Welkom in Nederland

Our group landed in Amsterdam, today is our second full day here in the capital city. Some of my initial reactions that I’ve noticed about Amsterdam bicycle riders is they tend to ride based more on a flow, a feeling. Yielding more than stopping-a flow keeps its momentum. It is less always a strict rule of guidelines here, there are lights and reinforcement but also busy intersections without traffic lights. What might appear like chaos at first is just people on bicycles, scooters, and foot navigating around each other…and it just works. IMG_2547 

In Amsterdam, I’ve noticed lots of old trees, mostly Fagus, European Birch-Platinus, London Plane Tree, and Quercus, Oaks for example..

There is a strong sense of historic preservation in many of the parts of town I have seen. Amsterdam also appears to have plenty of soft edges.

Narrow medieval streets and canals create a framework ruled by bicycles and people- there are plenty of edges that blur as the street then turns into a shared playground or a park- at least my first impressions are that this city has green spaces; for example, handfuls of streets with full allees, and vines that climb are friends not enemy.

(Nice use of texture and color to help keep bicycles away from bollards, notice the white pavers are lifted: I’ve noticed more bollards here in Amsterdam than other places I’ve been to yet…)

As part of my scavenger hunt, I went to this intriguing park(Below) in the middle of the street on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal at Wijdesteeg crossing. I’m very interested in how cities can support larger trees to develop within an urban framework…and how natural spaces can emerge from concrete jungles to create more liveable cities for all of us. (humans, bugs, bees, birds, etc etc.)

 

 

 

(The above ground Metro and people cross here, you can see the lines on the ground and supply line running through overhead)

I ended up getting a Mate and I interviewed the cafe owner and people within the park- to learn about the recent covid-era project. The cafe seems overall happy with it, yet one concern was maintenance of the space. The maintenance is basically done by local volunteers. In the states there are also these mediums between the road and sidewalk that the city owns but residents take care of.. Maybe the states could develop more of a story and pride about these valuable little strips of earth. I think I’m trying to do this at home by wilding a tiny little spot along the road, a spot for bees and hummingbirds. The wilding of these spaces has caught my eye.

 

A sense of how Amsterdam takes on modernization within a historic preservation framework.

 

There is now underground parking on the north and south side of Amsterdam Centraal. (Note the lights and indicators to inform which racks are full green/red)

Tot ziens