Heinrich Gerlach

What do you do for the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam?

I am a learning coach within this lab. The fact that students participate in labs and thereby think about tourist activities and opportunities in the living and working environments of Rotterdam-Zuid and Hoek van Holland are great challenges.
We work with our assignments on solutions in the real world. Stimulating creativity within the LAB assignments and the cooperation of students from different programmes together with our external stakeholders makes out-of-the-box action absolutely possible. This makes personal growth stronger for everyone.

What is your favourite place in Rotterdam and surroundings?

Actually, many places. There is always a positive buzz going on in Rotterdam. That is what I like about this city. I don’t live there but I enjoy going to work every day. I regularly visit another part of the city (out of curiosity) and look for news about what is going on there. My special attention goes to the digital developments (the so-called digital twin) in the city. The City of Rotterdam, together with the LAB, is fully engaged in this.

What is the best thing about working in the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam?

The fact that we and our students have good working relationships with everyone involved, know how to cherish them and are within walking distance of each other (both in Rotterdam-Zuid and in Hoek van Holland). That makes knowing each other personally and the mutual involvement in the projects easy and much stronger.