One of four international shortlisted firms, SWA / Balsley has won the commission for a major new park in Rotterdam.  Identified by the City as one of the Big Five (open space projects), the conceptual master plan for Park Maashaven will create a much-needed central open space for the city’s south district, an industrial area along the waterfront that is home to a growing and increasingly diverse population. Here the city seeks to transcend its current park paradigm of landscape art and environmental performance to also embrace the multi-cultural milieu. An active community engagement process will inform the design of the new park, resulting in a place that is attractive and responsive to its heterogeneous stakeholders and that will provide a catalyst for future development in this urban district.