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Create your own city A toolbox for citizens’ initiatives

Create Your Own City

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(Contact information can be found on page 151 & 152)The minor ‘modern city’ has launched a citizens’ initiatives investigation. The aim of the study is investigate the backgrounds of citizen initiatives by several interviews, literature studies and field surveys. The study should lead to a toolbox for different parties. The basis of the toolbox is to alert and motivate the parties on all the different options that are there to launch an initiative.For the study a number of research questions have been formulated with the ultimate goal to create the toolbox. The main question is: How do citizens’ initiatives contribute to the development of a modern city? The sub-questions give an idea of who the initiative launched, where these initiatives have been started, what role different parties play, on which scale the initiatives take place and what is the purpose of the initiative?The research takes place in the Netherlands and Poland. Poland is 7.5 times larger than the Netherlands and there live two times as many people. Poland during the global recession only made growth and therefore has a strong economy. Poland has dealt 25 years ago with communism and has since been changing rapidly. This means for the people that there is more freedom. With this freedom comes a chance to launch citizens’ initiatives.Former Woensel is a neighborhood in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. A resident Maria Manders launched several initiatives to promote her neighbourhood. An example of an initiative is the vegetable gardens that have been realized. In the community centre is a library located by the initiatives of the residents.The Polish district Łazarz in Poznan has gone through a similar evolution. Residents have been putting effort in their district together with a cooperation. A group of citizens joint in a community. Various activities are organized from this community. The club exists 35 years and has over 250 volunteers and five permanent employees. Also there is in the neighbourhood a cultural centre located where children can attend extra free education after-school.Naramowice is a young neighbourhood in the northeast of Poznan. Many young families are living in the district. The district consists mainly out of fenced apartment complexes. The fenced apartment complexes have been built by private investors. The public outdoor area is the responsibility of the municipality that invests little in the neighbourhood. This is causing all sorts of problems for example in the facilities and infrastructure. There is a big difference compared with the private apartment complexes. The local district council is a party that is committed to the interests of the neighbourhood. This party is committed particularly in arranging a tram into the city centre and the arrival of more schools.To achieve the goal there has been made a toolbox by the various parties. The toolbox is providing a handle to launch an initiative. In addition, the network is an initiative of interest. It should make it easier to launch an initiative by encouraging people to consult their network. In addition, people are encouraged to look around in their neighbourhood and discover what is happening in the neighbourhood. When taking initiative money should not be a hindrance, also the scale of the initiative does not matter. Without these obstacles, people should be enabled to take action in their district, neighbourhood or street.

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Page 1: Create Your Own City

Create your own cit yA toolbox for c i t izens’ in i t iat ives

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PrefaceThe final year of our study . This group, contains; Arne Halman, Gerben Boink, Job Ellens, Marjolein Pauly, Mark Sander van Beijnum en Maxim Weyhenke, have chosen the minor ‘The Modern City’. For Mark Sander is this minor the last commission for his study Urban Design. The rest of the group members need to graduate.

In this eleven during minor this group had chosen an challenge by choosing a international research. The research took place in the Dutch’ cities, Amsterdam, Deventer, Eindhoven and Tilburg. The international challenge became active when we looked over the land borders for initiatives.In RDH, Architects & Urban Planners we found a partner who could guide us in Poland and in special Ponzan. Our contact person, Huub Droogh, made us interested in Poland, by telling about the global recession and that Poland in contrast to many countries had a economic grow. Also the city Poznań has recently undergone a management change. The city is changing more rapidly than ever since the fall of the communist regime.In Poznań we started a research in two different neighbourhoods. The first neighbourhood is close to the city centre border, the other neighbourhood is a relative new neighbourhood, which is build by private investors in the last decade.

In collaboration with the different parties there will be a symposium, Cities in Transition, in November 2015 to speak about the changing city Poznań. Besides the symposium there will be started a new study, Urban Management, in October 2015 which is related to the symposium . By a invitation from the Dutch Embassy and RDH we were asked to research the two neighbourhoods.

Each city we interviewed or had conversations with all sorts of parties. Form residents to local governments and form social workers to an anarchist move-ment. All these parties had their own contribution to our research.

Breda, 11 November 2015

Team Poznań

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Summar ydifference compared with the private apartment complexes. The local district council is a party that is committed to the interests of the neighbourhood. This party is committed particularly in arranging a tram into the city centre and the arrival of more schools.

To achieve the goal there has been made a toolbox by the various parties. The toolbox is providing a handle to launch an initiative. In addition, the network is an initiative of interest. It should make it easier to launch an initiative by encouraging people to consult their network. In addition, people are encour-aged to look around in their neighbourhood and discover what is happening in the neighbourhood. When taking initiative money should not be a hin-drance, also the scale of the initiative does not matter. Without these obsta-cles, people should be enabled to take action in their district, neighbourhood or street.

The minor ‘modern city’ has launched a citizens’ initiatives investigation. The aim of the study is investigate the backgrounds of citizen initiatives by several interviews, literature studies and field surveys. The study should lead to a tool-box for different parties. The basis of the toolbox is to alert and motivate the parties on all the different options that are there to launch an initiative.For the study a number of research questions have been formulated with the ultimate goal to create the toolbox. The main question is: How do citizens’ initiatives contribute to the development of a modern city? The sub-questions give an idea of who the initiative launched, where these initiatives have been started, what role different parties play, on which scale the initiatives take place and what is the purpose of the initiative?

The research takes place in the Netherlands and Poland. Poland is 7.5 times larger than the Netherlands and there live two times as many people. Poland during the global recession only made growth and therefore has a strong economy. Poland has dealt 25 years ago with communism and has since been changing rapidly. This means for the people that there is more freedom. With this freedom comes a chance to launch citizens’ initiatives.Former Woensel is a neighbourhood in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. A resident Maria Manders launched several initiatives to promote her neighbourhood. An example of an initiative is the vegetable gardens that have been realized. In the community centre is a library located by the initiatives of the residents.The Polish district Łazarz in Poznań has gone through a similar evolution. Res-idents have been putting effort in their district together with a cooperation. A group of citizens joint in a community. Various activities are organized from this community. The club exists 35 years and has over 250 volunteers and five permanent employees. Also there is in the neighbourhood a cultural centre located where children can attend extra free education after-school.Naramowice is a young neighbourhood in the northeast of Poznań. Many young families are living in the district. The district consists mainly out of fenced apartment complexes. The fenced apartment complexes have been built by private investors. The public outdoor area is the responsibility of the municipality that invests little in the neighbourhood. This is causing all sorts of problems for example in the facilities and infrastructure. There is a big

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Naramowice 75 History 76 Description 78 Paweł Sowa 86 Elzbieta Skrzypczynska and Anna Wachowska-Kucharska 90 Conclusion 94 Conclusion and toolbox 97

Sources 103

Annexes 109

Preface

Summary

Prologue 9 Motivation 10Situation 11 Method of work 12 Guide 15

Introductory information 17 The Netherlands – Poland 20Citizens’ initiatives 23 The Modern City 25 Symposium 27 Network of initiatives 29

Oud-Woensel 31 History 32Description 34 Maria Manders 45 Franse van Gilse 46 Bert Kaiser 50 Conclusion 52

Łazarz 55 History 56Description 58 Klub Osiedlowy Krąg 68 Modziezowy Dom Kutury 70 Conclusion 72

I ndex

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Prolo gue.1 M otivation.2 Situation.3 M etho d of work.4 G uide

1

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M otivation1.1Citizens’ initiatives play an important role in Modern Cities. Citizens want to be more involved in developments in the city, district and neighbourhood. The government is giving citizens more and more space and takes a passive role. Citizens’ initiatives provide new uses of and for example, vacant buildings and public spaces. There are several examples of such initiatives. Citizens’ initiatives are started in the wake of a threat in a city. This threat can be caused by vacancies, but also insecurity and impoverishment.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of cinitzens’ initiatives in different cities. Cities such as Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Tilburg and Deventer will be investigated in the Netherlands. In addition, two Polish cities are being explored, namely: Poznań and Warsaw. The Dutch cities are chosen based on personal involvement of researchers in the initiatives. It should be different Dutch cities to investigate the difference between governments and parties in each city. The choice of Polish cities is the result of an invitation from the Dutch Embassy in Poland to launch an investigation into two districts in the city of Poznań.

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S ituation1.2The NetherlandsThe Dutch government has turned to the mid 20th century developed into an integrating and facilitating government.

Self-reliance and responsibility are subjects, which have a greater significance for citizens and the government. Citizens have a voice and are able to make proposals to the government. This retreating attitude of the government has led to a more active attitude and involvement of citizens in the development of a city. Citizens’ initiatives arises from the society. There always have been citizens’ initiatives but never before the attitude of the government towards these initiatives has been this strong. It creates the opportunity to actually implement them into the city planning. Perhaps in the future one can speak of government participation instead of citizen participation. Here the citizens determine what is needed and where a budget is required. Together citizens are more involved, which improves the social cohesion.

PolandAfter World War II, Poland was ruled under a communist ideology. This form of government has resulted in many Polish cities for major developments of the suburbs, where the ideal of the city could be developed, and a neglect of the historical centres, which recalled the past inefficient. This historic city centres were poorly maintained and mostly inhabited by lower income classes. They often lived in large numbers on a few square meters in the rented premises. These homes are in the past expropriated from their owners. High class job incomes have begun to live on the edge of the conurbation. When you have enough money, it is possible to achieve in this area on a large piece of land your dream home. This ensures a suburbanization of cities from the elite emerged.

In the 80s and 90s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Poland turned into cap-italism. With the development of capitalism is this initial higher income class of the leased premises in the city centre in revolt. They claim the previously expropriated properties back. The wealthy inhabitants live in the ‘suburbs’ on the outskirts of the city making. Little has been invested in recent years in the city centre. Public spaces and different facilities are in poor condition. The decay in the centre of the city remain the elite and middle classes settle on the outskirts of the city in the ‘suburbs’. The city council realizes that there is a big problem going on and ask themselves what they can do about it.

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How do citizens initiatives contributing to the development of

a Modern City?

Citizens initiatives

What? Who? Where? When? Why?

Martijn Willems, DeventerFriend of Job, TilburgNeighbour of Marjolein, EindhovenNew �ndings......, Maxim

Initiatives

“The Modern City”

Smart City“Inhabitants make the city”

The Netherlands Poland

Conclusion Conclusion

Conclusion Conclusion

Final conclusionAdvice

2 NeighbourhoodsProblems/OpportunitiesLocationInitiatives in existing

Participation AgentMunicipalityGovernment

Martijn Willems, DeventerFriend of Job, TilburgNeighbour of Marjolein, EindhovenNew �ndings......, Maxim

Initiatives

“The Modern City”

Smart City“Inhabitants make the city”

The Netherlands Poland

Conclusion Conclusion

Conclusion Conclusion

Final conclusionAdvice

2 NeighbourhoodsProblems/OpportunitiesLocationInitiatives in existing

Participation AgentMunicipalityGovernment

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The theme of our minor is the Modern City, because we all had a different idea of a Modern City we started to share and communicated with each other. We came up with how people make the city. This meant that initiatives would be our main subject. This lead us to some questions. How does an initiative work? What kind of initiatives are there? What are initiatives like in the Netherlands and what are they like in Poland?With these questions we started interviewing and we made our conclusions aswell for the Netherlands as for Poland.With these questions in mind a literature survey was performed. Concluding this survey we came up with a main question guiding our research. Support-ed with multiple research questions stakeholders of various initiatives in the Netherlands and Poland have been interviewed.By comparing the results of the interviews a overall conclusion leading to the recommendations can be made.The image on page 10 visualizes the process.

Main Question:How do citizens’ initiatives contribute to the development of a Modern city?

Research questions:What citizens’ initiatives can be found in European cities?Who started the initiatives?Where can these initiative be found?What role do various parties have within the initiatives?At what scale are these initiatives taken?With what goal are the initiatives launched?In what way are surrounding residents responding on the initiatives?

M etho d of work1.3

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The prologue is devoted to a plan of approach. This chapter will describe the guideline of our research. The guide is formed by the problem and our research questions. Chapter two describes the definition “The Modern City” and the different fac-ets that apply to them. It provides insight into citizens’ initiatives.Further in chapter three the interviews will be explained and visible with their network of the city Eindhoven.Chapter four and five will be equal to chapter three but then for the city Poznań and in special our neighbourhoods Łazarz and Naramowice.

In the end, chapter six, will show our analyse of the researched neighbour-hoods. What they will contribute to the Modern City will be read in chapter seven.

To close this document our sources can be found by the annexes, in the end we will thank everyone for their effort and their time.

G uide1.4

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I ntro duc tor y information.1 The Netherlands-Poland.2 Cit izens’ init iatives.3 The M o dern cit y.4 Symp osium.5 Net work of init iatives

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The Netherlands

12 Provinces

Inapplicable

393 Municipalities

Poland

16 Voivodeships

379 Counties

2479 Municipalities

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Administrative divisionApart from the particularly rich history, there is another important factor that should be taken into account. Poland has a different administrative division than the Netherlands. These divisions each have different responsibilities.

The 16 Voivodeships are led by a governor chosen by the government and the Marshal, the chairman of the regional government of the Voivodeship, and a council chosen by local elections.

The Voivodeships are divided into counties. These counties are sub-divided into two types. • Rural counties which are controlled by an council chosen by elections.• City counties which are controlled by the city council. A city county functions both as a

county and a municipality.Counties are responsible for the following topics: Secondary education, healthcare, public transport, maintenance of certain designated roads, surveying, issuing work permits to foreigners and car registration.

Except of city counties all other counties are divided into a number of municipalities. Municipalities are governed by an council chosen by elections and a directly elected mayor. These municipalities are classified in three types:• Urban: Consisting of a town or city.• Urban-rural: Consisting of a town together with its surrounding villages and countryside• Rural: Not containing a town or city.

The Netherlands-Poland2.1

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ScaleThere is a large difference in scale between the Netherlands and Poland. Poland has a surface area which is about 7,5 times larger as that of the Neth-erlands. Beside in addition, it has more then twice the number of inhabitants. So the density is three times lower as in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands (2014)41.543 km216.829.289 inhabitants82,9% urban17,1% rural

Poland (2014)311.888 km238.484.000 inhabitants61% urban39% rural

Greater Poland Voivodeship (2014)29.826 km2

3.472.579 inhabitants66,7% urban33,3% rural

Poznań (2014)261,85 km2

545.680 inhabitants

When projecting Greater Poland Voivodeship next to the Netherlands it is immediately notable how small the difference of the total surface area is. Greater Poland Voivodship is only 11.717 km2 small-er. Despite the small difference in size there are 4.8 fewer inhabitants living in the area. Most people are living in the urban environment. Projections show the population is going to decrease in the urban areas and increase in rural areas.

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Greater Poland Voivodeship (2014)29.826 km2

3.472.579 inhabitants66,7% urban33,3% rural

Poznań (2014)261,85 km2

545.680 inhabitants

DemographicsUrbanization is a discussed topic. The Netherlands is one of the most urban-ized countries in Europe. With a rapidly growing population in the urban areas smart solutions are sought for efficient developments in cities without harming the quality of life.Poland however, has a mostly declining urban population. Only Warsaw has a growing urban population. In contrast to many other countries, including the Netherlands, many Polish inhabitants are moving to the rural areas. This is causing suburbanization around many of the bigger Polish cities.The image on the right is showing the urbanization in Europe in 2013. The difference between the amount of urban and rural environments in the Neth-erlands and Poland is clearly visible.

EconomyAlthough the Netherlands is known as a more prosperous country than Poland the fact remains Poland has a booming economy. Despite the economical crisis Poland knows no recession. The figure below shows the gross domestic product between 2008, when the economic crisis began, and 2014. During this time Poland never dealt with a negative GDP. In 2014 Poland was the 23rd economy in the World.

Densely populated area; more then 50% of the population lives in high-densely areas.

Moderately populated area; less then 50% of the population lives in rural areas and less then 50% of the population lives in high-densely areas.

Thinly populated area; more then 50% of the population lives in rural areas.

Data not available.

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Because of the Dutch approach of this research also the Dutch background of citizens’ initiatives is used to define citizens’ initiatives. In Dutch citizens’ initiatives are called “burgerinitiatieven”. Formally it stands for the right citizens have to add an item to the agenda of the parliament. TThis is not where this research is focussed on. Instead, it focuses on a new type of social initiatives. Sometimes in practice these citizens’ initiatives are also referred to as resident initiatives.These small-scaled initiatives function as a great source of hope and inspiration compared to official civil society organizations. Through citizens’ initiatives citizens can shape their own live in a meaningful way, make themselves useful for the society and solve problems when the government is not looking into or where politicians do not feel they are responsible.

All citizens’ initiatives have a number of aspects in common:• Initiatives always arise from ideological movements. This can be caused by personal experiences, the experience of someone in the vicinity or a social event. • Every initiative has a socially relevant goal. It goes beyond an individual self-interest and gives value to the society. • At the start an initiative is not focussed on profit. It can, however, after time become a non-for profit economical activity or a company.• Initiatives arise as much as possible from within the society and not from the government. In other words, initiatives are socially self-regulating.• Although a group of citizens with a common goal can have organizational characteristics in its infancy initiatives never have a formal organization status. In time they can become known as foundations or associations.

Citizens’ initiatives can have a variety of reasons to be interesting for municipalities. In many cases it opens up possibilities and new perspectives. They can stimulate the responsibility of the citizens and their involvement in their own neighbourhood or city. Therefore the social cohesion and integration will be enhanced. By giving citizens more influence on decisions the gap between citizens en governance can be decreased. Initiatives can help to approach social problems that were unreachable before. The municipality can cut finances and citizens can use their creativity to enhance the public domain. But most important, it will add up to the citizen satisfaction and quality of the city.

Citizens’ init iatives2.2

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Cities are changing more rapidly than ever because of development in technology. Those cities who have developed the most are called Modern dity. When we shared our ideas of a Modern City, we all thought that role of the government is changing and citizens need to be more active than ever.

Citizens want to be more involved in developments in the city, district and neighbourhood. The govern-ment is giving citizens more and more space and takes a passive role in this. Citizens’ initiatives provide new uses, for example, vacant buildings and public spaces. There are several examples of such initiatives.

Citizens’ initiatives are started in the wake demand or a threat in a city. This threat can therefore be caused by vacancies, but also insecurity and impoverishment.The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of civic initiatives in different cities. Cities such as Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Tilburg and Deventer be investigated in the Netherlands. In addition, two Polish cities are being explored, namely: Poznań and Warsaw. The Dutch cities are chosen based on personal in-volvement of researchers in the initiatives. It should be different Dutch cities to investigate the difference between governments and parties in each city. The choice of Polish cities is the result of an invitation from the Dutch Embassy in Poland to launch an investigation into two districts in the city of Poznań.

The M o dern Cit y2.3

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The city centres in Poland

After World War II Poland was ruled by a Communist government. During this period cities in Poland where rebuilt and restored. The Communist rule had great influence on how this reconstruction was carried out. The ideological im-age of the city or communist utopia contained large developments of apart-ment buildings in the suburbs around the old centre housing the upper-class citizens. These citizens are the young, healthy and working people in the city. Every city in Poland had its own industrial specialization. Poznań specialized in consumables, chemicals, machinery and furniture. The factories were also located in the suburbs.The historical city centre, which reminded of the inefficient past, was used to house the ill, old, unemployed and therefore useless inhabitants. This lower-class was living with large groups in small, old and badly maintained apartment buildings.

After the fall of communism in the late 80’s Poland found itself in the transition from communism to capitalism. This caused the working class, which used to be the upper-class, to be moved to the lower-class of the society. Many of these people are now either unemployed or retired. People with knowledge became the new elite. The public space and buildings in the historical city centres were complete-ly neglected. The value of the properties were lower then ever. Many of the buildings were privatized and are now owned by the new elites. Slowly these historical neighbourhoods were, and still are, being renovated.When owning enough money many of the elite take their chance to move out of the city to the outskirt of the agglomeration. Here they have the opportuni-ty to buy a big peace of land on which their dream house can be realized.

This development is creating suburbs around the city and is now also referred to as suburbanization. This suburbanization is in many cases poorly connect-ed to the city and developing rapidly. Municipalities barely have grip on the developments and are struggling with this overdevelopment.

Policy of Poznań

The previous mayor of Poznań, Ryszard Grobelny, has strongly invested in the main infrastructure of the city at the expense of the public space and the qual-ity of the living environment. During the last elections many thought Grobelny would without a doubt be re-elected. But during the primaries against every-body’s expectations Grobelny received very few votes. This activated the more socially involved candidate Jacek Jaśkowiek to take the chance to become the new mayor of Poznań.

Since December 8, 2014 Jacek Jaśkowiek became mayor of Poznań. This mayor is committed to change the existing policy of the city. He is more concerned with the social layer of the city, is an active cyclist and has a fresh look at the future of Poland. To find out what a new policy can do for the city, knowledge from abroad is researched and requested. Poznań is open to other perspec-tives and solutions from abroad but lacks professional knowledge.

Cities in Transition

Modern dity is a popular subject of debates, seminars and conferences. The topic of getting “smart” is often discussed from a technical perspective. The City of Poznań will together with the Netherlands, a country with an excellent reputation in the field of urban planning and integrated solutions, take a step forward. During a symposium various Dutch experts are going to present inspiring and innovative solutions for urban developments. During working sessions Polish and Dutch experts from business environment, scientific insti-tutions and cities will explore innovative ideas and creative solutions for the multi-faceted challenges that many Polish cities need to respond to.

Symp osium 2.4

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The network diagram shows a schematic representation of all actors who can contribute to a citizens’ in-itiative. The initiatives are taken from a threat or a demand. The case-study-network-diagrams shows the different actors and connection between them. These parties may include: residents, professionals and the municipality. Every network diagram is unique because every initiative has other parties.

Net work of the init iatives2.5

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O ud-Wo ensel.1 H istor y.2 Description.3 M aria M anders.4 Franse van G ilse.5 B er t Kaiser.6 Conclusion

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H istor y3.1The city of Eindhoven has emerged from a swamp delta of five rivers, the Dommel, the Gender, the Tongelreep and the Rungraaf. Several villages located close to the rivers “emerged” together and formed the city of Eindhoven.During the Industrial Revolution many factories set-tled in Eindhoven. These factories attracted around 1900 workers. The famous Philips light factory started in 1891. The city had an economic benefit of the factories and their manufacturers.For these large increase in population many new houses were needed so new neighbourhoods where built. After World War II, the DAF car factory, founded before the war, significantly contributed to the expansion. In 2003, over 9,500 companies in the region employ approximately 130,000 people.Today, Eindhoven serves as the centre of technol-ogy in the south of the Netherlands. Eindhoven currently has 223, 876 inhabitants (March 31, 2015, source: CBS). Of all the money spent in the Nether-lands on research and development, one third is going to Eindhoven.

Oud-WoenselOne of the labour’ districts in Eindhoven is Old Woensel. This is a neighbourhood in the suburb of Woensel-Zuid. The district is located in the north of Eindhoven and is the southernmost city-district Woensel.The core of the residential area consists in small pre-war, renovated labour dwellings. Several domestic problem households are placed in one

street by the municipality and the municipal health.

Initiative ‘Gildebuurt’The placement of problem households results in more focus neighbourhoods in Eindhoven. One is the former district Oud-Woensel. This district has 1524 inhabitants (1-1-2008, source: CBS). This creates a problem because households are placed so close together and results in a lot of inconven-ience for the residents in the district. The residents gather and are led by Maria Manders. They launch an initiative to save their own neighbourhood. The initiative “Gildebuurt” is created to preserve the quality of life in the neighbourhood. This way, the neighbourhood will be safe and pleasant for the residents again.

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Description

The district WoenselThe first time Woensel is mentioned in the history is probably around 1107. The Kruisstraat in the west is the boarder of Oud-Woensel but also the connec-tion between the old villages and the centre. From the old worker houses are the ones of the Gild-ebuurt and Vredesplein in Oud- Woensel the only ones that are still present (OudWoensel, 2015).

The neighbourhood is known by the small houses. People who live there in a one person household should be fine but with more it becomes tight. The front yards are really small and the back yards are most of the time large. Back in the days the back-yards were intended for self maintains. People kept chickens, pigs and vegetables in there yard.

Important locations in Oud- WoenselThe park with the playground for children and the dog field are the busiest places of the neighbour-hood. Several people meet each other here every day. There is also a Buurt Salon. This is a house given by the housing corporation for the people of Oud-Woensel. Here they can get together and exchanging ideas for making a better neighbour-hood. The people of the neighbourhood made sev-eral plans for taking initiative. For example there is a garden where people can plant their own vegeta-bles and a library in the Buurt Salon, where people can exchange books, stories, ideas and knowledge. More in the north of the neighbourhood there is

a mosque. The people that visit this mosque often are not citizens of the neighbourhood.

InfrastructureDuring the whole day it is a busy traffic with a lot of bicycles, cars and people by foot in the streets of Oud- Woensel. Especially the car forms a problem. The parking places are small and often all spots are occupied. The neighbourhood is a free parking zone close to the city, school and market. So a lot of people from outside the district will park their car in Oud- Woensel. The cyclists are cycling on the same road that the cars are using. The roads and the sidewalks are in a good condition and well maintained. Some roads are one-way roads, so that it is not possible for the traffic to enter every street of the neighbourhood.

3.2

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NeighbourhoodThanks to the worker houses the neighbourhood has a typical character. This character feels like liv-ing in a small village. The citizens of Oud- Woensel are proud on the identity of their neighbourhood. The neighbourhood looks inviting by appearance. The exterior of the houses are mostly in a good condition. The front yards are often paved and occasionally neatly planted. The paved front yards do not improve the appearance of the neighbour-hood. Oud- woensel is a green neighbourhood. It has a lot of trees and plants. Some are planted by the Buurt Salon and some by the municipality. Generally it is maintained by the citizens and the neighbourhood concierges so the neighbourhood looks decently. On the other hand the small houses causing the problem of who may live in the worker houses. Pre-viously the housing corporations worked together with the GGZ in order to place patients in homes. This happened al lot in the old worker homes of Oud- Woensel because it are one person house-holds. There were many patients living to close to each other in the neighbourhood causing trouble. The citizens of Oud- Woensel took action against the placing of the GGZ people. Now there are only a few GGZ patients living in the neighbourhood and the citizens participate in determining of the amount of GGZ patients.

TrafficThe streets and sidewalks of the neighbourhood are used a lot. Because all the traffic crosses each other at various places in the neighbourhood this sometimes causes dangerous situations. For instance the car is not keeping to his speed limit. Parking your car in the area can be a problem. Especially when it is Saturday because then there is a big market in Oud- Woensel. The market provides advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is the car parking and the advantage is that there are many social interactions taking place on the streets which brings back the small village feeling.

Public spaceMany people of the neighbourhood come together in certain places in the district. They often meet at a regular time. The citizens gather around by the benches or at the Buurt Salon. The dog field is well known for the social chat at regular times. Because the neighbourhood is so close to the city you will see at one particular public space during the day some low educated beer drinking people that are not from the neighbourhood. This place is a small park with a bench. Most of the time they are causing not that much of trouble, they are only making some noise by arguing with each other. The public spaces are well maintained with one acceptation, the small park. Children have their own public space in the form of a big playfield. All ages are using the place. Often the place is busy with all sorts of activities. The place is surrounded by a low fence so the little children cannot just run off to the street but really have their own place.

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Citizens of Woensel didn’t know where they could walk their dogs. There was a big pollution problem of dog poop on the sidewalks. The citizens started an initiative for making a dog field to walk their dogs. Now every street is clean of dog poop and the dog field has become a social meeting place.

I mprovement urban space

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Temp orar y solutions

At the boarder of the neighbourhood the municipality broke down some houses. To fill up this space, so it will not be a bat influence for the neighbourhood, a few citizens got together and made there own garden. The garden produces all sorts of vegetables and flowers. Six citizens participate in following a course about gardening. This way those people can maintain the garden and pass on their knowledge.

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In the neighbourhood there is a large playground specially for children. A lot of children are playing here and even a school uses this place for gymnastics. When it is nice weather the mothers and fathers are sitting and chatting on the benches while the children are playing. A few years ago the citizens arranged a skate ramp for the children. This was possible through a cash coupon of the municipality.

S o cial playground

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Spaces incorrec tly or not in use

Their are spaces in the neighbourhood that are not neing used how they should be. For exemple the benches should attrect citizens but instead it attracks people you dont want in your neighbourhood. They are drinking beer during the day and making nois. Some places are not used at all. Such places are often at the border of the neighbourhood where just a few people come. No one pays attention to these places.

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The streets of this neigbourhood are bussy during the whole day. This is because the neighbourhood is located between schools and on the other side supermarkets and stores. You will find people moving by car, bycecle and by foot. The front gardens are really small and most of the time it looks like they become one with the pavement.

M ovement of the neighb ourho o d

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Typic al workers’ homes

The worker houeses are small and intended for one-person households. One of these houses became the Buurt Salon. This is the meeting place for the citizens of Oud Woensel. Here are organised all kinds of initiative and the place runs thanks to Maria Manders. You will see on the window the special activities and announcements. It is often busy around the Buurt Salon.

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M aria M anders3.3Oud-Woensel – Gildebuurt Maria Manders is a local resident in the ‘Gildebuurt’. Maria has founded the initiative ‘Buurt salon Bakkerstraat 4’ by contacting with the municipality of Eindhoven and Wooninc ( a housing corpora-tion). The reason that Mary Manders launched this initiative is that she experienced much inconven-ience in her own street. She took action by filming her neighbours and their dissatisfaction in her neighbourhood. With this film she pursued the municipality of Eindhoven to take action.

In the spring of 2014 the initiative was founded in the Gildebuurt (roughly translated: Guild Quarter) in Eindhoven. The inhabitants of the Gildebuurt united and Maria Manders has taken the lead in this. In collaboration with the municipality and the housing corporation WoonInc, a working-class house has been made available for the neighbour-hood to realise a Buurtsalon (neighbourhood sa-loon). The house on the Bakkerstraat 4 has become the Buurtsalon. Lots of initiative start here and it has become a place to meet for the local residents.

The main goal of this initiative is to make your own neighbourhood a nice place to live. By giving the neighbourhood some extra attention and preserv-ing it altogether, the well-being of the inhabitants will become more pleased.

Francé van Gils, representative of the municipality and coordinator of the district:The municipality takes care of the financial support by ways of coupons for the citizens’ initiatives with a maximum amount of 5000 euro as example. Be-sides, the municipality has become trusted with the local resident Maria Manders. Because of this, the municipality dares to give Maria a lot of responsibil-ity. For instance, she received the responsibility for the financial management. The coordinator of the district visits the Gildebuurt frequently and stands in contact with Maria Manders.

Representatives of Woonic, Trudo, Thuis en Welzijn Eindhoven:They do the management of the dwellings. This means that they decide who will live where within the Gildebuurt. This is an obstacle for the current residents because they have located to many peo-ple with psychical or mental health backgrounds together in the district. This causes a lot of nuisance in the neighbourhood. The citizens’ initiative had taken action and, in collaboration with the munici-pality, they agreed that there will be prevented that the ‘problematic cases’ will not be placed in one street.

Maria Manders has founded the Buurtsalon Bakker-straat 4. The most of the activities and initiatives were organised here. Maria Manders is a unique person who motivates/triggers many people to

take action. She is the contact and support for the local residents.

The initiative of Buurtsalon Bakkerstraat 4 focus on the neighbourhood but they also organise initia-tives on multiple scales. There are initiatives for a few dwellings such as a kitchen-garden on micros-cale. Only six people work here but it has a positive effect on the entire neighbourhood. It makes the local residents proud and they like it that Maria and the 5 others are working on this. There are also initiatives on the scale of the district or even broader. An example of this is an art market. During this market, stands are made available for free and everybody can join.

Over the years, Maria has built confidence in the Gildebuurt. She delivered some successful initia-tives and knows how to motivate people to mean something in the neighbourhood. The kitchen-gar-den is a good example of positive reactions. During a visit to the neighbourhood, a resident walked by while we were making pictures. The resident react-ed on us by saying, ‘Beautiful here, isn’t?’. This shows that the Gildebuurt is a pleasurable live-environ-ment in general and that the residents are proud of the initiatives.

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In conclusion

The Buurtsalon and his initiatives are doing well thanks to Maria. Maria has accepted lots of tasks consisting of, for example, the financial management, the neighbourhood journal, the Buurtsalon/telephone, the flowerbeds and developing the website. These are only a few of her activities. She is always hoping for help and everybody is welcome. The amount of work is also a problem for Maria. It is often too much work whereby she cannot work on it within the time she actually wanted to. If she eventually would drop out of her function, it will cause a huge problem for the Gildebuurt. Because of this, she is looking for similar kind of people who want to help her and reduce the amount of her tasks. It is hard to find people who are prepared to take this responsibility.

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Franse van G ilse3.4Francé van Gilse is Area coordinator for the Gilden-buurt. She works for the municipality and her task is to identify the needs and problems of groups of people. The municipality looks at what is going on in a neighbourhood or district and assist in finding solutions for problems. An area coordinator is the contact for groups of people with ideas for initi-atives. This enables Francé to quickly provide the right information for inhabitants and municipality (gemeente, 2015).

MunicipalityIn the past, the municipality took the responsibility for the city-district and neighbourhoods. This has changed last years. The municipality of Eindhoven does not want the city-districts are ‘leaning’ on them but that the inhabitant get to work them-selves. The municipality prefers to retreat so they give the citizens more space. The problem is often that the inhabitants are not used to this and that they see the public space as the property of the city.

The municipality of Eindhoven declares that they are still searching for a roll to adapt when it comes to citizens’ initiatives. District coordinators have been appointed as a contact for citizens commit-tee. The district coordinator prefers to adept a role as a facilitator. The district coordinators tries to support the initiatives with, for instance, bringing citizens committee together with entrepreneurs . They also organise briefings for inhabitants where

the inhabitants can get to work with their own initiatives. The municipality want to show that they support citizens’ initiatives. That is why they have adopted the theme ‘ownership’ in their current action programme.

There are different kinds of districts which are all asking for different kinds of attention. In the focus districts, such as Woensel – Gildebuurt, a districts disposes two kinds of subsidy, one local subsidy to support and facilitate citizens organizations and a second one which is in the form of coupons for all the inhabitants to submit a request. The inhabitants themselves do the management of the coupons. The municipality expects that the board of direc-tors of the inhabitants informs the neighbour-hood about the coupons. The sum of the coupons depends on the population. In the wealthy districts, there are a subsidy’s of €2.50 per inhabitant. The large difference of income between the districts creates the gap. In the wealthy districts, everyone is willing to pay together for a initiative.

It is possible that there are existing many more cit-izens’ initiatives than the municipality knows. This does not bother them because it often goes well when you do not hear of the initiative. The City of Eindhoven embraces initiatives which are founded by the inhabitants themselves because this is the most sustainable.

Role of coordinatorThe district coordinator prefers to adept the role of a facilitator. She helps initiators when they ask about subsidy, advice or any other kind of help. The district coordinator prefers when the initiatives arise as much as possible from the contribution of the inhabitants themselves because this is the most sustainable.

Example of MariaThe district coordinator of Woensel considers initiator Maria Manders from the Gildebuurt as a good example of someone who motivates co-oc-cupants in the neighbourhood. The municipality relies on Maria Manders and sees her as an example of an initiator who can involve and motivate other people. She transforms complainants into doers. If she would disappear from her function, it will cause a huge problem in this neighbourhood. The advice of the municipality towards the Gildebuurt is that more people must be recruited who could help her and would take over some of her tasks. This will reduce her pressure.

The municipality cannot replace an inhabitant or help them out. The inhabitants must do it them-selves. Welzijnwerk (Welfare Office) Eindhoven can temporary adept a role as facilitator but that is a professional organization. This is dangerous because inhabitants will not take the initiative themselves anymore. This happened once in the Gildebuurt because it is a focus district and Maria

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Manders temporary was absent due disease. In the wealthy districts, there are taken place more and larger initiatives than in the focus districts. Large in-itiatives in the wealthy districts often contain teams of neighbourhood prevention and they promote a caring surrounding. Wealthy districts often deploy their knowledge background to make progress.

How it worksIn the focus districts, organising a low-scale initiatives such as a street party is often enough to improve the social cohesion. The municipality promotes a secure and social neighbourhood. This is happening in close co-operation with the police, housing corporations, Welzijn Eindhoven and the inhabitants. Probably, most municipalities han-dle citizens’ initiatives in the same way, especially the municipalities with approximately the same population. Neighbourhood subsidy is taken place everywhere and the role of facilitator is also com-parable. Some municipalities try to do it different sometimes such as giving inhabitants all responsi-bility and retreat completely from a focus district, as in the cities Zutphen and Deventer. In this case, the municipality does not set up frameworks any-more and does not interfere with anything.

The municipality gets enthusiastic when inhab-itants arrive with initiatives but will try to avoid interfering as much as possible. The intention, that the citizen takes action first. This will cause that the citizen will not ‘lean’ too much on the municipality.

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The district coordinator likes the many ideas of Ma-ria Manders but she often seeks conformation with the municipality. The district coordinator wants her to seek the conformation with its neighbours. There are some youth initiatives but they are often dealing with social entrepreneurship, which is related to their own future. An example of this is ‘Proeftuin040’. This is an office place where moth-ers care for the children in turns so they can work during the day.

The reasons of the elderly is related to the time commitment and the more social contact in the neighbourhood. According to the municipality, taking an initiative equals the satisfaction/dissatis-faction in the private situation. There are some ini-tiatives from youths, such as the Jeugdraad (Youth Council) in Oud-Woensel. This is a club of youths who have got their own ‘youth base’ but they are supported professionally by WelzijnEindhoven. In Woensel West, there is an agreement with tempo-rary renters. They have made agreements about the lease so the rent per month will be 100 euro cheaper but in favour that they actively will spend 10 hour a month in the district. This project has continued for several years now and the reactions are positive.

In Conclusion

It can be hard for inhabitants to start something in a neighbourhood. A middleman from the mu-nicipality is needed for helping inhabitants with information, subsidies and the development of initiatives. This middleman also creates trust between parties. Second, in Eindhoven the municipality wants to have a more passive role so the inhabitants have more space to make their own city. There are still financial tools like coupons supporting the inhabitants. The municipality therefore has an open attitude in the face of initiatives.

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B er t Kaiser3.5Housing association ‘ThuisAccording to the housing association ‘Thuis living is more than only a roof above your head. It is a place where you come home. This starts with a qualita-tively good and affordable dwelling in an environ-ment which fits with their customer because living well is not the same for everyone.

Housing association ‘thuis has the opinion that a nice living environment is more important than the dwelling itself. They strive for good quality of life in the street, neighbourhood and the city-district. This does not only mean that it is clean but it means that the inhabitants must be able to meet and get to know each other because you do not live pleas-urable alone but together. As an involved housing association, they have a stimulating role. The clients are involved in the choice of a pleasurable living environment. The needs of a (future) tenant always create the starting point. Initiatives of citizens are being encouraged and supported when this is necessary.

‘Thuis owns approximately 900 houses in Woen-sel and is demolishing 400 houses of this in Oud-Woensel. The demolished houses will be replaced by new housing which is in collaboration with the current residents.

The contact with the citizensSince 2000, conversation tables have been organ-ised where the collaboration between ‘Thuis and

the current residents takes a central stage. This resulted in a masterplan in 2008 and together with the citizens they decided to build in a more collec-tive commissioning way. A resident association is founded per new housing block.

This entire story starts with a decision to demolish or not. Logically, the first reactions of the residents were negative. “I don’t want this” or “they will not touch our homes” were some of the reactions. They decided what to do next in a collaboration.

‘Thuis accepted the challenge together with the citizens The citizen is priority in this challenge and they organise an association.

Project HuisbuurtThe project receives the name Project Huisbuurt. The project has been started and everyone in the area whose houses will be demolished is invited to get to know each other. People are asked if they need help or if they have something to offer to the neighbourhood relating to their background. The strong and weak inhabitants are mapped so they can help each other. ‘Thuis has prepared a plan which allows citizens to choose together an urban design office for the project. The offices can share their ideas to the in-habitants who can vote for their favourite. Unfortu-nately, the municipality troubles a little bit because they underestimate the knowledge of the citizens.

Indeed, an average participant does not have the know-how of urban or architectural quality but they do now their neighbourhood.

The residents have chosen an urban design office that came up with a carrousel system. This means that the all the inhabitants can continue living in the neighbourhood but not in the same place because they will be passed. Beside of the passing inhabitants, this also positively results that neigh-bour problems disappear.

The role of the municipalityImportant partners are WijEindhoven and the residents’ associations which are subsidised by the municipality. Francé van Gilse is closely involved as a district coordinator of the municipality. Firstly, the municipality was the driving force and Domein the pushing force but in the new policy those roles has been switched.

Much of the old policy is still reflected but the municipality and Domein try to focus as much on the new one. Making the citizens better is becom-ing more our priority and they are appealed to their own responsibility as far as they are able to or want to.The health facility saw opportunities to start a project about poverty prevention from a fund. They asked Thuis if they wanted to participate in the application. Eventually, the spent three sessions to conclude that they did not involve a citizen once.

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In conclusion

‘Thuis is a housing organization that wants to be closely involved with the citizens for the quality of life and quality for the neighbourhood. ‘Thuis is taking over the role of the municipalities and committed to work together with the citizens to come up with initiatives. They are taking a professional role and the question is whether they should citizens looser in their ideas.

They decided what they could offer without asking the citizens what they actually want. Consequent-ly, they noticed that relapsing on old approaches occurs fast and they want to prevent this and use another approach.

Are there any visible results?The social café is a result. In this café, people get to know each other and more importantly exchange knowledge about what others do in the area. This concept creates shorter connections between the professional and the residents. Approximately 40 people gather to exchange ideas. Until now, it has been organised once but it is a good example of how we get to know what happen with the citizens and in the neighbourhood.

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Conclusion3.6This network shows how many contacts Maria Manders has in her social environment. She is using a lot of different contacts that help her organising initiatives in the neighbourhood. The contacts she is using are not always professionals or the munic-ipality but are also different companies, housing corporations and residents. The network has a cen-tral location where everything comes together. The resident and the location from a platform where people exchange information. The location makes it easy to get in contact with the right person.

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Ł azar z.1 H istor y.2 Description.3 Klub Osiedlow y Krąg.4 M o dziezow y Dom Kutur y.5 Conclusion

4

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H istor y

The first settlements in Łazarz was created in the sixteenth century. On the premises of the former hospital of St. Łazarz (located at the current Nied-ziałkowskiego street). The hospital was to help the poor and was given the name field hospital. In 1569 appeared fundraiser how collect funds to build a hospital for the poor plague. In 1571 the first hospi-tal buildings were ready. The next few decades the hospital began to flourish and needed to expand.The hospital, whose patron was St. Łazarz, was managed by the magistrate Poznań Prowizorów, also known as treasures or guardians. Reported later he had a strong economic facility in the form of a farm.

His land began at the hospital and ends at the boundary of Górczyńska. Because of the size of this land there were lots of seasonal rural labours. They were called Ratajów. These labours lived on the other side of the river Warta. In the 18th century they began to settle in Bambrzy.

In the 19th century the urban village transformed into a separate municipality with its own council and mayor elected by the inhabitants. And the first industrial plants and agricultural machinery facto-ries were opened. In 1856 they built a railway track in the direction of Wroclaw, and in 1870 to Gubin. Since 1889, after the demolition of part of the fortification Fortress Poznań, began a new stage in the history of Łazarz. They laid out new streets,

with multi-storey buildings. The main thoroughfare has become Głogowska street. Głogowska had first horse trams and since 1898 electric trams.

Lazarus became divided into two parts: the eastern (lower) and western (upper). To this day, the axis of separate buildings is Głogowska street. In the east-ern part except townhouses dominated by modest homes of railwaymen. The western part of the axis is called a luxury district. Houses where build with a varied impres-sive and beautiful facade. Formed with the aim of wealthy people who could afford the high rents. The residents of these apartments did not only pay for the same apartment but also for the extraordi-narily charming surroundings like, the Wilson Park.

The years 1900 till 1918, was the time the biggest building boom in the history of Łazarz. In those years ultimately it shaped the look and character of the district. In 1929, they opened the National Exhibition, the famous PeWuKę, which is today’s International Fair. In the days of World War II, Łazarz suffered a lot from the bombing of the Germans and allied, and the battle for the city in 1944. In January and Feb-ruary 1945 Lazarus was the first district of Poznań which displaced Germans. Łazarz became the ad-ministrative centre of Poznań. The Regional Office was located in the building Gymnasium.

Lazarus administrative boundary is the area of the streets: Rondo Jan Nowak-Jeziorański - Rey-monta - Arciszewskiego - Fireman - Krauthofera. Górecka and Railway - Grunwaldzka - Rondo Jan Nowak-Jeziorański.

The most characteristic points of Łazarz are the churches of the Sorrowful Mother of Sorrows. Mi-chael and St. Anne Wilson parks of the Palm House, the villa Paul Uecker, indoor arena, pavilions MTP and High School to name only the most famous.

4.1

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Description

The district ŁazarzThe city of Poznań is divided into five areas (Grun-wald - Wilda - Nowe Miasto - Stare Miasto - Jezyce). These areas of Poznań are further divided into districts. The district Łazarz is located in the area of Grunwald. The north of the district is connected to the centre of Poznań.

Łazarz is divided into a few parts divided by the main roads. The largest barrier is the road Glogows-ka. Many dominant mansions are situated on one side of the road and the other side is characterized by labour dwellings for the former railway workers. The dominants mansions date from the late 19th/ early 20th century and are built in the eclectic style. Important location’s ŁazarzThe main railway station of Poznań is located in the north border of the district and has a busy traffic intersection of car and tram. The district has a daily market called Lazarsk. It is a lively market and is situated on the square Rynek Lazarski. Another important location is Hala Arena. The Arena is an Olympic arena which is currently used for sport events and larger theatre shows. In the Church ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’, people gather not only for their religion but there are also perfor-mances from the citizens of the district. Next to that Łazarz has a large district park with a lot of sports and play facilities which is called Kasprowicza Park. Last in the district a community centre where

young and old come together is situated. Here the visitors share their hobbies / interests / company / education etc. This place is called Klub Krąg and this year it exists for over 35 years (2015). InfrastructureThere are several tram lines running through the neighbourhood and many tram stops. This takes care of the waiting time in the neighbourhood. Therefore the railway station, the city centre and the district itself are well connected. There are a lot of cars present in Łazarz. This is because of the location of the district which is be-tween downtown and the highways at the boarder of Poznań. This causes a major route to Lazars during the day. Next to the busy roads there is a parking problem. Every small public space is parked with cars. When we go deeper into the district the parking problem continues. There are just a few cyclists. Because of the high percentage of cars it is not safe for the cyclists to use the road. The cyclists often use the wide sidewalks to move. The larger streets are char-acterized by wide sidewalks.These sidewalks are in bad shape and sometimes in terrible state.

4.2

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Łazarz district designThe district has a tactile barrier because of the wide street profiles including the street Glogows-ka. These streets divides the district in parts. In addition, the architecture styles also contribute to a division. The stately mansions and the labour apartments have a big difference in the architec-tural style. Unfortunately, most of the mansions are not in a good condition. This detracts to the appearance of the neighbourhood. The exterior of the buildings are often in bad condition because of poor maintenance. Some examples are the plaster browses off. The colours of the exterior are often not visible because of the dirt. Some facades of the mansions are under construction to be restored or renovated and others are partially or completely refurbished with a new coat of paint and they stand out in the street. This ensures that the housing, whereby this does not occur extra stand out in a negative way.In general, the street has too many older facades and poor maintenance.

Street ProfileWhat is striking is that the sidewalks and roads at the level of private apartments and important buildings are in a good condition but at the level of worker apartments are in a very poor condition. The problem consists of big holes in the pavement / sidewalk paving stones loose or missing total hardening. Older residents or those with limited

mobility have great difficulty getting around. Many older residents walk with a stick or with help from another person. This restricts people in their move-ment. ParkingThere are significant too many cars available in the district. These are parked on the strangest places. The public space is often used here even if it is not designed for this. It also happens that the cars are double-parked because they use the sidewalks to park. It was noticed that few equipped parking spaces are available. Also, parking garages are few. In places where there parking basements / garages are present, the street looks pretty neat. These are often new complexes such as a hotel or apartment building. Public spaceThe public space appears in multiple forms. The spots that are used frequently and are well main-tained are the parks. In Łazarz, there are several parks but the largest and most used is the park Kasprowicsa. All ages are to be found using the park. Dogs are let out, children playing on the playgrounds, groups come together to enjoy the sun and people sport there. Klub Krąg also makes use of the park by organizing annual activities. They organise small concerts, theatre performances and sports competitions.The rest of the public areas are often poorly main-

tained and are more used to park the cars than it contributes to the liveability of the neighbourhood. At the corners of buildings and streets, there are many smaller public areas. Market Łazarz is located on a large square. The market attracts regular visitors who are also part of a chat there. Unfortunately, the market is estab-lished daily on this square. Because of the perma-nent use of the square few other activities can be established here. This is common for many markets in Poznań.

Citizens of ŁazarzŁazarz is a district which exists for a long time. Many families settled over the years in the neigh-bourhood. It is a district that is actively lived. There is something to experience for every age. Young and old gather on the streets and in the parks. Old-er people can be found on the banks and “sports equipment” in parks and children use sports and play facilities. The district has meeting places where the inhabitants of Łazarz congregate. An important one is Klub Krąg. This Klub welcomes daily to meet and have fun. The Klub has a varied week schedule with all kinds of activities. So Klub Krąg has for all target groups something to offer.

Initiatives in ŁazarzŁazarz knows many people who want to take an ini-tiative. The initiators know they can go to Klub Krąg for getting support to start the initiative. Together

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there is to be seen what they can do for the district. The klub offers several activities in conjunction with the residents. In the district there is also a special children’s culture house for activities after school. The municipality has taken the initiative to offer children extra lessons. Often these classes are for free and have a positive effect on the knowledge of the children. The lessons are in the form of dance, music, languages and extra tutoring. The many di-verse initiatives ensure that all ages feel involved in the district. The goal of the adult initiators is most of the time to help the new generation protecting their own neighbourhood and at the same time get to know each other.

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Dispate some renovation at the facades on the street sides, their is still work on the facade on the back sides aswell. Housing in east from Głogowska street needs the most renovation. The western part is mostly better, or they already working on improvement.

I mprovement of housing and l iving

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Łazarz has several well maintained public parks, besides these parks most of the public space is neglected. Because of lack in the public space most these areas are being used for parking. These parked cars have a bad influence on the experience of the streets and public spaces.

Public space, creating a b etter c it y

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Transp or tation corridor

Głogowska street is the most important transportation corridor. Most of the people travel by tram or bus, only a few of people dare to cycle across these crowded roads.

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Ageing so ciet y

Just like other European countries the health of their citizen is getting better. Herfore they live longer, and that involves in a ageing society.

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The old traditional streets are filled with parked cars, even the sidewalks are filled. More modern buildingblocks have solved the parkingisseus by making a underground parkingspace.

I mprovement park ing space

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I mprovement infrastruc ture

The mainroads are well maintained. Secundary roads are neglected and sometimes not even visible as an road or street.

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In conclusion

A Club has to grow with the amount of ini-tiatives that are in the Neighbourhood. This to make sure the club can always provide professionals help and space to start an initiative. A club serves as a link between space, professionals, other clubs and the municipality.

Klub Osiedlow y Krąg4.3Klub Krąg is a club in the neighbourhood of Łazarz which organize many activities with and for the residents of Łazarz. Klub Krąg means club ring or club circle. The club is 35 years old and was stated in communist time. It started as a club to meet people and have some fun. In the communist time these clubs normally were provided by the facto-ries. In Łazarz there was more need to meet and so they formed the club. This was allowed because it was formed with the same intentions as the clubs of the factories. At the moment Janusz Heller is the clubmanger.

The club works with over the 250 volunteers and 5 permanent employees. The most of the volunteers are from the neighbourhood Łazarz and organize things out of their own interests or hobbies. The 5 Permanent employees are paid from a founding, donations and the corporation Grunwald. Club Krąg does not have the goal of making money. The money from the corporation Grunwald comes from a percentage of the rental houses in Łazarz. Klub Krąg is not supported by the municipality.

The Club organizes all kinds of activities for the neighbourhood. For some of the activities profes-sionals are needed. Some professionals get paid and some vulonteer. The most of the activities are started from the need of the residents in Łazarz. Klub Krąg is in the Neighbourhood the main plat-form to start an initiative. Every year Klub Krąg gives an award to somebody

who did something good for the neighbourhood, in their eyes. The award is a way to say thank you! This year it was Janusz Ludwiczak, he made a blog about Łazarz and what is going on here. Every year they also put 3 friends of the club to show the work they are doing. The club put those people in the spot light. The awards are not only for people who do things inside club Krąg but for all the people who do participates in the Neighbourhood. Every year there is the day of Łazarz, on this day there is a parade, where everybody shows what is happening in the club. The parade goes through Łazarz and show people what kind of activities are in the club and what can be done in the klub. During the day of Łazarz the sport clubs of Krąg or-ganize a tournament for their sports. To let people know about the activities through the year they put information on Facebook, their website, posters and advertising through people to people. They do not have much money to put big advertising but people know them after 35 years.In Poznań there are more clubs like club Krąg. The clubs keep contact with each other and know what they are doing. If there is a new initiative the clubs contact each other For example if a translator is needed, the club has contact which they can call. Four of the big partners are: Łazarz.pl (a blog about Łazarz telling what is happening), Horyzonty (a youth Organization), Radaosiedla (the district coun-cil) and Kasztelania ostrowaska (Heritage Promo-tion Association).

In Club Krąg are several activities every day. Besides the weekly activities there are activities that hap-pen in weekends that differ and there are yearly events. On the next page there is an example of weekly activities (Weekly schedule of the club in the season 2015). In weekends the activities change a lot. Examples of yearly events are: Day of Łazarz, fundraising campaign for children all around Po-land, Christmas dinner for lonely people in Łazarz and summer holidays activities for children. Klub Krąg is an organization that organizes many activities within the neighbourhood. Because the club already exists 35 years they have a lot of ex-perience. In this 35 years the club organized many things for all kinds of people. Because the demand for activities is so high in club Krąg there is a lack of space. Because of the longtime experience with ini-tiatives club Krąg is a good platform for connecting people and start more of them. In the beginning Club Krąg was just a place to meet and talk / do hobby’s. Now it transformed in to a place for educa-tion, expositions, meeting, childcare and so on.

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M o dziezow y Dom Kutur y4.4‘Modziezowy Dom Kultury Poznań’ (House of Culture) is a community building where children get the opportunity to develop different skills. It is founded by the government in 1974 and it offers different classes such as dancing, art, music, sing-ing, kindergarten, a music band and English/ Ger-man lessons. There is even a folkdance group and they are performing all over the world. The classes are intended for children till they are 19, which is the maximum age. The House of Culture is not only available for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. People from outside the district are also welcome. Some chil-dren are even from outside the city. The House of Culture is meant for everyone. To promote the Modziezowy Dom Kultury nr3 the government has made a website so everyone can find the location and the program of the initiative. Over the years, this initiative has become well known among the people of Poznań. There are in total three of these cultural houses in Poznań and all of them have the same principle. Because of the fund of the government, the House of Culture is free for the children. This makes it easy to participate in an activity and to get to know some children from outside their district. The goal of the House of Culture is to expend chil-dren’s’ abilities and give them something to do after

school time. Everything they do here is an addition on the children’s school lessons.

Approximately, there are working twenty teach-ers at this location and about a hundred children are participating in various classes. The teachers receive their salaries from the government but they are collecting money as well. This collected mon-ey is for supplies such as paint, brushes, books or dancing clothes. They collect the money from the parents, who can decide if they donate any money or how much they give. However, the money the teachers receive is not much.

In conclusion

Dom Kultury is taking care for the new generation. By giving extra lessons after school and all sorts of activities there are almost no children outside on the streets. The extra lessons improve the school results. The children of Poznań are getting the space to develop themselves and to chase their ambitions.

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Conclusion

Klub Krąg is an organization and has a wide net-work which can be consulted to organise initiatives with the residents of Łazarz. From the organization many initiatives are started in the district of Łazarz. The network shows that the organization Klub Krąg can be used as a start, guide or to participate in initiatives. There are many contacts involved in this network. For example, people are employed by the cooperation, volunteers can sign up to help, inves-tors are able to contribute and partners may apply to help the organization. The organization is taking a major role in the district Łazarz.

4.5

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Naramowice.1 H istor y.2 Description.3 Pawel S owa.4 E lzbieta Sk r z yp cz ynsk a and Anna Wachowsk a-Kucharsk a.5 Conclusion

5

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H istor y

Naramowice was first mentioned as a village in 1366. In the 18th century Naramowice consisted of a courthouse, a peasant village and two mills. In the second half of the 19th century Naramowice expanded territory which included two small vil-lages called Wilczy Młyn and Różany Młyn and the in 1760 founded Dutch/German settlement called Naramowice Olędry. In 1925 Naramowice became part of Poznań.

During German occupation in 1942 at the area of today’s Science and Technology Park (Poznański Park Naukowo-Technologiczny) a huge gas-tank was constructed. The construction was done by prisoners of war from England and Italy. The reservoir was completed in 1955 and was at that moment, with a height of 80m, a diameter of 44m and a volume of 100 thousand m3, the biggest technical building in Poznań. The construction was demolished in July 1995. Although it was officially designed as a gas-tank many sources indicate it was used to hide military installations.

Within the borders of Naramowice lays the nature reserve Żurawiniec. It was formed in 1959 at the ini-tiative of Dr. Heleny Szafran to protect and preserve the bog vegetation. On its site there were many plants covered by protected species. Currently flora and vegetation associated peat bogs, for which the reserve was established, completely disappeared due to local water conditions, dryness of the area, and the strong impact of humans on the area like eutrophication and the infiltration of alien species

like the Small balsam. Their are still several rare plant species which justifies the continued exist-ence of the reserve.

After World War II Naramowice primarily operated within the field of agro-industry. During the 60’s and 70’s the area became famous because of Kom-binatu Państwowych Gospodarstw Ogrodniczych (Combine Naramowice State Horticultural Farm). A large agri-horticultural farm bringing fruit, vegeta-bles and flowers to the Poznań’s market for the first time.In 1970 the northern part of the railway bypass connecting Zieliniec and Kiekrz. The most signif-icant aspects of this railway are the bridge and estacade above the Warta valley. The bridge has a length of 168 meter and the estacade 810,5 meter. From the estacade a beautiful panoramic view of Poznań, Naramowice, Piątkowo and Koziegłów can be seen. In 1971 the connection between Poznań, Piątkowo, Suchy Las and Piła was established. The railway was used by primarily freight trains deliver-ing gasoline to the power plant in Naramowice.

As part of Combine Naramowice State Horticultural Farm association a dairy was established in 1985. In 1992 this association was abolished leading the dairy to become property of the government. Temporarily the dairy was owned by a Dutch investor called “Friesland Naramowice” who in 1998 withdrew leading the dairy to become property of the government again. The dairy produces cottage cheese, buttermilk, kefir, butter and milk all without

preservatives. It is famous especially for the Grani cottage cheese and was the first producing butter cream according to traditional Polish recipe in Wielkopolska.

During the 90’s numerous housing developments where realised multiplying the number of inhab-itants. Nowadays around 15000 people live in Naramowice.

During the existence of Naramowice a couple of in-teresting spatial changes have occurred in the area. At the end of the 19th century a palace was con-structed. The palace originally consisted of a manor house, farmhouses a landscaped park with a gate and a driveway leading to the palace. During World War I the palace was destroyed only to be restored again in 1928. In the second half of the 20th centu-ry large destruction really began to change Nara-mowice. The rebuilt palace along with its historical values was destroyed and within the historical park blocks of flats were developed. Today the shape of the area is barely recognisable. Only leftovers of the farmhouses remain.

5.1

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In 1935 the first church in Naramowice called Church of Our Lady Czestochowa was built. Previ-ously Naramowice belonged to the parish of Saint Wojciech church in Poznań. During the German occupation in 1940 the Germans turned the church into a warehouse. In 1945 the church and rectory were burned by the Nazis. Directly after the war the parish house and chapel were rebuilt for religious education and housing the priest and organist. It was not until 1974 permission was obtained to built a new church. Building started in 1977. The first liturgy was celebrated in 1978 and the church was consecrated in 1985.

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Description

The district NaramowiceThe city of Poznań is divided into five areas (Grun-wald - Wilda - Nowe Miasto - Stare Miasto - Jezyce). These areas of Poznań are further divided into dis-tricts. Naramowice is part of Nowe Miasto located in the North of Poznań. There are almost 15.000 inhabitants in Naramowice. The district is rapidly growing due to many private developments. These developments situated close to a beautiful forest are attracting young wealthy families.

Partition of the districtSince the fall of the communistic government Nar-amowice, especially the northern part, has under-gone a metamorphosis. The old villages of which Naramowice originally arose are difficult to recog-nise and even considered to be completely taken over by the developments during the last century. The neighbourhood is a patchwork of old family houses, communistic blocks of flats and modern recently developed apartment buildings. One of the oldest parts of current Naramowice is referred to as domki na Sarmackiej which means houses at Sarmacka. In the 30’s this area has been reserved for people who were unemployed and people who were involved into social care to live. This small residential buildings originally existed only of a room, kitchen, corridor and an outside sanitary. Today many of these houses have been developed by the inhabitants into more quality housing.

The communistic blocks of flats are situated in the western part of Naramowice and have been devel-oped between the 60’s and 80’s. Surrounded by a green environment these concrete buildings are slightly outdated and not always well maintained.In contrast to these old residential areas a big part of the Naramowice consists of a high density newly build apartment buildings. These mostly gated communities are privately developed. Within these communities there infrastructure and sometimes social facilities are present. The fences around these communities are in most cases literally the border of developments. Combination locks on the gates and camera security is making sure these commu-nities are not accessible by non-residents. From the outside many of these complexes physically show similarities to detention centres.In between these three types of housing areas the patchwork is filled up with private family houses. These are the typical residential developments that can be found all over Poland. When people can afford it they buy a piece of land on the border of the agglomeration. Here their dream-house can be developed surrounded by a fence.

PrivatizationThe district faces multiple problems. One of the main problems is connected to a problem many Polish cities are dealing with, privatization. The majority of developments in Naramowice are done by private development companies. Many of these

companies have only profit in mind. Almost only housing is being developed.

FacilitiesThe amount of facilities is not growing together with these residential developments. An important example is the lack of schools in the district. Right now there are only kindergartens and a primary school located in Naramowice. This will not be enough to provide for the amount of children living in the district in the future. Also the lack of a gymnasium is forcing pupils to travel to a different district to attend a gymnasium.

Main infrastructureThis should not be a problem in many cases. But in the case of Naramowice it is. This is caused by the infrastructural conditions. The district is accessi-ble only by one main road called Naramowicka. Besides Naramowice this road is also connecting the northern located old villages to the city centre. This is causing major traffic jams during rush hours. Because Naramowice is not connected to the centre by tram the inhabitants are depending on transportation by car or bus.

Secondary infrastructureThe infrastructural problem is also connected to the way the district is being developed. Many of the secondary roads are either neglected or never developed. The infrastructure in the residential are-

5.2

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as consist in many cases out of gravel. When these roads are tiled or paved it lacks proper sidewalks. In addition, not enough parking spaces are available causing people to park everywhere where possible. Private developers are not investing in the infrastructure out-side of their property while the district council lacks the budget to do so.

ActivitiesThe most important parties active in the district are the municipality, district council and developing corporations. During the 90’s the municipality has given developers a big area of the district as a carte blanche. This has led to the present situation. The district council is trying to change this by de-veloping plans to improve the quality of life in the district. The power of the district council is very limited as is the available budget. With the arrival of a new mayor in the end of 2014, they hope to gather increase their budget and start more projects.

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During rush hours Naramowicka street, the main street going through Naramowice, turns into one big traffic jam. Naramowicka is the only road leading from Naramowice and further to the centre of Poznań which means there is one road for around 16.000 people.

Designing for c ars and not p eople (traff ic jams and congestions) .

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I mprovement of the walk ing and c ycl ing conditions.

Many of the secondary roads do not have proper sidewalks. Pedestrians are only able to either walk on the road or along the roadside. There is barely any infrastructure for cyclist. When there is these cycling-paths are not always well connected to the other infrastructure.

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Anonymit y and development of neighb ourho o d identit ies.

Naramowice is rapidly developing. Many developments contain large numbers of apartment buildings resulting into anonymous neighbourhood and gated communities.

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Spatial disorder and mono -func tional development.

Because the large developments of apartments mono-functional neighbourhoods area created. Beside these mono-functional developments a example of a more multifunctional development can be found behind the Church of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Sporadic some barren buildings can be found in the district.

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Public space net work .

Naramowice is full off green areas with many footpaths. There is a vague transition between these recreational spaces and the other public space. Beside that many of the public spaces are not developed or neglected.

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L ack of qualit y faci l i t ies.

The main commercial area of Naramowice only consists a few small stores. Furthermore, there are some small stores located in apartment building spread around Naramowice. There is a lack of high quality facilities in the whole district.

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Paweł S owa5.3District councils in PoznańCity councils in Poland are able to organise the division of the municipality as they think fits best to the city. In the case of Poznań the city is divided into five areas, which again are divided into 42 districts. These districts each have a council. District councils were an idea from the city council in order to connect better with local and social problems. The district council consists of 15 councillors. These counsellors are all inhabitants of Naramowice who want to do something for the district. The inhabit-ants of the districts elect the counsellors of district councils. This happens every four years. Because the council is part of the city government during the council meeting a clerk form the city council is present to inform the municipality. Active district councils in Poznań are relatively new. The first election for an active council in Naramow-ice was in 2011. Poznań is one of the first cities in Poland where district councils with a budget to spend exist. The district council of Naramowice is mostly focussing on issues in the district it self. These are issues concerning infrastructure, public space, a network of schools and cultural devel-opments. Many of these issues are small-scaled projects that are linked to a district covering or sometimes district transcending plans.

Problems in NaramowiceNaramowice is a popular district for young families to move to because it is located at the border of Poznań. Many housing developers take the oppor-

tunity to invest in this district by developing large amounts of apartment complexes. They are able to buy private pieces of lands and develop these in any way they want. This is resulting into a kind of gated communities. Only in a few cases these developers are coming to terms about investing in something else then just housing but for example also the public space.This way of developing the district results into a large amount of neglected and even never de-veloped public space and infrastructure. This is concerned the task of the government to invest in. Only the main infrastructure is developed and maintained. The secondary roads in Naramowice are in many cases neglected or even never devel-oped. Many consist out of gravel and lack proper sidewalks. Therefore renovations are not enough to improve the districts infrastructure. Instead a com-pletely new development of these roads is needed.In addition, little is invested in social and cultural activities. Naramowice has proportionally the larg-est amount of pupils compared with the amount of schools in the district. The number of children in the neighbourhood is only about to rise due to the constant developments attracting young families to move to the district. With only two elementary schools and a few kindergartens there is no possi-bility for new pupils to have a proper school career in the district. In order to have a proper school career they need to find a gymnasium outside of the district.

What can be traced back to the infrastructural problems in Naramowice. There are almost 15.000 people inhabiting the district. Only one main road is connecting Naramowice with the city centre. Additionally there is no tram connection. This is causing enormous traffic jams during rush hours. Travel times from Naramowice to the city centre take up to three times longer then usual. The bus is using the same road causing bus-schedules to become irrelevant.

GoalsMany of the goals of the district council are directly connected to these problems. According to Paweł Sowa, a counsellor of Naramowice, one of the biggest goals is a higher quality infrastructure in the district. Mostly focussing on secondary roads. To enhance the connection with the city centre the district council pleads for an extension of the tram connecting Naramowice with the city centre. Improving the district’s infrastructure will positive-ly effect the establishment of social and cultural activities. Right now there are only some cultural activities organised by the primary schools. The dis-trict council is helping organizing these activities.In order to be capable to organise more of these ac-tivities a location is needed. Right now the council does not have an address. They are using a space in one of the primary schools for council meetings. The lack of a proper location for the council causes it to be hard to come in contact with residents, stakeholders and companies in the district. To

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inform the inhabitants of Naramowice about activ-ities, events and developments the council is using a monthly district newspaper. In addition, social media is used to organise events and gather people to like activities and therefore get informed about what is going on. This way people can show their support in a passive way. Some people are getting more actively involved.District councils have been established to solve social, cultural and other small scaled problems in the district. Despite this the council of Naramowice lacks both power and budget to solve many of the district’s problems. District councils should always be asked by de city for an opinion regarding developments in the dis-trict. This way the city can implement some of the district council’s advices into the general develop-ment plan. Right now the city council still has the power to take decisions about district tasks against the advice of the district council. This is weird because the district council is only concerned with a specific district and therefore more able to decide what is in the district’s best interest. Gaining more power if it comes to decision-making is therefore also an important goal for the district council.

Cooperation and associationsVarious associations are established in order to achieve certain goals. In many cases councillors set up these associations. The idea behind these associations is to gain more power and be able push the city council to invest in something they normally would not invest in. There are for exam-ple associations focussing on the development of specific roads, public spaces and a tram connection with the centre of Poznań.These associations can be compared to initiatives. They often arise from a partnership between the district council and an organization or company. There is a partnership with the local church to collect money for developments in Naramowice. With one of the elementary schools an association is created to expand the school building and to request a gymnasium in the district. One of the most successful associations so far is a partnership with one of the development corporations active in Naramowice. The goal is to create a place for par-ents and children to meet, play and work-out in the public space. Every year the city council is handing out PLN 15.000.000, called the citizens budget, to by the citizens elected projects. The district council applied for this budget in order to build this public meeting place. Also the development corporation is investing in this project.

In conclusion

Naramowice is dealing with many problems, which emerged from poorly planned developments. In order to solve many of these problems both small and big initiatives are needed. The district council could be a central point for the development of these initiatives. The lack of power in decision making of the dis-trict council is causing the district to con-tinue to inefficiently develop. Also, the lack of a location for the district council is a second barrier in order to better con-nect with the inhabitants, stakeholders and companies that are present in Nara-mowice. For a more fruitful development of the district initiatives can play a major role. The district council is able to help when they have the right recourses.

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E lzbieta Sk r z yp cz ynsk a andAnna Wachowsk a-Kucharsk a5.4

IntroductionIn the 1930’s, after World War I, the Poznań reserved some land in the west of Naramowice to build houses. In these houses served as accommodation for people who were unemployed and people in-volved into social care. They were able to buy them by paying with cash or by working for the city for several years in order to compensate the costs. The houses consisted of a room, kitchen, corridor and an outside sanitary. From 1947 till 1949 there was a national plan regarding the reconstruction of the cities and enhancing the industrial development of Poland. In 1948 the Polish government changed into a communistic government. By this time private properties were taken by the state. The residents who were working in order to pay for their homes the government did not take these properties. Based on a Soviet Union model a six-year plan for the industrial development was launched. In 1956, after Stalin’s dead, the communistic rule became less severe. People in the neighbourhood started to renovate or add some extra spaces to their houses. The clerks were not getting involved with these developments and the neighbourhood started to reshape. The city authorities where satisfied that they did not have to invest in the quality of life and that the residents of this neighbourhood were somehow trying to deal with the problems them-self.Although the government changed again in 1989 the residents of this neighbourhood were still living

in the same conditions as they were living during communism. By this time many of the houses were rebuilt and changed and have been inhabited by several generations.

The establishment of the associationIn 2002 the former mayor wanted to share the western area of Naramowice, including this neigh-bourhood now known as Sarmacka, into three parts and change them into community gardens. This way residents of the city centre who were renting social apartments could have a garden just outside of the city. If the plan would have come to life the properties could have been easily sold to developers. At this point Elżbieta Skrzypczyńska and Anna Wachowska-Kucharska established an association to stop this from happening. Two out of three parts were never transformed. Up till now these parts are still appointed as a residential areas. Therefore this land cannot be sold to developing companies.City authorities started to block further develop-ments in the neighbourhood and get people to move out of their houses. For example, the area was excluded from the development of a sewage system to neighbouring houses.

Today the Sarmacka is much less alive then in the end of the 90’s. Many of the residents have passed away. Their children are not risking living in the neighbourhood because of the administrative and

legal situation of the Sarmacka. Because people have been living on these properties for many gen-erations according to the law the residents are able to buy these lands with a discount up to 90%. In 2013 a statement was prepared by the city council enabling the residents of these properties to buy them with a discount op to 80%. Beside that the city claims the value of the properties are higher if for example there is a fence around it or there is a paved driveway present. Therefore the price people have to pay for the estates rises.According to the people living in these houses this is absurd. Not only were they the ones investing in these improvements. Also, in the past they have been paying fees, working for the city and invested into the quality of the properties in order to live there. Now they are forced to buy the properties from themselves and pay for their investments again. The association pleads for the investments to be taken under consideration in the statement and buy the estates from the city based on the value of the land.A second argument against the statement is the unequal treatment. If the plan to turn these estates into community gardens had been conducted these lands would have been sold to developers for a price based only on the value of the land. Most likely these developers would even have the oppor-tunity to negotiate the price. In addition, the city would have invested in infrastructure so all the new developments are properly connected. Finally, if all this had happened the residents of this neighbour-

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hood would be forced out of their homes. Meaning that they shall be placed on a list for people who need to be placed into social housing.

The current situationIn December 2014 the city authorities has changes. For the first time in 16 years a new mayor has been elected. After the elections two meetings with the mayor, the district council and inhabitants of Nara-mowice have been organized. During one of these meetings the mayor has been invited to Sarmacka to show him what the neighbourhood looks like. He ordered clerks from the housing department to establish a group cooperating with the residents to finally solve the problems of this neighbourhood. So far three meeting took place, unfortunately without many results. Although the new mayor has the will to change the situation it seems that the attitude of the clerks has not changed. Among them are still the people as before the elections. Many of the clerks have been working for the city for decades and are not willing to deal with to com-plicated problems. They have a passive attitude and instead of solving problems they sometimes prefer to get rid of it. This is believed to be a problem in many polish cities, which is blocking the proper development of the city.Because of the specific history of Samacka the residents and their families are very connected to the neighbourhood. In order to solve the problems in Samacka and keep this neighbourhood a part of

the city Anna Wachowska-Kucharska believes these problems need to be widely spread and openly discussed. The more people who know about it the better the chance to solve the problems.

In conclusion

The very specific situation of Samacka com-bined with the complicated history of Polish governmental control make is hard for the initiative to reach its goals. The district council plays an important role within the association, which was established to save the neighbourhood and solve its problems. They are able to connect with the new mayor. In contrast to the attitude of the new mayor many of the still active clerks cause it to be difficult to improve the situation. In order for the association to achieve more the problems of the neighbourhood have to be widely spread and become familiar with possible stakeholders.

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Conclusion5.5Good examples of citizens’ initiatives are hard to find in Naramowice because a large part of the district is still under construction. The inhabitants are not yet connected with the district. Therefore many initiatives are established by, or with help of, the district council. Together with various partners associations are created. Sometimes supported by digital platforms it increases the power and chance of success for the initiatives. These are often larger initiatives, which need a budget. Smaller initiatives without or with just a small budget also exist. These are therefore not always connected to the district council and operate independently.

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Conclusion and to olb ox6

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Conclusion

Cities are always influenced by the experience of its citizens. This liveable world in a city is not made to be designed. In the past, for example the government, planned entire neighbourhoods with a expectation. But it never achieved their expec-tations, because the citizens have to make the city with what is for them a liveable world.

Every city is different, every place, neighbourhood, district, block or street is different and has its own liveable world. The inhabitants of this specific area determine what is their liveable world with their experiences. If the citizens are not satisfied about their liveable world, they will stand up for their interests in form of a initiative. This is the difference between a lived world and the planned world.

A initiative is mostly started because there is a threat in the liveable world of a citizen. Mostly this person becomes a initiativeleader. This intiative-leader will start a movement against this threat.

There are two different initiativeleaders to be divide; a initiative that comes because of a threat with a common interest and a initiative that comes from a common threat with a common interest.

At a start of a initiative the most important tool is a network. In every city, neighbourhood, district, block or street is some sort of network existing.

A network sounds complicated, but it can be sim-ple. For example two citizens can make a agree-ment to form a network. In the different studies we made visible how these network . These networks reach different sorts of parties. From a govern-ment until the individual citizens. The power of a initiative is a common interest that comes with it. A initiativeleader can mean a lot for the district, neighbourhood or street where it operates.

Example of a individual initiative with a common interest; A citizen makes a decision to clean all the leaves on the sidewalk.

Example of a joint initiative with a common inter-est; The playground is beginning transformed on the initiative of several citizens effort.

Initiatives can be started on different forms. No ini-titiative is the same, as no person is the same. That is why there is no guide toe start a initiative. What is useful are some tools who can be helpful in a initiative. On the next page you can find a summary of the different tools for citizens’ initiatives.

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Know your neighbourhoodEvery district or neighbourhood has its own story with, its own opportunities and problems.

Together you will achieve moreFind like-minded people and start an association. This will increase the chance of success and support.

Network in your districtThere is already a network available in your district in order for you to reach the right persons.

Money is not importantMost successful and sustainable initiatives start without a budget. Think smart and recycle what is available.

SocializeContacts are important for everyone, at a community centre you can find professionals who can help.

Grow with the initiativeAn initiative can expand. Always make sure you are ready to expand with it. Think about the location and partners.

Companies can helpBigger organizations, who are close to residents, can be used to take over the role of the municipality.

Try new waysThink out of the box and be creative. Don’t get stuck in old habits.

Overview is neededA middleman can ease the contact with multiple parties. This can help to establish trust between these parties.

LocationA location is the most important factor for a initiative. Here the citizens can meet each other and exchange ideas.

Size does not matterAn initiative increases the liveability of an area no matter the size. Small and big initiatives can be equally successful.

Everyone can helpIndividuals can make a difference in a initiative by supporting and helping the initiative leaders with their tasks.

Toolbox

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S ources

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InternetBewoners initiatief Gildenbuurt (2012). Welkom bij B.I.G.. Accessed on 16 September 2015, http://www.gildebuurteindhoven.nl/

City of Warsaw (2013). Intergraded sustainability report 2013. Accessed on 16 September 2015, http://www.um.warszawa.pl/sites/default/files/warsaw_g4_in-tegrated_sustainability_report_2013.pdf

Cracow University of Technology (2012). The destiny of a historical garden’s compositions withing Poznań based on the palace-garden complex in Naramowice.

Accessed on 9 October 2015, https://suw.biblos.pk.edu.pl/resources/i1/i6/i4/i4/i8/r16448/WalerzakM_LosyHistorycznych.pdf

Gemeente Borger-Odoorn (2015). Gebiedscoördiantor. Accessed on 17 October 2015, https://www.borger-odoorn.nl/bestuur-en-organisatie/gebiedscooerdi-natoren.html

Gemeente Eindhoven (w.d.). Waardebonnen voor burgerinitiatieven. Accessed on 16 September 2015, http://www.gildebuurteindhoven.nl/downloads/Waardebonnenflyer.pdf

Gemeente Eindhoven (2015). Stadsdeelteam Woensel-Zuid. Accessed on 16 September 2015, http://www.eindhoven.nl/stad/stadsdelen/Stadsdeel-team-WoenselZuid.htm

Gemeente Tilburg (w.d.). Burgerparticipatie. Accessed on 28 September 2015, http://www.tilburg.nl/stad-bestuur/bestuur/burgerparticipatie/

Golden line (2009). A brief history of Naramowice. Accessed on 9 October 2015, http://www.goldenline.pl/grupy/Miasta_regiony/naramowice/krotka-histo-ria-naramowic,1306274/

Infinity (w.d.). Smart Cities. Smart People. Smart Living. Accessed on 16 September 2015, http://getifinity.com/

Kacpura, K. (2011). Sustainable energy action plan for Warsaw until 2020. Accessed on 16 September 2015, http://www.managenergy.net/lib/documents/184/original_10_warszawa_en.pdf

Mensink, W. (2015). Systeem- en leefwereld: hoe de kloof te dichten? Accessed on 6 October 2015, http://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/site/2015/04/30/sys-teem-en-leefwereld-hoe-de-kloof-te-dichten/

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Naramowice24 (2014). Historia o Naramowice. Accessed on 8 October 2015, http://www.naramowice24.pl/index.php/o-naramowicach

Noorderpark Trust (w.d.). Over het Noorderpark. Accessed on 29 September 2015, http://noorderpark.nl/

Noorderparkkamer (w.d.). De Noorderparkkamer. Accessed on 29 September 2015, http://www.noorderparkkamer.nl/over-de-noorderparkkamer

Oud-Woensel (2015). Oud-Woensel. Accessed on 11 September 2015, http://www.oudwoensel.nl/

Smart Circle (2014). Smart city RADAR; a tool of awareness. Accessed on 14 September 2015, http://www.smart-circle.org/smart-city/smart-city-radar-tool-awareness-dialogue-action/

The Warsaw voice (w.d.). Turning Warsaw into a Smart City. Accessed on 16 September 2015, http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/27408/article

Thuis in de stad (w.d.). De burger in de stad. Accessed on 18 September 2015, http://thuisindestad.be/studiedagen/de-burger-in-de-stad

Vereniging Oud Woensel (2015). Een nieuw buurtcontract voor 2015. Accessed on 1 October 2015, http://eindhoven.notudoc.nl/cgi-bin/showdoc.cgi/ac-tion=view/id=1123709/type=pdf/Bijlage_13__Buurtcontract_Oud-Woensel.pdf

BooksBeekmans, J. & Boer, J de (2014). Pop-Up City, CIty - Making in a Fluid World. Amsterdam: BIS PublishersBerg, M. van (2013). Stedelingen veranderen de stad: Over nieuwe collectieven publiek domein en transitie. Haarlem: Trancity en ValizBlom, R., Bosdriesz, G., Heijden, J. van der, e.a. (2010). Werkboek help een burgerinitiatief. Den Haag: Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en KoninkrijkrelatiesBrouwer, J. & Willems, J. (2007). Ruimtelijke concentratie van achterstanden en problemen. Delft: ABF ResearchBürmann, A. Lagendijk, E. (2004). De gemeente, burgerinitiatieven en de ongebonden vrijwilliger. Den Haag: Quantes, RijswijkDommelen, S. van, Keulemans, C., Lans & J. van der (2012). Noorderpark Trust. AmsterdamFranke, S., Niemans, J. & Soeterbroek, F. (2015). Het nieuwe stadmaken: Van gedreven pionieren naar gelijk speelveld. Haarlem: Trancity en ValizHurenkamp, M., Tonkens, E., & Duyvendak, J.W. (2006). Wat burgers bezielt. Amsterdam: Universiteit van AmsterdamMiazzo F. & Kee T. (2014). We Own The City: Enabling Community Practice in Architecture and Urban Planning. Haarlem: Trancity en ValizPennen, T. van der (2010). Ruimte voor Bewoners!? Delft: Technische UniversiteitReijndorp, A. & Reinders, L. (2010). De Alledaagse en de geplande stad. Amsterdam: SUN en auteursWillems, M. (2015). Ruimte voor ruimdenkers. Deventer

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Interviews Banaszak, A., Employee, Fundacja Bęc Zmiana, Warsaw, 22 September 2015Dommelen, S. van, Mediator, Trust Noord, Amsterdam, 30 September 2015Garus, B., Translator, Poznań, 14 September 2015Gils, F. van, Areacoördinator, Gemeente Eindhoven, Eindhoven, 7 October 2015Górz A., Volunteer, Osiedle Jazdów, Warsaw, 21 September 2015Kaiser, B., Employee, ‘Thuis, Eindhoven, 19 Oktober 2015Konarzewska, A., Professional / mediator, Q-Ruch Sąsiedzki, Warsaw, 22 September 2015Kuczyńska, K., Teacher English, Modziezowy Dom Kutury Poznań, Poznań, 15 September 2015Leszko, G. & Leszko, M., Volunteers, Osiedle Przyjaźń, Warsaw, 22 September 2015Libicki, P., Coordinator, Poznań Municipality, Poznań, 02 November 2015Manders, M., Volunteers, Buurtsalon, Eindhoven, 30 September 2015Matysiak, T., Founder, Rozbrat, Poznań, 5 November 2015Pennen, T. van der, Researcher, TU Delft, Delft, 14 October 2015Roosen, J., Socialworker, Buurthuis Jeruzalem, Tilburg, 30 September 2015Skrzypczyńska, E., Volunteer, Stowarzyszenie Sarmacka, Poznań, 5 November 2015Sowa, P., Councillor, District Council, Poznań, 3 November 2015Stokfiszewski, I., Activist, Ursus znaczy niedźwiedź, Warsaw, 22 September 2015Świątkowska, B., Founder, Fundacja Bęc Zmiana, Warsaw, 22 September 2015Wachowska-Kucharska, A., Councillor, District Council, Poznań, 5 November 2015Wysocki, W., Initiative taker, Klub Osiedkowy/Krąg, Poznań, 14 October 2015

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Annexes

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L iterature.1 De gemeente, burgerinit iatieven en de ongeb onden vri jwil l iger.2 Pop -up cit y.3 Wat burgers b ezielt

1

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The municipality, citizens’ initiatives and the unbound citizen.

The ‘Commissie Vrijwilligersbeleid’ (translated; The Commission on Volunteer Policy )created a brochure with the theme Citizen initiatives. This organization is making sure that the volunteers get the right policy so they do not have to worry about it. Hereby they asked them self these questions: Which roll has the municipality with initiatives, what should they do and what not, and how can you support an initiative but do not confront the citizen with different rule of regulations? The an-swers are short and practical tips to these answers.

The Commissie Vrijwilligersbeleid did some research about active citizenship and volunteer input. Their conclusion is that citizens desire the following three characteristics: properties, ability and commitment. Most of all it is a personal need to be filled and they should have fun doing their thing. Today’s new initiatives will take place out of sight of the authorities. The new initiatives involve health-care, safety, liveability, norms and values and self-organization. These initiative takers would like to improve the social problems, where the official organizations fail.

Citizens are always in consultation and do not have partners. This means that the government should have a subtle way to meet the citizen. The initia-

tives that what is theirs, this method is practical and target approach, and let the government see that they do not do enough.

In 2002 a new law (Dualism) is stimulating citizen initiatives in The Netherlands. This means that citi-zens have the right to present their initiative to the local council. This is only possible if the initiative meets the requirements.Most of the initiatives are started based on an accurate problem of need to improve the local so-ciety. This is a signal to the municipality that there is something what needs to be changed. The most important is that the municipality takes the initia-tive seriously and take their responsibility to guide the initiative. The most effective way to find these signals is to be in the neighbourhoods and let the people know you are there. This can mean a service centre, of a community centre.

The local council and government can work with the following method:

• Start-up grantAn initial grant is an incentive for promoters to make something of the initiative. Every initiative needs at least a small start-up budget. New initiatives may not fit into existing policies. If an initiative is successful, this is a bonus to munici-pal policy. But even if citizens do not connect directly to the existing policy, a municipality can be interest-ing to offer a new idea or approach a chance to take

the challenge, for example, on an experimental basis.• Attendant Create and facilitateOnce an initiative takes shape, help can be offered by offering assistance in obtaining licenses. Help is also needed by applying for grants or start by introducing the initiators in a network of contacts. The municipali-ty can also be helpful in finding a space for promoters. An initiative of citizens can often be helped by simple support of a professional. Who understands business and knows the relevant people to find quick answers. Almost all municipalities are familiar with institu-tions or organizations which can provide support to initiatives of individuals as a volunteer centre, the community or a sector-specific local institution, such as a sports council or foundation elderly.

• AutonomyIt is important that the community continues to rec-ognize the autonomy of the initiative. The municipal commitment should not be aimed to professionalise the initiative. Just the voluntary and private nature must be respected it and get the room to develop. Experience has shown that officials and politicians sometimes take the initiative to them and write any success to their credit. This does not always happen consciously. In those cases, in fact, involve a transfer of the project or initiative. This can be counterproduc-tive to the original initiators, making the relationship with them can be severely disrupted. Credit where credit is due!

De gemeente, burgerinit iatieven en de ongeb onden vri jwil l iger

1.1

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• Initiatives ‘, Upgrading’It happens that initiatives fit in the municipal policy, or that the civil servant or another contact of the initia-tor gives suggestions for using the initiative as a impulse for other (policy) objectives. By itself it is not wrong to bring promoters on ideas, as long as the initiative not alienated from the objectives set by the promoters themselves.

• Small scaleA municipality does not always choose for expansion and continuity of a successful initiative. The first often means professionalization and the second is sometimes not necessary. So choose, where appropriate, rather for temporary and the initiators appropriate size.

• Difference in speedInitiatives would like to start an activity as soon as possible, while the organizations how cooperate need to fill in the procedures witch take lots of time to complete. If both parties do not realise that different speeds can led to disorders.All parties should make agreements about the expatiations and speed of progress.

• Using citizens competencesThe municipality is able to stimulate initiatives, by working active with the interest and talents of their citizens. By asking about their interests and inspires others to become a volunteer (Bürmann, A. & Lagendijk, E., 2004, pag 15-16).

I n conclusion:

The Commissie Vrijwilligersbeleid found out that initiatives all have three characteristics, and most likely the initiative is a personal need. All of these initiatives are started without the help of the authorities. They all want that the authorities guides the initiatives through the difficult procedures. Also there needs to be more contact between both parties.

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Pop -up cit y Cit y-M ak ing I n A Fluid World

This book is a reflection of the pop-up ideas they have collected since 2008. Joop de Boer and Jeroen Beekmans believe that cities are created by ‘city makers’. These ‘city makers’ are more flexible than any brick and mortar structure ever could, and they are better able to cope with an environment of permanent change.

Cities are growing faster than ever and more drastically than before. Cities must be adaptable to unexpected needs. Bottom-up initiatives and pop-up design projects are helping inhabitants change the use and make their city.

These modern cities are a mixture of ego-driven architecture, profit-oriented pursuits, and long-term master plans. Office developments are designed for the first entity to use them, leaving inflexible spaces for future tenants once the original tenant packs their bags for greener pastures in the next fashionable building. Every city is littered to varying degrees with vacant buildings designed for perpetuity in an age of uncertainty, to this is not merely a result of tough economic times.......Spaces, be they public or private, are being used in less predictable ways, muddling the role of planners and architects. A reformed kind of urbanism recognises the need for multifunctional spaces and places that can adapt to unexpected uses(Pop-Up City, City - Making in a Fluid World pg150) .

All trends and initiatives contribute in their own small way to a conversation of how we are beginning to re-conceptualise the city through the efforts of creative individuals with limited resources. Citizens in all urban areas are becoming less reliant on inflexible urban governments, and becoming more on their immediate social and professional networks in order to make positive changes to their urban landscapes.

Modern cities contain more and more rental housing. This means that the citizens do not want a mortgage and want to be flexible. The citizens are becoming nomads. These ‘urban nomads’ are citizen who are constantly searching for a place to work and earn a living. These ‘urban nomads’ cannot call themselves locals anywhere. Because they have not been there long enough and probably will not be. This constant movement of housing and working brings needs of flexibility at working spaces. Dusky factories are making place for office buildings or are transformed in a flexible working-housing environment. Also green and food is added to these locations. City governments around the world are now viewing food production and consumption as an essential element of urban planning.The public spaces in the city become more and more important. After years and years of digitalising which led to empty shopping streets, new strategies must be found to give meaning

to the collective places. New place makers are enhancing and even creating the places of public life through space reclamation, urban hacking, and bottom-up urbanism. Citizens are opening up decision making processes and taking back control of the public realm.Nowadays there also is budget that are which is disappearing. At the same time groups of citizens are beginning to sense a greater potential for helping to shape the city. Cities must seek out creative frameworks for realising projects as an number of individuals and groups define their roles within urban development processes. The city and the ‘city makers’ improve both the city and the cities brand image.

1.2

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I n conclusion:

The cities are changing drastically. Her fore we need to seek for inventive ways to use our public space. Cities and governments need to relay more to their citizens. Give citizens space to experiment, investigate how the initiatives works and if it is efficient. If the city or government will open up for these ideas their city will be attract more and more of these initiatives. The initiatives are also changing cities brand, which can be a opportunity.

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I n conclusion:

The researchers found lots of small initiatives throughout The Netherlands. Interesting was that every initiative was started with a role model who has started more initiatives. They also found out that if an initiative is a success and the government is becoming involved, with regulations and procedures, the people are not longer interested in their project and will stop their initiative. Also the level of education has an effect on the way the initiative is organised.

Wat burgers b ezielt :Een onder zo ek naar burgerinit iatieven:

What inspires citizens:

Research at behavior of citizen in relation to initiatives

What inspires citizens:Research at behavior of citizen in relation to initiatives

In the year 2006, Menno Hurenkamp, Evelien Tonkens and Jan Willem Duyvendak published their research about citizen initiatives in The Netherlands. They came across lots of small, mostly local initiatives. And they found out there was not so much information and publicity about these scale of initiatives. During their research they visited contemporary, spontaneous citizen initiatives throughout The Netherlands.

Most of these initiatives were started on a small and local scale. All of them were focused on the quality of life and solidarity in there surrounding. Normally the problems are accurate, for example paid parking in the neighbourhood so there will be parking problems in front of their houses. Restructuring plans, a park that is in danger of being bulldozed by road, an old factory where new should be located.

The researchers found out that every initiative a father- or motherfigure has. This person is always the leader and initiator of the new initiatives. These figures are also the main contact person in the neighbourhood.

An initiative has always or the government, or

municipality or different various parties as contact. The role of the various parties depends in which group you can dived the initiative. There are four main groups: - Light initiatives: Organizations or initiatives have almost no contact with the outside world. These are lose and vague clubs. The social connection as well as the social capital in these sort of initiatives are not big. Mostly these initiatives are organised alert, but relatively solitary operating civilians. - Networking initiatives: Organizations or initiatives maintains little contact, but maintains close cooperation and liaison with the government and with the other organizations. The binding capital is not so big, but interoperability is dedicated to the targets. - Cooperative initiatives: Organizations or initiatives where they maintain close contact among themselves, but few look up to the outside world. They are strong but vague clubs. The binding capital is larger than the bridging capital.

- Federal initiatives: Organizations or initiatives that they maintain mutual close contact and frequent contact with the outside world. They are close-knit, woven clubs, and they both have a binding and bridging capital.

These different initiatives are also lead or organized by different kind of people. Interesting for the government is that secondary and lower educated people to active but light initiatives than higher educate people. Networking initiatives are most common among higher educated. Education can make an difference to get a subsidy.

Secondary and lower educated people often organise active initiatives. These citizens demand more cooperation of the local municipality , like contacts and information. Networking citizens have a goal to achieve, it does not have to be sociable. This is concluded of the answers given by the citizen about their satisfaction in work. To achieve the goal is more important.

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Cooperative initiatives have a more solidarity and development goal. In this category we find the neighbourhoods committees, residential collectives and community associations, as well as kite festivals and living projects. Satisfaction with the efforts of the initiative is often measured by the performance of the club itself, then to achieve external goals. Under the cooperative are also more older initiatives. Cooperative people are generally highly motivated.

The most initiatives are started by motivated people who want to change small local problems. In some cases the government is interested in these initiatives and would like to provide them subsidy. When this happens there will be lots of changes. In contrast, as when it was started, the government is now in charge instead of the citizens. This also effects the motivation of these people.

Their successful initiative has become a financial corporation, and is no longer lead by the citizens. So after a while they decided to stop working on their initiative.

This does not mean that the government should not be part of the initiative. They should be loosening the regulations to make these initiatives possible. And let the citizens know they are well willing about initiatives and if they have a good idea they can make it possible.

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O ther inter views the Netherlands .1 Amsterdam.2 Deventer.3 Ti lburg.4 National Ton.5 National Conny

2

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Cit izens’ init iatives AmsterdamTrust no ord - Simon van Dommelen30-09-2015

2.1Trust

A Trust is a model for citizens or community gov-ernments coming from the United Kingdom. It’s called a ‘Development Trust’. It serves as an engine for a neighbourhood aiming for employment, training and social interaction with and for local residents. Because trusts respond to local needs, no two development trusts are alike. In addition, the regeneration of a community has an all-encom-passing approach. Therefore these trusts active in many areas. Key components in a trust are: • Civil Administration: The majority of the votes are from citizens.• Property: This is the foundation for economic actions.• Independence: Trusts stay connected to the district but seek cooperation with companies and agencies.• Local economies.• Do not rely on subsidies.

Train of thought

In the Netherlands there is a mind-set that citizens can decide what happens with their district and consent. However, in practice something else hap-pens. In the Netherlands government and residents play pretty predictable roles, leaving them stuck together. Authorities do not dare to let go of an area at risk. Residents therefore feel like they are

not taken seriously and express this in distrust or anger, which in turn ensures that the government dares to let go even less. In the United Kingdom there is a different rela-tionship and mind-set between government and citizens resulting into about 500 trusts. These are in the United Kingdom neighbourhood businesses and local economies which are community led companies managing buildings and areas. The main goal of these companies is to help people move forward in the district, where governments do not rule the roost.

Starting a trust

To start such a trust there are a number of things needed. To begin, a different mind-set and shifting roles; Citizen participation must shift to govern-ment participation. So the government is partici-pating in civil initiatives and not citizens with the government. In addition, there are places where people need to be able to develop in the district. Thirdly, there is a need for entrepreneurs who take the lead in a neighbourhood. With their positive sense these promoters often get the connections and participants in the district needed for the initiative.

Relationships

A triangular relationship between the director, the activist, the citizen regulations, belief and creativity is very important. However, it is an art to connect these with each other. Investing in culture in communities brings many advantages. It is shown that investment in culture contribute in all areas to the improvement of these neighbourhoods. Residents, business owners, police and more benefit from this. In addition these areas with cultural impulses increase property values by an average of 10.000 euros.

Trust Noord

Simon van Dommelen is one of the organizers and “enablers” of the Trust Noord in Amsterdam North. This trust serves as the connection between two worlds. • The living world, the social, cultural and ethnical matters. • The system world, laws, regulations and permits. There are a number of success factors so that an initiative can succeed. • Good local leaders with strong social and communication skills, an extensive net work and perseverance. • Creative people who can think outside the box and give a boost to the community. • Open-minded look regardless of prejudice,

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fixed patterns and conventions. • An enterprising coalition that is active participation, administrative support, cooperation and especially faith of all relevant stakeholders. • An open, visible and accessible location that can serve as a hub for new. • A theme that evokes associations and inspiration to participants and can serve as a framework for activities. • Programming activities that require coop eration and therefore increase the involve ment of people.

Floor Ziegler was the first to be, in her own neigh-bourhood, a culture explorer commissioned by the Amsterdam Fund, Amsterdam North. When she found out that culture and art could mean a lot for the district, she decided to create together with a group of artists a ‘room/stage’ in the Noorderpark. This room is located between four underprivileged neighbourhoods. The trust was very important for the project. A whole network of artists and organi-zations had to be convinced and go along with the ideas.

For one euro she bought the pavilion, which would become the room, and transported and connect-ed it to the sewerage. All this was done with the budget reserved for renovation of the city park. In this pavilion a program was launched where inhabitants could develop creative initiatives. This eventually became the platform, called Noorder-

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parkkamer, where these inhabitants were able to realize their dreams in the Noorderpark. Due to the increasing amount of initiatives in the Noorderpark, the Trust Noord was created. This trust serves as a mediator between government and inhabitants.

The goal of Trust Noord is to create more solidarity between the adjacent districts of the Noorderpark and its inhabitants. The trust is created due to inhabitants and for inhabitants. The government has a more passive role. There is a bond of trust between the municipality and the Northern Trust. They allow more from the trust, think of licensing and types of initiatives. This is necessary since initiatives arise spontaneously and in short term. Furthermore, the municipality gives more and more responsibility to the residents of the area. The inhabitants determine the layout of the park. The role of government here is increasingly being adopted. There is the plan to take over a part of the park in management. New pavilions are going to be built and more buildings can be acquired. Resi-dents are expected to generate their own revenue by buildings and land.

Housing associations and authorities assist citizens. One example is the housing corporations that of-fers vacant homes and buildings very cheap or for free and they invest in additional facilities. Artists and entrepreneurs help Northern Trust to

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launch initiatives and assure that people are get-ting along.

After the success of Trust Noord, from which more than 15 initiatives were launched, the initiatives have been extended to so-called brood streets. Here artists establish themselves as a resident in a street with the aim of starting art projects or small businesses with their neighbours. This ensured that the closed appearance of the streets made place for a much more open and creative attitude. These breeding streets are also good examples of local economies. After three months the businesses that had arisen already needed an expansion. Next to that, there is Tolhuistuin, an old pavilion of Shell that had been vacant for years. Nowadays working spaces are rent to entrepreneurs. This foundation has a lot of ties with the area since it has been established by the residents themselves. Finally Trust Noord has many contacts with munic-ipalities throughout the Netherlands to spread her knowledge about initiatives. This can be seen on the NDSM terrain. The foundation of NDSM is es-tablished by the municipality of Amsterdam. Their ambition is to develop this spot into a cultural and creative hotspot. It is important to create a local economy here, as this is important in all initiatives.

The Noorderparkkamer currently exists four years. The attitude of the residents has changed over these years. The Noorderparkkamer has a large network and has bound itself to the neighbour-

hood. The residents themselves are now going to give content to the programming of the Noorder-park and are searching for amateur talents in the area. Within this program these talents are able to further develop themselves. Residents become professionals. Noorderpark is a separated between the north and south areas of the park. North of the park there arose almost no initiatives. The residents in this area have a pretty stubborn attitude towards the gov-ernment and did not participate in the park. The confidence of these people had first to be won. Initially, the government was sceptical. They were asking questions like: ‘Can it succeed such an initia-tive?’ and ‘Can citizens take enough responsibility?’ It turned out that by the enthusiasm of promoters the Noorderparkkamer became a success and the faith became stronger.

In conclusion

It takes trust to start a coalition between inhabitants and municipality.A third party which forms the link between the municipality and inhabitants is needed.All three parties, the director, the activist and the citizen, are needed and have to adapt to each other in order to achieve a successful, good initiative. Local leaders with the ability to enthuse inhabitants are needed.It takes some time to get citizens to participate.Initiatives usually need a lot of support.There has to be a new open-minded way of thinking.

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Cit izens’ init iatives DeventerAuping Fac tor y - M ar ti jn Wil lems17-09-2015

2.2It all started on one day when Martijn biked by the Auping factory to pick up his kids from school. He saw the Auping was breaking down a wall to get out big machinery. Martijn was thinking what this could mean and soon he realized the factory will be abandon. He made the connection what that would mean for the neighbourhood, it made him remember what it did with a abandon school in the neighbourhood. The building would be empty for ten years. First there were burglars to get the cop-per and more valuable parts, after kids put some stones through the windows and there will be a couple of fires over the years. So allot of nuisance for the neighbourhood.

Auping Factory

To avoid this nuisance from happing, Martijn start-ed to talk to people who are part of this factory. The first reaction of the Auping factory was how did he know? There were just a few people who know about the moving yet. Martijn knew he was right and was on time to take action. Through his initiative’s he is already doing in his neighbourhood and his old job working for housing corporation he could use his network. The goal of Martijn is to use the factory as a place for the neighbourhood. He want to make it a place no profitable and without regulations of the municipality. To make the place financially enforceable he need it private parties, who wanted to invest. By using his network and

just go to people he found many parties that are interested to invested. With all the parties it was possible to fill the factory for 50%. This was enough to make it enforceable. The parties Martijn put together various from: A sustainable kart track with electric karts witch are load with solar power from the rooftop. And woman’s in the neighbourhood who had a sewing club and fix clothes. Also there would be interaction with the school for vocational next to the factory they could have learning work places. Somebody in the neighbourhood fixed cars but his own garage was too small for all the cars he fixed. So he could use the factory to do more busi-ness in exchange for helping students and looking over the place.

“A place is always in relation with the social and physi-cal of hear environment”

By practicing at competition for initiatives “ruimte voor ruim denkers” it was an opportunity to research the possibilities of the ideas and it was financially enforceable. With off professionals team costing out; Jens oolthuis, Tom Holland, Kim Dijkman, Martijn Wubbolts, Daan Stortelder and of course Martijn Willems they did the research.In the end the Auping factory will become a pop up places for small business in the neighbourhood. With micro credits and professional support people have the change to extended their work and build up what they dream off.

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In conclusion

The idealism of Martijn is that without help of the municipality, resident can fix problems in their neighbourhood. For example he gives a new function to an empty building by using people in the region. Being on time got great influence on the project. The municipality didn’t have plans with the area yet. So there was the advantage to start by them self with their own ideas from the area. The municipality stand on the side line cause they saw good in the initi-ative. Just alone Martijn could not handle the project. Through putting a team together of professionals and resident there was a balance to make the project work. The team showed the municipality to take trust and there is a new way of taking on abandon buildings.

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Cit izens’ init iatives Ti lburg Jeruzalem - Jorri Ro osen30-09-2015

2.3Background After the Second World War the Netherlands had a big housing shortage. The Jeruzalem district was designated as an area where homes were built quickly. Because the housing shortage problem had to be solved quickly, there arose a lot of prefab-ricated homes. The quality of these prefabricated homes was not good. These homes are renovated or demolished in 2015 . The renovation is aimed at the modernization, so that they suffice current housing standards. The district is the home of approximately 800 people. The earnings are low compared to the average of Tilburg. The district is designated by the municipality of Tilburg as “Aandachtswijk”. An “Aandachtswijk” is a neighbourhood where people have arrearage. These arrears consist of income, education and employment. Further, a score is calculated on the basis of the quality of the houses. When the score reach a certain value, it is refers to an “aandachtswijk” (VROM, 2007).

Roosen Jorri Roosen is a social worker, who lives in the district of Jeruzalem. In exchange for a home Mr Roosen is working in the neighbourhood at least eight hours a week. In the district several initiatives have been launched. These initiatives are started by several residents with the help of the professionals in the district. Recent years, launching initiatives shifted from welfare to the residents. The initiatives are supported through organizations and govern-

ments. This support consists of financial help. The main initiative for start-ups is the confidence of professionals and municipalities. When the role of the council is reduced, this will not benefit the dis-trict. The residents are habituated to uproot the dis-trust it has become dependent on the government. And assume that the local controls everything. The purpose of the initiatives in Jeruzalem is to improve the living. To improve the living pleasure for the locals there is a platform created which is joined by various parties. According to Mr Roosen it is important that the council should make room for resident initiatives. Residents should be accom-panied by professionals. At present, the residents of the neighbourhood thrown into the deep, thus launching initiatives is not working. Additionally, for the district is important that a group of residents active and launch initiatives. They are therefore often the same people who take the lead. This has the disadvantage that the residents feel more important than the other inhabitants. To prevent this there must be set limits, so that everyone gets the opportunity to launch an initiative.

“A good social worker promotes neighbour-hood- and residents’ initiatives.”

For Mr Roosen is important that he lives in the district of Jeruzalem. This ensures that the people trust him and see him as one of them. It took about three years before he had won the confidence of the residents.

Policy The Tilburg municipal council pursues an active policy with regard to citizens’ initiatives. The initia-tives should be non-profit and should not benefit an individual. The municipal council supports peo-ple who starts an initiative. This supports consist: liaise with other initiatives, access to the public network, granting a permit or financial support. The municipal council has a special fund for initiatives. The municipality has a passive role.

In conclusion

Social workers ensure social cohesion within the district. Additionally, the workers ensure that citizens’ initiatives are started and be funded. The municipality must give people the time and space to learn to stand on their own feet. In Tilburg these time and space given to the residents, public mistrust in government is high. To prevent this, social workers are deployed to manage this process properly. When the support of social workers will stop, no more initiatives will be launched.

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Cit izens’ init iatives National I nter view Ton van der Pennen 14-10-2015

2.4Ton van der Pens is affiliated with the University of Delft. In his career, he has conducted research on citizen initiatives in the Netherlands and abroad. He has written several books on this topic.

Citizens ‘initiatives have various causes, the agree-ments of the citizens’ initiative is the result. All citi-zens will be started because there is a threat to the environment. This threat can be caused by: insecu-rity, litter, impoverishment or vacancy. The aim of citizens’ initiatives is to eliminate the threats. When this threat is removed, this can have the effect that taking initiatives disappear.

There are several examples to mention who start an initiative and what causes these. One example is in the Spangen district of Rotterdam. There were in this district called “kluswoningen” built for starters. These homes consist of just the framework and had to be finished by the new residents themselves. After the residents had built the houses, they focused more on the district. This was due to the changing nature of families. There were no facilities for children, so the residents started an initiative to build several facilities for their children.

In the Eindhoven neighbourhood Woensel were just initiatives launched by the changing compo-sition residents. In the houses were placed junks which gave a lot of nuisances. The residents of the district did not agree with this placement and rebelled against the decision. Ultimately, this result-

ed in a number of other initiatives that ultimately improved the quality of life in the district.

The role of different parties is important for citizens’ initiatives. The parties, government, professionals and residents, must be flexible to each other. The government should play a supportive role which consists of moral, financial or policy support. It must be a constant search for the correct applica-tion of the support.

“The government should tightrope.”

Residents need a leader to take initiatives. This pioneer ensures continuity in the process. It is also important for the neighbourhood that the effects of the initiative are observable. This is important for the environment and for the local government. Trust in each other must be great to be able to start initiatives and to encourage future initiatives.

It is important for the parties to learn from the past. What has happened in the past with citizen initiatives. It is important not re-invent the wheel. The citizens’ initiatives can be traced back to the squatter movements in the 80s, this group demon-strated and complained about the high vacancy rate at the time. This can be seen as a starting point for citizens’ initiatives. It is important to learn from the history.

When we asked Mr. van der Pennen if he is active in his neighbourhood, he gave the following answer:

“My father was a plumber, he made the most amazing things, but at home the shower was always broken.”

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Cit izens’ init iatives National National subsidy Conny van Wichen 02-10-2015

2.5The governmentThe government have made available a diver-sity of possibilities for subsidies. The subsidies are categorised in several theme’s here are some examples: ‘Green and action’ – ‘Green Deal’ – ‘Fund for the Wadden Islands (Waddenfonds)’ – ‘Fund for Sustainable Water’ – ‘Fund for Production Eastern Netherlands’ – Facilities for Sustainable Enterprise and Food Security’ – ‘Traffic and Transport Northern Brabant’.

Conny van WichenConny is always interested in new challenges. She likes to help people by volunteering. She volun-teers for various goals. She is particularly interested in the preservation of the nature in a sustainable way. She has built up a network of contacts and together with two other people she starts up an initiative by using the ‘Green and action’ subsidy. ‘Green and action’ Conny van Wichen started the initiative with two other people to be more self-sufficient in gaining your own food from the nature.It is possible to apply for the subsidy with different goals on the Internet. The application must meet several requirements and these requirements are different for each subsidy. The initiatives itself could be founded through the entire country. This depends on the conditions of the initiative.

The location is Echt in Limburg. The case is a waste-land that was used for agricultural goals. For years the land has not been used. The main goal within an initiative is to give citizens’ the opportunity to be able to be anything for the Dutch society.The goal is to create a ‘food forest’. The meaning is that this ‘food forest’ will create a self-supported environment. The ‘food forest’ is not a forest that is planted for only one year that has to be ploughed and planted again at the end of that year. It is a forest that will provide food to the people of Echt for many years.

The government checks the application which is sub-mitted on the Internet. The application has to meet up with several guidelines. After approval the amount for the initiative will be divided by the type of initiative. This amount can take form as a ‘coupon’ or in money that will be transferred. The civilian will invest the sum in equipment to start the initiative. The government will take care of the financial sup-port and the civilian will carry out their idea or plan.

The initiative takers of the ‘food forest’ will invest the subsidy of the government in a course. By taking part of the course as a civilian, the knowl-edge which will be absorbed will be invested in the citizens’ initiative. The knowledge is for great importance to succeed the goal of the initiative. This knowledge will also be carried over to other or future participants of the initiative. The govern-ment is supporting local initiatives on different

scales and locations trough national subsidy.This initiative takes place on a village-level. The future ‘food forest’ is situated at the edge of the village. Those who are interested are free to take a look, to help or to pick. One requirement of the government is that the initiative must create ben-efits for the surroundings, in this case the inhabit-ants of Echt.

The initiative (‘food forest’) is in an early, start-up stage. The owner of the wasteland responded positive and makes his land available. Overall, three initiative takers have offered to start the initiative. The course is going to start in November and will be finished within a year. Afterwards, the purpose is to bring the knowledge in practice and provides a variety of sustainable food for the entire village.The government gives the option to sign up on the Internet for subsidy. Often, the subsidy is released at certain times and there is a limit to the applica-tions.

It is not always that easy to apply for subsidy on the Internet. There were some technical errors during the request for the subsidy. The website of the sub-sidy request had some trouble with the processing of the amount of people who wanted to log in. There where this year 795 places available for 1000 euro per person for the national subsidy of ‘green and action’. The people who were aware of this tried to gain access to the website at the same time. Because of the overloading, the website stranded.

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In conclusion

The government makes it not easy to sign up for a national subsidy. Paperwork is needed to be done and it takes effort to log in to the website. Then, the next question is whether you will get the grant. It is possible that the government makes it the citizens this difficult because they dislike to spend money to an initiative. It also could that they hope that people take action without the help of the government because this will create a more sustainable initiative.

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O ther inter views Poland .1 I nter view Igor Stokfiszewsk i .2 I nter view G osia Leszko - M agda Leszko .3 I nter view Agata Konar zewsk a.4 I nter view M ar ta Płacheck a.5 I nter view Andr zej G ór z .6 I nter view Tomek M at ysiak

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Cit izens’ init iatives Warsaw I nter view Igor Stokfiszewsk i 22-09-2015

5.1Ursus district Ursus is a district located in the South-West of Warsaw with a population of roughly 55000 inhab-itants. The district originally consisted out of three villages and was called Czechowice. Since 1923 an industrial plant was opened the district, back then still a town, which provided work for a lot of the residence in the area. During World War II the facto-ry was taken over by Germans producing weapons. It was not until after the war, during the communist era, the factory began studies on the production of agricultural tractors. Because of this developments and the growth of the factory the district began to grow rapidly. The town changed its name to Ursus in 1954 and became one of the large developments part of Warsaw in 1977. The residential area mainly consisted high blocks of flats. Because the com-munistic government was in charge of the factory the residents were working in and depending on this factory. The Ursus factory became the biggest factory producing tractors in Europe. Because of the fall of communism in the early 90’s the factory was being closed. Because of the large scale of the factory this process of closing took almost 20 year. In 2010 the factory was completely shut down.

Ursus znaczy niedźwiedź (Ursus means bear) “Ursus means bear” is founded in 2012 by Jaśminy Wójcik, an artist with family relations to the factory. The name of the initiative is based on the charac-ter called Ursus from the novel Quo Vadis Henryk Sienkiewicz. Ursus is a male name of Latin origin.

It derives from the word Ursus meaning bear. By the time the initiative was launched large modern housing developments combined with the demoli-tion of the remains of the factory were threatening the neighbourhood and more important its history, identity and social culture. The authorities who decide what type of people are going to move into the new residential developments do not consider the conflict it might cause with the original inhabit-ants of the district. A collection of both material and personal memoirs has always been kept in the factory. Because of the developments in the district the factory building including the collection was bought by Bumar who then again sold the whole collection. The ex-work-ers always thought this collection was in a way their property and were shocked it was suddenly sold. They realised the last material trace of the factory could be sold out and disappear forever. Their de-mand is a material trace of the industrial history of Ursus, which they called a museum. After convinc-ing the government about the cultural importance of this collection it was bought back by the state.

Because of the transition from communism to capitalism the original inhabitants of Ursus district had a strong feeling that nobody is interested in their history and stories. This is caused by a gen-eral attempt to forget about communism and the industrial past in Poland. During communism the factory workers used to be the top of the society. Suddenly they were moved to the very low level of

social appreciation, social respect, etc.

The “Ursus means bear” initiative aims to protect the history, identity and social culture of the district by making culture a kind of platform to direct the new developments in Ursus. This way the original inhabitants of the district become more involved with the decision making of the new residential areas. The inhabitants of the older generation are a source of information about history and cultural identity of Ursus factory and district. They are most-ly involved with the development of the museum. After reclaiming the memoirs they became tired of the struggle for this museum and have the feel-ing that now they should rest a little bit and the city and district council should do their thing. The younger generation is more active and wants to be involved with the initiative as much as possible. Jaśminy Wójcik and Igor Stokfiszewski are part of a group which functions as a mediator. They are pro-moting the initiative and connecting the communi-ty with different authorities and governments.Different resources are used to reach various goals. Many cultural tools are used to empower the people of Ursus. These tools also help convince the authorities of the district and city about the importance to base the new identity and social dynamic on the history and heritage of industrial culture. A campaign was addressed to the authori-ties of the city and Poland showing the factory was the biggest tractor factory in Europe and therefore a kind of national heritage. Finally a documentary

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has been made to promote and inform a broader audience about the activities happing surrounding the factory.

In conclusion

The main activator for people to take action is a threat. In this case this threat is both the loss of historical and personal belongings together with the rapidly developing housing projects. Using the history and culture as valuable elements “Ursus means bear” has become successful initi-ative. Many of the goals the residents had would have never been reached without the help of mediators. These “professionals” is able to more easily connect with and convince authorities and governments. These persons also helped to gain back the trust between the different involved parties and give hope to the residents of Ursus.

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Cit izens’ init iatives Warsaw I nter view G osia Leszko - M agda Leszko 22-09-2015

5.2Osiedle Przyjaźń is a neighbourhood build for Russian works who were building the Palace of Culture and Science. The neighbourhood was a gated community and just occupied with Russian workers. The inhabitants were not allowed to get off the area other then work. It was a well-planned neighbourhood with all the facilities they needed, a little city with a cinema, library and culture centre. The buildings are all from the year 1952 and are made from wood. There were two kind of houses individual house and three housing in one. After the Palace of Culture and Science was completed the workers left and the neighbourhood was given to the universities of the city. The individual houses where given to the professors and academic the rest was given to students as a dormitory. The most of the people who live in this neighbourhood came there in the ’60. And now a days the relation with universities is gone. There are around 3000 people living and 300 of them are students. When the neighbourhood was build it was outside of Warsaw. Now the city’s boundaries are expend and Osiedle Przyjaźń is just five kilometres from the city centre at this moment. The flats and house are not private, they belong to the state, administered by the city and managed by one of the universities. There is a complicated structure, People have just the right to life in the houses. Normally people could buy this flats for a low price but this did not happened in Osiedle Przyjaźń. Buildings with social or community

function did not be finical profitable after the fall of communism and rise of capitalism. Those buildings became empty in the ’90, there were no buildings were people could meet. The biggest fright for the community is that they will be demolished because there is no zoning plan for the area. People lived under this fear of being demolished for years they hear the rumors many years. The neighbourhood is used by people around the area cause it’s a nice green area which is not often found in the region. After years of waiting and not try to get any atten-tion, the community was hoping to survive. The idea was, we don’t bother you, they will not bother us. At the same time there where teams of profes-sionals trying to reopen the culture buildings in the neighbourhood. Without great success every time it closed after a time and a new team came.

When the municipality desided to destroy a lot of buildings and in the future it was the plan to destroy all the buildings. Gosia Leszko and Magda Leszko deside to do something about it. Save a building that was a symbol for the neighbourhood which was social place for the neighbourhood. It had a culture function, local radio, meeting place, local culture club and a place where people go to meet. After saving one building it became a saving plan for the whole neighbourhood. They saved the first building by make the history visible. They collected stories of people there have being living there. After they used the building to organize

activities for the neighbourhood by letting people of the community beside what to do.

The focus is now on two activities, one is integrate the community, second is to fight for the neigh-bourhood against local authority. The goal is to save the neighbourhood by making a zoning plan and first make it protect the by preservation of the city. To make this happen they try to get attention of the local municipality. This did not work well be-cause the the local municipality saw just a couple of girls and not professionals, nobody took them serious. They came up with an idea to get more attention by using the media. The media picked up the story and listen to their stories and showed how nobody was listing to them. This worked well at the municipality took them serious and were starting to listen to the stories they had to tell.

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In Conclusion

The most important for Gosia Leszko and Magda Leszko was to do something and stop waiting for something to happen.. Showing the stories and the history off the people who lived in the neighbourhood. This gives the neighbourhood a personal and emotional value. Even there was problems to be heard, cause it was not “profes-sional enough” they started more initiatives to get heard. The media was a great strength in the initiative and is not to be underestimated. In a neighbourhood where everybody knows each other and there is a habit to do nothing and just wait. Involve those people as much as can in the initiative. do not be sacred about what people think of that.

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Cit izens’ init iatives Warsaw Pac a Communit y centre - Agata Konar zewsk a 22-09-2015

5.3Praga

Located on the east bank of the River is one of the oldest districts of Warsaw called Praga. For many years it was considered a secondary part of the city that survived the devastation of war. Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Judaism where peacefully living together. Praga has been considered one of the most dangerous districts of Warsaw. Many of the buildings are in decay and housing lower income residents.

Thanks to the artists and musicians who have migrated to the neighbourhood Praga is regaining respect for its architectural heritage and shedding its notoriety as the wild zone of Warsaw. Praga has become Warsaw’s precious historic area filled with old tenements and factories. Their bricks, still full of holes of wartime bullets, wrought-iron embel-lishments and facades with art nouveau details pleading for restoration. The historical neglected buildings are filled with interesting galleries, bars, restaurants and clubs that fill a void left by War-saw’s headlong race toward westernization. There-fore this district is getting increasingly popular by both the citizens of Warsaw and tourists.

Paca Community centre

The first community centre in Warsaw is believed to be founded in 1995. Around 2005 there was an

attempt to start more of these type of places. Only one was actually realized. Since 2009 more places of this kind where starting to emerge. The Paca Community Centre has been founded in 2011 in Praga district in Warsaw. It’s part of a larger associa-tion called Local Activity Support Centre (CAL Asso-ciation). CAL Association is a national, non-govern-mental organization, initiating and implementing educational programs to support the activization and development of local communities.

Praca Community Centre is part of the Q-Neigh-bours Movement (Quality-Neighbours movement). Many residents in Poland are introvert. Meaning they are not in contact with there neighbours in any way. A good example of bad social interaction is, when people pass each other on the street there is no greet. Q-Neighbours movement’s goal is to strengthen neighbourly bonds between citizens of Warsaw by promoting the idea of the highest quality neighbourhood and neighbourhood rela-tions. This way social trust can be reached within the neighbourhood. An example of an initiative to strengthen neighbourly bonds is a social campaign for saying “Good morning!” to your neighbours. Doing this is the first step to get to know your neighbours

Community centres are rather unknown in Po-land. Many people think it is the same as a cultural centre. Cultural centres organise workshops and ac-tivities for residents and are also being paid by the

residents participating. Community centres don’t organise any activities itself. Choices and activities are being done based on what the inhabitants want. The community centre has a budget, coming from the municipality, and is there to facilitate the community when needed. Because many residents are not really familiar with the concept of commu-nity cen-tres they sometimes see them as intruders in the neighbourhood. By educating both the community and authorities about community cen-tres this idea is being changed. And by using real examples of initiatives in the neighbourhood Praca Community Centre is proving to the community and authorities that community centres work and can work in this district too. Right now the idea of a community centre is not only getting more popular but even a fashionable element of the neighbour-hood.

Praca Community Centre collaborates with various parties in order to achieve its goals. Many initiatives are carried out by local residents and volunteers. They are proposing most of these initiatives and are therefore also involved with the realization. Next to that, they collaborate with numerous local non-governmental organizations. These organi-zations are allowed to use the space available in the community centre for free. The building Praca Community Centre is located in a public building. Everyone is free to enter and use the space availa-ble.

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In conclusion

There are already cultural centres in Poland. In these centres workshops and other activities are being organised and paid for by the participants. Community centres are still an unknown and strange thing for many people and therefore not well used. In contrast to cultural centres, community centres are there to help citizens organise activities instead of organising it for them. A community centre needs to be trust-ed by the residents in order to be successful. It is best when community centres are run by non-locals. They are not very attached to the neighbourhood and therefore will not get to much involved with certain movements in the community. The Polish government has an open attitude towards community centres.

As mentioned before Praca Community Centre is paid by the government to provide for the commu-nity. They are part of a network of many community centres all over Warsaw. The municipality of Warsaw is very interested in the role community centres have in neighbourhoods and therefore made them part of the city’s strategy and politics. It is in some way for the best when community centres are run by people who are not from the neighbourhood. This way they are not getting to much involved with certain problems in the neighbourhood. As long as the community is making use of the added value community centres can keep on having initi-atives and activities in the neighbourhood. It gives these community centres a powerful place within neighbourhoods.

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Q-Neighbours Movement

Q-Neighbours Movement is a project of CAL Associ-ation (Local Activity Support Centre) in partnership with the Warsaw Center of Civic Cooperation. Their goal is to strengthen neighbourly bonds between citizens in Warsaw. They encourage neighbours to act together, help them organize local initiatives and realize the need to account for their surround-ings. Paca Community Centre is part of this move-ment and is facilitating initiatives and activities coming from the community in Praga district. As a resident of Praga Marta is actively involved within the Q-Neighbours Movement and therefore closely connected to the Paca Community Centre.

The need

As a mother with young children it is a challenge to go somewhere because you have to take lots of things for the children with you. Therefore it is not so easy to meet friends all over the city. Living in a block of flats Marta felt the lack of a public space where other parents and children can meet. She had the feeling this would not only make her living environment more comfortable but also enhance the social cohesion and community spirit in the block of flats. The need of a playground in the area was the starting point of Marta and a good friend to take initiative to create a more “mother friendly” place in the neighbourhood. It will also make it

Easier to get to know their neighbours.

First they were going door by door to ask people if they are interested to help start an initiative. The problem of this was that residents quickly become suspicious when they are being asked to partic-ipate in an initiative. A different approach to get people involved was needed. Based on the Europe-an Neighbours’ Day the idea to organise a similar event arose. By searching the web on how to organise such an event they came in contact with Q-Neighbours Movement who helped organising the first neighbours’ day in Praga.

Neighbours’ day

Neighbours’ day turned out to be a huge suc-cess causing it to become a returning event in the neighbourhood. It was the starting point of petitions signed by the residents in order for au-thorities to build the playground. Many events like community barbecues, Christmas neighbours’ day and even the recording of a videoclip for the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, for which they even received a public grant, to promote the neigh-bour-hood where organized.

Although she never appointed herself as a leader, in a natural way Marta became one for the neigh-bourhood. She was seen as the person to go to if you want to organize something for the neighbour-hood. This created a fluid communication between

residents and the community center. After Marta moved to a different neighbourhood someone else took the responsibility to start and organize some-thing for the neighbourhood.

In conclusion

In order to maintain a fluid communication between residents and the community centre it is very useful the have a leader within the commu-nity. Being a leader does not mean this person is the most important resident of the community. Most often this role comes natural to a person in a group. Besides having a leader it is very important to get as many people involved in the initiative or activity as possible. This will increase the chance of success.

Citizens’ init iatives Warsaw Neighb ours- day - M ar ta Płacheck a 22-09-2015

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Cit izens’ init iatives Warsaw Jazdów - Andr zej G ór z 21-09-2015

5.5The open jazdów Jazdow is the cradle of Warsaw. It is here, where the entire history of the Polish capital began. Here was the Waza castle, this was the largest and oldest military hospital in Poland. There were the gardens of Queen Bona and king Stanislaw Poniatowski. He planned his residence here. This vast green space stretched form Piekna street to Agrykola street, a town within the city, with its own laundry, kitchen, pharmacy, all that a town needs, including a narrow gauge railroad with tracks leading to each building. The Jazdow Finnish houses quarter was erected in 1945, with houses from Finland. Finland lost the war, they had to pay a contribution to the Soviet Union. The houses are modular construc-tions, like Lego bricks. The plan was to produce a lot of element in one factory, transport them far into the mainland and put them together easily in 1-2 days. These houses were put in the quarter higher Ujazdow, as well as in lower Ujazdow in the Mokotowskie. The original plan considered a tem-porary house project for the Warsaw Reconstruc-tion Office workers. Who designed the Warsaws reconstruction after the world war two. 1945, when Warsaw was basically a ground zero, such house could be deemed a luxury: running water and elec-tricity. Only there were no bathrooms. Until 1970s the quarter had public baths. Of course the inhab-itans expanded and adjusted the houses to their needs. These are wooden structures flexible and easy to expand. But still with two or three genera-tions under one roof, these 50 square meters could

be pretty crowdie, so more space was needed.

Jan Mencwel In case of Jan Mencwel, he didn’t live in Jazdow, it began when he got the news that the finnish hous-es were to be demolished. The district authorities decided, that the houses didn’t fit to the prestigious character of the downtown. Having embassies and the parliament around wooden houses wouldn’t do. So they began demolishing the houses and evicting their inhabitants. Jan has different ideas on urban development, on whether there is space for wooden houses and greenery, or only for embas-sies and shopping malls and condos. So he thought something must be done to save this place. Espe-cially thet he thought there are more people with similar beliefs. It’s not like if anyone tells the city to remove something, you can just say: “oh, too bad, it was a nice place”. We can actually save it if we like it! When we see value in a property and if we want others to notice it too. Somewhere around Christmas 2014, they came up with a call for the people to send cards to the district authorities, with New Year wishes to the authorities to change their minds and save the Finnish houses. Various people where not known before took part in this. They found out there was a potential, so they took action and maybe receive support. They wanted to show what they had known already: that the houses tenants are not hermetic, they welcome activates. And it would be a shame to evict such a wonderful community.

In 2011 Andrzej Górz was invited with his neigh-bors for a meeting with district authorities, who told us to move out, because the houses would be demolished, as they collided with the zoning plan. It was when Andrzej Górz started to take action. Together with his neighbor Daniel, they tried to spread the news about the danger to this place. It began with a Night of museums, then the open housing festival. In the meantime, four houses were demolished at the turn of December. The Finnish Ambassador got involved, and managed to convince the authorities that several houses might be worth saving. 4,5 or 6 houses were to be removed into another quarter opposite of the red building. Owing that intervention they met Janek and proposed a reopening of the houses, wich happened last year during the “night of the muse-ums”. For the first time a wider audience was able to get inside. That was awesome a lot of people were here. And they had more and more people wishing to do something here. There was no direct danger of demolition, but there are still people who see this as a perfect place for activities. The abandoned houses used to be residential, it’s the first time the district authorities agreed to open houses for social and cultural activities. A large group of people got interested in putting the houses into use and show-ing their great potential. During the three months of summer a lot of events happened here: concerts, debates and garage sales.One time after that “night of the museums” lots of new people came. Perhaps they got info from

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In Conclusion

Because the exaptation’s where low the initiators got a lot of energy when they reached higher goals then expected. By gaining this energy, they maintain fighting for even more higher goals. Showing the stories and the history off the people who lived in the neighbourhood. This gives the neighbourhood a personal and emo-tional value. Trough showing the history of the place parties with great influence got involved, in the case of Jazdów this was the Finnish em-bassy. Initiators looked not just for support in Jazdów but also around the neighbourhoods. By collecting more parties there developed a vari-ous of activities in Jazdów. Trough this activities Jazdów get a lot of support from the inhabits of Warsaw. Modify the zone plane and other rules the existence of Jazdów can be continued.

somewhere that something could get be done here. That these huts are abandoned can be uti-lized. New ideas came about. As soon as the people were present, we began trying to gather them, so that the work was not dispersed but so that we would all cooperate. Some things started from ideas by that group of new people like building a recreational square. They had long discussed about how to make it and what from. Until we drawn the final plan together. There is now a group of maybe a dozen people here in permanent contact with each other. Janek, would tell about the cooperation. They also pushed through a motion for a public consultation on the future of this area. They needed to achieve, so that the district and city authorities would have to take a moment to think about this area and ask the citizens. The citizens would also have a chance of influencing how the area could function and look like in the future. They hoped for having a chance to nicely say goodbye to the houses, but they actually managed to turn it over. Starting with the concept of not having any house nor any discussion about them, they got to the point of having the demolitions halted and discussing with their inhabitants about what to do. What surprised them was that they managed not only to get people interested, but also to change the course of the events. It’s not like the downtown is only for straight wide streets. Warsaw is already pretty cha-otic, and it can’t be changed. So they need to start seeing advantages in that. One of the sites showing

the chaos may be creative and inspiring is Jazdow, a place no urban planner would ever design. “lets put wooden houses in here and form a quarter”. It couldn’t be invented, it came up by chance. Let’s enjoy it!

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Cit izens’ init iatives Poznań I nter view Tomek M at ysiak 05-11-2015

5.6The anarchistic movement Rozbrat was founded after Tomek Matysiak and his band had played in Potsdam, Germany. After the concert they met some guys of an anarchistic movement and Tomek and his bandmates decided to start such a move-ment in Poznań. The movement squat an house to create their own community where they can live and could organize activities. In the beginning the house was a meeting point for the movement, later they became more politically active. Rozbrat sup-ported protest against the local government.

Rozbrat started focusing on the housing problems in the city in 2009. Rozbrat supported five residents of a house which was bought by two businessman. The businessman wanted to renovate the house and sell it. The city council was the owner of the house and sold it to the businessman. The residents living there, based on social rent.

Rozbrat alerted the city council to the fact that the residents simply put on the street by the business-man. The city council initially said it was not there responsibility since the building was not their property anymore. Rozbrat helped the residents by using local media to pressure the city council to take action. The city council ensured that the residents get another places to live. Four years after the protest the house is still empty and is not renovated yet.

This example is a clear indication of the difficulties in Poznań. After World War II large parts of the pop-ulation were homeless and needed houses. New houses were quickly built by the city council who also became the owner of the houses. After the fall of the communism the city council sold the houses to private investors. Rozbrat are fighting against this development.

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In conclusion

Rozbrat is not only active in their own neigh-bourhood, but throughout the city. It is a special party in the city. Rozbrat is against the privat-ization and evictions in the city. In addition to active and passive tasks. Rozbrat defends houses of residents against the private investors. The actions are enabled to get media attention and stands up for the rights of the residents. Through media attention Rozbrat become more famous and are demanded by citizens with problems to help them.

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