SUMMARY
I. INTRODUCTION
After World War II, the Netherlands experienced a chronic housing shortage. This situation made the creation of housing a priority in Dutch urban planning. Planning was characterized by large amounts of small dwellings with average facilities, mostly built as porch or gallery flats. Currently in the Netherlands, there is a move from city expansion towards urban renewal, and the focus of urban policies is shifting towards post-war neighbourhoods. The then built living quarters were initially regarded positively, but eventually changed into areas with physical and social problems, not meeting today’s standards. Urban renewal attempts to prevent any further deterioration of these neighbourhoods. It is expected that citizen participation will facilitate the transformation of the current homogeneous housing stock, which became more and more detached from the wishes and needs of the users. This transformation aims to contribute to the process of improving the physical environment of the existing housing stock.
II. STATE OF THE ART
Since the last century, several steps have been identified among literature that aims to contribute to the body of knowledge and integration of citizen participation within urban renewal. Many of these studies focus on citizen participation as principles of democracy, the effects on social cohesion, the effectiveness and quality of plans, and the degree of acceptance of decision making processes. However, a smaller amount of these researches focus on methods to involve citizens in the design process. Also, many of these researches employ infill models, which allow the users to create their own homes by picking elements out of a design catalogue. There is a lack of methods, tools and assessments to achieve high degrees of citizen participation in the design process. Citizen participation is often seen as a time-consuming and intensive process. Yet, it is expected that the empowerment of citizens will increase. Therefore there is a need for further exploration, testing, and evaluation through case-by-case studies.
III. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The central question of this research is: How can the acceptance of renovations increase by having residents participate in the design process?
The primary goals of this research are: gaining insight into the characteristics of citizen participation, and gaining more understanding of methods used to involve citizens in participation processes. Additionally, the research focuses on how the influence of the involved tenants affects the housing stock, and if the design process leads to an increase of acceptance of renovations. Lastly, the research proposes recommendations on how to increase the acceptance of renovations through citizen participation. To answer the central research question, a number of sub-questions have been formulated.
IV. METHODOLOGY
This research uses three research methods. It starts with a systematic review of literature about the creation and the developments of the Kolenkitbuurt, and about the methods and forms of citizen participation. Simultaneously, the characteristics and the physical state of the building are researched. Secondly, a method is developed for the fieldwork, which aims to involve tenants in the design process. Prior to the design process (survey), the tenants’ choices of intervention are collected and classified, so that their choices can later be evaluated. Subsequently, to align the apartments more with the tenants’ wishes, new apartment designs are made together with the respective tenants. After the design process, the tenants’ choices of intervention are collected once again. The results of the research are judged by the amount of impact of citizen participation on the cultural attributes, on the building’s physical state, and on the willingness of the tenants to participate in the design process of their own apartments. Lastly, the conclusions and recommendations are described.
V. RESULTS
The negative background of the urban renewal process and the poor physical state of the building created a distrust among the participants against decision-makers and intervention possibilities. As a result, most residents have a withdrawn and distrustful attitude in the beginning of the process, and they also often have negative feelings towards renovation. Yet, this background also creates a starting point for involving residents in the process, and it stimulates them to think about their needs and aspirations, and how they would like to change their homes. Transparent communication with the tenants, about the process and objectives of the research, and showing them commitment, are the first steps of regaining their trust. During the design process, the participants gain a more open attitude, and some even get very enthusiastic upon noticing that their opinions are important. They realise how their homes can change to better suit their needs. But, when the residents have to make their choices of intervention after the design process, the open attitude they expressed in the participation process decreases and the negative thoughts of the urban renewal process are brought up again.
URBAN RENEWAL PROCESS
Because of the pre-process of urban renewal, the tenants hold a strong distrust against the policy makers and the building. This was caused by a lack of communication and the failure to fulfil the promises made by the policy makers. Furthermore, the poor state of the building leads to a mistrust among the tenants against possibilities of intervention.
NEIGHBOURHOOD
The tenants are very contented with the neighbourhood’s cultural characteristics, such as accessibility, facilities, the spacious layout of the neighbourhood, the amount of light, and the rich vegetation.
TYPOLOGY
For the tenants, the post-war aesthetic of their apartments are neither a reason to demolish or preserve them. The closed facade on the ground level only causes nuisance on the heads of the apartment blocks, where there is a lack of social control. The tenants want to keep the courtyard, but wish that it will be made accessible to them. A key of the entrance gate could provide this access. It is presumed that the removal of the fences will lead to more burglaries.
Building elements
Influence of the tenants can result in the preservation of cultural attributes, such as the closed front facade, the vertical strips of the facade, and the balconies. Also, the tenants indicate that their building is in a poor physical condition. The tenants want to see this condition improved, to make it more comparable with newly built apartments.
APARTMENT
The tenants wish to make changes to the layout of their apartments to bring it closer to their wishes. These interventions have consequences to the construction. The individual tenants have differing opinions on which interventions they think are necessary, but the tenants show consensus about the size of the kitchen. It is notable that the students set lower standards to their homes than the original tenants.
CHOICE OF INTERVENTION PRE-SURVEY
The students consider their apartments a temporary accommodation, while the original tenants consider their apartments a permanent residence. Therefore these two groups differ strongly in their choices of intervention regarding renovations. The motivations of the original tenants are mainly shaped by experiences in the pre-process. Among the students, the choices of intervention mainly refer to the physical state of the building. This results in the wish of all original tenants (50%) to leave the building to move to newly built apartments. 33% want the apartments to be renovated. 17% chooses for demolishment and rebuilding. Additionally, 33% indicate a wish to participate in the design process, in case that becomes a possibility.
ATTITUDE
The students consider their apartments a temporary accommodation, while the original tenants consider their apartments a permanent residence. Therefore these two groups differ strongly in their choices of intervention regarding renovations. The motivations of the original tenants are mainly shaped by experiences in the pre-process. Among the students, the choices of intervention mainly refer to the physical state of the building. This results in the wish of all original tenants (50%) to leave the building to move to newly built apartments. 33% want the apartments to be renovated. 17% chooses for demolishment and rebuilding. Additionally, 33% indicate a wish to participate in the design process, in case that becomes a possibility.
CHOICE OF INTERVENTION POST-SURVEY
After the survey, the choices of intervention of the original tenants appear to have been influenced more by the negative pre-process and the unfulfilled promises made by the policy makers, than by the tenants’ potential influence on their apartments. Among the students, the trust in the building itself plays a much bigger part. This results in the wish of all of the original tenants (50%) to leave the buildings to move to newly built apartments. Despite the students’ choices of intervention remaining at 33% being in favour of renovation and 17% being in favour of demolishment and rebuilding, their choices of intervention did change compared to before the survey. One of the tenants living in the less flexible head apartment wanted to renovate the apartments prior to the survey, but chose demolishment and rebuilding after the survey. This illustrates how the apartment’s flexibility, and thus also the amount of influence a tenant can have, has a strong influence on the choice of intervention. Because of what the tenants experienced during the design process, 66% of them want to participate in a design process, if that becomes a possibility. This means an increase of 33%.
VI. CONCLUSION
The research neither confirms nor disproves the assertion that citizen participation contributes to the preservation of the cultural values. The tenants’ choices of intervention are closely related to their trust in the decision-makers and the building. 17% of the tenants want to demolish the building, 33% want the apartments to be renovated, and 50% want to leave the apartments. However, the departure of tenants does not rule out the possibilities of intervention, and therefore neither contributes to the decay or preservation of historical heritage. To preserve the heritage, and to increase the acceptance of renovations, it is important to win the trust of the tenants in the decision- makers and the state of the building. This requires a flexible layout of the apartments. This flexibility causes citizen participation to contribute to the adjustment of existing housing stock towards the wishes of the current tenants, thereby improving the building’s physical state, and realizing a (partial) merging of the apartments.
VII. RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on this research, a number of recommendations are given regarding the applied method and the criteria prior, during and after the participation process. Additionally, specific recommendations are given regarding the case study. To increase the acceptance of renovations by means of citizen participation, it is important to win the trust of the tenants. The attitude of the architect plays a big role in achieving that, and it asks for a more social approach.
CASE STUDY
Amsterdam