The integrated approach in neighbourhood renewal: more than just a philosophy?

Across Europe, area-based policies have been developed as a mode of urban governance to deal with the unfavourable situation in many urban neighbourhoods, particularly large post-Second World War developments. The philosophy behind these area-based policies is that integrated initiatives to deal with the physical, economic and social aspects of these urban neighbourhoods, will lead to the most effective solution. This paper focuses on the ‘integrated’ aspect of area-based policies in the Netherlands. We find that there is an unbalanced relationship between policies that focus on physical interventions and those that focus on social interventions. Also, findings show that some area-based initiatives claiming to be using an integrated approach are not. ‘Integration’ is often a term used by policy-makers but not implemented. This lack of integration is partly due to the limited flexibility in decision-making at the local level in dividing funds between and within the different policy fields.