The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) aims at increasing mutual understanding between Europe and Asia. With our partner Linkeroever we had the opportunity to host an international workshop for Asian and European professionals on Creative Cities and Sustainability and to define common recommendations to the 51 Ministers of Culture.

Conference in Rotterdam
ASEM is a multi-layered networking instrument. On October 20, King Willem-Alexander opened the 6th conference in Rotterdam with as most important guests the Ministers of Culture of the 51 countries involved. On another level professionals from the participating countries are invited for workshops in several Dutch cities. It was a great occasion to get to know each other and to exchange knowledge and learn from experiences.

Creative Industries
The theme for ASEM this year is ‘Creative Industries’. The workshop that was organized in Amsterdam by Linkeroever, focused on the question which initiatives contribute to a sustainable redevelopment of cities. Mutual introductions of projects resulted in striking differences. For instance, the surplus value of re-use of renovated, historical buildings that is considered quality in European countries is hardly recognized in Asia. In Asia a modern, new building is preferred. The workshop participants worked on mapping of the indicators for sustainable urban development and visited innovative development sites in Amsterdam, such as Western Gas Factory (Westergasfabriek), NDSM, De Ceuvel and the Naval Yard (Marineterrein).

More information on our workshop Creative Cities and Sustainability: theworkshop participants and photos of the event. More information on ASEM and an overview of all workshops and presentations : www.asemculture2014.org and www.hetnieuweinstituut.nl/asem