Rotterdam Central Station will soon be transformed into a complex transport node with a variety of urban functions, including offices, apartments, shops and entertainment venues. The master plan drawn up by Alsop Architects and published in April 2001 established the national and international aspirations of the city. Local elections in Rotterdam at the beginning of March 2002, however, brought a new party to power: 'Leefbaar Rotterdam' ('Liveable Rotterdam'), which changed the agenda of local politics dramatically. Safety of people in public places, immigration, and law and order became the new issues, and the Rotterdam Central Station Master Plan was heavily criticized as megalomaniac. Research into the project provides useful input for understanding the processes involved in and governance of the local-global relationship. The analysis suggests that the values of social democracy are not deeply enough embedded among citizens to prevent the localist agenda from being captured by xenophobic populism.
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