The design of social-cultural integration: A case study to design integration between street culture and the burger culture in the areas of Houtwijk and Nieuw-Waldeck, The Hague, The Netherlands

The design of social-cultural integration: A case study to design integration between street culture and the burger culture in the areas of Houtwijk and Nieuw-Waldeck, The Hague, The Netherlands

Van Ginhoven, S.C.

De Rijk, T.R.A. (mentor)
Tromp, N. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

IDE

2011-01-28

Integration is still a hot topic in Dutch politics. Declining neighborhoods suffer from poverty, neglected social housing and an over-representation of inhabitants with a non-Dutch cultural background. These severe circumstances have had a strong influence on the youngsters that have been raised in these areas. The Ghetto culture has made his entrance in the declining neighborhood: Youngsters wearing coats with fur collars and golden teeth seem to terrorise neighborhoods. A covering term for this phenomenon amongst youngsters is ‘Street culture’. The district Loosduinen is situated in the city of The Hague, the Netherlands. It is an area where the Street culture has led to feelings of unsafety and deprovation amongst the inhabitants. This report presents a research on the social- cultural integration between the Street culture and Society, the Burger culture within the geographical context of the district Loosduinen. A product- service is developed to improve the social cohesion. The neighborhoods Houtwijk and Nieuw-Waldeck are part of the district Loosduinen. These two areas are the main focus within this project. The two neighborhoods are developed forty years ago. The former Dutch horticulturalists live together with families from various ethnical backgrounds. Neighborhoods where Dutch ‘white trash’ and foreign macho cultures are joint. Small social housing, poverty and dislocated families caused youngsters to spend most of their free time on the streets. The Street culture gives them the feeling to belong, to be part of a group. The youngsters reject against their parents, school, politics and society. They feel that society does not accept them. A common sentence used as an excuse for the derailed behavior is “Ze moeten me toch niet”. Stereotyping in the media confirms their exclusion form society. The future perspective from these youngsters is in contrast with their current behavior. They want a family, job and a house: The ‘normal’ life. Aggressive behavior and criminal activities have led to a vicious circle of distrust between the Street and Burger culture. The clash between the two cultures has led to less possibilities for youngsters to develop themselves within society. Youngsters hace difficulties with job applications. Recruiters and and youngsters distrust eachother as well. Derailed behavior and stereotyped valueing of a person feeds this distrust. Unemployment of youngsters makes the path of crime more appealing. This leads to more nuisance in society. A crucial condition to break through the vicious circle of distrust, is to take away prejudices. When less information is available about a person, stereotypes will be used to generate an opinion about someones personality. A good first impression is important to overcome a stereotyped impression. An interaction needs to be designed to give youngsters enough confidence to show who they are, instead of hiding behind their tough behavior. These insights have led to the development of the WorkTag. This Product- Service System (PSS) stimulates youngsters to apply for a job easy and quick, within the familiarity of the streets. The WorkTag consists of two main products; A Smartphone application and a Sticker. Combined, they give location based information about the type of work. Youngsters see the “Ik heb werk voor je” stickers on the streets. They scan the sticker via their application and see a video message with information about the work. When they like the video, they can directly apply for the job through a selfmade short video clip. The application gives instructions on how the youngsters should make the video. The fact that youngsters makes their own video, the application is within the safety of the streets and the application guides the process, enables the youngster to give a good impression. The video message is directly send to the mail Inbox of the recruiter. First qualitative testing has showed that youngsters react positive on the video applications. Important is that, when the youngster and recruiter meet in real life, prejudices are already taken away. A positive esteem on the video makes youngsters already feel more confident. The recruiter sees an individual in front of him. The video has already given a lot of (nonverbal) information about the youngster. The WorkTag is designed to give youngsters the confidence to express their most positive identity. The scientific relevance of this project can be found in two areas. First is that Product Design could be a useful tool in solving societal issues. Where sociologists and antropologists explain, design can change. Next to this is the scientific relevance on the research on video application. The first qualitative researches have a positive outcome. This first research could be the starting point for further research on this topic. It could prove if video application can be used on a large scale.

social design

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:97e383ea-7d78-4cff-924f-cbaaa28e71fc

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2011 Van Ginhoven, S.C.