start

For me I think a space i'm comfortable in is one that i'm familiar with. some reasons why zuid felt familiar when i first came here:

-less tall buildings than north of the river
-big shopping centre
-lots of bric-a-brac/charity shops
-seeing more Sikh people
-Zuiderpark reminds me of Markeaton park
-Polish supermarkets
-the industrial estates along the harbour
-more flats & less houses

Trees that are still here today (only a little bit taller than the houses after 70 years of growing on this street)

photo taken after 1955 from one of the floors of the block of flats i live in now

where supermarket polska is now

the 1953 flood reached as far south of Rotterdam as Lombardijen

hardly any cars parked down the street, no bike lanes yet

photo taken from the roof of Maassilo

where my flat is now

flooding on Smeetslandsedijk (where the big Rataplan is now)

My positionality affects how I live in tarwewijk in many different ways.

Position as an international student; taking housing from residents who would deserve it more. Contribution to housing crisis, contribution to gentrification of zuid and rent increases

Position as a queer; areas I avoid at night (haven along brielselaan, zuiderpark) due to percieved danger/past experience, clashes in queer acceptance based on cultural norms brought to the Netherlands/ Dutch conservative politics shaping working class

Position as a white person; was much easier to settle in this country than if I was poc or from non-western country (visas, finding employment, housing ads saying "no internationals" but really meaning specific types of internationals)

Position as working class; commuting north of the river only for school and work, earning money in north, spending it in south, homecooked meals instead of restaurant doesn't support local economy, Afrikanderwijk market instead of Lidl does support local economy

Position as English speaker; Easy to navigate communication with 'Anglo Safety Net', less respectful than speaking Dutch, sharing space with other non-native Dutch speakers, making people speak English when it's a third or fourth language for them is selfish, Cultural immersion can't be fully felt while safety net of English is in place

my flat block looking the exact same now as it did in 1955

making our own map of Rotterdam -- mapping our own experience in the city

what's the point we are trying to make?

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how positionality plays part in how we move/view the city
+ for me (jay),
how growing up in the city has shaped me

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growing up Black in the south, i felt at home. a lot of representation -- comfortable, sense of belonging.

when i got older i noticed a lot people looking at the south like "the dark realm", a place for lower class, a place you would never want to live.
i got confused as to how people could perceive MY home, my place of belonging, as scum.

over the bridge was a place i then started longing for, but when i got there i realised it did not feel as welcoming as the south. i started to feel the sense of belonging in the west, a place i grew up in swell and reminded me most of "home".

when i started being openly queer, i started to come across events of "betrayal" in the places i called home. how could the place that i experienced a sense of belonging in now feel like a place where this "other" part of my being could not openly be.

i started to move differently in my home. often trying to be a fly on the wall so i could still admire my home. i took to the center more, and there i found communities that offered me this sense of belonging too.

"home" isn't a place, it's feeling comfortable. there wasn't a place where all aspects of my being could feel at home, that's when i created the ability to shapeshift.

base of our map
-- places people will be able to recognise

add our personal experiences to these places, map the city through personal experience
make interactive by handing people a smaller version to do the same, compare how different people have different experiences to a place because of the way their body is/isn't allowed to exist in these places

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screenprint base of map onto fabric

amount of dirk's in the south

amount of dirk's in kralingen

places in the city where i feel uncomfortable --- predominantly white neighbourhoods, the gentrification in the city also repels people like me > tall buildings, insanely high rent, grey tints
but also, predominantly non-white neighbourhoods where the police is around almost all hours of the day (not because of the neighbourhood but because of the police)

what role do demographics play into consumer behaviour?

how do businesses (grocery stores) play into these demographics?

albert heijn kralingen having zero waste stuff, a sushi bar thingie and zelf scan

albert heijn zuidplein having lots of security & "exotic" fruits

The first thing we did as a group, was research places we are familiar with. For me, that was the neighbourhood Carnisse. I then realised that the research I found online was very stale. Very historical and not much context is given to the actual place where people actually live/ used to live.

After I realised that doing research on the internet was not my preferred way. Instead, I started talking to the people I know personally who still live there. I spoke to three people. My old flatmate, Gilbert, the owner of a pub I still visit frequently to this day, and a friend of mine that I met at the place. We all come from different times. Gilbert is almost 60, my friend is in his 30s and me and my old flatmates are in our 20s. It was interesting to see that we had very similar experiences in this neighbourhood.

We then decided to not only narrow our research down to a place in Rotterdam, but to rather expand it to the entire city of Rotterdam. Here are my written thoughts for our project. We all decided to map out our thoughts on the city. Marking both our comfortable areas and our uncomfortable areas. This is a form of doing research. By mapping out experiences of people actually living in the city, you get a better idea of what it is like to live in Rotterdam.

For myself, it is interesting to see how a queer person of colour experiences the city. I would like to further this research by including people of different races and identities to make a more complete and representative map of Rotterdam.

Excuse the size of the pictures, I have no idea how to make them smaller.

having places like zuidplein, beijerlandselaan, groenehilledijk, pendrecht, spinozaweg (where my basisschool was) as hangouts
vs.
going to high school in barendrecht with where i was surrounded by mostly white folk (the few poc in that school where in the mavo building where i was too)

I think the experiences will vary per person. The way you experience living or being in Rotterdam will vary on your background, your identity, your culture, your nationality and your race. Also, whether you grew up in Rotterdam or outside of Rotterdam. It all depends on these factors. I think it would be interesting to visualise this on an actual map.