When you think of port cities, you think of industrial noise from passing ships and factories, right? An industrial peninsula like Katendrecht in Rotterdam South is nowadays no longer dominated by port labor and freight traffic, however.
How is such a transformed harbor neighborhood perceived and experienced by residents in terms of noise nowadays? Urban developers could make good use of such insights. How must it have been to live in Katendrecht 50 or years ago? The peninsula in Rotterdam South, known for its role as a prostitution hub in the port city, was entirely in service of the port industry during the 20th century.
A few of the latter are still standing, but due to recent redevelopment plans, the last days of the industrial Codrico and Provimi complexes now also seem to be fast approaching.
Elsewhere in Katendrecht you can still find traces of the countless rails that used to run through the neighborhood to accommodate the continuous transport of goods flowing between ship and city. The most prominent streets in Katendrecht today - with the Brede Hilledijk in the lead - have clearly been redeveloped within the patterns of those former train tracks.
The entrance to Katendrecht is demarcated by the Rijnhaven metro station and the Hillelaan, an important traffic artery that certainly puts pressure on the peninsula in terms of noise and noise pollution.
