Ghent, a city of people.

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1 Ghent, a city of people. In Ghent live citizens + about 70,000 students and Ghent-users (e.g. people working, but not living, in Ghent). The Ghent population increases due to: immigration (foremost students staying in Ghent after their study, EU-citizens and asylum seekers) and increasing numbers of elderly citizens (16,6% of the Ghent population is 65 years or older). The City of Ghent aims to be a City for the People, whereby everybody (citizens, businesses and SMEs, institutions and NGOs) is involved and included in the city s life and the city s policy-making process. Therefore, Ghent undertakes numerous activities with respect to housing, education, healthcare, labour, social cohesion, culture,. Employment is one of, if not THE, key lever for inclusion. Therefore, Ghent seeks to improve the labour opportunities for the most precarious working population since many years. This goal comprises much more than merely improving unemployment numbers, it also means enhancing people s skills, creating learning and training opportunities and a strong commitment to reject all forms of discrimination and prejudices. The Youth Ambassadors Project is a good example hereof: in this project young adults with a foreign origin share their stories about their school and (often rocky) carried path with as well pupils/teachers as employers. The genesis of the project is rooted in teachers signalling the lack of study motivation among many youngsters (especially boys with a foreign background) and cases of (intended and not-intended) discrimination at the labour market. As a city we want equal opportunities for all and all youngsters to attain at least a high school diploma. So, ambassadors were trained to present their personal story and to dialogue with teachers, parents, employers and other organisations in the city. So far, they have targeted over 3,500 people. For the ambassadors it is an enriching experience that enhances their social skills. They also get to know a lot of interesting people and partners, which leads to extended social networks. The method of role models proved to be successful. When employers/recruiters hear the ambassador s story they mostly start to see the individual instead of the migrant. Their image of the youngsters improves, which enhances their willingness to recruit migrants. At the same time the project is a strong motivator for youngsters who are all too often de-motivated. When youngsters dialogue with the ambassadors they feel understood, supported and become aware that their situation is neither unique nor hopeless. Another example of enhancing social inclusion is the project Civic integration Coaches. This project is grounded in two findings: many newcomers follow a civic integration course (comprising a course on civic orientation and a language course), but feel they don t get enough opportunities to exercise Dutch in a safe environment; and many active citizens and NGOs want to support newcomers integration. Therefore, the project of Civic integration Coaches partners up newcomers with old local citizens who facilitate integration, which is in Ghent a real two-way process. During six months, about every two weeks, the newcomer and old Ghent citizen meet one another: they talk about common interests, about what goes on in Ghent, enjoy cultural activities together, etc. This project was launched in 2013 and appeared to be very successful. By now three NGOs run the Civic integration Coaches project, each towards a specific group: the Technical University, HoGent targets young newcomers between 16 and 26 years old and matches them with the students; In-Ghent (the city s Civic Integration Centre) address citizens and newcomers between 18 and 99 years old; and VormingPlus (a vocational training NGO) focusses on people living in the same neighbourhood. Many friendships between the duo s have developed and persist.

2 As a city of people, Ghent is also firmly convinced that citizens participation is necessary to successfully deal with today s and tomorrow s city challenges and to retain the prosperity and wellbeing of all residents. Therefore Ghent strongly supports bottom-up initiatives throughout the city. For example, citizens are encouraged to be co-responsible and co-owner of city renewal projects. Hereby, the city guards that the diversity of the population is reflected in the co-creation process; that the content focuses on at least spatial, social and economic policy; and that there is openness towards experimentation. For instance, the city has a long tradition of consultation, participation and facilitating local bottom-up experiments, through the Policy Participation Unit which consists of 20 neighbourhood managers. Their day-to-day job is to facilitate all sort of small (and bigger) neighbourhood initiatives, such as Neighbourhood of the month, use of temporary empty public spaces, debate café s, living-streets, etc. 1) Ghent in numbers and figures Ghent Population (number) Origin Proportion of people of foreign origin 30,6% Proportion of people of Turkish and Maghreb origin 12% Proportion of people of EU15 origin 4,9% Proportion of people of EU13 origin 4,8% Proportion of people of foreign origin others 8,9% Nationality Belgian 86,1% Non-Belgian 13,9% Nationality EU15 (minus Belgian) 2,8% Nationality EU13 4,9% Turkish & Maghreb nationality 2,2% Other 3rd Country nationality 4,0% Gender Male 49,6% Female 50,4% Family composition Single family 42,4% Single parent 8,4% Age 0-9 years 11,5% years 9,7% years 16,5% years 16,1% years 12,6% years 12% years 9,5% years 6,7% 80+ years 5,5% Family composition Single family 42,4% Single parent 8,4%

3 Top 10 foreign nationalities 1 Bulgaria 8,184 2 Turkey 4,279 3 The Netherlands 2,913 4 Slovakia 1,823 5 Poland 1,370 6 Spain Ghana Morocco France Afghanistan 744 Top 10 recognised asylum seekers (11/05/2016) 1 Afghanistan Russia Syria Nationality Unknown Iraq 67 6 Iran 60 7 Somalia 58 8 Albania 51 9 Eritrea Chinese 24 2) Creating new common space for everyone. 2 A) Neighbourhood managers. 2 B) Urban area project Standaert (De Standaertsite). 2 C) Use of temporary empty public space The Site. 2 D) Crowd funding initiative. 2 A) Neighbourhood managers. Every neighbourhood manager operates in a broad and neighbourhood-specific network of contacts between the city council, city departments, other governments, citizen and different (social, economic, cultural, ) partners on the field. The neighbourhood managers take up a clear broker - role being part of the city administration. Every neighbourhood manager is engaged in 1 or 2 neighbourhoods by being the eyes and ears of the city, by making coalitions with citizens, NGOs and citizen initiatives and by moving in-between. Concrete tools used by the neighbourhood managers are: capability of operating in the space in-between, connecting partners, facilitating citizen initiatives, Neighbourhood of the Month (debate-tour of political representatives during 1 month in 1 neighbourhood), crowd-funding platform, supporting the use of temporary empty/unused public spaces, The position of the Policy participation Unit in the city administration enables our city to realize social innovative urban planning. The dynamics close to the citizens themselves on the neighbourhood level of the city are captured by city staff being part of the neighbourhood. The focal points are visible, can be measured and capitalized directly into integrated policy processes on a strategic level like master planning, budgeting i.e. or organizational tuning. By operating out of the local government as a broker, our city succeeds often in facilitating new dynamics and coalitions. It s a learning process in being open and flexible as a government but meanwhile we experience our citizens as eager to take part in the growth towards a vibrant and active city.

4 A concrete example of what a Neighbourhood managers can realise is Space for Ghent(Ruimte voor Gent). Through this initiative 10 inspiring city-ideas initiated by citizens are chosen to explore further (sustainable food chain, church infrastructure as sharing spot, Creating space and oxygen in neighbourhoods, mobility solutions, ). The facilitation of neighbourhood managers plays an important role in making the concrete steps possible (knowing the right doors to knock inside and outside at the right moment and connected to governmental processes). 2 B) Urban area project Standaert. The Ghent neighbourhood Ledeberg is known for its high density and lack of public (green) spaces. Public meeting places thus are scarce, although there is a high demand for it by residents. When the local tool-shop Standaert quit its activities, a rather big building was put up for sale. In a short period, a group of active neighbours were able to successfully establish a neighbourhood advocacy organisation called: Ledeberg, DIY (do it yourself). The aim of this neighbourhood organisation first was to convince and persuade the city to purchase the Standaert building. Their arguments were twofold: they aspired common green neighbourhood space to bringing people together and organise neighbourhood activities, and they wanted to prevent construction companies buying the venue to build more housing and making the neighbourhood even more dense. The city purchased the venue, not only due to excellent advocacy work by Ledeberg DIY, but also because this organisation s arguments aligned with the city s aims to make more public space available in that neighbourhood (via the project Ledeberg Lives). After the venue became in hands of the city, a consultation process was started to hand over the place to the citizens to organise their desired initiatives. In this process two core city values were guarded: everybody must be able to participate (removing thresholds and preventing obstacles for participation) and diversity of the residents must be reflected throughout the participation process (meaning that all groups must be able to meet and organise activities at the same time at the same place). To enhance the participation of often difficult to include target groups (such as newcomers, youngsters, lower educated citizens) cooperation with fieldworkers (e.g. mediators, Broad School coordinators, etc.) and NGOs such as Community Development Ghent, migrant self-organisations and youth-initiatives was intensified and extended. After the consultation process, now activities are organised for and by the citizens of the neighbourhood. All residents really share 1 common space, get to know and respect one another better, and engage in each other s activities through which new, mixed-initiatives deploy such as music groups, bicycle repair in combination with bicycle training courses, Farmers market, etc. Thus people engage more in local life, respect each other better and co-create new future activities. 2 C) Use of temporary empty public space The Site. De Site is an old industrial waste platform converted in a lively meeting place. In 2007, the city, citizens and partner organisations in the neighbourhood started implementing different activities on this waste land: 80 city gardens, an open-air cinema, barbecues, a football field, a traffic park, a kids farm, etc. attracting the population of the Rabot neighbourhood around to the place. In 2010 a local currency Torekes was launched: by working on De Site, citizens could earn Torekes coins, which they could use to buy vegetables and other supply in local grocer s shops, restaurants. De Site now accommodates 1,600 miniature vegetable gardens and a greenhouse. Every parcel of land has a surface of 4m². The storage bins in curb stone are standing on the former factory floor. Inhabitants can rent a parcel and have to pay 150 Torekens a year, while making use of the communal work equipment or attend a training session, organized by the vzw Velt. De Site has involved citizens in urban renewal process who wouldn t have been involved through traditional participation methods. It has built a strong community, solidarity in the neighbourhood and it inspired the new large housing project Tondelier in development nearby: allotment gardens as the top success of De Site will be incorporated in the new housing project; a neighbourhood management will be launched where neighbours guarantee organisation and management of public

5 green, city gardens, plug-in-zones, barbecue zone, sport facilities, youth services and waste collection. More info about Torekes: and more info about use of temporary empty public spaces in Ghent: 2 D) Crowd funding initiative. The City of Ghent sets great store on contacting its citizens and other involved parties in view of their engagement and solidarity, so as to incite them in jointly creating and experiencing the city. It is now the first city in Flanders to launch a locally-oriented crowd-funding platform as an additional tool for its citizens to jointly shape their city. The website allows citizens, profit and non-profit organizations to raise alternative financing for innovative and sustainable projects attacking municipal challenges in the districts or for recent start-up companies looking for seed capital. An increasing number of people is anyhow taking initiatives in their city and does not wait any longer for authorities to take the lead. The City of Ghent acclaims this evolution and aims to provide a suitable support with this active, easily accessible, high-grade and reliable crowd funding platform. On everyone can provide financial project support by means of a donation. Some projects do not only need money, but can also use additional relief in the scope of expertise or helping hands and they may choose to announce this call for help. Annually, the City of Ghent is putting euro at the disposition in view of co-financing non-profit projects using the Ghent crowd funding platform. Website