In 2017 the municipality of Amsterdam launched a programme to combat a housingshortage and realise ambitious societal goals for 32 of its most deprived neighbourhoods. After decades of urban renewal projects, these areas still scored poorly on most socio-economic indicators. The programme aims to develop more affordable housing for low- and middleincome households, to revitalise the existing public spaces of these neighbourhoods and to improve the residents’ socio-economic position. In addition, the progressive municipal council installed in 2018 intends to democratise urban renewal processes with the aim of increasing community involvement.
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Older adults living in deprived areas are at risk of developing frailty and becoming care dependent. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore how community-dwelling, older adults living in deprived neighbourhoods address ageing issues. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 participants who were community-dwelling (independently living), aged 65 years and older, not dependent on care, and living in a socioeconomically deprived urban neighbourhood in the northern part of the Netherlands. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. Our findings emphasise the resourcefulness of these older adults when coping with apparent adversities. Simultaneously, the findings convey deficits concerning knowledge about ageing and health. Despite this, it appeared that these older adults possess an optimistic view of life, accept their situation, and are content with the capacities they still possess. Perspectives on how older adults address ageing issues are important for developing leads for nursing practice. Nurses will be challenged to recognise the coping strategies of older adults, particularly considering their deficits in health knowledge. The results of this study may serve as a basis for community nurses to manage care for older adults in deprived neighbourhoods.
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The current COVID-19 pandemic confines people to their homes, disrupting the fragile social fabric of deprived neighbourhoods and citizen’s participation options. In deprived neighbourhoods, community engagement is central in building community resilience, an important resource for health and a prerequisite for effective health promotion programmes. It provides access to vulnerable groups and helps understand experiences, assets, needs and problems of citizens. Most importantly, community activities, including social support, primary care or improving urban space, enhance health through empowerment, strengthened social networks, mutual respect and providing a sense of purpose and meaning. In the context of inequalities associated with COVID-19, these aspects are crucial for citizens of deprived neighbourhoods who often feel their needs and priorities are ignored. In this perspectives paper, illustrated by a varied overview of community actions in the UK and The Netherlands, we demonstrate how citizens, communities and organizations may build resilience and community power. Based on in-depth discussion among the authors we distilled six features of community actions: increase in mutual aid and neighbourhood ties, the central role of community-based organizations (CBOs), changing patterns of volunteering, use of digital media and health promotion opportunities. We argue that in order to enable and sustain resilient and confident, ‘disaster-proof’, communities, areas which merit investment include supporting active citizens, new (digital) ways of community engagement, transforming formal organizations, alignment with the (local) context and applying knowledge in the field of health promotion in new ways, focussing on learning and co-creation with citizen initiatives.
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Amsterdam strives to combat a shortage of homes by launching an ambitious housing development scheme for 32 designated most deprived neighborhoods. After decades of urban renewal projects, the local communities still suffer from difficult to resolve socioeconomic problems. Aside from a minimum of 40% social dwelling units, 40% of homes are reserved for the middle class and only 20% for high-end. Mixing income segments on its own will not lead to an improved socio-economic status of the inhabitants thus, a new urban renewal program has been developed. On top of that, the new progressive municipal council, intends to democratise the urban renewal processes towards more community-led developments with local support and structural solutions. Some experts may argue that we require a radical new way of planning whilst others counter, that current standardised planning procedures cannot be easily changed.In partnership with themunicipality, we reflect on Amsterdam’s urban regeneration program and enhance collective crossborder learning by organising monthly learning sessions with the managers involved. Now that thefirst phases of the planning process have been completed, we follow a Grounded Theory (GT)method to structure the collected data and analyse the perceived barriers hindering the modernisation of planning practice. Observations and promising actions to make the participation process more inclusive, interactive and influential will be discussed. One example is that some managers on the ground who have to work with the system, are taking short cuts in planning procedures to ensure that citizens’ needs are incorporated in the developed plan. These disruptiveinterventions may be used to formalise and implement new policy and more effective pathways ofcommunity-based development.
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Over the next 10 years, the City of Amsterdam plans to develop major housing schemes provide 90,000 new homes within the existing urban fabric. At the same time, an urban renewal program is being launched to revitalize the most deprived neighbourhoods. Together, these challenges call for more evidence based designprinciples to secure liveable places. Recent development in neuroscience, provides innovative tools to examine in a measurable, cause-effect way, the relationships between the physical fabric, users’ (visual) experience and their behavior in public spaces. In neuroscience, eye-tracking technology (ET) complements brain and behavioral measures (for overview see Eckstein et al. 2017). ET is already used to evaluate the spatial orienting of attention, behavioral response and emotional and cognitive impact in neuroscience, psychology and market research (Popa et al. 2015). ET may also radically change the way we (re)design and thus, experience cities (Sita et al. 2016; Andreani 2017). Until now, eye-tracking pilot studies collected eye fixation patterns of architecture using images in a lab-setting (Lebrun 2016).In our research project Sensing Streetscapes, we take eye-tracking outdoors and explore the potential ET may offer for city design. In collaboration with the municipality of Amsterdam and the local community, the H-neighborhood is used as a single case study. The main focus for urban renewal lies in the “transition-spaces”. They connect the neighborhood with the rapidly developing adjacent areas and are vital for improving the weak social-economic status. The commonly used design principles are validated (Alexander et al. 1977; Gehl 2011, 2014; Pallasmaa 2012) and the consistency of ET is tested, alongside (walk along) interviews and behavioral observations. In the next phase, the data will be analyzed by a panel of applied psychologists and urban designers. The initial results provide valuable lessons for the use of eye-tracking in urban design research. For example, a visual pattern analysis offers more accurate images of the spatial key-elements that matter when moving through transition spaces. More sensory-based city design research is needed to gather a full understanding of the relationships between the configuration of space, users’ (visual) experience, behavioral responses and in turn, perceptual decision making.
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“Municipal Youth Work taken over by Christians”. (Binnenlands Bestuur, 2009) This heading refers to the work of Youth for Christ in an Amsterdam neighbourhood. This organisation, successful in Youth Work nationwide, last year came out first in an open competition of the Amsterdam district De Baarsjes. Because of this they were commissioned to undertake all the youth work in this multicultural neighbourhood. The conditions were not to evangelise and not to limit recruitment of personnel inside their own circle but to recruit from outside the organisation as well. When they later appeared to have put a job advertisement only on their own website, this led to heated debates. Finally Youth for Christ acknowledged and rectified this mistake. This example is a concrete illustration of the actual and sometimes delicate relationships between philosophy of life and social work
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Kinderen met een lage sociaaleconomische status (SES) hebben een verhoogd risico op een suboptimale start in het leven met hogere kosten voor de gezondheidszorg. Deze studie onderzoekt de effecten van SES op individueel (maandelijks huishoudinkomen) en contextuele SES (huishoudinkomen en buurtdeprivatie), en perinatale morbiditeit op de zorgkosten in het vroege leven (0-3 jaar). Conclusie: Meer buurtdeprivatie was direct gerelateerd aan hogere zorgkosten bij jonge kinderen. Bovendien was een lager huishoudinkomen consistent en onafhankelijk gerelateerd aan hogere zorgkosten. Door de omstandigheden voor lage SES-populaties te optimaliseren, kan de impact van lage SES-omstandigheden op hun zorgkosten positief worden beïnvloed.
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Overbruggend sociaal kapitaal door middel van sport: Een exploratief onderzoek naar (het verbeteren van) inter-etnische contacten bij twee voetbalverenigingen in Nederland In Nederland staat de sociale integratie van minderheden de laatste jaren ter discussie. Gebeurtenissen uit het verleden, zoals de moord op politicus Pim Fortuyn en publicist Theo van Gogh, en meer recent de opmars van internationale organisaties als Islamitische Staat (IS), hebben grote impact op het maatschappelijke debat in Nederland. Desalniettemin is het geloof in de sociaal integratieve functie van sport in Nederland niet afgenomen. Van sport, en dan vooral van sportdeelname binnen verenigingsverband, wordt verwacht dat het een positieve bijdrage levert aan de sociale cohesie en sociale integratie van minderheden. Uit onderzoek weten we al langer dat beleidsmakers de sociaal integratieve functie van sport overschatten. Sport is geen wondermiddel. Sport brengt mensen samen, maar kan mensen ook uitsluiten door het samenbrengen van gelijkgestemden. In dit artikel verkennen we of (en hoe) sport, en dan met name voetbal, kan leiden tot overbruggend sociaal kapitaal (“bridging social capital”), ondanks dat mensen vooral sporten met gelijkgestemden. We baseren onze resultaten op enquêtes en een beperkt aantal aanvullende interviews bij twee voetbalverenigingen in de stad Utrecht. We concluderen dat ondanks dat sport segregatie bevordert, er binnen sportverenigingsverband een ontwikkeling is van sociale inclusie en interetnische contacten. Het onderzoek geeft aan dat extra voorwaarden kunnen worden gecreëerd om begrip en onderling respect te vergroten
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Hoe kunnen vaktherapeuten samen met het kinderwerk en de bijbehorende nieuwe (regionale) zorgnetwerken, nieuwe interventies ontwikkelen en vormgeven met en voor kwetsbare jongeren in hun eigen leefomgeving, zodat enerzijds ontwikkeling van delinquent gedrag bij kwetsbare jongeren voorkomen wordt en anderzijds ketenzorg ontstaat en terugval van jongeren in delinquent gedrag (her)opname in justitiële jeugdinrichtingen en de gesloten jeugdzorg voorkomen wordt. In dit participerend actiegericht onderzoek was er sprake van een intensieve samenwerking tussen professionals en betrokkenen in de praktijk. Hiertoe werd een Community of Practice (CoP) opgericht bestaande uit Jongerenwerkers, Beeldend therapeut, deelnemende kinderen uit een aandachtswijk in Maastricht. De interventies zijn door deze samenwerking ontwikkeld en voortdurend geëvalueerd, waarbij gebruik werd gemaakt van zogenaamde van kwalitatieve en kwantitatieve methoden en instrumenten bij alle betrokken partijen.
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This project builds upon a collaboration which has been established since 15 years in the field of social work between teachers and lecturers of Zuyd University, HU University and Elte University. Another network joining this project was CARe Europe, an NGO aimed at improving community care throughout Europe. Before the start of the project already HU University, Tallinn Mental Health Centre and Kwintes were participating in this network. In the course of several international meetings (e.g. CARe Europe conference in Prague in 2005, ENSACT conferences in Dubrovnik in 2009, and Brussels in April 2011, ESN conference in Brussels in March 2011), and many local meetings, it became clear that professionals in the social sector have difficulties to change current practices. There is a great need to develop new methods, which professionals can use to create community care.
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