Netherlands Citichat 30 November 2007

CITICHAT 47/2007 - 30 November 2007




Notes from the Netherlands



Spent most of this week in Amsterdam and Rotterdam – freezing cold! The first thing that strikes one about these cities is the public transportation – it is just so easy to get anywhere whether by tram, train, bus or metro - fast, efficient and frequent.



I had to give a talk in Amsterdam, part of a programme they are running on Bogota, Johannesburg and Jakarta, and then do some lecturing at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The Amsterdam talk was arranged by an organisation called ARCAM which is the Amsterdam Centre for Architecture, a foundation founded in 1986. Its aim is to reach ‘the largest possible public’ in order to broaden architectural appeal focusing on topical issues and development within Amsterdam ‘so that discussion about the future is constantly fuelled’. If you are an architectural or urban design/ planning aficionado you can contact them when in the city and they’ll direct you to interesting buildings and sites. They hold public debates about plans, problems and developments in architecture and urban design in Amsterdam; hold exhibitions and publish books, maps and other publications.

I understand that they are financially supported by both the city council and a number of businesses. Sounds like a good communication model!



The population of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is given as about 750 000 and is extremely cosmopolitan – 174 nationalities are evidently represented in its residents. It is evidently the third most densely populated city in the world after Bangladesh and South Korea. It must also have one of the highest ratios of bicycles per head of population, I found two estimates of bicycle numbers, 600 000 and one million, which means that either 8 out of every ten own a bike or a third of the population own two each! The city has over 400 kms of bike paths and cars are actively discouraged – the number of parking spaces have been seriously reduced. It helps to make the city pedestrian friendly.



Rotterdam, with a population of about 600 000, is the second largest city after Amsterdam. Only half of this population are Dutch the balance being made up of Surinamese, Turkish, Moroccan, Antilean/Aruban, South European and ‘others’. It was the world’s busiest port between 1962 and 2004, now overtaken by Shanghai. It covers an area of 304 kms of which only 206 is land. Both cities form part of a Region called Rangstad which has a population of 7.5 million and is the sixth largest urban conurbation in Europe after Moscow, London, the Ruhr, Istanbul and Paris.



Both are old cities - Amsterdam was officially ‘born’ in 1275 although there is evidence of much earlier settlements. It received growth boosts in the late 16th century when many fled to it from Antwerp which had been overrun by Spain and again when the railway opened in 1839. Rotterdam can be traced back to 900 although its ‘city rights’ were only granted in 1340 when its population was a mere 2000! .Rotterdam’s main growth occurred after 1872 but the centre of the city was flattened by the Nazis when it was invaded in 1940.



The first regular newspaper in the world was printed in Amsterdam in 1618 and it also became a centre for diamonds and tobacco. Following the setback of WWII, Amsterdam didn’t suffer the destruction that Rotterdam experienced, but the city was obviously hugely negatively affected but went through a dramatic recovery starting in the ‘50s and by the ‘90s the city’s economy had drastically changed to a dominant service industry.



One of ARCAM’S latest publications is a book called “Impact” and it details the history of urban planning in Amsterdam after 1986 including commentary on some 15 major projects developed during that time. In the book, Amsterdam is described as a ‘lobate’ city, a core with extensions like outspread fingers, with radial roads held together by a ring road. Of course the wonderful canals, originally planned and built in the 17th century, also form four concentric half-circles – three residential, Heerengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, and the fourth outer ring, Stadhouderskade, built for defence and water management. Interconnecting canals were either for defence or the transport of goods. The book makes the point that Amsterdam is not a true port or river city but rather a ‘water city’. Water remained an important structuring device in all of the city’s planning after the canals were built. In fact “turning land into water and water into land …..is a dynamic that gives Amsterdam its character to this day.”



Housing has always been a pressure for the city. An expansion scheme of 1877 resulted in new districts being constructed “Monotonous residential areas with long narrow streets and long, shallow perimeter blocks, almost all of which was built by speculators and builders in pursuit of a quick profit. Things change: these are now popular neighbourhoods, and that is scarcely thanks to urban renewal”. In 1901 the Housing Act enabled the city council to declare slum dwellings unfit for human habitation and demolish them but it wasn’t until 1917 when ‘Plan Zuid’ was approved that new housing started in earnest. ‘Plan Zuid’ was intended for three income groups; the working class, middle class and the ‘elite’. “This gave rise to a typical Amsterdam tradition: a mix of rich and poor is still one of the most striking characteristics of Amsterdam’s housing. It is true of even the most recently built or planned districts, although the percentage of social housing in each project is steadily declining.”



In regard to transport and open space, the book records “Public transport and the walking distance from the dwelling to a public transport stop was a normative design principle…. as was the amount of green space per inhabitant” After the Second World War there was a considerable increase in the number of cars as well as the way in which they were being used ”…a shift from a small number of chauffeur-driven cars to a large number of privately driven cars. The demand for parking spaces increased and became an intractable problem and it is now a permanent feature of modern urban planning. It is therefore also an important part of the current policy which is called ‘optimisation of land use’ where – in order to keep the public space attractive with ever higher housing densities – as many parking spaces as possible are housed in built (preferably underground) facilities. ”



In the ‘60s city planning turned to high rise solutions but with strict requirements. “Living in green space and the strict separation of all types of traffic were just two of the noble departure points. Most importantly, the ground level was for the pedestrian. The spectre of the city centre clogged up with cars unquestionably played a role here.”



The second half of the 1970s was characterized primarily by the search for housing locations in and near Amsterdam. The important structure plan De Stad Centraal (The City Central) the official document on the compact city policy, which still applies today, was published in 1985. “The aim was to increase the limit in mobility and the urbanization of the countryside and to revitalize the existing city, including urban renewal in the postwar reconstruction areas… “ IJBurg (18 000 dwellings and relevant facilities) “is a good old-fashioned city lobe with a high-speed tram as its backbone. In that regard, it is interesting to see that here too, the lobate city is based on accessibility by public transport. In the 1980s the unremitting attention to public transport was aimed primarily at improving and expanding the network, as well as reducing car traffic. The concept of the transport node became the guiding principle in city planning.”



The ‘90s appears to be have focused on regional development - “today’s network city consists primarily of movement and mobility, but also as regards information, communication and production. And the netwok city is everywhere. The unbuilt area is easily accessible and is inseparable from the built-up area.” Now the focus moved from compact city to compact region. “The aim of this approach is that in the future, too, larger landscape units will not be fragmented. Amsterdam’s green wedges are important for the quality of life in the region and are laid down in a Main Green Structure. The City also now has a water plan. So the city’s carefully preserved mix of building development, green areas and water keeps Amsterdam livable. That has always been the case. Urban planning in Amsterdam has, from the very beginning, never been anything other than the expansion and improvement of opportunities for living, working, transportation and recreation.”



And Rotterdam? Well, we’ve run out of space but one thing that I should mention about this city is its close watch on economic issues. It has a committee of private sector high-powered economists who keep the Mayor constantly advised of economic trends and appropriate actions. But, over and above this, it has a top level of international players in a wide range of disciplines – up there at the level of Bill Clinton and the like – also advising the Mayor. They evidently meet once per year and their latest advice was to get Rotterdam positioned as the leader in European reduction of CO2 emissions – as a result, a plan has been prepared and will be implemented from next year.



Old these cities may be but they are no slouches – we can learn much from them and their experiences.



I guess that’s it for the year – I’m taking a bit of break from the end of next week, so talk to you in the New Year. Have a blessed Christmas and a safe, restful seasonal break and may 2008 be everything you wish for you and yours.



Ciao, neil