members

the nine ECRN participants

ECRN is a consortium of NGOs, municipalities, associations and private organisations, spread across the following nine European cities: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Belfast, Chemnitz, Faro, Gothenburg, Nicosia and Rotterdam. Each city is unique and has its own expertise, but they all share the same objective. Meet the members:

Amsterdam

ROEF showcases the city’s highest potential, because roofs in proper use offer opportunities for climate adaptation, sustainable energy and crowd management. The Amsterdam roofscape is 12 km2 in size, more than 25 times of its iconic Vondelpark. The future of the Amsterdam roofscape according to ROEF: to transform it into the largest public rooftop park in the Netherlands, connecting separate rooftops through air bridges. In the meantime, the interconnectivity of the ECRN ensures the benefit of international inspiration for Amsterdam developments and sharing ROEF’s local knowledge with European counterparts.

Photo credits: Frederik Beyens, Marc Deurloo, Me Marie, IAMKAT, Marvin Duiker, Nikki Boomkens

ROEF Amsterdam

Antwerp

Antwerp has a lay-out of 3000 football fields of flat rooftops, hardly used. Since 2018, the city organises the bi-annual artistic rooftop festival Dakkan to create awareness of this topic among citizens, policy makers, project developers and other stakeholders. From festival to EU program, Dakkan now aims to create more sustainable and public rooftop space in the city, through debate, lobbying, rooftop research and many cultural activities. The next Dakkan festival is held on the 16th, 17th and 18th of september 2022.

Photo credits: Ans Brys, Matthias de Boeck, Frederik Beyens

DAKkan

Barcelona

Coincidències was founded in the spring of 2013 with the vocation to generate brand new cultural experiences. Barcelona offers almost 1.800 hectares of rooftops, using them as a stage leads to almost infinite possibilities for scenic arts, blending them with urban spaces, culture and citizenship. Their rooftop festival Terrats en Cultura could be defined as a cultural event of proximity, a singular experience that allows for the discovery of new perspectives of Barcelona from different neighbourhoods while generating a network of alternative spaces for culture. In essence: urban connection. The interconnectivity of the ECRN ensures the benefit of international inspiration for Barcelona developments and sharing Coincidències’ local knowledge with European counterparts.  

Photo credits: Frederik Beyens, Guillem Pacheco

Coincidencies

Belfast

Belfast’s roofscape was once a site of active imagination for the city with plans for rooftop cafes and gardens. This was halted by the unfolding of the Troubles across Northern Ireland in the late 20th century. Urban Scale Interventions is an interdisciplinary creative studio based in the city, hoping to engage with communities on the ground to reframe how Belfast’s rooftops provide for the people of tomorrow. Big ideas ranging from performance spaces to green places. The interconnectivity of the ECRN ensures the benefit of international inspiration for Belfast developments and sharing Urban Scale Interventions’ local knowledge with European counterparts.

Photo credits: Frederik Beyens

Chemnitz

Chemnitz rooftops witness different phases of intensive industrial innovation, oftentimes boasting experimental solutions in rooftop construction. Various in their shapes and challenges, Chemnitz rooftops offer great opportunities for repurposing under the signs of both creative experimentation and ecological sustainability. Currently an underused resource of wide open spaces, the Chemnitz roofscape suggests itself as an urban laboratory for innovative solutions in rooftop utilisation. The interconnectivity of the ECRN ensures the benefit of international inspiration and sharing Chemnitz’ local knowledge with European counterparts. 

Photo credits: Frederik Beyens

Faro

Faro’s thematic approach to its rooftop policies is inspired by how rooftops allow us to see the city from another perspective and to reimagine it in multiple ways, leading to three different areas of development: arts, community and sustainability. The ultimate goal is for Faro rooftops to transform into new public spaces: green and sustainable meeting places where communities can thrive. The interconnectivity of the ECRN ensures the benefit of international inspiration for Faro developments and sharing Faro’s local knowledge with European counterparts.  

Photo credits: Frederik Beyens

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is entering its 5th century with a building boom. Old harbour and industrial areas are rebuilt, old buildings – parts of the city’s roofscape – are refurbished and revived. Folkstaden invites art, culture, architecture, building and planning, businesses and the public to bring together all aspects of a sustainable urban society on rooftops. To recognise the roofscape, one of the largest urban areas, as a place for greenery, everyday life and cultural venues. The interconnectivity of the ECRN ensures the benefit of international inspiration for Gothenburg developments and sharing Folkstaden’s local knowledge with European counterparts.

Photo credits: Frederik Beyens, Patrik Elgström

Folkstaden

Nicosia

Observing Nicosia’s roofscape, the border dividing the city dissolves and all buildings and landmarks of both the North and the South of Nicosia come together in the same skyline. The Urban Gorillas is an interdisciplinary team of urban enthusiasts who aim to activate community spaces, inviting the local and international community to reimagine Cyprus’ capital from the rooftop level and create alternative spaces for social interaction and creative expression on top of the buildings as well as in them. The interconnectivity of the ECRN ensures the benefit of international inspiration for Nicosia developments and sharing The Urban Gorillas’ local knowledge with European counterparts.  

Photo credits: Frederik Beyens, Nafsika Hadjichristou

Urban Gorillas

Rotterdam

Rotterdam features over 18 km2 of flat rooftops, most of which unused. The cultural organisation Rotterdamse Dakendagen (Rotterdam Rooftop Days) has been addressing this issue since 2014. Their annual festival brings the city’s roofscape to life as an open laboratory, proposing a possible future of a more vibrant, social and sustainable city that utilises its many flat rooftops to the fullest. Celebrating rooftop heritage and egging on developments, reflecting on them through arts and culture, creating awareness and addressing – in a public arena – what is needed to take the city’s rooftop use to the next level. Through the ECRN, this next level can include strong connections between the Rotterdam roofscape and its European counterparts.

Photo credits: Frederik Beyens, Frank Hanswijk, Igor Blok, Maarten vd Wilt

Rotterdamse Dakendagen

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