City Plan for Amsterdam

In a nutshell, the dominant influence on American city planning (or lack thereof) has been the automobile. "It matters that our cities are primarily auto storage depots" observes James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape (quoted in Walljasper 2005).

While Europeans are focusing on making their central cities places for people of all walks of life to not just visit, but to live in, the dominant tendency in America is the extension of urban sprawl, the widening and constructing of more roads, and the building of housing affordable only for the upper middle class and the wealthy, and the razing of old buildings and removal of their tenants. And when urban areas are revitalized it is primarily according to the gentrification model, in which the urban poor are scooted out and existing buildings are torn down to make new office, commercial space and housing for the upper classes.

The result is a ring of suburbs surrounding decaying or gentrified central cities, with ease of access by car being one of the prime considerations in nearly every step of the planning process. "a

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ion of automobile traffic, the narrowing of streets, investment in public transportation, bike paths, and pedestrian walkways, and the construction of affordable housing, or in the case of the squatters, the legalization of formerly ad hoc housing in deserted buildings. The key difference seems to be the political activism of the progressive forces in Amsterdam. In American cities the power players generally get their way, whether it's putting a freeway through the central city, constructing a sports stadium, or a building a mall or Walmart super-store. While there is often protest, it usually comes from conservationists from the same elite as the politicians, who are more concerned with preserving historic buildings than they are with what uses they will be put to -- or from radicals who lack popular support or a power base. So one of the real determinants of urban planning is political power, or put another way, how much democracy there is in a given place. By the 1980s the progressive forces in Amsterdam had managed to create a consensus on social policy that promoted neighborhood councils, the construction of affordable housing, tolerance for drugs, a legalized sex industry, and the legal recognition of gay couples. Th
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Man-Made Landscape, Public Amsterdam's, Dutch Industrialization, Europe Dutch, Amsterdam American, Jerde Partnership, Dam Square, Amsterdam Netherlands, Kelzersgracht Herengracht, Project ID, city planning, inner city, urban renewal, urban planning, city planning amsterdam, affordable housing, amsterdamse poort, europe dutch, bike paths, upper classes, business wire, progressive forces amsterdam, construction affordable housing,
Approximate Word count = 1694
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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