Neighbourhood shares

Residents take over maintenance tasks
In The Hague a project is underway to arrive at a participative system of neighbourhood maintenance. The idea behind ‘neighbourhood shares’ is that residents agree by contract to take over the municipality responsibility for certain maintenance tasks for their neighbourhood.

Tackling a 'shared issue'
Stakeholders are brought together to agree on a ‘share issue’ for the maintenance of a pilot location.
Stakeholders involved are:
•    The official neighbourhood residents’ organisation,
•    A specially formed ‘’think-tank’ of committed residents,
•    The municipal departments of city planning, education,
•    The city’s social services
•    The city’s maintenance
Seller of the shares is the municipality, which thereby subcontracts part of its work to the residents. The residents then take over responsibility for certain maintenance tasks in their own neighbourhood.

Advantages of ‘neighbourhood shares’
The municipality transfers responsibility for part of the neighbourhood maintenance to the residents together with the municipal budget reserved for these tasks. By adding the income received from the selling of the shares to the shareholders a larger neighbourhood maintenance fund is created. The residents manage this fund. Shareholder meetings decide on how to invest the money in upgrading the quality of the neighbourhood. These investments can be e.g. more green space, extra children’s playing facilities, a neighbourhood festival etc. The result is a higher quality of public space and an increased sense of community.

Initiators of the scheme
•    The International Institute for the Urban Environment (IIUE)
•    NV Woningbeheer (a company organising communal maintenance projects of houses in private ownership)
•    The department of Nature an Environmental Education of the City of The Hague.