Proposed Action Plan

In as much as the phenomenon of mass tourism is gradually reeking the urban space of Amsterdam and creating livability concerns, Amsterdam in Progress and Wij-Amsterdam are engaging in concerted actions to provide lasting solutions to this growing phenomenon. Based on our six-month fieldwork, we have formulated concerns, base on our analysis, that we believe could be addressed by our stakeholders in order to improve their approach to solving the problems they are facing today.

In terms of goals and objectives it will be of great essence that the stakeholders consider determining a long term strategic plan or action plan that incorporates attainable milestones and clearly unveil and define the nature of the association, either as a fully-fledged think-tank or pressure group. Should the association define itself as a think-tank primarily, they should consider engaging more experts in order to provide consultancy, advocacy and propose strategies to the relevant local authorities. On the other hand, should the association choose to act as a pressure group, it must increase its support and membership base, reach out to citizens with greater enthusiasm and organize its membership base more efficiently through campaigns and petitions, for instance. We believe that attempting to act as both a think tank and pressure group simultaneously stretches the associations’ already limited resources and prevents them from being more effective. However, based on our analysis, Amsterdam in Progress seems to lean more towards a think tank and Wij-Amsterdam more towards a pressure group at this point in time. In order to establish a comprehensive long-term strategy, it would be more beneficial for our stakeholders to establish themselves as a point of reference among residents, in order to get an even stronger position with the people they are trying to influence.

Balance has become a much contested word in the current debate on tourism and liveability in the city centre of Amsterdam. All stakeholders in the ecosystem use some version of balance in their discourse but the meaning has proven to be ambiguous. The problem of ambiguity in the definition is that it opens up the concept for broad interpretation. How would Amsterdam in Progress and Wij-Amsterdam, at this point in time, define the concept of balance? If you were to evaluate your discourse based on this definition, what things would you do differently?

The two approaches to balance that are being used now, which are spatial balance and positional balance, do not necessarily support each other. The spatial balance is the balance between residents, the businesses, the tourists and the city, however, to tackle that issue, they wish to remain a mediator by employing positional balance. The use of the latter balance, however does not seem to be effective in terms of delivering clear messages about the spatial balance.

It will be beneficial for the effectiveness of stakeholder’s actions should they ensure consistency in the dissemination of their message. That is to say objectives and actions could be clearer and well immersed should they take advantage of the existing information communication technologies and communication channels available such as increasing social media presence and designing more visual information and communication materials. It is essential in making others, such as younger residents and those living outside the centre, aware of the situation, in reaching out to them to get their opinions and perspectives, because as our research on gentrification shows, the situation affects them too.