EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - The social monitoring of deprived areas

The social monitoring of deprived areas

Introduction

This research focused on the question of why both national and local policymakers recently chose the district as scale level for social intervention. Asking this question immediately hits on a much bigger issue, namely the nature and origin of state action in general and "social policy" in particular. The district is thus used as a point of departure for developing a perspective for studying the dynamics of urban policy.

Proposition

Why have both national and local policymakers recently chosen the district as scale level for social intervention?

Description

The existing analyses of urban policy criticise too readily and have too little explanatory power, according to social geographer J. Uitermark. To fill this gap, he created a theoretical framework in which the origin and development of urban policy could be explained. He used this framework to analyse urban policy in Flanders and the Netherlands. Finally, he compared both countries with the United States.

Conclusions

Judgements with respect to the restructuring policy by scientists and others fits within a more general inclination to explain the policy based on the presumed preferences or characteristics of policymakers.
An intuitive but misplaced fear of poor districts cannot be accepted as an explanation. If that were the case, then American policymakers would also immediately implement a large-scale programme to disband their ghettos. And considering the fact that segregation has not drastically increased in recent decades in the Netherlands, it is strange that the restructuring programme was only implemented half way through the nineties.
The balance of power between actors within disadvantaged districts and the place that disadvantaged districts occupy within the institutional structure of the state determine the choices that are made.
The spatial and strategic selectiveness of the state changes continuously. One can expect these changes in particular to influence policy. There is, however, another factor, namely the strategic actions of actors who try to improve their own position within a structure.
Despite their geographical proximity, the Netherlands and Flanders have experienced diverging development. This makes it even more interesting to look for shared characteristics, certainly when they are also found in other Western European countries.

Contact info

AME/AGIDS, tel. +31 20 5254062

Publication date

01/02/2004

Researcher

Mr J. Uitermark

Links

AME/AGIDS

Part I of the research "sociale controle in achterstandswijken" (PDF, Dut, 525 KB)

Part II of the research "sociale controle in achterstandswijken" (PDF, Dut, 2 MB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Keywords

Competitiveness