The Kultuurstraat (‘Culture Street') Wesselerbrink, a flagship project for the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM), received the ECORYS Restructuring Award 2005 on 27 April of that year.
The Kultuurstraat was praised as the most innovative and solution-oriented restructuring plan. Mark Verhijde and Annette Oude Vrielink from the Enschede South district management received the award on behalf of the city of Enschede. The Kultuurstraat was a joint project of Enschede South and Stipo Consult in 2004. The jury praised the promising, future-oriented and sustainable Kultuurstraat approach. Among the Kultuurstraat concept's merits the jury listed its long-term vision, the involvement of residents both in creating the plans and in implementing them, its innovative character and the way the intended facilities were tailored to the needs of the neighbourhood. Finally, the integral approach was appreciated: the coherence between solutions to socio-economic questions on the one hand and problems arising from the built environment and public spaces on the other. On a scale from one to ten, Enschede was given an 8 minus.
‘Wish I were a Brinker'
The Wesselerbrink is one of 56 areas listed for restructuring by the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM).The project ‘Kultuurstraat Wesselerbrink' works towards the future of this post-WWII neighbourhood from different angles. ‘Neighbourhood Pride', ‘New Neighbourliness' and ‘Unique and Loved in Enschede' are central concepts. The plan highlights the different opportunities there are for keeping the area liveable and sustainable for the next 25 years. The way in which this was handled was commended by the jury.
The plan was designed to strengthen existing initiatives and develop feasible projects in which thinking and acting are closely knit together, involving all stakeholders in the talking, thinking and acting stages. Co-makership is an important pillar. It means that both in conceiving and in implementing the plans, the involvement of residents, institutions and commerce is looked for. In the Kultuurstraat, the residents were involved right from the start, making the plans, while in many restructuring areas the residents' point of view is not seen. 
Residents' ownership, however, is a crucial factor in achieving a liveable neighbourhood in the long term, as this is what keeps social structures and ties with and within the neighbourhood alive.
The ECORYS award was given during a conference on restructuring the housing market, organised by ECORYS, an international consulting agency, along with the Ministry of VROM and Aedes. During the conference, lessons were drawn from the different approaches to urban renewal throughout European cities. The prize consists of a study tour to Birmingham, cradle of large-scale urban restructuring, made necessary by the industrial recession in the Seventies of the last century.
More information?
Hans Karssenberg, Stipo
T: +3120 4233 690
E: hkarssenberg@stipo.nl
Annette Oude Vrielink, projectleiding Kultuurstraat, Stadsdeelmanagement Zuid,
T: +3153 4750 450
E: a_oudevrielink@enschede.nl
Jan Schukkink, communicatie Stadsdeelmanagement Zuid,
T: +3153 4750 045
E: j.schukkink@enschede.nl
ECORYS Research and Consulting: Ewout van den Blink
T: +3110 4538 597
E: ewout.vandenblink@ecorys.com