The economic crisis is causing an increase in the number of self-employed persons working from an office at home. This is having an effect on neighbourhoods. Professor Maarten van Ham (OTB) is working with a number of British universities to organise a series of six seminars on the subject. The central question posed by these seminars how this new form of labour activity can contribute to the dynamics of individual neighbourhoods. Another question is whether improvements in the design of neighbourhoods could contribute to the success of self-employed people.
Statistics indicate that up to half of all self-employed people in the United Kingdom and the United States maintain have their office or workplaces in their home. This number is also increasing in the Netherlands. The neighbourhoods in which they live are not very dynamic, however. Because we have seen a trend towards the separation of living and working zones since the 1970s, the homes these people work from are often located in bedroom communities, where there is little activity during the day. Self-employed people working in their attics are doing little to change this, and there are few informal meeting places. One challenge is to see if smart designs could be used to restore the visibility of work in neighbourhoods. One idea could be to arrange workspaces at street level, on the ground floor. Coffee corners, cafés and other meeting places stand to profit from the return of small businesses to residential neighbourhoods. If they could serve as networking areas, they could increase the visibility of successful entrepreneurs, thus helping these business owners to become examples for adolescents and young adults.
“Our whole reason for organising this series is that we do not know the answers to many of these questions”, notes Van Ham. “The UK would like for neighbourhoods to profit much more from the return of small businesses to residential neighbourhoods.” One way to do this would be to encourage neighbourhood businesses: residents who work together to open a neighbourhood shop, generate electricity or operate a swimming pool.
The topic of the seminars (i.e. ‘Entrepreneurship in homes and neighbourhoods’) is also relevant for the Netherlands. This is not only because of the increasing number of self-employed people, but also due to the increasing number of companies set up by residents and neighbourhood businesses that are emerging here.
It is important to examine ways in which governments can contribute to the success of small businesses. One possibility could involve assistance in the form of funding or by reconsidering regulations. For example, they could consider the relative wisdom of imposing strict regulations on entrepreneurs who want to start small webshops from their homes.
During the seminars, information will be exchanged by policymakers, practitioners and scientists. This will help to test scientific theory in relation to practice.