---> URBAN RESTRUCTURING
	-> Social Effects of Urban Restructuring: A Case Study in Amsterdam and Utrecht, the Netherlands (Van Beckhoven and Van Kempen)
	In the Netherlands, urban restructuring has been a major policy since 1997. Its principal aim is to improve neighbourhoods by demolishing or upgrading low-rent social dwellings and building more expensive rental or owner occupied units. A fundamental idea underlying this policy is to break up the physical and social monotony of urban areas and to achieve a mixed population in terms of income. The consequence of this new mix should be that people interact better and fully enjoy all kinds of facilities in the restructured area. This paper addresses the question of whether this new policy has indeed had these effects. The focus point is the role of the neighbourhood, featuring changes for traditional inhabitants while accommodating the newcomers. Do they use the area? Are their social contacts made there? Or can the restructured area be seen as a dormitory, where the residents have no contact with other people in the immediate environment? The paper is based on a fieldwork study undertaken in the cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht. Lessons for future policies of urban restructuring are formulated.
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	-> Housing studies: Displaced but still moving upwards in the housing career? Implications of forced residential relocation in the Netherlands (Kleinhans)
	The housing stock is being restructured in many Dutch post-war neighbourhoods. Through demolition and upgrading of social rented housing and the construction of new owner occupied dwellings, the housing stock and the living environment are being improved. This policy has triggered major residential moves in and beyond some neighbourhoods, partly involuntary. Residents whose dwelling is being demolished or heavily upgraded, are usually forced to move elsewhere. Knowledge of the social implications of forced relocation in the Netherlands is limited, especially on experiences and opinions of relocated households. This paper covers research in two recently restructured neighbourhoods. Movers were recruited to share their experiences and opinions in focus groups and interviews. Surprisingly, many movers were able to improve their housing situation, mostly due to their priority rights in the housing market. However, movers who were less able to take advantage of these rights reported a certain degree of degradation. Moreover, it appears that relocation processes must still be improved in order to reduce stress and refine communication with residents.
	Housing Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4, 473–499, July 2003 please download pdf
	-> Does social capital affect residents’ propensity to move from restructured neighbourhoods? (Kleinhans)
	In the major Dutch cities, social rented housing in post-war neighbourhoods is demolished and largely replaced by more expensive owner-occupied and rental housing. Through residential mobility, these measures can trigger substantial population changes. In two recently restructured neighbourhoods in the city of Rotterdam, we studied residents’ social capital. Herewith, we distinguish between the stayers, movers and newcomers. In a neighbourhood context, social capital refers to the benefit of cursory interactions, shared norms, trust and collective action of residents. Survey data show that social capital is not only an asset of long-term stayers, but that in particular newcomers are relatively rich in social capital. The central question is this paper is: to what extent are residents’ levels of social capital associated with the propensity leave the restructured neighbourhood? Especially for policymakers, knowledge of the stability of restructured neighbourhoods is important. A logistic regression analysis points out the predictors of the propensity to move within five years. After controlling for housing features and satisfaction as well as and neighbourhood satisfaction, social capital was no longer a significant predictor. Strikingly, the higher-income households (especially newcomers) report a significantly higher propensity to leave the restructured neighbourhood than stayers and movers. This runs counter to the policy goals of restructuring. Explanations and suggestions for further research are presented.
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	-> ‘Social Mixing’ and the Management of Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods: The Dutch policy of urban restructuring revisited (Uitermark)
	The Dutch government currently pursues a comprehensive and ambitious policy of ‘social mixing’ in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The second section of this paper suggests that it has as yet not been adequately explained why the Dutch government pursues this so-called restructuring policy. The third section develops an approach derived from regulation theory that potentially helps to decipher the forces behind the Dutch restructuring policy. It is argued that planning practices and discourses should be analysed in relation to the dynamics of the regulatory framework in which they are embedded. The remainder of the paper uses this approach to give an alternative account of the Dutch restructuring policy, suggesting that it represents an attempt to facilitate the social management of disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Thus, it serves to mitigate the social effects of the problematic integration of ethnic minorities and facilitates a national city-oriented growth strategy.
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