Cascoland is a collective of Amsterdam-based artists developing tools and interventions that empower people, communities and neighborhoods, and create awareness among planners and authorities. In particular, they are known for their work in the Kolenkit neighborhood in Amsterdam-West.
Participant GUPs in Amsterdam, Rotterdam
Jeanne Works
Jeanne van Heewsijk is an individual artist (or ‘urban curator’) organising long-term community engagement and empowering inhabitants to change their own environment themselves. Afrikaanderwijk is her long standing project in Rotterdam-Zuid, featuring among other working cooperatives.
Non-fiction
A collective of researchers, designers, thinkers and curators, creating dis¬cursive reflections and temporary ur¬ban interventions allowing for different perspectives on the city. Tussenruimte was a temporary project that sought to intervene in the ‘in-between’ spaces of Amsterdam’s UNESCO canal zone.
Samen Wonen Samen Leven
Samen Wonen Samen Leven is a foundation creating new community hubs, recently winning the Amsterdam Architecture Award for their project in Amsterdam West.
Soweto
Soweto is an alternative housing association, buying buildings to transform them into affordable, collective housing. Nieuwland, in the eastern part of Amsterdam, is their first housing project.
Stad in de Maak
Stad in de Maak is a foundation aiming to take properties off the market in Rotterdam and create affordable spaces for living and working. For now they only have properties on a temporary loan.
Stadsherstel
Stadsherstel is a company aiming to acquire and restore dilapidated buildings (in particular monuments), preserve them and rent them out.
Urban Resort
Urban Resort is a foundation temporarily renting abandoned buildings and converting them into affordable working (and housing) arrangements across Amsterdam. Volkshotel is one of their early projects, now partly made permanent through a deal with a hotel.
Verhalenhuis Belvédère
A ‘home for immaterial heritage’ in Rotterdam’s rapidly changing Katendrecht neighborhood, where people can meet through food, storytelling, and exhibitions. The project has gained financial security by acquiring an iconic building through crowdfunding and issuing bonds.
Vers Beton
Online magazine for Rotterdam, focusing on urban development, architecture, politics, arts and culture. Provides a platform for discussion about urban issues and sets the local agenda.
ZUS
Architecture & urbanism office, working worldwide but also in their immediate environment, where it is involved in the redevelopment of the area, including the construction of a crowdfunded pedestrian bridge connecting 3 neighborhoods.