Creative industries in the Amsterdam Red Light District:
Do creative industries contribute to the remaking of a
remarkable area?
Thesis Group: Amsterdam Canal District Assignment: Master thesis Professor: Dr. prof. Robert Kloosterman Second Reader: Dr. prof Sako Musterd Student: Jop Pék Student number: 6114776 Student email: jop.pek@outlook.comAbstract
In the last years the potential of the creative industry for stimulating gentrification processes and economic growth is widely recognized. This has led to changes in urban policies, governments focus more on the attraction of creative industries in depilated neighbourhoods. This is also the case in the Amsterdam Red Light District. The oldest part of Amsterdam is, according to the municipality of Amsterdam, an area in a very poor shape. Therefore, the municipality wants to achieve a transformation of the area by introducing ‘Project 1012’. One of the instruments of achieving this transformation is using creative industries to achieve gentrification. Using qualitative methods, the aim of this research is to analyse to what extend the creative industries contribute to the instigated remaking of the municipality of Amsterdam. Semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations are used to find answers to this question. The results show that the municipality of Amsterdam tries to achieve the transformation true different kinds of policies on different levels. Regarding the creative actors, they are visible in the area and have a positive contribution on the transformation of the Amsterdam Red Light District. Keywords: ‘creative industry’, ‘creative class’, ‘creative actor’ ‘gentrification’, ‘liveability’, ‘project 1012’, ‘Amsterdam Red Light District’
Preface
As I was born and raised in Amsterdam my affection with the city is enormous. I started my studies Human Geography and Urban Planning at the University of Amsterdam. Because of several reasons I didn’t finished this bachelor, but I kept my interest in Human Geography. After I graduated at the ‘Vrije Universiteit’ in Political Science the choice for a Master degree in Human Geography was an obvious one for me. Since I have a background in Political Science implications of policy on urban (economic) developments is one of my interest. The project ‘1012’ gained my attention three years ago when I spoke to an acquaintance who owns a business in the Amsterdam Red Light District. Ever since I try to keep up with the news on this project and see this as a great opportunity to do research on this topic in this remarkable area. Jop Pék, August 2016
Inhoudsopgave
ABSTRACT ... 2PREFACE ... 3
1.
INTRODUCTION ... 6
FOCUS ... 7
READING GUIDE ... 8
2.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 9
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES ... 9
CREATIVE CLASS ... 12
GENTRIFICATION ... 13
HERITAGE ... 16
3.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS ... 19
MAIN QUESTION ... 19
Sub question 1 ... 20 Sub question 2 ... 20 Sub question 3 ... 21 4.
METHODOLOGY ... 22
INTERVIEWS ... 22
INTERVIEWS ANALYSIS ... 24
ETHNOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS ... 25
OPERATIONALIZATION ... 27
Quality of place ... 28 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY AND ETHICAL ASPECTS ... 29
5.
CASE DESCRIPTION ... 30
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ... 30
PROJECT 1012 ... 31
STRATEGIENOTA 2009 ... 33
OUDEKERKSPLEIN - FUTURE PERSPECTIVE ON THE AREA ... 35
Introduction Oudekerksplein ... 35 Policy ... 36 Policy reassessed ... 37 6.
RESULTS ... 38
GENTRIFICATION POLICIES ... 38
PREVIOUS SITUATION OF THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT ... 38
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES BEING STIMULATED BY POLICY ... 48
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT ... 52
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 67
Internet resources: ... 70 Photo resources (Front page photograph) ... 70 APPENDIX ... 71
APPENDIX A TOPIC LIST ... 71
APPENDIX B CODING AND CATEGORIZATION OF INTERVIEWS ... 73
APPENDIX C INTERVIEW REQUEST ... 75
1.
Introduction
Buying a ring for your love in the Amsterdam Red Light District? Or looking at fashion designs instead of scantily dressed women behind the windows? This is possible since 2008 in the Amsterdam Red Light District (Parool, 2008).
Since 2007 the municipality of Amsterdam is enforcing this trend with the ‘Project 1012’. 1012 refers to the district’s zip code. The project’s goal is to make this district safer, nicer and create more liveability. The creative industry is used as an instrument to upgrade the 1012 area. A part of this project is creating small business spaces for high-end sectors and creative industries, which are desirable for the district. These spaces are created in formal brothels, hospitality industry spaces, telecom shops, sex theatres, massage salons and so forth. As Aalbers and Sabat (2012) describe, one of the practices of Project 1012 has placed artists and designers in the empty spaces of former brothels. This leads to the situation where you can find mannequins and art installations next to prostitutes (ibid). In this thesis I study the transformation of the area known as 1012. This is a unique project because this intervention, with Project 1012, differs greatly from historical ones. Most importantly because it is a top-down move made by the municipality of Amsterdam (Aalbers, 2010). While ‘1012’ unravels the public opinion in the Netherlands is varying on this issue. Opinions vary from antipathy to the zone and complete disapproval of prostitution, to citizens that approve the zone and see this part of Amsterdam as a defining aspect of the city landscape (ibid). Strange enough the Red Light district’s image is not one of criminality but one of a tourist attraction. However, being regarded as a tourist attraction does not mean that it is a ‘grown up’ version of Disney World.
The Red Light District also attracts a lot of criminality. In the hospitality industry weapons and drugs are found on a regular base. Coffeeshops pay very little taxes because of the “gedoogbeleid” (npogeschiedenis.nl, 2008). Furthermore, the prostitution business is known for its wrongdoing on human rights and human trafficking. The last two examples are part of the reason that the municipality wants to instigate a change in this district. In conclusion, the Red Light District is a very well known, historical part of Amsterdam. Its picturesque canals, having one of the oldest churches in the Netherlands, and being
Focus
The focus of this research will be on the creative industries that are situated in the Amsterdam Red Light District: to what extent do firms in creative industries in the Red Light District of Amsterdam contribute to the instigated remaking of the district by project “1012”? The research question and its sub questions will be outlined in chapter three.
The instigated change of this district is not solely based on adding creative industries in the Red Light District. Project 1012 covers much more by also connecting other municipal policies. These other actors and policies are without a doubt influential on the outcome of this instigated change but due to the limitation of this thesis it is not possible to include them all. Therefore, this research focuses on the influence of creative industries on the instigated change of the Red Light District by the municipality of Amsterdam. A lot of research is being done on neighbourhood change and urban redevelopment, but as stated earlier this distinct area is unique in its own kind.
This study looks at outcomes of previous research done on similar regeneration projects. Both the municipality’s perceptions on the project as those of the creative business owners the neighbourhood residents and own observations will be used in this research. Furthermore, this research attempts to make an analysis of urban redevelopment using creative industries. This kind of strategy is a top-down approach, and since ‘forcing’ creative industries to move towards certain districts is not often done, it has scarcely been analysed in the academic field.
Finally, it provides a small contribution to the research field of urban regeneration especially because the implications of this project are of great significance for neighbourhood residents and other stakeholders in the Amsterdam Red Light District. Therefore, it is important to analyse the municipal policies regarding the remaking of the 1012 district.
So the societal relevance of this research can be seen in the light of gaining a better understanding of the implications of the project 1012 on the Red Light District, both from a municipal, a business and a citizens’ point of view. Furthermore, by incorporating the perceptions of multiple actors, this research can help to create understanding on
Reading guide
Chapter one describes the focus of this research. In chapter two, the literature study will be presented in the theoretical framework. This chapter contains a several theories, such as the theory on creative industries, gentrification and the creative class theory. In chapter three the main research question and the three sub questions are presented, After that, the research methods will be discussed in chapter four, this contains the methodological choices, the operationalisation and the data gathering. In chapter five the case of project 1012 will be described and the research area specified. Chapter six presents the results. Finally, chapter seven will describe the conclusions of this research.
2.
Theoretical framework
In this chapter the theoretical framework that is used in this research is presented. At first the theory on creative industries is shown. After that, the theory on the creative class and gentrification is being discussed. This chapter ends with a discussion on the economic impact of cultural heritage.
Creative industries
The term creative industries have been interpreted and used in many different ways in academic literature, policy documents and newspapers over the past years. This ensures that the creative industry is being seen as a concept that is vague (Drake, 2003). The first approach to define creative industries took place in the United Kingdom primarily as a policy discourse (Flew & Cunningham, 2010). The, in 1997 newly elected, British Labour government of Tony Blair established a Creative Industries Task Force (CITF). This taskforce was the central activity of the new Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (ibid). The taskforce developed the first approach that looked at cultural sectors as contributors to wealth and economic performance. The CITF defined creative industries as “activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent, and which have the potential for wealth and job creation through generation and exploitation of intellectual property.” (Cunningham, 2002). The CITF also provided a list of activities that can be seen as a creative industry, such as architecture, film and design. Critics consider the list arbitrary because of its exclusivity. Cunningham (2002) gives the example of the heritage sector that is overlooked by the CITF, according to him this sector has economic, creative and cultural characteristics and is more robust than some of the included sectors.
Although the CITF made a first effort to define creative industries, the term has been used in many different ways and the boundaries containing the included sectors are vague. This could be seen as a problem. However, Banks & O’Connor (2009) argue that there is an upbeat globalist narrative that implies an international consensus about the meaning of creative industries. This implies that the term is dynamic and continuous. Besides being dynamic and continuous, once can also identify a difference in defining creative industries between Europa and Asia (Flew & Cunningham, 2010). According to Throsby (2001) Europe sees art-related activities as being the core of creative industries. Fields such as advertising, architecture and design are seen as only partially creative. According to Cunningham (2002) in Asia the definitions are more eclectic and inclusive.
Allen Scott (2010, p. 42) defines the creative economy as “comprising numerous industries devoted to the production of symbolic outputs with high levels of aesthetic, semiotic, and libidinal content.”. Furthermore, Scott (2010) argues that there is a lack of consensus where the cultural economy as such begins and ends, but the published literature suggests that creative industries constitute an important and growing component of modern economic systems.
Finally, the definition of creative industries given by the United Nations Commerce of Trading and Development (UNCTAD) is an interesting definition to describe. In 2008 the UNCTAD published a report on the creative economy. This report provided a comprehensive definition of creative industries. UNCTAD (2008) states that creative industries “are the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs. It’s constitutes a set of knowledge-based activities, focused on but not limited to arts, potentially generating revenues from trade and intellectual property rights. It comprises tangible products and intangible intellectual or artistic services with creative content, economic value and market objectives.’’ (UNCTAD, 2008, 13). In the next section this definition will be further elaborated.
In academic literature, no consensus is found on the definition of creative industries. As shown, several authors defined the concept of creative industries in various ways. In this research I use the definition that is given by the UNCTAD. In their report “The Challenge of Assessing the Creative Economy: towards Informed Policymaking” (UNCTAD, 2008) UNCTAD provides a broad definition of creative industries:
• Are the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs.
• Constitute a set of knowledge-based activities, focused on but not limited to arts, potentially generating revenues from trade and intellectual property rights. • Comprise tangible products and intangible intellectual or artistic services with
creative content, economic value and market objectives.
which allows for more detailed policy related recommendations (ibid). Although this is not a comparative research, this useable framework strengthens this model. Furthermore, this framework facilitates the consistency in qualitative and quantitative research (UNCTAD, 2008).
Figure 1 shows the sectorial division of creative industries created by UNCTAD (2008).
Figure 1: UNCTAD (2008) model for creative industries.
The analytical framework includes four sectors; Heritage, Arts, Media, and Functional
creations. I will shortly elaborate these sectors below. Heritage; According to UNCTAD (2008) cultural heritage is identified, as the origin of all forms of arts and it is the soul of cultural and creative industries. It can be seen as an overarching theme in this context. This sector is divided into two categories, Traditional and cultural expressions and Cultural sites. Examples of both can be found in figure 1. Arts; in this sector all industries related to art and culture are involved. Two categories are formed; Performing arts, which can include live music, theatre opera etc. and Visual arts, such as paintings, photography and ceramics.
Media, this group is also divided into two categories. These categories cover all media
that produce creative content with the purpose of communicating with large audiences (UNCTAD, 2008), as figure 1 shows ‘new media’ is categorized differently. The two
categories are Publishing and printed media, such as books, press, newspapers etc. Audio-visuals entails sectors such as film, television and radio.
Functional creations, this group consists of three categories and comprises more
demand-driven and services oriented industries creating goods with functional purposes (UNCTAD, 2008). The first category is design, this category consists of interior, graphic design, fashion etc. The second category is new media that entails software, video games. The last category is creative services such as advertising, creative research, architects etc.
In this research the categories heritage, media and functional creations are used to answer the research question. Ideally the total analytical framework would be used but due to time and scope constraints this is not possible. For a visual presentation of these choices a figure can be found in the operationalization section.
Creative class
With the categories of creative industries defined, it is important to know whom the people are that relate to these creative industries. Different approaches are found amongst the academic literature but Richard Florida’s concept of the creative class is the most famous. Florida (2002) argues that people who work in the creative industry are very mobile, attracted to certain locations because of the atmosphere and the dynamic of the location rather than the availability of work.
In his magnum opus, Rise of the Creative Class, Florida (2002) separates the creative class into two groups. One group is the group of so called super creatives, or the super creative core. This group consists of artists and scientists and all other people that create and develop completely new ideas or knowledge. This group is categorised as innovative.
The other group consists of creative professionals that are creative executors. The two groups are defined, but what are the implications for a place for instance? According to Florida et al. (2008) the strong presence of culturally creative individuals can act as a signal of openness across a region. This can enhance regional attractiveness to other talented individuals, which can lead to a benefit for a region, district of place. Next to
in social, physical and functional terms in comparison to firms and employees in other sectors (Bontje & Musterd, 2009).
It has to be noted that there also is critique on the definition of the creative class of Richard Florida. Markusen (2006) for example argues that it is not as black and white as Richard Florida presents it. She states that every occupation can be seen as creative regardless of whom executes it, is highly educated or not. For example, if a video artist is really successful, but he or she didn’t finish any education, he or she doesn’t belong the creative class in the definition of Florida. Furthermore, Bontje and Musterd (2009) argue that Florida uses this concept in a way that is too loose. An other point of critique is given by Barnes et al. (2007), they warn urban policy makers. They argue that one cannot expect the creative class to solve societal problems. Wilson and Keil (2008) argue that the urban poor can be seen as the ‘real creative class’. They state that this group is not incorporated and neglected in the creative class theory of Florida. Nevertheless, Bontje and Musterd (2009) argue that Florida tries to show awareness of the treat of social inequality in his creative class theory by emphasize that every human being is creative. This implies that besides the higher educated people also the lower income groups can be part of the creative age as he calls it. But in spite of that Bontje and Musterd (2009) state that this debate is on-going as convincing evidence is lacking for both the elitist and the ‘good for every one’ side. As stated above the concept of creative class is widely criticised, this taken into account, this research will use the term creative actors in this research. I will do this because the definitions mentioned above are too specific and assuming. The term creative actors contain people who operate in creative industries; the difference with creative class is not making any distinctions within this group.
Gentrification
The current policy discourse on the Amsterdam Red Light District is a perfect example of how spatial regenerating is used to fight problems of criminality and work on economic upgrading of an area. But what can be seen as gentrification? A lot of authors within different academic fields have shed their lights on the definition of gentrification.
Atkinson and Bridge (2004) define gentrification as the revaluation and upgrading of the economic, social and cultural dimensions of an urban area. According to Loopmans (2008) policy-makers are actively pursuing gentrification in central locations as the key for successful urban regeneration, structuring both public and private investments.
itself from earlier forms of gentrification. This form is having a more direct involvement of the state. This is expressed in public-private partnerships and the marginalisation of community opposition. Smith calls this the ‘third wave of gentrification’; this form is derived from experiences in the United States. This ‘third wave of gentrification’ is still the conventional approach (Van Gent, 2013). Although this form of gentrification policy is also happening in the Netherlands, Uitermark et al. (2007) state, “urban gentrification policies are actively used as a tool to tackle urban problems and increase liveability in certain neighbourhoods”. This quite unique according to Van Gent (2013). This kind of policy is used in the Netherlands to improve the socio-economic composition of deprived neighbourhoods (ibid). The underlying strategy using liveability according to Uitermark (2009) in Neuts et al. is to enforce the neoliberal agenda. This means that these kinds of policies are striving for manageable crime levels and middle-class households instead of improve the social conditions for subordinated groups (ibid).
Nevertheless, other author’s recon the liveability of a district, area, city is really important to be competitive in the contemporary knowledge economy (Neuts et al., 2013). To be more specific on how policy measures through spatial restructuring can contain underlying drivers such as gentrification Neuts et al. (2013) come forward with the following example; they state that the recent policy discourse in the Amsterdam Red Light District is using spatial restructuring to tackle criminal activities and social problems but at the same time ensures that this historical part of Amsterdam get economically upgraded. Nevertheless, there are critics such as Aalbers and Deinema (2012) that argue that in spite the fact that countering criminal practices is the principal goal of the policy measures, the latent gentrification strategy aims at commodifying urban space. Smith (1996) in Neuts et al. (2013) identified this as “strategically legitimising the driver to conquer space for entrepreneurial strategies and reclaiming it for upper classes”.
But this is not the only way of looking at gentrification. Bounds and Morris (2010) for example, use the characteristics of gentrification set up by Savage and Warde (1993, p.80):
• Resettlement and concentration of higher status residents displacing lower status residents;
• Transformation of the built environment resulting in a distinctive aesthetic and new local services;
• Concentration of persons with a shared culture and lifestyle and class related preferences; and
• Revision of property values, construction opportunities and an extension of private ownership.
Bound and Morris (2010) state that gentrification can be seen as a diverse process that occurs in the current changing economy of the city. In this research the second and the third point of these characteristics apply on the research area. The municipality of Amsterdam is trying to achieve the attraction of a new group of people to the research area by its policies. The concentration of this group with a shared culture and lifestyle is in their view enhancing the increase of property values and constructing opportunities for entrepreneurship in the area. This is one of the goals of the policy that is created by the municipality. Therefore, the last two points of Savage and Warde (1993) are applicable in this study. The specifics of the case description can be found in chapter 5.
Heritage
In this section economic and cultural heritage is discussed. In academic literature cultural heritage is seen as a factor that is important in the regeneration of neighbourhoods and cities in particular. Also policy makers have cultural heritage or cultural planning as an important topic on the municipal policy agenda (Kloosterman, 2013). They use it as an instrument to regenerate neighbourhoods, to boost the quality of place and to attract high skilled workers (ibid). This section tries to define what cultural heritage is and what the economic values of cultural heritage are.
First what is cultural heritage? According to Bizzarro and Nijkamp (1996) cultural build heritage allows us to recognise the identity of a society. It helps us to identify the basic ethical needs of a community and helps us to define the local distinctiveness and traditions of a society. It also helps us to link the past to the present. As elaborated in the section on creative industries the UNCTAD (2008) defined cultural heritage as: “It is heritage that brings together cultural aspects from the historical, anthropological, ethnic, aesthetic and societal viewpoints, influences creativity and is the origin of a number of heritage goods and services as well as cultural activities” (UNCTAD, 2008, p, 14).
Cultural build heritage plays an important role in urban policies because it offers a number of opportunities for socio-economic development (Bizzarro & Nijkamp, 1996). This is a phenomenon that is occurring for ages (Kloosterman, 2013). Governments are interfering in culture even back to the pharaohs (ibid). So interference of governments in culture is nothing new, but the importance of cultural build heritage and the policies around this, also mentioned in academic literature as cultural planning, became even more important after Landry (2008) and Florida (2002) stressed the importance of these cultural amenities, as they could increase the ‘quality of space’, draw high-skilled workers and even boost the urban economy (Evans & Frood, 2008) in Kloosterman (2013), Bowitz and Ibenholt, 2009).
Mercer (2006) defines cultural planning as: “the strategic and integrated planning and use of cultural resources in urban and community development” (Mercer, 2006, p. 6).
Bizzarro and Nijkamp (1996) make a difference between primary and secondary benefits that the cultural build heritage offers. Primary benefits are for instance job creation, such as jobs in museums, income effects for producers and suppliers. Secondary opportunities are of higher importance in this research. Bizzarro and Nijkamp (1996) name several benefits such as the stimulation of private investments, the increase of arts and craft employment but the most important one is the socio economic stabilisation of neighbourhoods and the potential magnet effects for further high quality development.
Ruijgrok (2006) states that cultural heritage has three different benefits for the local economy that surpass possible costs; housing comfort value, a recreational value and a bequest value. Housing comfort value, for example privately owned buildings derive benefits for the people who live there, but also generates benefits for those who enjoy the looks of these build heritage without the actual expenditure. This is where recreational value comes into play (ibid). People also derive benefits from the sheer knowledge that is passed through generation on generation, this is known as bequest value. The benefit that is derived from the last two is reflected in the willingness from people to pay for visiting these build cultural heritage such as a church or museum.
Bowitz and Ibenholt (2009) conducted a case study in the Norwegian town Røros researching the economic impacts of cultural heritage. They state that economist often ask the question; what is the positive effect for the local economy of investing in culture, such as a new museum? However, a more important question is; what are the potential spill overs for the local economy of investments in cultural heritage? The authors argue that there are nine effects that one has to take into account when researching the economic impact of cultural heritage on the local economy. Due to the fact that this thesis has a limited time schedule and scope not all nine effects will be discussed in this chapter, a selection is made by looking at the added value for this research. First the direct effects, these effects are direct economic impacts from the project itself (ibid.) for instance the jobs that are created when a new museum is build, of a museum is renovated or extended. This is not the only way a direct effect can be explained, the increase in popularity of a region through cultural investments can lead to the fact that local residents are staying in the region or neighbourhood instead of traveling out to experience culture.
Second the input and output effects. Projects need intermediate inputs such as maintenance and food. These can be imported from suppliers in the local community; this increases the production and is a positive effect for the local economy.
Third, ancillary spending this means that visitors of cultural heritage sites are spending resources in this region such as in the food and retail sector. Visitors spend money in different facilities than a museum for instance. They use the urban space around the museum, they book a hotel, take a cab and buy lunch. Firms in these sectors profit from the cultural heritage and it will increase the income of these firms.
Finally, the gravitation effect. According to Bowitz and Ibenholt (2009) investments in preservation of cultural heritage or even in new cultural sites can lead to the fact that a region or neighbourhood becomes more attractive in terms of liveability for instance. But it can also help to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. In this sense culture can be used in policy measures to help to establish a positive image for a region or neighbourhood (ibid.).
In conclusion, it has to be noted that the previous named examples are all positive effects of cultural heritage. Of course not all effects are positive, positive effects can also result in negative effects for example. Take the example of the wear and tear that is caused by tourist or visitors to the oldest part of Amsterdam. Residents complaining on the enormous amounts of tourists that visit the ‘Grachtengordel’ (Canal district). But also the large amounts of tourists that visits the museum district or Museumplein in Amsterdam, which harbour long waiting lines on the public sidewalks in front of museums, enormous amounts of extra bicycles on the square, and litter that is left on the lawn are examples of negative results of the cultural heritage.
3.
Research questions
The following chapter describes the research questions in this study. First of all, the research questions will be discussed. The chapter hereafter will describe the used methods in this research.
Main question
Based on the literature review, the research interest, and the limited time frame of this research, a research question is formulated. By researching the contribution of creative industries on the instigated remaking of the Amsterdam Red Light District, it is clear that the spatial unit in this research is the Amsterdam Red Light District, further specifications on the spatial scope can be found in chapter 5. As stated in the introduction the research focuses on the contribution of the creative industries on the instigated remaking of the Amsterdam Red Light District. This is a case of top-down gentrification initiated by the municipality aimed at reducing the role of organized crime by converting spaces of prostitution into office spaces for creative industries. The main research question is:
To what extent do firms in creative industries in the Red Light District of Amsterdam contribute to the instigated remaking of the district by project 1012?
As can be noticed from this research question two elements can be distinguished, the contribution of the creative industries and the instigated remaking by the municipality of Amsterdam of the Red Light District. Both elements will be examined independently but can be combined into one research question as the elements are clearly interwoven. To answer the main research question thoroughly and make the research tangible the research question is divided into three sub questions. The sub questions are based on each other, and the conclusions of the three sub questions will provide the overall conclusion to the main research question of this research. All the three sub questions will be formulated and elaborated in this section.
Sub question 1
When, why and what kind of policies to achieve gentrification have been implemented by the municipality of Amsterdam for project 1012?
In this sub question the policies that are implemented by the municipality of Amsterdam for project 1012 to achieve gentrification are analyzed. This should give a comprehensive view on the policies that are implemented and help to understand the situation in the research area and the role of the municipality in urban development. I will do this is done by looking at policy documents, also the interviews that are conducted with the civil servants of the municipality of Amsterdam will help to answer this question. The analysis can be found in chapter 6.
Sub question 2
This sub question is based on the previous one and incorporates the creative industries in the research. It tries to analyze how the creative industries play a role in the policy measures of the municipality of Amsterdam. Sub question two is formulated as followed:
How do creative industries fit into the picture of policy measures by the municipality of Amsterdam?
This sub question is also answered by looking at policy documents and the findings from the interviews with the civil servants of the municipality of Amsterdam. Furthermore, the creative entrepreneurs that are interviewed may have said something about the policies, this is also incorporated in the conclusions on this sub question. This question helps to understand how the creative industries fit into the policies in project 1012 of the municipality of Amsterdam. The two sub questions above lead to the third and last sub question.
Sub question 3
The last sub question is formulated as follow:
Do creative industries actually contribute to the remaking of the district in terms of enhancing the quality of place and liveability?
With this sub question the final answers on the main research question can be found. The question will be answered by empirical data that is gathered during this research by interviewing stakeholders and conducting an ethnographic observation, these methods will be described in chapter 4. Next to this statistical data will be presented to support the empirical findings. The conclusion of this question will give an understanding what the contribution of the creative industry is on the research area and helps to answer the main research question.
The conclusions of all three sub questions will be used to construct an overall conclusion towards the main research question of this research: To what extent do firms in creative industries in the Red Light District of Amsterdam contribute to the instigated remaking of the district by project “1012”?
4.
Methodology
In this chapter the methods that are used in this research are described. First, the methods regarding the interviews are presented. Second, the ethnographic observation methods are explained. Third the operationalization is provided. At last, the reliability, validity, and the ethical aspects of this research are presented. This research makes use of qualitative research methods. Qualitative research methods differ from quantitative methods in several ways, the most common assumption is that qualitative research is more concerned with words than with numbers (Bryman, 2008). But this is not necessarily the case; numbers can be used to support the findings of the qualitative research without being analysed in a quantitative way (ibid). Furthermore, Bryman (2008) describes three features that are part of qualitative research. First, he states that qualitative research has an inductive view of the relationship between theory and research, whereby theory is generated from the research. Second, qualitative research has an epistemological position that can be described as interpretivist. This means that the focus in this method lies on the understanding of the social word by examination of the interpretation of that word by its participants.
At last Bryman (2008) states that the ontological position of qualitative research can be described as constructionist. This means that the results of the research are the outcome of interactions between individuals. To add to this, Boeije et al. (2009) argues that qualitative methods can be described as flexible methods for data collection, where participants can raise topics themselves.
Interviews
Bryman (2008) describes five research methods that are associated with qualitative research; ethnography/participant observation, qualitative interviewing, focus groups, discourse and conversation analysis and qualitative analysis of documents and texts. This research makes use of ethnographic observation, and qualitative interviewing in the form of semi structured interviews. With a semi-structured interview, a number of topics can be selected to be present in each interview, while also maintaining the possibility within the interview to follow-up on interesting points made by the
to use this information in the questions that he or she asked (Opdenakker, 2006). A disadvantage of face-to-face interviews could be that social cues can lead to guiding by the interviewer (ibid). Another drawback of conducting interviews is that it is a time consuming affair, this ensures that there are fewer people that can participate in this research (Bryman, 2008). To overcome this problem could be using surveys which will be send to the companies in creative industries, civil servants and neighbourhood residents, but without a personal connection participation rates are rather low. Next to that it is hard to find the intrinsic motivation behind the answers that the respondent has given. Both research methods have pro’s and con’s, but the choice has fallen on rich in-depth qualitative data gathered by doing semi-structured interviews. The interviews are semi-structured by the use of a topic list. This list is used as guidance for me as a researcher conducting the interviews. The topics on the list are determined based on the theory described in chapter two and can be found in the appendix (appendix A).
To ensure that this research can rely on a representative sample of stakeholders, it is important to not only consider the number of interviews, but also the division between the different stakeholders. The aim is to conduct twelve in-depth interviews covering different stakeholders. Regarding the units of analysis, several individuals will be interviewed. I want to conduct interviews with entrepreneurs that own a firm in a creative industry which is located in the research area. Furthermore, I plan to interview policymakers from the municipality of Amsterdam that are involved in the project 1012. At last neighbourhood residents are interviewed as they can contribute to the overview of the success of the instigated remaking of the Amsterdam Red Light District. The stakeholders that are possible interviewees will be found true company websites, the personal network of the researcher and by being present in person in the research district. The potential respondents are contacted through e-mail, by phone or in person. As the entrepreneurs and the civil servants are possibly highly occupied it could be an advantage to approach them in person or by phone as a personal approach could lead to cooperation. This form of selecting respondents can be seen as purposive sampling. Purposive sampling, according to Bryman, (2008) is a form of sampling where the researcher does not seek to sample participants on a random basis. The goal of this form of sampling is to sample participants in a strategic way so that those that are sampled are relevant to the research (ibid.) Table 1 provides an overview of the distribution, of
the in-depth interviews. It also shows the codes per category, these codes are used in the answering of the sub questions.
Table 1 Code and distribution of respondents
Code Information Number of
interviews C Creative entrepreneurs 6 ME Municipality employees 3 R Neighbourhood Residents 2 S Short interviews 7
Interviews analysis
The data that is gathered from the conducted interviews will be analysed and used in the three sub questions in this research. The interviews are conducted with several stakeholders that are elaborated in section 4.1 and will be recorded if possible. If so, the interviews are transcribed after the interview took place. By doing this the researcher will be able to recognize the most of the spoken data, this makes it easier to connect the results between the interviews. After the interviews are transcribed the transcripts will be analysed using deductive and inductive coding. When using deductive coding as a method, the coding scheme is created in advance (Saldana, 2012). Besides deductive coding, inductive coding is used. The inductive coding in this research is done by using open coding. Open coding according to Pandit (1996) “open coding refers to the part of analysis where labelling and categorizing from the collected data takes place”. The analysis of the interviews is carried out using the software Atlas T.I. This software allows the researcher to upload the transcripts and pre-set codes. The codes are organized and the software helps to code fast and consequent, furthermore the software helps to trace the codes back easily.
Ethnographic observations
To ensure that this research is credible the technique of triangulation is used. Triangulation entails using more than one research method or source of data in research (Bryman, 2008). In this case, interviews and ethnographic observations are used to achieve triangulation. Triangulation is also used to cross check findings deriving from qualitative research (Deacon et al. 1998 in Bryman, 2008). During a master thesis project, it is unlikely that the researcher is able to conduct a full-scale ethnography (ibid). Normally ethnographic research means a long period of being in the field or in an organisation, but according to Wolcott (1990) it is also possible to carry out a micro-ethnography, this involves focusing on a particular aspect of a topic. A relatively short period of time could be spent on a specific site, in this case the “Oudekerksplein” and the “St-Annekwartier”.
Ethnography or participant observation are both broad themes and are methods that can be used in different ways. Bryman (2008) distinguishes four forms of ethnography. First he makes a difference between the overt and the covert role of the ethnographer. In the covert role the researcher does not disclose the fact that he or she is a researcher, in the overt role this is the opposite. Then he distinguishes two different settings where research can be done, the open/public setting and the closed setting. An example of a closed setting can be research that is done within a firm. An open setting can be research that is being done in public space. To do research in a closed setting, gaining access is important and highly underestimated (Van Maanen & Kolb, 1982). Gaining access requires strategic planning, hard work and dumb luck (ibid.). Doing research in an open setting is much easier as there are no barriers that the researcher should overcome. Regarding the covert and overt role, Bryman (2008) describes the advantages and disadvantages of both roles that a researcher can adapt. The pros and cons will be discussed briefly below. For the covert role the most important advantage is that access to the research site is less hard whereas the researcher does not have to seek permission to gain entry to the research site be cease he or she is not seen as researcher. The most obvious disadvantages for the covert role are the problem of taking notes and the possible ethical issues that occur. A researcher that adapts the covert role cannot take notes because his cover is blown immediately. Taking notes is important in ethnographic research because it is impossible to memorise everything during ethnographic observations (ibid). Another important disadvantage is the fact that the
research. The greatest advantage for the overt role in ethnographic research is the fact that he or she can be truly him or herself during the research period. A disadvantage is that it may be harder to gain access to a closed setting because the potential participants
are not willing to cooperate.
In this research the overt role is used, in an open/ public setting. As stated earlier in this chapter the ethnographic research is done in a public space in the city centre of Amsterdam.
Besides the four forms of ethnographic research a deeper distinction can be made in the role the ethnographer adopts during the research in relation to the social setting and its members. There are several definitions and schemes in academic literature on the different roles ethnographers can adapt. According to Bryman (2008) the scheme of Gold (1958) is the one that is the most accepted and comprehensive.
Gold (1958) describes four roles; the complete participant, the participant as observer the observer as participant and the complete observer. The complete participant is according to Gold fully functioning in a social setting and the identity of the researcher is covert as described above. The second role as participant as overseer is the same as the role above although the members in the social setting the researcher is working are aware of his or her identity. The third role is the role of observer as participant. This role will be adapted in this research. In this role the researcher observes but this observation does not involve a lot of participation. As a complete observer, the fourth role, the researcher does not interact at all with the people in the research area/setting. This is not convenient and appropriate for this research. It is important that the researcher observes but also interacts if necessary with the people who are in the area at the time of observing. The role of observer as participant is used in this research but this role has, according to Gold (1958, in Bryman 2008), one disadvantage. The role holds the risk of not understanding or misunderstanding the people or the social setting. Furthermore, Gold (1958) argues that the fieldworker in this role is normally doing one-visit interviews, which in this case is true. This can lead to misunderstandings of the information the fieldworker collects during the observations and the interviews. This is something to keep in mind doing research as an observer as participant. Next to that it is
this research is about the change of a neighbourhood, therefore it is important that the researcher himself feels the dynamics of the current status. Therefore, the observations will be done at day but also at night as this area is seen as an area that flourishes at night. The observations are done over the course of four days, two in the afternoon and two after twelve PM. First descriptive observations are done. The focus of this observations will be: What is going on? What is the sphere? and What are people doing in this area? Next to observations the people in the area will be addressed in an informal way. Asking what they thing of the neighbourhood and if they noticed any change over time. During this process I will take notes according to the general principles given by Bryman (2008). These principles are: 1. The notes should be written as quickly as possible after an interesting observation; 2. The notes should be clear to overcome misunderstanding afterwards; 3. After the observations, the researcher should be write up a full field note report. This results in an ethnographic report that can be seen as hard data and can be used to answer the research question. The results of the ethnographic observations are presented in chapter seven. The choice has been made to select the relevant parts of the report to ensure that the readability of this thesis is of a good level. During the analysis full reports were used.
Operationalization
It is important to interview the right units of analysis and ask them the right questions while conducting the interviews. If this is not being done correctly, the risk of the lack of measurement validity can occur. According to Bryman (2008) this is the failure of measure. This can lead to the undermining of the value of the research. Because of this it is important to prevent indistinctness around units of analysis and the research question.In chapter two, the concept of creative industry has been discussed extensively. To keep this research feasible, the choice is made to narrow the definition of creative industry down into three sectorial divisions from the original definition of the UNCTAD (2008). Besides the reason regarding scope, the preparatory fieldwork showed that these sectors are all available in the research area. Figure two shows a visual presentation of the sectors that are chosen in this research, being: media, functional creations and heritage. Companies and persons that are operating within these sectors together with the neighbourhood residents can be seen as the units of analysis.
Figure 2: Model for Creative industries. Source: own work Figure two shows all sub categories, for example the sectors of functional creations is
divided within three categories; design, creative services and new media. The definitions of all sub sectors can be found in figure 2.
Quality of place
To define a quality of place, this research is based on how the municipality of Amsterdam defined quality of place in their own research. The municipality has the Wonen in Amsterdam (WiA) series. This research gives an overview of Amsterdam and its neighbourhoods. It uses, besides the quantitative data on the neighbourhood, perceptions of its residents. By giving points on a one-to-ten scale residents are asked about various and numerous concepts in relation to their neighbourhood. This study used the data from several WiA researches (2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013) to determine if and on what scale neighbourhood residents perceive a change, hindrance or effect in their neighbourhood.
Reliability and validity and ethical aspects
Regarding the nature of qualitative research, interaction between researchers and participant can be ethically challenging for the researcher. The researcher is clearly personally part of the research. This is why it is important to formulate clear ethical guidelines. These guidelines could consist of confidentiality, privacy, relationships between researchers and participants. Confidentiality and privacy are, in my opinion, the most important ethical aspects for my research. First I want to make clear that every participant has the opportunity to participate in full anonymity if he or she prefers so. If anonymity is desired, the participant will be denoted with a code, these codes can be found in table 1. Furthermore, the face-to-face interviews will be recorded, but only if the participant will agree on beforehand. If the participant doesn’t agree, I only take notes. The notes, transcripts and audiotapes will be destroyed after the report is finalized. At last the respondent is asked if he or she wants to read the transcript of the interview afterwards and the finalized the transcript and begin the analysis.
The validity of this research is linked to the absence of the systematic errors that can help a distortion of the research. Thus, it is important to note that it is possible that respondents can give socially desirable answers, but questions regarding perception, liveability and neighbourhood change can be considered as not highly sensitive for desirable answers. Therefore, desirable answers from respondents are not expected. However, it is possible that the respondents working for the municipality of Amsterdam give desirable answers. By including the same questions in interviews with the civil servants as with the creative actor’s irregularities can be noticed. The interviewed creative actors may hesitate to express criticism on the functioning of the municipality in the research area. It is important that they know their anonymity is guaranteed and their answers are treated with confidentiality.
5.
Case description
The following paragraphs discuss the case description. First from a historical point of view, thereafter from the municipal policy point of view. At the end of this chapter it is clear which part of the 1012 zip code is being researched.
Historical overview
The Amsterdam Red Light District is probably the most well know Red Light District in the western world and situated in the oldest part of the city. The ’Oude Kerk’ (Dutch for the ‘Old Church’), which is located in the center of the Red Light district, originates from the 13th century. The Red Light District’s borders are the Lange and Korte Niezel in the north, the Zeedijk and Nieuwmarkt’ on the east side and the Koe- and St. Jansstraat in the south and the Warmoesstraat on the west side of the district.Until the connection between the IJmuiden and Amsterdam harbor through the Noordzeekanaal opened up, the famous district was a port area (historiek.net, 2010). Being a port area can be seen as one of the reasons that this place became a district where prostitution thrived. Around 1960, when the sexual ethics loosened up, the Red Light District became the epitome of Dutch tolerance(ibid). At this time the Red Light district became more known by the general public (npogeschiedenis.nl)
Project 1012
In this section project 1012 will be described, first a short historic overview is provided, after that the policy pillars of the project are presented. Project 1012 refers to the project that the municipality of Amsterdam launched in 2007 to regenerate the postal code area 1012. The inducement for this project can be found previous to 2007. In 1996 a parliamentary inquiry committee was founded to investigate the methods of investigation for organized crime, this committee is also referred as committee Van Traa to the name of the president of the committee. The committee concluded that the investigation methods didn’t worked as they should, so they advised to have a ‘wallenmanager’ who had a coordinating role in tackling crime in the Amsterdam Red Light District. This happened in 1997, and can be seen as the start of proactive attitude of the municipality in fighting crime in the Red Light District (Trouw, 1997). The most foremost job of this ‘wallenmanager’ was to map the problems of the neighbourhood. Following on this, in 2000 the so called Van Traa-team was founded, his team had the aim to combat the infiltration of organized crime into the legitimate private economy. This is when the street-based approach was introduced; this will be elaborated in the policy pillars section. In short, after the street-based approach was introduced the plans of the municipality, commercial enterprises and private investment parties where better aligned. In 2002 the city district ‘Centrum’ (centre) was established, it was at that time that the municipality started with combined interventions using the Bibob law, which examines the integrity of an entrepreneur that applies for a permit or a subsidy or are holders of such kind (justis.nl).Moreover, this was the start of a broader approach where not only criminality was the focus but also the redevelopment and the appearance of the public space where points of interest. These focus points where created to increase the liveability of the area. In the summer of 2006 the city district ‘Centrum’ created the coordinating team Wallen, this team applied the focus points mentioned above. In 2007 this area based approach was evaluated. The conclusions of these evaluations are that there is done a lot to fight
Therefore, the Van Traa-team presented a report called “Grenzen aan de handhaving - Nieuwe ambities voor de Wallen” (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007a) where they concluded that enforcement was not enough, and therefore a project that entails also policy making should be started.
This was the start of the coalition project 1012. In this project directors of the central municipality and the city district Centrum are involved. Alderman of economic affairs and the mayor are the representatives of the municipal council and the city district Centrum is represented by the district mayor and the portfolio manager for public space and economic affairs. At that time these persons were Job Cohen, Lodewijk Asscher, Els Iping and Erik Koldenhof.
The project ‘1012’ formulated her focus points for the area shortly after the employment of the project. These points had to be accepted by the municipal council, which they were. After the acceptance, a policy paper outlining the strategy of the project was published. This is the main policy document of the project where all the focus points for the district are described. In the section below this policy document will be described and elaborated extensively.
Strategienota 2009
In this paragraph the ‘strategienota’ (strategy paper) from 2009 will be described. This document as stated before is the most important policy document for the project. The main goal of the coalition
project ‘1012’ is to break the criminal infrastructure by reducing the nuisance and criminogenic sectors.
These are sectors that are legal but they are unduly sensitive for criminal activities (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b).
At the same time an upgrade of the so-called entrance area of Amsterdam, postal code 1012, should be achieved. The unilateral economic structure should be transformed to a multilateral economic structure of high quality
(Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). Map 2: Unilaterality in functions Source: Gemeente Amsterdam
The unilateral economic structure of the 1012 area is formed by mostly enterprises where illegal activities and abuses are taking place. The presence of sports cafés, snack bars, and low budget hotels completes the unilaterality.
Map 2 showed above (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b) shows the areas where the unilaterality emerged. The strategy paper consists of three main policy pillars which should lead to getting closer to the main goal of the project;
1) Key projects as an engine for change;
2) Restructuring the public space in the 1012 area; 3) The street based approach.
All three will be described below. At first the key projects are described. The municipality describes in the Strategienota that the desired changes in the 1012 area going to be accomplished by adding new functions at strategic locations.
This can be done by interventions true urban planning of add new concepts or formulas (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). The appointed nine projects should contribute to the instigated change and improvement of the cultural and retail supply. Some of the projects where already in progress by the time the ‘Strategienota’ was published, the municipality was hoping to effect these projects in a positive way true its administrative power. In this part only the relevant projects for this research will be discussed which are two of the nine projects.
First, I will describe two key projects. Starting with the development of the cluster Oudekerksplein. In 2009 the municipality wanted to create a brothel-free Oudekerksplein. The Oude Kerk should become the cultural and historical meeting point of the Red Light District. The public space should be redesigned and the Oudekerksplein and the streets close to it should have a combination of craft activities, hospitality industry and creative industries. A more extensive elaboration on the plans according to the Oudekerksplein can be found in paragraph 5.4. The second project is that of the museum ‘Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder’. This museum was an old hidden church which nowadays function as a museum. Because of the cultural heritage and added value for the city a subsidy is given for the renovation of the museum. Besides the subsidy also the nearest surroundings need a positive injection, this includes the Oudezijds Armsteeg (ibid) and the adjacent public space. The second policy pillar is the restructuring of the public space. The municipality argues that it is important to restructure the public space in a sustainable and safe way, this can be seen as an instrument to create the desired upgrading of the 1012 district (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). The idea behind this is that a sustainable and safe restructured public space creates calmness, better traffic situations. Furthermore, restructuring works as an instrument and catalyst for existing property owners to refurbish their
streets are relevant for this research therefore not all the streets that are selected in the Strategienota will be mentioned in this thesis. The municipality argues that the selected streets can influence the whole area and that they form a barrier for in the instigated changes that the project aims at. Furthermore, the streets that are selected for this policy contain mostly low quality functions such as coffeeshops, exchange offices, massage salons, mini supermarkets and low quality hospitality services.
Oudekerksplein - future perspective on the area
In this section the specific case of the Oudekerksplein will be described on the basis of the “Visie-Oudekerksplein” which is developed by the municipality of Amsterdam. First a short introduction of the Oudekerksplein will be given. Secondly the vision of the municipality will be briefly elaborated. The full description will be given and analysed in chapter seven.
Introduction Oudekerksplein
The Oudekerksplein is functioning as the centre of Amsterdam for ages, religiously but also as the civil centre (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b). Map 3 shows the Oudekerksplein
and its surroundings.
When I refer to the Oudekerksplein area, the area depicted (numbers 1, 2 and 3) above is the area in which the research is taking place. The municipality sees a prominent role for this square in the future as well. Therefore, this area is appointed as a key project within the 1012 project and seen as a cluster within the street based approach. The Oudekerksplein offers the opportunity to attract various visitors to the heart of the city instead of public that is only interested in the prostitution that can be found in the area. Furthermore, the Oudekerksplein and its potential have the ability to reduce the criminogenic functions in the Amsterdam Red Light District (ibid.). According to the municipality this will lead to a higher quality of place on the square and its surroundings and improves the liveability of the neighbourhood.
Policy
The municipality of Amsterdam created a policy, called the “Toekomstvisie Oudekerksplein”, in which they state their future plans. This document is used in the first instance as a testing framework for new initiatives in this district but eventually this should be the substantive basis for the zoning plan of 1012. In this policy document the Oudekerksplein should enhance the connection between the dynamic full Damrak and the lee of the intricate city neighbourhood around the Red Light District. This should lead to the accessibility of the district for all inhabitants of Amsterdam (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009b).
The Oudekerksplein plays a really important role in the achievement of the goals that the 1012 plan of the municipality of Amsterdam entails. For example, the attraction of different visitors, the alteration of unwanted functions with a low-quality appearance, increasing the diversity of function and adding new functions with higher quality (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a). Next to this the central location of the area and its specific character enhances the role in the economic transformation of the Red Light District as a whole. The church (de Oudekerk), is a building with an open character and serves as a place where a wide range of activities is taking place such as contemporary art expositions.
The Oudekerksplein and its surroundings should be vivid but also a civilized area where visitors can come during day- and night-time. The square should leave a good impression to the visitors, tourists but also the Amsterdam residents that like culture, design, good food and interesting shops. Next to this the area should be attractive to creative industries.
Policy reassessed
On the 8th of January 2016 the municipality of Amsterdam reassessed the project 1012 that started in 2009. She communicated this by sending a letter with the outcomes of the project to the residents of the area, the entrepreneurs and the other stakeholders. The goals of the project stayed the same: decreasing the functions which are sensitive to crime by street-oriented transformation and the improvement of the balance of the functions and spatial developments by stimulating street-oriented real estate developments (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016). The intended purpose of the municipality of this is to create the desired transformation (increasing liveability and break through the monoculture) in the 1012 area and continue to make this possible. The council decision is a well-informed decision that resulted in the remaining goals of the project; although the biggest change is caused by the budget cuts on the purchase of real estate. It appears that the municipality is unable to afford to buy the selected real estate. She needs help form private investments from the housing corporations and a pension fund. Together the three will form a new alliance called ‘1012 Inc.’, but these are plans still in progress. Also with regard to people working in the sex industry (hereafter: sex workers) changes are made. The municipality of Amsterdam wants to ensure that the interest of the sex workers is worn more than in the past (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016). Next to these changes the municipality decided that half of the windows that had to be closed according to the Strategienota (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2009a) stay open. Furthermore, a new project is launched in relation to the independence of the sex workers called “Eigen Raam”. In this project sex workers can exploit windows on their own (without further ‘need’ of a pimp) and fifteen windows are made available.In the reassessment paper the municipality of Amsterdam states that there have been positive developments in the recent years. This ensures the possibility to continue with the policy measures regarding the liveability of the district (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2016).
