One of the consequences of an aging population is that the Dutch welfare state is barely financially viable any more.
This is one of the reasons why it’s important to increase the self-reliance of citizens.
People who can count on help from their neighbours – even if it’s something as minor as putting out the rubbish – will need to call on professional help that much less.
But can the government stimulate the active involvement of citizens?
Yes, thinks Margreet Frieling.
‘It goes without saying that you can’t enforce solidarity,
but by enabling people at the neighbourhood level to work together to create liveability you can stimulate feelings of involvement and joint behaviour.’
Frieling will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen on 15 May, 2008.
The government’s new vision of the role of the citizen puts ‘the neighbourhood’ high on the agenda.
Quite rightly, according to Frieling:
‘Local residents have a joint interest, namely the nicest possible living environment.
Because residents depend on each other to create a pleasant living environment, there’s often a certain degree of commitment there already.
In an emergency, most people prefer to contact someone from their neighbourhood rather than a random stranger, e
ven if they don’t know that neighbour.’
Social cohesion
Frieling developed an instrument to measure the mutual involvement or social cohesion in a neighbourhood in order to have something concrete to stimulate the active involvement of citizens.
Frieling:
‘You often come across the concept of social cohesion in articles and policy documents but it’s a rather vague concept that’s rarely clearly defined. ’
That was why it was important to first chart what exactly is meant by it.
Three dimensions of social cohesion were revealed – the degree to which residents cooperate in creating wellbeing, the extent of mutual solidarity and feelings of involvement.
Liveability
Based on their mutual involvement, residents can make a significant contribution to the liveability of their neighbourhood.
‘By taking account of each other, residents can limit the nuisance levels.
By keeping the street clean together, residents can improve the way their neighbourhood looks. ’
If it turns out that the mutual involvement of residents in a neighbourhood is low, then this may be a reason for the local government to take action.
To this end, Frieling has developed a dialogue method.
Dialogue method
‘Cooperation between residents to create liveability is difficult to generate in practice.
The greater the difference in the needs of residents in a neighbourhood, the more difficult it is to cooperate.
Moreover, residents can’t create liveable neighbourhoods and districts on their own.
They are also dependent on professionals and the municipality. '
According to Frieling, stimulating the active involvement of citizens in a neighbourhood thus requires a type of coproduction (joint production) by residents, professionals and the municipality.
She has developed a dialogue method to stimulate this coproduction between the three parties.
Needs and interests
The dialogue process attunes the needs and interests of residents.
The next step is a systematic analysis of how residents, professionals and the municipality – each from their own possibilities and limitations – can contribute to improving the liveability of the neighbourhood.
This is not the ‘your wish is our command’ approach where only the wishes of the residents are taken into account.
In Frieling’s opinion, that’s about as successful as saddling people with the standard range offered by professionals.
Only when an attempt is made to harmonize the aims and activities of residents, professionals and the municipality can cooperation between them be created and improvements to the liveability of neighbourhoods and districts be realised for the long term.
Because the dialogue method creates cooperation between residents, it also strengthens the social cohesion between them, thus strengthening the self-reliance of the neighbourhood.
Curriculum Vitae
Margreet Frieling (Roden, 1981) studied Educational Science at the University of Groningen and will be awarded her PhD by the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences.
Her research was supervised by Prof. S.M. Lindenberg and Prof. F.N. Stokman.
Her thesis is entitled
‘Een goede buur. ‘Joint production’ als motor voor actief burgerschap in de buurt’ [A good neighbour. ‘Joint production’ as the driving force behind the active involvement of citizens in a neighbourhood].
Frieling currently works as a consultant for Decide BV, a research and advisory bureau linked to the Department of Sociology of the University of Groningen.
Note for the press
More information:
M. Frieling, tel. 06 295 101 89, e-mail: m.a.frieling@decide.nl
