EG Buurt
Amsterdam Bijlmer
Winter Glass House
Our placemaking event the winterkas 'Light on Gravestein and Geldershoofd!' in the EG neighborhood in Amsterdam, South-East lit up the neighbourhood in december 2018. It was an experience for the residents to come together and realize the importance of community get togethers. On the other hand it was used as an opportunity to take insights from the people about their neighbourhood. The stakeholders involved for making the event possible includes Rochdale, Buurtwerkkamer Bijlmer Oost, Kinderboerderij Gliphoeve, Placemaking Plus and Woon!
Bijlmerbench
On one of the last sunny days of September de Bijlmerbench was finished en it was in use immediatelly. The bench was an idear of thought out by the local residents, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders.
The neighbourhood
The EG neighbourhood is part of Amsterdam Bijlmer East, a green district that is easily accessible and where there is a busy market on Saturdays. As soon as you step out of the metro you will find yourself in a cozy shopping center with a children's farm right behind it, where activities for the children are organized. But, it is also a neighborhood with many socially economically weak residents. The vast majority of homes in the area are social housing. In the area there are still 6 of the original Bijlmer high-rise flats. Especially in this part lives a socially weaker population than in the rest of Bijlmer East. The residents are on average lower educated. The neighborhood is perceived as unsafe by residents, this is also due to the large group of men who hang around in the neighborhood. Especially in the evening many local residents feel unsafe.
Place Game
On 13 September 2018 Placemaking Plus was commissioned by the City of Amsterdam to hold a Place Game meeting around the EG Neighborhood. The purpose of the meeting was to explore opportunities for this area. Almost 25 people involved - local entrepreneurs, local residents, developers and civil servants - participated.
The Place Game was led by Placemaking Plus on the basis of the principles and according to the methodology of Project for Public Spaces (PPS). PPS is a non-profit organization from New York and they work on transforming public spaces that do not function to vital and lively places. Their approach ensures a coordinated experiment, in which participants discuss the different ideas and approaches and various encounters in the neighborhood. The intention is to bring about improvements ('quick wins') and solutions aimed at the longer term. The Place Game is the starting point of a learning process for the improvement of the public space and facilitating security for a longer period.
According to this method, ideas for the EG Buurt in the short and long term were discussed.
