Ten types of emerging city makers

Today, citizens and professionals form different types of coalitions in order to overcome the challenges arising in cities, contributing to new ways of city making. These coalitions consist of new and emerging groups that represent an innovative form of urban insurgent activism, aimed at transformation and calling for new answers to citizens’ needs. These groups are not often categorized and captured in the particular, or beyond a general description. This paper, based on data collected in the city of Rotterdam, presents a characterization of ten types emerging types of city makers in the context of urban sustainability transitions. This categorization must enable a better understanding of the transformative capacity of these new city makers, necessary for flourishing and sustainable communities. The paper concludes that these new types of city makers generally bring value to cities; however, this value could be enriched through more participatory networks that stimulate crossovers and accelerate the transition towards sustainable futures. These approaches need yet to be developed; here systems thinking and design could greatly contribute to the development of these new systemic and participatory approaches. However, in order to develop these new ways of ‘participatory city making’ it is important to understand with whom and for whom these approaches need to be developed. Therefore, this landscape of emerging city can be seen as an important starting point to stimulate the development of more participatory approaches in city making in the future; and with that feed the debate of how these design approaches can enable systemic change.