The discovery of the Maasplein

The opening of the Maasplein, the connection from the Charloisse Hoofd to Kop van Zuid, and the closed quays, will finally make it possible to make a trip along Rotterdams most Spectacular Square. Rondje Maasplein (walk-aroud Maasplein) is about 5 kilometer long and takes you along a variety of attractions. From the Maas Tunnel to the Erasmus Bridge, from Euromast to Montevideo and from the World Museum to the SS Rotterdam.

Every self-respecting amusement park has a small train that runs around the entire park. Disney has its Railroad, the Efteling its Steam, Legoland its Express and in Het Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem you could even drive around in old trams. These trains are never only intended to move from one part of the park to another. Theme parks are usually designed by a sort of ‘haunted house system’ so the distances are actually much smaller than they seem to be. Through such a tour, the park shows their richness from many perspectives to the visitors. It also makes the park with many attractions clear and manageable in one blow, so the visitors can be overwhelmed and reassured.

A comparison of cities with amusement parks reaches father than you think. The last decades the fun park environment has increased in the urban development. In every city and tourist region are many tours, which drive the visitors along the local highlights. A walk-around makes it possible to offer a cross section of a city where unwanted repetition is avoided.The start and finish of a walk-aound are at the same place. This has practical benefits for the arrival and departure and providing information and the delay will be reduced.

Realizing the place is not fully spit out; the visitor is still satisfied and goes home with a feeling of a ‘whole’ experience. Also for the urban recreant, making a walk-around at any random place causes a feeling of completion and overview.

Also Rotterdam has her walk-arounds, which lead you through the highlights of the city. The city needs these walk-arounds because it’s hard to roam in Rotterdam. The city has a large but isolated collection of attractions. These highlights seem to be random moored and asking for a connection with each other. Once connected, you discover the city that lies between them.

A single tourist walk-around touches the heart of the city; the place where once was the port, de Nieuwe Maas. When you draw all the well-known routes on a map, it’s like a drunk man who has been busy with a spirographh.The walk-aroud circles around themselves and create a visibility of lack of the “mother of Rotterdam walk-arounds’. By making the missing link between the Hoofd van Charlois, de Kaap, de Pier and the Kop van Zuid, the Maasplein could become the ‘Mother of circles’. It opens the real heart of the city, and hundreds Rotterdam families and tourists could ‘do’ that circle. The Maastunnel gets its tourist recognition and De Hef is free from powerless illustrating a glorious past. De Hef will succeed by giving this new axis of the city a spectacular but oh so familiar face.