“First comes the community, second comes the planner” Eva de Klerk is a project booster. She is driven by a relentless passion, commitment and devotion for the community and the utilization of urban areas. Eva relishes the areas that are deserted no-go zones – which cities have all over the globe. Areas that are negatively encapsulated by their identities as neglected residential or industrial areas. Branded by their past they seem inaccessible and difficult urban cases to crack. Yet, Eva manages to surpass their abandoned destiny and offers new functions. A challenge she tackles by breaking the presumptions through mobilising the surrounding community and introducing other people and disciplines that enhance the creation of ideas and solutions. Eva is known as the initiator of the redevelopment of the gigantic shipbuilding yard NDSM in the north of Amsterdam, separated from the rest of the city by the waters of Het IJ. She is also known as a leading advocate of the City as a Shell method. Eva is a frequently asked speaker in The Netherlands and abroad on the topic of sustainable bottom-up urban development. She is currently the chairman of The Guild of Work Buildings Upon Het IJ, that represents the interests of 24 industrial and monumental artist’s buildings in Amsterdam.The NDSM shipyard in Amsterdam is the largest self-ruled workspace in Europe. A city was built in a giant warehouse on an old shipbuilding yard. The New York Times mentions the NDSM as one of the coolest places in the world. After Eva’s work with the NDSM shipyard many cities worldwide have consulted her on bottom-up city planning and gentrification issues. She is the author of 'Make Your City - The City as a Shell, NDSM Shipyard Amsterdam' which will be published in December 2017.