Social renewal

Social renewal began in Rotterdam in 1989, as a response to the presence of stubborn social disadvantage. The Idenburg Committee produced recommendations in that year suggesting how these social problems could best be tackled at local level. Central government adopted these ideas in 1990, since when social renewal policy has really taken off. Most municipalities have joined in, developing social renewal policy and creating an administrative apparatus for it.

At the request of the ministries most closely involved, SCP has studied the process of social renewal from the start to the present day and has published on this regularly. The present study reports on the latest policy developments in a number of municipalities. It looks at how the new approach is translated into administrative practice at local level and asks policymakers and residents for their views and opinions on the content and outcomes of the social renewal policy, in the form of projects designed to improve neighbourhood liveability and projects intended to help more people find work.

The report concludes with a summary of the achievements of some seven years of social renewal policy. To what extent have the objectives been achieved, such as more integrated policy implementation, a greater policy focus on specific problems, more cooperation between organisations and more involvement of citizens in the policy?