The use of art (e.g. visualized narratives) in social work may stimulate dialogue between community members about family support in their neighbourhood. The Visualized Narratives on Parenting Interactions in the Neighbourhood (VN-PIN) were developed in order to foster this dialogue. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the VN-PIN in social work practice and to gain insight in mechanisms that stimulate dialogues supported by visualizations. A qualitative process evaluation was conducted to explore the use of the VN-PIN in various urban settings. We observed meetings (N = 14) where the VN-PIN was applied and interviewed professionals and community members (N = 81). The results of this study show that the VN-PIN intervention gives parents a voice and allows them to recognize and reflect on their own parenting behaviour, thereby contributing to mutual exchanges in a supportive community. The conclusion of this study is that the VN-PIN is a useful intervention that social work professionals can use to foster dialogues about parenting within diverse contexts in super-diverse neighbourhoods. The intervention fosters a supportive structure to share experiences of various community members. Future research is needed to further evaluate the experiences and satisfaction of community members with the intervention.
Ageing of the population in European cities creates fundamental challenges with regard to employment, pensions, health care and other age-related services. Many older people want to live independent lives as long as possible. This aspiration is currently strongly supported by many local governments. A precondition for 'ageing in place' is that older people perceive their neighbourhoods as familiar and safe places. In the Netherlands, many neighbourhoods with an ageing population have been subject to urban restructuring policies. An important question is to what extent such policies affect the housing situation, socioeconomic position and social support networks of older people, as these factors strongly assist their ability to 'age in place'. The paper answers this question through an exploratory analysis of a small but unique panel data set from Hoogvliet, a large urban restructuring area in the city of Rotterdam. The partly counter-intuitive results show that restructuring has enabled 'ageing in place'. Compared to stayers, movers within Hoogvliet often report improved housing quality and positive neighbourhood change. The exploratory analyses did not provide evidence of decreased social support or increased loneliness through restructuring-induced disruptions of social ties. Various 'buffer measures' have been effective in preventing negative restructuring impacts on older residents.
Background: Healthy urban environments require careful planning and a testing of environmental quality that goes beyond statutory requirements. Moreover, it requires the inclusion of resident views, perceptions and experiences that help deepen the understanding of local (public health) problems. To facilitate this, neighbourhoods should be mapped in a way that is relevant to them. One way to do this is participative neighbourhood auditing. This paper provides an insight into availability and characteristics of participatory neighbourhood audit instruments. Methods: A scoping review in scientific and grey literature, consisting of the following steps: literature search, identification and selection of relevant audit instruments, data extraction and data charting (including a work meeting to discuss outputs), reporting. Results: In total, 13 participatory instruments were identified. The role of residents in most instruments was as ‘data collectors’; only few instruments included residents in other audit activities like problem definition or analysis of data. The instruments identified focus mainly on physical, not social, neighbourhood characteristics. Paper forms containing closed-ended questions or scales were the most often applied registration method. Conclusions: The results show that neighbourhood auditing could be improved by including social aspects in the audit tools. They also show that the role of residents in neighbourhood auditing is limited; however, little is known about how their engagement takes place in practice. Developers of new instruments need to balance not only social and physical aspects, but also resident engagement and scientific robustness. Technologies like mobile applications pose new opportunities for participative approaches in neighbourhood auditing.
This PD project aims to gather new knowledge through artistic and participatory design research within neighbourhoods for possible ways of addressing and understanding the avoidance and numbness caused by feelings of vulnerability, discomfort and pain associated with eco-anxiety and chronic fear of environmental doom. The project will include artistic production and suitable forms of fieldwork. The objectives of the PD are to find answers to the practice problem of society which call for art that sensitises, makes aware and helps initiate behavioural change around the consequences of climate change. Rather than visualize future sea levels directly, it will seek to engage with climate change in a metaphorical and poetic way. Neither a doom nor an overly techno-optimistic scenario seem useful to understand the complexity of flood risk management or the dangers of flooding. By challenging both perspectives with artistic means, this research hopes to counter eco-anxiety and create a sense of open thought and susceptibility to new ideas, feelings and chains of thought. Animation and humour, are possible ingredients. The objective is to find and create multiple Dutch water stories, not just one. To achieve this, it is necessary to develop new methods for selecting and repurposing existing impactful stories and strong images. Citizens and students will be included to do so via fieldwork. In addition, archival materials will be used. Archives serve as a repository for memory recollection and reuse, selecting material from the audiovisual archive of the Institute of Sound & Vision will be a crucial part of the creative work which will include two films and accompanying music.
Building Blocks for Liveable Neighbourhoods. Four suburbs in the province of Noord-Brabant are case-studies for a new method of urban development. Participation and scenario's are the starting point. The tools for local stakeholders to (literally) shape their own future environment are the end result.Societal issue: Gap between the plannend world and the daily life in city neighbourhoods. People are eager to take responsibility for their living environment but have no tools or knowledge to do it.Benefit to society: The method developed in this design research project enables the different stakeholders to connect, align and be effective in shaping their common future living environment.
In Amsterdam's neighbourhoods, much of the waste that is disposed has the potential of becoming something else by means of recycling or upcycling. Zero Waste lab –which is part of the organization De Gezonde Stad- is a place where inhabitants can bring their own separated waste in exchange for value coins. Now, Zero Waste Lab now wants to take this a step forward and further develop their own project: from recycling to upcycling waste. In this endeavour, HvA will collaborate by researching the possibilities for upcycling a local waste stream by means of digital production pro-cesses, as well as ways of involving the neighbourhood. Because it is of vital importance for the project not only to be technically possible, but also scalable and economically feasible, Zero Waste Lab and HvA have asked for partnership to the company Verdraaid Goed. This partnership and specific case study, presented here as ‘Wood for the neighborhood’ can be summa-rized in four main goals: • (Production) Explore the design and manufacturing possibilities of using digital production to upcycle a local wood waste stream (with an industrial robotic arm) • (Design) Show how explorative research, when carried on from the beginning of the de-sign process, can bring great added value to the development of project concepts. • (Social) Demonstrate that involving stakeholders early in the process of reusing and de-signing with waste materials can shape the future in new directions • (All three) Highlight how this case study is relevant and fits the principles of the circular economy
