IWcoGITATIO

Urban Planning (ISSN: 2183-7635)

2018, Volume 3, lssue 4, Pages 156-165
D01: 10.17645/up.v3i4.1727

Article
lntegration through Collaborative Housing? Dutch Starters and Refugees
Forming Self-Managing Communities in Amsterdam
Darinka Czischke * and Carla J. Huisman

Department of Management in the Built Environment, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University
of Technology, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands; E-Mails: d.k.czischke@tudelft.nl (D.C.), c.j.huisman@tudelft.nl (C.J.H.)

* Corresponding author
Submitted: 28 August 2018 1 Accepted: 1 October 2018 1 Published: 20 December 2018

Abstract
Since 2015, Europe has experienced an unprecedented influx of people fleeing countries facing political turmoil. Upon
receiving asylum status, refugees in the Netherlands are currently regionally dispersed and individually housed in public
housing. The municipality of Amsterdam has recently adopted an alternative approach, whereby young adult refugees and
Dutch young adults are brought together in collaborative housing (Czischke, 2018). This article presents findings from a
case study of the pilot project, launched in 2016, which houses over 500 young adults, half refugees and half Dutch together
in temporary dwellings. The goal is to provide refugees with social and cultural tools to integrate in the host society by in­
teracting with their peers through collective self-organisation. Compared with more traditional forms of housing refugees,
integration through collaborative housing is expected to deliver results. Our study aims to examine this assumption by
looking at the daily reality of collaboration and self-organisation amongst tenants in this pilot project, and interrogates
how this approach may help the integration process. The analytical framework draws on Ager and Strang's (2008) core do­
mains of integration, which emphasises the role of social connections in the integration process. An ethnographic research
design was adopted, including interviews and participant observation as data collection techniques. Preliminary findings
indicate the gradual formation of social connections such as social bonds, social bridges and social links. Ultimately, we
expect findings to inform better policies and practices in the field of housing and urban planning that help the integration
of young refugees in European societies.

Keywords
Amsterdam; collaborative housing; housing policy; refugee integration; self-organisation

lssue
This article is part of the issue "European Cities Planning for Asylum", edited by Frank Eckardt (Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar,
Germany).

© 2018 by the authors; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu­
tion 4.0 lnternational License (CC BY).

1. lntroduction the Netherlands struggles to find adequate affordable

The number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide
has increased from approximately 45 million in 2012
to 65 million by the end of 2016 (United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2017). Most peo­
ple fleeing violent political conflict find shelter elsewhere
in their own country or in neighbouring countries, but a
small minority applies for asylum in Europe. As one of
the European Union member states receiving a compar­
atively large number of asylum seekers (Eurostat, 2018),
housing for those refugees who successfully acquire a
residence permit. The recent rise in the influx of refugees
further increases the pressure on affordable housing in
popular parts of the country. Upon receiving asylum sta­
tus, refugees in the Netherlands are regionally dispersed
(as in other European countries) and individually accom­
modated in social rental housing. However, the effective­
ness of this approach vis-a-vis integration goals is ques­
tioned (Bakker, Cheung, & Phillimore, 2016). More gen­
erally, the integration of refugees into Dutch society in

Urban Planning, 2018, Volume 3, lssue 4, Pages 156-165 156