Would you like to help think about how an abandoned building can be transformed into a ‘Lifehouse’? It is possible during the Stad in de Maak workshop series!

In this workshop series City in the Making aims to gather a group of participants to help with an actual case study: an abandoned warehouse in the Koningin Wilhelminahaven in Vlaardingen. It is being investigated togethe if and how this building could be transformed into a ‘Lifehouse’. The concept ‘Lifehouse’ comes from American writer and urbanist Adam Greenfield and is an institution or place at the heart of a neighbourhood for solidarity and support. This could be a modest yet daring space where a messy workshop meets an open floor, community kitchen, workspaces, a neighbourhood survival pack, and – who knows – even living spaces. Together we’ll be looking for ways to get this started, designed and financed and, moreover, to keep it going, even when the lights around go out.

For over twelve years, Stad in de Maak (City in the Making) has set up temporary sites in Rotterdam that act as focal points for communities – places where people can gather, live, work, support each other, and feel rooted. To casual visitors, these sites often appear both refreshing and somewhat puzzling: a blend of inventive hacks, upcycled materials, and abundant community activity gives them unexpected charm and vitality. They give something many have longed for: a renewed sense of community and belonging. If only these spaces could withstand the pressure of time. Now, City in the Making is seeking to set up their first permanent site. No longer on borrowed time, or in borrowed property, but secured for times to come! To make this work, City in the Making needs access to unusual buildings: properties that are too run-down, too entangled, or too stuck to be claimed by today’s overheated property market. Properties where no one, except perhaps a few people, will find a way to make them work. Can these places become safe havens—sites where one dares to imagine and experiment with a different reality on which to build a life? Places that help endure an abrasive, exhausting present and face the storms to come: some already visible, such as the climate crisis, others still unknown. Fragile for now, they nevertheless hold the promise of persistence and mutual care.

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