Sociologist and city-lover Arnold Reijndorp searches for words to capture the modern city. He believes that cities must be places to live in as they once were. “Administrators must think about the impact of urban facilities in a much more strategic way, and consider the wishes of the groups they want to bind to the city. They should be focusing on dynamics and linking networks. And above all: they should be linking the creative city to the city as an emancipation machine.”
Reijndorp is surprised that cities work, that they don’t disintegrate. Despite all the talk about segregation, a lack of cohesion and a lack of integration, cities are still there. “New links, new networks are constantly being established. I believe that is the innovative quality of urban life.”
Creative city
“Another question is: how can you link the creative city to the city as emancipation machine? The creative city repeatedly succeeds in tapping in to new potential and finding creative, innovative and sustainable solutions to problems. Very little is known about the city as emancipation machine. How does it work as a ‘lift’, as an ‘escalator’? The challenge is to link different networks. That is where the creative class has a role to play. New links can create additional dynamism of an evolving kind.”
Middle class
The city is just like a continuous performance: people come into the city when they are poor, climb up the social ladder and leave. Reijndorp thinks it is logical for people to move. “But if the entire lower middle class moves out, that represents a loss. That group provides the links needed to establish small companies, facilities, and so on. They are willing and able to invest in the city. When they leave, their social capital - what they know about access to education and the labour market - leaves with them. So continuity, understanding and expertise are lost. That’s a shame, because some of the middle class actually want to stay in the city! They are not all that concerned about ‘security’ or ‘social cohesion’. They want a lively city, with enough facilities and good schools.”
Residential city
To keep people in the city, Reijndorp thinks the quality of the city as a place to live needs to improve. “Cities have put a lot of effort into attracting large numbers of visitors and businesses. The attractive city, with culture, museums and festivals. They should concentrate more on the city as the residential city, where lots of groups come together. That is much more than housing alone. We need to address residential environments as a whole, with differentiation between lifestyles and facilities.”
Social dynamism as guiding principle
Reijndorp thinks a shift is needed at two levels in the Netherlands. “First of all, a much more strategic approach is needed to the question of where you build and what that results in. And then you need to think about exactly what your target groups want from a city. So restructuring projects shouldn’t start by, say, moving the hockey pitches when it is precisely the people who play hockey whom you want to attract and keep.” In addition, in the Netherlands, there is too much emphasis on “social cohesion”, “habitability” and “security”, claims Reijndorp. “We have to get away from the idea that ‘people must be involved with each other’. It’s much more a question of supporting people’s talents. Take social dynamism as the guiding principle and look for new forms of collaboration between housing corporations, schools, sports clubs, associations and educational institutions.”
A strategic approach to urban facilities
“Urban planners hardly know what they’re doing,” thinks Reijndorp. “Whereas they used to focus on creating order from chaos, their guiding principle now is control. Dutch urban planning emerged from the community ideal, from collectivity. But cities are not about collectivity. Cities actually need to be based on conflict, adaptability and dynamism. You actually need to assume that the city changes and respond to that idea.”
The role of government
Urban sociologist Arnold Reijndorp is an independent researcher at the cutting edge of urban planning and urban culture. From 1998 to 2000, he was Visiting Professor of Urban Planning and Urban Sociology at the Technical University of Berlin. At present, he works as Professor of Socio-Economic and Spatial Developments in Urban Areas at the Faculty of Social and Behaviour Sciences at the University of Amsterdam. Arnold Reijndorp has spent more than 15 years studying the relationship between urban planning and society. He is the author of leading publications such as ‘Buitenwijk’ and, together with Maarten Hajer, ‘Op zoek naar publiek domein’. He also advises about government policy as a member of the Council for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.
Downloads / links
- ErasmusPC article on ReUrbA’s Statement for Strong Cities
- Danuta Hübner EU Commission Website
- View the compilation of quotes from the interviews on film
- View EU commissioner Danuta Huebner’s welcoming response to the Statement for Strong Cities on film
