18-11-2020 // HERE WE GO AGAIN

• Temporary Art Centre

• Inge, resident of De Graaf

• Maurice

• Christian, resident of De Jonkheer

*No time to read the whole blog? scroll down to the conclusion for the most striking insights*

TEMPORARY ART CENTER

Yesterday we spoke with Davy, the one responsible for the communication of the Temporary Art Centre. The TAC gives promising makers from all disciplines the opportunity to develop and show themselves. Normally, the TAC hosts a program that highlights different corners of the cultural spectrum every month. The TAC is located on the edge of the Emmasingelkwadrant. Nevertheless, we decided to contact TAC as one of the first four stakeholders in this neighborhood. Not only because we think the TAC has a large network, but also because the TAC is part of the developments that will take place.

Precisely because the TAC will be partly demolished and new (large) buildings will be built right next to the TAC, we were very curious how Davy feels about the developments and how he thinks about the interim period until these developments start. Davy feels that the TAC is 'with its back to the neighborhood'. This is because they are part of those developments that are going to take place in the neighborhood. Although these developments were mainly initiated by the developers, it is something the TAC is already busy with. By the end of 2021, the people who have settled in the TAC have to leave. Subsequently, the developments will start and part of the TAC will be rebuilt. Although we had heard that the renovation of the TAC was quite a sensitive situation among the people from TAC, we got the idea that Davy looks to these developments positively; the future TAC will offer more possibilities.

What Davy means with ‘with his back to the neighborhood’, is that their priority is not on the intervening period, but rather on what is coming. Nevertheless, we were curious about the needs of TAC, regardless of these developments. When we explained a bit more about our project and the essence of our approach, Davy was enthusiastic about it. Especially now in the Corona times, when especially many entrepreneurs were affected, he thinks it is important to get together and see what is possible in this neighborhood. Davy stated that it is important to involve not only the large entrepreneurs or large parties, but ultimately also the smaller parties. In this way, everyone knows what is going on and it will be more accessible for other parties to join that may not have been involved in the first instance. Davy indicated that he would like to participate in a brainstorm session with the neighborhood to see what is possible. He also indicated that the TAC is willing to facilitate the location of this brainstorm session.

Davy also mentioned an organization not located in the Emmasingelkwadrant, but could be interesting for our research: Tante Netty.

INGE 

Monique advised us to contact Inge. Inge is a colleague of Monique's and lives in the Emmasingelkwadrant. According to Monique, Inge has a large network and could perhaps help us to get in touch with other stakeholders in the neighborhood. Yesterday we had a conversation with Inge, a resident of apartment complex De Graaf. Inge was certainly open to having a conversation with us and immediately indicated at the beginning of the conversation that she would make a list with contact details of possible stakeholders. In this list, she would include contact details of the owners association, according to her important stakeholders that we should definitely approach. During the Liveability Meeting at the end of October, we had brief contact with the owners association already and heard their thoughts. It is certainly not a bad idea to contact them personally once again when we receive the list from Inge with contact details. Inge has also mentioned that probably the best way to get in touch with people who live in the Regentekwartier, is to throw a flyer or something similar in their letterbox.

It was an interesting conversation; precisely because Inge lives in this area and works for the municipality of Eindhoven. The points that were striking about the conversation we had with Inge:

• The park has been promised to the neighborhood for years. Years have passed and still little is happening. People don't know what's going on. Inge a bit more, because she works for the municipality. In general, information provision is lacking. The environment is deteriorating and people (including herself) are annoyed by this. The neighborhood is polluted and continues to deteriorate. There is nuisance because the district is deteriorating; it attracts people who shouldn't be here and this is only increasing. In the six years that Inge has lived here, she has literally seen the neighborhood deteriorate.

• Inge indicates that there is nothing wrong with the people who come to De Huiskamer, but that these people attract other 'tuig'. People who come to De Huiskamer are generally quite unstable people. This ‘tuig’ knows that and takes advantage of it by dealing drugs for example.

• The people who live in the area have different interests than the developers. The developers themselves don't live in the neighborhood, so it's all about the money for them. Developers don't want to spend money on the temporary, although people see the neighborhood deteriorate and there is not enough prospect of the future.

• Inge has the idea that the residents of the Victoriapark Lightning apartment complex (one side of the park where mainly young people and internationals live) do not feel the need that much of doing something about how it is now than the Regentekwartier does (the other side of the park with more expensive apartment, including De Graaf). This may be because the people in the Regentekwartier live here longer on average. Inge knows not much about the residents of the Victoriapark Lightning complex: she does not speak to them, she does not see them, she has the feeling that they are not interested in what is going on in the neighborhood.

• Inge has the idea that stakeholders in this neighborhood like inhabitants are not included in the process. That is why people are skeptical about giving their input. Once they provide input, they rarely get feedback on how this input will be used. They have little faith/trust anymore because they feel they are not being heard. People do want to be heard. How do we regain this trust, even as a municipality, this is an important question to ask.

• There is a need for meetings, the only question is: is something actually being done with the input that is given, and can everyone actually share his or her opinion? Inge also wonders, who will these meetings be with? To what extent are the stakeholders included in the process, so is the outcome of these meetings being built on? How nice would it be if a working group will be created with representatives who could brainstorm and forward it to the municipality and/or project leaders?

• Inge came up with the idea of ​​creating a central meeting point, for example, an email address for the neighborhood. This way people know where they can go with ideas, comments, or if they want to contribute to certain matters.

• Inge is positive about our project and thinks it is badly needed, especially in this neighborhood. The soft, social side of everything that is going on needs to be highlighted. How nice would it be if we could be the ones who do include the neighborhood in the process, who listens to the needs of the neighborhood, and who gives feedback on what is going on and what the progress is? We must make it clear that we do want to listen to the voices of stakeholders and actually do something with them.

• Inge knows that she lives in the center so that noise will always be there. Yet this area in the center is deteriorating the most, according to Inge. She still feels safe in this area but avoids the ‘tuig’

• Inge thinks the positive about the neighborhood is the liveliness; Inge is a city lover, she loves the neighborhood, everything is within walking distance and she wants to grow old here. She hopes that the park will become a place where you can walk through, without being able to hang around there for hours. In this way, you ensure that the 'tuig' does not hang around either in this park. 

MAURICE

Today we had a meeting with Maurice. Maurice is the project leader of the Emmasingelkwaddrant from the municipality. We also approached him at the start of the project, but we did not receive a response from him at that time. Since Monique is about to go on maternity leave and he will partially take over her duties concerning us, it is important that he knows what we are doing. This meeting was therefore an introductory meeting in which we explained what our project entails. Maurice indicated that he did not find it a problem to supervise us where necessary from December onwards.

CHRISTIAN

Later that day we met with Christian and ended up having an in-depth conversation about the ins and outs of the area. Christian could relate to the challenge and the area from different perspectives as he is both a professional in urban development and a resident of the neighborhood, more specifically the Regentekwartier. Christian provided an interesting and extensive history lesson about the involvement of Philips in the development of the city of Eindhoven, a broader context for us to understand how the city came about. He explained how Philips had always played a leading part in the city’s developments based upon their business operations and the wellbeing of their employees. The company built a whole world around their business, imported thousands of staff workers, and built entire neighborhoods looking after its employees from birth until the coffin. The Philips company took the municipality by the hand when it came to city development. Nevertheless, in the year 1997, Philips moved the biggest part of the business out of Eindhoven and became way less involved in the city. In Christian’s eyes, this had an enormous impact on the municipality as it did not have much of a vision for the future of the city and was alone from that point on. The municipality did not quite know what to do and many of the developments failed. It took years to find more direction and unity in urban planning.

Christian senses that the municipality nowadays still struggles with the development of the city and he doubts if the high-rise blocks could be the solution. He explained that the apartments in the Regentekwartier were originally built for elderly people as they were expected to have the desire to move towards the center from outer regions of the city. The building was therefore built quite luxury with broad hallways and totally wheelchair proof. It used to have its own staffed reception, internal communication system, and private specialized sports center. Nowadays, instead of elderly people, the building is mainly home to middle-aged people that enjoy city life and higher-earning expats. Christian has the idea that most of the inhabitants do not have a specific bond with the area; they go from their apartment to the subterrain parking, go to work, get back, and do not really live in the Victoriapark area. Nevertheless, he also knows people that do care for the specific area and all it has to offer. He explained that the inhabitants of the Regentekwartier are not quite connected to each other and rarely have organized contact except for the association of owners in which a lot of residents are not represented as many people rent the apartments from corporate housing owners.

His biggest frustrations are also concerned with the lack of information about the planned developments. Too often the inhabitants were not involved in the plans until the plans were already confirmed. Therefore, Christian does not feel heard by both the municipality and the project developers. The towers that are supposed to be built at the site of the carcass, for example, will block most of the sunlight from the point of his apartment however, the inhabitants were only told about the plans once they were concrete already. Moreover, the difficult relationship between the municipality and the project developers creates a lot of unclarity about the responsibilities of the involved parties around the nuisance within the neighborhood. Even though he does not completely agree with the planned developments, his main frustration seems to be the communication and lack of involvement from the municipality towards the inhabitants. Nevertheless, he loves the city, and the area in specific feels like home. Personally, he finds himself in an interesting playing field between the so-far dominant perspectives of the ‘older’ people from the Regentekwartier and the ‘younger’ people that live on the other side of the field as he sees Zwart Wit as his second living room and has a lot of contact with other inhabitants, however, mainly by his own initiative. Christian is positive about the project and would like to be involved. He seems less interested in the organization of specific events and more in the outcome for the area. Indirectly, Christian tipped us to not keep talking much longer with inhabitants and start doing. Only that will help build confidence that the residents, together with the municipality and other organizations can have a positive impact on the area.

CONCLUSION

Based on our conversations with Davy from the TAC, Inge, and Christian we would like to highlight some specific insights. 

Similar to most of our earlier orienting conversations during this project, we wanted to approach the dialogue as open as possible. Therefore, we did not prepare specific questions and followed the energy of the conversation. Nevertheless, we have used earlier insights during the conversation to check if certain thought patterns are shared or belong to certain (groups of) people only. By verifying earlier insights along with gathering new insights, we can aim for a helicopter view over the situation in the area which we slowly extend as we higher our altitude. This allows us to ask more direct and specifically aimed questions in a later phase as we aim to talk to a larger volume of inhabitants and other stakeholders. 

Similar to earlier conversations, the biggest frustration of all is the lack of information on what is going to happen, when it is going to happen and why it is taking so long. Both the inhabitants and some of the local entrepreneurs do not feel involved by either the municipality or the project developers.
Furthermore, when they are finally involved in something, they do not feel as if they are listened to. Partly because their ideas are not worked out in concrete terms, but mainly because they get often little feedback afterwards. Moreover, the inhabitants are most of the time only involved after most of the development plans are already fixed and confirmed meaning their actions could have little influence on the outcome.
As may be clear, the big lack of trust regarding the municipality is something that regularly comes back in our conversations, as the municipality is considered head responsible for involving and informing inhabitants.

Furthermore, we experience a big gap between the contrasting wants and needs of the inhabitants of different buildings. The inhabitants of the bigger and more expensive apartments in the Regentekwartier often experience nuisance from people that spend their time in the area and would like to get rid of the benches located near the central field for example. On the other hand, the mainly younger people living in the Victoriapark Lighting building do not experience the same nuisance and would love to see more public facilities in the open area. Nevertheless, there are a few desires both groups seem to share.

• The lack of information / The lack of involvement

• (The feeling of) not feeling heard

• Overfilled garbage bins

• The dirty field 

• The huge pile of sand

It is precisely the corresponding frustrations and the corresponding needs that we as Community Designers must map out. More and more we gain insight into the neighborhood. After the stakeholders had expressed their thoughts, which were partially negative, we also asked what the reason is they live or work here and what they appreciate about this neighborhood. For us, it was important to find out what was going on, what frustrations there are, but also what people would like to see and what their needs are. We are increasingly realizing that the Emmasingelkwadrant is fertile ground for (social) initiatives, but that this fertile ground is not yet being used. In order to be able to use this fertile ground, stakeholders must be brought together to discuss shared frustrations, but mainly shared needs. There is a need for such a meeting, but the question is to what extent everyone is open to actually talk to ALL those involved in the neighborhood who want to participate in the conversation. There are different perspectives, different opinions, and different needs, who are ultimately the ones who stand up to combine these perspectives, opinions, and needs? We will talk to even more people to find out.