Rhapsody in West has won the prize for the best sustainable area development, the SKG Award. The jury praised the “courageous approach to developing in a challenging place with quality and attention to (social) sustainability”.
According to the jury, daring to develop a comprehensive social plan that includes private financing at a challenging location in Amsterdam (right next to the A10 ring road) and during the financial crisis is an example of an inventive entrepreneurial mindset. A special mix of sustainability, social inclusion and relevance for compaction tasks in other cities. The jury also said: “It touches on the broader theme of gentrification by not running away from extra costs and process requirements of an approach in ‘vulnerable neighborhoods’ by making it accessible to a wide audience, with ‘compact and beautiful’ as a guideline. The jury is impressed by the appearance and quality that the project exhibits “.
This year there were two winners. The other prize winner is Proeftuin Erasmusveld in The Hague. The jury found it difficult to make a choice because both projects are incomparable, because of the phase they are in, the context and the ‘zeitgeist’.
The winners set an example for upcoming area developments, says the jury. “Sustainable and climate-adaptive inner-city transformation (Rhapsody) and more sub-urban area developments (Erasmusveld) are both necessary to address the immense housing challenge.”
SKG stands for Area Development Knowledge Foundation. It is one of the chairs at Delft University of Technology.