Th 14 Jan 10

4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) Puts Social Issues of Tomorrow's Cities on the Map

On Sunday, 10 January, the well received and effective 4th edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) closed its doors. 
With Open City: Designing Coexistence as its theme, the IABR initiated research projects in cities on five continents. These projects resulted in four exhibitions and nearly 200 events (debates, lectures, workshops, etc.) in Rotterdam as well as Amsterdam.
The 4th IABR drew over 60,000 visitors, nearly a third of which came to see the exhibition from abroad. Various components of the exhibits will be on display in Paris, Istanbul, São Paulo and Jakarta.
Together with the Dutch public television network VPRO, the Urban Century project was launched, a partnership which resulted in the Biennale reaching over a million viewers and listeners.
The IABR therefore succeeded in its mission to organize the social debate on the future of the city on a variety of levels, with a very culturally diverse and global input, and to build a broad base of interest in the debate.

Urgent Question
Focusing on the theme Open City: Designing Coexistence and with the Dutch architect and urbanist Kees Christiaanse as curator, the 4th IABR officially put the problems involved in social cohesion in the city on the agenda. The central question involved was the extent to which architects and urban developers make a concrete contribution to this cohesion and to the sustainable quality of the urban environment. A question that, now that more than half of the global population lives in cities, and by 2050, this figure will rise to 75%, is without a doubt an urgent one.

Open City Event Program Emphasizes Importance of Theme
The themes of the 4th IABR appeal to a large audience, and enjoy a high level of interest. This fact was proven primarily by the success of the Open City Event Program which was held at this year’s Biennale’s main location and partner, the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI), for 12 weeks. The event program organized within the scope of The Free State of Amsterdam exhibit was also a success.
The nearly 200 programs focusing on the Open City theme – including lectures, debates, films, presentations, workshops and symposia – attracted over 15,000 visitors.

Many Forms of Cooperation
It was the goal of the organizers of the 4th edition of the IABR to find many forms of cooperation in order to do justice to the complex character of the modern city. A range of programs were developed together with architectural institutions such as the Netherlands Architecture Institute, and with DRO Amsterdam, housing corporations and project developers, architects, program makers, theater makers, and museums and festivals.
Projects were also developed together with the Board of the Regional Development Department of the VROM (Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) as well as many urban development departments in the Netherlands and abroad: from Rotterdam and Amsterdam to São Paulo, Jakarta, Istanbul and Addis Ababa.

The IABR is a research biennale, which means that a good working relationship with higher education is essential. With this goal in mind, the organizers of this edition worked closely with the ETH Zurich, the Berlage Institute, the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam, and the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture. Over 150 universities submitted research proposals and projects for the Parallel Cases exhibit, 45 of which were selected.
In addition, over 80 design firms from the Netherlands and abroad contributed to the various exhibits featured at the 4th IABR.

Some of the projects displayed in the exhibits will also be executed. Of the urban development projects which Crimson Architectural Historians in Rotterdam developed for the city, several were adopted by local housing corporations such as Woonstad. The projects which the IABR developed in close cooperation with the Brazilian city of São Paulo will be executed in 2010 and 2011; the city has budgeted 180 million Euros for these projects.

The partnership with the VPRO resulted in the Urban Century, a unique cross-media project broadcast on television, radio, the Internet and published in the VPRO program guide.
Together with the VPRO, the IABR produced five documentaries on the city. These were broadcast on the Dutch network Nederland 2, were shown during the Biennale and could be downloaded at the NAI. Four of the documentaries have been compiled for sale in a special boxed DVD set, and will be distributed worldwide after the Biennale via television stations, festivals and as high-resolution downloads via the Internet.
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) scheduled a series of films to be shown at the NAI in Rotterdam and at the former Shell-canteen in the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam, and even dedicated a special section to the city during the festival.

Several publications appeared in honor of the 4th IABR, such as the book Open City: Designing Coexistence (SUN Publishers), including contributions from people such as the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk and sociologist and economist Saskia Sassen; the photography book Refuge. Five Cities Portfolio (SUN); the Biennale catalogue Open City; the study Open City Rotterdam and a translation of Jane Jacobs’ classic work, Death and Life of Great American Cities (SUN) created especially for the Biennale.

Varied audience
In general, those attending the 4th IABR were young, very diverse in terms of their background. Nearly one-third of the visitors came from abroad to see the exhibition. Not only did the visitors come to see the exhibits at the NAI, the RDM Campus in Rotterdam, the Zuiderkerk, and the former Shell-canteen in the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam, they also attended the Open City Event Program and the (preparatory) workshops and symposia which were held worldwide. Other participants in the Biennale included the residents of the areas in which projects are being executed, VPRO radio and television program listeners and viewers, people viewing the IABR website and the Urban Century weblog, visitors to the IDFA urban program, and all of the students and professors at the more than 150 colleges and universities who worked on the projects for the 4th IABR.