Cities are increasingly complex environments where different actors and stakeholders co-exist and learn howto live together. Within these complex environments, different types of grassroots initiatives are arising that represent a new form of urban insurgent activism that aim attransformation, calling for new answers to citizens’ needs.

These kind of initiatives are typically formed by social entrepreneurs, civic volunteers, local activists and similar groups. They are challenging the traditional ways through which urban services, spaces and buildings are managed. These new and different makers also bring along the need for new processes and a different way of City Making; processes that not only bring together various disciplines but also enable a collaborative new way of working between these different disciplines of professionals, academics, private enterprises, policy makers and citizens.

The aim of the Participatory City Making project isto develop a framework that can enhance participatory city making of the various groups. In particular, the project will explore the interaction between grassroots initiatives and the public administration through small-scale experiments. Collaborative construction ofnew visions through small-scale experimenting, as a way of triggering a process of broader change and transformation, are studied within a Transition Management perspective. In the city of Rotterdam, the case study context, the project aimsat uncovering unique insights and governance issues by analysing the opportunities, challenges and barriers for Participatory City Making. A new toolset willbe developed that should enable heterogeneous stakeholders to participate actively, explore the collaborative envisioned potential, and articulate their own role in the new city making process. This development of the toolset will contribute to the understanding of the value of prototyping for systemic change. The project is developed by the TUDelft in collaboration with the Dutch Research Institute for Transition and the Hogeschool Rotterdam (Creating 010).

drs. Gerard Nijboer – Gemeente Rotterdam

Tony van Acquoy – TSI Foundation

Nynke Schaaf – Rotterdam Kantelt

mr. drs. Gaston Gelissen MPA – Aan de slag met de Omgevingswet