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Rotterdam South 

Rotterdam South accommodates a spatial concentration of socio-economically vulnerable households. This is regarded as a spatial injustice because it implies that the population and especially the young reside in an environment that offers little support for individual’s development perspectives. In order to combat these neighbourhood effects stakeholders from government, educational institutes and local businesses recognised the need for a comprehensive, long-term approach. It commenced with the establishment of the Nationaal Programma Rotterdam Zuid (NPRZ), an independent, non-governmental  organisation that only coordinates the actions of stakeholders. Stakeholders dedicate themselves to specific NPRZ aims and then execute their actions. Once stakeholders have committed themselves, the NPRZ leaders will keep them to their agreements and they do not accept stakeholders to opt-out when results are not quickly visible. It is somewhat premature to make conclusive statements about the success of NPRZ.

However, stakeholders seem to be quite positive, although some mention inflexibility of the NPRZ bureau when they suggest new-alternative approaches. Still, there is no lack of support for the NPRZ program. After 7 years into the project, NPRZ received an additional € 260 million from governmental stakeholders. The NPRZ bureau also received European Commission funding for support of youth education and career perspectives (Urban Actions Initiative, ESF and EFRD). Overall, the indicators used by the NPRZ bureau are showing some positive results, compared to a gradual deterioration of the situation in  deprived Dutch neighbourhoods that received no support. This indicates that it is often better to do something, than remain inactive.

For more information on this Case Study, please contact: Kees Dol, TUDelft; C.P.Dol@tudelft.nl

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