Day 11 was a relaxed, tour-filled day. Our first stop after a quick breakfast was a short city tour focused on sustainable architecture and urban planning, ending with a visit to Dakakker, a rooftop farm. Our tour guide, Rob, lead us through multiple different water collection systems, like a park that was dug into the ground to hold rain and flood water on bad weather days, redistributing it to the nearby canals, or the Heliport neighborhood with walkways angled to send water to a central drain leading to the outside canals. He also took us to the old train station, which was repurposed to be a rooftop garden and park, with more recreational space in construction. Rob finished his tour on the Dakakker roof, a six-story building topped with an urban farm which holds a ton of plants, bees, chickens, and a worm composting system. Farmed plants, honey, and worm poop are all sold to nearby restaurants and farmers. The roof can hold 60,000 liters of rainwater, and it houses a small coffee shop, granting it not only the green roof title, but the blue and red roof title as well. Seeing how smoothly green roofs and water collection systems are integrated into Rotterdam architecture and urban planning makes me confident similar systems can be implemented in the US to make American urban environments more sustainable and green.

After our tour of Dakakker, Brian took us on a longer, more historical tour of Rotterdam. We started at the city hall, stopping at an Edge construction project on our way to the next stop to highlight their practices as the most sustainable construction company in the world. Their sustainable practices do not end after construction, as the Edge building in Amsterdam uses a circulating office space system to hold three times as many employees. We then saw the lijnbaan shopping area. Like most construction in Rotterdam, it was inspired by American architecture styles. After Rotterdam was bombarded and mostly destroyed in WWII, the Dutch brought in American architecture companies to rebuild, which is why the building style in Rotterdam looks more modern and western compared to the brick streets of Amsterdam and the rest of the Netherlands. Brian finished our tour with stops at the Port Pavilion, a testament to Rotterdam’s port culture, and the Bojimans van Beuningen, a giant reflective depot for art pieces, supposedly inspired by an IKEA sugar pot.

We ended our day with lunch at Markthal, a giant market with tons of small street stands that also functions as an apartment complex. It shares a similar architectural style to the Bojimans van Beuningen, as both were designed by the same company. If you’re ever stopping by, I highly recommend the traditional stroopwafel; it was amazing!