Experience of a Preventive Experiment : Spatial Social Mixing in Post-World War II Housing Estates in Helsinki, Finland

The contingent of large housing estates built in the 1960s and 1970s accounts for almost a half of all high-rises in Finland. The primary ideology in their genesis was to combine industrially prefabricated urban housing development with the surrounding forest landscape—together with a policy of spatial social mixing—to prevent social disorder and segregation. These policies seemed to work as intended until the early 1990s, but have since proved to be insufficient. With Western integration and new information and communication-based economic growth, new trends of population differentiation have emerged. As new wealth has moved out to the fringes of cities, the large housing estates have declined socio-economically—and have been enriched ethnically. This differentiation is structurally produced, works through the regional housing market and, as such, is beyond the scope of the preventive policies pursued. Recent attempts at controlling the regional markets and new forms of spatial social mixing have so far proved difficult.The contingent of large housing estates built in the 1960s and 1970s accounts for almost a half of all high-rises in Finland. The primary ideology in their genesis was to combine industrially prefabricated urban housing development with the surrounding forest landscape—together with a policy of spatial social mixing—to prevent social disorder and segregation. These policies seemed to work as intended until the early 1990s, but have since proved to be insufficient. With Western integration and new information and communication-based economic growth, new trends of population differentiation have emerged. As new wealth has moved out to the fringes of cities, the large housing estates have declined socio-economically—and have been enriched ethnically. This differentiation is structurally produced, works through the regional housing market and, as such, is beyond the scope of the preventive policies pursued. Recent attempts at controlling the regional markets and new forms of spatial social mixing have so far proved difficult.Peer reviewe

Loopbaanadvisering een vak apart: op weg naar een professie?

Career counselling is a relatively young field that started in the private sector in the Netherlands just forty years ago. At the time the field was called "outplacement", however, now it is part of the broader concept of career advice. Few had heard of "outplacement" at the time, let alone career advice. The question was often asked whether such guidance would contribute to making people function better, communicate more effectively, or help improve their relationship with their working environment. This dissertation scientifically demonstrates that career counselling is not simply "hot air." For more than 20 years, scientists have suspected that satisfaction with career counselling is very high in both the short and medium term (over 8 on a scale of 1 - 10). This is scientifically proven only in this thesis. The dissertation shows that career counseling makes an important contribution to guiding clients to a new suitable job

Redisential Environments and Households in the Randstad

OT

DUTCH URBAN RESTRUCTURING POLICY IN ACTION AGAINST SOCIO-spATIAL SEGREGRATION: SENSE OR NONSENSE?

Urban areas 'at risk' have been gaining policy attention over the last decade in spite of the considerable physical improvements brought about through urban renewal programmes in the older parts of cities. A variety of problems may be stressed: the presence of too many poor and jobless people, of too many cheap but unattractive dwellings, of too many vacancies, or of too many socially undesired activities. In the Netherlands, both social (or people-based) and spatial (or place-based) programmes have been developed to improve situations considered undesirable. Spatial programmes, especially, have stirred up much debate. In the debate, there appears to be some confusion about how problems, goals and measures are linked to each other. This paper takes up the debate and tries to add some clarity by lining up opinions and facts about goals, instruments and intended effects of Dutch urban renewal policy for the cities. Moreover, it confronts the various views with the preferences and opinions of residents involved. It concludes that urban restructuring is a sensible thing to do from a social standpoint, providing that there is a strong coherence with new developments and that choice options of all household groups involved are taken into consideration.Urban Policy, Segregation, The Netherlands,