Jannes van Loon, Ph.D.

The recent history of developers of commercial real estate in the Low Countries shows many similarities such as the internationalization of tenants and investors and the over-production of offices and retail. However, while in Belgium the risks of commercial real estate
development were mitigated to in particular foreign investors, they were in the Netherlands mitigated to local governments and banks. This difference is mainly caused by a different attitude towards risks. While in the Netherlands all actors were open for financialized business models based on debt fueled growth, in Belgium patient capital, especially multi-generational wealth looking for sustainable growth, functioned as a strong barrier to financialization processes.

The recent history of real estate developers in the Netherlands and Belgium shows that financialization processes are geographically variegated. Although real estate developers, the intermediary between capital and the local built environment, faced a similar rise of more market-oriented banking, Dutch developers financialized their activities while their Belgian counterparts did not. The Dutch case demonstrates how financialized corporations can make accumulation cycles more extreme, particularly by placing the creation of fictitious capital at the centre of their business strategies. The Belgian case illustrates how patient capital, i.e. multi-generational wealth looking for sustainable growth, can function as a strong barrier to financialization processes, thus moderating the influence of financialized capitalism on the economy. JEL Classification: G32 capital and ownership structure, value of firms, R30 general real estate markets, F43 economic growth of open economies

In this article I use data from my master thesis to 1) present guidelines for the design of plazas in high rise districts so they become 'convivial' (for the urban elite), and 2) a critical examination of the implications of implementing these 'design guidelines' in which fencing of the 'urban elite' from the 'real city' is quintessential (and problematic).

The phenomenon of graffiti has received much attention from many sub-disciplines in social science. Scholars often engage with a small fragment of graffiti writing using ideas popular in their own-subdiscipline. This practice has given birth to a rich, but fragmented literature. This paper tries to connect the fragments by focusing on the spatial behaviour of practitioners of graffiti (i.e. (graffiti) writers) in Amsterdam. Interviews with them provide a basis for demonstrating that graffiti is part of a global phenomenon associated with recurrent social features such as the achievement of fame. Moreover, the triggers for graffiti writers to produce graffiti on a certain surface seem to be interconnected with 1) geographical factors such as the visibility of a location and 2) a certain regulatory regime which characteristics writers can observe on a surface. The complex mixture of such factors on a certain place influences the behaviour of individual graffiti writers, it creates a specific sense of place. Nevertheless, there seem to be groups of graffiti writers whose actions are rather similar. In order to understand their spatial behaviour better this paper argues to use a typology with the dimensions “degree of illegality of the graffiti produced” and “connection to graffiti subculture”. Consequently, four types of writers are distinguished: amateurs, outsiders, bombers, and artists, making it possible to research graffiti in a much less fragmented way.

My research interest lies in understand the spatial behaviour of graffiti writers (van Loon,
2014). Although graffiti writers have unique perspectives on urban landscapes that determine where and what type of graffiti they produce, they also have collective or shared senses
of place – i.e., a spatial know-how that structures their production (Castree, 2003). As Table
1 illustrates, it is possible to distinguish four types of writers based on their connection to the
graffiti subculture and degree of illegality of their deeds. Arguably, this typology is applicable
to most Western cities.
This contribution focuses on the two types who stay close to the ‘rules of the game’ the
graffiti subculture, namely, Artists and Bombers. Which spatial know-how do they produce?
How is it shared, and which type of collective spatial action does it elicit? The spatial knowhow of hip hop graffiti has been created in a very specific period in an unique urban context,
i.e., New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and has spread with the rest of American
popular culture.

Mijn bachelorscriptie, interessante elementen zijn: een korte geschiedenis van graffiti, en een uitgebreide beschrijving van het ruimtelijk gedrag van Amsterdamse graffitischrijvers.
Bevat ook enkele interessante beleidsaanbevelingen.
Ik zit vrij diep in de literatuur over graffiti en heb er ook over college over gegeven, ik deel mijn ideeen/bevindingen graag.

My master thesis about how to create convivial plazas for urban elites in high rise districts.
Data mostly exists of observations and questionnaires about  plazas in Manhattan and the Zuidas (Amsterdam). The most interesting part is the discussion section in which I pose some critical questions about planning for the elite only. In addition, chapter II gives a pretty decent synthesis of the literature on the (social) use of public space.
public space  urban planning urban design

With From Flux to Frame Van Acker presents a popularized version of his dissertation. Nevertheless, the main aim is still theoretical: to link the realisation of infrastructure projects to processes of urbanization using a historical perspective. However, as further elaborated upon below, the theoretical introduction ignores important earlier contributions on this topic making the theoretical claim rather thin. The major part of the book revolves around three cases that try to unravel the relationship between infrastructure projects and the production of a, to a certain degree, urban built environment. The case descriptions are lengthy, 90 to 150 pages, cover long historical periods, and contain a wealth of information and illustrations. Therefore, the book is a must read for everybody interested in the industrialization of the Campine region, the development of the Flemish coast, and/or the development of the Antwerp Ringscape. Part 1 presents the case of the industrialization of the Campine region which demonstrates how the 'side-effects' of the development of a canal system became dominant over the original objectives of transforming a desolate area into fertile agricultural land and offering militarily protection. While digging the canals the richness of the soil was discovered setting in motion relatively sophisticated forms of industrial activity whereby labourers were often housed in proximity to the factories. Part 1 also describes how the canals were in later periods complemented by other forms of infrastructure (e.g., (light) railways, highways) satisfying the need for other forms of mobility creating interesting synergies. The long historical perspective adopted by Van Acker illustrates how infrastructure on the one hand lags behind economic developments, but, on the other hand also creates new economic activities in unexpected ways.