Amsterdam the New Structural Vision
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Amsterdam The New Structural Vision https://www.amsterdam. A spatial response to social issues nl/wonen- leefomgeving/structuurvi • City of Amsterdam's Department of Urban Planning sie/structural-vision-am/ and Sustainability 2011 • www.amsterdam.nl/gemeente/organisatie/ruimte- economie/ruimte-duurzaamheid/ruimte- duurzaamheid/making-amsterdam/ See also the related publications. • Debating the Future of Amsterdam • The Implementation Agenda and Instruments METREX acknowledges the source material from which this Abstract has been drawn for the purpose on Member networking. 01 | 2011 The complexity of urban development means it is no longer possible to make do with blueprint planning; ‘certainties’ that stem from them have long been lacking in AmsterdamThe New Structural Vision A Spatial Debating the Future of Amsterdam The Implementation Agenda and PLANResponse to Social Issues The Making of the Structural Vision Instruments Handles for realizing Ambitions credibility. The Amsterdam Structural Vision must seduce 04 20 26 and convince with a coherent narrative, a story in which the social benefit of spatial interventions is explained and Economically strong and justified in terms that are as clear as crystal. sustainable Structural Vision: Amsterdam 2040 The ‘Structural Vision: Amsterdam 2040’ carries forward the city’s long tradition of spatial structural planning, yet on important points the new Structural Vision diverges from previous structural plans, both in substance and in form. The emphasis has shifted to the vision for the city, while the spatial elaboration, in policy and regulations, primarily plays a complementary role. Spatial plans usually excel in their indication of what must happen and where, but spatial ambitions are not an end in themselves; they emanate from social needs and concerns. In the Structural Vision the interventions are constantly subjected to questions, such as ‘But why ...?’ and ‘Then how ...?’ Breadth of support makes or breaks a structural vision; if it were a paper tiger it would soon disappear into a bottom drawer, and that is hardly the intention. © Gemeente Amsterdam 1 The city-dweller and In the lead-up to the Structural Vision, the arguments for the everyday the spatial ambitions were laid down in two documents: a ‘Memorandum of Starting Points’ (Vertrekpuntennotitie) environment are key and ‘The Pillars’ (De Pijlers). The Structural Vision’s By focusing on the economy and sustainability, Amsterdam subtitle and motto – can continue developing into an attractive metropolis where ‘Amsterdam: people will also be able to reside, work and spend leisure Economically strong and time comfortably in 2040. The city-dwellers and their sustainable’ – is the everyday environment therefore take centre stage in the briefest possible Structural Vision. encapsulation of these documents. Decline and growth After a long period of suburbanization which began in the late 1980s, cities around the world have once again become popular and have been growing again. The countryside, by The spatial development contrast, is faced with shrinking populations. By and large, of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is to a the further away from the city, the more marked the large extent determined decline. The countryside of the former East Germany is emptying rapidly, while Berlin is growing. by this phenomenon of growth and contraction In the Netherlands there is already a considerable decline and by the increasingly in the country’s periphery, for example in Zeeland, South knowledge-driven Limburg and East Groningen, while Amsterdam is growing. economy that underpins It is hardly, for that matter, as if every city can boast that it this. Amsterdam is is growing. Besides the dividing line between city and expecting an additional countryside there is another division running between cities 100,000 to 150,000 ‘that count’ and those that have fallen out of favour. inhabitants between now Amsterdam can count itself among the former category. and 2040. 2 Economically strong Economy and sustainable The starting points for Amsterdam are favourable. Major cities are in any case faring well in an economy that is There is a broadly shared becoming increasingly reliant on knowledge, but by no view that Amsterdam means are all large cities capitalizing on the knowledge must position itself economy: people are drawn to cities where life is good. robustly in the changing Amsterdam attracts people with its freethinking image, its economic world order. historical city centre, the abundance of amenities, the many Maintaining the welfare economic opportunities, the water and the greenery. and prosperity of Amsterdam boasts a diverse and relatively young Amsterdam’s residents population, which increases its magnetic pull even further. is paramount. Scores of enterprises are establishing operations in Amsterdam because they are heavily dependent on the supply of highly educated professionals – the human capital. The quality of life in the city has thus become an important economic factor. Sustianability This primarily revolves around sustainability, in all its All in all, Amsterdam facets. The term ‘sustainable’ is usually associated with holds the trump cards to climatological and environmental factors and that is remain economically certainly the case in the Structural Vision, but sustainability robust. is also relevant to other matters. A public space which has a high-quality design and use of materials will provide you In order to actually bring with more pleasure and will be more durable. these trump cards into play, Amsterdam must Many neighbourhoods and buildings that are technically nevertheless continue to speaking out of date prove to be of great significance for work hard on the quality the city. Because of their specific character, experiential of the living environment value and adaptability they are extraordinarily popular with in the city. ‘the modern urbanite’. Properties and neighbourhoods from a distant past can in that sense be termed ‘sustainable’. Yet the essence of sustainability still involves the environment: in order to be a sustainable city we must be prepared for climate change: the air, soil and water must become cleaner; the city will be rendered quieter and more energy-efficient. Amsterdam is therefore switching to sustainable energy sources and land will be used more intensively. Economic development and sustainability have for many years no longer been regarded as each other’s counterpoles, but quite the contrary: they are increasingly becoming extensions of one another. Clean air, properties full of character and an attractive, green public space are all aspects with which the city can secure the loyalty of people and businesses. Investing in sustainability is therefore tantamount to investing in the economy. 3 The core city of the This has its roots in the ‘Development Scenario for the metropolitan area Amsterdam Metropolitan Area in 2040’ (Ontwikkelingsbeeld 2040 voor de Metropoolregio Amsterdam), in which the region’s municipalities jointly stated the ambition to foster To quote the axiomatic the growth of Amsterdam and environs into a metropolis. ambition of the Structural Vision, ‘Amsterdam continues to The area in question, with 2.2 million inhabitants at present develop further as the and a projected 2.5 million in 2040, boasts the scale and diversity that are necessary to remain competitive core city of an internationally. The North Sea beaches of Zandvoort, the internationally family houses in Purmerend to the north, Schiphol Airport competitive and and the open water of the IJmeer lake – all these are sustainable European aspects that make Amsterdam a fully fledged metropolis metropolis.’ and mean that our city has become greater than the space within its own boundaries: Amsterdam is the central city, the core city, in the metropolitan area, and the Structural Vision: Amsterdam 2040 has been written from this perspective. 4 Amsterdam is never 4 Structural Vision: work/live mix Southern flank ➃ Bretten Zone General Amsterdam 2040 limited qualitative impulse Zuidas ➄ Zaan Wedge aboveground expansion of for major streets and live/work mix ➅ Waterland motorway capacity complete Waterfront squares work/live mix ➆ Diemen Wedge underground expansion of live/work mix qualitative impulse for work ➇ IJmeer Wedge motorway capacity work/live mix major streets projects in planning stage high-speed railway line work qualitative impulse for or recently completed aboveground HQPT (bus/ projects in planning stage squares tram/metro) Do we now have a or recently completed Former naval base Metropolitan landscape underground HQPT (bus/ qualitative impulse for a ➀ Amstel Wedge tram/metro) Roll-out of centre city park ➁ Amsterdamse Bos Wedge international public structural vision that live/work mix ➂ Gardens of West transport hub seduces and convinces? Does it provide solid backing for concrete actual plans and projects? Does this vision allow sufficient developmental leeway and does it simultaneously give direction and a firm footing? 5 A city is never complete, main public transport hub temporary berths for water- or groundwater- recreational programme with the exception of Buiksloter- secondary public transport inland shipping related project proposed nature ham. Future studies could result Amsterdam is never hub intensification of RAI 2nd Schiphol Airport development in adaptations anywhere in the 1 Schiphol/Almere Regiorail precincts terminal waterside development Port-City study area. complete. option high-class