"Does the city of Rotterdam exclude any social groups?"

"Een veerkrachtige wijk is een wijk met verschillende portemonnees."

To extend the research I find and the questions that accur during my research of the central station, I want to write about the character that the city of Rotterdam is trying to create. The city is starting to be so more new. It’s a city of multicultures, but I actually want to question that. Are we excluding any social groups? Is the city striving for a higher and better social class and for what?
I want to link the subjects such as racism, democracy, violence, feminism, social class, ideologies.
Knowing that the south of Rotterdam is being torn down, people are forced to leave their houses to be able to make a newer, more expensive living area. This is an example of that it feels like the ideology is financially growing, and who can’t keep up, is not included in the city.
I am working on making an analyses of the people who live in Rotterdam and where do they live where do they spend their free time and where do they work. What does the city represent to them?

Gentrification

Cultural Diversity

Sociology

"A resilient neighborhood is a neighborhood with different wallets."

"The municipality only spends money on ‘bull shit’. For example, Central [station], have you seen it? Just to spill money. They implement two globes [artwork], total costs: several thousands, for what? […] Don’t make those stupid things when people are poor […] They create nice things to attract visitors. […] How does that help us? […] You guys only invest in people who make money, to gain taxes. But people who do not make money, they do not look after. Yet, if you
facilitate that more people can work, you can collect even more taxes, right? This way you do not only look after certain [well off] groups"

Interviewees with a relatively low SES find that the city currently spends too much money on resident groups who are already well off. For example, Eric (69, male, native Dutch, retired engineer, social rent) argues that in Katendrecht the municipality
has stimulated the emergence of unaffordable café’s, cultural events and parking fees and they are considering to abolish local public transport

The Social Dilemma - Jeff Orlowski (film)

Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power - Byung-Chul Han

“Rotterdam’s urbanity is reinforced here by a metropolitan station architecture in which the building and the new station square merge. Here the station roof folds to create a welcoming and very spacious station concourse, which also provides direct access to the new metro station”

“The station, previously a barrier in the city, now forms an important connecting link in the urban fabric.”

"The station should fulfill the role of the city square. If it’s a destination in its own right, it will be a place of connection rather than separation."

“The Rotterdam residents don't mind the amount of money put into this, because this investment will result itself with a load of new jobs for the city." - Mayor Aboutaleb

However, today, transport and distribution activities in the port, though still very important, generate fewer and fewer jobs in the region. The
economic benefits of the expansion of the port accrue mainly to inland regions, where
transport and distribution activities increasingly locate. With this in mind, the economic strategy of the municipality is directed to the broadening of the economic base of the city.(...)
The city is in continuous movement and change. (...)...has been followed by a new urban development plan, formulated in the second half of the 1980s on the base of a broader debate concerning the future of the city and inspired by developments in Baltimore, one of the first cities to adopt a waterfront regeneration program based on culture and leisure activities.(...)
Compared with the rest of The Netherlands, Rotterdam has lower education levels for
high-skilled (pre-university) people, and a more serious situation with low-income
groups.(...)
The greatest impetus arose from the construction of the Erasmus Bridge, opened in 1996, which represents also the attempt to reduce the psychological, socio-economic and physical distance between the two sides of the city, the rich North and the poor South, separated by the Maas River.(...)

“Rotterdam’s image has shifted from a harbour and working city into a more dynamic, convivial and attractive one”

“120,000 travelers and passers-by use the passage every working day.
112,000 travelers board, disembark or transfer in one of the 612 trains that stop at Rotterdam Central every working day.
8000 passers-by use the passage to walk from one side to the other or to go shopping at one of the shops.

In addition, there are approximately 50,000 visitors per day who do not check in, but do use the station.”