Participation in neighbourhood regeneration: achievements of residents in a Dutch disadvantaged neighbourhood

Abstract

Despite the fact that resident participation has become central to the Dutch policy discourse on ‘good’ urban planning, it is unclear to what degree new participation mechanisms have created opportunities for residents to actually influence neighbourhood governance and contribute to the improvement of their neighbourhood. This paper explores how residents in the neighbourhood of Transvaal (Amsterdam) have been involved in regeneration since 1999. Although residents have been successful in putting everyday concerns about safety on the agenda and contributed to small-scale improvements of public space, they were unable to contribute to regeneration plans at the scale of the neighbourhood, in particular strategic decisions about state-led gentrification.

Keywords:

• resident participation
• regeneration
• gentrification
• place-making
• governance

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous referees, members of the UvA-Platform31-Corpovenista research board and Sako Musterd for their constructive criticisms to previous versions of this paper.

Notes

1. These processes inspired her to write her famous book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961).

2. In the Netherlands, private actors have a more limited role in the regeneration of neighbourhoods.

3. The municipality of Amsterdam is characterized by a particular administrative structure: it is subdivided into seven districts with – until recently (2014) – some autonomy, which each have their own budget and responsibility for tasks such as land-use planning, building permits and public space.

4. The national government provided funding for regeneration, although local governments and housing associations were also expected to contribute financially.

5. The committee actively attempted to attract residents of non-Dutch origin, but to no avail.

6. Social housing units can be converted into private rented housing or sold-off when they become vacant. There are thresholds for the number of dwellings which can be sold-off (in Amsterdam, the threshold is 33% social housing in the central district and 25% in other districts). Social housing can only be converted into private rented housing when the rent price is above the ‘social housing boundary’ (681.02 euro in 2013). When a social rented dwelling becomes vacant, the rent price is recalculated on the basis of dwelling characteristics such as surface, quality and location. When the dwelling is transformed into private rented housing, it is still owned by the housing association, but there are no allocation rules in terms of income level.

7. As experiences from the past demonstrate, a significant share of residents decides not to return, which enables the housing association to provide all residents a return guarantee.

8. To be clear, the Neighbourhood Initiatives Program is not unique for Transvaal; it was implemented by the national government as part of the Forty Neighbourhood Program.

9. The committee was non-elected, as residents were invited to participate in the committee through advertisements and information meetings. The committee was not really representative for the neighbourhood; most of the members were highly educated and of native-Dutch origin.