Due to the financial crisis, social real estate such as swimming pools, community centres and libraries were often left vacant. In response, these types of vacant properties were occupied by community enterprises, aimed at the improving quality of life, especially in less affluent neighbourhoods. In her PhD research “Entrepreneurial citizenship in urban regeneration”, Nuha Al Sader observes: “Community enterprises provide various social services for the neighbourhood.” 

Greater development opportunities for difficult target groups

Urban regeneration used to be initiated mainly from the top down by the government. Since 2012, however, such large-scale regeneration projects in neighbourhoods have virtually stopped. At the same time, housing associations were given a different role. With her research, Nuha seeks to better understand discourses on entrepreneurial citizenship, practices and experiences of citizens in the context of urban regeneration. 
In addition to a literature review, her study consisted primarily of qualitative research. Nuha: “I conducted interviews with initiators of community enterprises. What struck me right away is that while the literature on the subject states that citizen initiatives are led mainly by higher-educated, white males, this group – although indeed often highly educated – turns out to be very diverse in practice.” According to Nuha, what happens within those initiatives is equally if not more interesting. “They are often better able to reach a broad target group in the neighbourhood. And they are much more diverse in terms of gender and cultural background.” It also appears that such citizen initiatives have a greater impact on the neighbourhood than projects of traditional welfare organisations, for example. Nevertheless, according to Nuha, the government can’t just sit back and do nothing. “Initiatives like these don’t simply develop spontaneously everywhere. It depends largely on what people are capable of. Once the initiatives are in place, they can add a lot to the quality of life in the neighbourhood. And they can provide opportunities especially for those in difficult target groups, such as people with disabilities or people on social welfare benefits. These people will often continue to develop, sometimes even towards employment.”

Lack of policy

Despite the fact that community enterprises are becoming increasingly common in more and more cities, there is still little government policy concerning this. After all, how do you deal with it as a municipality? Which ones do you and don’t you embrace? During her research, Nuha noticed that municipalities are often good at supporting, financing or co-financing small initiatives such as social projects or façade gardens, but not much beyond that. Yet it is precisely these long-term initiatives that require a partner. Nuha: "The question from the government might be how they can facilitate these people in the best way possible. In order for them to focus even more on the neighbourhood or to enable an initiative to get off the ground even when residents aren’t quite able to achieve it on their own yet.” What’s also important is that many municipalities are engaging in participation, for example by involving residents in municipal plans and policies. You could put a lot more thought into how, as a municipality, you can tie in better with plans and initiatives of residents themselves. This immediately gives you a good place to start.

Enter into partnerships as a municipality

One complicating aspect is the balancing act that initiatives now often perform out of necessity. Nuha: “On the one hand, there are the social objectives that serve as a foundation. But at the same time, they often have to finance themselves, at least partly, because the government hardly gets involved. So they are forced to rent out spaces, offer catering services and organise paid activities. What makes things difficult for the initiatives themselves is the risk of becoming too commercial. In addition to this, the work is never finished because it is hardly ever plain sailing financially and a lot of time has to be devoted to such tasks” Nuha, who currently works as a policy adviser for the Municipality of Venlo, has clear advice for municipalities struggling with initiatives such as these: “Engage in partnerships with long-term focused initiatives. And take a good look at your social real estate, which can often help these parties. Include them in your policies when you sell this real estate or define other uses for it. And lastly, make sure it is clear how you deal with these parties like these as a municipality. Why do you support them or not, and under what conditions? Now, far too often it is still unclear where municipalities stand on things while policy documents are full of praise for citizen initiatives.”

Published: December 2023

More information

Nuha Al Sader obtained her doctorate on 9 October 2023 for her PhD thesis “Entrepreneurial citizenship in urban regeneration.” The thesis can be downloaded here.