Daily street life

Wednesday around 4 pm, school was over, and the sun was shining. Guys were standing on the streets, kids were playing on the squares and mothers were walking with their prams. It was the first time that we noticed a light busyness on the streets of the Diamantbuurt. Later that day, a street coach told us that warm weather causes a lively, but at the same time a tense atmosphere in the neighborhood. Especially on the big squares there were many people around. We situated ourselves mainly on those places and observed the street life of the Diamantbuurt. 
  On big squares as the Smaragdplein and the Hendrik de Keijserplein many kids around the age of 12

Hendrick de Keijserplein

were playing soccer, mostly boys. Around those soccer fields some younger children, boys and girls, were playing different games. The squares are a good place for those kids to play because there is no traffic that can bother them, and at the same time, the Smaragdplein is surrounded by institutions meant for children. For example, there is a day care provider for children called De Kleine Wereld, where they can walk in and out whenever they want.

        Besides children, many people are walking calmly over the squares. Some men and women seem to enjoy the nice weather, have a little chat with passersby and slowly walk further. It looks like they know that those squares are the places where they can run into people they know and can have a chat with.

According to Danish architect Jan Gehl those areas can be seen as an outdoor place with a high quality since the good physical conditions bring people together. It became an environment where a ‘broad spectrum of human activities is possible.’ It invites people to ‘stop, sit, eat, play, and so on.’ People who live in the neighborhood know that those squares are places where people come together and where they have some social interaction.

Tensions
The Diamantbuurt has had a bad reputation ever since a journalist laid his eyes on a specific conflict in the neighborhood which he employed in order to have a ‘juicy’ story in the newspaper. Sociologist Anouk de Koning, whom we have introduced in a previous post, questioned the journalist’s approach and reckoned that in his story many voices remained unheard. She qualitatively investigated the neighborhood and found opposed results. Many residents showed contentedness about the neighborhood and it was not as much of a war-zone as the newspapers had made it seem. However, authority still clings on to the idea that the Diamantbuurt is prone to tension. Despite it having decreased over the past few years, different parties hold on to the idea that the area demands close monitoring. To what extent it is indeed necessary, is beyond our judgment: only extensive research might be able to show. However, our own observations and spontaneous interviews can provide us with clues.
First of all it is important to establish criteria which will provide the framework for research and expose the factors which create tension. Tension is most likely to arise in spaces where different actors converge. Therefore, our focal point will be street corners and public squares. Before we are able to analyze these, we will give a brief outlay of the area.

The Diamantbuurt is a densely concentrated block of predominantly social housing (in the past few years gradually turning into privately owned housing). Recreation in the area is rather limited and only a few neglectable patches of green adorn the neighborhood. These are not very accessible because they are fenced and merely seem to have a decorative function. If a resident wants to sit down and enjoy the outdoors, he or she has to turn to the nearby Sarphatipark. Furthermore, there are two squares located in this neighborhood, one of them being notorious for serving as a breeding ground for young criminals. It is the Smaragdplein, a square which has been the site for media coverage ever since ‘the Bert and Marja affair’ of 2004 (see previous blog post). The other one is the Henrik de Keijserplein, which has been incorporated in the block since the Diamantbuurt’s expansion in 2005. It is these two squares which will be the focus of our attention in the following section.

The Smaragdplein is a square of considerable size which serves as a meeting point for children and teens from the neighborhood aged between roughly eight to twenty years old. A playground in the middle where one can play football makes it an attractive site. It is a vibrant spot inaccessible to cars and passers-by merely consist of pedestrians and cyclists. As we have mentioned before, camera surveillance was introduced in the periods of 2007-2008 and has been consistently in use from 2011 onwards. They are easy to spot and their presence is rather prominent, casting a shadow over the playground. They make the persons present feel very aware of their visibility. Consequently a disciplinary mechanism is set in motion: one tones down one’s behaviour and makes sure he or she does not attract too much attention. Just based on our observations we cannot conclude that the children and teens necessarily suppress any outgoing behaviour. However, we did that notice that when a patrolling police officer passed by on his bike the small crowd of children present were immediately silenced. Even though they were not involved in any illegal or even obnoxious activities, they felt the need to retreat and make themselves invisible during the officer’s passing. We can therefore conclude that the famous notion of the “panoptical regime” by Michel Foucault seems highly applicable to this square. Monitoring and observing thus leads to regulation and disciplining one’s behaviour. A question arising is whether these kids have come to internalize this behaviour of making themselves ‘invisible’ due to the structural circumstances they are in and what the consequences are in the long run. This however, is material for further research.

Another pressing force which artificially regulates the situation are the street coaches. Reports run by the municipality show a low level of effectiveness (see previous blog post on policies) due to insecure attitudes. However, our small-scaled ‘fieldwork’ revealed the opposite. As we were observing on the edge of the Smaragdplein, we noticed a group of five young men dressed in the typical red ‘uniform’ indicating

Picture by: Stichting Aanpak Overlast Amsterdam

they were street coaches. We approached them and asked if we could ask them a few questions.
        The street coaches emphasized that their role in the neighbourhood is a crucial one since there are still some people who often make trouble. Those street coaches go to their ‘hotspots’, which are the places where most tensioned interaction and crime takes place. They discover those places themselves by walking around, talking to the people and observing what is going on. Those hotspots are not always fixed, since the ‘criminals’ know where they are watched most. For example, the Smaragdplein was always a place where there was trouble between boys, but since there is a lot of policemen walking around and security cameras they moved to other places. 
      According to the street coaches the troublemakers are often men between the ages of twenty to thirty. Especially when the weather is nice, those guys come out of their houses and tensions rise easily. Contrary to this generation, the younger boys that play soccer with each other are very different they say; they do not

Cameras in the Diamantbuurt

make trouble. The fact that the street coaches make a profile of almost every kid they see in the streets, those kids can feel the social control. Social control is one of the main preventions of crime; it is a mechanism ‘used to regulate the conduct of people who are seen as deviant, criminal, worrying or troublesome in some way by others’, as Martin Innes, professor in the school of social sciences explains in his book Understanding Social Control: Crime and Social Order in Late Modernity (2003). The need for social control comes from the fear of crime. The creation of more social control in the Diamantbuurt by placing more security was a reaction on the fear that was partly created by the ‘Bert and Marja affair’. Nowadays, the Diamantbuurt seems a peaceful area where people make good use of the environment and enjoy it.

Literature

Gehl, J.
2011 Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Washington: Island Press.

Innes, M.
2003 Understanding Social Control: Crime and Social Order in Late Modernity. Glasgow: Bell & Bain.

Nurturing a new middle class

Processes of gentrification can be found in a lot of different districts of Amsterdam. The Diamantbuurt has also caught the attention of the urban policy makers who aim to produce ‘liveable neighborhoods’. The notion of ‘liveability’ overall relates to the social economic composition of the neighborhood’s residents (van Gent 2012: 506). These policies regularly contain the pro-active insertion of middle-income households in low-income areas. As mentioned in the previous blog post concerning the history of The Diamantbuurt, the Diamantbuurt arose as a working class neighborhood and has only quite recently become an exclusive, and very popular, neighborhood for young urban professionals (YUP). The Diamantbuurt is a nice example of this upcoming gentrification; you can find an obvious increase in the amenities and services associated with middle-class taste, like trendy bars, restaurants, galleries, and exclusive stores. The agency for investigation and statistics (2012) tells us that there are 52 shops in the neighborhood with a combined surface of 2.208 m².

     The Van Wou straat, the main street that crosses the Diamantbuurt and divides it in two parts, is actually very representative for the district. In this street you will find a nice mix of yuppie restaurants, stores, shops and ‘oriental’ food stores. Whereas in the Pijp, the neighboring district of the Diamantbuurt, gentrification is almost completed, in the Diamantbuurt you can still find this diversity that Amsterdam is famous for.

Food store STACH

 An example of a store associated with middle- class taste is food store STACH. It is a delicacy-store, boutique-like, that sells organic products, healthy take away meals and you can also have coffee and lunch inside. On its website the store is promoted and portrayed as a food store with seasonal specials, all the food is fresh and comes from different regional suppliers, personal attention for the customers, and has, remarkably in this diverse area, only white ‘yuppie’ customers on its pictures. The target group contains ‘people who love healthy and tasty food but are too busy or just don’t feel like cooking’1. In other words, especially for ‘yuppies’. It is interesting to see how these concepts of healthy organic food stores increase in Amsterdam, where ‘yuppies’ can differentiate themselves from the masses.

      Another place for yuppies and students on the Van Wou Street is ‘De Stadskantine’. Literally

Stadskantine

translated it means ‘the city cafeteria’. It is a certain kind of business that is very popular at the moment: a place where you can eat and drink while working on your laptop or reading a book. The meals are not expensive, they change daily and the used products are all fresh 2. The target group therefore contains students and yuppies who like to work there in the afternoons. And also the people who do not feel like cooking in the evenings and want to go for a quick meal, and who like the idea of a having a ‘home made meal’. The design of the cafeteria is light, with a lot of glass, and it feels like an informal environment. This makes the place more accessible in the way that it feels less of an effort to come over and have a meal. The biggest difference between a cafeteria like this and a restaurant is probably that it is normal to have a meal or a coffee on your own.

Large 'Italian table in Spaghetteria

     The amenities for middle class taste are still increasing, as the restaurant Spaghetteria opened its doors only in February 2012.They call themselves a ‘pasta bar’, and promote their home made, fresh pasta made of organic flour3. This Yuppie place doesn’t have separate tables but just one large ‘Italian’ table where everybody can sit together like a big family. 

 

Underneath this picture you can see a Turkish food store, a totally different type of store than the stores mentioned above. In the Van Wou street you can see these contrasting cultures come together in this and divide two areas at the same time. The immigrant side versus the yuppie side.  These upcoming yuppie places give a fascinating diversity in the shopping landscape. On the one hand you have these posh restaurant Pekelhaaring, the Stadskantine, Spaghetteria and Stach. On the other hand you will also see a lot of Dönerplaces, Turkish supermarkets, pizzerias and other immigrant owned consumption sights. 

Turkish Food Store

 

What makes this interesting is that although the gentrification process is still going on, there are still quite a few stores and places which seem to survive. One of these shops is the long lasting Turkish supermarket Genco, situated on the corner of the van Wou and the Tolstraat. Several residents of the area pointed out this grocery store as a ‘pleasant shop with nice products and a friendly, helpful staff’. According to an article in The Volkskrant ( March 15th, 2005). Genco Supermarket was established on this same corner in 1966 by Mustafa Genco. Mustafa Genco was a working migrant who came to Amsterdam to escape the poverty in the Turkish town of Gaziantep. After being badly treated by several bosses Mustafa decided to never work for a boss again. He then started the grocery store and moved his wife and kids from Turkey to join him here in Amsterdam. He needed the help of his family to be ahead of the competition that started appearing over the years.

Genco Versmarkt

Since Genco is a family business many family members worked there to benefit the family, by benefit the family I mean they didn’t earn wages. Mustafa started as a small butcher to sell meat slaughtered by Islamic rules to the fast growing group of Turkish working migrants streaming into the Netherlands. This was a very clever choice. Today the Genco imperium consists of several grocery stores like the one in the van Woustraat as well as a hip restaurant/bar in the east part of Amsterdam. The resaurant has the same logo despite not having a business agreement with the grocery store. But, the owners are family and would most likely help each other out when in need. Just like the family helped out when starting the business.

It might be surprising that some residents mentioned Genco as a pleasant place to do the daily shopping in this exclusive neighborhood. But ever since the Mediterranean kitchen becamepopular in Holland, the Dutch costumers also found their way over to Genco for these products. If there is one thing yuppies like, it must be being ‘multicultural’ and ‘tolerant’. Helping the suspected less fortunate and interacting with former migrant families grants the yup social prestige. This is exactly the reason why besides hip coffee places, also the Turkish owned restaurants and shops are doing very well in this area.

Abert Cuyp market: the social mix that is left in the Pijp

There is no outdoor market in the Diamantbuurt itself, but the Albert Cuyp market in the Pijp, the neighboring district, provides an important service for the residents of the area. Although the Pijp is known to be a gentrified area, the Albert Cuyp market still socially mixed. A lot of migrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan have their stalls on the market with cosmetics and clothing. The fruit and vegetables stalls are mainly owned by Dutch people, born and raised in Amsterdam. Then there are always a few stalls of people to promote new products, like handy kitchen tools. A stall costs in total around 35 euros daily. There is a waiting list to have your stall on the market, and you have to have a permit.

The store on the market that sells plants is a family owned business; it is called ‘de Plantenmarkt’. They have had their store since 1954, and it still goes really well. Their main customers are ‘dagjesmensen’, visitors and tourist who come just for a day to the Albert Cuyp market, and people (in their words), who are ‘bored’. When I asked them what they meant by that, they explained that a lot of old people from the area pass by, just to make a walk, and the ‘richer kind’ who ‘have nothing else to do’. When I asked them if they thought they had a lot of customers from the Diamantbuurt, they answered that ‘those immigrants will probably go to the Dappermarkt, as that market is even cheaper’. This quote again proves that the image of the Diamantbuurt has not changed, and I am sure that they meant the ‘old’ Diamantbuurt. There is an area that has been ‘added’ to the Diamantbuurt in 2005. The residents of this part still call their neighborhood ‘the pijp’, as they don’t want to belong to the bad image of the Diamantbuurt. The truth is that a lot of people from this side of the Van Wou straat do come to the Albert Cuyp market. But they are not considered as the residents of the Diamantbuurt.

Cited literature:

van Gent, W.P.C

2013 Neoliberalization, Housing Institutions an Variegated Gentrification: How the

‘Third Wave’ Broke in Amsterdam. International Journal of Urban and Regional

Research. (37)2 : 503 - 522.

Public Policy in The Diamantbuurt

DIAMANTBUURT // FACILITIES 

 

The Diamantbuurt is mainly notorious for what the media calls ‘the terrorization of the neighborhood by youngsters of Moroccan descent’. Therefore, most policies are aimed at preventing this so called terrorism. However, different rapports show different results concerning the safety in the Diamantbuurt. The different facilities have the common goal of enhancing social cohesion, but whether this is necessary in the first place remains to be seen. Besides the municipality’s aims at promoting social cohesion we will also take a look at the facilities concerning transportation and accessibility. As will become clear, these two seem to be interconnected in a certain way.

The Diamantbuurt accomodates only two schools. One elementary school; the 9^th Montessori school the Scholekster and one high school; the Berlage Lyceum. Both of these schools are situated in the new Diamantbuurt. An interesting fact is that many residents of the neighborhood choose to put their children to school in other areas of Amsterdam

The main facilities in the Diamantbuurt are concentrated around the Diamantstraat, the epicenter of the neighborhood. The Cinetol building is host to a public library. The former Bathhouse is used as a location for musicians to rehearse and one can practice some sports at the local playground on the Henrick de Keijserplein.

Former Bathhouse

Other facilities reveal more about how the municipality approaches the Diamantbuurt. Let us take a closer look at culture cluster Asscher and multifunctional center the Edelsteen. The most active of these two is the Edelsteen, which is a center where activities are organized by and for the neighborhood residents. According to a rapport by the municipality: all residents should feel welcome, be able to meet one another, feel stimulated to participate or organize activities. By getting into contact with other residents of the neighborhood the social cohesion of the Diamantbuurt should increase and generate a feeling of safety. However, a rapport by the Amsterdam Office for Research and Statistics of 2012 shows a different perspective on the Edelsteen: The building is somewhat concealed and doesn’t look very welcoming. [..] besides there are not enough people working there. The neighbourhood activities by and for the local residents are setting off rather mediocre. The building does not look very accessible because of the taken safety measures. Safety is the main issue in the Diamantbuurt as I will show further on in this article. An example of a project to increase neighbourhood cohesion was hosted in community centre the Edelsteen. This project was named ‘Calling, this is how you do it’ [bellen doe je zo] in 2011. Here local youth would teach the elderly how to use mobile phones.

Since initiatives were unsuccessful in the community centre there will be a reorganisation. The rapport is quite clear about the unsuccessful plans: due to the understaffed, closed character and concealed location it is suggested to assign a different programming to the Edelsteen. Preference goes out to child day care, health and or sports. The current activities can be replaced too [...]

The rapport is quite clear about their own vision on the unsuccessfulness of the municipality in creating neighborhood solidarity and cohesion. Although the Amsterdam Office for Research and Statistics show that the residents of the Diamantbuurt are quite comfortable and satisfied with their neighbourhood, the media has made the Diamantbuurt their prime example of a ‘terrorised’ neighbourhood by youth of Moroccan descent. Further research needs to explore why there is such disparity between the resident’s feelings towards the neighbourhood and the way the media represents it.

DIAMANTBUURT// TRANSPORTATION

Now let us move on to the subject of transportation and accessibility of the Diamantbuurt. Similar to most places in The Netherlands, the neighborhood is quite bike-friendly even though most places do not have separate bicycle paths. By this I mean that the cyclist has to cycle on the same road where the cars are driving with no separation between them. The main big street, Van Woustraat, is a street where there are many cars just as there are many cyclists. On this road there is also no separate cycle path but the side for the cyclists is set off by a broken white line as is shown in the picture below. This line marks the area for the cyclists. Both drivers and cyclists know this and conform to this rule. 

 

Van Woustraat: Picture taken from Google maps

Another important factor regarding the Diamantbuurt’s infrastructure concerns the secluded small streets that converge in the center of the Diamantbuurt, the Smaragdplein. One cannot enter this part by car, which makes the square prone to the loitering of youngsters who potentially practice illegal activities. Cycling or walking across the square can feel rather threatening for the architectural outline does not provide the cyclist or pedestrian with much choice of ‘escape’ than the narrow arch illustrated below. Some residents might experience similar feelings of discomfort.

Narrow Arch: Picture taken from Google maps

Picture taken from Google maps

Despite these narrow streets and alleys the residents of the Diamantbuurt have an excellent public transport connection to practically everywhere in Amsterdam, and beyond. Tram 3 on the Ceintuurbaan goes all the way from east to west Amsterdam, tram 4 brings its passengers from RAI station to Central Station and the Victorieplein is also a public transport hub. All these places are accessible by foot in less than 20 min from anywhere in the Diamantbuurt. If someone prefers the Amstelstation over the Central Station they would be glad that this station is even closer and shares many of the possibilities with the Amsterdam Central Station.

DIAMANTBUURT // POLICIES

As we have mentioned before, media often depicts the migrant youngsters as the evildoers of the neighbourhood. A story that illustrates this well is a couple named “Bert and Marja” that popped up in 2004 in the widely read national newspaper the Volkskrant. Bert and Marja were residents of the Diamanbuurt where they lived with their two young kids in a small but comfortable flat. However, outside their home they were being threatened, bullied and spit at on a daily basis by what seem to be second or third generation migrant youth from Moroccan descent. This escalated to the point that the couple desperately approached the newspaper to get them to report the incidents and highlight the issues at stake. Despite the reporting the couple ultimately was forced to move to a different part of town. This ‘failure’ formed the departure point of years of conflict coverage in the Diamantbuurt, expanding from the Volkskrant to the local newspapers such as the Parool. Responding to the media reports, policymaking regarding the Diamantbuurt began to revolve around the two key words: safety versus criminality (source: Amsterdam Office for Research and Statistics).

Nipping criminal activity among youth in the bud thus became the first focal point regarding taking preventive measures. It soon became clear that a gang of roughly twenty to fifty youngsters was operating within the block causing overall disturbance and anxiety among the residents. Local authority responded to this pressing issue by introducing a policy of camera surveillance which was in use for the periods of 2007-2008 and from 2011 onwards. Research shows that this intervention was indeed effective for incidents occurred less whilst the cameras were in use. However, local newspaper the Parool mentioned in July 2011 that despite the cameras level of contentment and feeling of safety among the residents kept dropping. A contradiction therefore seems to be at work here. The municipality furthermore stresses a ‘bottom-up’ approach, which entails intensive supervision of twelve year olds and under by so called street coaches. These patrol the neighbourhood and address youngsters who play outside late at night without attendance. They also pay visits to parents after reports of incidents. However, identifying who is responsible turns out to be rather challenging: parents are often not open to correction, which causes insecurity in the street coaches’ attitudes. Engaging youngsters with the elderly is a third measurement encouraged by the local authority. This is put into practice through projects such as Jong Helpt Oud, which entails teenagers doing chores for the elderly such as grocery shopping. This seems to be in line with the 2012 resolution to appoint schools to find ways to connect the youngsters to their neighbourhood.

However, an important footnote that needs to be placed here is that media coverage in the case of the Diamantbuurt has been the main catalyst for conducting certain policies. Urban planner and sociologist Anouk de Koning wrote a critical essay on this phenomenon describing the way the Diamantbuurt has become the ‘national symbol’ for Dutch discord (source: Het Lezen van de Stad, de Organisatie van Improvisatie). This we believe has a strong reifying effect, which we will elaborate on in next week’s blog post. 

SOURCES 

Huivesting van Maatschappelijke voorzieningen in stadsdeel zuid, gemeente Amsterdam 30 juni 2011.

A History of the Diamantbuurt in Amsterdam

Exploring the Diamantbuurt

Reading about the Diamantbuurt gives the feeling that this is a ghettoish place where you have to be careful while walking around; with criminal groups and ‘hangjongeren’/youngsters hanging around who are making trouble. Actually going to the place shows a peaceful area with interesting architecture, nice shops, calm people and historic buildings such as the Asscher Diamond Factory and the bathhouse.
    The Diamantbuurt is a two-faced place, clearly expressed by the people living in the neighborhood. On the one hand you have people who do not want to be associated with this neighborhood and who say: “No, this is not the Diamantbuurt, it is over there. This is just ‘de Pijp’.” On the other hand you have people who are proud of it and who do not see any danger in this area. A women explained: “I live here five years now and I always let my daughter play on the streets, nothing happens.”

    In order to see where those different views come from, we will look at the history of the Diamantbuurt; where do those buildings, architecture and environmental planning come from and who were the people that lived here?

History

The diamantbuurt gained its name because it housed the Asscher Diamond Factory which was the main building for the Royal Asscher Diamond Company. The factory was famous for the quality it produces and the streets which were built around it gained the name of precious stones. For the most part the neighbourhood was built in the 1930's and the buildings are in the Amsterdam School style, which is characterized by the red brick and ornaments on the building fronts using either brick or carved stone. The diamond factory is the main monument of the neighbourhood is was designed by Gerrit van Arkel who used a toned-down version of Jugendstil.

Former Nieuwer Amstel City Hall and Municipal Archive

The land which became the diamantbuurt belonged to a small municipality that was namedNieuwer Amstel and, for so far as it is still the same, we now know as Amstelveen. The small municipality feared annexation and tried to fend it of as long as possible. This political battle was fought through buildings and there are still traces of this fight in the current neighbourhood. Most prominently, Nieuwer Amstel built their city hall at the edge of the city in 1892, it is a beautiful Neo-gothic building on the Amstel. After the annexation, it served as the city archive from 1914 to 2007. It was a clear sign of resistance to build it so close to their growing neighbour.

    Similarly, the decision to commission the new, prestigious diamond factory at the edge of the city was also a political manoeuvre on the part of Amsterdam. The owners of company at the time Joseph and Abraham Asscher were of Jewish descent and the factory attracted many other Jewish families to the neighbourhood. In 1937 a synagoge was built opposite the factory, this was the synagoge that Anne Frank and her family came to worship. Before the World War Two, the factory building also served as place where Zionist youth group gathered every Saturday.

Asscher Diamond Factory

    During the war, it housed meetings for the Jewish Council which was headed by Abraham Asscher. The council mediated the occupation's government demands to the Jewish community, in short Abraham Asscher help the organisation of the deportations of Jews to concentration camps. In 1943 the Abraham Asscher, the rest of his family, most members of the Jewish Council and most of the diamond polishers were deported to concentration camps. The Asscher brothers survived Bergen-Belsen, but only fifteen of the five hundred polishers did.

    After the war there was no more company to come back to and for Abraham Asscher also no community. He was accused of collaboration and hated by the Jewish community. He was only exonerated after his death in 1950. His two sons, Joop and Lodewijk Asscher declined an offer to put their skills to use in the New York diamond industry and opted to rebuild the company in Amsterdam. The factory building still houses there business headquarters although it is no longer a factory.

After the Second World War, the neighborhood, which had been predominantly Jewish working class changed dramatically, nowadays the majority of the houses are part of social housing. Social housing in the Netherlands means that these houses are only available for people with a low income (Stadsdeel Zuid: De staat van de buurten in Zuid 2012, folder).

The population of the district was influenced by the large flow of immigrants from the 1960s onwards by the booming economy and the need for cheap labor. Mainly Moroccan and Turkish ‘guest workers’ moved to the Netherlands. Their immigration became permanent and their wives and children joined them. In the 80s the economy went down and the first measures were taken to put a hold to the immigration. The socioeconomic status of non-Western immigrants is overall poorer than the ‘Dutch’ level, so a large group got to live in social housing projects.

Around 2004 a sort of media hype emerged around the ‘Moroccan problem’ in the Diamantbuurt. Moroccan youngsters were ‘terrorizing’ the neighborhood and a few families were bullied out of the area. Anouk de Koning (2012: 56-71) argues that the Diamantbuurt has become literally a symbol for ethnic tension. Since 2004 stories about the district mainly about youth criminality regularly made it to the news. These problems and the commotion around the Diamantbuurt reflect the national discourse of fear of Islamic immigrants. In different European countries a fear of ‘difference’ was growing. The Diamantbuurt became a vivid symbol for the discomfort of the Dutch population with the Islamic immigrants.

How is the Diamantbuurt being remembered? After speaking to several long term residents it got quite clear that the unpleasant events from a few years ago are still fresh. We started our research at the side of the van Woustraat that’s been ‘added’ to the Diamantbuurt in 2005. The residents we spoke to of this part of the neighborhood were convinced that this part was not the Diamantbuurt. We could notice a strong division between the two sides of the Van Woustraat, and that the neighborhood around the Diamond Company still had to deal with a bad image. The residents argued that you could notice the difference in sphere as the boys hanging out at the squares or play yards were all ‘buitenlanders’, the Dutch word for foreigners which in most cases means Moroccan or other Islamic immigrant groups, which would be really threatening. The use of the public space by these ‘buitenlanders’ changed the neighborhood’s image. After crossing the Van Woustraat we spoke to a lot more positive residents. They argue things have changed in the neighborhood and that they do not understand why the area still has a bad image.

Rest of the environment

Note on the Fence informing the viewer there is a temporary monument here

As said, the municipal is situated next to the Asscher Diamond Factory, but this building was just one of the nine municipal buidings. Nowadays, there is a big empty field at the place where those other buildings were situated, with a doubtful note attached to the fence.

Since the municipal archive  moved to the Vijzelgracht, the eight buildings were demolished and there appeared a space for new ideas, called Archiefterrein/Archive terrain. The redevelopment of this terrain, that will start in the second half of 2013, is seen as a new opportunity for the Diamantbuurt to get a better image and make it a place full of art, culture, living and recreation.

Archive Terrain

           The bad reputation of the Diamantbuurt is not due to the environment; in fact, the planning and architecture has a great potential to be an eminent neighborhood. To bring in the theory of urban theorist Jane Jacobs the Diamantbuurt has all the four factors to create liveliness in an urban place, as Jacobs describes it (Doedée 2012: 14).

           In the first place, the Diamantbuurt has several users functions, such as living, working, shopping and recreation. For example, the Van Woustraat has many shops where people are always moving around. Secondly, the neighborhood has small building blocks that should improve social contact and a wider dissemination of people, which increases the social control and safety. Thirdly, the Diamantbuurt contains old buildings that are cheap and therefore attractive to small and new companies which creates more possibilities for the first factor that is mentioned here. Finally, the neighborhood is very diverse as well; for instance, 36% of the population consists of non-Western immigrants (Stadsdeel Zuid, De staat van de buurten in Zuid 2012: 3). This diversity would, according to Jacobs, create a better social cohesion and economic situation (ibid.: 14-16).

           All those factors should create a well-bounded environment in which the people are very much connected to the surroundings and to each other, which makes it nice and safe to live in. Although, in reality it is not necessarily true for the Diamantbuurt, since it had to deal with the misbehave of young people that gave it a bad connotation. Because of this, in October 2011 there are several cameras placed in the neighborhood. They are placed at the corner of Carillonstraat and the Van Woustraat, at the small gate to Smaragdplein en Smaragdplein itself.# Those are or were apparently the most problematic areas but are, possibly due to this extra security changes, improving in the last few years.

Sources

Doedée, M.P.E.
    2012    Masterthesis Kunstbeleid en -Management. Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht.    

http://www.zuid.amsterdam.nl/wonen_en/bouwprojecten/archiefterrein/http://www.zuid.amsterdam.nl/wonen_en/buurten-zuid/diamantbuurt
http://www.joodsamsterdam.nl/strdiamantbuurt.htm 

http://www.jhm.nl/cultuur-en-geschiedenis/personen/a/asscher,+abraham                  

Uitgave: Stadsdeel Zuid, versie 24-4-2012

Tekst en figuren: Bureau Onderzoek en Statistiek / Stadsdeel Zuid