Dutch mayors play an increasingly prominent role in tackling (organized) crime. However, empirical research into how mayors fulfil this role remains scarce. Based on 23 interviews with nineteen mayors and sixteen municipal officials, this study reveals the different ways in which mayors have given meaning to the administrative approach of outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in the period 2012-2017. While the national approach to OMCGs fits within the wider focus in society on prevention and the exclusion of ‘risky groups’, this empirical study shows how mayors give their own effect to this focus at the local level.

This essay is a scientific reflection on Leuven Restorative City (LRC). The cities, which present themselves as ‘restorative cities’, aim to ensure that restoration continues to nestle in the capillaries of our society. The article argues that realizing the LRC-promise requires restorative thinking through the meso-level of local public life. This involves reference to a number of notions that can be traced back to Ancient Greek thought in Athens, in which the intellectual virtue of ­phronesis – practical wisdom in a social and political context – is central. Citizens are seen as allies in the solution of social issues. LRC contributes to this through its focus on ‘turning conflict into opportunities’. Restorative justice wisdom is more widely applicable in society. However, the LRC process can sometimes be erratic and unpredict­able. The article points to the possible alternation of good and bad periods, and puts forward the expectation that the development of restorative practices in Leuven can be understood as cascades. In these cascades, the course of the diffusion of restorative practices is presented in terms of successive waves of learning experi­ences and knowledge sharing.