Parallel Lives on the Plaza: Young Dutch Women of Turkish and Moroccan Descent and their Feelings of Comfort and Control on Rotterdam’s Schouwburgplein

Abstract

In the last two decades, many city center plazas in the Netherlands have been redeveloped to become more attractive “meeting spaces” and not merely profitable “market places.” This article analyzes the use and experience of Schouwburgplein, an urban plaza in Rotterdam, as meeting space by young Dutch women of Turkish and Moroccan descent. Our analysis reveals a paradoxical interplay between “social comfort” and “social control” in public space. To feel comfortable, the young women avoid interaction with non-befriended young men of immigrant descent and use the plaza in company of friends and family, mostly young females of immigrant descent. However, being among known and unknown youth of Turkish and Moroccan descent on the plaza also implies subjecting oneself to uncomfortable social control. Moreover, the young women of Turkish and Moroccan descent seem occupied with being part of what they consider “their” youth group and some even reveal indifference toward “others” on Schouwburgplein—resulting in “parallel lives” on the plaza.