The Public Realm in Amsterdam, NL

After spending two weeks in the Netherlands, I’ve had my fair share of interaction with the city streets. Here in Amsterdam, you spend a majority of your time walking/biking/tramming through the historical streets and canals. I’ve noticed four basic types of place that one runs into in the inner-city. These are: Street, Alley, Square, and Canal. Its interesting that each of the four share the same kind of building face: the classic Dutch townhouse, with all of the building right up against the sidewalk. This does not follow some of the modern practices to create varied and inviting openness of the first floor of commercial areas, or the porches and yards of residential, or the small green space dividers that are so common in today’s architecture.

Is this the right way?

The coherence of Amsterdam is commendable, but also (talking from experience) can lead one to get very lost without landmarks. A person biking, or walking can see as far down as the street goes because of this universal building style. I feel like this style discourages people from enjoying the beautiful street space, forcing people outside. The only exception to this is within the residential areas along the canals. People will often sit on their stoops, the micro-sidewalks, or in the unused space along the canal and enjoy the unique beauty.

Because of the lack of public space in the streets, alleys, and canals one is encouraged to keep moving until he or she hits one of the squares (pleinen in Dutch). This seems great for tourism, but not a comfortable or pleasant experience.