The new hotspot Javastraat?!

Commercial Gentrification and its impact on everyday lives of providers and consumers

Florian Gurtner, Katrin Pamperl, Christoph Seiser, Kathrin Stöckl, Julia Weninger. Department of Geography and Regional Research, University of Vienna.

“The area around Javastraat is changing in physical, social and as well economic composition.”

Many citizens of Amsterdam would confirm this statement, since Javastraat has been changing for the last few decades. But if people talk about these changes nowadays, they will maybe do it in a different way than several years ago. In Hochstenbach’s words, Indische Buurt, the neighborhood around Javastraat, had been “for a long time represented as one of Amsterdam’s least liveable neighbourhoods, and is consequently targeted by national policies aiming to improve the neighbourhood through social and tenure mixing.” (Source: HOCHSTENBACH 2015). Within the scope of this academic online story, we have discussed these changes. Therefore, we looked at the various governmental measures that have been applied over the years. The key and most interesting question in this context is, however, to what extent the local residents perceive the various changes. Based on interviews with pedestrians and shopkeepers in Javastraat, we tried to capture various moods among the people. The results are presented as part of this online story.

At first, let us have a quick look on the street as a whole. Javastraat is the most important commercial street in the Amsterdam district of Indische Buurt, which belongs to the city district of Amsterdam-Oost. It is located in the east of the Netherlands’ capital. The exact location can be found on the map below.

The special features of this street can already be illustrated with a small retrospective in its latest history. If you look back in the last century, you will see that the neighbourhood has been in transition for a long time. The street used to be home for the working class, until those people started to move to the suburbs in the 1970’s. Instead, immigrants from Morocco or Turkey moved into the vacated apartments.

A good overview of the street gives the following video. It describes how owners and customers recognize a change of the economic structure – from phone, vegetable “cheap” shops to high retail shops, cafes and restaurants that are opening. While on the one hand, many people, especially families with ethnic background (Turkish, Moroccans) moved away, on the other hand, a lot of new residents, for example students, added. All in all, there is currently an enormous revaluation of the whole street, in which the city government plays an important role, especially concerning renewal and renovation.

But what are the main measures that have been taken so far in order to upgrade Javastraat? Therefore, it’s necessary to take another short look into history.

For the last decades, many actions have been taken to upgrade Javastraat as a business location in general and create a more attractive shop landscape. There have also been efforts to improve the neighbourhood as a living space and room for social interaction. Actors that have been part of this transformation were not only local residents, shop- and gastronomy owners. Main parts of the renewal can be explained by political planning and interventions by the government according to theoretical considerations and scientific notions. Javastraat and its development is therefore characterized by the interaction of, on the one hand theoretically based re-development programs applied to the street top-down by governmental impact, but on the other hand by local shop structure, population in all its facets and other actors that influence their urban neighbourhood through bottom-up commitment.

Especially the latter aspect is often listed in scientific literature as a reason for the extensive effort and expenditure the government has taken to re-plan and re-organize Javastraat. Due to the ethnic and social polarization, the fear of “ghettoization” is part of today’s urban planning, which also includes the development and gentrification of business. The state and the city government are trying to promote new sectors, so-called “hipster-gentrification”, including healthy food stores, shops of urban lifestyle and vintage clothing, by expanding and renovating building structures, measures that help to provide cheap rents for business. (Source: KLOOSTERMANN 1999)

Historically speaking these tendencies of governmental influence are not new for this region. Indische Buurt and especially Javastraat as the main shopping street in this area, were already several times the goal of political measures. Concerning the last century, it is clear that the neighborhood has been in transition for a long time.

The target of recent policies is to replace the working class residents (mainly immigrants) with a middle class population. Privatization policies on the national level laid the groundwork for these goals, as housing associations that manage Amsterdam’s social housing stock were privatized. In areas like Javastraat, these aspects opened the door for gentrification processes by the “creative class”, which underlines the relevance of the already mentioned topic of “hipster-gentrification”. (Source: HAGEMANS et. al. 2016)

The subject of social housing and its related political discussions, which has just been taken up before is another relevant point in the context of urban renewal. In connection with the huge amount of migrants in Javastraat and its surrounding neighborhoods the city governments have to cope with challenges like the protection against discrimination, a good mixture of residential property, and urban renewal in general. (Source: MÜNCH 2014)

The street, as well as its surrounding area have to deal with a variety of problems. As an outdated shopping street with a restricted offering, it needs improvement concerning the streetscape, the overall safety, but also in question of the interaction between various stakeholders. (Source: NIJHOF 2010)

According to the concerns mentioned above, the government decided to intervene in the development of Javastraat. The saving solution by political actors is the so called “Neighborhood Management”, a large project by “Amsterdam Groot Oost – local program management”, that involves communication and information activities, for example working out marketing measures to promote the shopping area, strengthening cooperation between various actors and widening the offered range of products. (Source: NIJHOF 2010)

Political activities that have been and are being pushed forward are for example the strengthening of business locations and infrastructure, improving the streetscape as well as the support of social housing, approaches that are not only pursued in Indische Buurt, but also in other neighborhoods of Amsterdam. (Source: SPAANS 2013)

Noteworthy is not only the impact on the economic environment but also on the physical and ecological environment, which is to be achieved by reducing litter in the neighborhood of Javastraat. (Source: NIJHOF 2010)

Regarding the renewal of Javastraat from a financial point of view, it is clear, that these impacts are not only related to a lot of effort from various actors, but also to huge amounts of financial investment. Merely the neighborhood management program, with its aims and results mentioned above costed 567.730,00€ in total, with more than half of it supported by European subsidies. But of course, there are additional governmental and non-governmental projects to upgrade Indische Burt as well as Javastraat, which constitute further financial expense. (vgl. NIJHOF 2010)

By means of these and other urban renewal measures Amsterdam’s city government hopes for positive effects on business and social life in Javastraat.

Visual changes concerning the building structure as well as the commercial structure in Javastraat are obvious. Within the last decades facades got renewed and windows got changed – mostly without letting the old flair and traditional style disappear.

Giving an insight in the transformation of the shop structure, a prime example, where the changes are visible, is located at Javastraat 65 and 67. 26 years ago, there have been clothing stores, in the meanwhile there has also been a perfumery. Nowadays there are an Italian speciality shop and a wine bar managed by Tom Gallizia. The appearance and interior outside as well as inside are modern and attract people.

Despite the ongoing hype, there are apparently vacancies and offers to rent premises. As Tom Gallizia in one of our interviews said, the street is still changing a lot and it is not that easy to be successful – even on a gentrifying street such as Javastraat.

The east part of Javastraat on the other side of Javaplein, a square where some streets come together, looks completely different to the main part of the street, with lots of commercial offers like restaurants, cafes and shops. Comparing these two sections, the eastern side of the street is a mainly residential area without any shops or services. Remarkable is the fact, that there have been commercial activities also in this area at least till the 1980s/1990s. Concerning premises got rededicated to living space, even on the ground floor.

As mentioned above, the government invested a lot of money to improve the appearance of the street. There are lots of new dustbins, parking meters, bicycle stands and a new road surface.

From butchers and vegetable shops to a mixture of modern and traditional

As mentioned above in section Government, “the city government’s main strategy is to go out and recruit “good quality” businesses which will attract the desired “diversity” of residents” (Source: HAGEMANS et al. 2016). Take a look behind the theoretical idea and see how these intended changes concerning the shop structure manifest!

First, it is crucial to analyse the development of business types on Javastraat in general. What can be seen without a doubt is that all kinds of services are expanding since 1980. This shift towards more jobs and offers in service sector is going through nearly all western and central Europe countries during this period.

Second, it would be far more meaningful to get an insight in which more concrete shop types decreased or increased. Some interview partners briefly summarized the change as from “either vegetables or butchers” or “a street full of food markets and bad people, money laundry and weed plantations” towards “a lot of new cafés, restaurants, coffee bars. It’s now more mixed stuff. The old ones are still there” (two residents and one attentive gastronomy owner on Javastraat in September 2017). The diversity can also be observed by simply walking along the street. It’s not necessary to look for different spots. Often you can find yourself guessing which flag you see in front of you at the moment: Caribbean, Turkish, Italian, Moroccan, Thai, Vietnamese, Dutch are only some taste shapes, which can be found.

Impressions of food shop diversity:

About influencer shops, goldseekers and a new trendlocation

The phenomenon of influencer girls and boys on Instagram, who write a blog about their lives is well-known. Forget them for a while and think about influencer-restaurants! Interviewing shop owner and consumers, two locations gained special attention- on the one hand that is Walter’s Woodbury, on the other hand Bedford-Stuyvesant. But why?

Both were important drivers of the changes. They were supporting or even speeding up the development of the street. They were mentioned as being role models for shop owner and popular spots for residents.

The owner of Gallizia states: “5 years ago I started to drive through Javastraat and I saw some changes. I thought when the Bedford – Stuyvesant opened they really have balls because when they open on a street that is still full of food markets and bad people, a lot of money laundering and a lot of weed plantations. That were really normal things to see here and then they started a new place and it was quite nice.” Some forms of criminality as money laundry, drug and weapon sales were diminishing due to shop closures initiated by the government, but that was just one step in the right direction (Source: Hagemans et al. 2016).

The owner continues his story: “After one year, Walter’s opened. That’s the first bar on the other side. Then I thought it is something happening here. So, if I really wanted to do something and get an own place this area could work. So, I started to look around and called around, but it was quite difficult because then a lot of newspapers started to write about the new planning of the Javastraat.” He affirms that this hype about Javastraat unfortunately attracts so called “goldseeker”, who think “if they have a place in Javastraat they can lay back, make money and everything will be alright.” (owner of Gallizia in September 2017). Even if all in all there is a positive feeling concerning the new upcoming Javastraat people should be cautious, because gastronomy owners with insider knowledge nevertheless get to know about closing shops and shop keepers, who have to adapt their philosophy to make their business work.

Walking through the main street of Indische Buurt and asking yourself in which velocity changes in the street are going on, you still occasionally see vacancies, but also some posters of soon opening spots. Speaking of vacancies, it should be told that there was a change in the way new shops were selected within the last years. It got more important to create a harmonic surrounding with shops fitting the long-term vision.

During a 4 day stay in Amsterdam it was possible to experience the inauguration of a fondue restaurant. People out of the neighbourhood talked of high paces: “Very fast, there is something new, I think, more than every month, that is very very high paces changing” (a 30 years old consumer on Javastraat, September 2017). A 55 years old lady, whose sister owns a restaurant for 7 years, instead assumes that development is slowing down this year. All in all, that’s kind of a difficulty, because everyone has another impression of time going on.

Visit http://walterwoodburybar.nl to get further information about the colonial background of Walter Woodbury, whose name was used to integrate migrants and former colonies as aesthetic element in the bar.

In the journal “A City made by people” you can find an article about gentrification in Amsterdam with reference to Javastraat. (Source: Embracing change means embracing gentrification, 2016)

https://www.acitymadebypeople.com/journal/amsterdam-gentrification)

Prices, products, people

According to residents and shop owners the product diversity is increasing. The street seems to follow a trend of individualization. There are opening shops as Hartje Oost, which calls itself in Dutch a “koffiebotiek”-meaning a combination of being a café and a boutique in one. Other exceptions are a nuts shop, a shop that specialized on every kind of cakes or a fondue restaurant. As in Austria many restaurants or cafés offer vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free food. Due to many Muslims living in the neighbourhood some restaurants as Thai Tiger only sells halal products. Ijs van de Oost even skips gelatine and uses mainly regional products. Entering some shops you can find “Javakwartier”-cards, an advertisement-support for the shopping area of Javastraat and signs that people should support their neighbourhood.

“Haal alles uit het Javakwartier. Winkel bij je Buurtgenoten“ means in English for instance that people should buy everything in Javakwartier. Shopping in the neighbourhood.

“Many claim that, like new retail entrepreneurs in gentrifying neighbourhoods in other cities (Source: Zukin 2010), they started their business on Javastraat to do something for the neighborhood” (Source: HAGEMANS et al. 2016). Some interviews with gastronomy owners confirmed that. The owner of Gallizia openly spoke about the aim to create a place, where women do not have to “sit between bearded guys with big bottles of beer”. He estimates his wine bar having a function for the neighbourhood and thinks about extending opening hours. That is also a point consumer identified as a change in Javastraat: “Here before, there were just normal shops, at 6 they closed. Now they close at 1. Bring more people in the street. For the economy it’s good” (29 years old resident). That’s for sure one more reason why younger people get more attracted.

What do people think about the price level? How do they exactly feel about the changes in the neighbourhood? Continue reading!

Whether it is about changes of administration, goals or visible changes, maybe one of the most important questions relates to the points of view and the acceptance within the local population and also the economic operators on these changes. So what do strollers, consumers and shop owners think about the current changes at Javastraat and what are their feelings about it?

Asking people about their personal point of view on certain matters is also figuring out personal fears, hopes, social identities and socioeconomic belongings. On the one hand willingness for being interviewed probably depends on, excepted lacks of time and language skills, life satisfaction which furthermore depends on certain factors like profession, financial income, family situation and so on. In this context we can on the other hand presume that our interviewees tended to have a positive general mindset and in this order to be more open minded about changes in their surroundings. And this would also turn out to be right for several important issues and perspectives.

A 30-year-old male passerby for example, who sees himself as part of gentrification of Javastraat, lately moved nearby and told us that some local long-time-inhabitants told him, that  there had been many clearly efforts reached in the last years, for example a reduction of street crime and drug dealing. Asking about his feelings on higher prices for several products due to hipster-gentrification, he told us, that he for himself would be not as strong affected as many other consumers of Javastraat due to his high educational background. However especially people with lower incomes, tendentially consumers but also shop owners with migration background, could be negatively affected so that they might be in troubles to afford life here. He is afraid that as a consequence the variety of culture and the variety of different shops at Javastraat could disappear, which makes him certain kind of sad.

“Even the people, who lived here for a long time say it’s a big difference. For instance, this building on the corner: it wasn’t rented and people just squatted there, there were drugs and so on”

Also a 33-year-old female shop owner of a wine bare & specialities shop named “La fucina”, who moved from Italy to Javastraat 3 years ago, was convinced by the achieved economical efforts at Javastraat. She said that over the last 3 years there had been a rise of the number of customers in general that she leads back to a positively changing image of the whole area.

All in all, she saw the changes in a very positive way: “Yes, we love this area! We like the mix of people and cultures. It’s an ethnic mix. Here are a lot of Turkish people,… I love it. When we came here the street was empty and now it’s a full street, also more expensive. Fortunately, the image has changed. We knew this. There was a project to improve this area.” Even though she added in the next moment referring to gentrification: “For me it’s good, because before it was just Turkish people and we didn’t want it that much and now it’s more a mixture and we really like that”, which seemed to us a bit ambivalent.  

Others like a 64-year-old customer and long-time resident who lives at the east-end of the street seems more resigned about things going on at Javastraat. Facing the fact, that local life gets constantly more and more expensive he simply mentioned: “That’s life. I just find it usual, normal. The thing is… everything is getting higher, faster, higher, this is life”.

And of course there are also people which see the running changes in a more negative way, like a 29-year-old man who had been watching us interviewing other passerbies and now interestingly appealed us asking for information about the reason of our doing here. To our astonishment he suddenly told us about his observations and his life without being asked to do so. But we were thankful for that kind of well-meaning helpfulness! Obviously, he was taking the chance to complain about some things, for instance “arrogant students” who would now more often come here to make a noise after getting drunk at the new bars, which makes him very angry about these kind of changes at Javastraat.

“I like them [the students as main consumers of the new cafés], but you know, we all people, we all live here, upstairs, so when it’s one o’ clock, they keep talking and talking. I call them in Dutch ‘Kakas’, like ‘Shit’.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYYCOPcnnGJ/?hl=de&taken-by=walterwoodbury

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Javakwartier (@javakwartier)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZa-pPvBcvE/?hl=de&tagged=javastraat

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bar Basquiat Amsterdam 👑 (@barbasquiatamsterdam)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Marjolein Suzanne (@marjolein.suzanne)

Following this story, you have made kind of a time travel beginning at the time the working class was dominating the Indische Buurt, got impressions about how Javastraat was looking like several decades ago versus today, you were risking a look behind governmental aims and measures and got the possibility to compare them with real people’s thoughts about changes on the street – ending up in the present.

The new hotspot Javastraat?! –Commercial Gentrification and its impact on everyday lives of providers and consumers was the title of this academic online story. How could the findings be summed up precisely?

There is no doubt that Javastraat was and still is in transition. Governmental interventions based on a targeted top-down revaluation were combined with bottom up commitment of shop owners and residents working together to create a better image of the area. Believing in literature concerning this topic, people’s voices and our impressions in the field it has worked quite good! The changing commercial zone is e.g. related to a wider shop diversity, new product lines, opening hours and a modified streetscape. The shopping area is promoted and residential properties are transforming. The majority of the interviewees, both newly arrived or living nearly the whole life in the area, states feeling particularly positive about the increasing social mix within the last years. Nevertheless, other voices should not be ignored at all. Some are fearing that gentrification won’t slow down and that the new arriving often highly educated students and creatives will lead to product diversity and even social and cultural losses in the future. “For me it’s okay like this, but … If there would be more and more and more then it’s not like it used to be.” (Source: a 26 years former resident on Javastraat, September 2017)

Revaluation and development in general can be good, but never forget about the world as not just black or white. Not everyone is either gaining or losing. Be careful about which kind of actor is saying what and with which maybe hidden intention!

HAGEMANS I., HENDRIKS A., RATH J., ZUKIN S. (2016): From Greengrocers to Cafés. Producing Social Diversity in Amsterdam. –In: Global cities, local streets: everyday diversity from New York to Shanghai

HOCHSTENBACH C. (2015): Stakeholder Representations of Gentrification in Amsterdam and Berlin: A Marginal Process? In: Housing Studies, 30:6, 817-838.

KLOOSTERMAN R. & VAN DER LEUN J. (1999): Just for Starters: Commercial Gentrification by Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Amsterdam and Rotterdam Neighbourhoods. In: Housing Studies, 14:5, 659-677.

KLOOSTERMAN R., VAN DER LEUN J., RATH J. (1999): Mixed Embeddedness: (In)formal Economic Activities and Immigrant Businesses in the Netherlands. Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd (Hrsg.), 252-266.

MÜNCH S. (2014): Das “Mantra der Mischung”: Die Problematisierung von ethnischer Segregation in Deutschland und den Niederlanden. In: GANS P.: Räumliche Auswirkungen der internationalen Migration. – Hannover.

NIJHOF B. (2010): Neighbourhood Management strengthens Javastraat shopping area – Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Online unter: http://www.eukn.eu/e-library/project/bericht/eventDetail/neighbourhood-management-strengthens-javastraat-shopping-area-amsterdam-the-netherlands/

SPAANS M., TRIP J.J., VAN DER WOUDEN R. (2013): Evaluating the impact of national government involvement in local redevelopment projects in the Netherlands. In: Cities 31, 29-36.