Wouter van Gent

The Dutch government introduced the Act on Extraordinary Measures for Urban Problems in 2006 to bolster local regeneration efforts. The act enables local governments to stop specific groups of deprived households from moving into designated neighbourhoods. More specifically, the Act allows local governments to refuse a residence permit to persons who have lived in the metropolitan region for less than six years and who do not receive an income from work, pensions or student loans. The policy is based on the idea that reducing the influx of poor newcomers improves liveability by providing a temporary relief of the demand for public services and by making neighbourhoods demographically 'balanced' or 'socially mixed'. This review examines the socio-spatial effects of the Act in Rotterdam between 2006 and 2013. While the Act produces socio-demographic changes, the state of the living environment in designated areas seems to be worsening rather than improving. Our findings show that the policy restricts the rights of excluded groups without demonstrably improving safety or liveability. The review concludes with a reflection on how the Act may signify a broader change in European statecraft and urban policy.

This paper discusses state interventions in a poor former-working-class area in Amsterdam – Van der Pekbuurt. Even though the residents have been successful in resisting redevelopment and renovation plans, state and housing association continue their efforts to change the area through symbolic politics. By introducing and facilitating cultural entrepreneurs and artists in the area - as part of regeneration and gentrification strategies -, the representation of what the neighborhood is, and ought to be, gravitates towards the planners’ future vision. As such, these representations undermine the legitimacy of long-term residents. Interviews with residents reveal that the change in the neighborhood instill a sense of loss of place, exacerbated by cuts in local service provision.

The so-called Rotterdam Act enables municipal governments in the Netherlands to bar poor households with no or limited residential history in the metropolitan area from moving into certain neighborhoods. Although evidently at odds with principles of equality enshrined in law, the Act has emerged as a standard part of the policy tool kit. This article seeks to explain how the Rotterdam Act came to pass. Asking this question sets us on the path of reconstructing how specific urban areas suffering from extraordinary problems were identified and how using exceptional measures to exclude specific groups were instituted. In a word, we are interested in the construction of exceptionality. We show that the construction of exceptional territories is based on the interplay of discretionary power and statistical calculation. We discuss the wider relevance of our analysis to the emerging field of critical data studies and for understanding the links between sovereignty, territory and statistics in constitutional democracies.

In recent decades, neighbourhood regeneration has often involved social mixing strategies, often through comprehensive renewal. By deconcentrating poverty and giving opportunities for social interaction, remaining residents are believed to benefit from middle class presence. This study looks at a post-war neighbourhood in Amsterdam which has undergone comprehensive renewal. By making use of survey data in combination with GIS techniques, this study shows that perceptions are
structured by physical characteristics, activity patterns and symbolic boundaries. These perceptions are highly dependent on social position. While some residents in renewal areas display inclusionary attitudes, there is also evidence of middle class and lower class disaffiliation. Interestingly, these translate into different mental maps for both groups. The paper ends with a methodological reflection on using GIS-based boundary drawing in neighbourhood surveys to gauge fragmentation and place-based displacement.

Segregation studies have mainly focused on urban structures as a whole or have discussed specific (gentrifying or renewing) neighbourhoods. The literature suggests that changes in segregation occur primarily through selective migration. In this paper, we follow up on recent work that has questioned these orthodoxies, suggesting that in situ social mobility, and entries to and exits from the city population should be taken into account as well, and that dynamics in all neighbourhoods should be considered. The paper traces the processes by which segregation changes for the cities of Amsterdam and The Hague for 1999–2006, using a longitudinal individual-level database covering the entire population. It extends previous work by looking at income rather than socioeconomic status and by drilling down to the neighbourhood level. Applying an existing measure of segregation (Delta) in a novel way, the analysis focuses on changes in the spatial distribution of household income, measuring the relative contribution of a range of processes to changes in segregation. Results show that segregation rises in both cities but that different processes drive changes in each case. Furthermore, the aggregate change in segregation for each city masks a diversity of changes at the neighbourhood level, some of which tend to increase segregation while others tend to reduce it. Mapping these changes and the individual processes contributing to them shows that they have a distinct geography, which seems to be structured by historically specific trends in state and housing market context.

This city profile provides a multi-dimensional overview on the most recent social, economic, political and spatial changes in the city of Amsterdam. We map the social-geography of the city, discussing recent housing and spatial development policies as well as city-regional political dynamics. Today, the city of Amsterdam is more diverse than ever, both ethnically and socially. The social geography of Amsterdam shows a growing core–periphery divide that underlines important economic and cultural asymmetries. The tradition of public subsidies and regulated housing currently allows for state-led gentrification within inner city neighborhoods. Public support for homeownership is changing the balance between social, middle and high-end housing segments. Changes in the tradition of large-scale interventions and strong public planning are likewise occurring. In times of austerity, current projects focus on small-scale and piecemeal interventions particularly oriented to stimulate entrepreneurialism in selected urban areas and often relate to creative economies and sustainable development. Finally, underlying these trends is a new political landscape composed of upcoming liberal and progressive parties, which together challenge the political equilibriums in the city region

Several theoretical debates in gentrification literature deal with the role and importance of migration, in situ social mobility, and demographic change in urban social change. These debates focus primarily on structural processes. However, we have comparatively little insight into how and to what degree different mechanisms actually underpin upgrading in urban neighbourhoods. This paper uses Dutch register data to
show how residential mobility, social mobility, and demographic change each contribute to gentrification in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. First, our findings show that residential mobility remains key to understanding the growth of higher-income residents in gentrifiying neighbourhoods. At the same time, social mobility and demographic change—
notably ageing—are most important in explaining dwindling numbers of lower-income residents. Second, large differences exist across neighbourhoods. By mapping three ideal-typical
drivers of gentrification, we show how the migration-based ‘displacement model’ occurs predominantly in upgrading neighbourhoods with a high status. Conversely, in
low-status upgrading neighbourhoods social mobility is more important in explaining gentrification. These different forms of upgrading occur simultaneously in both cities and
should be integrated to advance our understanding of gentrification as a process that is both widespread and occurs in different, ever-changing forms across neighbourhoods.

The social relationship between an individual and their residential environment is shaped by a range of housing market rules and regulations, by residential choice and by constraints. This paper elaborates on that relationship by focusing on the distance between an individual’s (and his/her household) social position and the social position of the neighbourhood of residence. Through the analysis of large-scale longitudinal register data for each resident in the four largest cities of the Netherlands, we studied the relations mentioned, as well as the residential moves triggered by such relations, as well as the outcome effects on individual-neighbourhood relations in the destination neighbourhoods. We found that the larger the social distance (positive or negative) between an individual and the median social position of their residential neighbourhood, the higher the odds that the individual would move from that neighbourhood. Those individuals that moved tended to select destination neighbourhoods that reduced their social distance. Our findings offer new input for debates and policies relating to de-segregation and social mixing.

This paper looks at the electoral geography of Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), a Dutch Right-wing Radical Populist Party, which is anti-immigration, anti-establishment and critical of urban conditions. Combining survey analyses and geocoded polling station data analyses of the 2010 Dutch parliamentary elections, we find that overrepresentation of PVV support in suburban environments cannot be explained by voter composition alone. There is a positive contextual effect in lower-density neighbourhoods in cities and in suburban municipalities, as well as in post-war New Towns. To account for spatial variations, we propose an explanatory framework based on urban theories of class. Traditional middle classes, concentrated in suburbs, seem more likely to support RRPPs as a defensive strategy, and to reclaim urban space for daily use.

Residential environments are a product of urban and housing policies and household responses. These environments develop as physical and social territories and have their own impacts on voting patterns. These specificities relate to several spheres of life, including political preferences and associated voting behavior. In this paper we argue that support for Right-wing Radical Populist Parties (RRPP) is firmly related to and affected by the production of social patterns and specific residential environments. The relation may be direct, through protest or discontent with socio-spatial processes and policies, or indirect through social networks. Empirical support for these statements is based on analyses of voting data from the city of The Hague, The Netherlands. The analyses suggest that there are three types of neighborhoods where different explanations for RRPP support are salient: native working class neighborhoods (where the so-called ethnic competition thesis is evident); ethnically-mixed urban neighborhoods (where social isolation and “hunkering down” would be key processes), and (lower) middle class suburban

Privatization and liberalization of the housing market are often used as governmental strategies for engineering the social composition of urban neighbourhoods. Drawing on longitudinal register data from the Social Statistical Database (SSB) this study reports findings from the highly-regulated housing context of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. By making use of regression modelling and GIS analyses, it is demonstrated that tenure conversions from rent to owner occupancy are not just bringing about changes in social class composition, but also affect the ethnic and demographic composition of the population. Moreover, it is shown that conversions from rent to owner occupancy have effects that are highly spatially specific. Our evidence suggests that tenure conversions may contribute to processes of gentrification in the inner city of Amsterdam, while tenure conversions in post-war neighbourhoods do not lead to a social upgrading and may even facilitate downgrading. In addition, trends in the converted section of the housing market are not just mirroring income developments but also seem to reflect trends in ethnic segregation, as well as demographic trends such as a renewed interest among families to live in the inner city.

This paper is a critical reply to an article by Stal and Zuberi, in which they compare two policies which deconcentrate poverty in the US and the Netherlands. By drawing lessons from a renewal program in the Netherlands, they suggest several ways to help break the ‘cycle of poverty’. We distinguish at least three fundamental flaws in their argument. After discussing these flaws, we discuss renewal in Dutch cities and issues related to displacement and social networks. We conclude with a reflection on the nature of comparative urban research.► A critical reply to an article, which compares policies that deconcentrate poverty. ► 3 fundamental flaws: the comparison, context differences, evidence for success. ► Also, article overlooks issues with urban renewal in the Dutch cities. ► We plea to reflect on use of concepts in international urban comparative research.

Urban policies in Western Europe have increasingly taken a territorial focus in addressing social problems through area-based initiatives (ABI’s). Policy discourses emphasise the role of the residential environment in the social economic deprivation. However, a territorial focus which tackles both place-based issues and people-based problems would only make sense either when a ‘critical representation’ of the target population resides in several areas in an already divided city, or when neighbourhood effects take place. In the European context, the existence of either scenario is not a matter of fact. Our overview of four urban policies reveals that even though the rhetoric makes multiple allusions to the existence of the two scenarios, there is no convincing evidence. Moreover, in some cases the evidence refutes policy assumptions. This means that the policies are merely tackling unrelated problems: people-based social economic deprivation and place-based liveability and housing issues. In addition, urban policies stand against a backdrop of social and cultural integration debates. It is unknown what the territorial focus will do for integration, but it is unlikely that ABI’s will be successful in effectively tackling social economic deprivation in European societies.

Current Dutch urban policy has opted for a focused approach to solve urban social problems. The Minister of ‘Housing, Neighbourhoods and Integration’ aims at tackling social deprivation and liveability problems in a limited number of neighbourhoods. Several assumptions underpin the policy ambitions: e.g., a strong interrelationship between social deprivation and liveability; a clear social and spatial divide in Dutch society; and extra negative effects of problem accumulation. In this paper, these assumptions are tested. It is concluded that the two types of problems are in fact unrelated; targeting a limited number of neighbourhoods does not effectively address social deprivation. Furthermore, there is yet insufficient research to support the idea that there would be extra negative effects associated with an accumulation of social deprivation and liveability problems.

We study the effects of local community networks on social capital and participation in a heterogeneous urban neighborhood. We found that the effects of ICT use on social capital are dependent on education and income, and that the use of neighborhood infrastructures is low, as the systems were very much a top-down initiative. We discuss the implications for designing and organizing systems that aim a social cohesion and supporting social capital.

This paper describes a mini-experiment in using a tool for semantic annotation to index photographs of Windsor chairs, a type of antique furniture. The annotation tool makes use of an ontology based on art standards. We report on the experiences of subjects using the tool. The results suggest that a certain level of domain expertise is needed for semantic annotations, but also that an annotation tool has a clear added value for indexers.

141 2010• 37• 2 dit moment, de PVV. De partij, opgericht in 2005 door haar leider dhr. G. Wilders, profileert zich door haar stedelijk georiënteerde talking points. Het vertoog gaat vaak over grootstedelijke problematiek, criminaliteit, gevoelens van veiligheid, de dagelijkse sociale omgang tussen mensen van verschillende afkomst of cultuur, en jeugdproblematiek. De anti-establishmenthouding van de PVV betekent dat de partij ageert tegen breed gedragen regeringsbeleid; men pleit voor een radicaal andere regeringskoers.

Privatization and liberalization of the housing market are often used as governmental strategies for engineering the social composition of urban neighbourhoods. Drawing on longitudinal register data, this study reports findings from the highly-regulated housing context of Amsterdam. Through regression modelling and GIS-analyses, we demonstrate that tenure conversions from rent to owner-occupancy are not just bringing about changes in social-class composition, but also affect the ethnic and demographic compositions. Moreover, conversions from rent to ownership have highly spatially-specific effects. Our evidence suggests that tenure conversions may contribute to gentrification in the inner-city of Amsterdam, while conversions in post-war neighbourhoods do not lead to a social upgrading and may even facilitate downgrading. Furthermore, trends in the converted section of the housing market are not just mirroring income developments but also seem to reflect trends in ethnic segregation and demographic trends such as a renewed interest among families to live in the inner-city.

Klassieke sociale bewegingen en vakbonden zijn de afgelopen decennia minder succesvol geworden in het mobiliseren van verzet. In dit themanummer richten we ons daarom juist op andere vormen van verzet uit onverwachte hoek, georganiseerd door gemarginaliseerde bevolkingsgroepen. Dit verzet neemt veelal subtiele, creatieve en ongebruikelijke vormen aan.

Gentrification is generally understood as the class-based transformation of urban space, but it is also imagined as being connected to young adulthood, as a spatial expression of the time-space trajectories of particular middle-class fractions. Although gentrification studies often do acknowledge age, we argue that life course should be treated as a key dimension to understand gentrification and segregation, and the inequalities it brings about in people's lives cumulatively. Acknowledging the central role of demographic processes in urban transformations may also help us gain insight into the political economies of life course. In urban development, state and market actors may favour certain groups while excluding others, not only across social class but also between generations and life stages. In many contexts, young adults are struggling on the housing market. This is likely to have spatial implications, as specific groups of young adults may be excluded from privileged areas or cities in general. Likewise, the intergenerational transmission of inequalities through housing wealth has spatial impacts. Age and life course may play a broader, more general, role in forging urban inequalities as well. We call for papers that investigate how life course is implicated in gentrification, urban transformation and urban inequality more generally, focussing on differentiation in age and generation. We seek papers from both the Global North and Global South dealing with the following, or related, topics: • The intersections of class and age in gentrification processes • How intergenerational inequalities and the intergenerational transmission of inequalities unfold in urban space • How urban transformations are changing the geography of demographic transitions • The role of generations in historical and contemporary urban transformations • Young people in gentrification processes as both displacers and the displaced • The cumulative effects of housing and neighbourhood trajectories on life course and (dis)advantage • The politics of life course and age in urban development Please submit your abstract (max 250 words), with name, affiliation and contact details, to Willem Boterman (w.r.boterman@uva.nl) before October 18 th. Accepted applicants will be notified by October 20th and asked to register for the AAG conference by 25 October 2017.