Labs of Contextualized Urban Social Work

In Belgium, the AP University College collaborates with the fieldwork partner SAAMO Antwerpen. This community building social work organization receives funding from the Flemish and local government to develop various participatory projects against social exclusion. SAAMO has neighborhood centers in five different Antwerp neighborhoods and they are often involved in political actions like the ‘international day for the eradication of poverty’ and organize events and actions such as a neighborhood garden or festivities. The organization has different thematic teams, such as the team ‘making space public’ that collaborates in the LOCUS project. 

The first year we sent our students to Antwerpen-Noord, a very densely populated, diverse and vibrant neighborhood close to the city center. The neighborhood has about 43.600 inhabitants and 74,5% of them is of foreign descent, meaning that at least one grandparent was born outside of Belgium. Many of the inhabitants live in poverty as statistics show that 52% of young children grow up in a poor household. The neighborhood is often stigmatized as a poor or dangerous neighborhood, but at the same time it is often appreciated for its international character with affordable shops and restaurants from all over the world.

The second year we sent our students to Deurne-Noord, further away from the city center, just outside the ringway. This neighborhood has about 30.000 inhabitants and a somewhat negative image because it is located between big highways and a canal and it has been in the news because of drug related violence