Eindhoven’s Meerhoven district is home to a large number of expats This number is increasing due to the growth of the city A group of residents in the area have long wanted a neighbourhood meeting place Chaitali Sengupta and Diana Angelova started a petition for a neighbourhood meeting place preferably in the form of a library or café where internationals and locals could meet The community is still in the research phase If nothing is done to professionalise the integration of expats in you’ll only hear the words ‘loneliness’ ‘polarisation’ and ‘isolation’ more and more,” says Diana Angelova Residents have seen the neighbourhood change in recent years I have lived here for 20 years and it has changed a lot,’ says one resident Most of the people Studio040 spoke to did not see any problems in the neighbourhood due to the diversity of backgrounds but they did notice that there was little cohesion It is also quite natural that people with their own background and culture look for each other,’ says one woman a library would bring the groups together more and help the internationals to learn the Dutch language better when I try to speak Dutch to the people in the shop and they notice that I have problems with the language they immediately start speaking English to me,’ he explains* But he has a good relationship with his neighbours Another also has a good relationship with his foreign neighbour Sometimes he asks me things about how things work here But if you’re an expat and you don’t have good contact with your neighbours it could be nice to have a neighbourhood meeting place Addition by editor: There is a button you can buy to ask people to speak Dutch: Speak Dutch to me and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" You can recognise them by the suitcases or backpacks that come out of the trunk: holidaymakers who park their cars for free in the Eindhoven district of Meerhoven It is a thorn in the side of the residents Some long-term parkers found their cars already damaged three people with backpacks get out of their car They take the bus to Eindhoven Airport and go to Poland for two days When the reporter asks why they parked their car in the neighbourhood Free parking is permitted and even recommended if you search the internet for tips on cheap parking at Eindhoven Airport the website of parking company Eazzypark warns: “You can park your car for free in districts such as Meerhoven and Grasrijk in Eindhoven Parking in these districts is therefore at your own risk and you may wonder whether it is socially desirable.” Stanley Simoons knows that it happens a lot “Sometimes cars are parked here for six weeks which means that residents can’t find a parking space I once saw a large Tesla damaged,” says Stanley “We can’t do anything about it They park their car here right next to the bus stop and leave I think that eventually paid parking will be introduced here and then it will also become more expensive for the residents.” knows that some residents have placed notes under the windscreen wipers of cars that were parked for a long time and clearly did not belong to residents “People have also previously stuck A4 sheets on the windows to warn holidaymakers that parking in the area in front of the airport is not allowed.” There is no time limit for parking regular cars in a public parking space “It’s worthless,” Erna Visser responds to the long-term parkers in the neighbourhood “Sometimes I don’t dare to take the car because there is no parking space in front of the door in the evening.” That’s why Erna is taking the bike today They want to spend money on their vacation Paid parking has been introduced in Zandrijk a neighbourhood closer to Eindhoven Airport a couple is standing who are going to Málaga for a week They too have parked their car just outside the paid parking area in Zandrijk The holidaymakers are not interested in explaining why they have parked their car in front of Lilly Croes “We have quite a bit of trouble with parking here,” says Lilly but if we have visitors or want to quickly unload something in front of the door that is almost never possible.” When asked whether she understands the holidaymakers parking for free Lilly responds with a laugh: “I would do the same myself.” while the other four will be multi-story structures and will be completed later on the concrete structures will be subject to all the regular building regulations and set out to meet the demands of current-day occupants concerning comfort AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style large police complex on Land Forum on the outskirts of Meerhoven will not be presented until after the summer The police want to build a large-scale complex on the site It would include central housing for the Oost (east) Brabant Police 1,800 employees and 500 students will work at the complex The master plan was shared with the surrounding area at the end of 2023 These will also be presented after the summer holidays The police are currently selecting the architects for the project This also depends on the ruling of the ‘Raad van State’ (council of state) on the zoning plan It is not known when that ruling will come What is clear is that the arrival of the complex means that Sliffertsestraat will be relocated It is not yet known what this means for the homes there The houses are owned by the Municipality of Eindhoven Source: Studio040 The Eindhoven municipality wants to meet with residents to discuss possible locations fo a community centre in Meerhoven residents pleaded in a petition for such a centre the new housing estate lacks social cohesion Seven political groups in the municipality then took up arms to call on the mayor and alderpersons to take action The municipality now says it would also like to see a community centre with a library in Meerhoven It is not yet clear where the centre should come the municipality wants to think about the form and location in the near future Meerhoven is growing fast and is very diverse. Many migrants now live in the neighbourhood including knowledge workers who come to the region to work at one of the thousands of technology companies According to the initiators of the petition this puts social cohesion under pressure and many residents live parallel lives The new community centre should ensure that residents come closer together It will give them a place to have a cup of coffee together attend reading afternoons and organise other activities The shopping centre of Eindhoven’s newly-built Meerhoven district will change in the coming years The nearby Meerland park will also be extended to reach the shopping district The shopping centre new name will be Terminal M This refers to the airport that used to be there All kinds of ‘aviation elements’ appear in the new shopping centre’s design too The use of the letter M also has links to popular areas in Eindhoven “Terminal M will be an area where it will be nice to stay and relax The Meerhoven neighbourhood is currently the fastest growing neighbourhood in Eindhoven It will join in on that vibe,’ says Barbara Ploeger on behalf of the new owner research shows that Meerhoven residents want the neighbourhood’s central area to be more of a social The number of expats and highly educated young families in this area has increased rapidly over the past ten years Source: www.studio040.nl Around a hundred guests attended this information session Basiss School Slingertouw and Basiss school St@rtbaan in Meerhoven The Meerhoven Internationals Platform (MIP) The Meerhoven Internationals Platform (MIP) is a neighbourhood team that organises events get-togethers and Dutch classes for the internationals in Meerhoven This dynamic team is a combination of many nationalities the education event attracted many internationals Korein Kinderplein accepted to take care of the children for free while their parents attended the workshop Many guests commented that this was thoughtful and helpful Thanks to the MIP team and the Korein Kinderplein Staff Congli Dong made the first presentation of the morning shedding light on the work and activities of the MIP Sultan Solak and Hanneke Hermans from the Slingertouw and Startbaan schools respectively presented in detail about the Dutch education system Solak mentioned that groups 1 and 2 are preparatory phases while group 3 marks the start of learning mathematics In group 4 the children concentrate on reading comprehension and multiplication tables history and biology are introduced in Group 5 and 6 group 7 and 8 are the preparatory years for the secondary education Hermans educated the audience about the CITO tests that happen around January and June every academic year She also explained how international children who join late for example in group 6 could be exempted from a language test when they sit for the final exam in group 8 the school decides to grant language exemption or not Both the schools take utmost care in providing additional language classes for the international students The number of special language classes varies with the needs of the pupils the students reach a level on par with their peers Both schools are part of the Brainport initiative that aims to internationalise education The Eindhoven council has agreed to an expansion of the asylum locations in the city a crisis shelter will be built on Noord-Brabantlaan for 200 asylum seekers and other locations will be expanded The number of asylum seekers in the city will therefore increase from 211 to 715 The decision to expand the number of places for asylum reception was already taken in May It was then decided that there should be room for 900 asylum seekers due to the large increase in the Netherlands A new temporary crisis shelter will be built on Noord-Brabantlaan in the Meerhoven district The area behind the P+R will accommodate 200 asylum seekers The winter emergency shelter is also located there Sprinkplank040 supervises both winter emergency shelters and crisis emergency shelters for asylum seekers There is now a shelter for 96 people at Kanaaldijk-Zuid they are temporarily moved to Kanaaldijk-Noord There are currently 50 asylum seekers there there will be a temporary crisis shelter on Noord-Brabantlaan These locations are in addition to the location on Keizersgracht, which currently has room for 65 underage asylum seekers and status holders The new crisis shelter will not accommodate unaccompanied minors the residents are a reflection of the people currently being accommodated in Ter Apel With the decision on the expansion of reception locations for asylum seekers The Senate will vote on this law next week This makes it possible to legally oblige municipalities to accomodate asylum seekers The COA (Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers) expects that 69,900 reception places will be needed in the Netherlands at the beginning of this year and that that number will grow to 96,000 places this year COA pays all costs for the expansion of reception locations and guidance The extensive reception locations will be opened from the beginning of February Translate: Aysenur Kuran  The DBS football club together with Meerhoven International Platform and Eindhoven Sport organised an information market for internationals The fair hosted in the DBS football club cafeteria was abuzz with visitors on Friday evening Theo Mommers from DBS football club played a perfect host together with Yvonne Swinkels Jessie Peeters and Colin Laarhoven who were part of the organising team Fifteen sports clubs presented their services to internationals that evening Clubs that teach regular or popular sport such as football gymnastics and bowling presented information in English to the internationals and seniors While the not so common sport such as Gaelic football slow sports etc pitched their sport to gather support Spouse program Brainport Spouse by the TU/e caters to the needs of the trailing international spouses The program offers possibilities to learn Tai chi Pilates Body pump among other fitness training SGE Meerhoven presented their programmes such as mama fit Korein Kinderplein showcased the sports programmes they organise for the children Rabobank showed its support for sports clubs they sponsor clubs in the region for example through their Clubkas Campagne Even for medical advice on your feet you could you could talk to the experts: Rondom podo therapy The enthusiastic pack from Meerhoven International Platform explained their activities Thumbs up to Oranje Rood hockey for distributing free vouchers for hockey training