Suburbane dromen. Idealen en praktijk van het leven in Zoetermeer

Samenvatting

Suburban dreams. Ideals and practice of living in a new town. In the perception of critics, Suburbia in the Netherlands is the locus of uniformity, monotony, shallowness, boredom, bourgeois conventionalism and middle-class conformity. Despite this negative image, suburban settings have attracted many residents. At present, a majority of the Dutch population is living in a suburban environment. Zoetermeer, situated near the country’s seat of government The Hague, is a prime example of a suburb whose inhabitants are generally extremely content with living in a suburban environment. But in recent years they are facing problems due to physical and demographic expansion and concomitant phenomena like growing crime rates and what the residents perceive as increasing deprivation. In the present article, the authors focus on the inhabitants’ ideals and appreciation of living in Suburbia and their fear of those who in their view especially undermine the suburban dream: viz., ‘loitering youth’ (hangjongeren).