This paper examines the approach to urban green justice in the greening narratives of one of the biggest inner-city area redevelopments in the Netherlands, the Binckhorst, The Hague, which has a...Show moreThis paper examines the approach to urban green justice in the greening narratives of one of the biggest inner-city area redevelopments in the Netherlands, the Binckhorst, The Hague, which has a special focus on greening and sustainability. For the analysis, planning documents as well as public communication were examined using a spatially sensitive framework for the analysis of the municipalities narrative on the green developments in the Binckhorst. I found that a rhetoric of urban green boosterism is prominent throughout the sources analysed. That means the municipality uses greening to sell the Binckhorst as a desirable place to invest and live. The greening narrative is part of the urban greening orthodoxy. Furthermore, the narrative seems to be underpinned by the apolitical assumption of a “green” trickle-down effect, suggesting that the benefits of greening will spread to everyone and lead to more just and prosperous cities. Social justice is not directly addressed in the green development plans, which creates the risk that the green developments in the Binckhorst will turn into green commodities or enclaves of environmental privilege.Show less
This thesis will explores the correlation between income and the availability of vegetative roofs in the city of The Hague. Vegetative roofs are known for their environmental and economic benefits,...Show moreThis thesis will explores the correlation between income and the availability of vegetative roofs in the city of The Hague. Vegetative roofs are known for their environmental and economic benefits, such as providing habitats, mitigating the Urban Heat Island effect and lowering energy bills. This research will be done from a citizen science perspective to analyse the potential of this data collection method and its relevance for policymakers. A mixed-methods approach will be used by combining quantitative data from Netherlands Statistics (CBS) with qualitative data from observations of more than 75,000 addresses in The Hague collected from Google Maps. Coordinates and characteristics of the vegetative roofs will be analysed in Excel. Findings suggest a strong negative correlation between income and the number of people per vegetative roof, with r(4) = -.8981, p = .015075, which is consistent with previous research. Citizen science has been found to be a useful data collection method in this case, as it was able to identify more than four times as many vegetative roofs in the city as the data available from the municipality of The Hague. In conclusion, the collected data suggests a strong correlation between income and the number of vegetative roofs for neighbourhoods of The Hague and underscores the important role citizen science can play for (local) governments.Show less
Eastern European working migrants have become an essential part of the Dutch economy. With the current labor crisis in The Netherlands, they play a vital role in many sectors. Often employed...Show moreEastern European working migrants have become an essential part of the Dutch economy. With the current labor crisis in The Netherlands, they play a vital role in many sectors. Often employed through employment agencies who also take care of their accommodation. There are however many problems with this system and Eastern European working migrants have to deal with far from ideal living situations. This problem is especially true in The Hague, a city that houses over 20.000 working migrants. To tackle this problem, the eightfold path for effective policy making has been used to make a policy recommendation for the municipality of The Hague that can be used to create a better understanding of the housing situation which can be tested to learn if it creates more affordable housing, especially for Eastern European working migrants.Show less
In this academic thesis the impact and extent of effect of invasive alien plant species, specifically their pollen byproduct, on human health is examined. As research on the presence and subsequent...Show moreIn this academic thesis the impact and extent of effect of invasive alien plant species, specifically their pollen byproduct, on human health is examined. As research on the presence and subsequent influence of such plants’ pollen on a native ecosystem and the humans therein is widely understudied, this study aims to substantiate the repercussions of the ever-growing pollen count of these plants on human health. The goal is to null or verify the assertions that these species spread with little difficulty, exponentially increase the overall pollen count, and contribute pollen variants of harsher impact on human health. The research conducted does a case study of the Netherlands, and specifically The Hague, using two plant species (common ragweed and mugwort) - widely considered invasive in other ecosystems - that remain scientifically overlooked though recorded. Making use of related and comparative data pooled in desk research, a pollen index was constructed to narrowly approximate the pollen count and allergenicity of common ragweed and mugwort. Medical studies test-prove that these invasive plant species have highly allergenic pollen which in turn cause hay fever symptoms. Additionally, the yearly pollen index spanning from 2012 to 2020 showcases an intensification of the allergenicity of the air due to these species, and the weekly pollen index spanning from 2012 to 2015 illustrates clear prolongation of the flowering (i.e. allergy) season through the years. This research paper has quantified the overlooked looming urban, scientific, environmental and medical risk of such invasive plant species’ pollen. Observations of similarly burdened ecosystems has shown elaborated solutions, the like of introducing insects that eradicate these species’ pollen and its spread. The efficacy of these solutions has yet to be weighed including potentially pending consequences (disservices) linked to introducing the alien animal species in the ecosystem.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Liberal Arts and Sciences: Global Challenges (LUC) (BA/BSc)
closed access
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long (≥ 2000 kilometers) tropospheric bands ofenhanced water vaportransport that, on average, transport more than double the flow oftheAmazon River. They are...Show moreAtmospheric rivers (ARs) are long (≥ 2000 kilometers) tropospheric bands ofenhanced water vaportransport that, on average, transport more than double the flow oftheAmazon River. They are responsible for 90% of poleward water vapor transport and have been linked toflooding and extreme rainfall events (EREs). While the impacts of this meteorological phenomenonhave been well-studied in some parts of the world, such as mountainous California, research on ARs in low relief regions is lacking. This study thus determinesto what extentARs are associated with EREs and precipitation in the Netherlands (NL) and whether this relationshipchangesspatially.NL was chosen as the study location as it is experiencing the effects of changing rainfall patterns and is a low-lying country with little relief. AR influences on one coastal city, The Hague, and one inlandcity, Maastrichtwereexamined. The scale of ARs is significantly larger than the surface area of NL, meaning that both cities are often affected by the same AR. Therefore, results between The Hague and Maastricht only differ slightly. By combining AR presence data with precipitation datathis study demonstrated that ~46% of all EREs are accompanied by an AReventin the two cities. Moreover, itwas found that 28.5% and 33.5% of all precipitation iscorrelated with AR occurrencesin The Hague and Maastricht,respectively. Lastly, rain days in Maastricht are1.9% more likely to be accompanied by an AR than in The Hague.This study supports the claim that ARs are an important factor in explaining EREs, which is highly relevant considering the predicted increase in AR occurrences due to climate change.Show less
This thesis examines the functionality of early modern Amsterdam as a diplomatic city. (Entities in) The Hague nominally held the political and geographical prerogative to diplomatic relations in...Show moreThis thesis examines the functionality of early modern Amsterdam as a diplomatic city. (Entities in) The Hague nominally held the political and geographical prerogative to diplomatic relations in the Dutch Republic, but Amsterdam was a significant challenger to this position due to its economic and financial agency. Various aspects, such as Amsterdam's interfence with diplomatic policy, its contacts with Dutch envoys abroad and the diplomatic community within Amsterdam itself, are elucidated. In particular, it explores the functionality of lesser envoys, such as consuls and agents, and the way they integrated themselves into urban society.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The reality in many cities across the world today is one of multilingualism (Kraus & Grin, 2018; Smakman & Heinrich, 2018). Municipalities need to deal with this linguistic superdiversity...Show moreThe reality in many cities across the world today is one of multilingualism (Kraus & Grin, 2018; Smakman & Heinrich, 2018). Municipalities need to deal with this linguistic superdiversity to be able to communicate with their citizens and to navigate inhabitants’ linguistic needs (Blommaert & Rampton, 2001; Kraus & Grin, 2018; Skrandies, 2016). There is a relative lack of research into municipal language policy, while it can have a profound impact on citizens’ lives and sociolinguistic identities (Backhaus, 2012; Siiner, 2014; Skrandies, 2016). The Hague, as the third largest city in The Netherlands, is a prime, but understudied example of such a multilingual reality and associated municipal language policy and politics (Tieken-Boon van Ostade, 2019). Moreover, allegedly, The Hague is the most segregated city in The Netherlands (Cornips et al., 2018), which makes issues of language policy, politics, and practice all the more prominent and interesting to investigate. Therefore, I examined two research questions: what are the language policy and politics regarding multilingualism in The Hague and how are these reflected in practice in municipal signage? The analysis takes a sociolinguistic and language policy perspective to answer these questions and is threefold: it consists of a Corpus Analysis of the language policy and politics of the current municipal council, a Critical Discourse Analysis of two language policy documents, and a Linguistic Landscape analysis of municipal signs in the city. The results of all three analyses indicate that the municipality focuses mostly on the acquisition and use of Dutch and generally describes multilingualism negatively, instead of as a resource. More specifically, the multilingualism of citizens who are already disadvantaged is viewed as an obstacle, while the multilingualism of so-called expats and internationals is embraced. This points to a social divide in The Hague based on socioeconomic class, language, and ethnic background, and is indicative of language ideologies about nationalism and economics (Skrandies, 2016).Show less
In this thesis the flint assemblage of the Vlaardingen site Wateringse Binnentuinen is analysed with a special focus on scrapers. Compared to other Vlaardingen sites, a striking amount of scrapers...Show moreIn this thesis the flint assemblage of the Vlaardingen site Wateringse Binnentuinen is analysed with a special focus on scrapers. Compared to other Vlaardingen sites, a striking amount of scrapers was found at WBT. To see if this could have a functional reason the scrapers were divided in multiple typological groups and their use-life was researched. During the technological and use-wear analysis it became clear that the Vlaardingen people at this site were very opportunistic in the production of flint artefacts. However even though the number of scrapers is high at this site, the use-wear analysis shows that almost all scrapers were used for scraping hide. But not all the hide traces were the same; besides the presence of dry and fresh hide four different groups of hide traces were also recognised. Since it was not clear what could have caused the development of these hide wear traces, experiments were designed and conducted to see if the edge angle and the surface where scraping was conducted could explain these differences. Unfortunately the wear traces on the experiments were not developed enough to provide an explanation. When combining the results of the use-life study with the permanent character of the settlement one can likely speak of a site with a very specialised tradeShow less
