Displacement and urban restructuring in Amsterdam; following relocatees after demolition of social housing

Over the past decade, urban restructuring of segregated neighbourhoods has transformed many urban districts, in the Netherlands and elsewhere; middle class households have entered neighbourhoods which were previously inhabited by lower class. Some argue that this influx of middle class has happened at the expense of the displaced original population. We investigated this process of (forced) relocation from restructured neighbourhoods. In contrast with earlier studies, individual level data have been provided directly by one of the Amsterdam housing associations involved in this process. This offered the opportunity to analyse population data, not a sample, of all relocatees from four particular urban restructuring projects in Amsterdam. We investigated location preferences before relocation as well as actual residential location behaviour per household and relocatee type and compared characteristics of their old and new dwellings and neighbourhoods. One of the findings is that forced relocation often parallels preferences expressed by the displaced.     

Settling in or moving out? Exploring the effect of mobility intentions on public housing exits

This paper seeks to understand how public housing residents’ mobility intentions affect their actual exits. The results suggest that mobility intentions do have a significant effect on public housing exits. However, the rate of exit among those who intend to move out of public housing was similar to those who did not intend to leave. In addition, tenure had a significant effect on the odds of exiting alluding to issues of duration dependence. However, neighbourhood conditions did not fully explain public housing exits. Our proxy for policy reform had a large effect on the odds of exiting of public housing. This result suggests that changes in housing assistance programmes and urban housing policy could largely account for public housing exits. Overall, the results imply that while public housing residents may have positive and negative mobility intentions, their exits may primarily be due to shifts in housing policy and social welfare programmes versus individual characteristics and neighbourhood conditions.     

基于水敏性城市应对的乡土策略与行为研究——以雅加达甘榜为例

历史上,受殖民主义势力的影响,印度尼西亚雅加达当地的居民被迫迁居到不太理想的土地上,那里遍布河岸、洪泛区和沼泽地等各种水敏性环境。城市在聚落的四周扩张,而多变的气候使得这些聚落易受到河流、河道和海岸的威胁。虽然水敏性城市策略已经在一定程度上成功实施,例如印度尼西亚雅加达等城市就曾有过基于社区规划和防灾体系来治理环境的历史,但是想要将水敏性城市的规划原则与设计策略真正结合起来,理解当地社区对日常生活环境的适应和管理至关重要。通过将社会文化要素与城市景观空间结构相联系,试图理解印度尼西亚地方景观中社会空间的形成过程,并将居民参与河流景观改造的日常经验与其他管理行为和过程建立联系。通过将景观作为媒介来理解这些经验和观点,能够为不同群体之间的讨论提供机会,同时也是一种综合各方意见推进雅加达水敏性城市策略实施的手段。此外还揭示了城市滨河景观社会环境治理的在地经验,基于将水敏性城市设计策略与当地社区状况结合的目标,提出了一系列的建议。     

Selective migration in Swedish distressed neighbourhoods: can area‐based urban policies counteract segregation processes?

Like many other Western European governments, the Swedish government has launched an area‐based urban policy in order to solve the problems of the distressed neighbourhoods in the largest cities. However, in the current policy it is not clear whether the primary aim is to address the problems of individuals, or if the aim is to change the market position of the distressed areas. The intervention might be successful in terms of assisting residents in finding jobs and better education, but that might not improve the general position of the areas targeted, since people who make a socio‐economic career very often move out of the areas, to be replaced by poorer and less well‐established residents. By drawing upon a comprehensive and unique set of data the paper analyses the issues of residential mobility and selective migration, with special focus on distressed neighbourhoods in the Stockholm region. The results clearly indicate that the migration flows of these neighbourhoods are indeed selective. The people who move in are more likely to be unemployed and dependent on social benefits and have on average lower incomes than those who move out and those who remain in the neighbourhoods. This simultaneous outflow of relatively well‐off residents and inflow of weaker and more marginalised groups has the effect of reproducing the distressed character of the neighbourhoods.     

Social networks of rural–urban migrants after residential relocation: evidence from Yangzhou,a medium-sized Chinese city

This paper analyses the effects of residential relocation on China’s rural–urban migrants’ social networks in light of evidence from Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. Our study contrasts voluntary moves with forced moves driven by demolition-led redevelopment of urban villages. Based on data from a survey conducted between 2012 and 2013, the regression analysis shows that voluntarily relocated migrants are more likely than forced movers to use phone/computer to contact their former neighbours, and communication technology allows them to maintain the frequency of their contact. Furthermore, when moving to a gated neighbourhood, voluntary movers are more likely than forced movers to participate in public activities, to have more contact with new neighbours and thereby to get more help from the residents’ committee and new neighbours. The results suggest that forced moves have negative effects on migrants’ social networks in the neighbourhood and that the demolition-led redevelopment programmes do not promote the migrants’ integration in the city.     

A question of social sustainability: Urban interventions in critical neighbourhoods in Portugal and Norway

Urban interventions in deprived neighbourhoods rank high on the agenda in European countries. This article explores what aspects of targeted urban-area interventions involve and appreciate local people during the intervention process so that they become motivated to continue to take care of and develop their area afterwards. Local social sustainability stands out as a necessary prerequisite for continued upkeep of upgraded urban neighbourhoods. The analysis builds on a ‘most different approach’, a comparison of interventions in the far south (Lisbon) and north (Oslo) of Europe. The article concludes that in addition to relevant goals and progress, local support was conditioned on how goals, organization and participation were worked out and implemented.