19-10-2020 // AUTUMN BREAK? NOT FOR US

• Follow-up proposal, stakeholder mapping & blog

• Rolf, communication advisor

Early this morning we had a meeting with the two of us. What is the plan for today? We decided to write the follow-up of our proposal, so the sharable, ‘the challenge the challenge’, the connection our project has with TSI and Community Design, and the project estimation. The follow-up can be found under the label ‘Proposal’. In the afternoon we worked on stakeholder mapping and we started a blog (https://communitydesignemmasingelkwadrant.blogspot.com/) for this project.

ROLF

We had a meeting with Rolf, the communication advisor. The meeting was planned to get to know each other and talk about the Emmasingelkwadrant in combination with our project. According to Rolf is the Emmasingelkwadrant an interesting and diverse area. Some things Rolf mentioned that could be interesting for our project: 

• First of all: start this project with an open mind and just see how it goes and what you will find out.

• It is an area with people from many different nationalities. Especially in the Victoriapark Lighting, you can find people from different nationalities. If we want to know more about the residents of the building, the average time people are staying here, if they already do something with community building and are willing/open to build a community in the neighborhood, we have to contact Holland2Stay, Property Management specialist of that specific building. In the Victoriacourt, people who work for ASML do mostly live there. The Internationals could be a tough group to involve, so interesting to think about how to involve them. It can be an advantage that we are not ‘real’ employees of the municipality; perhaps internationals see the municipality as corrupt.

• At the moment we have to do a lot online. While that is not always seen as a positive thing, it can be something positive. If you want to bring the neighborhood together, online tools may reduce the barrier for some to participate and online participation may attract new audiences.

• A website for the Emmasingelkwadrant will (probably) be launched this week. This makes it easier and more accessible for the stakeholders to see what is going on in the neighborhood. The stakeholders will also get ‘wijkinformatie’ this week. Rolf will probably introduce us, either on the website or in the ‘wijkinformatie’ that is spread through the neighborhood, so people know that we will be busy with a project concerning the Emmasingelkwadrant the upcoming time. When necessary, we can maybe spread information through the ‘cupboards’ that can be found in the central hall of apartment complexes and contact the ‘Leefbaarheidsteam’. 

• A stakeholder that could be interesting in the youth house (Jongerenhuis), can be found on the Lichtstraat, and the Jumbo supermarket adjacent to the Victoriapark. 

• It is interesting to find out what is already in the neighborhood, what is possible in the neighborhood, and what is still missing in the neighborhood? Rolf combined these three questions to one: what is the ‘red thread’? If people come and live in the neighborhood, it would be great if they feel welcome immediately instead of figuring out what is happening in the neighborhood. A strong community can help with that. Encounters, participation in the developments, maybe just what the neighborhood needs. What are the needs of the stakeholders? The neighborhood will probably also complain about the neighborhood, but what are the chances? The area has a lot of potentials, but you need to see it. How can we (Jesse & Amber) contribute to that? Perhaps because of Corona, there is a need for really good contact in the neighborhood. 

• Another important question to ask, probably at the end of the process: What do they (the stakeholders) need from us to make this community sustainable after we (Jesse and Amber) leave? 

• There are already some stakeholder meetings organized in the past in this neighborhood. It was mostly inhabitants of this neighborhood who came to these meetings. These meetings were visited well. 

• The developer of the area wants to invest minimally or nothing in the temporality; the area is now in a transition period and that will remain as long as developments and constructions are going on. The stripped building is mainly what annoys the people at the moment, because of the nuisance around it and the building is not safe anymore (people could climb on it first, but this changed a few weeks ago after they boarded up several parts). 

• Keep in mind: we are not from the municipality; we are doing this project in consultation with the municipality.

Rolf has given us a lot of information which is certainly useful in our orientation phase. This allows us to create a better picture of the area, the people involved, the initiatives that already exist, the situation, etc. Rolf has also offered to guide us where necessary. It is good to know that we can contact certain people within the municipality to talk, for input or feedback.