Residents are a valuable source of knowledge about the everyday spaces in their neighbourhood. According to TU Delft doctoral candidate Leeke Reinders, housing associations and other professional organisations make far too little use of this source when planning and restructuring urban districts and neighbourhoods.

Invite local residents to the drawing table, says Reinders. Ask them to describe how their world looks on paper. Where do they work, where do they live, where do they like to go? How do people turn a neighbourhood into their home? All this will generate discussions and you will gain a picture of the neighbourhood and the city that differs from that of the professional.

Redesigning a neighbourhood has a major impact on it. Single-family dwellings replace apartment blocks, and public spaces are turned into private gardens. In many cases, it also means less public space where residents can connect with each other. There was plenty of open space in the old neighbourhoods of the past, but it did not really serve its purpose. Residents used it in different ways, which often led to conflicts. By taking account of these aspects, the process of planning neighbourhood can better accommodate the perspectives of the various groups of residents, says Reinders.

Reinders wrote his PhD thesis on the role of image and branding during the process of redesigning neighbourhoods. Branding is a strategy that has been deployed in many neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, and is used for the purpose of putting neighbourhoods back on the map. Through the normative view of the professional, neighbourhoods sometimes acquire the reputation of being deprived, even though this is not something the residents themselves always recognise. One way of gaining a greater understanding of the ordinary, everyday world of residents is to look at the neighbourhood through their eyes. That will open the way to new design and planning practices.

Published: November 2013