Today:
– Museum of Amsterdam
– Oude Kerke (old church)
– Red Light District
– Jordaan
– pickled herring sandwiches
– grocery store
– speculoos spread (like peanut butter but worse for you)
– coffee and bike watching
…and some other stuff. This place is heaven for an urban planner, and I’m here with a friend from grad school so we can nerd out together. We may have stopped to admire the municipal composting stations.
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What’s so different about Amsterdam compared to other cities that it’s heaven for urban planners?
There are a lot of things about Amsterdam that are really amazing – the town was planned in giant chunks (because its all made from swampy, sea-level land), and so the history of the city is fascinating. There was also an important school of Art Deco architecture called the Amsterdam School. And finally (and most famously), Amsterdam is the city with the highest proportion of cyclists in the western world, and the amount of bike infrastructure is legendary. I was so excited to see all of it!
Haha, to me as a local it doest seem that special ;p
But if you come back you should visit the nothern part of the city because that’s were you can see the different kinds of architecture and planning ideologies very well.