Creative industries in the Amsterdam Red Light District: Do creative industries contribute to the remaking of a remarkable area?
Thesis Group: Amsterdam Canal District
Assignment: Master thesis Professor: Dr. prof. Robert Kloosterman
Second Reader: Dr. prof Sako Musterd Student: Jop Pék
Student number: 6114776
Student email: [email protected] Student phone number: +31 660499294 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016
Abstract In the last years the potential of the creative industry for stimulating gentrification processes and economic growth is widely recognized. This has led to changes in urban policies, governments focus more on the attraction of creative industries in depilated neighbourhoods. This is also the case in the Amsterdam Red Light District. The oldest part of Amsterdam is, according to the municipality of Amsterdam, an area in a very poor shape. Therefore, the municipality wants to achieve a transformation of the area by introducing ‘Project 1012’. One of the instruments of achieving this transformation is using creative industries to achieve gentrification. Using qualitative methods, the aim of this research is to analyse to what extend the creative industries contribute to the instigated remaking of the municipality of Amsterdam. Semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations are used to find answers to this question. The results show that the municipality of Amsterdam tries to achieve the transformation true different kinds of policies on different levels. Regarding the creative actors, they are visible in the area and have a positive contribution on the transformation of the Amsterdam Red Light District.
Keywords: ‘creative industry’, ‘creative class’, ‘creative actor’ ‘gentrification’, ‘liveability’, ‘project 1012’, ‘Amsterdam Red Light District’
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Preface As I was born and raised in Amsterdam my affection with the city is enormous. I started my studies Human Geography and Urban Planning at the University of Amsterdam. Because of several reasons I didn’t finished this bachelor, but I kept my interest in Human Geography. After I graduated at the ‘Vrije Universiteit’ in Political Science the choice for a Master degree in Human Geography was an obvious one for me. Since I have a background in Political Science implications of policy on urban (economic) developments is one of my interest. The project ‘1012’ gained my attention three years ago when I spoke to an acquaintance who owns a business in the Amsterdam Red Light District. Ever since I try to keep up with the news on this project and see this as a great opportunity to do research on this topic in this remarkable area.
Jop Pék, August 2016
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Inhoudsopgave ABSTRACT ...... 2 PREFACE ...... 3 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 6 FOCUS ...... 7 READING GUIDE ...... 8 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 9 CREATIVE INDUSTRIES ...... 9 CREATIVE CLASS ...... 12 GENTRIFICATION ...... 13 HERITAGE ...... 16 3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...... 19 MAIN QUESTION ...... 19 Sub question 1 ...... 20 Sub question 2 ...... 20 Sub question 3 ...... 21 4. METHODOLOGY ...... 22 INTERVIEWS ...... 22 INTERVIEWS ANALYSIS ...... 24 ETHNOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS ...... 25 OPERATIONALIZATION ...... 27 Quality of place ...... 28 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY AND ETHICAL ASPECTS ...... 29 5. CASE DESCRIPTION ...... 30 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ...... 30 PROJECT 1012 ...... 31 STRATEGIENOTA 2009 ...... 33 OUDEKERKSPLEIN - FUTURE PERSPECTIVE ON THE AREA ...... 35 Introduction Oudekerksplein ...... 35 Policy ...... 36 Policy reassessed ...... 37 6. RESULTS ...... 38 GENTRIFICATION POLICIES ...... 38 PREVIOUS SITUATION OF THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT ...... 38 CREATIVE INDUSTRIES BEING STIMULATED BY POLICY ...... 48 CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT ...... 52 Statistical data ...... 52 Empirical data ...... 56 CREATIVE INDUSTRY ...... 59 RESULTS OF THE PROJECT ...... 61 7. CONCLUSION ...... 63 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... 66
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BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 67 Internet resources: ...... 70 Photo resources (Front page photograph) ...... 70 APPENDIX ...... 71 APPENDIX A TOPIC LIST ...... 71 APPENDIX B CODING AND CATEGORIZATION OF INTERVIEWS ...... 73 APPENDIX C INTERVIEW REQUEST ...... 75
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1. Introduction Buying a ring for your love in the Amsterdam Red Light District? Or looking at fashion designs instead of scantily dressed women behind the windows? This is possible since 2008 in the Amsterdam Red Light District (Parool, 2008).
Since 2007 the municipality of Amsterdam is enforcing this trend with the ‘Project 1012’. 1012 refers to the district’s zip code. The project’s goal is to make this district safer, nicer and create more liveability. The creative industry is used as an instrument to upgrade the 1012 area. A part of this project is creating small business spaces for high- end sectors and creative industries, which are desirable for the district. These spaces are created in formal brothels, hospitality industry spaces, telecom shops, sex theatres, massage salons and so forth. As Aalbers and Sabat (2012) describe, one of the practices of Project 1012 has placed artists and designers in the empty spaces of former brothels. This leads to the situation where you can find mannequins and art installations next to prostitutes (ibid). In this thesis I study the transformation of the area known as 1012. This is a unique project because this intervention, with Project 1012, differs greatly from historical ones. Most importantly because it is a top-down move made by the municipality of Amsterdam (Aalbers, 2010). While ‘1012’ unravels the public opinion in the Netherlands is varying on this issue. Opinions vary from antipathy to the zone and complete disapproval of prostitution, to citizens that approve the zone and see this part of Amsterdam as a defining aspect of the city landscape (ibid). Strange enough the Red Light district’s image is not one of criminality but one of a tourist attraction. However, being regarded as a tourist attraction does not mean that it is a ‘grown up’ version of Disney World. The Red Light District also attracts a lot of criminality. In the hospitality industry weapons and drugs are found on a regular base. Coffeeshops pay very little taxes because of the “gedoogbeleid” (npogeschiedenis.nl, 2008). Furthermore, the prostitution business is known for its wrongdoing on human rights and human trafficking. The last two examples are part of the reason that the municipality wants to instigate a change in this district. In conclusion, the Red Light District is a very well known, historical part of Amsterdam. Its picturesque canals, having one of the oldest churches in the Netherlands, and being once the base of Dutch open-minded sexual ethics, nowadays, the negative side effects coming forth from prostitution, crime and drug abuse forced the municipality of Amsterdam to act on district ‘1012’.
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Focus The focus of this research will be on the creative industries that are situated in the Amsterdam Red Light District: to what extent do firms in creative industries in the Red Light District of Amsterdam contribute to the instigated remaking of the district by project “1012”? The research question and its sub questions will be outlined in chapter three.
The instigated change of this district is not solely based on adding creative industries in the Red Light District. Project 1012 covers much more by also connecting other municipal policies. These other actors and policies are without a doubt influential on the outcome of this instigated change but due to the limitation of this thesis it is not possible to include them all. Therefore, this research focuses on the influence of creative industries on the instigated change of the Red Light District by the municipality of Amsterdam. A lot of research is being done on neighbourhood change and urban redevelopment, but as stated earlier this distinct area is unique in its own kind.
This study looks at outcomes of previous research done on similar regeneration projects. Both the municipality’s perceptions on the project as those of the creative business owners the neighbourhood residents and own observations will be used in this research. Furthermore, this research attempts to make an analysis of urban redevelopment using creative industries. This kind of strategy is a top-down approach, and since ‘forcing’ creative industries to move towards certain districts is not often done, it has scarcely been analysed in the academic field.
Finally, it provides a small contribution to the research field of urban regeneration especially because the implications of this project are of great significance for neighbourhood residents and other stakeholders in the Amsterdam Red Light District. Therefore, it is important to analyse the municipal policies regarding the remaking of the 1012 district.
So the societal relevance of this research can be seen in the light of gaining a better understanding of the implications of the project 1012 on the Red Light District, both from a municipal, a business and a citizens’ point of view. Furthermore, by incorporating the perceptions of multiple actors, this research can help to create understanding on how to improve the quality of a neighbourhood by policy measures.
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Reading guide Chapter one describes the focus of this research. In chapter two, the literature study will be presented in the theoretical framework. This chapter contains a several theories, such as the theory on creative industries, gentrification and the creative class theory. In chapter three the main research question and the three sub questions are presented, After that, the research methods will be discussed in chapter four, this contains the methodological choices, the operationalisation and the data gathering. In chapter five the case of project 1012 will be described and the research area specified. Chapter six presents the results. Finally, chapter seven will describe the conclusions of this research.
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2. Theoretical framework In this chapter the theoretical framework that is used in this research is presented. At first the theory on creative industries is shown. After that, the theory on the creative class and gentrification is being discussed. This chapter ends with a discussion on the economic impact of cultural heritage.
Creative industries The term creative industries have been interpreted and used in many different ways in academic literature, policy documents and newspapers over the past years. This ensures that the creative industry is being seen as a concept that is vague (Drake, 2003). The first approach to define creative industries took place in the United Kingdom primarily as a policy discourse (Flew & Cunningham, 2010). The, in 1997 newly elected, British Labour government of Tony Blair established a Creative Industries Task Force (CITF). This taskforce was the central activity of the new Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (ibid). The taskforce developed the first approach that looked at cultural sectors as contributors to wealth and economic performance. The CITF defined creative industries as “activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent, and which have the potential for wealth and job creation through generation and exploitation of intellectual property.” (Cunningham, 2002). The CITF also provided a list of activities that can be seen as a creative industry, such as architecture, film and design. Critics consider the list arbitrary because of its exclusivity. Cunningham (2002) gives the example of the heritage sector that is overlooked by the CITF, according to him this sector has economic, creative and cultural characteristics and is more robust than some of the included sectors.
Although the CITF made a first effort to define creative industries, the term has been used in many different ways and the boundaries containing the included sectors are vague. This could be seen as a problem. However, Banks & O’Connor (2009) argue that there is an upbeat globalist narrative that implies an international consensus about the meaning of creative industries. This implies that the term is dynamic and continuous. Besides being dynamic and continuous, once can also identify a difference in defining creative industries between Europa and Asia (Flew & Cunningham, 2010). According to Throsby (2001) Europe sees art-related activities as being the core of creative industries. Fields such as advertising, architecture and design are seen as only partially creative. According to Cunningham (2002) in Asia the definitions are more eclectic and inclusive.
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Allen Scott (2010, p. 42) defines the creative economy as “comprising numerous industries devoted to the production of symbolic outputs with high levels of aesthetic, semiotic, and libidinal content.”. Furthermore, Scott (2010) argues that there is a lack of consensus where the cultural economy as such begins and ends, but the published literature suggests that creative industries constitute an important and growing component of modern economic systems.
Finally, the definition of creative industries given by the United Nations Commerce of Trading and Development (UNCTAD) is an interesting definition to describe. In 2008 the UNCTAD published a report on the creative economy. This report provided a comprehensive definition of creative industries. UNCTAD (2008) states that creative industries “are the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs. It’s constitutes a set of knowledge-based activities, focused on but not limited to arts, potentially generating revenues from trade and intellectual property rights. It comprises tangible products and intangible intellectual or artistic services with creative content, economic value and market objectives.’’ (UNCTAD, 2008, 13). In the next section this definition will be further elaborated.
In academic literature, no consensus is found on the definition of creative industries. As shown, several authors defined the concept of creative industries in various ways. In this research I use the definition that is given by the UNCTAD. In their report “The Challenge of Assessing the Creative Economy: towards Informed Policymaking” (UNCTAD, 2008) UNCTAD provides a broad definition of creative industries:
• Are the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs. • Constitute a set of knowledge-based activities, focused on but not limited to arts, potentially generating revenues from trade and intellectual property rights. • Comprise tangible products and intangible intellectual or artistic services with creative content, economic value and market objectives. • Are at the crossroad among the artisan, services and industrial sectors; and constitute a new dynamic sector in world trade (UNCTAD, 2008, 13).
The UNCTAD, in its 2008 report, provides an analytical framework that enables one to develop a sectorial taxonomy of the creative industries (Cunningham, 2010). Next to that, this framework provides the possibility to compare creative industries over time,
10 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 which allows for more detailed policy related recommendations (ibid). Although this is not a comparative research, this useable framework strengthens this model. Furthermore, this framework facilitates the consistency in qualitative and quantitative research (UNCTAD, 2008).
Figure 1 shows the sectorial division of creative industries created by UNCTAD (2008).
Figure 1: UNCTAD (2008) model for creative industries.
The analytical framework includes four sectors; Heritage, Arts, Media, and Functional creations. I will shortly elaborate these sectors below.
Heritage; According to UNCTAD (2008) cultural heritage is identified, as the origin of all forms of arts and it is the soul of cultural and creative industries. It can be seen as an overarching theme in this context. This sector is divided into two categories, Traditional and cultural expressions and Cultural sites. Examples of both can be found in figure 1.
Arts; in this sector all industries related to art and culture are involved. Two categories are formed; Performing arts, which can include live music, theatre opera etc. and Visual arts, such as paintings, photography and ceramics.
Media, this group is also divided into two categories. These categories cover all media that produce creative content with the purpose of communicating with large audiences (UNCTAD, 2008), as figure 1 shows ‘new media’ is categorized differently. The two
11 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 categories are Publishing and printed media, such as books, press, newspapers etc. Audio-visuals entails sectors such as film, television and radio.
Functional creations, this group consists of three categories and comprises more demand-driven and services oriented industries creating goods with functional purposes (UNCTAD, 2008). The first category is design, this category consists of interior, graphic design, fashion etc. The second category is new media that entails software, video games. The last category is creative services such as advertising, creative research, architects etc.
In this research the categories heritage, media and functional creations are used to answer the research question. Ideally the total analytical framework would be used but due to time and scope constraints this is not possible. For a visual presentation of these choices a figure can be found in the operationalization section.
Creative class With the categories of creative industries defined, it is important to know whom the people are that relate to these creative industries. Different approaches are found amongst the academic literature but Richard Florida’s concept of the creative class is the most famous. Florida (2002) argues that people who work in the creative industry are very mobile, attracted to certain locations because of the atmosphere and the dynamic of the location rather than the availability of work.
In his magnum opus, Rise of the Creative Class, Florida (2002) separates the creative class into two groups. One group is the group of so called super creatives, or the super creative core. This group consists of artists and scientists and all other people that create and develop completely new ideas or knowledge. This group is categorised as innovative.
The other group consists of creative professionals that are creative executors. The two groups are defined, but what are the implications for a place for instance? According to Florida et al. (2008) the strong presence of culturally creative individuals can act as a signal of openness across a region. This can enhance regional attractiveness to other talented individuals, which can lead to a benefit for a region, district of place. Next to that Florida (2002) sees the creative class as a group that adopts a hedonistic lifestyle, this suggests that it is a group that stimulates the economy. Furthermore, in the theoretical debate on creative class the narrative is that firms and employees that are situated in creative industries are supposed to pay more attention to the quality of space
12 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 in social, physical and functional terms in comparison to firms and employees in other sectors (Bontje & Musterd, 2009).
It has to be noted that there also is critique on the definition of the creative class of Richard Florida. Markusen (2006) for example argues that it is not as black and white as Richard Florida presents it. She states that every occupation can be seen as creative regardless of whom executes it, is highly educated or not. For example, if a video artist is really successful, but he or she didn’t finish any education, he or she doesn’t belong the creative class in the definition of Florida. Furthermore, Bontje and Musterd (2009) argue that Florida uses this concept in a way that is too loose. An other point of critique is given by Barnes et al. (2007), they warn urban policy makers. They argue that one cannot expect the creative class to solve societal problems. Wilson and Keil (2008) argue that the urban poor can be seen as the ‘real creative class’. They state that this group is not incorporated and neglected in the creative class theory of Florida. Nevertheless, Bontje and Musterd (2009) argue that Florida tries to show awareness of the treat of social inequality in his creative class theory by emphasize that every human being is creative. This implies that besides the higher educated people also the lower income groups can be part of the creative age as he calls it. But in spite of that Bontje and Musterd (2009) state that this debate is on-going as convincing evidence is lacking for both the elitist and the ‘good for every one’ side. As stated above the concept of creative class is widely criticised, this taken into account, this research will use the term creative actors in this research. I will do this because the definitions mentioned above are too specific and assuming. The term creative actors contain people who operate in creative industries; the difference with creative class is not making any distinctions within this group.
Gentrification The current policy discourse on the Amsterdam Red Light District is a perfect example of how spatial regenerating is used to fight problems of criminality and work on economic upgrading of an area. But what can be seen as gentrification? A lot of authors within different academic fields have shed their lights on the definition of gentrification.
Atkinson and Bridge (2004) define gentrification as the revaluation and upgrading of the economic, social and cultural dimensions of an urban area. According to Loopmans (2008) policy-makers are actively pursuing gentrification in central locations as the key for successful urban regeneration, structuring both public and private investments. Smith (2002) in Neuts et al. (2013) states that this kind of gentrification distinguishes
13 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 itself from earlier forms of gentrification. This form is having a more direct involvement of the state. This is expressed in public-private partnerships and the marginalisation of community opposition. Smith calls this the ‘third wave of gentrification’; this form is derived from experiences in the United States. This ‘third wave of gentrification’ is still the conventional approach (Van Gent, 2013). Although this form of gentrification policy is also happening in the Netherlands, Uitermark et al. (2007) state, “urban gentrification policies are actively used as a tool to tackle urban problems and increase liveability in certain neighbourhoods”. This quite unique according to Van Gent (2013). This kind of policy is used in the Netherlands to improve the socio-economic composition of deprived neighbourhoods (ibid). The underlying strategy using liveability according to Uitermark (2009) in Neuts et al. is to enforce the neoliberal agenda. This means that these kinds of policies are striving for manageable crime levels and middle-class households instead of improve the social conditions for subordinated groups (ibid).
Nevertheless, other author’s recon the liveability of a district, area, city is really important to be competitive in the contemporary knowledge economy (Neuts et al., 2013). To be more specific on how policy measures through spatial restructuring can contain underlying drivers such as gentrification Neuts et al. (2013) come forward with the following example; they state that the recent policy discourse in the Amsterdam Red Light District is using spatial restructuring to tackle criminal activities and social problems but at the same time ensures that this historical part of Amsterdam get economically upgraded. Nevertheless, there are critics such as Aalbers and Deinema (2012) that argue that in spite the fact that countering criminal practices is the principal goal of the policy measures, the latent gentrification strategy aims at commodifying urban space. Smith (1996) in Neuts et al. (2013) identified this as “strategically legitimising the driver to conquer space for entrepreneurial strategies and reclaiming it for upper classes”.
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But this is not the only way of looking at gentrification. Bounds and Morris (2010) for example, use the characteristics of gentrification set up by Savage and Warde (1993, p.80):
• Resettlement and concentration of higher status residents displacing lower status residents; • Transformation of the built environment resulting in a distinctive aesthetic and new local services; • Concentration of persons with a shared culture and lifestyle and class related preferences; and • Revision of property values, construction opportunities and an extension of private ownership.
Bound and Morris (2010) state that gentrification can be seen as a diverse process that occurs in the current changing economy of the city. In this research the second and the third point of these characteristics apply on the research area. The municipality of Amsterdam is trying to achieve the attraction of a new group of people to the research area by its policies. The concentration of this group with a shared culture and lifestyle is in their view enhancing the increase of property values and constructing opportunities for entrepreneurship in the area. This is one of the goals of the policy that is created by the municipality. Therefore, the last two points of Savage and Warde (1993) are applicable in this study. The specifics of the case description can be found in chapter 5.
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Heritage In this section economic and cultural heritage is discussed. In academic literature cultural heritage is seen as a factor that is important in the regeneration of neighbourhoods and cities in particular. Also policy makers have cultural heritage or cultural planning as an important topic on the municipal policy agenda (Kloosterman, 2013). They use it as an instrument to regenerate neighbourhoods, to boost the quality of place and to attract high skilled workers (ibid). This section tries to define what cultural heritage is and what the economic values of cultural heritage are.
First what is cultural heritage? According to Bizzarro and Nijkamp (1996) cultural build heritage allows us to recognise the identity of a society. It helps us to identify the basic ethical needs of a community and helps us to define the local distinctiveness and traditions of a society. It also helps us to link the past to the present. As elaborated in the section on creative industries the UNCTAD (2008) defined cultural heritage as: “It is heritage that brings together cultural aspects from the historical, anthropological, ethnic, aesthetic and societal viewpoints, influences creativity and is the origin of a number of heritage goods and services as well as cultural activities” (UNCTAD, 2008, p, 14).
Cultural build heritage plays an important role in urban policies because it offers a number of opportunities for socio-economic development (Bizzarro & Nijkamp, 1996). This is a phenomenon that is occurring for ages (Kloosterman, 2013). Governments are interfering in culture even back to the pharaohs (ibid). So interference of governments in culture is nothing new, but the importance of cultural build heritage and the policies around this, also mentioned in academic literature as cultural planning, became even more important after Landry (2008) and Florida (2002) stressed the importance of these cultural amenities, as they could increase the ‘quality of space’, draw high-skilled workers and even boost the urban economy (Evans & Frood, 2008) in Kloosterman (2013), Bowitz and Ibenholt, 2009).
Mercer (2006) defines cultural planning as: “the strategic and integrated planning and use of cultural resources in urban and community development” (Mercer, 2006, p. 6). Cultural amenities consist of multiple activities such as museums, theatres, galleries and other activities that enable local consumption of cultural services (Kloosterman, 2013).
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Bizzarro and Nijkamp (1996) make a difference between primary and secondary benefits that the cultural build heritage offers. Primary benefits are for instance job creation, such as jobs in museums, income effects for producers and suppliers. Secondary opportunities are of higher importance in this research. Bizzarro and Nijkamp (1996) name several benefits such as the stimulation of private investments, the increase of arts and craft employment but the most important one is the socio economic stabilisation of neighbourhoods and the potential magnet effects for further high quality development.
Ruijgrok (2006) states that cultural heritage has three different benefits for the local economy that surpass possible costs; housing comfort value, a recreational value and a bequest value. Housing comfort value, for example privately owned buildings derive benefits for the people who live there, but also generates benefits for those who enjoy the looks of these build heritage without the actual expenditure. This is where recreational value comes into play (ibid). People also derive benefits from the sheer knowledge that is passed through generation on generation, this is known as bequest value. The benefit that is derived from the last two is reflected in the willingness from people to pay for visiting these build cultural heritage such as a church or museum.
Bowitz and Ibenholt (2009) conducted a case study in the Norwegian town Røros researching the economic impacts of cultural heritage. They state that economist often ask the question; what is the positive effect for the local economy of investing in culture, such as a new museum? However, a more important question is; what are the potential spill overs for the local economy of investments in cultural heritage? The authors argue that there are nine effects that one has to take into account when researching the economic impact of cultural heritage on the local economy. Due to the fact that this thesis has a limited time schedule and scope not all nine effects will be discussed in this chapter, a selection is made by looking at the added value for this research.
First the direct effects, these effects are direct economic impacts from the project itself (ibid.) for instance the jobs that are created when a new museum is build, of a museum is renovated or extended. This is not the only way a direct effect can be explained, the increase in popularity of a region through cultural investments can lead to the fact that local residents are staying in the region or neighbourhood instead of traveling out to experience culture.
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Second the input and output effects. Projects need intermediate inputs such as maintenance and food. These can be imported from suppliers in the local community; this increases the production and is a positive effect for the local economy.
Third, ancillary spending this means that visitors of cultural heritage sites are spending resources in this region such as in the food and retail sector. Visitors spend money in different facilities than a museum for instance. They use the urban space around the museum, they book a hotel, take a cab and buy lunch. Firms in these sectors profit from the cultural heritage and it will increase the income of these firms.
Finally, the gravitation effect. According to Bowitz and Ibenholt (2009) investments in preservation of cultural heritage or even in new cultural sites can lead to the fact that a region or neighbourhood becomes more attractive in terms of liveability for instance. But it can also help to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. In this sense culture can be used in policy measures to help to establish a positive image for a region or neighbourhood (ibid.).
In conclusion, it has to be noted that the previous named examples are all positive effects of cultural heritage. Of course not all effects are positive, positive effects can also result in negative effects for example. Take the example of the wear and tear that is caused by tourist or visitors to the oldest part of Amsterdam. Residents complaining on the enormous amounts of tourists that visit the ‘Grachtengordel’ (Canal district). But also the large amounts of tourists that visits the museum district or Museumplein in Amsterdam, which harbour long waiting lines on the public sidewalks in front of museums, enormous amounts of extra bicycles on the square, and litter that is left on the lawn are examples of negative results of the cultural heritage.
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3. Research questions
The following chapter describes the research questions in this study. First of all, the research questions will be discussed. The chapter hereafter will describe the used methods in this research.
Main question
Based on the literature review, the research interest, and the limited time frame of this research, a research question is formulated. By researching the contribution of creative industries on the instigated remaking of the Amsterdam Red Light District, it is clear that the spatial unit in this research is the Amsterdam Red Light District, further specifications on the spatial scope can be found in chapter 5. As stated in the introduction the research focuses on the contribution of the creative industries on the instigated remaking of the Amsterdam Red Light District. This is a case of top-down gentrification initiated by the municipality aimed at reducing the role of organized crime by converting spaces of prostitution into office spaces for creative industries. The main research question is:
To what extent do firms in creative industries in the Red Light District of Amsterdam contribute to the instigated remaking of the district by project 1012?
As can be noticed from this research question two elements can be distinguished, the contribution of the creative industries and the instigated remaking by the municipality of Amsterdam of the Red Light District. Both elements will be examined independently but can be combined into one research question as the elements are clearly interwoven. To answer the main research question thoroughly and make the research tangible the research question is divided into three sub questions. The sub questions are based on each other, and the conclusions of the three sub questions will provide the overall conclusion to the main research question of this research. All the three sub questions will be formulated and elaborated in this section.
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Sub question 1
When, why and what kind of policies to achieve gentrification have been implemented by the municipality of Amsterdam for project 1012?
In this sub question the policies that are implemented by the municipality of Amsterdam for project 1012 to achieve gentrification are analyzed. This should give a comprehensive view on the policies that are implemented and help to understand the situation in the research area and the role of the municipality in urban development. I will do this is done by looking at policy documents, also the interviews that are conducted with the civil servants of the municipality of Amsterdam will help to answer this question. The analysis can be found in chapter 6.
Sub question 2 This sub question is based on the previous one and incorporates the creative industries in the research. It tries to analyze how the creative industries play a role in the policy measures of the municipality of Amsterdam. Sub question two is formulated as followed:
How do creative industries fit into the picture of policy measures by the municipality of Amsterdam?
This sub question is also answered by looking at policy documents and the findings from the interviews with the civil servants of the municipality of Amsterdam. Furthermore, the creative entrepreneurs that are interviewed may have said something about the policies, this is also incorporated in the conclusions on this sub question. This question helps to understand how the creative industries fit into the policies in project 1012 of the municipality of Amsterdam. The two sub questions above lead to the third and last sub question.
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Sub question 3 The last sub question is formulated as follow:
Do creative industries actually contribute to the remaking of the district in terms of enhancing the quality of place and liveability?
With this sub question the final answers on the main research question can be found. The question will be answered by empirical data that is gathered during this research by interviewing stakeholders and conducting an ethnographic observation, these methods will be described in chapter 4. Next to this statistical data will be presented to support the empirical findings. The conclusion of this question will give an understanding what the contribution of the creative industry is on the research area and helps to answer the main research question.
The conclusions of all three sub questions will be used to construct an overall conclusion towards the main research question of this research: To what extent do firms in creative industries in the Red Light District of Amsterdam contribute to the instigated remaking of the district by project “1012”?
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4. Methodology In this chapter the methods that are used in this research are described. First, the methods regarding the interviews are presented. Second, the ethnographic observation methods are explained. Third the operationalization is provided. At last, the reliability, validity, and the ethical aspects of this research are presented.
This research makes use of qualitative research methods. Qualitative research methods differ from quantitative methods in several ways, the most common assumption is that qualitative research is more concerned with words than with numbers (Bryman, 2008). But this is not necessarily the case; numbers can be used to support the findings of the qualitative research without being analysed in a quantitative way (ibid). Furthermore, Bryman (2008) describes three features that are part of qualitative research. First, he states that qualitative research has an inductive view of the relationship between theory and research, whereby theory is generated from the research. Second, qualitative research has an epistemological position that can be described as interpretivist. This means that the focus in this method lies on the understanding of the social word by examination of the interpretation of that word by its participants.
At last Bryman (2008) states that the ontological position of qualitative research can be described as constructionist. This means that the results of the research are the outcome of interactions between individuals. To add to this, Boeije et al. (2009) argues that qualitative methods can be described as flexible methods for data collection, where participants can raise topics themselves.
Interviews
Bryman (2008) describes five research methods that are associated with qualitative research; ethnography/participant observation, qualitative interviewing, focus groups, discourse and conversation analysis and qualitative analysis of documents and texts. This research makes use of ethnographic observation, and qualitative interviewing in the form of semi structured interviews. With a semi-structured interview, a number of topics can be selected to be present in each interview, while also maintaining the possibility within the interview to follow-up on interesting points made by the interviewee (Bryman, 2008). In this research, interviews are conducted in a face-to-face manner. Interviewing gives the opportunity to dig deeper into phenomenon and provides the researcher with often very contextual information (ibid). There are some advantages using face-to-face interviews. For example, social cues such as voice, body language and intonation can be taken into account and give the interviewer the option
22 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 to use this information in the questions that he or she asked (Opdenakker, 2006). A disadvantage of face-to-face interviews could be that social cues can lead to guiding by the interviewer (ibid). Another drawback of conducting interviews is that it is a time consuming affair, this ensures that there are fewer people that can participate in this research (Bryman, 2008). To overcome this problem could be using surveys which will be send to the companies in creative industries, civil servants and neighbourhood residents, but without a personal connection participation rates are rather low. Next to that it is hard to find the intrinsic motivation behind the answers that the respondent has given. Both research methods have pro’s and con’s, but the choice has fallen on rich in-depth qualitative data gathered by doing semi-structured interviews. The interviews are semi-structured by the use of a topic list. This list is used as guidance for me as a researcher conducting the interviews. The topics on the list are determined based on the theory described in chapter two and can be found in the appendix (appendix A).
To ensure that this research can rely on a representative sample of stakeholders, it is important to not only consider the number of interviews, but also the division between the different stakeholders. The aim is to conduct twelve in-depth interviews covering different stakeholders. Regarding the units of analysis, several individuals will be interviewed. I want to conduct interviews with entrepreneurs that own a firm in a creative industry which is located in the research area. Furthermore, I plan to interview policymakers from the municipality of Amsterdam that are involved in the project 1012. At last neighbourhood residents are interviewed as they can contribute to the overview of the success of the instigated remaking of the Amsterdam Red Light District.
The stakeholders that are possible interviewees will be found true company websites, the personal network of the researcher and by being present in person in the research district. The potential respondents are contacted through e-mail, by phone or in person. As the entrepreneurs and the civil servants are possibly highly occupied it could be an advantage to approach them in person or by phone as a personal approach could lead to cooperation. This form of selecting respondents can be seen as purposive sampling. Purposive sampling, according to Bryman, (2008) is a form of sampling where the researcher does not seek to sample participants on a random basis. The goal of this form of sampling is to sample participants in a strategic way so that those that are sampled are relevant to the research (ibid.) Table 1 provides an overview of the distribution, of
23 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 the in-depth interviews. It also shows the codes per category, these codes are used in the answering of the sub questions.
Table 1 Code and distribution of respondents
Code Information Number of interviews
C Creative entrepreneurs 6
ME Municipality employees 3
R Neighbourhood Residents 2
S Short interviews 7
Interviews analysis The data that is gathered from the conducted interviews will be analysed and used in the three sub questions in this research. The interviews are conducted with several stakeholders that are elaborated in section 4.1 and will be recorded if possible. If so, the interviews are transcribed after the interview took place. By doing this the researcher will be able to recognize the most of the spoken data, this makes it easier to connect the results between the interviews. After the interviews are transcribed the transcripts will be analysed using deductive and inductive coding. When using deductive coding as a method, the coding scheme is created in advance (Saldana, 2012). Besides deductive coding, inductive coding is used. The inductive coding in this research is done by using open coding. Open coding according to Pandit (1996) “open coding refers to the part of analysis where labelling and categorizing from the collected data takes place”. The analysis of the interviews is carried out using the software Atlas T.I. This software allows the researcher to upload the transcripts and pre-set codes. The codes are organized and the software helps to code fast and consequent, furthermore the software helps to trace the codes back easily.
Since various respondents did not want to be registered with their names, the researcher has promised that the transcripts would not be included as an appendix. Anyone may contact the researcher regarding the transcripts.
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Ethnographic observations To ensure that this research is credible the technique of triangulation is used. Triangulation entails using more than one research method or source of data in research (Bryman, 2008). In this case, interviews and ethnographic observations are used to achieve triangulation. Triangulation is also used to cross check findings deriving from qualitative research (Deacon et al. 1998 in Bryman, 2008). During a master thesis project, it is unlikely that the researcher is able to conduct a full-scale ethnography (ibid). Normally ethnographic research means a long period of being in the field or in an organisation, but according to Wolcott (1990) it is also possible to carry out a micro- ethnography, this involves focusing on a particular aspect of a topic. A relatively short period of time could be spent on a specific site, in this case the “Oudekerksplein” and the “St-Annekwartier”.
Ethnography or participant observation are both broad themes and are methods that can be used in different ways. Bryman (2008) distinguishes four forms of ethnography. First he makes a difference between the overt and the covert role of the ethnographer. In the covert role the researcher does not disclose the fact that he or she is a researcher, in the overt role this is the opposite. Then he distinguishes two different settings where research can be done, the open/public setting and the closed setting. An example of a closed setting can be research that is done within a firm. An open setting can be research that is being done in public space. To do research in a closed setting, gaining access is important and highly underestimated (Van Maanen & Kolb, 1982). Gaining access requires strategic planning, hard work and dumb luck (ibid.). Doing research in an open setting is much easier as there are no barriers that the researcher should overcome. Regarding the covert and overt role, Bryman (2008) describes the advantages and disadvantages of both roles that a researcher can adapt. The pros and cons will be discussed briefly below. For the covert role the most important advantage is that access to the research site is less hard whereas the researcher does not have to seek permission to gain entry to the research site be cease he or she is not seen as researcher. The most obvious disadvantages for the covert role are the problem of taking notes and the possible ethical issues that occur. A researcher that adapts the covert role cannot take notes because his cover is blown immediately. Taking notes is important in ethnographic research because it is impossible to memorise everything during ethnographic observations (ibid). Another important disadvantage is the fact that the participants are not given the opportunity to agree or disagree with participating in the
25 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 research. The greatest advantage for the overt role in ethnographic research is the fact that he or she can be truly him or herself during the research period. A disadvantage is that it may be harder to gain access to a closed setting because the potential participants are not willing to cooperate. In this research the overt role is used, in an open/ public setting. As stated earlier in this chapter the ethnographic research is done in a public space in the city centre of Amsterdam.
Besides the four forms of ethnographic research a deeper distinction can be made in the role the ethnographer adopts during the research in relation to the social setting and its members. There are several definitions and schemes in academic literature on the different roles ethnographers can adapt. According to Bryman (2008) the scheme of Gold (1958) is the one that is the most accepted and comprehensive.
Gold (1958) describes four roles; the complete participant, the participant as observer the observer as participant and the complete observer. The complete participant is according to Gold fully functioning in a social setting and the identity of the researcher is covert as described above. The second role as participant as overseer is the same as the role above although the members in the social setting the researcher is working are aware of his or her identity. The third role is the role of observer as participant. This role will be adapted in this research. In this role the researcher observes but this observation does not involve a lot of participation. As a complete observer, the fourth role, the researcher does not interact at all with the people in the research area/setting. This is not convenient and appropriate for this research. It is important that the researcher observes but also interacts if necessary with the people who are in the area at the time of observing. The role of observer as participant is used in this research but this role has, according to Gold (1958, in Bryman 2008), one disadvantage. The role holds the risk of not understanding or misunderstanding the people or the social setting. Furthermore, Gold (1958) argues that the fieldworker in this role is normally doing one- visit interviews, which in this case is true. This can lead to misunderstandings of the information the fieldworker collects during the observations and the interviews. This is something to keep in mind doing research as an observer as participant. Next to that it is important to keep in mind that the research area in this research contains a high percentage of tourists who will visit the area just a view times.
Nevertheless, it has to be recognized that not all people that are present in the research area will give a complete representation of the area. It is also important to notice that
26 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 this research is about the change of a neighbourhood, therefore it is important that the researcher himself feels the dynamics of the current status. Therefore, the observations will be done at day but also at night as this area is seen as an area that flourishes at night. The observations are done over the course of four days, two in the afternoon and two after twelve PM. First descriptive observations are done. The focus of this observations will be: What is going on? What is the sphere? and What are people doing in this area? Next to observations the people in the area will be addressed in an informal way. Asking what they thing of the neighbourhood and if they noticed any change over time. During this process I will take notes according to the general principles given by Bryman (2008). These principles are:
1. The notes should be written as quickly as possible after an interesting observation; 2. The notes should be clear to overcome misunderstanding afterwards; 3. After the observations, the researcher should be write up a full field note report.
This results in an ethnographic report that can be seen as hard data and can be used to answer the research question. The results of the ethnographic observations are presented in chapter seven. The choice has been made to select the relevant parts of the report to ensure that the readability of this thesis is of a good level. During the analysis full reports were used.
Operationalization It is important to interview the right units of analysis and ask them the right questions while conducting the interviews. If this is not being done correctly, the risk of the lack of measurement validity can occur. According to Bryman (2008) this is the failure of measure. This can lead to the undermining of the value of the research. Because of this it is important to prevent indistinctness around units of analysis and the research question.
In chapter two, the concept of creative industry has been discussed extensively. To keep this research feasible, the choice is made to narrow the definition of creative industry down into three sectorial divisions from the original definition of the UNCTAD (2008). Besides the reason regarding scope, the preparatory fieldwork showed that these sectors are all available in the research area. Figure two shows a visual presentation of the sectors that are chosen in this research, being: media, functional creations and heritage. Companies and persons that are operating within these sectors together with the neighbourhood residents can be seen as the units of analysis.
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Figure 2: Model for Creative industries. Source: own work
Figure two shows all sub categories, for example the sectors of functional creations is divided within three categories; design, creative services and new media. The definitions of all sub sectors can be found in figure 2.
Quality of place To define a quality of place, this research is based on how the municipality of Amsterdam defined quality of place in their own research. The municipality has the Wonen in Amsterdam (WiA) series. This research gives an overview of Amsterdam and its neighbourhoods. It uses, besides the quantitative data on the neighbourhood, perceptions of its residents. By giving points on a one-to-ten scale residents are asked about various and numerous concepts in relation to their neighbourhood. This study used the data from several WiA researches (2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013) to determine if and on what scale neighbourhood residents perceive a change, hindrance or effect in their neighbourhood.
As several years of the WiA study is being used, the researcher has the possibility to recognize change over time due to the instigated remaking of the 1012 area through top-down policies. Besides looking at solely the 1012 area, comparisons are made between Amsterdam as a whole and the research area.
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Reliability and validity and ethical aspects Regarding the nature of qualitative research, interaction between researchers and participant can be ethically challenging for the researcher. The researcher is clearly personally part of the research. This is why it is important to formulate clear ethical guidelines. These guidelines could consist of confidentiality, privacy, relationships between researchers and participants. Confidentiality and privacy are, in my opinion, the most important ethical aspects for my research. First I want to make clear that every participant has the opportunity to participate in full anonymity if he or she prefers so. If anonymity is desired, the participant will be denoted with a code, these codes can be found in table 1. Furthermore, the face-to-face interviews will be recorded, but only if the participant will agree on beforehand. If the participant doesn’t agree, I only take notes. The notes, transcripts and audiotapes will be destroyed after the report is finalized. At last the respondent is asked if he or she wants to read the transcript of the interview afterwards and the finalized the transcript and begin the analysis.
The validity of this research is linked to the absence of the systematic errors that can help a distortion of the research. Thus, it is important to note that it is possible that respondents can give socially desirable answers, but questions regarding perception, liveability and neighbourhood change can be considered as not highly sensitive for desirable answers. Therefore, desirable answers from respondents are not expected. However, it is possible that the respondents working for the municipality of Amsterdam give desirable answers. By including the same questions in interviews with the civil servants as with the creative actor’s irregularities can be noticed. The interviewed creative actors may hesitate to express criticism on the functioning of the municipality in the research area. It is important that they know their anonymity is guaranteed and their answers are treated with confidentiality.
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5. Case description
The following paragraphs discuss the case description. First from a historical point of view, thereafter from the municipal policy point of view. At the end of this chapter it is clear which part of the 1012 zip code is being researched.
Historical overview The Amsterdam Red Light District is probably the most well know Red Light District in the western world and situated in the oldest part of the city. The ’Oude Kerk’ (Dutch for the ‘Old Church’), which is located in the center of the Red Light district, originates from the 13th century. The Red Light District’s borders are the Lange and Korte Niezel in the north, the Zeedijk and Nieuwmarkt’ on the east side and the Koe- and St. Jansstraat in the south and the Warmoesstraat on the west side of the district.
Map 1: Map of the Red Light District. Source: Maps.amsterdam.nl
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Until the connection between the IJmuiden and Amsterdam harbor through the Noordzeekanaal opened up, the famous district was a port area (historiek.net, 2010). Being a port area can be seen as one of the reasons that this place became a district where prostitution thrived. Around 1960, when the sexual ethics loosened up, the Red Light District became the epitome of Dutch tolerance(ibid). At this time the Red Light district became more known by the general public (npogeschiedenis.nl)
Project 1012 In this section project 1012 will be described, first a short historic overview is provided, after that the policy pillars of the project are presented.
Project 1012 refers to the project that the municipality of Amsterdam launched in 2007 to regenerate the postal code area 1012. The inducement for this project can be found previous to 2007. In 1996 a parliamentary inquiry committee was founded to investigate the methods of investigation for organized crime, this committee is also referred as committee Van Traa to the name of the president of the committee. The committee concluded that the investigation methods didn’t worked as they should, so they advised to have a ‘wallenmanager’ who had a coordinating role in tackling crime in the Amsterdam Red Light District. This happened in 1997, and can be seen as the start of proactive attitude of the municipality in fighting crime in the Red Light District (Trouw, 1997). The most foremost job of this ‘wallenmanager’ was to map the problems of the neighbourhood. Following on this, in 2000 the so called Van Traa-team was founded, his team had the aim to combat the infiltration of organized crime into the legitimate private economy. This is when the street-based approach was introduced; this will be elaborated in the policy pillars section. In short, after the street-based approach was introduced the plans of the municipality, commercial enterprises and private investment parties where better aligned. In 2002 the city district ‘Centrum’ (centre) was established, it was at that time that the municipality started with combined interventions using the Bibob law, which examines the integrity of an entrepreneur that applies for a permit or a subsidy or are holders of such kind (justis.nl).
Moreover, this was the start of a broader approach where not only criminality was the focus but also the redevelopment and the appearance of the public space where points of interest. These focus points where created to increase the liveability of the area. In the summer of 2006 the city district ‘Centrum’ created the coordinating team Wallen, this team applied the focus points mentioned above. In 2007 this area based approach was evaluated. The conclusions of these evaluations are that there is done a lot to fight criminality, but the means to do so are no sufficient.
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Therefore, the Van Traa-team presented a report called “Grenzen aan de handhaving - Nieuwe ambities voor de Wallen” (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a) where they concluded that enforcement was not enough, and therefore a project that entails also policy making should be started.
This was the start of the coalition project 1012. In this project directors of the central municipality and the city district Centrum are involved. Alderman of economic affairs and the mayor are the representatives of the municipal council and the city district Centrum is represented by the district mayor and the portfolio manager for public space and economic affairs. At that time these persons were Job Cohen, Lodewijk Asscher, Els Iping and Erik Koldenhof.
The project ‘1012’ formulated her focus points for the area shortly after the employment of the project. These points had to be accepted by the municipal council, which they were. After the acceptance, a policy paper outlining the strategy of the project was published. This is the main policy document of the project where all the focus points for the district are described. In the section below this policy document will be described and elaborated extensively.
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Strategienota 2009 In this paragraph the ‘strategienota’ (strategy paper) from 2009 will be described. This document as stated before is the most important policy document for the project.
The main goal of the coalition project ‘1012’ is to break the criminal infrastructure by reducing the nuisance and criminogenic sectors.
These are sectors that are legal but they are unduly sensitive for criminal activities (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b).
At the same time an upgrade of the so-called entrance area of Amsterdam, postal code 1012, should be achieved. The unilateral economic structure should be transformed to a multilateral economic structure of high quality
(Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). Map 2: Unilaterality in functions Source: Gemeente Amsterdam
The unilateral economic structure of the 1012 area is formed by mostly enterprises where illegal activities and abuses are taking place. The presence of sports cafés, snack bars, and low budget hotels completes the unilaterality.
Map 2 showed above (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b) shows the areas where the unilaterality emerged. The strategy paper consists of three main policy pillars which should lead to getting closer to the main goal of the project; 1) Key projects as an engine for change; 2) Restructuring the public space in the 1012 area; 3) The street based approach.
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All three will be described below. At first the key projects are described. The municipality describes in the Strategienota that the desired changes in the 1012 area going to be accomplished by adding new functions at strategic locations.
This can be done by interventions true urban planning of add new concepts or formulas (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). The appointed nine projects should contribute to the instigated change and improvement of the cultural and retail supply. Some of the projects where already in progress by the time the ‘Strategienota’ was published, the municipality was hoping to effect these projects in a positive way true its administrative power. In this part only the relevant projects for this research will be discussed which are two of the nine projects.
First, I will describe two key projects. Starting with the development of the cluster Oudekerksplein. In 2009 the municipality wanted to create a brothel-free Oudekerksplein. The Oude Kerk should become the cultural and historical meeting point of the Red Light District. The public space should be redesigned and the Oudekerksplein and the streets close to it should have a combination of craft activities, hospitality industry and creative industries. A more extensive elaboration on the plans according to the Oudekerksplein can be found in paragraph 5.4. The second project is that of the museum ‘Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder’. This museum was an old hidden church which nowadays function as a museum. Because of the cultural heritage and added value for the city a subsidy is given for the renovation of the museum. Besides the subsidy also the nearest surroundings need a positive injection, this includes the Oudezijds Armsteeg (ibid) and the adjacent public space.
The second policy pillar is the restructuring of the public space. The municipality argues that it is important to restructure the public space in a sustainable and safe way, this can be seen as an instrument to create the desired upgrading of the 1012 district (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). The idea behind this is that a sustainable and safe restructured public space creates calmness, better traffic situations. Furthermore, restructuring works as an instrument and catalyst for existing property owners to refurbish their possessions.
The last pillar is the street-based approach. This policy is to support the aforementioned policies in fighting the unilateral economic environment and criminogenic functions. In this policy a view streets are appointed where changes need to be made. Not all selected
34 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 streets are relevant for this research therefore not all the streets that are selected in the Strategienota will be mentioned in this thesis. The municipality argues that the selected streets can influence the whole area and that they form a barrier for in the instigated changes that the project aims at. Furthermore, the streets that are selected for this policy contain mostly low quality functions such as coffeeshops, exchange offices, massage salons, mini supermarkets and low quality hospitality services.
Oudekerksplein - future perspective on the area In this section the specific case of the Oudekerksplein will be described on the basis of the “Visie-Oudekerksplein” which is developed by the municipality of Amsterdam. First a short introduction of the Oudekerksplein will be given. Secondly the vision of the municipality will be briefly elaborated. The full description will be given and analysed in chapter seven.
Introduction Oudekerksplein The Oudekerksplein is functioning as the centre of Amsterdam for ages, religiously but also as the civil centre (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b). Map 3 shows the Oudekerksplein and its surroundings.
Map 3: Research area Source:: Toekomstvisie Oudekerksplein, Gemeente Amsterdam, 2010.
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When I refer to the Oudekerksplein area, the area depicted (numbers 1, 2 and 3) above is the area in which the research is taking place. The municipality sees a prominent role for this square in the future as well. Therefore, this area is appointed as a key project within the 1012 project and seen as a cluster within the street based approach.
The Oudekerksplein offers the opportunity to attract various visitors to the heart of the city instead of public that is only interested in the prostitution that can be found in the area. Furthermore, the Oudekerksplein and its potential have the ability to reduce the criminogenic functions in the Amsterdam Red Light District (ibid.). According to the municipality this will lead to a higher quality of place on the square and its surroundings and improves the liveability of the neighbourhood.
Policy The municipality of Amsterdam created a policy, called the “Toekomstvisie Oudekerksplein”, in which they state their future plans. This document is used in the first instance as a testing framework for new initiatives in this district but eventually this should be the substantive basis for the zoning plan of 1012. In this policy document the Oudekerksplein should enhance the connection between the dynamic full Damrak and the lee of the intricate city neighbourhood around the Red Light District. This should lead to the accessibility of the district for all inhabitants of Amsterdam (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b).
The Oudekerksplein plays a really important role in the achievement of the goals that the 1012 plan of the municipality of Amsterdam entails. For example, the attraction of different visitors, the alteration of unwanted functions with a low-quality appearance, increasing the diversity of function and adding new functions with higher quality (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). Next to this the central location of the area and its specific character enhances the role in the economic transformation of the Red Light District as a whole. The church (de Oudekerk), is a building with an open character and serves as a place where a wide range of activities is taking place such as contemporary art expositions.
This leads to the fact that the church is a functional part of the area. Next to and in the church there are small businesses mostly in the creative industry (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b). In the alleys around the square a lot of small shops, studios and workshops can be found. Also a lot of creative entrepreneurs can be found here (ibid.). From the point of view of the municipality, the pedestrians in the area can see creative entrepreneurs working in their small studios on the ground level.
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The Oudekerksplein and its surroundings should be vivid but also a civilized area where visitors can come during day- and night-time. The square should leave a good impression to the visitors, tourists but also the Amsterdam residents that like culture, design, good food and interesting shops. Next to this the area should be attractive to creative industries.
Policy reassessed On the 8th of January 2016 the municipality of Amsterdam reassessed the project 1012 that started in 2009. She communicated this by sending a letter with the outcomes of the project to the residents of the area, the entrepreneurs and the other stakeholders. The goals of the project stayed the same: decreasing the functions which are sensitive to crime by street-oriented transformation and the improvement of the balance of the functions and spatial developments by stimulating street-oriented real estate developments (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016). The intended purpose of the municipality of this is to create the desired transformation (increasing liveability and break through the monoculture) in the 1012 area and continue to make this possible.
The council decision is a well-informed decision that resulted in the remaining goals of the project; although the biggest change is caused by the budget cuts on the purchase of real estate. It appears that the municipality is unable to afford to buy the selected real estate. She needs help form private investments from the housing corporations and a pension fund. Together the three will form a new alliance called ‘1012 Inc.’, but these are plans still in progress. Also with regard to people working in the sex industry (hereafter: sex workers) changes are made. The municipality of Amsterdam wants to ensure that the interest of the sex workers is worn more than in the past (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016). Next to these changes the municipality decided that half of the windows that had to be closed according to the Strategienota (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a) stay open. Furthermore, a new project is launched in relation to the independence of the sex workers called “Eigen Raam”. In this project sex workers can exploit windows on their own (without further ‘need’ of a pimp) and fifteen windows are made available.
In the reassessment paper the municipality of Amsterdam states that there have been positive developments in the recent years. This ensures the possibility to continue with the policy measures regarding the liveability of the district (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016).
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6. Results The following paragraphs describe the results based on the above mentioned policy documents. The sub questions one to three will be addressed first.
Gentrification policies
In this chapter the first sub question will be answered based on Amsterdam policy documents. Answering this sub question, the policies that are implemented by the municipality of Amsterdam for project 1012 to achieve gentrification are analysed. The main answers on the first sub question can be found in de Strategienota 2009 (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b), the Nota Beleidsaanpassingen 2011 (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2011) and the Toekomstvisie Oudekerksplein 2010 (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2010). The first sub question is:
When, why and what kind of policies to achieve gentrification have been implemented by the municipality of Amsterdam for project 1012?
First, the “why question” is addressed; this is done by describing the old situation of the 1012 district. Second the ‘when’ and ‘what’ part of the question is answered. In this part the answer that the municipality found on the problems described in the first section are described. This should give a comprehensive view on the policies that are implemented and help to understand the situation in the research area and the role of the municipality in urban development.
Previous situation of the Red Light District
The Amsterdam Red Light District is seen by many as the personification of the tolerant and open-minded city that Amsterdam is. Nevertheless, the municipality deems it necessary to interfere, how come? The municipality argues that there is a criminal infrastructure that is held in position by the so-called criminogenic services such as brothels, coffeeshops, headshops, currency exchange offices, mini supermarkets and gambling halls (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a).
Phenomena that are hard to prove are the buzzing rumours on acquisitions that are financed by dirty or criminal money (ibid). The earlier mentioned Van Traa team that conducted a parliamentary survey confirms that these activities are taking place without providing hard evidence. However, there are examples of real estate that is sold for exorbitant prices and the revenues that mini supermarkets and phone shops are making that are not in ratio with the rent that they have to pay. In the policy document “Grenzen
38 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 aan de handhaving Nieuwe ambities voor de Wallen” (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a)written by the Van Traa team, the conclusion states that the criminal infrastructure which is found in the Red Light District is substantiated. In this policy document the municipality of Amsterdam and the Van Traa team state that the combination of three criminogenic branches: 1) coffeeshops, 2) hospitality services and, 3) prostitution are found in the district. In combination with the imbalance of services in the area a situation is created that is unsustainable and have a negative impact on the liveability of the neighbourhood (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a, 2009a). Each of the branches named above are elaborated in the policy document. In this paragraph each will be described shortly. After that the imbalance in services is described.
First the hospitality businesses, according to the commission the criminal investigation department of the Amsterdam Police a lot of hospitality businesses are related to criminal owners or financiers (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a). The Van Traa team provided a few possible explanations. First, the financing of hospitality businesses, these businesses know a high business risk. Therefore, banks do not easily provide investments and have strict requirements on integrity and solvency. This leads to the possibility of approaching criminal investors to help set up a business. Second the hospitality business can, if established in a good location, make a lot of money. The Red Light District is known as one of the best locations in Amsterdam, therefore the revenues of these businesses in the Red Light District are usually good (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a). Third, in the hospitality business regularly tax evasion is found. At last, hospitality businesses can serve as a meeting place for criminals or as infrastructure to handle in narcotics. In the Amsterdam Red Light District there are traditionally a lot of shady hospitality businesses, this forms a problem for the liveability of the area (ibid).
For the coffeeshops the story is a little bit different. In the Netherlands the sale of soft drugs is regulated but there are a view important restrains. A coffeeshop owner is allowed to have a maximum of 500 grams of stock in the store. This has proved to be insufficient, a coffeeshop that has 500 customers a day, which may legally buy 5 grams a person, cannot provide this need with the stock of 500 grams. Therefore a huge illegal industry that provides the coffeeshops is necessary. This has not only to do with the laws concerning the stock in the coffeeshops but also the “gedoogbeleid” in the Netherlands caused this. But back to the 500-gram rule, the shops in the Red Light District of Amsterdam sell often more than this amount (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007). This means that there has to be a continuous provision of supply. Youngsters often do
39 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 this provision; they pick up the product in safe houses deliver the product, often on scooters. In practice the supply of coffeeshops is very similar to organized crime (ibid.). Next to this the same goes for coffeeshops as for the hospitality business, the standard investors are not willing to invest in these businesses. Often investments are found off the legal path, more than once funded by criminals.
Third, as being ‘the oldest job in history’ prostitution is always an industry where, mostly the females, end up as a result of personal troubles or for the love for a “voosbinkie” (lover boy or pimp). Nowadays the industry is much tougher than it was twenty/thirty years ago (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a). In the 1970’s sex workers had much more influence themselves and banks did not make any trouble investing in this industry, all in all it was a small industry (ibid.). In the last twenty years the industry has hardened and the influence of the sex workers is limited. The industry became more professional and international. The influx of foreign sex workers started. Although the exact number of foreign sex workers is unclear, the estimated number is around 60- 75%. At the same time dirty money found its way into the industry and international gangs occupied the prostitution business. Over the course of time a lot of policy measures are made to govern the world of prostitution. Nevertheless, the industry is, besides the supervision, still non-transparent and many excesses are taking place. Regarding the excesses, Het Parool wrote on the 7th of September 2007; women were beaten with baseball bats, forced to undergo plastic surgery and even forced to take an abortion (Het Parool, 2007).
At last, what goes for the coffeeshops also applies to the prostitution industry. The standard investors are not willing to invest in these businesses. This is another explanation for the criminal investments in this industry.
Besides the three criminogenic branches, a lot of the functions in the area have a low- quality appearance and the area is known about its high concentration of drugs addicts and dealers (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a). Despite the joint approach of the ministry of justice and the police there can be found a lot of drugs related nuisance. This nuisance does not only relate to the drug addicts but also tourists and other visitors. Because of the high demand for drugs in the area a lot of dealers sell fake dope. A present-day example of this is the case of the white heroin sold in Amsterdam. Seventeen people accidently bought this white cocaine, three died as result of an overdose (NOS, 2014). All the above-described factors lead to the conclusion that the area has a criminal infrastructure that undermines the liveability of the area.
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In the area money is made with illegal (hard drugs) and half-illegal (prostitution and soft drugs) activities.
All these underlying issues have a direct relation with the economic structure of the area, to many coffeeshops, mini supermarkets, phone shops etc. Without stating that all these services are criminal, the municipality states that this is infecting the liveability of the area (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009). The area is deteriorated; this is caused by the lack of social cohesion and concerned entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the absence of the normal “Amsterdammer” (Amsterdam citizens) is contributing to this negative development (ibid.). Therefore, the monoculture of services needs to be breached and other people need to be attracted to the area. So to answer the question why the municipality of Amsterdam wanted to instigate a remake of the Amsterdam Red Light District, the overload of criminogenic branches and the imbalance of low-quality functions that influence the liveability of the area negatively should be changed.
To answer sub question one, the “when” and “what” question have to be answered. So when did the municipality come up with policies to achieve the instigated remaking of the 1012 area? And what is the content of these policies?
First the “when question”, on 11 December 2007 the executive committee of the district Amsterdam Centrum and the district council first started the coalition project 1012. At this time three policy documents where published, “Grenzen aan de handhaving; Nieuwe ambities voor de Wallen” (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a), “Instellingsbesluit coalitieproject 1012” and “Gezamenlijkje uitgangspunten 1012”.
The document “Grenzen aan de handhaving; Nieuwe ambities voor de Wallen” (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a) describes the main cause of the issues in the 1012 area. The city council and the commission of general affairs noted the proposed approach on January 23rd, 2008. On the 17th of April 2009 the definitive strategy paper was published. As stated in chapter 5 this is the most important policy document published by the municipality of Amsterdam. It entails the cause, the description of the area and the policy measures that are needed to achieve the main goals of the projects.
On 5th of October 2010 the “Toekomst Visie Oudekerksplein” (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2010) was published, for this research this policy document was important because it describes the specific measures for the research area, where the strategy paper of 2009 is an overarching document where policy measures for the whole 1012 district are described. On the 27th of August 2011 the municipality published the paper “Nota
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Beleidsaanpassingen – Bestemmingsplan gebied 1012” (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2011a). In this paper the municipality tries to elaborate the changes that are made in the policy measures to achieve the main goals of the project. The municipality of Amsterdam is currently working on a new policy document with adjustments on policy measures, unfortunately this document is not public yet and therefore not included in this research. In the next section of this chapter the relevant policy measures are described.
To answer the “what” question of this sub question the relevant policies that the municipality of Amsterdam created are described. First I will describe the policies that were created in the Strategienota. After that I will elaborate the policy changes that are described in the paper “Nota Beleidsaanpassingen – Bestemmingsplan gebied 1012” (ibid.).
The first policy measure that is created by the municipality are the key projects, which are shortly described in chapter 5. These projects are situated on specifically chosen places and function as motors for economic development (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). Two examples of the key projects are the Oudekerksplein and the Onze Lieve Heer Op Solder museum. They are created in collaboration with creative entrepreneurs. The instigated changes are firstly realized by creating new functions on strategic locations. The key projects will give handles to achieve the instigated remaking of the district and generate economic and cultural spinoffs (ibid.). Next to this the public space is a very important instrument in the instigated remaking of the 1012 area (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). The sustainable and safe design of the public space helps as a catalyst for real estate owners and inhabitants of the neighbourhood to refurbish and maintain their possessions. This helps to fight the urban decay. Besides these policy measures the municipality of Amsterdam, as stated earlier, come up with a street-based approach. She argues that the two previous addressed measures are not sufficient enough to achieve the pre-set goals of the project. To break the criminogenic infrastructure and get grip on this infrastructure transformation is needed by this so- called street-based approach (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a).
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In this street-based approach the municipality named a number of streets/area where a development should start focused on reducing the criminogenic infrastructure and economic low quality services. The municipality named four arguments for this approach:
1) This approach clarifies and provides certainty to all stakeholders; 2) In the light of spatial/legal regulations this approach ensures that transformation can be achieved; 3) By reducing the number of areas where criminogenic and economic low quality services are makes it easier to enforce the policies; 4) The municipality argues that it provides the best opportunity to new economic services in the area (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a).
In the eyes of the municipality the selected streets form a barrier for the instigated change in the area. These streets/areas show the signs of urban decay and have low quality services among them. At the same time the municipality acknowledges these streets/areas as places with a great potential. The research area of this research, the Oudekerksplein, is one of them. Because of this potential the economic low quality functions should change, the municipality wants to do this in collaboration with the current owners and operators of these functions. But this cannot always be the case; therefore, the municipality has spatial and juridical regulations that will help them to enforce these changes. These regulations will be shown in table 2.
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Juridical Goal Authority Conditions instrument
Revising the zoning- Change of function City District Confirmation of the plan City council
Extinct Stop undesirable City District Function changes construction-1 functions when building change operator
Extinct Stop undesirable City District Function disappears construction-2 functions when building is not used in that way
Enforcement of Stop undesirable City District The use of the zoning-plan functions building differs from the zoning- plan condition
Emption of the Acquisition of City District The use of the municipality ownership building differs from the zoning- plan condition. Takes 2 months
Expropriation Acquisition of City District The use of the ownership building differs from the zoning- plan condition. Takes three years
Table 2: Juridical instruments Source: Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a
The municipality of Amsterdam stresses several times that the street-based approach only can work with the collaboration of the owners of the functions that need to be changed. Also the real estate owners play an important role in this approach. Therefore, the municipality has chosen for a step-by-step approach to achieve cooperation. This approach can be divided into four steps:
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1. The owners will be contacted with the request to collaborate with the change of function of their business or real estate; 2. If the party concerned is willing to cooperate, the municipality will look how she can support this change by intermediates with the stakeholders involved; 3. If the owners are not willing to cooperate, the municipality will look at possibilities to acquire these places; 4. If these steps not lead to the desired result, the spatial and juridical regulations will be applied to achieve the transformation (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a).
Besides the measures named above the municipality of Amsterdam uses enforcement instruments to achieve the instigate transformation. These instruments will be described below.
First the BIBOP law, this is an administrative instrument that has preventive nature (justis.nl, 2013). This instrument tries to prevent the facilitation of the government to criminal behaviour of entrepreneurs. The BIBOP gives to possibility to performs a background check to business owners if they apply for a permit, but also existing permits can be checked on the ground of the BIBOP (ibid). The municipality is going to use the BIBOP to examine current operating permits but also reconstruction permits can, with the enforcement of this project, part of the BIBOP check. This gives the municipality the opportunity to check the owners of real estate as well, of course this helps to prevent and counteract the current criminogenic infrastructure. Next to the BIBOP law, area-based interventions will take place. The police, department of justice, the municipality and the tax department will execute these interventions. These interventions will be focused on the criminogenic infrastructure but also on the preservation of the public space. Graffiti, sound nuisances, poor building constructions and alcohol related nuisances are being inspected (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). The municipality assumes that this will help the transformation of dilapidated public space and that this will increase the liveability.
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Besides the municipality of Amsterdam, the city district Centrum also contributed to this project with the following measures:
• Limited traffic in the Red Light District • Extra so called “cleaning agents” that monitor on illegal waste, bicycle wrecks and graffiti; • Collaborate better with the “water-management” to decrease the nuisances on the canals; • Prohibition in certain areas of the Red Light District (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a).
To conclude this chapter, the proposed policy changes that are described in Nota Beleidsaanpassingen – Bestemmingsplan gebied 1012 will be described briefly. As stated earlier, these are proposals for policy changes, the official zoning plans are not published yet, therefore these changes will be described shortly.
In the current zoning plan, it is prohibited to physically combine historic housing. When looking at the transformation of the area the municipality thinks it is necessary to permit this in specific circumstances. It is permitted when the combining results in a contribution to the instigated transformation of the 1012 project. One must think of unique concepts or high quality services such as the project of Red Light Radio.
This also goes for hospitality businesses in the 1012 district, at this time this is prohibited (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2011). Next to this the retail and consumer care focused businesses are extended in the 1012 area. The current zoning plans prohibit these kind of businesses to expand, now it is made possible to expand, the maximum surface rule is abolished (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2011). This leads to the situation that shops that are in these industries can expand and attract more customers. It is evident that these shops will be of high quality, and attract people that the municipality wants them to attract to the area.
The ban on living in business spaces above 1,000 square meters is abolished. The municipality wants to advance the living functions in the district; it is possible to create living spaces in business spaces that are over a 1,000 square meters in the zoning plan (ibid).
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The municipality also wants to use each possibility to create indoor bicycle parking’s, therefore the zoning plan is adapted and it is made possible to create indoor parking’s in the shopping areas. At last, the municipality argues that the amount of care facilities for homeless, drug addicts and psychiatry patients is too high in the 1012 area. Therefore, new caring facilities are not allowed. The geographical distribution of these facilities should be better spread over the city (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2011).
Project 1012 is an ongoing process. It started in 2007 in the days that the area was in a very bad condition. A lot of improvement has already taken place but there is still a lot of work to do by the municipality and the other stakeholders, in particular the residents of the area and other citizens. The municipality created different policy measures to solve the problems in the area. These polices are used as a gentrification tool. Subsequently the other stakeholders go along in this process, this leads to a result that also can be seen as gentrification. So gentrification can be considered as an instrument and a goal at the same time. The theory that is chosen for this research underlines this. The municipality of Amsterdam is trying to attract creative industries to the area of project 1012. This can be inferred from the described policies. According to Loopmans (2008) this is a common strategy to achieve successful urban regeneration of central locations. Uitermark et al. (2007) also argues that urban gentrification policies are used as a tool to tackle urban problems and also increase the livability of neighbourhoodss. Neuts I (2013) specifically names the example of the Amsterdam Red Light District in the line with top down measures. They argue that restructuring urban areas by gentrifying an urban area to solve social problems and economically upgrade an area, using top down policies is a new discourse in the policy field. Therefore, the choice of the municipality is not a strange one. She wants to attract a new group of people, creatives, to achieve their project goals. The concentration of this group with a shared culture and lifestyle should, according to Savage and Warde (1993) lead to an increase of livability and create opportunities for entrepreneurship in the project area.
The next section will describe the previous mentioned creative industries.
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Creative industries being stimulated by policy In this paragraph I will answer the second sub question. This sub question is based on the previous one and incorporates the creative industries in the research. It answers how the creative industries play a role in the policy measures of the municipality of Amsterdam. Sub question two is formulated as followed:
How do creative industries fit into the picture of policy measures by the municipality of Amsterdam?
The municipality has her own intentions and goals and the creative industry has her own interest to establish itself in this area. One could draw a parallel interest between the two partners. I will underline this parallel interest by looking at different sources. First I will look at policy documents and the findings from the interviews with the civil servants of the municipality of Amsterdam. Second I will use the literature that is addressed in chapter two. Finally, the creative entrepreneurs that are interviewed discussed the policies, this is also incorporated in the conclusions on this sub question. This question helps to understand how the creative industries fit into the policies in project 1012 of the municipality of Amsterdam.
The previous described municipal policies lead to a practical and physical transformation. The municipality is closing window brothels around the Oudekerksplein. One of the respondents that asks to remain anonymous and is currently working on the project 1012 states that:
“The expropriation of window brothels provided new opportunities, although the vacant spaces are relatively small they are suitable for creative industries”. (Interview ME 3, 2016)
The needs of the creative actors follow remarkably well with the intentions of the municipality. The municipality wants to attract creative talent to the area (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2010). By doing this and also attract creative entrepreneurs the livability will increase in the 1012 project area. Next to this the city will keep her image of a creative city (ibid.). The foremost goal of the municipality is to remediate this specific area but the municipality also serves a wider interest, the so-called city branding. This helps the city to achieve its marketing and promotional goals. The attraction of creative industries could transform the Oudekerksplein from a hidden place to a center of creativity that will enhance the transformation of the area. The creatives should work in studios, there should be high quality shops and meeting places.
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These places have to be created in the area of the Oudekerksplein (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2010). To support these activities hospitality services that are attractive for this group should be realized. To achieve this, the municipality of Amsterdam will allow physical interventions in the exciting real estate such as the refurbishing of a former brothel. Besides the physical interventions the municipality offers also other facilities.
One of the facilities the municipality offers is a subsidy to change the existing function and refurbish a place to make it suitable for a new function. The founders of Red Light Radio have made use of this possibility to make physical changes in the building.
“We made use of the subsidy which is called “stimuleringsregeling” to refurbish the building. When we moved in it was a former prostitute brothel, so small rooms and not so clean. We used it to create a reception room at the street side of the building” (Interview Red Light Radio, 2016).
Although the just described measures together form a top-down perspective. The academic literature on creative class and creative industries argues the following: people who work in the creative industry are very mobile, attracted to certain locations because of the atmosphere and the dynamic of the location rather than the availability of work (Florida, 2002). The top-down measures will help to attract creative actors but according to the academic discourse the atmosphere and the dynamic of the location are really important determents for succeeding in this goal of attracting the creative industry.
The municipality of Amsterdam acknowledges that creative actors have a great impact on a neighbourhood. She states that they contribute to the realization of project 1012 and remaking the district because they attract new public that is not consisting out of tourists, visitors of prostitution and other sexual related functions. The new public consist of creative actors and in their slipstream the normal Amsterdam citizens. The municipality call the creative actors pioneers and they give the creative industry a pioneers roll (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2010). This should lead to the fact that the Oudekerksplein will develop in a place that attract the right-targeted audience and as a place where creativity can flourish. Academic literature supports the point of view of the municipality regarding the pioneer role of creative actors. According to Florida (2008) the presence of culturally creative individuals enhances the attractiveness of a region to other creative individuals. Florida (2002) also argues that, in his words the creative class, I rather call it creative actors, often live a hedonistic lifestyle which leads to the
49 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 stimulation of the local economy. This is also confirmed in the interview of Red Light Radio owner Orpheu de Jong;
“It is very nice that we can have lunch in several bars and lunchrooms in the neighbourhood and we do that often. Next to that we like to have a drink after work in the area” (Interview Red Light Radio, 2016).
Furthermore, the ideas of the municipality on the pioneer role of the creative industry is supported by academic theory regarding liveability of an area. Bontje and Musterd (2009) state that firms and employees in the creative industry normally pay more attention to the quality of space in physical, functional and social terms. The physical aspect can be seen in the light of keeping the public space clean and renew the facades. The functional part can be seen as the connection of an area with the bigger urban entity, as a lively organism. Regarding the social, social control in the neighbourhood and collaboration and social support. The physical aspect is reflected in the interview with the co-owner of Red Light Records, not to confuse with Red Light Radio:
“It is really good that the municipality worked on the physical change of the public space. This gives the Oudekerksplein a much better appearance and I want to keep it this way. If I see litter on the streets I pick it up for instance”. (Interview Red Light Records, 2016).
As stated earlier the municipality of Amsterdam tries to facilitate creative entrepreneurs to locate in the 1012 district and the Oudekerksplein in particular. During the interview with Red Light Radio founder Orpheu de Jong this topic was also discussed. He stated that without the help of the municipality it probably was not possible to locate his business in such a special location, the Oudekerksplein.
“For us the help of the municipality was really useful. We are located at a beautiful and perfect spot with a really fair rent. I think that without the help of the municipality it was impossible to achieve this, so for us it was really good. “(Interview Red Light Radio, 2016).
So Orpheu de Jong gives credits for the municipal help that he got but it is also valid the other way around. The municipality also has benefits in attracting pioneers like Orpheu de Jong. There is, so to say, a mutual interest for the collaborating partners in this project. So the municipality actively facilitates the creative industries to find spaces in the district. Other examples that came forward in the interviews with two civil servants are the placing of Dekmantel, which is a music label, the Ton Ton Club and Patta, which is a shop in streetwear but can be seen as one of the biggest influencers in the urban scene in Amsterdam (Interview civil servant 1 & 2, 2016).
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The previous described examples of the creative industries and policies regarding them are mainly to place within the street-based approach and the appointed key projects of project 1012. As described in the previous chapter, the street-based approach entails the nominations by the municipality of a number of streets/area where a development should start focused on reducing the criminogenic infrastructure and economic low quality services. The appointed key projects are situated on places that the municipality describes in her policy documents as strategic and functional as drivers for economic development (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). Regarding the creative industries that fit into the policy measures of project 1012, it is clear that facilitating the creative industries of the municipality fits into the vision of the street-based approach described in chapter 6. To achieve the goals of the created policies the municipality created a team of project managers that describes their own functions on the website of the municipality as “working on improving and transforming the economic structure of the 1012 area together with citizens, entrepreneurs and property developers” (amsterdam.nl, 2016). There are nine project managers who are fulltime working on achieving the goals of the street-based approach. The respondents that are talking about the helpful municipality are talking about these project managers. They try to keep in contact with all stakeholders and be helpful where they can unless the goals of the project are pursued. The best example is already mentioned, the locating of Red Light Radio where a member of the street-based team helped to locate the company in a former brothel for a reasonable rent. But also the Ton Ton Club got help to find a suitable place. The project manager in question mediated between the housing corporation and the entrepreneur. The housing corporation was willing to rent the space to Red Light Radio and the Ton Ton Club because of the policy measures that where created by the municipality.
So to conclude, the municipality tries to facilitate creative industries to achieve the main goal of the project. It appears that the needs creative industry fits into these policies. This comes forward in my own research, several respondents made clear that the municipality was helpful in establishing in the project area. In the end it can lead to the revitalization of the old city center like earlier happened with the Jordaan.
I tried to set forth is that the municipality of Amsterdam has a big ambition to transform a dilapidated area, the historic centre of Amsterdam. Practice shows that it is really hard to transform an addled organism with old traditions to a liveable part of the urban society. This will be further addressed answering sub question three.
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Creative industries and their contribution to the Red Light District In the following section, the third sub question of this research will be discussed:
Do creative industries actually contribute to the remaking of the district in terms of enhancing the quality of place and liveability?
I will answer the question using empirical data that is gathered during this research by interviewing stakeholders and conducting an ethnographic observation. Next to this statistical data will be presented to support the empirical findings. It is important to note that the statistical data should be seen in its perspective. Numbers are, per definition, a limited reflection of the reality. Furthermore, the outcomes are the subjective perception of the respondents. Especially liveability is an intangible concept that is hard to measure into figures because of the innumerable factors that are of influence of the concept and the research area. Therefore, the statistical data is complemented by the empirical data. The statistical data are only used give an overview on the neighbourhood resident’s perception of liveability and the development of the neighbourhood.
The conclusion of this chapter will give an understanding what the contribution of the creative industry is on the research area and helps to answer the main research question. This chapter is subdivided into three paragraphs. The first paragraph entails the connectedness of the district with the rest of Amsterdam, as that was one of the main goals of the project. The second paragraph describes the contribution of the creative industry in terms of liveability. The last paragraph presents results that are found in the empirical data. At last a conclusion is provided.
Statistical data The following data is derived from the Wonen in Amsterdam (WiA) series provided by the municipality of Amsterdam. The figures are based on four different researches within the WiA series, 2007 till 2013. The statistical data is necessary in order to understand how the qualitative data should be interpreted.
As outlined in chapter 4, the data compares Amsterdam as a whole with the Red Light District (Burgwallen Oude-Zijde). The following topics are discussed; perception of safety, residents’ hindrance of criminal activities, overall satisfaction regarding the neighbourhood and finally, the residents’ rating on the upcoming neighbourhood development.
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Perception of safety
9
8,5
8 8,1 8 Burgwallen-Oude Zijde 7,8 7,7 7,7 Amsterdam 7,5 7,6 7,6 7,5
7
6,5 2007 2009 2011 2013 Figure 3 Source: WiA, Gemeente Amsterdam
Figure 3 shows the perception of safety of the neighbourhood residents of the Burgwallen-Oude Zijde and that of Amsterdam as a whole. This bar graph helps to show the development of the perception of safety the neighbourhood residents of the research area experience. Just like figure (upcoming developments) the biggest change can be seen between 2009 and 2011, the time when project 1012 started. As Amsterdam stays practically the same over a six-year-period, the Burgwallen-Oude Zijde changes drastically. From 2007 onwards the graph shows an upward trend. Clearly, the residents of the Burgwallen perceive their neighbourhood safe and, since 2011, even safer than the general Amsterdam citizen regards Amsterdam as safe. It seems that since 2009, when the project started, the safety in the Burgwallen- Oude Zijde changed drastically since the perception of safety from its own residents also changed in a positive way.
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Residents' hindrance of criminal 7,5 activities*
7 6,9 6,5 6,5 6,5 Burgwallen- 6 Oude Zijde 6,1 Amsterdam 5,9 6 5,5
5 5 4,5 2007 2009 2011 2013 Figure 4 Source: WiA, Gemeente Amsterdam
Figure 4 shows that since 2009 the level of hindrance dropped a little, since the lower the score the higher the hindrance. However little it is, the change does indicate that residents perceive less hindrance of criminal activities than they did in 2007. It seems that since 2009 the hindrance levelled out. It stays above the Amsterdam average, but stays practically around the same level as in 2009. This could be explained due to the historical reasons, such as being a former harbor, having the Red Light District, and the Dutch policy towards using soft drugs such as marijuana. However, this is solely an assumption of the researcher, this hasn’t been proven nor further researched.
Overall satisfaction regarding the 8,5 neighbourhood
8
7,5 Burgwallen- 7,6 7,4 Oude Zijde 7,3 7,3 7 7,2 7,2 7,3 Amsterdam
6,5 6,8
6 2007 2009 2011 2013 Figure 5 Source: WiA, Gemeente Amsterdam
Figure 5 shows the overall satisfaction from residents regarding their neighbourhood. As again, it seems that since 2009 the residents of the Burgwallen-Oude Zijde are very satisfied about their neighbourhood. In 2011 it was at the same level as was the satisfaction for Amsterdam as a whole.
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But in 2013 the residents of the Burgwallen-Oude Zijde were even more satisfied about their neighbourhood than the average citizen was regarding Amsterdam. Since the difference of satisfaction has changed almost 1,0 per cent point (from 2007 to 2013), during the policy change of 1012, it could be an important indicator showing that the policy change worked.
Residents' rating of upcoming neighbourhood 8 development*
7,5 Burgwallen- Oude Zijde 7 7,1 7,1 7 7 7 Amsterdam 6,7 6,5 6,6
6 2007 2009 2011 2013
Figure 6 Source: WiA, Gemeente Amsterdam
Figure 6 shows the rating of the trust in the upcoming development of the neighbourhood by the neighbourhood residents. The higher the number the more confident the neighbourhood residents are in the upcoming developments. Since ’09 the residents of the Burgwallen are rating their upcoming neighbourhood development as being a lot more positive and showing a lot more faith that this is being done. It used to be much lower rating, indicating being less positive towards the developments. In 2013 it comes near the general perception of Amsterdam rates on the upcoming developments.
As being shown by the above figures, the ratings from residents regarding their ‘1012 neighbourhood’ are on many aspects growing in a positive manner. Especially the rates on the upcoming neighbourhood development are positive. It seems that residents of the Red Light District have more faith in their upcoming neighbourhood development than they did prior to the Project 1012 redevelopment plans. However, this is only presented by statistical data. The following chapter will provide insights on this thanks to empirical or qualitative data.
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Empirical data One of the main goals of project 1012 is to attract a different group of people to the project area. This different group of people is mainly focused on the attraction of the residents of Amsterdam. The area was, when the project started mainly visited by tourist or drugs or prostitute consumers. The municipality thinks that the attraction of the creative industry will help to achieve this goal.
The question is, is the composition of the group of people who are visiting the neighbourhood changed, and in what way? And is the area more connected to the rest of the city? The data that is collected from the interviews and during the ethnographic observation can answer that. First a change in tourism is discussed; second the change in the composition of visitors will be elaborated. To conclude this paragraph, the findings will be put in perspective.
It is clear and described in previous sections that the research area is one of Amsterdam’s most famous tourist attractions. The businesses that are situated in the area are therefore focused on these tourists. With the arrival of creative entrepreneurs and high-quality services in hospitality services for example, this abundance of low quality functions has changed. The owner of a creative business argued:
“The standard tourist that visits this part of town to go to a coffeeshop or look at the windows is still visiting, but to a lesser extent. So that didn’t change much. What changed are the facilities that they want to use, there are less of them. Less coffeshops, less mini supermarkets, sex shops etc “. (Interview Ton Ton Club, 2016).
Furthermore, the majority of the respondents acknowledge that a lot of has changed around the Oudekerksplein regarding the functions (Interview, Red Light Radio, Ton Ton Club, Lost and Found, R2, S1, S3, S4, 2016). This change creates a better balance of functions in the area and strengthens the feeling of a nice neighbourhood (Interview ME2, 2016). During my ethnographic observation it stand out that the undesirable functions that the municipality appointed are more or less gone around the Oudekerksplein. They are replaced with functions that supply the demand of the creative actors, such as coffee bars and concept stores. This is illustrated by the two following photographs.
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Source: Own work, 2016 Source: Own work, 2016
Tourism has changed as well, this is recognized by several respondents (Interview, Red Light Radio, Ton Ton Club, S2, S3, R1). It changed in the way that not only drugs and sex tourism is taking place in the district, but also families and Dutch tourist are visiting the Red Light District. This may indicate that the area has changed in a positive way; families will not visit places that are labelled unsafe for instance, it looks like the neighbourhood became more accessible.
Moreover, tour groups are often found in the area, some years ago this was not the case. The assumption that the visitors of the area changed is also noted during my ethnographic observation, especially during the mornings and the afternoons. I’ve seen several families visiting the area, also old people that appeared well to do to me. In the past this could have been unthinkable, because the neighbourhood was an obscure place to go with a lot of edgy people. This small area, partly because of the changes, now has a more intimate character.
Not only the composition of the tourist mass changed, but it is more important to see that the amount of residents of Amsterdam visiting the area has changed. Moreover, the neighbourhood has become more part of Amsterdam than five years ago. When asking the respondents about their thinking of this matter, I found some interesting results.
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Four respondents argue that the area around the Oudekerk became more part of Amsterdam than it was before (Interview Ton Ton Club, Lost and Found, C5, R2, S1, S2, ME2, 2016). Much more citizens from Amsterdam come to the area and make use of the facilities that are around. Several bars and coffee bars stated that the percentage of customers that are from Amsterdam is growing.
“Since 2011 the amount of customers from Amsterdam has grown, still a lot of tourist come to my place but the people from Amsterdam have found this area “(Interview S6, 2016).
The growing amount of Amsterdam citizens visiting the neighbourhood also stands out from my own observations. I went to several bars and shops to observe the customers in these facilities. It became clear to me that a lot of young people make use of this facilities to find leisure or a place to work on their laptops. Also in the shops I visited Dutch public were widely represented among the customer base. Moreover, two employees of the municipality working on Project 1012 stated that the neighbourhood has become more part of the city. They presume that it could have been better, but we have to note that other areas of the big city of Amsterdam have their own developments, new and hip lifestyle is expanding in these neighbourhoods. These developments cause lesser needs for residents of those neighbourhoods to utilize the city center for leisure and other activities. That can, according to the two civil servants, explain why the attraction of Amsterdam people is not going as fast as wanted.
“There is a change of public in the area, but not as much as expected. The upcoming sub- centres in the city such as “Amsterdam Oost” and “De Baarsjes” caused this. The urge to come to the centre for the residents that live in those neighbourhoods is becoming less.” (Interview ME2, 2016).
So the excitement has to be tempered, the Ton Ton Club’s owner also emphasise this. He states that the area will never be a typical street of Amsterdam where residents will go to the butcher and buy their bread at the bakery (Interview Ton Ton Club, 2016). Although this is not aim of the municipality it is interesting that two neighbourhood residents both complaint about the lack of neighbourhood shops such as a butcher (Interview R1 & R2, 2016). So this is something the municipality should take into account when creating new functions in the area.
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Creative industry All interviewed creative entrepreneurs indicate that they feel involved and that they are concerned with the neighbourhood in several ways. Of course a big part of this is also for their own good, but most of them are aware of their role in the transformation of the area (Interview: Lost & Found, Ton Ton Club, Red Light Radio, C6, 2016). Next to this, the involvement and engagement with the area is shown through a question that I asked every respondent that is working in the creative industry. I asked them if their shop, office or studio burned down they will come back and find something else in the neighbourhood or if they would move out if something like that happened. Surprisingly all respondents answered that they will definitely stay in the area if a horrendous event like that would happen. The next quote illustrates this:
“ If something terrible like the burning down of my studio will happen I will definitely come back to this area to find a new place, it has become part of my identity” (Interview C5).
Next to the involvement and the engagement of the creative entrepreneurs, four out of six mentioned the word mutual interest in the interviews Red Light Radio, Ton Ton Club, Lost and Found, C4, 2016). This is important to mention because it illustrates the awareness of the entrepreneurs about their role in the transformation of the district. The creative entrepreneurs are clearly aware about their role. This stimulates the municipality to achieve the goals of the project 1012. At the same time this consciousness of the mutual interest can cause problems for the municipality as the entrepreneurs can use this during negotiations or during conversations with the municipality on different topics. Serdar Tonkas from the Ton Ton Club is fully aware of his position in relation to the municipality:
“We are working together with the municipality on several fronts, but at the same time we invest in their neighbourhood as well and they take advantage of the benefits this creates. We are used as a flagship, they are flaunting with us and telling the media an others how we attract Amsterdam people to the area and brought new life in the district. I got the feeling that I should take advantage of this position, which I did during the negotiations on the new rental contract. I argued that I, with my business, made a positive contribution to the neighbourhood and that the municipality is profiting from this contribution, therefore I don’t want to pay more rent on my next contract. They were not happy with this but accepted my terms because they didn’t want to lose me”. (Interview Ton Ton Club, 2016).
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So in this example municipality is more or less forced to accept terms they don’t agree on. The awareness of the creative entrepreneurs is not the only causing this; the municipality itself argues that an intermediate phase is reached (interview ME1, ME2).
Chapter seven describes the role of the creative industries in the transformation of the 1012 district, but is this role a positive one? According to the two interviewed neighbourhood residents and the talks that I had with several stakeholders during my ethnographic observation, the creative industries have a positive contribution to the transformation of the research area (R1, R2, S1, S2, S4, S2, 2016). The two neighbourhood residents explicitly mention the arrival of creative businesses in one breath with the positive change the neighbourhood has made.
“The area has, since the arrival of several small creative businesses, changed in a positive way. In my opinion it is a lot cleaner, I feel safer over the last years, and besides the creative businesses a lot of good hospitality services come to my neighbourhood. I have to mention that I think that a lot of different factors are playing a part in this transition, but I cannot deny that these businesses came here and the changes began.” (Interview R2)
The last part of the quote is important here, of course it is important to state that the changes that I describe in my research are caused by multiple factors. Nevertheless, the creative industry is one of these factors and can be seen as an important one. But are these creative actors visible in the neighbourhood? During my observations this was one of the things I wanted to check. I found that the creative actors are clearly visible in the area around the Oudekerksplein. Their studio’s and shops are mostly located on street-level. This has a big impact on the streetscape of the area. Next to this I found that creative actors are visible in the way that they make use of the facilities that arisen in the area. This also stands out in the interviews that I conducted. The owner of 22 Tracks stated that he liked the fact that a lot of lunch spots opened in the last two years, this was important for him and three other creative entrepreneurs (Interview 22 Tracks, Ton Ton Club, Lost and Found, Red Light Radio, 2016).
The creative entrepreneurs themselves think that they contribute in a positive way to the changes of the neighbourhood. I earlier mentioned the Ton Ton Clubs owner, but also Red Light Radio owner Orpheu de Jong recons that he has a positive influence on the area with his business. He states that the radio station attracts a lot of locals to the Oudekerksplein, and the events he is organizing helps locals to discover the Red Light District in a different way (Interview Red Light Radio, 2016). The Oudekerksplein area has become a social spot where locals can meet, also the presence of different creative
60 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 businesses caused the attraction of other creatives to the area (Interview, Red Light Radio, Ton Ton Club, Lost and Found, Red Light Records, S5 2016). In some cases this even leads to collaborations (Interview, Lost and Found, S2, S5, 2016). These are all examples of the positive contribution of the creative industry on the research district. Regarding the quote of the interview with R2, this corresponds with my findings of the conducted ethnographic observations. I found that the area around the Oudekerksplein is quite clean, especially during the afternoon and at night. When I visited the research area during the mornings, it has become clear that a lot of street refuse is generated, but the cleaning department that is coming every morning cleans this. I think it is special that the public space is so tidy and clean in a prostitute neighbourhood. I also noticed the nice looking pavement, in my opinion, and the opinion of most respondents contributes to a good feeling about the neighbourhood.
It is clear that the creative industry is fitting in quite easily, in an area that is quite extraordinary. The match between a rough neighbourhood and the creative industry is a good one, mainly because of the edginess of the area. This is confirmed in the literature described in chapter two. The interplay between a rough, scruffy area and the pioneers of the creative industry can help a neighbourhood to transform and enhance the liability, but there is a downside to this. As several respondents declared, the scruffiness and edginess of the neighbourhood is declining, and the “soul of the area” is in danger (Interview, R1, R2, S1, S4, Ton Ton Club, Red Light Radio, 2016). This melancholy is a romantic concept. In the way that people have in common fear for unknown changes that makes that clears their longing to old habits although these habits where not that good. This romantic concept came forward in some interviews. It is also a common critique on the project as a whole, but this is a well-known effect of gentrification.
Results of the project So what is the result of project 1012 so far? As stated earlier, I interviewed civil servants who are involved in the project, I interviewed creative entrepreneurs and neighbourhood residents to achieve a representative sample of respondents. All the three groups of respondents are important to answer the research question; therefore, it is important to give an overview of all the findings from all the interviews. In the previous paragraphs the findings from the interviews with neighbourhood residents and the creative entrepreneurs are discussed. Now the result of the policy according to the municipality is presented.
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The municipality thinks that the transition around the Oudekerksplein is a successful one. Both the project director and the civil servant, who is part of the team of the street- based approach, argue that a visible transformation has taken place but that a lot have to be done (Interview ME1, ME2, 2016). They argue that a turning point is reached. The transition which the municipality wanted from the start in 2007 is succeeded, and that the market and society has to take over now.
“We call this the turning point, we try to make clear that we try to achieve something and after that we want the market and society to take over. This is not something concrete.” (Interview ME1, 2016).
The Oudekerksplein area is a good example, the municipality argues that this turning point has reached. They created the turning point by renovating the public space, closing windows, and locating creative industries (ibid.) They see a different sphere in the area, this cannot be proven with statistical data but it is the overall impression of the team working on the project. It is interesting that the findings from the in-depth interviews, short interviews and the ethnographic observation mostly conform this impression of the municipality. At the same time all three respondents from the municipality state that, although the turning point is reached, a lot has to be done (Interview ME1, ME2, ME3, 2016). Reducing specific functions can create new spaces for other undesirable functions. The renovation of the public space is something that will last for years, but the rise of other undesirable functions, such as the well-known Nutella - and cheese shops are inevitable. This is an autonomous process that is taking place, which surpasses the municipal policies. The development of social-economic reality precedes the municipal policies and the law. Therefore, it is hard to achieve a higher quality of space and a better liveability because these autonomous processes will always take place, and have to be taken into account.
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7. Conclusion
This thesis aimed to explore how the creative industry could contribute to the remaking of a very particular and dilapidated area, the Amsterdam Red Light District. In doing so, I paid attention to theories on creative industries, gentrification, creative class and cultural and economic heritage. I analysed if the creative industry is making a contribution to the instigated remaking by the municipality of the 1012 district. Doing this I made use of a mixed methods approach conducting semi-structured interviews, an ethnographic observation and a literature study. The literature study formed the structure for the interviews and functioned as a starting point. I conducted eleven long interviews and six short ones. In total the findings of this research are based on seventeen interviews and the ethnographic observation I conducted. To complement this data, I used statistical data from the WiA survey, this data was used to show a trend of the change in the research area. At this point I can answer the main question of this research:
To what extent do firms in creative industries in the Red Light District of Amsterdam contribute to the instigated remaking of the district by project “1012”?
My research indicates that the creative industries provided a positive contribution to the instigated remaking of the Amsterdam Red Light District. However, the outcomes are that positive, some remarks have to be made. it is important to note that the findings of my research need to be put in perspective. The statistical data that I used describes a positive trend, the research area became a better place, but these numbers are subjective. Furthermore, the outcomes are the subjective perception of the respondents. Especially liveability is a complex concept that is hard to measure into statistical data because of the innumerable factors and processes that are of influence on liveability and the research area. Numbers are, per definition, a limited reflection of the reality. Furthermore, history tells us that social-economic processes a like these are unruly, autonomous and not completely governable. Therefore, it is hard to make a bold statement about the success of the instigated remaking of the 1012 district.
In terms of the contribution of the creative industry, it is important to look at several factors. First the actual presence of the creative industry, second the change in economic structure, which can be seen in the change of functions in the research area and third alliance the creative actors have with the area. The actual presence is influenced by the ability of the creative entrepreneurs to establish in the area. The majority of the creative
63 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 respondents in this research emphasise that the municipality facilitate in their establishment in the area, and that this was a successful and more important a helpful process. Next to this it important to note that the match between a rough neighbourhood and the creative industry is a good one, multiple examples of this can be found all over the world. But how and where are these creative actors visible?
It became clear during the research that the creative industry is certainly present around the Oudekerksplein. During my ethnographic observation I noted that most of the creative businesses are located on street-level, which has a big impact on the streetscape of the area. The contrast between prostitutes standing behind windows and a studio of a graphic designer is a strong one. Next to this I found that the creative actors are visible in a way that they consume in the area. They make use of the functions that arisen in the area over the last years, such as coffee bars and other hospitality services. Here comes the second factor in to play, the changes in economic structure. As a result of the municipal policy the economic structure of the research area changed and creative businesses appeared. I found that most of the undesirable functions, indicated by the municipality, around the Oudekerksplein are replaced by desirable functions. First the creative businesses established themselves in the area, as a result of this, services that complement the needs and lifestyle of the creative actors occurred. This change of functions is the exact goal that the municipality had in mind, using creative businesses and actors to achieve gentrification. Regarding the alliance, the creative actors feel with the area, it became clear that this is strong. It is important for the quality of space that the creative actors feeling this alliance with the area because normally firms and employees in the creative industry pay more attention to the quality of space in terms of physical, functional and social terms. The contribution of the creative industry on this topic is shown in my research. The creative actors are committed to their surroundings and pay attention to the quality of the public space, this helps increasing the liveability of the district.
What changes are visible that enhances the instigated remaking of the 1012 district, and what is the contribution of the creative industries on these changes?
In terms of theory it was expected that the creative industry take/accept a pioneers’ role in the gentrification process of the 1012 district. It is a common strategy to achieve urban regeneration in central areas and increase the liveability in neighbourhoods. The concentration of creative actors with a shared culture and lifestyle should lead to an increase of liveability, the attraction of new people and entrepreneurship. Regarding the
64 Jop Pék – University of Amsterdam - Master thesis Economic Geography 2015-2016 liveability and the quality of space significant changes are found. The restructuring of the public space succeeded. Creative entrepreneurs and neighbourhood residents experience the public space around the Oudekerksplein as pleasant and acknowledge that significant changes have taken place. With the advent of high-quality services such as coffee bars, lunchrooms and concept stores the existing environment changed a lot and has a positive effect on the district. The downside of these changes is that the edginess and scruffiness of the district is decreasing. Obviously this is the aim of the municipality but people can experience this as negative. Besides this the area became more accessible because a different kind of visitors and users of the facilities have come. On the one hand the composition of the tourist mass changed as families visit the area more and more. On the other hand, and more important, a lot more Amsterdam citizens can be found in the area. This is caused by the changed economic structure of the district and the increased accessibility of the area. The Oudekerksplein in particular has become a social spot where locals can meet and the presence of different creative businesses caused the attraction of other creatives to the area. The contribution of the creative industry can be found in these changes.
The municipality created a set of policies to achieve the remaking of the Amsterdam Red Light District. The set of policies are, according to the municipality, successful in achieving a transformation on the Oudekerksplein and its surroundings. The set of measures can be seen as a top-down approach that achieved a visible change of the area, the Oudekerksplein area is evidently upgraded. But it has to be noted that such a transformation also needs public support and bottom-up movements to be an overall success. At this moment in my view a turning point has been reached. A lot has changed, in a positive way regarding the liveability and the quality of space but at the same time a lot has to be done to achieve a full transformation of the district. It is important that a bottom-up movement embraces the changes and transformations that have occurred. The development of social-economic reality finds its own way but is supported by municipal policies and the law. The prospects are quite good, the trust of the neighbourhood residents in de upcoming developments in their neighbourhood is high and the achieved transformation is can be seen as a great one. The positive developments can continue in an organic way. In this light the Oudekerksplein can be a model of gentrification for similar urban areas elsewhere.
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Acknowledgements
There are some people I would like to thank for this process that I went to the last couple of months. First I want to thank prof. dr Robert Kloosterman for his help on theoretical questions and structural issues during the process of writing my thesis. Furthermore, I would like to thank the second reader of my thesis prof. dr Musterd for reading my thesis thoroughly. Moreover, I would like to thank the respondents and especially Orpheu de Jong for let me use his network to gain more respondents. I would like to thank my fellow students for their help in solving while researching this topic. Furthermore, special thanks to Frits de Coninck and Tomas Postema for revising my texts and critically review my mode of thought. Last but not least I want to sincerely thank my parents Margit Aba and Eugène Pék for motivating me in hard times and keep faith during my entire study period. A special shout out is needed for Rozsa Groothoff, she helped me tackling my insecurities and was always around when I needed her.
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Appendix Appendix A Topic list
Appendix B Coding and categorization of interviews
Appendix C Interview request
Appendix A Topic list During the semi-structured interviews I kept a topic list in order to direct the conversation in a way that I can cover all my interest. The topic list is generated from the theory presented in chapter two and the analysis of sub question one. Furthermore, the statistical data presented in paragraph 7.1 helped to complete the topic list. Considering the topic list as guidance for the interviews, the specific questions are not included because they differ in each interview. Nevertheless, a short description is provided for each topic for possible replication of this research.
Topic Description
Personal information This topic ask after the respondents personal information such as, age, gender, occupation, which sector the respondent is working in, education
Creative businesses (only creative actors) Topic asks after the business the respondent owns or is working in. What are they doing and specialized in, how did they founded it, or start working here, but most important how did they located themselves in the Red Light District.
Policy changes (only civil servants) Asks respondents about the policies in the district and the changes over the last years
Facilitation of the municipality in locating Asks the respondent if they got help from business in the Red Light District (Only the municipality finding a location for their creative actors) business, if so how they experienced this help.
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The Neighbourhood in general Asks the respondents how they experience the neighbourhood in terms of liveability
The Neighbourhood change Asks the respondents if the experienced change over the last years, if so what kind of change and positive or negative
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Appendix B Coding and categorization of interviews Coding and categorization of respondents’ long interviews (appendix)
Nr Code Organisation/ Function Gender
Company
1 C1 Red Light Radio Founder Male
2 C2 Ton Ton Club Founder Male
3 C3 Lost & Found CEO Female
4 C4 22 Tracks Founder Male
5 C5 Josephine Colsen Colsen Interior Female products
6 C6 Red Light Records Founder Male
7 ME1 Municipality of Amsterdam Project Director Male
8 ME2 Municipality of Amsterdam Project Manager Male Street-based approach
9 ME3 Municipality of Amsterdam Junior Project Female Manager
10 R1 - - Female
11 R2 - - Male
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Coding and categorization of respondents short interviews (appendix)
Nr Code Organisation/ Gender
Company
1 S1 Leger des Heils Male
2 S2 Brouwerij de Prael Female
3 S3 Gemeentelijke Male
Reinigingsdienst
4 S4 Neighbourhood resident Female
5 S5 Ultra de la Rue Female
6 S6 De Koffieschenkerij Male
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Appendix C Interview request Geachte heer/mevrouw,
Via de [NAAM] van de [BEDRIJF/INSTELLING] heb ik uw email adres ontvangen, die mij erop attendeerde contact met u op te nemen. In het kader van de masteropleiding Economische Geografie aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam schrijf ik een scriptie. De focus van dit onderzoek ligt op creatieve industrieën die gevestigd zijn in het postcode gebied 1012 in Amsterdam en hun bijdrage op de verandering van de buurt. De komende twee weken (18 t/m 29 april) ben ik bezig om respondenten van relevante instanties en personen met gerelateerde kennis te ontmoeten en interviewen. Op deze manier hoop ik vanuit verschillende perspectieven informatie te verzamelen om een zo’n breed mogelijk beeld te krijgen van de invloed van creatieve ondernemers op de verandering van het postcode gebied 1012.
Graag wil ik u vragen of u zou willen assisteren bij dit onderzoek middels een interview. Ik hanteer een economisch-geografische invalshoek, maar naast uw kennis over het bovenstaande onderwerp ben ik ook geïnteresseerd in uw perspectief op dit onderwerp. Daarnaast zou ik het waarderen als u suggesties heeft voor mijn onderzoek of mij kan doorverwijzen naar relevante personen.
De data die ik verzamel zal volgens de ethische richtlijnen van academisch onderzoek vergaard worden, waarbij onder andere rekening gehouden wordt met de privacy van de respondent en instellingen. Alleen algemene patronen en processen zullen bestudeerd worden, en geen persoonlijke informatie van individuele respondenten zal gedeeld worden met derde partijen.
Wij zouden het erg waarderen als u medewerking aan dit onderzoek verleent. Mocht u verdere vragen hebben, dan is het mogelijk om contact op te nemen met mijn scriptie begeleider prof. dr. R. Kloosterman
Bijgevoegd vindt u een samenvatting van ons onderzoeksvoorstel. Ik hoop van u te horen.
Met vriendelijke groet, Jop Pék(BSc) Masterstudent Economische Geografie Universiteit van Amsterdam
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