In The Era of Neoliberalism
Re-branding Amsterdam Yi-yi Yang
Studio UA Amsterdam
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Circles of Hell
World Heritage
Business
Have you noticed that Amsterdam’s concentric canals resemble the circles of hell? The middle-class hell, of course, peopled with bad dreams. When one comes from the outside, as one gradually goes through those circles, life — and hence its crimes — becomes denser, darker. Here, we are in the last circle.
It is a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering, town planning, and a rational programme of construction and bourgeois architecture. It is a unique and innovative, large-scale but homogeneous urban ensemble.
8.8 million overnight stays, 4.2 million visitors / year, 10% of Amsterdam ‘s jobs are tourism-related.
Albert Camus, 1955
UNESCO World Heritage List
The Center The center of Amsterdam is a city that bases its reputation on various controversories. It is the paradise for tourists. It lives the medieval dreams of European citizens. It is the archetype of Manhatten despite its low density. Nevertheless, the center manages to claim that a city can still maintain urban quality with this relatively low density (in the modern sense,) which adds to its thousands of controversories. In the era of neoliberalism, the city distinguishes itself by carefully preserving its city center and providing a seemingly highly liberal atmosphere in the city. Is it an exceptional example in the real world or does it follow a specific logic that helps to maintain its uniqueness? My thesis departs from my curiosity and this later helps me to develop my own interpretation of the current development in the city center.
source: O+S, CBS, ATCB, CVO
Urban Study History of Decentralization
[ ] De-fortification
[ ] Fordist Industrialization
[ ] Welfare State
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Post-Fordist Industrialization (Neoliberalization)
Timeline The word time-line somehow implies that the history unfolds in a lineal way. However, the intention and ambition of making this timeline is to narrate the history of the development of Amsterdam through reading the history beyond the conventional lineal interpretation of the history. We see a lot of ups and downs, as well as the self-repitition. In fact, the line of the time is the only thing that still maintains its lineality even though it has also been folded and unfolded dependent on the perspective and position one takes. In addition, the multilayers that compose the history also deny the linuality of the history. The history was and will always be complex since in essence, it requires no summary but reading. In order to read the complexity of its history, the studio introduces ‘network’, ‘morphology’, ‘space’ and ‘socio-typology’ as filters to observe the development of the city layer by layer. In addition to this, the other four filters — “immigration”, “history context”, “ labour” and “mode of production” are introduced as further institution to dive deep into the social/ political aspect.
Architectural Thinking Tolerance and the history of the city
... The tolerance that is manifest in the city does not generate from sympathy, benevolence or any sentiment alike. What we can find behind is indeed the intelligence that stems from the shrewd calculation of risk and profits, from bitter lessons learnt from the reality. The accumulation of this intelligence may start as early as when the first bridge over the Amstel was built, to exempt the two guys taxes for crossing the river, benefited from its mercantile exploration in the Golden Age and social conflicts in its welfare-state days. Following this line of thinking, similar examples of productive tolerance could also be found -- the practice of regulated tolerance in the Red-light District or behind the promoted cultural event of Gay Pride. The experience cannot be duplicated but learned. At the moment, the tolerance of the city is under serious challenge. We should not confine ourselves to the stereotype thinking of moral standard, neither the clichĂŠ of tradition. Be smart, think Dutch.
Yiyi Yang, “The Last Fortification: The tolerance of Amsterdam and its intelligence�, 15-16
Creating conditions to accomodate coexistence By seeking the margins where the confrontation between two groups happen, employing architecture as institution to simulate or to encourage
Encountering Coexistence and Exclusion CONFLICTS
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PROBLEMATIC GROUPS
PLACES & FACILITIES Private housing Social housing Hotels Hostels
Exclusive Toursim
Global-local Conflict
Sex/Drug Toursim Low-income Locals
Income Conflict Conservative Religious Marginality Conflict
3 conflicts
Expatriates Homosexual Group
Cinema / concert Concerts Library Galleries/boutiques Museum Sports facility Exclusive shopping streets Supermarkets Souvenir shops Specialist shops Open marketplace Exclusive restaurants Restaurants Fast food / cheap restaurants Universities / educational academies Primary and secondary schools Religious buildings
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Centrum
Clubs / bars Parks Canal boat Festivals
Low-income1 local day
Coffeeshops Prostitution
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low-income locals night
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global tourism day
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meeting of two transportation axes, most attractive public functions, diversed programs in alley way environment
flow
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Nieuwmarkt as local attractor and connect directly to teh city flow.
bars social housing open markt
hostels exclusive shopping galleries bars casino, cinemas budget shopping coffeeshops
Program
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global tourism night
Adjacent to city flow Mainly Local flow structured by the orientation of the canals, intersected with paralelled alleyways, the fringe where morphological
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budget hostels galleries bars budget shopping coffeeshops social housing
hostels exclusive shopping religious buildings bars casino, cinemas budget shopping coffeeshops brothels museums social housing
Adjacent to city flow Mainly Local flow budget hostels bars coffeeshops social housing
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Creating conditions to accomodate coexistence By seeking the margins where the confrontation between two groups happen, employing architecture as institution to simulate or to encourage
1. Low income groups are defined as following: 1.090€/yr for singles, 1.540 €/yr for 2 or more people. Source: Koos van den Berg, Jeroen van der Veer and Dick Schuiling, “The Amsterdam Housing Market and the Role of Housing Association.”
Statistics Excluded locals
Social and Political. Discriminitive exclusion
Born here and live in outskirts.
Land Value.
One in three are foreigners.
Empty houses during the crisis.
Ban of squatting.
Highly attractive.
source: http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/themas/bevolking/publicaties/artikelen/archief/2007/2007-2305-wm.htm
Current and future scenario. Merchandised center
Future Scenario: Permeating Commercialization
Linear development through the centrifugal streets/alleyways
Destructive extension / expansion of tourism-orientated commerce
Duplication of current development in the future?
Urban Strategy: Prefire Management Local communities
Global tourists
Sporadical community facilities
Local communities
Global tourism
Commercializing and gentrification on local neighbourhoods, Squeezing and out-driving of local inhabitants
profit-driven commercial expansion after the tourism
Avoiding direct global / local confrontation
Strengthened nodes with public and commercial programs
tourism orientated program
localized neutralization vis-Ă -vis global penetration
Adding / redistrbuting local commerical / public programs
transition to the localorientated program
How Centrum develops Who is the beneficiary/ victim?
Low-income Locals
Nostalgic M/H Locals
The city acts in a peculiar way that makes it different from all the other cities. A well-preserved city center. Is it so different from those generic cities building skyscrapers? In the end, we find it is in fact the same way the world is operating. The society requires cities to possess icons, spectacles (according to Guy Debord,) images, to attract investment (e.g. FDI), expats, tourists. In Amsterdam center, the preservation of the historic monumental buildings functions the same way as Dubai builds its myriads of skyscrapers.
Politicians / Developers
Opposition!
Weak Function
Strong Function
Go!
Opposition...
Internalized Strong Function
Centrum A(T)Msterdam!
Office Boutique Office
Cinema Boutique
Mall
Office
Boutique Theatre
Office
Office
Office
“The Centre District of Amsterdam is home to 6,675 of the total of 7,484 national monuments in Amsterdam.� Note: images used here are not specific to the person but merely used as illustration.
Historic Amsterdam Production of Images
= low landmark
= high landmark
Ă— ?
People’s monument
city propoganda = CITY MARKETING “I amsterdam” = PRODUCT ON SALE Id: IluvAdam
Yay! I am-sterdam! 1 minute ago
Id: AmsterdamWelkomU
@IluvAdam Sorry, but not before you pay. 10 seconds ago
The entire Capitalist system is determinded by its essence to be a system that is dedicated to the pursuit of profits by means of creating “spectacular” images. However, the spectacle doesn’t apply to the living of the people. Its development is done at the cost of the loss of a certain group in the system (mostly the vulnerable group in the city, in the current situation.) Can we turn this colonial Capitalist redevelopment — the prosperity of one group based the exclusion on the other group — into a more tolerate pattern, thus allowing the creation of a new urban livelihood? Can we create images that are truely meaningful?
Bourgeois
In-fashion Innovative Intellectual Baroque Modern Business Tourist Employer Landowner Expats Cash Exclusive
“I am� has revealed partially the truth
poor conservative nostalgic discriminative repressed homeless students wage-earner protestor squatter provo here excluded
A living monument
Site Center and the Border Urban Strategy Ring of urban intervention
Relationship: project site and UNESCO world heritage presevation area
Border: morphological and contextual transition vs sociological transition
Footprint: previous periphery of the fortification and
Masterplan 1:1000 0
20
50m
Composition Horizontal and vertical
Green Roof solar houses
“I amsterdam� image presented by exterior facade Vertical Community residential highrise
Urban Plaza low-rise with public program
The Bridges typical connections over the canal
Height Co
ntrol Line
The Tunnel passage of the tram / automobiles underneath the building
Horizontal Urban plaza building block
vertical connection
gateway to residence
transportation main street
court yard (greenary) gateway to residence
transportation
building block
vertical connection celebration space
regional connection building block
vertical connection
main street
court yard (greenary)
main street
court yard (greenary)
celebration space
regional connection
celebration space
regional connection
Vertical Vertical communities
0
5
10
Typology D (2F) 116.0 / 121.5 sqm Family with kids
Typology C (2F) 75.7 / 83.3 sqm Couple / Young family
Typology A 34.4 / 41.3 sqm Young / Student
Typology D (2F) 116.0 / 121.5 sqm Family with kids
Typology C (2F) 75.7 / 83.3 sqm Couple / Young family
Typology A 34.4 / 41.3 sqm Young / Student
Typology D (3F) 116.0 / 121.5 sqm Family with kids
Typology D (1F) 116.0 / 121.5 sqm Family with kids
Typology B 75.5 / 86.4 sqm Single / Young Family
Typology D (3F) 116.0 / 121.5 sqm Family with kids
Typology D (1F) 116.0 / 121.5 sqm Family with kids
Typology B 75.5 / 86.4 sqm Single / Young Family
Typology A 34.4 / 41.3 sqm Young / Student
Typology B
75.5 / 86.4 sqm Single / Young family
Typology C 75.5 / 83.3 sqm Couple / Young family
Typology D 116.0 / 121.5 sqm Family with kids
Diversified vertical community for a diversified Amsterdam
20m
Height Cont
rol Line
0
5
10
20m