MAKING THE CITY; MOBILIZING SOCIAL CAPITAL

To revitalise Rotterdam South, the Municipality of Rotterdam heavily invests in urban development projects tha aim to create qualitative good places that are nice to stay in and return to. Research shows that so called ‘soft factors’ of city-making need to be cherished when making qualitative good places. To this end, this study aims t explore the following concepts: sense of place (SoP) and social capital. In this context sense of place is defined as the meaning that is attached to a place – by (groups of) people and social capital is defined as the sum of the actual and potential resources within a network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit. Social capital thus comprises both the network and the assets that may be mobilized through that network. Based on a review of the literature on placemaking, sense of place, social capital and urban governance, in-dept semi structured interviews were conducted with both residents, entrepreneurs and professionals active in the research area. Analysis of the responses demonstrate that the perceived sense of place of both residents and entrepreneurs, results in a relatively weak and hyper local form of social capital. This finding indicates that people in the research locale have a very narrow perception of what their world consists of. People in the research locale act and react on that part of the world they can oversee, namely that part that directly affects their homes, building and or business. They don’t experience a necessity to be connected to their neighbourhood community. On this basis, it is recommended that the municipality of Rotterdam tries to create instruments that inspire and empower people to broaden their horizon and partake in community life for the benefits of the neighbourhood well-being as a whole. This research shows that using concepts that derive from environmental psychology can be helpful for local governments in governing their local communities in a more efficient and socially sustainable way as it fosters a social connection bound to place instead of social connections into already existing social networks (elsewhere).