Crimson Architectural Historians and Felix Rottenberg

WiMBY! Hoogvliet
The future, past and present of a New Town

Design: Simon Davies, Illustrated (colour and b/w), Paperback, sewn, 528 pages, Size: 17 x 24 cm
English edition, ISBN 978-90-5662-595-5, € 42.00
Dutch edition, ISBN 978-90-5662-594-8, € 42.00

In 2001, Crimson Architectural Historians and journalist/politician Felix Rottenberg were asked to revive a down-at-heel New Town suburb in the harbour area of Rotterdam. Against all the odds, and amidst the biggest housing demolition project in the Netherlands, this unlikely team of planners has made huge strides towards the ultimate goal of transforming the modernist New Town of Hoogvliet into a vibrant contemporary urban area with a new confidence about its future.

Going by the moniker WiMBY! (Welcome into My Backyard!), Crimson and Rottenberg have spared nothing and no one to accomplish their mission. They first retold the eventful history of Hoogvliet in a dramatic manner. Then they mobilized local entrepreneurship and talent and began working with the best architects and urban planners to develop a co-housing project, schools, a community park and a cultural centre. They organized many festivals and events along the way, and struggled with bureaucracy and mediocrity.

Districts in need of urban renewal such as Hoogvliet are currently a high political priority. Dozens of neighbourhoods are wrestling with problems similar to those that Hoogvliet has successfully resolved over recent years.

For planning and design professionals, the final publication about WiMBY! tells the whole story, including the achievements and the lessons learnt, as well as providing documentation that illustrates all the buildings and designs. For a more general readership, the book contains the epic, hilarious and sometimes grim report that traces the many ups and downs of six years of autonomous urban renewal.

WiMBY! is a project by Crimson Architectural Historians, the authors of successful publications that include Mart Stam’s Trousers (1997), Too Blessed to be Depressed (2002), Hugh Maaskant (2003) and Maak een stad! (2004).

An attractively designed, comprehensive volume with a wealth of illustrative material that tells the tale of a remarkable and inspiring project in architecture and urban design in a way that will also spark the imagination of a broader readership.