News item | 14-04-2022 | 16:45
The quality of life in Dutch cities and villages is improving. At the same time, there are concerns about districts and neighborhoods where the quality of life has been under pressure for many years and the problems are persistent. This is apparent from the analysis report ‘Liveability in the Netherlands 2020’ that was published today. Although the vast majority of Dutch neighborhoods score sufficiently or well, there are approximately 200 neighborhoods where the quality of life is under structural pressure and residents are dissatisfied with their own living environment. The outcome underlines the need to prepare a National Liveability and Security Program to prevent the most vulnerable areas from falling further behind.
There is a hard core of (parts of) neighborhoods and districts that are not included in the general positive development. The results of the new Leefbaarometer are used to examine how the National Liveability and Safety Program can be strengthened. This program will be presented at the beginning of June and focuses on improving the perspective of people in areas that suffer from urban quality of life and security problems.
National picture: positive trend and major contrasts in and between cities
The quality of life of a neighborhood or district concerns the extent to which the environment matches the requirements and wishes of the people who live there. This concerns the physical environment, housing stock, facilities, social cohesion, and nuisance and (un)safety. Since 2002 there has been a continuous improvement in the quality of life in the vast majority of the Netherlands. The long-term upward trend also continued in the 2018-2020 period. Although the differences between regions and within cities and towns have decreased on average, there are major contrasts between and within the G4 municipalities and the G40.
Districts and neighborhoods under structural pressure
Based on the size, seriousness and duration of the quality of life problem, it appears that in (parts of) neighborhoods and districts in fifty municipalities, the quality of life is under structural pressure. In total, this concerns 426 neighborhoods in 193 districts. About 537 thousand households live in these areas. Most of these are located in and around the major cities: Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Greater Amsterdam, Haaglanden, Utrecht. These areas can also be identified in other parts of the Netherlands. This concerns, for example, Drechtsteden, IJmond and Parkstad Limburg and neighborhoods and districts in Lelystad, Delfzijl, Leeuwarden, Emmen, Den Helder and Maastricht. It also concerns the mostly larger cities in Gelderland and North Brabant.
Renewed Livabilityometer
The Leefbaarometer model and the website of the same name have both been completely revised. New characteristics have been added to the 3.0 model, such as perceived unsafety, traffic accidents, air quality and social cohesion. Indicators that may be perceived as stigmatizing have no longer been used, such as migration background, household composition and benefit dependency.
More information
The research was conducted by Atlas.Research and In.Fact.Research.