Hello we are Sascha, Melonie, Jim, Ouail. We are 13 years old and go to school from monday until friday. Hello I’m Sascha. Everyday I go to my horse. In the weekends I often ride a horse riding competition. In the future I would like to be an interior architect. Hello I’m Melonie. I do gymnastics twice a week and play badminton twice a week too. I also play competition with badminton and I have min. 2 matches with gymnastic a year. I don’t know what I really want to become in the future. Hello I’m Jim, I also play football 2 days a week I train and on saturday, I play a football match. After school I have to make homework and when I am finished with my homework I like to game and going out with friends. In the future I want to be an biologist because I like animals and the nature very much. Hello I’m Ouail. I kick box twice a week, on tuesday and friday. Sometimes I also play matches against other people. In the future I would like to be a pilot so I can travel all around the world
Public meeting places Main question: Is your region a place where people meet very often. (16 to 50+ years) Introduction of our region/topic in our region Our region In our region, Schoonhoven and nearby towns, people do meet regularly. We don’t have very special public meeting places because Schoonhoven is not a very big city. We have common ones which are used all over the Netherlands. Most people are member of a sport club which plays a big role in how people meet other people in our region. Public meeting place? A public meeting place is a facility where you can meet other people. It’s a place where everyone is allowed to go to. You meet people you wouldn’t have met when you would have been to another place, maybe they would not have passed in your life.
To which questions will you find an answer in our report?
Public meeting places in our region?
What makes places attractive to meet at?
What makes places less attractive to meet at?
Are there enough facilities for all groups of people in your region?
Who is responsible for maintaining public meeting places?
Conclusion; Is your region a place where people meet very often?
Reflection; How did it go?
Research methods; Who have we interviewed?
Who did what?
1. Public meeting places in our region Which public meeting places do people use? How often do people use these places?
Hockeyclub SMHC
Danceclub Younik
Supermarket Albert Heijn
School Schoonhovens College & Willem de Zwijger
VV Schoonhoven
Tennisclub het Hofland
Library Krimpenerwaard Schoonhoven
Sport clubs are mostly used 1-5 times a week per person, some people sport more than others so it is different per person. Supermarkets are used 2-4 times a week per person, also differs per person and with how many people you live. The schools are used 5 days a week in a normal week. In weekend they are closed so you can’t go there. The library is used less than other public meeting places. It’s a place people go maybe once in three weeks because you can rent a book for 3 weeks.
2. What makes places attractive to meet at? At special public meeting places people want it to be safe and clean. If not the place won’t look attractive and people will avoid it. This especially counts for children; their parents don’t want them to be at dangerous places and want to protect them from any danger. Maintaining of a public meeting place also plays an important role in the attractivity of it. When a place is well maintained people will be excited to go there and want to have a look. By maintaining a place very well, people are more inclined to spend money (buy a drink or become member etc.) which again makes it easier to maintain a public meeting place. It needs to be an ‘interesting’ place so maybe a place where you can do things, for example a sportclub. Then people will earlier think it’s a place they want to take a look at or they go there because they like the activity. Places are also attractive when people already know friends there. Their friends will ask them to visit them and they will take a look faster than when they are completely unknown there. Why do people meet at these places? People meet at special place because they want to meet other people, which is very logical but that’s is why they go there. Or it’s somewhere they just go everyday and they ‘accidentally’ meet others, like the supermarket.
Some of the things that are manchend before also make people meet at a place. When it is clean, safe, interesting and a known place people are interested in visiting a public meeting place
3. What makes places less attractive to meet at? Are there public spaces that people avoid for any reasons? When places are dirty or unsafe for people, people will avoid it and go to another place instead of a sport club or the park for example. But in supermarkets mostly it isn’t dirty or unsafe. All the places like the sport clubs and our school needs to be safe and clean. When a school is unsafe, they can get in big problems with a lot of people. When there are a lot of loitering youth at a place, people will avoid it much faster because the loitering youth can do strange things and they make places unsafe. They also make places dirty and messy, they often throw garbage on the street. This can, of course, mostly happen outside at places where people are not watching them. So inside this is not a problem. Sometimes places are even avoided because of other people that are there. They can not get along with each other and will not visit the public meeting place because they aren’t friends 4. Are there enough facilities for all groups of people in your region? Yes there are enough facilities in our region. For example many people from every age go to a sportclub in their town or somewhere very close. Not every sport is played in one city but a lot of sports are played inside the Krimpenerwaard. So everyone is able to play a sport they want to play. Elderly can go to a cafe or a sportclub where for example jeu de boule is played to meet people. In the Netherlands also many elderly go to the supermarket and meet others over there. At the supermarket they can drink a cup of coffee at a table and they can walk around in the park. Children meet their friends at school, at the playground and also while doing sports. Middle-aged people do meet new people at most places; they go to their work, to the supermarket, they rent a book at the library, play a sport, go to the market, meet at a cafe and so on and on. Their age is an age in which people are very busy and in the middle of their life.
5. Who is responsible for maintaining public meeting places? Are these facilities well maintained or misused? The local government maintains public meeting places that they specially built for meeting people. Others, like sport clubs and the library are maintained by the ‘owners’ or the people that work there. Public meeting places that are outside and maintained by the government don’t always look neat. Often there is garbage lying on the ground, graffiti on the objects that are at the public meeting place and chewing gum everywhere. The government doesn’t really maintain it very well but sometimes there are cleaners who clean the public meeting place. In contrast to public meeting places that are maintained by the local government, public meeting places that are maintained by the owners are quite clean. Sport clubs, the library and supermarkets are very often well maintained, and are kept clean regularly.
6. Conclusion Our answer to the main question; (Main question: Is your region a place where people meet very often. (16 to 50+ years)) Yes, we think our region is a place where people meet very often. People do regularly visit public meeting places and when they meet new friends there they will probably also visit each other at different places the next time. Because most public meeting places are well maintained and safe, people like to go to a safe public meeting place. That also makes people enthusiastic to visit it another time or to keep visiting it. Places like cafes are often visited by old people who come to meet their friends and to drink some coffee. Places like sports clubs are more often visited by people older than 16. They come their to release all their energy and to have some fun with their friends. Public meeting places are frequently visited, appreciated and well-used when they are, like said before, well maintained and safe. They have to look neat and everything has to be organised well. Places that we would recommend to the municipality and that people appreciate are places which are well maintained and well-used. It needs to be a place where they can have fun and have a nice time with others, they should be able to make friends. Also activities should be offered, this is also important because more and more people want to live healthier and sport more. This can of course also be an inside activity or work.
7. Reflection Sascha:
What went well? Most things didn’t really went well. We should have communicated better and cooperate better. Something that went quite good were the interviews. At first we did not know who to interview but later on we interviewed enough people.
What would you do differently? Make a clearer task division. I was asked many times to say what someone had to do but they could also come up with that themselves. They were very dependent on me and I’m not there to tell them what to do at any time because I also have to work. They also need to take responsibility and think about it, because now I did 80% of the work. Our communication should have been better.
What did you learn from this project? I learned that there are many public meeting places in our region but that it actually are places you come very often and you do not notice that it is a public meeting place and that you meet new people there every time you visit it. I think that that also shows how many people you meet and that that is quite strange. Your brain stores all those people without you really noticing, it even stores people you only saw there. It makes me feel like I’m aware that meeting people is something that has become a part of us, not something we do.
Jim:
What went well? I think that the interviews went very well because they people who I interviewed had very clear answer and no difficult words. But more than that didn't really went well I think.
What would you do differently? I think it is better when we had a better task division because others made lots more than I did for example. Well I tried to do something but I just didn't understand what to do.
What did you learn from this project?
From this project I learned that there are a lot of meeting places for all different kind of peoples. Melonie:
What went well? I think that nothing really went well, because with everything there was at least someone who didn’t do something.
What would you do differently? I think we had to make a task division, because sometimes we didn’t know what to do and we had an task dividing it was easier for everyone, because then we didn’t had questions anymore and everything was clear what to do when you are done. We had also a groupsapp, but we almost didn’t communicate with each other. SO next time we have to do that much more!
What did you learn from this project?
I learned of this project that many people meet everyday someone e.g. at school, work, sportclub etc. And I think this is very important, because when somebody is alone at home, they can be sad, but when you meet someone like this that person will feel less sad, because .he/she knows that he/she has a friend and that makes people happy! Ouail:
What went well?
The interviews went very well. At the beginning we didn’t know how and who we had to interview but later on everyone knew what he/she had to do. We kept talking normal with each other and we didn’t had any fights.
What would you do differently?
Next we should communicate more with each other and we have to make a better task division. We did not had a lot of contact with each other about this so it was a bit complicated. Also was it not clear for everyone what he/ she had to do so people started to do their own stuff.
What did you learn from this project?
I learned that there a lot of different kind of public meeting places. From sport clubs to supermarkets, there are a lot of different public meeting places. I first didn’t even knew what a public meeting place was but now I know how you can recognize it and what a public meeting place is.
8. Research methods; Who have we interviewed Who have we interviewed ?
Sport club (soccer)
Cafe/restaurant/hotel
4 (age 11 - 20)
2 (age 21 - 40)
5 (age 41 - 50)
1 (age 50+)
Summary of the interviews Questions:
Where do you go to meet people?
Have you made friends there?
How often do you visit a public meeting place?
Does meeting people at a public meeting place influence your life?
Do you also have contact with people you meet at a public meeting place when you are not at the public meeting place?
Do you also already meet people at work/school?
Do you think public meeting places in your region are well maintained and safe?
Answers:
Everyone goes somewhere elso to meet new people. Where you go depends on your personality and where you already know some people. But most people like to go to a sport club to meet new people, our see their friends they made earlier at the sportclub.
Most people make friends at a public meeting place and that is also the most common reason they want to go there. But it also can be you go to a public meeting place to meet people for business or you have a nice time for once but they don’t become your friend.
Some people visit a public meeting place every day others once a month. Again it really depends on the kind of person you are; when you are very sportive you maybe play a sport every day and then you visit a public meeting place every day while others only go to the library once a month.
Yes, everyone we interviewed agreed on this. They think public meeting places have a very positive influence on your life. When you wouldn’t have met your friends you met at a public meeting place, which are often a lot, your life wouldn’t have been like this. Friends play an important role in your life and they will be there for you when you are having difficulties.
It’s 50/50. Some people do others don’t. When someone made a friend he/she usually wants to try to keep in contact. Otherwise the people thought it’s not very important to keep contact.
Yes, all of them were working or at school. And for sure everyone meets new people at work or at school.
Yes, most people said that they thought public meeting places where well maintained and safe on average. They also said public meeting places need to be well maintained and safe because that makes the attractive, people will not go to an unsafe place for fun. Some places are abandoned and dirty ones but places that are used often need to be well maintained. For example sports clubs, schools, businesses, parks and cafes.