Markthal Rotterdam - Start bouw feest 18 november 2009

Build Baby Build!

“Beautiful house, but not the type of neighborhood I would like to live in.” That is what a friend – in search for a new house himself – told me last week after another friend of ours had showed us photos of a lofty house which he and his girlfriend were planning to buy in the Westside of Rotterdam. Indeed, it was a beautifully renovated building, situated in the old neighborhood Middelland, with spacious rooms and a roof terrace overlooking the Rotterdam skyline.

Middelland is known for its mixed population with predominantly first or second generation immigrants, prominent lanes, renovated streets, and many shops; as well as its grimy bars, few strip clubs, and not so inviting atmosphere during nighttimes. I understood my friend’s sentiments, but I told him that I was pleased to see that our friends, a young ‘mixed couple’ (read: racially mixed) with a double income, had decided to move to this neighborhood. Such movements, in my view, improve the image of particular neighborhoods and creates an even more cultural diversity in a city with nearly 50% of the population having non-Dutch origins (including myself).

Last Tuesday, the NRC Handelsblad reported that, according to a study by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Rotterdam has been one of the frontrunners in the last decade when it comes to building new houses within old neighborhoods. The same study concludes that the restructuring of existing neighborhoods mitigates segregation between rich and poor, and to a lesser extent between people originating from the Netherlands (Dutch: autochtonen) and people originating from another country (Dutch: allochtonen). As a result, segregation between rich and poor, and allochtonen and autochtonen has diminished in Rotterdam; whereas segregation has increased in cities like Utrecht and The Hague where high income families tend to move to newly build neighborhoods on the city outskirts.

Another article mentions that some scientists doubt whether the ‘mixing’ of population groups in neighborhoods will actually lead to social integration. Some good food for thought. I also live in an old neighborhood in the North part of Rotterdam with a balanced representation of autochtonen and allochtonen; mainly as a result of expensive and less expensive houses in close proximity to each other (sometimes even in the same street). It is the main reason why I enjoy living in this area, but I also wonder sometimes whether these different groups have actually merged or simply live together in segregated streets.

I am optimistic, nevertheless, that segregation in Rotterdam – and hopefully many other cities – will keep diminishing and eventually disappear. Nearly all of my close friends living in Rotterdam are in mixed relationships (including myself) and some of them are now having their first children. Most of them have good incomes and want to stay in the city. Thus, the only thing the Rotterdam officials have to do is build, build, build (some city parks would be nice too). In the meantime, we will keep having our mixed babies.