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'The city is made by the people who live in it’

IF YOU ASK anyone from Gouda what they consider typifies the city, nine out of ten would point out the old city centre with its market square and the town hall. In other words, a part of the city that covers no more than ten per cent of the area, provides the whole of Gouda with its identity. For leisure, relaxation and pleasure at least seven out of the ten point to Reeuwijk waterland and other Green Heart areas outside the city. The area in between these two main focuses, where most of Gouda lives, is not the first that comes to mind when drawing up an inventory of identity–rich locations.
The way residents experience these places and how these places contribute to the perceived identity of Gouda’s residents, is a source of information for town councillors and developers alike. Instead of commissioning a poll, a better idea seemed to be to invite the people of the city to photograph their own environment – which led to the Gouda’s Snapshots photo competition.

pdf publicatie Gouda Kiekt Gouda (1.2 MB)

There were four categories:
A: photograph what you like doing best in Gouda, where you do it and with whom
B: photograph an unusual, dangerous or fantastic traffic situation
C: photograph what annoys you most in the city
D: photograph what you love about your area and what you think the council doesn’t like and wants to get rid of, or vice versa
E: photograph what you think is missing in Gouda, or what you miss or an aspect that we’ve forgotten, something that’s typical of Gouda

A few articles in regional newspapers resulted in more than a thousand photos. A glance at the place of origin of those who participated reveals that by far the majority came from the newest part of Gouda, Goverwelle, from the medieval inner city or from areas on the edge of the inner city Most of the photos were taken in the inner city or in the immediate vicinity of the participant’s home.The photographs produced for this competition give an attractive but fairly general view of Gouda. However, it does present possibilities for improved communication between the designers and the users of the city. Competitions such as this can be utilized to make an inventory of the qualities of a particular place. The residents were asked to catalogue these qualities at a moment when this location was not threatened by imminent changes. Here lies a source from which information about what makes a city livable, and what does not, can be gained. It is therefore a welcome and intuitive complement to formal studies and public enquiry procedures. These public consultation procedures are in fact only deployed if changes are already planned, and this automatically forces the residents to be on the defensive.

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Gouda's Snapshots is part of the Art of Settling

Conceptmanagement
Bureau Venhuizen, Hans Venhuizen

Participants to Gouda's Snapshots
Inhabitants of Gouda

Jury of the photo-competition
Sjaak de Keijzer / Luuk Kortekaas / Harold Strak

Photos on this page
Anneke de Jong, firstprize winner of the photocompetition, made photos of her neighbours.

Original lay-out
Evelien van Vugt