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3In this report Piet Bakker, professor of Cross Media Content, mapped the state of the media in the Netherlands.
RAPPORT
Presentation for the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. Residential real estate in the Netherlands
CONFERENTIEBIJDRAGE
Cross-Laminated-Timber (CLT) is an environmentally friendly construction ma-terial which is suitable to replace concrete and steel in mid- and high-rise build-ings. The global usage of CLT is expected to grow annually by 12.6% until 2027. Due to a housing shortage as well as the tightening environmental regulations an increased use of CLT seems likely in The Netherlands. Here we expect the number of wooden residential buildings to rise by around 20% every year until 2030. This could require an annual production of 250.000m3 to 500.000m3 of timber. We conclude that it is feasible to add The Netherlands to the list of CLT pro-ducing countries. Setting up a factory including land and the building can cost anywhere from 14 to 40 million euros. On an annual basis such factory can pro-duce between 20.000m3 and 100.000m3 of CLT for 400 to 2.000 apartments. To guarantee international price competitiveness a production capacity of at least 50.000m3 seems to be needed, while a larger highly automated facility of nearly 100.000m3 would better suit the Dutch context. Because of the limited availability only a part of the required timber for a fac-tory can realistically be of Dutch origin. Creating new Dutch production forests is not economically viable as the forest industry in the Netherlands is already barely profitable and the acquisition of land too expensive or time consuming. It could be beneficial to locate a factory in the vicinity of a Dutch production forest, how-ever a logistically strategic position for importing timber seems more important.
ARTIKEL
Report on the current state of affairs on ethnomusicology in the Netherlands for international association ICTM
ARTIKEL
The theoretical framework of this dissertation is based on Amartya Sen’s capability approach (Chapter 2). In the early 1980s, development economist Amartya Sen developed the capability framework as a broad normative framework for the evaluation and assessment of individual well-being and social arrangements mainly in countries in the Global South (Sen, 1999, 2009). I chose the capability approach was chosen because of its strong focus on the notion of freedom as the capability to live the life each individual is aiming for. The freedom to choose a particular lifestyle is an intrinsic part of Sen’s notions of agency and well-being (Sen, 1999). After elaborating on notions of agency and well-being in detail, I turn to the role of financial self-help groups and how their members are influenced by social structures. This chapter concludes by operationalizing the theoretical framework into three capabilities (C1–C3) that serve as sensitizing concepts throughout the dissertation. These capabilities focus on the potential impact CAF groups have on members’ abilities to develop social networks (C1), to control their financial household management (C2), and to adopt an enterprising attitude (C3). Chapter 3 discusses my research methodology. I describe how the three capabilities (C1–C3) were applied as sensitizing concepts in the set-up of this particular action research (Blumer, 1954). I also explain in more detail how, by using sensitizing concepts, I combined an inductive research approach with a deductive angle. Then, I elaborate on the fundamental elements of this action research project: the implementation of the CAF groups as well as the collection and analysis of the empirical data. Finally, I reflect on how I designed and carried out this action research, with a special focus on the interaction between researcher and CAF members as research participants. A more detailed background description of the Dutch financial landscape is provided in Chapter 4. The chapter focuses on two particular financial self-help groups: ROSCAs among Ethiopians and Ghanaians living in the Netherlands. Compared to the formal banking system dominating the current financial landscape, these financial self-help groups claim effectivity instead of efficiency in the operation and management of their respective groups. By exploring developments in the current financial landscape, this chapter argues that distinguishing different kinds of resilience creates possibilities for analysing the different roles of financial arrangements and institutions for the financial landscape. Thus, this explorative study on ROSCAs questions the dominance of the financial side of the coin that has resulted from the efficiency-driven institutions of the financial sector. Chapter 5 presents each CAF group in more detail. The reader gets to know the different members of each CAF group and their motivations to join. Financial performance is assessed according to members’ savings and loan behaviour during the period of their participation. The quantitative data is analysed on how much the members of a respective CAF group saved and how much they borrowed from the group’s fund during the entire period of the research. These insights help the reader to better understand the differences and similarities between the five CAF groups. Chapter 6 discusses the empirical findings from the first three CAF groups. This chapter explores whether and how participation in a CAF group improves individuals’ well-being with regard to expanding their social networks, improving their financial household management, and strengthening their entrepreneurial positions. It also shows how participating in CAF groups at the grassroots level contributes to the well- Balancing the social and financial sides of the coin26being of vulnerable people in the Netherlands. Finally, the chapter reconsiders Sen’s notion of freedom for the particular context of overconsumption, inequality, and overindebtedness. In applying Sen’s capability approach, I realized that the approach has a “blind spot” regarding individuals’ possible impacts on the structures within and around them. By adding notions of Giddens’s structuration theory to the core concepts of the capability approach, I rendered the capability approach more sensitive to how CAF-group members may interact with their surrounding structures (Chapter 7). The relation between individuals and surrounding societal structures is extensively discussed in what is often referred to as the agency-structure debate (Ritzer, 2003). This debate is based on differing views about whether and to what extent individuals have a free will and can act according to their preferences, values, and personal feelings, or to what extent they are the “product” of their surrounding social structures. By expanding the capability approach with the notions of internal structures, on the one hand, and more proximate and more distant societal structures, on the other (Stones, 2008), I detail not only how individual agents are influenced by their surrounding structures, but how they might also have – however small and modest – an impact on those structures themselves. As a result, this chapter not only provides answers to how CAF-group participation affects individual members’ access to social networks, their financial household management, and their entrepreneurial positioning, but it also enabled me to investigate how and why individuals join a CAF group to take part in a so-called countermovement. Thus, I also consider how CAF members could possibly play a role in their surrounding social structures, like the existing financial landscape and the emerging participation society in the Netherlands.One way in which a CAF group can play a role in the surrounding structures is to become a community of practice. Wenger (1998) describes a community of practice as a group of people who share a certain domain of interest that distinguishes them from others. In a community of practice, it is crucial to learn from each other by engaging in joint activities and discussions. To discuss whether and how some of the CAF groups studied here turned into a community of practice, I apply the criteria of a common goal, trust, democratic leadership, and accumulation of knowledge in Chapter 8. The application of these criteria to the functioning of the CAF groups also provides more insight into how members interacted which each other in the different CAF groups. I will show how two of the five CAF groups indeed turned into communities of practice. Chapter 9 concludes this dissertation by linking the empirical findings on the individual level (Chapters 6 and 7) with those on the group level (Chapter 8). I follow this with a general discussion of the main contribution to theory development made by the Balancing the social and financial sides of the coin27expansion of Sen’s capability approach with Giddens’s structuration theory. Then, I discuss the role of CAF groups in enabling individual participants to balance the social and financial sides of the coin. Finally, I conclude this dissertation by showing how CAF groups have the potential to empower their members to meet the expectations of the participation society and the challenges of the contemporary financial landscape. I also provide recommendations for how engaged scholars doing action research can be reflective about the way they interact with their research participants and for how practitioners can set up CAF groups in the field. In the Epilogue, I tell the story of Cash2Grow. Based on the experiences and findings of my research, I co-founded the Cash2Grow foundation to promote savings groups in the Netherlands as a tool for financial and social empowerment. By developing improved savings-group methodologies and financial education tools, the foundation aims to train staff and volunteers from different types of (welfare) organizations to establish savings groups among their target populations. At the moment, we are also collaborating with similar organizations in Spain, Italy, Germany, and Poland to learn more from each other in a project subsidized by the EU.
PROEFSCHRIFT
The Northern Netherlands is an unique environment for sustainably-minded (bio)chemical businesses due to the regional availability of renewable feedstock, energy and existing infrastructure as well as the proximity to excellent knowledge centers and upscaling facilities. Within the last decades, several developments unravelled in the biobased circular transition. Exploring how these developments were initiated, the article means to show the opportunities that this region has to offer today. It also makes a strong argument for the economic potential arising from the creative combination of available feedstocks in an innovative ecosystem providing necessary frame-work conditions and fostering close intersectoral collaboration.
ARTIKEL
With regard to the increasing global competition for highly-skilled labour, the group of mobile international students is becoming more and more prominent in the considerations of national policy-makers. One concrete idea is to develop policies in order to bind international students and foreign knowledge workers and make them valuable contributors to the country, economically but also in terms of social and cultural aspects. The Dutch government has put this issue on the agenda and emphasized their interest in binding international talent to the Netherlands. Therefore, it is crucial to learn about the factors, which are decisive in staying and going and which are particularly appealing or unappealing about the Netherlands. In order to contribute to this process, a study was done among international students, alumni, and staff at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. This study's findings have been validated and enriched by the results of a broader survey which has been conducted among the talented international students participating in the Nuffic NL4Talents conference of 4 February 2013 in The Hague. This study suggests that two principal reasons are relevant in residence decisions: career perspective and personal factors, such as having a Dutch partner or circle of friends. Additionally, a number of further factors seems to influence whether internationals want to stay in the Netherlands. All these factors are classified in four groups: those related to the Netherlands in general, to the region/city of residence, personal aspects and aspects related to the university. With regard to the Netherlands, appealing factors appear to be the standard of living, the socio-political environment in the Netherlands and the supposedly welcoming Dutch culture. There are, however, people - in particular those who cannot fully enjoy all rights of the EU citizenship - who feel underprivileged in terms of administrative procedures and in their everyday life in the Netherlands. When it comes to the regional aspects in The Hague, appealing factors are apparently the clean and safe environment to live as well as the availability of several offers for leisure time, including an attractive cultural agenda. Here, the housing situation - more precisely the cost and quality of accommodation - appears as a rather unappealing aspect. In terms of personal considerations, the family-friendly environment in the Netherlands has been rated as particularly appealing. Also having a Dutch partner or Dutch friends may encourage international students to stay and work in the Netherlands. The findings suggest, however, that international students are more embedded in an international circle of friends than linked with the locals. Only few respondents felt being actively excluded from Dutch circles, but a majority agrees that it is difficult to establish bonds with the local population. At the same time, it has been raised that international students voluntarily live in their expat bubble. Lastly, the university experience can contribute to retaining international students. Here, appealing factors were the international study environment which makes the foreign student feel at home, as well as the level and focus of education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. By contrast, critical views have been raised in relation to a suggested lack of career counselling and support in learning the Dutch language at university. Based on these findings, the report concludes with some recommendations which might serve as a springboard to develop strategies to bind international talent. As the discussion of findings shows, the insights of this study can be validated by insights of a related study that has recently been conducted by Agentschap NL and the advice of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands. Based on the findings, the report concludes with a number of recommendations outlining how national, regional, local authorities as well as universities can help to retain more international talent in the Netherlands.
BOEK
The establishment of new housing initiatives for older people begins with the participation of (future) residents. This study explored how participation is experienced by both facilitators and (future) residents and what lessons are learned regarding the facilitation of meaningful participation. Participation was studied through semi-structured interviews and focus group sessions from the perspective of 34 (future) residents and facilitators involved in participation processes in a diverse set of four housing projects from the Netherlands. The results focused on three phases: the initiation phase, the concepting and development phase, and the transition towards an established form of group housing. From the outset of such processes, it was important to involve all relevant stakeholders and to create a shared vision about the participation process. Discussions in small groups, the use of references, creative elements, and the creation of the right atmosphere were experienced as valuable during the concepting and design phase. In the third phase, the role of the organisation and residents needed to be discussed again. Participation should be a continuous process, during which trust, communication and having an open attitude are key. This study showed how innovative approaches can contribute to the creation of an environment in which older people can impact the actual design of housing, and make it more inclusive. Original article at: https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12030367 © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI.
ARTIKEL
There is growing realisation amongst local communities that the organizations and societies within which they live and work need to become more sustainable in order to secure their social, environmental and economic futures (Coyle 2011, Müller et al. 2011). The underlying motivations vary but are often traceable to an increased need for certainty or security. The search for solutions is in part practically orientated towards resilience to different forces of decline. Whilst sometimes manifested in individuals it is more often evident within local initiatives seeking common ground and related to perceived needs for local independence or increased self-determination (Musall & Kuik 2011, Seyfang & Haxeltine 2012). In our project and in this paper, our focus is on local initiatives as opposed to developments at regional or strategic scales. In the Northern Netherlands such local initiatives are often comprised of village residents or more heterogeneous groups from the wider rural community, with local initiatives co-existent in urban areas and cities. Local initiatives may focus on different sustainability issues (or a combination of them), such as transportation, energy, water, natural environment, food production, solid waste or the local economy (Coyle, 2011). However, many of these local initiatives focus on energy issues and solutions, while they might expand their interests to other issues after a prolonged existence. Therefore, in this paper we refer to these local or communal activities as Local Energy Initiatives (LEI’s) that are at the grassroots of sustainable transitions.
PAPER
The World Health Organization (WHO) strives to assist and inspire cities to become more ‘age-friendly’ through the Global Age-Friendly Cities Guide. An age-friendly city offers a supportive environment that enables residents to grow older actively within their families, neighbourhoods and civil society, and offers extensive opportunities for their participation in the community. In the attempts to make cities age-friendly, ageism may interact with these developments. The goal of this study was to investigate the extent to which features of age-friendly cities, both facilitators and hindrances, are visible in the city scape of the Dutch municipalities of The Hague and Zoetermeer and whether or not ageism is manifested explicitly or implicitly. A qualitative photoproduction study based on the Checklist of Essential Features of Age-Friendly Cities was conducted in five neighbourhoods. Both municipalities have a large number of visual age-friendly features, which are manifested in five domains of the WHO model, namely Communication and information; Housing; Transportation; Community support and health services; and Outdoor spaces and buildings. Age-stereotypes, both positive and negative, can be observed in the domain of Communication and information, especially in the depiction of third agers as winners. At the same time, older people and age-friendly features are very visible in the cityscapes of both municipalities, and this is a positive expression of the changing demographics. Original article at Sage: https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X19857216
ARTIKEL