The welfare state is transforming into a participatory society, in which citizens are expected to fill in the gaps left by the retreating government. At the same time, the government is trying to decentralize, putting increasing emphasis on cities, districts and neighborhoods. How can we, as urban planners and designers, facilitate participation in this changing political paradigm? A lof of concepts come into play when linking these ideas about society - thus social issues - to spatial solutions. The aim of this graduation project is to facilitate collective efficacy - the social cohesion among residents and their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good. In order to do this, the urban planner/designer intervenes in the physical environment. The environment must be designed such, that it facilitates public familiarity on the one hand (people knowing one another) and territoriality on the other (individually or collectively feeling responsible for a space). These two concepts in turn can facilitate collective efficacy. In Beverwaard, a cauliflower neighborhood in the utter southeast of Rotterdam, the subjective scores of participation and social cohesion are far below average. and anonimity is high. Yet, the municipality of Rotterdam promotes Beverwaard as a district where people know one another, with a village-like vibe. These observations make Beverwaard a testcase very well suited for this graduation project. Beverwaard as a whole is mainly residential, except for one shopping center. However, the shopping center is located far away for a lot of residents, which means they often take the car to shopping centers outside of Beverwaard. Also, the district is experienced as a whole district instead of a district with spatially articulated smaller entities in terms of scale. The housing quality in Beverwaard is often appreciated, although they often house lower income groups. Hence, the residents of Beverwaard often feel at home in their own private houses and sometimes in the district as a whole; the institution of a neighborhood for instance, is hardly mentioned. The infrastructural system is characterized by a cauliflower structure; main roads branch out into secondary roads, which in turn branch out into third order streets that are often designed as “woonerven” or parking spaces (“hofjes” for parking). The public spaces for staying in Beverwaard, like the streets, are also differentiated in terms of scale of use. While most of the streets function relatively well with the exception of some of the hofjes for parking, the public spaces do not always work as well as perhaps intended. Often, the spaces that do not function well, are not used a lot or where conflict is likely to arise, there is a problem with the readability of the space. The territorial boundaries are often unclear. From a literature review and the spatial analysis of Beverwaard and Overschie as a case study, a pattern language has been developed. These design patterns each provide a hypothesis, often concerning a spatial solution for a socio-spatial problem. The patterns are a convenient way of translating research into design elements, while the design can likewise influence the patterns as well; developing a pattern language is a dialectic process. The basic layout of a design pattern makes it an ideal tool to communicate with laymen, but also with professionals. The patterns are ordered in a pattern language, in which the semantic relationships between the patterns play an important role. By visualizing these relationships, design choices can be made more explicit, and are therefore easier to communicate. Returning to Beverwaard, the main problems, as described, result from a lack of spatial articulation of certain spatial entities, as well as a lack of places to interact with others. The long-term vision for Beverwaard aims to take a few important measures: the boundaries of neighborhoods are spatially articulated, each neighborhood starts to develop an own identity overtime and the facilities located in the center now are spread out over the district at strategic locations as places to meet others. The vision ideally is established in a workshop with “local leaders”, actors who know what goes on in the district and have the capacity to act on it. Furthermore, two scenarios have been established to guide the transformation on the smaller scales: the readability scenario and the enclosure scenario. The readability scenario is aimed at spatially articulating territories on various scales; it is relatively cheap, flexible and “open”, as it outsiders are still allowed to go anywhere. The enclosure scenario in contrast, is characterized by an enclosure of spaces for outsiders or at least limiting the number of outsiders at specific locations. This scenario is relatively expensive, inflexible and “closed”. Ideally, the choice of scenario for a specific location is done in a workshop with local leaders as well. In this workshop, the more abstract, large scale patterns are employed. The choice of scenario provides the framework for the further infill of the actual interventions. The infill is ideally decided upon in a workshop by local residents; their local knowledge is essential in redesigning a public space, for instance. In this workshop, the more concrete and small scale patterns are used, as they can be more easily understood by the laymen and are most relevant for the concrete infill of the framework. The vision as well as the specific interventions are all targeted at making territories readable and facilitating public familiarity on various scales. Each of the interventions is shown in flowcharts, making the choices of patterns and thus the design choices explicit. Together, all the small scale interventions fit into the long-term vision and they will generate a district with a gradual transition from private to public. Hence, the original idea behind the cauliflower district has been updated, to form an environment that will facilitate collective efficacy. Beverwaard thereby might become the district it aims to be; a district ready for the participatory society.