- June 30, 2020
Evert Verhagen focuses on the role of public space in the creative city. He is the founder and owner of Creative Cities, a consultancy in the Netherlands. He has been working in different capacities for the community of Amsterdam and has been an advisor on many redevelopment projects throughout the world.
From 1990 through 2004, Verhagen was responsible for the development of the Westergasfabriek project in Amsterdam. He headed the team that was responsible for the regeneration of the buildings, for the park and for initiating the cultural program. The Culture Park Westergasfabriek opened in September 2003. In 2004 he was the winner of the Golden Pyramid, the Dutch government award for excellent project management. The Culture Park Westergasfabriek was nominated in 2007 for the International Urban Landscape Award (IULA). The project won the Landscape Institute Award (UK) in 2007. Three years later in 2010, it won the Europa Nostra Award.
Verhagen has presented on the importance of public space, the reuse of industrial heritage, the qualities cities should have to attract talent. He worked in Casablanca Morocco for the redevelopment plan of an abandoned slaughterhouse. During the last few years, he has traveled to speak globally in Taichung (Taiwan), Porto Allegre (Brazil), Perm (Russia), Leeds (UK) to name a few. He wrote and edited several books among them ‘Creativity and the City’ in 2003. He was the organizer of a conference in Amsterdam in 2003, Creativity and the City.