The Dutch government WANTS YOU to party!

The residential street of Gashouderstraat seems like any other in the Netherlands. There is a play space at the corner; houses have large windows and cycles lean precariously against anything resembling a post. A few potted plants scatter the footpath. And then it starts to unravel. A herb garden emerges on the sidewalk and we are told that we can access sage to thyme for our evening meals. This community garden effort has government backing. Nothing transforms a space as public gardening – an innovative strategy to create ownership of public property. Although seemingly an oxymoron, the idea of keeping things “public” requires certain privatization or belief in appropriating spaces as ones own. It’s been working across cultures, especially as a means of urban renewal in areas from the Bronx in New York to out here. After all, a sense of ownership comes with responsibility. You live a little longer here and the stories start to emerge of how a boy of 11 collected signatures from this street, as he wanted a play space at the corner. Dutch give bureaucracy a remake here as they apparently responded within 3 weeks to this effort. A children’s park was born. In some ways, this socialism comes with a very capitalistic drive – ownership, private property and freedom to shape your environment. Stretching the time spent here and you realize that it’s not just the material shift in public space but the temporal community gatherings that foster material investment in public space. In other words, the local government doles out petty cash for a street party to foster neighborhood feelings, with the very pragmatic logic that if people are bonded, communal change will be positive. And so we party for social change…Proost I say!