A city that moves

Geen Woorden maar Daaden. Not words but deeds. The well-known phrase among people in Rotterdam is also the motto of their local soccer club, Feyenoord.

According to Wim Blauw, a sociologist from the city’s Erasmus University, this phrase rings true most of the time. “They say that people in Rotterdam are born with their sleeves rolled up,” Blauw said at a lecture in December of last year.

Rotterdam’s nature as a fishermen’s village in the 13th century and as a developed port city in the 20th has a role in shaping this attitude. Sailors and port workers leading no-nonsense lives were among the first dwellers of the city that gets its name from the dam built on the Rotte River.

When the German army bombed the town center almost flat during World War II, it did not tear the city’s heart, as expressed in a statue often referred to as “The Destroyed City” located in Rotterdam’s old port adjacent to the Maritime Museum.  

Created by Russian-born artist Ossip Zadkine in the 1950s, the sculpture depicts a man with a gaping hole in his torso, presumably where his heart once was. His hands and face stretch upwards, seemingly in fear and anguish of attacks from above.  

Yet, the anguish and sorrow failed to last. True to its work-loving attitude, the city saw a faint silver lining in the bombing: It provided a chance to rebuild, and rebuild it certainly did, giving Rotterdam a modern, cosmopolitan image quite different from other cities in the Netherlands.  

Progress was swift and at one point the city was, in fact, known to house the largest port in the world. Although the title has been taken over by Shanghai, Rotterdam is still a key player among the world’s harbor cities.  

Blauw mentioned several processes the city went through under various names such as “urban revitalization” and “urban renewal” in his lecture. Various architecture and planning projects came and went, and in the end Rotterdam became a city known as one constantly rebuilding itself and, consequently, a haven for architectural experimentation.  

“For someone who hasn’t been in Rotterdam for 20, 30 years it will be difficult to find the old streets. Many of the old neighborhoods have been completely reconstructed,” Blauw said.  

With its colorful and, at times, cutting edge architecture, well-functioning infrastructure and abundant shopping centers, Rotterdam has the glitz of the big city without the hassle, as there are only around 1.3 million living in the greater Rotterdam area.  

Walking along the streets of Rotterdam you can hear people speaking in Turkish or Chinese almost as often as Dutch, and you are almost as sure to run into a Turkish kebab or Vietnamese lumpia (spring roll) stand as an olliebollen (Dutch doughnuts) one.

The West Kruiskade, often dubbed the Chinatown of Rotterdam, is abundant with shops selling Asian and African goods, yet it still retains the practicality and streamlined attitude that is Rotterdam.

Perhaps it’s just the small population, or perhaps it’s just hard to escape from being practical.