THE AREA-BASED PLANNING PROCESS OF DUTCH HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS

misbe2011 Tracking Number 161

Housing associations in The Netherlands are important actors in the field of urban planning, since they own and manage nearly one third of the total Dutch housing stock and account for 46% (2008) of all newly developed housing. Housing associations are independent social enterprises, which take their own decisions on this stock. Therefore it is important to find out how these organisations make these decisions. These decisions can be made in different ways. Many housing associations in The Netherlands work with asset management plans to secure that their portfolio meets company goals and market demand. However, in practice decisions of housing associations are often not a direct result of their strategic plans, but of incidents at the neighbourhood level, or of emerged opportunities. Next to that, housing associations nowadays do not only focus on the quality of their own housing stock, but also on the physical, economical and social quality of the whole neighbourhood, which implies cooperation with a wide variety of local actors. As a result housing associations in the Netherlands are increasingly employing an area-based approach towards asset management, which takes into account the characteristics of areas and the other actors present in the area. In order to analyse the different ways housing associations implement this area-based approach, the concept of planning is used. Planning is deconstructed into four elements (actors, activities, knowledge and purpose) and five planning types are identified (rational, incremental, collaborative, political and advocacy planning). These planning types and their elements are transformed into propositions that are tested in a survey among housing managers working in priority neighbourhoods. From this survey a diffuse picture arises. Housing associations use different elements from different planning types. However, emphasis is on the elements of the rational and collaborative types.