Rotterdam in development

17 R O T T E R D A M I N D E V E L O P M E N T | 2 0 1 8 This means that the process of connecting the RTHA with the region has been consciously designed. The mission, vision and future strategy are established in close consultation with 110 stakeholders from the region. Louwerse: “It is in conversations with passengers and local residents that we discover their individual wishes and needs. We consider new functions at the airport site in cooperation with start- ups, businesses and educational institutions. For example, you can use a vacant hangar to do really valuable research into the effects of nitrogen, or you can get together to think about what car sharing can mean for the design of parking facilities in the future.” SUSTAINABLE AREA DEVELOPMENT The sustainable development of the airport site and its real estate is taking shape in a process of organic area development, according to Celine Lonis, property developer at Schiphol Real Estate. “The direction of the growth of the business park at RTHA is determined based exclusively on demand from the market, from entrepreneurs and from users. We are in contact with a variety of companies in the region, both large and smaller entrepreneurs, who make a conscious choice for the dynamic and the speed of the airport. For example, a freelancer is renting a small amount of office space in the Cornerstone office building on the far side; as a young boy he dreamed of taking off from our runways in his little plane. In terms of the design of the plots we still have available, we are open to a variety of initiatives. It could be an office villa, but it could also serve a temporary function as an experiment in an educational setting or with a creative start-up working on art in public spaces. That also enriches the accommodations at the airport site.” The airport’s interconnectedness with the region is already taking shape along a variety of different lines. In 2025, RTHA will be a more integrated part of the MRDH; a place where local residents go for restaurants and retail facilities, where innovative employment takes shape, where tourists come for a day out in The Hague or Rotterdam, where business travellers find a handy connection with Europe and where sustainable energy sources contribute to the local environment. By 2025, this will have created the ultimate interconnection within the region: spatially, economically and socially.