In The Netherlands, as in other parts of the world, the restructuring and delocalisation of significant parts of the production system has freed up large urban areas hitherto occupied by industry. The new zoning rules involves, on the one hand, the need for environmental remediation based on an engineering-style approach and, on the other, the radical rethinking of the kind of sociality provided by these new areas. To achieve these goals, the project has to express a new concept of urbanity in line with the demands of our contemporary lifestyle which, here as elsewhere, is characterised by temporary, stratified, institutionalised or informal practices which often converge towards a common horizon of sharing (of difficulties, advantages and interests).

Instead the policies of Dutch administrations involved in these processes often diverge from this scenario. All these complex transformations seem to be based only on city marketing strategies, highlighting how most policies are aimed at boosting the reuse appeal of these areas based on superficial measures promoted by pervasive and yet elusive communication campaigns.

It is possible to envisage the transformation of the Kanaalzone in Breda as being supported by numerous informal sharing practices (spontaneous occupancy, temporary use of residual spaces) and by a formidable associative network. In particular around Belcrum, a historic neighbourhood in the industrial district, where the many associations present are trying to withstand a highly speculative real estate operation. The process involves selecting inhabitants based on their age and income by making offers labelled as superior and attractive.

Originally the property of the Teteringen municipality, Belcrum occupies a 70 hectare area to the north of the city of Breda on the other side of the railway. The first development plan involved an urban design characterised by a series of residential buildings around squares, children’s play areas, as well as the construction of a port and a motorway. However, in 1927 the area was purchased by the Breda municipality which decided to develop it as an industrial district, exploiting the port, the fruit and vegetable market and the nearby railway (which was actually built in a trench). Today Belcrum is a place where a large-scale industrial area, with its hard, impermeable surfaces, is juxtaposed against the fine grain of its partly-built residential fabric and close-knit road system. The two main settlements reflect different kinds of property ownership regimes: accesses, hierarchies and materials.

The way in which space is used is very similar to how it was used in the thirties; this introversion diminishes within a capillary and mimetic associative network, but increases when it becomes institutionalised: “The Association of Associations” is an excellent example. However, a widespread phenomenon in this area is the shift of certain functions previously performed in collective and public space to individual and private space. Private gardens are now used for practices that cannot be performed elsewhere. The public domain is now limited to the family and well-defined private spaces. Even if there are no barriers, to establish property rights and exclusive use only a few elements (different materials, minimum difference in height) are used to characterise the base of the building. This occurs even when collective entities are involved, for example neighbourhood associations, located all over the residential network: the practices they absorb do not expand space, but instead are filed like minutes in their respective venues without any reverberation or extroversion

 

It is worth exploring Dutch associationism to the full because it is absolutely unique; it was stratified in time and space until it became part of their national culture. Capillary and fragmentary, the associative network is able to absorb any topic which can coalesce interests, conflicts and shared passions. It’s no accident that people say: “if there’s a problem, there’s an association that can solve it”.

In the late nineties many spontaneous aggregations emerged in Belcrum to challenge the changes envisaged by the municipality. Information and awareness campaigns shifted the scale and shape of the phenomena; no longer an underground movement, it evolved into a more public campaign until it became institutionalised in “Action Committee” movements representing shared difficulties and collective commitment. Apart from this form of associationism, other more indistinct forms of sociality also emerged, as discontinuous as the landscape in question; temporary appropriations allowing incomplete sharing experiences to intrude into open space.

The minutes of the meetings of the Neighbourhood Committees in Belcrum clearly illustrate the actions implemented by a resistance movement revolving around the associationism phenomena, actions challenging the city marketing promoted by the Municipality. Based on this information we can identify the players and the “map of conflict” we can use to formulate a different design compared to the one elaborated by the institutions. There are two main players in this conflict: the Wijkraad Belcrum Committee, fighting against “the invasion of the neighbourhood by the project” and gentrification, and the Municipality that believes the local population will be unable to resist the pressure tactics of the real estate market.

After selecting the different “pockets of resistance” present in the area (many of which are boosted, even from a propagandistic point of view, by the fact they are semi-illegal), we can consider the associative network in Belcrum not only as an important resource for the transformations underway, but also the hub around which to rethink the destiny of an entire area.