16 | 160 Saba Golchehr IS INTEGRATION AND EMPOWERMENT OF THE EXCLUDED NEEDED?
Urban renewal policy review Mixing policies are widespread in the US and in Western Europe. The aim of these policies is to differentiate the various
income-groups in deprived neighbourhoods. By a physical mix, the construction of housing for higher incomes, middle class residents are encouraged to settle in these neighbourhoods (van Beckhoven and van Kempen, 2003). As a consequence of this, the low-income-groups are circumscribed (Smets and den Uyl, 2008). This new composition of the population is assumed to lead to an improved quality of life in the deprived neighbourhoods. In the Netherlands the housing policy of 1997 shares these ideas. The physical mix of the policy is expected to improve the spatial quality of the neighbourhood concerned. But also it will create a more diverse population distribution on socio-economic levels (van Beckhoven and van Kempen, 2003). In a study on two neighbourhoods in Amsterdam that underwent transformations according to this mixing policy Smets and den Uyl (2008) researched the effects of this policy. This study shows that the intended goals of the policy are not achieved. There is no mix of different socio-economic groups on the neighbourhood level. According to Smets and den Uyl (2008: p.1456) the planners have ‘underestimated the complexity, potential and force of interethnic dynamics’. In their research on two urban renewal plans in the Netherlands and the effect on the neighbourhood level, they found that the urban restructuring strategies do not achieve the desired results. The planners hoped that the social mix would automatically occur when there would be a physical mix. This is however not the case, for the complexity of the role of ethnicity is highly underestimated. Furthermore the tendency of policy-makers to counter urban segregation, and its negative consequences, by employing mixing schemes lacks of scientific support for the planning strategies. The migrant issue is a great force of transformation of the urban context. However in the regeneration process of these neighbourhoods this issue is not being addressed. It would be obvious that in the restructuring process attention should be paid to the needs of current and future residents. Yet this is often not the case (van Bruggen, 2000).