Kansen voor kleinschalige bedrijvigheid in Amsterdam

UrbanismArchitectur

Redefining the border between public and private in ambiguous modernist areas: The case of Amsterdam Nieuw West

Modernist areas represent the ambivalent idea to live in a green city, which can provide light and air of open landscapes, and on the same time host facilities of an urban environment. Modernist areas as the Western Garden Cities in Amsterdam are also ambiguous spaces, their form shaped mainly by flowing open space. The ambiguity of space is related to its organisation, if the territorial order is missing, urban space tends to become non-legible. Recent fieldwork in Amsterdam showed that more businesses than assumed are located in this large area, which was planned and is generally still thought of as widely separated in functions. The infiltration with new businesses took also place at locations that were not used by businesses before. The changing use of built material changes partially also the territorial depth. Businesses can currently be found in four different types of territorial depth regarding the distance from the public street to the individual user unit, creating sometimes even more overlap between public and private. The ambiguity of the large open green spaces is affected only little by the higher activation of the area.UrbanismArchitectur

Tracing Scopes of Action: Design Principles to Approach the Complexity of the Urban Block: Along Case Studies in [Paris]

EMU European Postgraduate Masters in UrbanismUrbanismArchitectur

Investigating functional mix in Europe's dispersed urban areas

A large proportion of European inhabitants live in dispersed urban settlements, much of which is labelled as sprawl, defined by monofunctional, low-density areas. However, there is increasing evidence that this may be an overly simplistic way of describing territories-in-between (TiB). This paper defines and maps functional mix in six dispersed urban areas across Europe, applying a method that goes beyond existing land-use-based mixed-use indicators but considers functional mixing on the parcel level. The paper uses data on the location of economic activities and the residential population. It concludes that, in eight cases from four European countries, mixed-use is widespread and that more than 65% of inhabited areas are mixed. Moreover, the paper relates functional mixing to specific settlement characteristics: permeability, grain size, centrality and accessibility, and connectivity. This demonstrates that functional mixing is not the result of local urban morphology or planning instruments, but of the multi-scalar qualities of a location. Therefore, there is a requirement to coordinate planning and design through different scales if mixed-use areas are to be seen as one strategy for achieving greater sustainability in the spatial development of dispersed areas.Environmental Technology and DesignUrban Desig

Spatial-structural qualities of mixed-use main streets: two case studies from the Amsterdam metropolitan

Streets are where the needs and values of different users and activities come together. Main streets in the Netherlands were either planned in major urban expansions or developed over time in the shape of ribbons upon dykes—‘long lines’ of continuously active streets. This chapter presents two cases from the Amsterdam metropolitan region: vanWoustraat-Rijnstraat, a main street planned as part of an urban expansion, and Westzijde, a main street that developed over time as part of a long line. While vanWoustraat-Rijnstraat is tightly organised and coherent in both appearance and function, Westzijde is characterised by a multitude of different buildings and functions.This study visualises the spatial-structural qualities that facilitate the evolving economic activities of these two streets. It explores the variation between them by morphological differentiation and determines several spatial characteristics that enable the mix: modularity of the urban plan, complementary ‘front’ and ‘back’ sides, structural coherence and territorial steps between the ‘front’ and ‘back’ sides to buildings, blocks and neighbourhoods.Urban Desig

Introduction to Everyday Streets

Everyday streets are both the most used and the most undervalued of cities’ public spaces. They constitute the inclusive backbone of urban life – the chief civic amenity – though they are challenged by optimisation processes. Everyday streets are as profuse, rich and complex as the people who use them; they are places of social aggregation, bringing together those belonging to different classes, genders, ages, ethnicities and nationalities. They comprise not just the familiar outdoor spaces that we use to move and interact and the facades that are commonly viewed as their primary component but also urban blocks, interiors, depths...Urban Desig

The form and use of everyday streets

Everyday streets facilitate various activities and movements, both indoors and outdoors. The second section of this book addresses the following question: What is the relationship between the urban form of everyday streets and the activities that occur on them?Urban Desig

Rotterdam The Hague, NL

The Cities of Making 'Cities Report', offers an insight into urban manufacturing in three global cities - Brussels, London and Rotterdam. Each city has had a distinctive industrial heritage and is interpreting the future of manufacturing in very different ways. This report exposes unique qualities of each and common trends that may be relevant to many other European cities who are grappling with the future place of making. This chapter looks at the region comprising Rotterdam and The Hague, a richly productive landscape characterised by a vast port, intensive greenhouse based agriculture and urban areas. The recent economic and urban development of this region has resulted in a spatial configuration with unique characteristics, strongly interwoven with each other. Firstly, demand for space has led to the transformation of the region, which has been sculpted, made fit for specific purpose, with barely inches of unproductive land. Secondly, modernist principles introduced new functional zones with segregated areas specialising in mechanical manufacturing, chemical processing, logistics, to housing and leisure, resulting in a particular composition of building and urban areas. Thirdly, as a consequence of ongoing planning and adaptation of this productive environment, socio-economic stratification with a strong spatial manifestation continues to be noticed to this day. The region hosts a vast range of manufacturing. Many of these have emerged from the port and access to goods, resources and an international market such as chemical processing and machine production. Newer forms of manufacturing are spinning out of centres of innovation such as bio-technology and sensors and are showing that the city’s productive base is moving further and further away from the port. As the port itself changes and becomes increasingly automated, it leaves behind vast areas of land. While projected housing demand is putting pressure on the available vacant port areas, there are movements towards districts with new forms of production. Challenged by climate change and international competition, ambitions have been set for a radical transition towards a new economic models such as the Next Economy. The stakes are high for both private and public actors to focus on building out clean energy, resilient high-tech solutions, and radical innovation. However a range of visions and the strategic sectors have resulted in confusion about what should be stimulated and what the city’s new economic profile, regardless of what actually lands on the ground. In the absence of clarity and a holistic approach, the pressure mounts. Providing the desirable Next Economy workforce – those with higher incomes, education, and demands – with suitable housing and attractive urban environments puts in question the region’s economic, social and environmental stability.OLD Urban Composition

Urban Manufacturing for Circularity: Three Pathways to Move from Linear to Circular Cities

Urban manufacturing and manufacturers play a vital role in delivering circular economy ambitions through processing materials, providing skills and technology for repair or reconditioning goods and the capacity to deliver innovative technology. The transdisciplinary approach of Cities of Making (CoM) puts forward three ways of addressing manufacturing, and by extension, circularity, within urban areas. Central to triangulate the facilitation of urban manufacturing are the perspectives of (1) material flows and technology, (2) spatial design (3) people and networks. The integration of the three pathways requires convergence while retaining the richness of the three perspectives. The challenge is to find a common language that provides a comparable, operative framework for exploring possible solutions. The CoM framework of integration followed three main principles: (1) reducing the complexity of information, (2) reducing the complexity of combinations of possible solutions, and (3), applying an accessible, applicable instrument for the solutions. The resulting pattern language is co-created in a transdisciplinary setting and is also an instrument for the transdisciplinary application. The low threshold accessible system of solutions allows actors from different disciplines to access patterns developed in the context of another discipline and laypeople who are affected or interested to co-create.Urban Desig

Education for the resilient city – teaching and learning urban design and planning in COVID-19 times

This article describes the TU Delft's 2020 experiences during the pandemic in teaching and learning urban design and planning for (post-)COVID-19 times. The article presents the view why, that and how the themes of spatial resilienceand governance resilience should be emphasized in urbanism curriculums. Additionally, it discusses the value of creating well-organized and empathetic online design studios as an inspiring learning environment for both studentand teacher.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Spatial Planning and StrategyUrban DesignEnvironmental Technology and Desig