Amsterdam 2040

1 A bridge leading to ‘De Kas’restaurant in Park Frankendael,with the high-rise cluster nearthe Amstel Station in the background.Photo: Edwin van Eis‘Breadth of support makes or breaks astructural vision; if it were a paper tigerit would soon disappear into a bottomdrawer, and that is hardly the intention.’1documents: a ‘Memorandum of Starting Points’(Vertrekpuntennotitie) and ‘The Pillars’ (De Pijlers).The Structural Vision’s subtitle and motto – ‘Amsterdam:Economically strong and sustainable’ – is thebriefest possible encapsulation of these documents.By focusing on the economy and sustainability,Amsterdam can continue developing into an attractivemetropolis where people will also be able to reside,work and spend leisure time comfortably in 2040.The city-dwellers and their everyday environmenttherefore take centre stage in the Structural Vision.Decline and growthAfter a long period of suburbanization which beganin the late 1980s, cities around the world have onceagain become popular and have been growing again.The countryside, by contrast, is faced with shrinkingpopulations. By and large, the further away from thecity, the more marked the decline. The countrysideof the former East Germany is emptying rapidly, whileBerlin is growing. In the Netherlands there is alreadya considerable decline in the country’s periphery,for example in Zeeland, South Limburg and EastGroningen, while Amsterdam is growing.It is hardly, for that matter, as if every city can boastthat it is growing. Besides the dividing line betweencity and countryside there is another division runningbetween cities ‘that count’ and those that have fallenout of favour. Amsterdam can count itself amongthe former category. The spatial development of theAmsterdam Metropolitan Area is to a large extentdetermined by this phenomenon of growth andcontraction and by the increasingly knowledge-driveneconomy that underpins this. Amsterdam is expectingan additional 100,000 to 150,000 inhabitants betweennow and 2040.>01 | 201105