Rotterdam: URBACT Case study of cities' response to the crisis

The Rotterdam case study describes the preventive approach the city of Rotterdam is taking to youth unemployment. In 2009, as a response to the economic crisis, the Dutch government launched a Youth Unemployment Action Plan, with the aim of addressing long-term social and economic problems that can result from extended unemployment among youths. Each Dutch region has to translate the framework of long-term goals established nationally into concrete actions. As for municipalities, to access the funds made available by the national government, they must be able to present their own local youth action plan.

Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands, with 580.000 inhabitants, and a global trade flow hub of the first order. Geographically Rotterdam is part of the so-called Randstad area, the economic centre of the Netherlands. Youth unemployment in Rotterdam is amongst the highest in the Netherlands, and the specificity of Rotterdam lies in the growing number of poorly educated young people lacking basic qualifications. The focus of Rotterdam's youth action plan "Just Keep Going!" is on self-help, employment and education, as the city prioritises keeping young people in school, or returning them to school.

The approach is to build on existing policies and programmes, taking existing successful projects further and improving cooperation between employers, educational institutions, employment services, social services and the youths themselves. Likewise, the approach has involved building up cooperation with other municipalities and with the Rijnmond region.

The case studies aim is to reflect both the diversity of impacts and to focus on innovative policy responses developed at local level in European cities. The outputs will not so much be a set of academic studies as the identification of practical recommendations that practitioners and policy makers within cities can adapt to their own circumstances

Read the Download URBACT Case Study Rotterdam (582.84 KB)  and discover how Rotterdam has responded to the economic downturn, its Action Plan focused on the prevention of local youth unemployment as well as what aspects of Rotterdam’s measures could be useful for your cities.


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