The Danish Opzoomers
More quality of life for people in the cities
Opzoomer Mee from Holland
The Opzoomer Movement originates from Rotterdam in Holland. Here it all started as a grass-root movement for citizens who wanted to assume specific active responsibility in order to improve and turn the progress things in a positive direction regarding different social problems, housing wise problems and problems concerning the aesthetics of the streets in the existing city environments. The Opzoomer Movement in Holland has through their work gained really good experience and good results within the city environments.
The Danish Opzoomers The starters of the Danish project got the idea after a visit to Rotterdam in 1997 but did not start the project until the end of 1999. The project was started because of a specific experience in a part of Copenhagen. Here a man had been lying dead for a year without being missed at all. His bills and income were all directed through his bank electronically, so everything was OK and in order - except the man had died. This gave food for thought about the direction in which the Danish Society was going.
The project in Denmark was started more in order to meet social need with common projects which could set their mark in the form of more and closer relations within the citizens own areas. Furthermore hoping it would encourage the citizens to do even more than they already did.
Since Holland and Denmark - in spite of their likeness culturally - are not quite alike concerning social and urban problems, the Opzoomers in Denmark has adapted the Dutch Opzoomer Idea and transformed it more in the direction of the specific conditions in Denmark via the project "More quality of life for people in the cities".
Investments in the individual citizen’s inclination
The Danish Opzoomers has in this project developed a catalogue of ideas with specific initiatives and activities which can take part in the slowing down of decline and decay in the public city area. It all has a starting point in the relationship between citizen and the city as well as through methods who directly can help create positivity, confirmation of life and at the same time broaden the individual citizen’s relations across social, cultural, ethnical and age group conditions.
In principal it is all about developing and investing in the citizen’s own need to self-organization and activities both on street and house level, where everybody - regardless of qualifications - can join in.
Co-ownership
One of the more dynamic elements in this process is establishing the citizen’s "co-ownership of the close public city area" - and then through this strengthen the feeling of community and responsibility in a broader sense.
Furthermore the Danish Opzoomers hope that along the road - as an essential part of the process - to create loosely associated partnerships between the citizens, the local clubs, organisations, trade and businesses. These partnerships are meant to support and through their support create more room for developing even further the positive effects of "synergi" which will arise through all the Opzoomer activities.
It is important to remember that these partnerships are only meant to support the ongoing project. They are not meant to neither start, organize nor run the Opzoomer activity. This role is entirely for the citizens themselves.
Change of attitude
The Danish Opzoomers and our main project "More quality of life to people in the city" is thus trying to create the best possible scenery for citizens to grasp the opportunity to unite their knowledge, ideas and strength in common initiatives and activities. Actually it is about changing the attitude of the individual citizen, but also opening the minds of all politicians to these new ideas.
The old well-known structure with the citizen on the one side and the established professional and elected people on the other side needs to be broken down and then prepare the way for a greater common understanding of the individual’s own interest legal and creative wishes. This will in the long run result in increased quality of life, a more positive attitude and involvement, more meaningful life, more sense of community and last but not least a considerable feeling of solidarity within the local environments.
The philosophy and set of standards behind the project
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Very short distance between common wish to common result
- Action without fine words
- Reward through own contribution
- Positive forward going orientation which holds on to the possibilities of community and the hidden talents of the individual as opposed to focusing on problems and bad prospects
- Small and practicable success activities inspiring to more
- An informal, spontaneous, far-reaching and tolerant group culture with room for everybody
- Everybody can take part
The active part is that the individual together with other citizens establish street teams or block teams for specific projects, in which you can take on many different tasks. These tasks should strengthen and visualize the community within the local environment. At the same time they should be part in developing positive local relations across all social, cultural, ethnical and age group conditions.
Maybe the building or the street needs a "minor lift" or perhaps you want to create a greater sense of community through an activity. No matter what the activity is, then everybody can take part no matter who you are. If a citizen has a really good idea he or she wants to carry out, then he or she may be just the person to start an activity in the street or in the block.
Public authorities
Some of the Opzoomer activities cannot just be carried out without permits from the local community or other public authorities. However, this should not stop the project. On the contrary - here it would be a good idea to contact the Opzoomers.
This is exactly why we are present in the Danish street environment. We have many angles and possible access roads to the authorities and thus with experience gained through the years can open many gates and find the solutions most suitable for exactly these creative ideas of how to make changes in the citizen’s local environment.
Major changes
There are many laws and paragraphs to keep in mind and uphold both in the beginning of a project and after finalizing the project - with regards to major changes in the street environment. This is also where the Opzoomers can join in with their experience and help the team on the way. So if the teams are ready to take on a major change, we are, of course, interested in taking part along the road. We are the organizers for/in the phases of the projects - of course on behalf of the citizens own interests.
Sponsors and fundraising
This means that we can also assist the team in finding possible sponsors for the project, carry out fundraising covering part of the project or part of the project as well as possibly cover part of minor project.
Agreement with The Authorities in the City Hall of Copenhagen
The Opzoomers has from time to time participated in the housing political negotiations in the Copenhagen City Hall and we have generally greeted the presented suggestions positively, mostly because all the money spent on thorough renewal of the city also benefits the Opzoomer projects.
So there is money for the citizen who on his own actions wants to beautify his local area more or less extensively. Of course the agreement also expects action from the Opzoomers and we are very well aware that this will demand an extra effort from our side in order to be able to offer the citizen good possibilities for carrying out new projects.
The authorities in the City Hall of Copenhagen have certainly become aware of the Opzoomer project. The city mayor Jens Kramer Mikkelsen has said several times, that he hears from more and more politicians at the city hall, expressing that they find the Opzoomer project exciting and absolutely worth while supporting.
The community looks forward to working together with the Opzoomers
Holger Bisgaard from the department of economics in the Copenhagen City Hall is looking forward to working together with the Opzoomers. To the monthly magazine "Opzoomernyt" he says:
"The Copenhagen authorities feels that the Opzoomer project is a good initiative, which can certainly take part in setting a positive mark on the green areas and streets of the city. We are looking very much forward to the cooperation, which is about to start, and the Copenhagen Authorities expects this to be through the months directly after the summer holidays"
Has an amount been marked for the Opzoomer projects?
We are operating with an overall amount and the funds are limited, since the major part of the funds will be spent on bricks and the development of new housing areas. But funds have also been set aside for improvements in the existing areas and this is where the Opzoomers play their part.
What you as a citizen can do right now
Get in contact with the Opzoomers, which you can do on the internet www.opzoomer.dk. Here you can read all about us and then take the initiative and be the lead actor in an activity which not only strengthens the community, but also makes a difference in your own local environment.
