Affordable rental space for creative or social uses in Amsterdam is
rare, which impacts youth, elderly people and minorities who have few
places to meet for social and community activities. Now a former
Catholic church in the Waterlandpleinbuurt neighbourhood is providing
members of community organization Stichting Bildung with a soon-to-be
fully functioning neighbourhood living room.

Stichting Bildung aims to build bridges within society—from excluded
groups to wealthy ones, from low to higher educated—in  a space filled
with culture, altruism, and social connection. The project is being
designed and implemented by a small group of people from different
countries and backgrounds that live and work together, as an act of
resistance, offering an alternative to the common subsidy-based
initiatives that rely on policy regulations.

The location, a derelict Catholic church renamed DeKerk, is their current setting. Several meeting and social spaces including a bar and a dedicated music area have been built – all done at the lowest cost possible thanks to using recycled materials and waste, personal savings and crowdfunding campaigns. Lights, electricity and heating were installed, alongside a stage, and a wood workshop.A shop, located at the main entrance of the building, opens two days per week and provides a good gauge of the social situation in the neighborhood, as people come in to talk and share their stories. It gives away donated items such as clothes, shoes, furniture, books, games and toys to those in need.

Today, DeKerk
hosts a variety of organisations and events. As the building was set to
be demolished in 2020 as part of a residential redevelopment, Stichting
Bildung is now working to get more people and organisations involved to
extend their activities programme and they are already looking for more
places to continue its vision.

“Social centres are often the backbone on which broader urban social
movements are built. The establishment of new centres is always a cause
for hope.”

– Evaluator Bert Russell

Would you like to learn more about this initiative? Please contact us.

Or visit bildungamsterdam.nl/

Transformative Cities’ Atlas of Utopias is being serialized on the P2P Foundation Blog. Go to TransformativeCities.org for updates.

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