Zoekresultaten

Power to the people: a neighbourhood based social intervention.

The number of local energy initiatives in the Netherlands is rising. The so called ‘Buurkrachtbuurten’ are contributing to this growth. ‘Buurkracht’ is a non-profit organisation aiming to support neighbourhoods in their attempts to reduce energy consumption. Their goal is save as much energy as possible and, in the process, to contribute to social cohesion within local communities. An intervention to increase awareness of energy consumption and to increase social cohesion was tested in four villages in the northern part of the Netherlands (the province of Drenthe). The aim of this study was to help people to take their first step in the larger energy transition. Participants (N=75) measured their energy use with energy power meters and shared the results with their neighbours and with the researchers. Through “within-subject comparisons” (of different appliances within homes) and “between-subject comparisons” (of similar appliances within the neighbourhood), participants gained insight in their energy consumption. Furthermore, results showed that after this intervention (“Find the Energy Guzzler”), some participants acted according their insights, e.g. replaced some appliances. The evaluation of the intervention was very positive and participants would recommend this intervention to other people. Also, one of the experienced benefits of participation was that it increased contact with the neighbours. Other strengths and improvements are discussed as well in the paper.

Social fingerprints

Understanding how older adults living in deprived neighbourhoods address ageing issues

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.

Forgotten Neighbourhoods

In the Netherlands, almost everyone has an image of 1930s neighborhoods, post-war neighborhoods, and Vinex locations. That is very different for the neighborhoods with social housing apartments from the 1970s and 1980s. They are forgotten, hardly known, even professionally. And that is a problem because a wave of restructuring and densification projects is imminent for these areas. They are related to the post-war neighborhoods, but also have fundamentally different spatial characteristics. Moreover, within the fragmented practice of spatial development, there is little shared knowledge on plans in other municipalities or housing associations. Even less is known whether these neighborhoods offer space for tackling the persistent housing shortage and solving other major social challenges, such as energy, biodiversity, circularity and inclusion. It is time for an inventory, and this project undertakes the challenge.In the planning for these residential areas, municipalities, developers and housing corporations set the framework, but it is the urban development and architecture firms that have to translate this into concrete design solutions. We focus on these SMEs. With this research project, we map out the ambitions, challenges and opportunities of the restructuring of these residential areas in three steps: What type of plans and ambitions are there for these residential areas? To this end, we investigate cases by means of policy analyses of the environmental visions and area visions. What characterizes the spatial-social structure of these neighborhoods? To this end, we make a comparative spatial-social analysis of several cases, also in relation to pre-war and early post-war ones. What opportunities and challenges does their restructuring offer? To this end, we use the acquired insights to explore strategies in co-creation sessions with external partners. In this presentation, we will share some of the outputs of this process.

Community engagement in deprived neighbourhoods during the COVID-19 crisis

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.

Making post-war urban neighbourhoods healthier

Post-war urban neighbourhoods in industrialised countries have been shown to negatively affect the lifestyles of their residents due to their design. This study aims at developing an empirical procedure to select locations to be redesigned and the determinants of health at stake in these locations, with involvement of residents’ perspectives as core issue. We addressed a post-war neighbourhood in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands. We collected data from three perspectives: spatial analyses by urban designers, interviews with experts in local health and social care (n = 11) and online questionnaires filled in by residents (n = 99). These data provided input for the selection of locations to be redesigned by a multidisciplinary team (n = 16). The procedure yielded the following types of locations (and determinants): An area adjacent to a central shopping mall (social interaction, traffic safety, physical activity), a park (experiencing green, physical activity, social safety, social interaction) and a block of low-rise row houses around a public square (social safety, social interaction, traffic safety). We developed an empirical procedure for the selection of locations and determinants to be addressed, with addressing residents’ perspectives. This procedure is potentially applicable to similar neighbourhoods internationally.