Gert-Jan Te Velde Regeneration 16 DIT

Collective Private Commissioning

December 2016 Gert Jan te Velde participated in the Regeneration 16, organized by the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). Gert Jan te Velde was the keynote speaker with his introduction on Regeneration postwar social housing in the Netherlands. Others speakers also touched on the subject on how to adapt human settlements to the new realities in an uncertain climate (physically and sociologically). The presentation of Gert Jan te Velde introduced a relatively new form of redevelopment of existing apartment buildings: collective private commissioning (in dutch: collectief particulier opdrachtgeverschap, cpo). An important example of this new phenomenon is the project Klarenstraat in Amsterdam-Nieuw West. The most important conclusions are:
•    Post-war housing is flexible and can be beautiful.
•    JIC is not the only way, but nonetheless an important way of dealing with the existing housing stock; it gives an unique quality.
•    JIC asks different ways of working by professionals.
•    Perhaps less financial profit on the short term, but the housing association and city get what they want: profit on the short term, new groups in vulnerable neighbourhoods, less financial risks for the developer and new ways of working.
The congress was a great success and ended by launching the online Irish Journal of Social, Economic and Environmental Sustainability by the president of DIT, professor Brian Norton. Next year these topics will be elaborated during the Regeneration 17, organized in November 2017 by the DIT.