Merry NomadTourist Guides

Merry Nomad Hoogvliet spring 2002.
Commissioned by the International Building Exhibition, Rotterdam - Hoogvliet- www.wimby.nl

The Merry Nomad is a tourist guide for the suburb with items such as 'tips to go out', 'Hoogvliet by Night', 'the original Hoogvlieter', 'hotspots' etc. In the first place the guide is made for the inhabitants of Hoogvliet.
To look at your own environment with the eyes of a fictitious stranger (the tourist) can help to clarify your own daily culture. Apart from that, the cityplanners and architects will use it as part of the basic information about Hoogvliet .
In november 2002 the Merry Nomad of Hoogvliet was introduced to the inhabitants and the policy-makers of Hoogvliet in the shape of a bustour along several sites mentioned in the guide. This event offered the inhabitants and politicians the possibility to exchange idea's about the items mentioned in the guide.

Download the guide (in Dutch)

Merry Nomad Hoogvliet - Extracts

copyright text and image Lino Hellings in commission of WiMBY! June 2002

Contents:
A. introduction:
1. the author
2. the guide
3. leisure
4. Hoogvliet

4. Hoogvliet

A blessing is that Hoogvliet is forgotten by many people for a long time. What initially looked like a disadvantage can work out to be a giant step forward. In contradiction to other suburbs the clublife in Hoogvliet is still rather vivid Here lies a great chance for Hoogvliet to balance the life of small scale communities with the globalisatic influences. However these communities are vulnerable as they are run mainly by volunteers, who become scarce. The beautifull allotmentgardens are in need of fresh blood as well. Hopefully they will be discovered by other then dutch gardeners

B Hoogvliet city, village and nature at the same time: to see and to do

1. oriëntation
2. accommodation
3. food
4. climate (foto 2 en 3)
5. walks and picknicks in nature
6. hotspots


6. Hotspots
there are three absolute musts:
a] a stroll through the allotment gardens
b] a visit to the shoping mall restaurant
c] attending the sunday service at 'the living stone' church

ad b] La Place is the restaurant on the ground floor of the indoor part of the shopping mall. Almost at every hour of the day you can find here people of all sorts
.. The dark part of the restaurant has a special clubhouse
function. Similar to the young people who 'chill' in the open air (with or without their scooter), the old people chill here, with or without their oxygen bottle on the back of their 'scootmobiel' they chat, drink and smoke..

7. entertainment < 25
8. entertainment > 25
9. drugs
10. Hoogvliet at night
11. tips for the sunday

  

11.Tips for the sunday

If you decide to visit Hoogvliet on a sunday and you do not want to attend a sunday church service you run the risk of finding all doors closed even those of the local sports club canteen. If you decide you want to meet the locals anyway, bring your dog! It is ideal to let out your dog in Hoogvliet but it is not allowed to do so everywhere: at several places there are signs with a red ribbon around the drawing of a dog.

about Hoogvliet

12. the original Hoogvlieter
13. animal and sport
14. local newspapers
15. TV en radio
16. things you need to know

12. The original Hoogvlieter.

The stereotype of a Hoogvlieter is non existing you would say. The mix of
cultures and social classes is too big (the poor north versus the rich south). Despite these differences you can speak of an original Hoogvlieter.
the Hoogvlieter is the only one who can criticize Hoogvliet. the Hoogvlieter does not call herself a Rotterdammer; to be a Hoogvlieter is an heroic title.
the Hoogvlieter is a kind of fond of one's relations (Family-ill we call it)
whether it concerns the Antillians, the Creols, the Kaapverdians, the Turks,
the Dutch etc. That's a result of the matriarchy, the strong way in which
the mothers of Hoogvliet keep the group together. Maybe puberty is not easy in Hoogvliet but most of them come back eventually.
the Hoogvlieter likes to rent venue's to celebrate a birthday, have a evening for a good cause etc. Here the modern trend of hiring a court instead of becoming member of the tennisclub do meet with the old dutch habit to hire the canteen of your club for a festivity with the grandmothers of the Antillen who want to celebrate their birthday with the extended family.
the Hoogvlieter is fond of games: darts, ace of clubs, jeu de boules, domino,
bingo, bonkuné and bridge take place in people's homes, in sportclubs, in
playgrounds, café's and rented venues.

For the visitor

17. dangers and annoyances
18. medical help
19. emergency
20. religion
21. international
C. Appendix unorganized tours
1. three bicycle tours
2. two bustours
epilogue
3. justification
4. acknowledgements
5. references
After the succes of the Merry Nomad Hoogvliet  talks are been held with other suburbs about taking a similar approach. The webdomain merrynomad.org has been registered to present the different guides. In the future it will be possible to compare different suburbs in Holland and download the guides for personal use.