Wimby!

One of the greatest obstacles for urban planning today is the pervasiveness of the so-called 'NiMBY' (Not in My Backyard) attitude--the urban individual's fear of collectivity. WiMBY! (Welcome into My Backyard!) is the motto of a new design and organization culture that proposes an urban ethics in which encounters between public and private space are seen as a source of enrichment for the individual citizen. The objective of the Rotterdam-Hoogvliet IBE, which opened in 2001 and will continue through 2010, is to increase international recognition for Rotterdam's urban planning and architecture, and to contribute to the redefinition of Hoogvliet--a model for postwar urban planning--as a sustainable living and working environment for the 21st century. The scale, complexity and duration of the urban restructuring of Hoogvliet make it an exemplary test case for the future of the modern city, and WiMBY! explores this future with intelligence and depth.