WORKSHOP DESIGN AS POLITICS: HAVENS

Merwe4Haven is full of energy. Lots of activities and initiatives are taking place. Entrepreneurs and artists are exploring the area by creating their own opportunities like urban food farming, creative manufacturing (3d printing), art in public space and facilitating startups. 4haven is a real life city laboratory for producing/manufacturing within city boundaries. This is an important characteristic we want to capture in the coming decades. The vision and strategy is based on the existing strengths of the area and the development should be as organic and unplanned as possible. Therefore we chose to keep only the most important landmarks as fixed elements. Those which have a clear destination already will be fixed in the plan: the Marconi Towers, the Dakpark, the studio for Daan Rosegaarde and the silo. Apart from that, anything is open to development. Whether the current building will stay like they are, is open to the entrepreneurs and artists who want to settle in 4Haven.

We build on the vision which is there already about creative industries (Creative), the medical delta an cleantech industry (High Tech) and creative manufacturing (Creative Tech). These three industries will be facilitated in the area. Next to that, the people in Bospolder, Tussendijken and Oud Mathenesse will be included in the development. Extra employment opportunities will be created for them through education and the production characteristic of the area. The Dakpark and a connecting area to be designed (main road in area 2) will be the elements that will help to create the right type of connection between 4Haven and the residential areas next to it.

The coming three years those three industries – Creative, High Tech and Creative Tech – will develop on the same tread. Trough crowd funding and public money, or so called Co-ops this will be financed. The emphasis will be on renting out space, advertising of the area, improving the public space and educating employees. The people working in the 4havens are ideally citizens of the surrounding neighborhood like Bospolder. ‘’Know how to build?’’ and ‘’Veg for the Markthal’’.

In seven years the development of the High Tech and Creative sector will increase. Business will be attracted by then and crowd funding/Co-ops becomes successful. Branding, production, creativity, and education are now central to the development. ‘’Learn to lasercut in 36h’’ and ‘’Bospolder products’’.

In 2029 the area will be branded that well that every rising star wants to settle in 4Haven. There is a network of successful artists, entrepreneurs and business that the area can sustain itself. Production, creativity, collaboration and extensive use of the space are characterizing 4Haven. The new ‘’Prix de Rome winners’’ and ‘’Nobel prize winners’’ originate from 4Haven.

– Hugo Corbett
– Martina Gentili
– Sarah Rach