Social:
One variant on the Migranten aan Zet! (It's the migrants' turn!) project is an intermediary whose job is to make contact with residents from ethnic minorities and encourage their participation in renewal plans and projects in their neighbourhood. The intermediary helps ethnic groups use existing facilities and amenities. The neighbourhood freesheet is also published in Arabic and English.

Physical:
The object of the project Tussen School en Thuis (Between school and home) is to make pedestrian and cycling routes between schools and homes safer. It concentrates on two aspects: resolving physical bottlenecks along the routes and an educational programme involving all schools in Westerpark borough. Surveys have been conducted amongst pupils, parents and teachers. The educational programme is being run with the cooperation of the police and various advisory bodies. The children themselves carried out an inspection of the routes and the results have been incorporated into physical measures being designed, prepared and implemented in public space.

Indische Buurt, Zeeburg, Amsterdam
In the Indische Buurt a multifunctional youth centre has been established. Residents, municipal agencies, police and neighbourhood 'concierges' (superintendents) work closely together through a neighbourhood service point to realise the plans for the youth centre. The Welzijn (Wellbeing) foundation aims to increase the participation of young people with activities and a youth council, primacy being given to the wishes and needs of young people from the neighbourhood. The intention is for the centre to become a place where they feel at home.

Westerpark
In nine neighbourhoods the borough of Westerpark is developing an integrated borough-wide district security plan together with all relevant interest groups. At the same time work is progressing on separate security plans for each neighbourhood. The goal is to improve the quality of life, social cohesion and sense of security felt by residents. Combatting drug-related nuisance, providing IT facilities for young and old, improving the design of shared entrances to multi-occupied dwellings, and making changes to the design and layout of squares and streets in order to improve safety and security are only some of the activities on the borough's agenda.

According to Amsterdam the Rotterdam security index fails to take adequate account of people's perception of safety and security. Following its criticism of the Rotterdam security index method, the possibility of finding a better way of calculating the security index for Amsterdam was investigated. A simple and transparent method which stays as close as possible to the raw scores might substantially improve insights in this area. At the same time the new method also uses new data from the Leefbaarheid en Veiligheid (Quality of Life & Safety and Security) monitor. With the new index it is possible to distinguish between an objective score (e.g. reports received) and a subjective score (e.g. perception of safety); these can then be combined in a single neighbourhood index.

Zeeburg
In the borough of Zeeburg a multifunctional youth centre of metropolitan allure is being created to offer activities, presentations, exhibitions, performances and courses to young people aged between 16 and 23. One important principle underlying the scheme is that the young people themselves will be involved in the centre's development and programming. The centre will have a clearly defined identity in the leisure activities market and will not be part of the care chain. Nor do its offerings compete with initiatives in the wider Greater East region of the city, which are undertaken on the basis of their responsibility for local youth policy. The centre's multifunctionality consists in the range of leisure activities being offered and/or marketed from a single location. The three main areas are IT, sport and culture. The centre's metropolitan allure can be seen in its attraction for young people across the borough and beyond, particularly in the wider Greater East region of the city.

NowHere, a production bureau for special youth activities, is now up and running. Over a hundred young people are now attending workshops on rap, film making, various sorts of dance, art, spoken word etc. The second series of workshops is due to start in January 2004 and exhibitions of their work are held monthly. A building has now been bought and is in the process of being converted into a multifunctional youth centre so that from 1 January 2005 the activities will have a proper home of their own.

Know Where! is the organisation name for the 'virtual Departure Hall' (Vertrekhal). The name's ambiguity reflects the status of a centre that still lacks a permanent home. Know Where! is an agency which develops activities and labels in collaboration with young people on the philosophy of the Departure Hall. Know Where!'s activities lie mainly in:

• Development of a website to serve as a meeting place and communication tool.
• Production of theme days and festivals on location in the Greater East area.
• Entering into partnerships with organisations with similar goals.
• Acting as agent, mentor and organisation for young people and their ideas.

Increasing social safety:
• For a considerable time residents have been complaining that the way their flats are designed automatically leads to high levels of unsafety, litter and rubbish. Because these are flats owned by the Eigen Haard housing association, the subject has been raised with them on numerous occasions. The contribution from the Onze Buurt Aan Zet (Our Neighbourhood's Turn) programme has helped persuade the association to tackle this problem.

• The Voel je Veilig (Feel Safe) project came into being following a neighbourhood meeting entitled Niet in mijn Buurt (Not in my neighbourhood) that was held after the murder of a local resident. An oversight committee has been formed for the project and includes representatives of local residents. At the time of writing one of the issues being tackled is the question of self-defence training. On another front, a dark pedestrian subway perceived as dangerous and threatening has been painted yellow.

• In the Spaarndammerbuurt the project consists of three components: the children's component, the parents' component and the neighbourhood component. The children's component consists of seven self-defence lessons, taught separately to boys and girls, with a final examination. The neighbourhood component consists of a neighbourhood inspection conducted with the urban design expert for the SpaarndammerHout project and meetings with the neighbourhood director and a worker at the Westerpark integration project. Through the neighbourhood inspection children too are involved in the SpaarndammerHout project's public space plan. The children inspect the neighbourhood on an annual basis. The parents' component consists of offering help to the parents of children who are in situations in which they feel that they are at risk or being pressurised.

• The object of the district security plan is together with residents, police and neighbourhood management to bring about an integrated approach to security. The creation and fine tuning of the district security memorandum are achieved through actively approaching and involving residents, local businesses and other interested parties in the borough.

• The Buurtcentrum De Horizon (Community Centre The Horizon) project has greatly increased the engagement of residents. In the coming years the community centre will be improved both physically and in terms of its activities. Ways of making the activities of the community centre more accurately reflect the wishes and needs of present and future residents are currently being investigated. Improvements to the building include the construction of a pedestrian subway to make the community centre more accessible from the square. At the same time ways of making better use of the space inside the building are being examined.

• The Monitor Leefbaarheid en Veiligheid (quality of life and security monitor) shows that Amsterdam residents now feel safer in their own neighbourhoods.

City of Amsterdam, boroughs of Zeeburg and Westerpark
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
http://www.westerpark.nl/
Jet van den Biggelaar

01/08/2001

case

Urban Policy > Security & crime prevention > Crime prevention

Camera surveillance, Designing out crime