How can housing cooperatives develop projects that are embedded in the neighborhood in co-production with local stakeholders? Wooncoöperatie De Bundel has explored this question through 'De Glazen Bundel', a temporary participation hub on the site of their project. Thanks to support of the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, 'De Glazen Bundel' has already been standing for over a year. The research was made in collaboration with Time to Access, and many co-authors and people involved. This action-research project has supported De Bundel with rooting in the area and will serve as reference for other citizens’ initiatives.
CONTEXT
Wooncoöperatie De Bundel originated from the need for affordable housing of a group of people already living in the area that are suffering from the gentrification process (aka “urban renovation”) ongoing in Amsterdam Nieuw West. As shown by the research of Sophia Holst and the articles of Tayfun Balçik (both collaborators in this project) the local community is falling apart because of the lack of new and available rental apartments in the social and mid-segment with both young and old residents “forced” to move more and more outside.
As a reaction and act of resistance De Bundel is creating the largest housing coop in Amsterdam with a future population of roughly 300 people, with minimum 50% of them coming from the surrounding area. The housing program will be arranged in a co-housing organism that will include shared facilities with a semi-public character, such as meeting spaces, care facilities and an open garden. A large non-housing program on the ground floor will house neighborhood associations and small shops. Coops are often criticized for being islands, projects for elites. With De Bundel and via this action-research project we show that the opposite can be actually achieved through a meaningful and intense participation process and a real presence on location.
Sketches by Lada Hršak
ACTION RESEARCH
The project was done through the theoretical framework of “action-research”. Action-research is a philosophy and methodology of research, generally applied in the social sciences, that seeks transformative change through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing research, which are linked together by critical reflection.
ACTIVITIES
In a year of action-research, many activities have been held in 'De Glazen Bundel'. It has been used for workshops with future inhabitants, garden design sessions with people from the neighborhood, but also a pop-up thrift store, a concert hall, practice space and even as a wedding location. The variety of activities has shown: if you offer space for a neighborhood to meet and organize, a bustling center will soon emerge.
RESEARCH RESULTS
After a year, it was time to log and bundle together the experiences and perspectives of people involved with 'De Glazen Bundel'. The result is a booklet with short portraits of 'Bundelaars', reports of the various workshops and essays by researcher René Boer and architect and research Lada Hršak.
