The team Stedelijke Opgaven en Infrastructuren (SO&I) - roughly translated to Urban tasks and Infrastructure Team - is a collective of technical specialists within the Engineering Office of the Municipality of Rotterdam. Individually, its members work across a wide range of projects in the city, each with their own expertise and experience. Collectively, however, there are many different opinions about the role and function SO&I should have, coming both from outside the team and from within.
In Rotterdam, technical expertise operates at the intersection of political decision-making, physical infrastructure and everyday life of the citizens. How this expertise is organised matters as much as the expertise itself. Reframing Studio and the SO&I team joined forces to design a clear, cohesive and future-proof vision of the team’s significance, both within the municipal organization and in its relationship to the city of Rotterdam.
The team is often described as 'the technical conscience of the city’. But what does that actually mean in practice? Is this a role the team recognises itself in, or even aspires to? And which stories, wishes, needs, interests and values shape their expertise as the city continues to change?
