Thursday, March 26, 2009

March 26, Thursday




Riding, riding, riding on the bus. We started out early again, driving across the Houtribdijk separating the Markermeer from the Ijselmeer. Arriving in Lelystad we were met by Ellen Marcuse and Jan Frans de Hartog, planners from the Flevoland Province. We toured the Almere Pampus area all morning in the drizzly rain, stopping at agricultural areas, newly constructed neighborhoods and Europe’s largest water pumping station at the edge of the polder.

We ran with glee to the base of the giant turbines spinning in the sky, Don Quixotes all. This wet corner of Flevoland, open to all possibilities urban and natural left us pondering our own designs for the site and the futures that may be.

In Lelystad again, we met Dirk Frieling and spent some time viewing an exhibit on the many plans for Almere. Dirk gave us personal insights into the many “discussions” underway in the public realm that may some day result in consensus - Dutch style. We were joined by students from Wagenin University who are currently working on their own expansion plans.

The highlight of the day was our Dutch safari. Met at the park by Frans Vera, eminent ecologist, author of Wilderness in Europe and steward of the Oostvaardenplassen, we hopped aboard a modern caravan of sorts and rode through the reserve. A cinematic panorama of nature unfolded before us. Feral heards of Heck cattle, Konik horse, red deer and wild fox ambled by undisturbed at the site of our damp but enchanted crew. Frans lectured us on the natural practices of culling, the introduction of native species and the many philosophical debates surrounding the difficulties of re-wilding. Many, many thanks to Frans for giving us access to the park and providing us with one of the most thoughtful tours of our stay.

Thanks as well to Andrea van Berg, senior advisor to Flevoland Province and biologist for meeting with us at the end of the day. We discussed the Netherlands efforts at conservation banking in and around the Oosvardenplassen and ongoing plans by the EU to ensure habitat preservation across member states.

Tomorrow is free exploration day in Amsterdam with optional trips to Rotterdam. No more coercive tours. We will party tomorrow night at Tracy Metz’s Sense of Place in Amsterdam and reflect on this rich journey to The Netherlands.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

March 25, Wednesday



Decent weather permitted us to set sail, or at least motor, early in the morning on our way to destinations in the Markermeer. We headed toward Marken, an island peninsula extending into the Markermeer at 8am joined by Oswald and Erwin Lindeijer, a spatial planner and ecologist working for Almere. We discussed the Ijsselmeer/Markermeer ecologies and politics all morning as we cruised through the rain and fog, amazed by Erwin’s vast knowledge of planning and politics in Almere.

In Marken, we were impressed by the quaint scale of the traditional houses and canals as well as the picturesque beauty of a way of life once born of the sea but now wholly dependent upon tourism. We were shooed away from the yards of inhabitants, no doubt continually annoyed by a constant stream of tourist like ourselves intent on invading their quiet lives.

Back aboard the Merlijn we had lunch and again pressed Erwin for a clear explanation of water management, climate change and politics in the new towns. He obliged us with his time and expertise – we are forever thankful.

We arrived at Enkhuizen around 4:30pm and made our way to the Zuiderzee Museum. Enough time for a drizzly walk in the rain admiring the black spotted sheep and the collection of traditional homes collected in an outdoor museum. Walking back to the harbor we were astounded by the Vermeeresque setting of late day sun on the still wet streets of this small city of the Golden age. The famous expanse of Dutch sky spread far above us as each house and boat and tree held a spec of light in the closing hours of the day. Needless to say it was a well-earned break from the intense work demands of the boat.

We will cross the Houtribdijk in he morning en route to Almere for a tour of the Oostvaardersplassen, one of Europe’s most significant habitat preserves.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

March 24, Tuesday afternoon






In the afternoon, we then turned our attention to Almere’s City Centre, the highly-designed mixed-use shopping and residential district added in the 1990s. We were guided on a walking tour of the Centrum voor Architectuur Stedenbouw en Landschap van Almere, http://www.casla.nl/ and were later joined by Brans Stassen, one of the planners who worked on the original town design for Almere in the early 1970s.

Students then split for further exploration by bike or bus, and we reunited aboard the Merlijn for dinner. Due to a storm forecasted to arrive tomorrow, we returned to Amsterdam early and will resume our visits to Almere and the pampus on Thursday. We have contingent plans pending uncertainty in climatic conditions tomorrow. Meaning if it rains, we stay in Amsterdam for exploration. Not a bad place to be stuck on a rainy day.

March 24, Tuesday morning





By the time most of us awoke this morning, The Merlijn was cruising at full speed from its slip on the Amsterdam Canal across the Markermeer toward Flevoland Polder and Almere. As the site chosen for our studio’s investigation into urban adaptations to climate change, we were eager to finally see and touch the city in person and compliment our bird’s eye level analysis of the past six weeks with some on-the-ground qualitative observations and experiences.

We docked in Almere Haven and set about finding our way to Almere Centrum for a presentation by Adrian Geuze. Being the Netherlands, the world’s greatest cycling nation (sorry Denmark), many of us opted to borrow from The Merlijn’s fleet of bicycles for the 4 km ride to town. I cannot overstate what a joy it was to move through the city on a bicycle. The quality of the infrastructure network of cycling paths was awe-inspiring, from the clarity of the wayfinding signs to the beauty of the paver patterns and the carefully-crafted spatial relationships to car, bus, train and pedestrian traffic. It is a safe, equitable system that car-dominated U.S. cities could learn much from.

At mid-day we met with the charismatic and animated Dutch landscape architect Adrian Geuze, who presented his firm’s preliminary work on the ecological and urbanistic issues surrounding expansion of Almere into the Markermeer. He managed to provoke us with his ideas about the relationship of Dutch towns to water and any number of outrageous claims.



Monday, March 23, 2009

March 23, Monday






Settling in to our Dutch schedule we managed to get on the wrong train to TUDelft this morning made a quick switch at Den Haag and lost no time at all. Arriving somewhat late we were met by Oswald, Dirk Sijmons, and Ellen Marcusse at the train station. We had a spectacular tour of the new TUDelft Bouwkunde newly fitted out with everything modern and Vitra.

Maurits de Hoogh, Professor of Urban Design TUD, presented a recent history of spatial planning in the Randstad and Professor of Environmental Design Sybrand Tjallinga talked to us about his experiences teaching ecological urbanism for the past forty years.

Walking to the Deltares headquarters we were delighted by views of Bakema's Aula Congrescentrum and the slopes of Mecanoo's Central Library. Bakema’s influence on S+DR’s media room at the ICA was duly noted.

At Deltares, the Dutch non-profit water management consortium and sponsor of our studio, we met with Frans van de Ven to review hydrology in the polders and robust water planning ideas. Group meetings continued apace as the student project teams met with Delatares specialists to review their work and make final adjustments to their presentations.

Each team presented their mid-term review projects to the Deltares audience and students from Waginen University. Experts were able to ask questions of the groups and generally engage in discussions with us concerning the future of urbanization within the Flevoland polders as impacted by climate change. Henriette Otter of Deltares confirmed our faith in Dutch water management, as the welcoming reception got under way.

Back on our boat we finished another excellent meal prepared by Jantien, our most gracious host aboard the Merlijn. Tomorrow we cruise to Almere Haven for the first time, motoring past IJburg and moving into the Markermeer. Tomorrow: meeting Adrian Geuze for lunch and touring Almere, the Netherland’s newest new town.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

March 22, Sunday



Harvard GSD studio sets sail.

Arriving this morning we made our way to our home for the next six nights, the floating hotel boat, The Merlijn. We hoisted our Harvard flag and learned the lay of the land from our hosts on board.

Tracy Metz, a well know journalist, member of the Delta Commission and recent Loeb fellow met us at the airport and joined us for a cruise to Borneo Sporenburg and East islands. We were joined by Tracy's husband Baptist Braye, and Oswald Lagendijk from Deltares.



Monday, March 9, 2009

Set_up

post 3_9_2009
In anticipation of GSD 1406|1504 Climate Change, Water, Land Development, and Adaptation (The Netherlands) studio trip to the Netherlands, this blog is under construction. Check back here to follow along as we arrive March 22, 2009. We will be creating daily entries summarizing the day's events.