The image of the foreign squatter: British and Irish youths in the Dutch city of Leiden during the 1990s

Based on a systematic analysis of local mainstream and activist media, this article reconstructs conflicts over the framing of British and Irish squatters in Leiden during the 1990s. During this decade, several hundreds of English-speaking youths travelled to Leiden and surrounding villages to work as seasonal labourers. Often lacking access to regular housing, many of them resorted to squatting houses and as a result got involved in local urban development conflicts. While proprietors, neighbours, aldermen and the police all tried to gain support via the media, squatters also contacted media outlets to counter bad press. This article reconstructs the ensuing struggle over the image of the foreign squatter in Leiden's local media during the 1990s, and analyses the dynamics between the various groups that attempted to influence the squatters’ framing.

Crime Is Down and so Is Fear? Analyzing Resident Perceptions of Neighborhood Unsafety in Rotterdam, the Netherlands

There is little research on how resident perceptions of neighborhood unsafety develop over time and how changes in these perceptions relate to decreasing crime rates. The present study analyzes and explains trends in perceived neighborhood unsafety within the Dutch city of Rotterdam, based on survey and register data collected in the years 2003–2017 (N = 148.344, 62 neighborhoods). In addition to crime, we also assess to what extent (changes in) the economic status, level of ethnic heterogeneity, degree of residential mobility, and amount of disorder in the neighborhood play a role in how safe or unsafe inhabitants have felt in a 15-year period. We find that unsafety levels steadily declined in the years up to 2007. This decrease was best explained by changes regarding the economic status, victimization rates and disorder level of neighborhoods. After a sudden increase in feelings of unsafety between 2007 and 2008, explained by the shift towards using more self-administrated questionnaires, fear levels stabilized during the remaining years (2008–2017) although recorded crime levels continued to decrease in this period.

“The Hoist of the Yellow Flag”: Vulnerable Port Cities and Public Health

Port cities have long played a key role in the development, discovery, and fight against diseases. They have been laboratories for policies to address public health issues. Diseases reached port cities through maritime exchanges, and the bubonic plague is a key example. Port city residents’ close contact with water further increased the chance for diseases such as cholera. Analyzing three European port cities, this article first explores the relevance of water quality for public health through the lens of the Dutch city of Rotterdam. It then examines plans and projects for London that were shaped by social Darwinism and stressed the moral failings of slum dwellers as a major cause for their misery. It finally explores the case of Hamburg as the perfect example of a city that cultivated ideals of purity and cleanliness by addressing all issues at stake in public health. This article on urban hygiene in three port cities shows how remarkably rich this field of study is; it also demonstrates that the multifaceted aspects of public health in port cities require further attention.

City Branding

This chapter focusses on the topic of iconicity in city branding. By analyzing the way in which the Dutch city of Zwolle is ‘made’ into a successful brand – an iconic Hanseatic town –, general characteristics of the cultural icon, in particular the pre-eminent visual nature of the icon and the supposed universality of the icon, are put into question. Clearly, when it comes to iconic cities, few will think of a middle-large Dutch town like Zwolle. That the branding of Zwolle as an iconic Hanseatic city is deployed with such apparent ease is telling for the hyperinflation the concept of the icon has undergone in present culture. Still, as is demonstrated, a closer analysis of such an ‘un-iconic’ icon can tell much about the construction of icons in present day commercialized culture. More broadly, this analysis sheds light on the ways in which history is revived and remodelled in contemporary culture.

The Practice of Urban Experimentation in Dutch City Labs

‘Urban planning by experiment’ can be seen as an approach that uses experimentation to innovate and improve urban planning instruments, approaches, and outcomes. Nowadays, urban experiments—interventions in the city with the aim to innovate, learn, or gain experience—are increasingly taking place in the context of Urban Living Labs. In the Netherlands, a certain type of Urban Living Lab, called city labs, is flourishing, and it has been suggested that these labs could make an important contribution to ‘urban planning by experiment.’ However, previous studies have indicated that this will depend on how experimentation is conducted in these labs. To obtain a more comprehensive picture of the practice of experimentation, we conducted a survey among Dutch city labs, supplemented by individual and group interviews with practitioners from a small subset of the 17 responding labs. We conclude that there is a poor match between the practice of experimentation in Dutch city labs and the characteristics that are considered to support effective ‘urban planning by experiment’ (i.e., a structured approach to experimentation, co-creation of experiments, active and targeted dissemination of lessons learned, and experiments as linking pins between municipal policy goals and the needs of urban society). This suggests that the current contribution of Dutch city labs to ‘urban planning by experiment’ is probably quite limited. Further research is needed to determine whether the typical practice of experimentation encountered in the Dutch city labs, i.e., action-oriented, resource-limited, and largely driven by opportunities, is also found in Urban Living Labs elsewhere.

Space Syntax Applied in Urban Practice

In this chapter, we discuss the application of space syntax in consultancyforurbanplanningdesign and practice. First, we present the scientific challenges to tying general understandings and theoriesto urban planning and design practice. Some elementary principles for communicating results from research and theories to practitioners are demonstrated. We further explain the principles for successful master planning and the principles for designing vital and safe public realms related to the use of space syntax. This is followed by a discussion on how to avoid common errors when planning for vital neighbourhoods and cities. We present examples from practice where space syntax has played a major role. These include regenerating Trafalgar Square in London, evaluating various proposals for a new road link in the Dutch city of Leiden, developing strategies for the whole province of North Holland, and densification strategies in the Norwegian town of Bergen. In the conclusion, we discuss major pitfalls when applying space syntax to urban design and planning projects in practice. Exercises are provided at the end of the chapter.

Between and within choreographies: An early choreographic object by William Forsythe

In 1990, William Forsythe created The Books of Groningen – Book N(7), an installation commissioned by the Dutch city of Groningen and architect Daniel Libeskind. This early choreographic object is composed of a water canal, a series of willow trees pulled by wires in order to grow in arched shape and a bush hedge. At a time of marked interest in expanded choreography as it develops in conjunction with choreography’s links to visual art, as well as in choreographic history, this article considers Book N(7) in relation with diverse historical conceptions of choreography – as dance-making, as an organisation of moving bodies, as notation and pre/scription. This analysis shows that the installation negates certain aspects of choreographic history while exemplifying and perpetuating others, therefore situating itself between different historical construals of choreography. At the same time, it points to the ways in which Book N(7) defies the possibility both of complete ruptures and of smooth continuities with the choreographic past, engaging in a negotiation which reworks this past in the present. Framing this analysis of The Books of Groningen – Book N(7) by references to certain of Forsythe’s ulterior works, this article presents the installation as a part of the artist’s longlasting, shifting engagements with the notion and history of choreography.