ABSTRACT
Policy priorities in the Dutch city of Rotterdam experienced a fundamental transformation at the end of the 1990s. By the end of the twentieth century, two major and linked barriers prevented an encompassing safety approach in Leefbaar Rotterdam. A policy inheritance, in this case a lack of attention towards safety issues, created the first barrier. The second was the lack of coordination between various organizations due to cultural constraints and specific decision-making structures. An overall safety approach needs the cooperation of the key Rotterdam actors: the municipal executive (mayor and aldermen), the city districts, and the municipal service departments. Rotterdam has eleven city districts, with their own council and civil servants. There was a confluence of actors mutually supporting the safety policy reform in Rotterdam. They initiated the reform based on the urgency of the situation. These change agents were the policy entrepreneurs who effectively constructed and translated the growing concern surrounding safety into reform.
