master Urban Design at Hogeschool voor Wetenschap & Kunst, Sint-Lucas, Gent.
Together with Bruno van Langenhove and Tine van Herck David will run the design studio: Platform Kanal. In the ‘zone d’intervention Prioritaire’ near the canal in the centre of Brussels the students make a strategy and a design for a strategic place in the area, influenced by a chosen political preference.
Together with Jiri Klokocka, David will run the masterproof design. The students will work on the city of Tirana, the capital of Albania, which has experienced radical changes at the turn of the millennium. More parks and squares have been built, changing the “look” of Tirana from Communist to more European city.
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Countdown to Christmas
click image to enlarge
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Growing Green _ Awareness
For centuries, the size of a city has been defined by the food production of her surrounding countryside. A century ago, technology started to create new possibilities for faster transport and slower food decay, allowing cities to grow, mostly at the disadvantage of the surrounding countryside.
The last decades there is a growing green awareness in the western world, aiming to bring city and nature more even. From that urban gardening, the use of available soil and containers by citizens to grow plants in an urban environment, grows popular.
Urban gardening knows a wide range of scales, users and purposes. An overview:
Urban gardening as a part of the city’s park & recreation, Brooklyn
Urban gardening as a part of the street, Brookyn
Urban gardening as a neighbourhood project, Rotterdam.
Urban gardening for own use, Rotterdam
Urban gardening as a statement, Brooklyn
Urban gardening as an educational tool, Brooklyn
Urban gardening as an art project, Torun.
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Whose is the city?
Being an urban designer with knowledge of youth culture, David Dooghe, was invited to participate on the debate: ‘Whose is the city?’ discussing youngsters and their use of public space of Rotterdam.
The debate was organised by Confetti and the other participants on the debate were: Ruud Reutelingsperger (Observatorium), Thecla van Dijk (OKRA Landschapsarchitecten) Thaddeus Muller (sociologist and auteur of De Warme Stad) and Robert Simons (politician Leefbaar Rotterdam). Moderator debate: Rineke Kraaij.The last couple of years Rotterdam invested in the public space of its inner city, with the goal to create a ‘City lounge’, a space where people meet, stay, repose.
“Youngsters are the main users of Rotterdam inner city’s streets to meet and stay”, stated David, “Being the city with growing percentage of youngsters, this could have a good effect on the goal of Rotterdam, to create a city lounge in the inner city.”
But while Rotterdam invests to create a public space to meet, the use of the public space is more and more regulated. In some places meetings of a group larger than three persons in the public space is prohibited. The security concerning festivals gets stronger regulated, making festivals impossible to happen.
In the debate quickly the Friday evening ‘problem’ on the Lijnbaan, the main shopping street of Rotterdam and the place and time were youngsters meet, became the main case. The presence of the youngsters creates fear, a passive aggressive atmosphere like somebody in the public stated, among the other users of the shopping street.
“Isn’t this fear more of a generation conflict than a real threat?” David asked the other participants and public, “Knowing that ‘staging’, defining your personality by ‘taking the stage” at every possible moment, is an important part of the youth culture. They aren’t really threatening the others, but they will make sure the others have seen them. What better place in Rotterdam than the Lijnbaan to do this?”
For the politician present, the world works in a way that once something is a problem, it stays a problem. Therefor the rest of the debate got lost in convincing the others of the urge of the problem.
A pity, an out of the box brainstorm with all these interesting participants of the debate could have created new insights.
rojects
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P14_We love to build
the toolbox
the transformation process
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P12_Caribbean Summer @ Afrikaanderwijk
experimental phase
expanding phase
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P13_the Rotterdam urban theatre
the Rotterdam urban theatre
the city shows its diffirent identity to others
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Po6_Luik, Liege,Luttich
the good infrastructural connections and the nearness of the Ardennes
urban strategy
transformed areas -
P11_Festivalcity_Rotterdam
festivals in Rotterdam during one year
the strategy
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P15_IFF@R’dam
the routes
long-term interventions