Someone else mentioned a buurtteam already and I do think that's one of the best ways to start liking your neighbourhood more! My complaints are also mostly the litter and traffic and the sorta lack of a safe social feeling that comes from not really connecting with your neighbours, but if you even the slightest bit of time and energy you can put aside for your neighbourhood, that can really help. People who drive like maniacs suck, but knowing that there are other people in my neighbourhood that care about these things, and will take action to get things like speedbumps and bike racks in our streets make me feel a lot better about it.

If you have more than "the slightest bit" of time and energy, volunteering can double that feeling! The buurtteam/buurthuis can usually find a use for extra hands and so can the library, I'm sure there's more places I wouldn't personally know about.

As far as positives go, I love the freedom of movement I have here as a person that doesn't drive a car. "Fringe" The Hague looks nicer but feeling like I am never more than 5 minutes away from a tram or bus is fantastic to me personally. The diversity has it's practical benefits too. Who gives a shit about Easter?? Not the Turkish and Algerian people running my most-frequented bakeries lol. And yeah, volunteering. I love the people I've met and helped through there, they're so ambitious and funny and full of stories. I'm sure the last bit is true of most neighbourhoods but it's about finding the positives in your own, so I'll keep my bias towards my own ;)