Initiative as key focus in integral regeneration Kolenkit

The Municipality of Amsterdam has asked STIPO to get involved in the integral renovation of the Kolenkitbuurt in Amsterdam West. Residents are very proud of the neighborhood and their social networks and would like to continue living there. Thisis what we are focusing on in the renovation. We have been working on this integral renewal since the summer of 2020, focusing on neighborhood initiative, community ownership, encounters, talent development and placemaking. We have ensured that the number of social housing has remained the same and by adding more homes, we have created a mixed neighborhood.

Together with the residents’ organization, Rochdale, Heren5 architecten and Karres en Brands, we have drawn up a concept urban development vision for the renovation of the latest social housing units. Instead of having an external agency, we commissioned the existing neighborhood organizations to do the participation process. And despite the Corona time, they have managed to involve more than 300 of the 1500 tenants and their children in the renewal plan, have stirred up 43 neighborhood initiatives that we assist as a partner to really shape the integral renewal from residents’ initiatives, set up neighborhood vegetable gardens together with the tenants, and created places for social encounters, young people, talent development and job guidance.

This approach is embedded in the district’s municipal organisation and the neighborhood networks, so that this structure of cooperation will continue to exist.