How can a local authority like the Amsterdam Oud-West urban district persuade residents and businesspeople to participate in district management to ensure sustainable improvements in social cohesion, physical living environment, safety and business climate?

Mainly residents and businesspeople who are not yet members of an organization are personally approached to take part. The partial transfer of development planning also has implications for the urban district and the City authorities. Residents and businesspeople themselves determine most of the content and the speed of their project. The urban district/city authorities can only try to make some adjustments and it is important to do this positively. Without the active efforts of residents and businesspeople, there is no Management Priority Fund project.

The approach uses the method of inter-relational observation. This means that social, physical, economic and safety factors are looked at in combination. The basis lies in the reality of businesspeople and residents. The project managers approach them personally to ask whether they would like to improve their street/neighbourhood.

Approximately EUR 25,000 is available for each street. The first contacts bring in their neighbours (residents and businesspeople). Together, and with the assistance of the Oud-West urban district and the University of Tilburg (see Socially and Physically in Cohesion study), they consider desirable changes/improvements intended to achieve good social relations and a good business climate in their street and immediate neighbourhood. They devise a combination of social, physical and economic measures for this purpose.

City of Amsterdam, Oud-West District
Henk Grool (project manager), tel. +31 20 5893714

05/08/2003

case

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Citizens' participation