Student No. 5490375
R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
CONTENTS Folded Narratives
01 Polaroid
3.
02 Chrysalis
4.
03 Senses & Memory
5.
04 Surfaces
6.
05 Texture of History
7.
06 Flow of Form
8.
07 Urban Rhythms
9.
08 Space Syntax
10.
09 Voids
11.
10 Parallels
12.
11 Opportunity
13.
12 Ribbons
14.
Reading the City
How to Read the Folded City?
2.
Notations| Future Transformations
15.
Reflection
16.
References
17.
Student number:
5490375
City Documented:
Aalsmeer
Supervisor:
Prof. Marco Lub
R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
Aalsmeer - Uithoorn Aalsmeer and Uithoorn are two cities situated next to each other in North-Holland. The name Aalsmeer refers to the word “Alsmar” which means “Palingmeer” or “Eel lake”. For both the cities, ‘Peat Extraction’ has played a big role in defining the current urban form. Aalsmeer is a water-rich municipality. One third of Aalsmeer’s territory consists of blue networks. The Westeinderplassen is one of the largest water body sharing a direct interface with the city. In the 12th century, Aalsmeer comprised an area that had barely been reclaimed. The moors, east of the lakes, were still a wilderness of low alder and willow forests. In the 13th century, mining expanded rapidly. The Oosteinderpoel, Schinkelpoel, Stommeer, Hornmeer, Legmeer and the Westeinderplassen were created. Due to lack of land, the people had to switch to fishing or intensively work the remaining land.
Aalsmeer and Uithoorn are benefitted by being situated beside the Schiphol Airport which presents a complex base of infrastructure landscape at their disposal. However, the patterns claimed by this landscape present concerns for growth and integration of the two cities. In Aaslmeer, the economy still mainly drives on the flower cultivation. With the onset of a post-pandemic evolution of cities, the relation of space and the existing economy of the city is bound to change in the near future. Hence, it is essential to take into account a layered understanding of the intricate systems the city offers in order to imagine its sustainable future. The compact and ‘Folded’ nature of Aalsmeer poses a few concerns for research regarding activity and economic threads it shares with Uithoorn. This tense membrane lies at the center of approach to unfold the cities.
AREA OF STUDY: Municipality of Aalsmeer & Uithoorn PROVINCE: North Holland AREA: Municipality: 51,71 km2 POPULATION: Municipality: 62.191 Density: 1.625 inw/km2 THE ‘FLOWER’ CAPITAL
Aalsmeer City Portrait: https://youtu.be/eMd_Hc5dMY4
01
CITY MATERIAL
To view the Folded City simulation: https://youtu.be/xKMPKNgda0k
How to ‘Read’ the Folded City? LAYER: MATERIALITY AND STRAIN The primary concept of the atlas takes inspiration from the ‘Analogue City’ imagined by Aldo Rossi. It is an attempt to read Aalsmeer as a distorted composition of layers depicting physical, economic and socio-spatial scenarios. The format breaks down the city into its constituent elements, runnning four parallel forms of narratives namely Narration, Abstraction, Scale and Information. Each page describes these categories in form of quadrants which can be folded on top of each other to form aspect-based compositions. However, the atlas allows the reader to cut each page into its quadrants. They can further be used as pieces of game enabling random arrangement to reveal different permutations of ‘Image of the City’.
CITY STRAIN
The flow of the atlas gradually scales down from ‘Global to Local’ as opposed to ‘Elements and Networks’. The maximum number of times a paper can be folded is recorded to be 12, hence, 12 separate pages have been prepared for viewing and analysing Aalsmeer. To draw wider range of conclusions, the city atlas is made interactive to 4 user professions. As an Urbanist, one needs to converge images from all these categories in order to capture a conclusive essence of the city, to form a way forward.
02
R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
1
Polaroid
The initial impressions about the city were drawn primarily from secondary information which associated Aalsmeer with keywords like ‘layered’, ‘Reclaimed’ and ‘Flower Capital’. The expectations were to witness an urban ‘Man-ufactured’ realm infused with anthropogenic activites to great depth and complexity. Secondary research presented a range of challenges for the municipality in varying aspects like urban landscape, future economy and housing crisis. Among these challenges, a sinking city with a delicate terrain directed towards the image of a tightly-held membrane, endagered from natural assets. Water forms the primary element for the city’s imageability held up by dynamically evolving climate scenarios of The Netherlands. The approach to study the city was inspired by Vigano’s work on reading city in the form of fragments in isolation and integration. Located in the Randstad region which houses the cultural and economic Dutch Capitals, Aalsmeer lies in close vicinity to the largest flower bulb cultivation in the country in the province of North Holland. This proximity forms strong prospects of logistics and flower-based economic activities placing the city under a global perspective. This raises questions towards the sustenance of the Aalsmeer’s local character, serving as a satellite to the city of Amsterdam. The key structure of city is based around its historic transformation into an intricate infrastructure landscape influenced by Schiphol International Airport bringing in possibilities for freight transport and hospitality sector as anchors occupying the city periphery.
1.a
1.b
Where is Aalsmeer?
LAND RECLAMATION
FLOWER CAPITAL
SCHIPHOL AIRPORT
Situated in the Haarlemermeer Polder, the city’s growth was a part of urbanization by colonies whose wealthy merchants regarded poldering project as an attractive investment. The polder structure and parcellations define dimensions for urban development.
Flower cultivation started at the end of the nineteenth century with the cultivation of roses, then already in greenhouses. The current flower auction arose from a merger of two smaller auctions and has put Aalsmeer on the map worldwide as a flower municipality.
The airport has influenced the major changes in Land use on the Northern end of the city inviting global brands and supplementary services to lay anchors around Aalsmeer, composing an infrastructure landscape resembling an electric circuit.
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1.d
R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
2
Chrysalis
Aalsmeer at first glance presents itself as a tight-knit city for escape. It hints a walled character where the local is unaware of the global on the periphery. However, this is only true when all the identified elements are merely placed on a plane without arrangement. Secondary sources influence the user to expect heaps of flowers while only concrete megastructures are in sight once one sets foot inside Aalsmeer. The local seems disjoint and folded within itself where different characters don’t seem to share any common interface through markets or centrality. On the basis of geographic positioning, Aalsmeer seems to be laced with harsh logistical borders on the periphery generating a noticeable contrast between array of big warehouses and the ‘picturesque’ Dutch housing strips with small houses and boats. The noise and busy traffic around the periphery takes away from the impression of Aalsmeer being a city for escape from Amsterdam, potentially laying negative impacts on the historic linear housing on the Northern boundary. The initial connection with Uithoorn is commercial in nature, with major thoroughfare separating the cities with bands of freight trucks and car traffic. Given the locational advantage of the two cities, it is essential to question the nature of the global commerce, its linkages with local economy, and its impact on utilization of space within and around the cities. The macro-relations help to picture this scenario with the city as an element of a larger economic circuit.
2.a
2.b
Aalsmeer: Locational Advantage
GREENHOUSES
FREIGHT TRANSPORT
TRADESPACE
Although flower-bulb production doesn’t take place within the two cities, vast stretches of greenhouses define the agricultural aspects of the urban landscape. These act as temporary assets which can be spatially bargained with to suit future economic growth.
The North-eastern quadrant of Aalsmeer is laid out with concentrated infrastructure circuit to support freight logistics catering to flower transportation as well as other global warehousing brands. The flux created by this concentration forms a harsh barrier.
The Flower-based economy of Aalsmeer and Uithoorn is majorly dependent upon trade and wholesale, maintained by a cooperative of flower producers functioning across Harlem, Lisse and Uithoorn, placing Aalsmeer at the center of these linkages.
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
3
Senses & Memory
On the day of site documentation, a quick bicycle-ride in the city introduced us to the essence of Aalsmeer in terms of colour, sounds , textures and sense of expression. Several images were in contrast to the expectations one would gather from the city on the basis of secondary information. What would seem absurd to the naked eye visiting the city for the first time, might be a part of a system of priorities evolved over decades. The ecological landscape being composed of ‘lint dorp’ from peat excavation and abundance of green strips, showed social coherence with natural elements present within the city. The square at the city center was claimed by vehicular parking, while markets with local shops were located along dead-end lanes resembling walkable high-streets. The residential establishments of Aalsmeer seem disjoint with starkly different characters in close proximities and lack of social nodes. Travelling along linear neighborhoods revealed the green strips acting as encasing for locals from the noise and visual incoherence from Schiphol. The peripheral infrastructure landscape of both Aalsmeer and Uithoorn is lined with temporary and large-scale assets like warehouses and greenhouses. In summary, it is a complex task to picture a unique singular entity representing the image of the city. Hence, breaking it down in elements enables the visitor to develop his/her own language to translate the city into a layered compact system.
3.a
3.b
City Imageability The ring canal accompanied with green buffers separate Schiphol and Aalsmeer, acting as sound cushion from noise generated from incoming air-traffic. The transition of colours heading into the city changes from achromatic to vibrant.
START
FINISH
SOUND PROFILE
COLOUR PROFILE
The sound samples from around the city hint towards ongoing transformation of space in city center, with new construction projects.
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
4
Surfaces
To picture the city as an ecosystem, it is essential to place and arrange the elements of its urban landscape as a part of network and parallels. It is possible to describe the major materials and textures gathered from GIS and memory mapping, to understand the city’s composition. The relation of surfaces of built and unbuilt with its natural landscape present a delicate layer of Aalsmeer held by ridges and bucket. The ring canal and westeinderplassen are remainders of a much larger man-made landscape potentially at risk by urbanization and change in land-use. While the local context of Aalsmeer is threaded with complex and small-scale surfaces inviting activity, the peripheral built-surfaces are large-scale barriers to natural flows of terrain. The sinking landscape is in need of immediate interventions to sustain the incoming growth. The textures of Aalsmeer are also enhanced by the geometric parcellations and ribbon developments. The difference between surfaces located at residential, commercial and public interfaces is evident in terms of scale and frequency, distinguishing spatial essence. These textures play an important role in generating vibrance and activity. New construction projects and revitalization of the waterfront should be done in sync with these visual instigators. Hence, the municipality rests with an opportunity to strategise the just use of these surfaces and activate and complexify nature of interactions between space and citizens.
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4.b
Urban Landscape
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
5
Texture of History
Adding ‘time’ to the exsiting three dimensions of the city answers the rationales of ‘Why is the city here?’ From polder parcellations to corridors of large-scale freight logistics, Aalsmeer’s form describes visible geometric orientation and arrangement of physical buit-up as well as socio-political patterns. As a consequence to peat extraction, farm lands dissapeared and inhabitants of Aalsmeer turned to fishing instead. During the 17th century the peat lakes that were caused by the excavations were ground dry. During the 19th century more lakes became land, which reduced the possibilities for fishing in the area. Uithoorn started developing some (chemical) industry. In Aalsmeer people turned to strawberry cultivation instead. As a consequence Aalsmeer became an important spill in the auction industry of the Netherlands. Around 1880 the flower cultivation started as the moor ground was well suited for this. Over time the flower auction moved to Aalsmeer as the production was here. Next to that, the new airport ‘Shiphol’ was nearby, which made it a good location. These patterns of historic events form a skeletal base for city’s current shape and structure. Mapping these historic trails in combination current dynamic trails of the city such as noise profile, green buffers and permeability, establishes a storyboard for Aalsmeer-Uithoorn.
5.a
5.b
Evolution of Form Historic trails reveal the city being developed around grids with an evident pattern of important uses around prominent junctions. When seen in sync with time-based expansion, city’s storyline seems ordered, linear and influenced by polder development
5.c
The neighborhood clusters transformed from linear to communal from 1960s, from which point the the direction of growth becomes evident i.e. towards Uithoorn and Kudelstraat. Aalsmeer, hence formed the connective tissue of surrounding urban patches.
The dynamic trails of activity and permeability show the flow of openness and potential movement in Aalsmeer. It highlights bottle-necks where movement pressure remains high and hence shall act as future growth nodes towards Uithoorn.
5.d
R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
6
Flow of Form
Subjected to the historic events associated with the change in economic activities around Aalsmeer-Uithoorn, the scale and nature of neighborhoods also underwent visible modifications in terms orientation and area of shared public spaces. The older neighborhoods were linear with dead-ends, letting through passing traffic without any space for haulting, where the houses opened to the main street instead of each other. On the other hand, newer neiighborhoods during 1960s took the shape of communal clusters with rise in building-height to G+1, G+2. These new clusters had larger patches of green public spaces dedicated to shared use. The change in width and nature of streets, in combination to the degree of shared spaces also defined the level of privacy demanded by residents of each era of housing expansion. Aalsmeer’s city center is an interesting example of how shared spaces and nature of residents living around that can also cause contrasting use of built environment. The old city center is place in the middle of the rich linear neighborhoods and hence, even with the provision of a square, the space is claimed for parking while the residents prefer to walk and interact in streets. The centers in new neighborhoods however seem to be in sync with the locals residing in them, with the shared spaces being utilized to their optimum capacities.
6.a
6.b
Neighborhood Typologies The city center of Aalsmeer constitutes a square used primarily for parking and three linear pedestrianized streets for local shops and businesses. Uithoorn’s city center on the other hand is described with a hierarchy of open spaces which are relatively inviting.
Linear neighborhoods established in mid-1800s are composed low density of shared public space where activities are ‘flowing’ in nature. They were built in the direction and close vicinity to haarlemermeer dyke along which primary roads were located in those times.
Newer neighborhoods built in the 1960s and 2000s depict a stronger sense of community and shared resources with inwards directed houses, divided spaces for individual utilities and a visible street hierarchy to delineate public and semipublic areas.
Aalsmeer City Center
Linear Neighborhoods
New Neighborhoods (1960s)
Uithoorn Neighborhood (1960s)
Neighborhood (1980s)
Neighborhood (2000s)
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
7
Urban Rhythm
The Dichotomy of networks and priorities generates a dialogue about the perceived segregation of city’s interfaces and sectors in terms of their prioritization. Ecology, Logistics grid, Schiphol, Varying Localities, flowers and Natural Green and Blue. All share different structures of nodes and network strings connecting each other, but at the base of it all, Aalsmeer sums its linear form intro streams of strips tightly holding the membrane of the city intact with a hierarchy of spatial control shared by respective elements. The breaks and kinks in the transitional harmony present constraints as one heads into Aalsmeer. The city resembles a setup of a Greek diorama where composition and balance governs the future of the city, depicting a time-based equity in which Aalsmeer appears to be a compact block. However, even small bottlenecks can prove to be huge attracting beacons for opportunity and capacity-building. This perspective helps to visualize the spatial and political open structure of Aalsmeer, mapping the physical permeability of the city and its division into local fragments (neighborhoods and public spaces) where different configurations of movements have evolved over time as a subject to the changing urban form. The hierarchy of spatial enclosures, once placed on a timeline reflects the change in nature of social interactions between and within neighborhoods, their alternating scales of public and semi-public areas, and the extent of walkability.
7.a
7.b
Permeability: Open vs Closed Access to open spaces in these neighborhoods follow a system and hierarchy with a relatively smoother transtion from public to private. The open spaces for movement follow a closed network, hinting a semi-public nature, demarcating the community.
Communal spaces are available in form of built-complexes instead of green open spaces, located on the peripheri of the localities beside major thoroughfare, distancing leisure activities form residences and hence making the neighborhoods less active.
AALSMEER CITY CENTER
NEW NEIGHBORHOOD
PERIPHERAL NEIGHBORHOOD
MOVEMENT
ENCLOSURE
Flow of spaces in the city center is hindered by deadends in the streets which limit movement into the depths of city blocks. Communal spaces are available further inwards into the localities marking the nature of privacy of public spaces in rich neighborhoods.
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
8
Space Syntax
Cities are made of scenes. Those scenes have a syntax. The intercity movement patterns try to decode this syntax by observing what are the interdependencies, invisible forces and unwritten laws that determine why people move, congregate, pause, and adopt the behaviors and positions they do Aalsmeer environment. People of different cultures conduct different lives in the same urban form. Shopping, dining, walking dogs in park or waiting for traffic lights. These observations are confirmations of one’s own urban instincts, finding oneself unconsciously crossing a street. The nature of interactions of users and street helps to understand the alternation of voids and active interfaces on a human scale. The study included recording patterns around social nodes like the city center, its street-use, human traffic with respect to time, visibility and vantage in converging public spaces. The portrait highlights rhythm and voids in the city based on the Urbanist’s perspective. This is done by mapping the active green and blue patches within Aalsmeer, leaving voids for expansion as remainders. The movement enabled by space syntax helps delineate the degree of growth Aalsmeer can have, solely between ‘the vehicle’ and ‘the pedestrian’ by subtracting these opposite entropies. This approach imagines the city as a composition of energies balancing the neutral built-form of the city.
8.a
8.b
Intercity Movement Patterns The new neighborhoods of Aalsmeer discourage through-traffic, channelling it along periphery to make spaces within the community walkable, guarded and safe. Pedestrian movement is guided by streets leading to small open spaces for halting.
The space syntax of Uithoorn’s localities show presence of high density residential developments with low concentration of market spaces to supplement the neighborhoods. Movement pattern depict a slow-paced city connected to Aalsmeer only through highways.
AALSMEER CITY CENTER
AALSMEER NEIGHBORHOOD
UITHOORN NEIGHBORHOOD
PEDESTRIAN
VEHICULAR
The city center linear vehicular movement from northeast leading due south while the pedestrain movement forms dense networks. The high street market shows several stretches of street neglected and transformed into back alleys due to lack of shops in depths of street.
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
9
Voids
Places of concentration depend on places of emptiness. It is therefore up to the Urbanist to instigate this process. In order that gatherings of people can develop, concentration points must be deliberately created to establish the public life that is lacking in many place in Aalsmeer. To this end, existing intersections of urban life must be analysed and fortified. Yet, it is impossible to conceive a homogenous archipelago of neatly lined-up spaces, empty of humans i.e. ‘Voids’. Places of concentration always presuppose places of emptiness. The portrait hence, conceptualizes the use of void segregating the existing three major social nodes between Aalsmeer and Uithoorn, i.e. Aalsmeer city center, its new cluster housing and Uithoorn city center. This void can be subdivided into a network of alternating concentration and empty nodes, to form branches which connect the separated nodes. Mapping the natural assets helps locate these empty spaces between the two cities where there exists potential to generate new active surfaces and vantage points for visual connection to reinforce local engagement.
9.a
9.b
Natural Assets and Voids
Street vs City
Places of congregation and invitation into the block establish a parallel between the street and the city which brings the question: Can spatial crossroads be created by alternation of voids for the city of Aalsmeer and Uithoorn to relocate opportunity?
Street Corners
Street corners near the city center act as nodes with shops inviting pedestrians into the street. Presence of geological and constructed walls disconnects this center from the residential communities, leaving it with low occupancy and limited range of uses.
A’ A
Hindered Visual Access
A
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A’
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
10
Parallels
While the previous conventions for Aalsmeer were based on metaphors to identify elements and identity, this section is attempted at learning the interaction and interfaces of different sectors influencing the structure of the city. In contrast to previous portraits, the perceived segregation within the city is converted to parallels in terms of prioritization. Natural and Human layers share different structures of nodes and network, strings connecting each other. But at the base of it all, Aalsmeer sums its linear form intro streams of strips tightly holding the membrane of the city intact with a hierarchy of spatial control shared by respective elements. These parallels share intangible tensions generating competitions between typologies of economy to lead the identity and growth of the city. Currently, this competition exists between flower auction and Schiphol Airport. Both on the either ends of the city carry different narratives of potential growth for Aalsmeer. While one takes into account a meso-scale urban integration, the other gathers weight by the extent of permanent transport infrastructure it supports. The void in the center of the city holds the key to the new local nature of Aalsmeer. The Urbanist needs to weight the existing parallels judiciously in order to select a narrative for the void and create a timeline/ chain of parameters influencing the long-term impacts of each one.
10.a
10.b
Flow of Infrastructure Landscape Schiphol forms the foundation of transportation infrastructure in the region and its locational advantage is essential for economic sustainability of both the cities. Hence, spaces around the airport can be better configured to suit future logistics movement.
The Flower Auction is a major economic asset to both the municipalities of Uithoorn and Aalsmeer. Reorganizing its space with the onset of digital economy risks giving away control of the driving agent of urbanization and employment powerhouse of the region.
The rising pressure on urbanization due to the housing crisis in netherlands directs imperative need to claim the remaining invasive spaces utilized to supplement Schiphol within the city, and be reconfigured to welcome new residential developments.
SCHIPHOL LOGISTICS
FLOWER TRADE SPACE
INVASIVE SPACE (SCHIPHOL)
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
11
Opportunity
The Aalsmeer Flower Auction building is the fourth largest building by footprint in the world, covering 518,000 square metres (5,580,000 sq ft; 128 acres). On 1 January 2008, the auction company merged with its biggest competitor Royal FloraHolland. Royal FloraHolland employs more than 2,600 people from 44 different countries. The flower auction has 35 auction clocks. The international trade in flowers and plants is increasing. A trend that will continue in the coming years, partly thanks to the digitization and virtualization of the floriculture world. Since the internet has become a worldwide standard, web based platforms with various goals are popping up. Even in the floriculture sector an increasing number of platforms are online for buying and selling goods. This hints to a reduction in requirements of active tradespace for the auction. Hence, by mapping the temporary and permanent anchors within the establishment, it is possible for the municipality to claim land for different uses such as establishing local economic linkages, residential developments and public spaces. In a compactly located city where directions for expansion are limited, the future of the auction hall calls for reorganizaiton of space and logistics pattern based around it to enhance the transition of economy back to the citizens and strengthening the diversity of relations between Aalsmeer and Uithoorn. Alternatives need to be sought for where movement of auction facility can be advocated to bring in different economic opportunities.
11.a
11.b
Flower Auction: Logistics Scenario With the extent of built-up the auction hall occupies, elimination of tradespace holds potential to unlocking considerable portion of land for alternative use to the people of Aalsmeer. The tradespace is hence marked as a temporary asset to the auction.
Aalsmeer
vs
Since the auction lends benefits to both the municipalities, it is important to consider the method of reconfiguration which is just and equitable in nature, suitable to the needs of both municipalities, resulting in an integrated strategic framework.
MOVEMENT LOGISTICS
11.c
Uithoorn
BUILDING USE
TEMPORARY VS PERMANENT
11.d
R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
12
Ribbons
The infrastructure landscape of Aalsmeer presents interesting directions of potential growth of city’s character in sync with Uithoorn’s development. The interface of flower-based commerce and schiphol logistics have taken of linear flows over time. These have enabled strips of urban expansion providing us with arrows to point the future. The context of urban strips is represented with arms of varying character stretching out in different orientations with the onset of incoming pressures over the city in terms of the housing crisis, potential change in character of transit based around schiphol and change in land use for freight and hospitality. Adding to this, the reconfiguration of flower auction presents these concrete trails as the defining factors in determining future urban form. With the local strips segregated by invasive supplementary land-use of the airport, the design narrative for Aalsmeer investigates the temporary vs permanent, high-rise residential developments vs sustainable landscape character. Their is a need to address this corridors to better serve the municipality and residents. More public projects need to be based around linking the two major social nodes of the city and weigh down the integration by connecting it to economic sustainability. The Urbanist’s interventions need to act as suture to this operation of holding ‘Global’ at bay and then gradually transforming its nature to restore local’s right to the city.
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12.b
Urban Strips
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
Notations| Future Transformations What would you change in the city’s landscape? Through the initial portraits and mapping, it was established that Aalsmeer shares a delicate geological landscape with overlaid infrastructure circuit. To protect the city from any future risks, it is essential to introduce temporality towards ground-level use of space. The infrastructure circuit, due to its economic value, is a relatively permanent asset. Hence, it is rather viable for interventions to be in sync with it.
Rethinking interaction of Human with Natural Assets
Alternative uses for temporary infrastructure landscape
How could current form of the city be modulated to sustain pressures of the Dutch housing crisis? While claiming the existing spatial voids created by logistics in the city is possible, planning for supplementary requirements of incoming residents needs to be accounted for. Establishing space for localized business and consumer-base with a balance of greenfield and brownfield development can be a solution.
Returning control of economy to the ‘Local’
How would digital economy transform Flower auction?
Integrating Social nodes within Aalsmeer
The Flower economy plays a crucial role in the city’s identity as well as its relation with neighboring cities including Uithoorn. Reducing its monetary influence would lead to wastage of built-assets. However, the business can be relocated closer to the Airport in order to be replaced by public-centered projects and transportation in the future. How would the Design narrative restore the ‘local’ in Aalsmeer future? The notations for the future would be aimed at reimagining the interface between the existing natural assets and citizens of Aalsmeer. Introducing softer transitions at city periphery in terms of building functions would stretch the extent of local attachment to surrounding urban areas and integrate the existing urban cores with each other.
Softening Borders between Aalsmeer and Uithoorn Reconfiguring space to invite residential developments
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
Reflection As the R & Studio comes to its conclusion, it is essential to reflect upon the work accomplished in the last two months. For me, this studio was an opportunity to initiate a dialogue with Urbanists from various fields of expertise and integrate the insights into imagining the city as sytem of nodes, networks and layers. My aim was to explore a new dimension to study each week including time, rhythm, form and access. Working on this atlas helped to experiment with assigning metaphors to a city and generating an interactive game out of it, which enables me to generate different permutations of city layers based on 4 spectacles. It helps me rationalize and limit the vast nature of complexity of and urban area to initiate conversations towards design thinking and concept development.
To develop a narrative for the city, it was essential for me to choose an element of the city’s urban structure to advance the dialogue towards design. However, the city’s compact nature made it a rather complex task. Literature related to autonomous cities and Vigano’s concepts of ‘The Elementary City’ helped me deconstruct the city and reconfigure the elements to find conflicts and parallels. I do feel my past experience in the field of urban planning influences my view towards the city, building a narrative specifically directed towards economic and anchor-based growth. However, there could have been more extensive work done in the direction of understanding the tender landscape and architectural elements which hold the city together and constitute their own rhythms.
The studio helped me build upon storylining and academic synthesis of conceptual approaches. The mapping exercises expanded my ability to spot spatial and intangible conflicts on the basis of city form and timeline. Experimenting with city models and modulations of space within a confined urban setup formed my primary inspiration to attempt ‘UnFolding’ the city.
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R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
References.
Theory References:
Web References:
Legeby, A., Pont, M. B., & Marcus, L. (2015). Street
https://www.topotijdreis.nl/
interaction and Social Inclusion. Suburban Urbanities,
https://parallel.co.uk/netherlands
239–262. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1g69z0m.19
https://origamisimulator.org/ https://www.aalsmeer.nl/
Mikoleit, A., & Pürckhauer Moritz. (2011). Urban
https://www.kadasterdata.nl/
code: 100 lessons for understanding the city. The MIT
https://dutchculture.nl/
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https://ahn.arcgisonline.nl/ https://www.pdok.nl/
Steenbergen, C., Mihl, H., Reh, W., & Aerts, F. (2003). The Composition of the Urban Groundplan. In Architectural Design and Composition (pp. 116–129). essay, Thot. Viganò Paola. (1999). In La Città Elementare (pp. 281– 299). essay, Skira. Waldheim, Charles (2022). Autonomy, Indeterminacy and Self Organization . In Landscape as urbanism: A general theory. essay, Princeton University Press.
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https://www.openstreetmap.org/
R & D Studio | Aalsmeer
Aalsmeer: A City UnFolded
Fin.