Verborgen Stad recounts the collective world in Tilburg’s ribbon structure and its commitment to future spatial developments. The book is the result of the research studio Verborgen Stad, a project commissioned by the municipality of Tilburg and created in collaboration with the Fontys Academy for Architecture and Urban Planning Tilburg. The production, composition and editing of the book were in the hands of architect Martijn Honselaar (NL) and photographer Claudia den Boer (NL).

In its design research into the ribbon structure of Tilburg, the research studio discovered a hidden world of open and meaningful spaces where much of the day-to-day life of the residents of the ribbon structure takes place. A world located behind the first line of buildings directly on the ribbon. A world that revealed itself by combining map images with an abstract distance with photographic images of a specific experience of the place. A world of open spaces for often closed communities, collectives. A hidden city of collective open spaces.

To counterbalance the progressive loss of meaningful open spaces in recent ribbon construction projects, Verborgen Stad advocates the implementation of the collective residential building. Inherent in this model is the collective residential building’s ability to add collective spaces in a progressive densification of the ribbon structure, thereby enhancing livability.

Verborgen Stad argues for a fundamental approach to the ribbon structure based on the potential of the open spaces present. Verborgen Stad advocates strategies of infiltration where the emphasis is not on the architectural appearance, but on the open spaces that build the collective significance of the ribbon structure for the future from within.