Seventeen UGoveRN members and allies gathered at Amsterdam Centraal to embark on the ferry to Buiksloterweg in Noord. The event committee had organized a tour with a total of seven stops within a 2.5-hour walk from the A’dam tower to NDSM, where we had a private lunch at the not-yet-officially open Pizzeria Pizzabakkers.
Walking tour trajectory with stops
The trajectory, approximately 2.7 km which could be walked in around 35 minutes without stops, was chosen and curated by the event committee after visiting other sites of new development in Amsterdam. We marvelled at the incredibly diverse but also perceived fragmented landscapes and projects observable within a densely packed area. The formerly industrial neighbourhood is undergoing a paradigmatic and fast-paced transition into a residential area. Strolling through the area felt as if walking through different movie sets; from tourist attractions (A’dam tower, Eye Museum), educational facilities (Lyceum, AHK), and a ‘high-rise strip’ (Hoogbowstrip) through dense property-led residential areas over to Shell’s ‘Energy Transition Campus’. Continuing on Asterweg, we passed a ‘limbo’ of industrial landscapes speckled with diverse other usages such as VR rooms, a Youth Hostel, hip improvised restaurants, a ‘new media art’ museum (Nxt), and (seemingly temporarily installed) commercial showrooms to end up in Buiksloterham, where the municipality experiments with an ‘organic’ development strategy, combining many self-build projects, ‘circular’ single family homes on water (Schoonship), with residential property investment buildings.
On Papaverweg we stopped at Van Dijk and Ko for coffee and to rummage through the large and packed former industrial halls filled with vintage furniture and home accessories to continue our tour along the somewhat dystopian view over empty land to the other Ij waterfront (e.g., Houthavens and the Pontsteiger building). Here, on Kavel 18 and 19, there used to be a waste incineration plant and two power plants, which were demolished in the 1990s. Currently, the soil is being improved by the municipality to meet legal requirements. Soon, there will be about 1’750 homes (some of them self-build), offices, business spaces and a family shelter built here. As a last stop, the area of NDSM was introduced; a protected shipyard that was occupied by squatters before being regenerated in the 2000s, a creative home to (street) art, popular restaurants, hotels, and creative spaces, whereas the West of it is redeveloped into a high-rise residential and mixed-use area.
After enjoying lunch and some catching up, the group continued to ‘Loads Co-working’, where a room was booked for a brainstorming session before ending the successful day with a drink at Noorderlicht.
UGoveRN members during the brainstorming session