Bajesdorp

From the old Bajesdorp towards the new Bajesdorp

Behind the Amstelstation - along the Wenckebachweg - lies Bajesdorp. Previously, here was a picturesque neighborhood with squats. The residents fought against vacancy and in favor of maintaining a habitable neighborhood. Well before the eviction and demolition, they started preparing for the construction of the new Bajesdorp. The new 4-storey building offers space for living, working and public functions and will be completed at the end of 2023.
We spoke to Femke and Nina about the history, the negotiation, the construction process and the future of the different, but beautiful new Bajesdorp. It is an inspiring story about the transition from squat to collective ownership.

The emergence
On the seventh of September, 2003, four vacant guard houses along the Wenckebachweg were squatted. Together with another 15 houses and the so-called ‘director’s residence’, they belonged to the Bijlmerbajes (prison). A few other guard houses were still habituated around that time. After a while, the residents, squatters and the later joining anti-squatters formed a little village, eventually being coined ‘Bajesdorp’. Bajesdorp grew into a vibrant, casual free space where people lived, worked, ate, drank and danced.   

Festival
After 2010, another seven houses were squatted and for the first time a festival had been organized. The festival, named Thuis in Bajesdorp, was meant to introduce people in the surrounding area and the city to Bajesdorp. Changing its name to Bajesdorp festival, the event developed into an annually free living room– and backyard festival with among other things music, theatre, poetry, dance for the old and the young. 

De Muiterij
For a long time, Bajesdorp had no communal space. That changed in 2015, when Wenckebachweg nr. 20 was squatted and social community center De Muiterij could be set up. From that moment, the space was used as a soup kitchen every Tuesday evening. Vegan dishes were served - with homegrown vegetables -, usually accompanied by a musical performance. Furthermore, de Muiterij was used for workshops, neighborhood meetings, the Language Café and repetitions. For many years, De Muiterij forms the beating heart of Bajesdorp. In December 2018, the place moves to Wenckebachweg nr. 46, the former director’s house. Finally, in 2021, De Muiterij is being demolished to make place for the building of the new Bajesdorp.

De Bajestuin
The Bajestuin was a permaculture garden for and by the neighborhood. It all started in the spring of 2013 with a small guerrilla garden in containers. The lawn had not been used for at least 16 years. At the beginning of 2014, the Bajesdorp Association signed a co-management contract with both the Municipality of Amsterdam and the Municipality of Ouder-Amstel (now Amsterdam-Duivendrecht). The lawn turned into a blooming and diverse garden and grew into a permanent meeting place for the neighborhood.

Preservation
Even before the ban on squatting that went into effect on October 1, 2010, the residents of Bajesdorp were already having talks with the state, the owner of the Amsterdam Over-Amstel Penitentiary Institution (Bijlmerbajes). The residents wished to preserve the village. An important step in this process is the establishment of the Bajesdorp Association on March 18, 2011.

Starting in 2014, serious talks with the government about purchasing the land have been held. The outcome of the lobby at stadsdeel Oost was simultaneously disappointing and hopeful: the plans for Bajesdorp were shared to positive remarks, but since the land belongs to the state and will not be purchased by the City of Amsterdam (something that can normally happen because the municipality has the first right of purchase), not much could be done. The sale of the land would be arranged through a tender - a kind of competition - with a memorandum of principles. This memorandum indicated that a breeding ground should be realized on the former site of the Bijlmerbajes: Bajesdorp got a foot in the door! Several project developers registered for the tender. Projectbureau AM contacted Bajesdorp and in May 2017, Bajesdorp and AM fixed up a letter of intent - should AM win the tender - to work together.

In September 2017, it became clear that AM could buy the land from the state, marking the beginning of exciting times for the residents of Bajesdorp. They had to start negotiating the land price with the developer. Eventually, with the help of Jaap Draaisma, a compromise was reached, resulting in Bajesdorp signing the letter of intent with AM on September 19, 2018. Then, on the 6^th of November 2019, after lengthy negotiations with the City of Amsterdam, the city council decided that the municipality would buy the land and lend it to Bajesdorp on a long lease. Over a year later, the three parties (municipality, AM and Bajesdorp) signed an agreement an agreement that records all the compromises and converts the council decision into concrete agreements. In 2022, the environmental permit was finally approved. After long negotiations, a careful check by the bank, patience from the municipality, AM and the contractor, the ground lease agreement and mortgages could go to the notary.

After the site was sold by the central government to the developer, Bajesdorp was cleared. First, the long row of houses (including The Mutiny) was demolished, after which the community centre would move to the former director's villa. In September 2019, the rest of the village will was brought down. Some of the residents would build a temporary village of caravans and containers next to the land on which the new Bajesdorp was to rise. They would live there with work on their new village being carried out next door.

Future
The future of Bajesdorp will be very different from the past. The old Bajesdorp with its own grounds, lots of outdoor space and several buildings is giving way to one building in the straitjacket of urban development. The new Bajesdorp is next to a high school, has neighbors and must comply with more rules than ever before: it is no longer a site where anything can swing around. A little less free and autonomous than before, but a place with future prospects, as one thing is certain: the new Bajesdorp will stay.

Everybody is doing unpaid work at least one day a week to organize everything for Bajesdorp. That means you have to make room in your schedule.

The collective
From the group that once lived in Bajesdorp, only 2 people now remain. In the long process from squatting to buying and the following construction, a lot of people said goodbye. Some left to get an education, others were raising children and there were also people who did not like the transition from squatting to buying and/or did not want to become project developers themselves. 
A transformation like this is a long and complicated process. It is instructive and fun, but also takes a lot of time and energy. At the start, nobody realized how much work it was, and perhaps for the better as otherwise they might have never started. Everybody is doing unpaid work at least one day a week to organize everything for Bajesdorp. That means you have to make room in your schedule. Space that isn’t always there because other things are happening in your life.

Femke told me during the interview that she had read in a book that a project like this is unlikely to end with the same group of people it started. The moment she read it, she was sure that wouldn't apply to Bajesdorp, but the reality turned out to be different. The group did change. In the beginning, she found it quite difficult when people left, feeling as if the collective was falling apart. Later she realized that it was part of the process and that it also meant that some nice new people were joining.

New people often came in through back channels, but also through the open calls by Bajesdorp. The great thing about those open calls was that at a certain point the participants knew very well what they wanted and mentioning this explicitly had people signing up more accordingly. That way you get people who actually like the plan. Even though it can be nice to make decisions with a small group, it was good to let the group grow from time to time. It is both pleasant and necessary to spread the burden over several shoulders. A year or two ago an open call was placed with the intend to increase the diversity in the group. Back then, other backgrounds and gender identities were considered in the selection to make the group more diverse.

Functional dynamics
The old Bajesdorp was a mix of living, working and public functions. The group wanted to bring those function dynamics to the new building. However, all the rules of the municipality didn’t make realizing this mix easy. Living and working in one building doesn't fit within the municipality's thinking boxes, and things that won't fit within a box can take a long time to come to life.
Since the land was sold by the Dutch state to a developer and not to the municipality, negotiations had to be held with that developer. In the end, Bajesdorp spent nearly two years negotiating the land and its design. An agreement was reached with the project developer that part of the property could be used for residential purposes. In later negotiations with the municipality, the studio function was established, with the municipality requiring Bajesdorp to become a breeding ground. Ultimately, the combination of living and working was realized in this way, and this is largely due to the fact that the participants of Bajesdorp took care of the negotiations themselves.

The building
The Bajesdorp collective worked with the architects to think up the design of the building and the building materials. The new building consists of four floors. On the first floor there is room for a theatre space and a small café. On the floors above are living spaces and studios. Everyone has his/her/their own living and/or work unit and on each floor there is a common space in the middle where residents and studio users can meet. Space to eat together, sit, talk or receive guests. The land around Bajesdorp is public. On the spot next to the building and where the temporary housing is now located, green areas will be created that may also be used by students at the adjacent school and neighbors. The agreement for the food garden created by Bajesdorp will be renewed every year for the time being and may remain as a garden for the neighborhood.
A number of compromises had to be made in order to begin construction. On Nov. 14, 2022, the first piles went into the ground and construction began. A week later, the start of construction was officially celebrated with the alderman and invited guests. On Oct. 14, 2023 – a month before the building will be completed - friends, family and others who had offered financial support were invited to a first sneak peak into the new building.

Public space
Bajesdorp used to host many public events and wishes to continue this tradition, being a place where other people are welcome and where ideas and creativity can be exchanged. The first floor of the new building has space for a theatre auditorium, a small café and a number of practice rooms. Those spaces will be used by the Bajesdorp collective to organize events. To that end, a new collective of artists has been formed. These are not necessarily people who already live and/or work in the building: they could come from outside as well. It is a model inspired by Splendor in Amsterdam.

Dutch banks consider associations and housing cooperations to be a risk to their fortunes, making Bajesdorp turn to GLS bank in Germany.

Financing
One of the biggest challenges within the whole process was the financing. Dutch banks consider associations and housing cooperations to be a risk to their fortunes, making Bajesdorp turn to GLS bank in Germany. GLS is a small bank specialized in these kind of projects. Bajesdorp has had talks with Rabobank as well. In The Netherlands, Rabobank leads the way in terms of financing cooperative projects, but Bajesdorp held both ethical and financial reasons not to go into business with them. 
Projects such as Bajesdorp or housing cooperations like De Warren or De Nieuwe Meent are not given the full amount needed to make ends meet. Banks provide no more than 60% (if you are lucky) and the rest is to be taken of in different ways. Since Bajesdorp has the status of a breeding ground, a claim could be laid on a subsidy of Bureau Broedplaatsen. Another part has been borrowed through the Amsterdams housing cooperation fund and an amount of ± €823.000 has been self-financed. €130.000 of that sum has been gathered from old socks and pockets. Contribution varied between €2500 and €20000, a shifting system allowing people with less money available to join in as well. The remaining amount of €616.750 has been netted through a crowdlending campaign. Crowdlending is something other than crowdfunding. These are not gifts, but investments in the form of debentures, which are eventually being paid back with some interest. A possibility to invest in sustainable real estate property with €250 worked to great appeal, judging from the 2467 debentures being sold so far. Mid-October 2023 there is €57.250 left for sale.

Organisation structure
Bajesdorp as an association is part of Vrijcoop, meaning that the place can not be sold in the future. It is not only an association of residents and users, but a fund as well. Therefore, rents will not be lowered once Bajesdorp has paid back all the debts, as the money that will come available goes to the VrijCoop solidarity fund. With that money, other buildings in collective ownership can be financed. It draws similarities with the Mietshäuser Syndikat model which has been applied since the late 1980’s in Germany. Thinking about the future and the possibility to support and spread this way of living has become an important part of Bajesdorp. 

Active protest
Femke and Nina see Bajesdorp not only as their home and workspace but also as a form of active protest. A protest against the current market-geared society, in which investing and profiting with real estate has been the most casual thing on the planet. Bajesdorp is a protest from within, not a banner on the barricades, but becoming a part of the city and the policy. In a collective rather than an individual manner, change is made. Bajesdorp stands for working together with respect for nature and the people around you.