'Knowledge Corridor' Strategic Design for IJsselmonde

Type:

Master Urbanism TU Delft (MSc 2)

Project location:

IJsselmonde, The Netherlands

Ijsselmonde is placed between the Randstand and the Zeeland Delta, giving it potential to serve as leverage between these bigger clusters. The western part of Ijsselmonde is the entrance to the Rotterdam harbor. This area plays an active roll in the industrial economy of Rotterdam. But what will happen when the industry will move out of this area? Our strategy was to introduce a strong new and contemporary identity for the western part of Ijsselmonde. Using the created space by the movement of the port area towards the Maasvlakte II and considering the globally increasing trend of clean energy production, we introduce a new program for the island and the Zeeland Delta.

Knowledge corridor towards the future: We proposed a knowledge corridor on the island of Ijsselmonde. Rotterdam already has plans for a new climate campus in the city harbor along the Maas, which will house a branch of research and innovation for water management and clean energy. We proposed to plan this campus on the industrial harbor on the island instead. This campus, together with the RDM campus and two new education facilities we planned, will function as the knowledge cluster of this corridor.

The program in the corridor also contains student housing, business parks, culture and leisure, and a science park. This corridor will be a place where innovation within the sustainibility branch is concentrated, so it will become a nationally renowned location.

Knowledge - Production - Implementation: The energy cycle we appoint consists out of three phases which are planned in clusters on the island and in the Zeeland Delta. As explained the knowledge cluster is planned on the island. Here the ideas of innovative technology are born. These ideas can be tested and put into practice within the knowledge corridor. The production of takes place in the cluster of the MBO campus and manufacturing companies. After the manufacturing the products, they are transported to Zeeland, where they can be implemented in the designated energy clusters.