The New Structural Vision by Koos van Zanen k.van.zanen@dro.amsterdam.nl
A spatial response to social issues 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 credibility. The Amsterdam Structural Vision must seduce and convince with a coherent narrative, a story in which the social benefit of spatial interventions is explained and justified in terms that are as clear as crystal. 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
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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.
The city-dweller and the everyday environment are key In the lead-up to the Structural Vision, the arguments for the spatial ambitions were laid down in two