Stacking...
	...clustering...
	... moving problems and solutions around...
	Project coordinator Lisette Nijs: 'Short-term sub-projects so that we can get business people involved.'
	'Talking is the only way to get commitment from business people. You also have to be reasonable and flexible.'

That's one side of the story. 'But you won't achieve anything if you think up plans from behind a desk and then try to sell them to the business community.'

It all started in Rotterdam on 19 April 2001: the City Council decided that drastic improvements were needed in the urban business park, the Spaanse Polder. The idea was to transform the run-down industrial estate, which covers an area of almost 200 hectares, into an area that the business community, the workers, the neighbouring communities and the city administrators could be proud of. And all this within fifteen years. The idea is that the business community will want to invest there again; the Spaanse Polder will create jobs again and attract new industries.

Wonderful! But how?

Lisette Nijs: 'A project that lasts fifteen years is long, even for civil servants. We have broken up the entire planning period into three sections and that is probably one of the success factors. And we are now working with lots of sub-projects with clear objectives that are short enough for people to keep the end in view. That is trickier for us to manage but it makes it much easier to involve the business community.'

The heart of the plan is that the site will include areas where we encourage the creation of clusters of related companies. There will be a food cluster (mainly with wholesale traders selling food) , a transport cluster (including car dealers and recycling), a design cluster (designers and multimedia companies), a small mixed cluster, and a flatted factory cluster (small-scale, industrial activities and trading in office flats).

'It is very important not to think up something like this just because the city administrators are so enthusiastic. These clusters are already more or less in place; they fit in very well with the present activities. And so we are going to encourage the clusters to be more high profile and appealing.'

And that brings Lisette Nijs to another crucial characteristic of the Rotterdam plan: the question of 'embroidering': 'Try to get companies to move when they are ready to expand. But be patient; start small; don't try to run before you can walk. Talk a lot with the business people; get to know their problems. Try to deal with minor problems on location, and do get involved with the details.'

By working in the midst of the business community, you get to know about their problems and opportunities. That is the only way to create meaningful combinations. 'If one company has a yard that is only used in the morning and another one has a yard that is only used in the afternoon, then you don't have to be Einstein to work out that collaboration makes sense. But you do have to know what's going on.'

The Spaanse Polder restructuring project now has a workforce of about thirty; most of them spend all their time 'in the field'. There is also an information centre in the middle of the area where business people can meet each other and the project staff.

'The commitment of the business community is essential for the success of the project. And you can only achieve that by talking. You also have to be reasonable and flexible. For example by making sure that the roads are not dug up right in the middle of the busiest time of the year. You can only achieve something if there is a climate of consensus. If civil servants are inflexible and push through their own plans, they won't get much further than fixing roads and improving public spaces. In other words, cosmetic operations.'

Some of the restructuring work consists of finding creative forms of financing. 'That often means looking for all sorts of subsidy options from various government authorities. But there is no getting round the fact that restructuring costs money: lots of money. There are millions involved here. And it is very awkward to decide what the return is from every euro.'