Together with residents, organizations and existing initiatives we explore the possibilities to make the Airey Neighbourhood more sustainable. The focus will not only be on energy related sustainability issues, but also on social, social-economic and ecological improvements. Thus, we start with a broad definition of sustainability, which will be tailored to the goals and needs of residents, organizations and initiatives that are active in the Airey neighbourhood. This project is commissioned by housing corporation Woonbedrijf.

In this project we build upon the findings of the project: STEM: The Neighbourhood Transformer. In this project we did research on the development and implementation of the Neighbourhood Transforming approach in the Airey neighbourhood. This resulted in ‘The Voicer’, building blocks for a user centric approach to create socially inclusive sustainable neighbourhoods. These building blocks were used for the sustainability programme in the Airey neighbourhood, a follow up project.

Citizen jounalism in the Airey neighbourhood

What makes your neighbourhood special? This is the question Nora and Naomi (12) asked their neighbours a few months ago in the Airey neighbourhood (Eindhoven). As real neighbourhood journalists they have been coached by Patrick Wiercx (local newspaper) Luc (DuneWorks) and Gijs (Youth centre Your Choice).

The girls were very enthusiastic and ambitious. They have made several videos and pictures to support their story. This is what they have to say about their experiences:

‘We have found it a very fun and educational experience to act as journalists for a while. We started with a tour at Eindhovens Dagblad (local newspaper). It was a lot bigger than we had expected it to be and there were a lot of people working there. We learned that you have to decide first what your object is, before you start filming. Also, you need to decide on what you want to talk about, from which corner you like to shed a light on it, who is going to film it and who it going to tell something. What I really liked is the fact that get to you go to places you usually don’t go to. For example, we made some videos at the cultural centre where elderly people were dancing. Once we started filming, everyone entered the dancefloor. That was very nice!’

An interview with Nora and Naomi and the video made by the girls have been published on the website of Eindshovens Dagblad [available in Dutch only]. We are proud of them!

Except for Nora and Naomi, other people have also been asked to share their stories. By inviting residents to do so, we hope to gather real life perspectives on the neighbourhood as an addition to the interviews we’ve held with 75 residents in the neighbourhood.

This project ended December 2017. The aim was to explore the possibilities for improving the Aireys together with local residents.

More information

News article on the method used in the Airey neighbourhood (in Dutch)