An Urban Biography

Abstract

In the Netherlands there is a current tendency of areas with extreme growth as well as areas with extreme shrinkage. Because of the increasing population in cities like The Hague, social problems intensify. Among these problems is the issue of social-spatial inequality. This occurs when the distribution of life chances is dependent on the place where you live. When the differences between places have an unjust distribution of life chances as a consequence, it is called social- spatial inequality. The intention of this project is the development of a new approach, the Urban Biography, that makes it possible to get an elaborated understanding of the development of a public place, whilst using the physical, social and mental aspects of that place. This approach makes it possible to be able to read and understand the city, or a specific place at a higher level, in order to grasp the identity of this place. Especially important for this identity are the physical, social and mental aspects. Current research often lacks at least one of these aspects, which often results in a design that is only focused on the physical and not the human aspect. The basic idea is that studying these different parts will help with the understanding of the current situation of social-spatial inequality in growing cities. This deep understanding will create the opportunity to alter the public space in order to match both the historical characteristics and the challenges of the future, like the reduction of social-spatial inequality, in order to create a design for a more just future. This Urban Biography approach is applied to the case of the city of The Hague. This city has a strong distinction between rich and poor neighbourhoods. Considering the current differences between the neighbourhoods of the city, the neighbourhood, Statenkwartier is chosen to research in more detail. This neighbourhood is not necessarily the neighbourhood that comes first to mind when thought about social-spatial inequality, but is indeed a very interesting case. The elaborated study of the city as a whole and Statenkwartier in more detail, result in a redesign of the public space for Statenkwartier. The design will contribute to the reduction of socialspatial inequality in the city.