Workshop 1. Session 1.3: (Counter)acting stigma. Abstract: In this paper an agent-based model for the choice of residential locations is presented, which is based upon Social Network Analysis. The model explains how the various reputations of a neighbourhood depend upon insiders’ and outsiders’ assessments of the area. For outsiders, reputations form a cheap alternative to the procurement of exact knowledge of the residential satisfaction at a specific location and are thus instrumental in the decision to settle or invest in an area. The procurement of insider information on the neighbourhood along social ties does help to make a more accurate assessment of the area and this shift in information flows could be very useful in tackling the stigmatization of neighbourhoods. The explanatory power of the model is then illustrated by developments in two Rotterdam neighbourhoods, both of whom are trying to shed their stigma in recent years with mixed results.