Niet Rotterdam
Part of the vision for Rotterdam 2060 presented at the exhibition Meteopolis - How a large city like Rotterdam can deal with the consequences of climate change. In commision for Rotterdams Weerwoord, the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) and the Municipality Rotterdam.
Climate injustice • Vision • Ownership • System • Activist art
Climatechange is unfair
Inequality is layed bare more and more by the climate crisis. People living with a relatively low income are also getting to deal with the growing effects of climatechange. Less wealth, power of control and resources, yet having to come up with solutions? Climate-inequality emphasises fundamental change that is needed to prevent a climatecrisis.Free the soil
Land is scarse - especially in the Netherlands - and the distribution is crooked. Few landlords hold the fate of milions of civilians. So, they will decide how to prevent the effects of climate change from taking their toll? We believe that more land should be property of the civilians. By winning back pieces of land and developing it in a sustainable and fair manner we foresee a future that holds our collective needs for the longrun.Here, money and power win no political influence. On this soil, everyone is an equal shareholder. Shareholders are encouraged to set a course collectively. Everything is possible, as long as it complies with the law and the four Fundamental principles: all sustainable, all socially inclusive, all animal and human friendly and all scientifically founded.
This is Niet Rotterdam
From the budget we got for this project, we bought a piece of land and gifted it to all Rotterdam inhabitants. Every Rotterdam inhabitant is an equal shareholder. This land is located at the other side of the country, in Limburg, where it lies 30 meters above sealevel. It’s called ‘Not Rotterdam’ or ‘Niet Rotterdam’ yet, it has everything to do with Rotterdam. In 40 years, Rotterdam inhabitants might need this safe place above sealevel, when they are fleeing from the effects of climatechange in their city. They would then easily take a bus from their overheated, flooded or prolapsed homes to find relief in Not Rotterdam. At the exhibition Meteopolis the first busstop to Not Rotterdam was to be found.Not Rotterdam is meant as a warning and emphasises the urgency for sustainable and fair systems - especially considering the organisation of land. Above all, we want to prevent a migration of climate-refugees. To do so, we refer back to The New Fundamental and with that, push to rethink society as we know it.
