Island without Borders: Ijburg, Amsterdam

The Concept

Land resources for building new housing within the City of Amsterdam are limited. Urban planners tasked with meeting the increasing housing demand have found a solution in creating new fill islands off the shores of the existing city. Ijburg, conceptualized in 1995 and built in 2000, was one such solution. Ijburg was intended to be built in two phases. However, only the first phase (9,000 housing units) has been completed to date and the second phase (13,000 additional housing units) is on hold indefinitely until the economy improves.

In addition to meeting the demand for market rate housing, Ijburg set aside 40% of the housing units for social housing for low-income and disabled citizens.  Following its nickname, “Island without Borders,” Ijburg set ambitious goals for social inclusion. Planners mixed the social housing, rental units and homes for sale throughout the development. It’s not uncommon to find all three types of housing in the same building, with little differentiation between them. 

A typical mixed-income residential building in Ijburg

The Reality

Mixing-incomes, while a valiant effort on behalf of the City of Amsterdam, has not come without equally significant issues. Many of the homeowners on the island of Ijburg claim that they did not know they would be sharing their living spaces with such a diverse population. Many feel that had they known, they would have chosen to live elsewhere.  They also feel stuck in the situation financially, due to the unstable economy. The home buyers were the first to move in and as the City moved in immigrant populations, lower-income families and the disabled (some formerly housed in institutions), tensions grew strong.

Ijburg was designed to foster interaction between all of the residents - there are shared common spaces within the buildings and small green spaces between them. Conceptually, this seems wonderful, but when you have a high-density development with residents of all ages, noise management becomes a major issue. Children often play in the green spaces and it has irritated some of the elderly home owners.

An example of a potentially noisy courtyard in Ijburg

Connectivity

Despite the social tensions, Ijburg is an impressive example of urban design, especially on the topic of connectivity. Every mode has equal access to the island. Cars drive in over a beautiful bridge. Bikes and pedestrians have a designated path and bridge from central Amsterdam to the main street of Ijburg. There are also three tram stops along the main corridor of the island.

These resources are not only functional, but they are beautifully designed and integrated with the natural environment. See photo captions for more details.

Beginning of the serene ped/bike bridge to Ijburg (green space was formerly a landfill)

One of the lush tram stops on Ijburg’s main avenue

View of the ped/bike bridge from the edge of central Amsterdam

Retroactive Conflict Resolution

The City has not ignored the fact that social tensions are high within Ijburg and has spent the last four years experimenting with ways to help residents live happily together. A coalition of senior staff from the city, the housing developers and the service providers has been formed. This group meets regularly to discuss how to collectively approach pressing issues. These meetings are mediated by a neutral party, Stef Spigt, who also works closely with the residents to assess their needs. Spigt’s position is funding by the coalition, who understands the value (albeit financial) in fostering a happy, healthy lifestyle on Ijburg.

The wealthier residents have also taken community development matters into their own hands by forming a group called, “Ijburg Dreaming & Doing.” This leadership group generates ideas for improving the public spaces, coordinates community projects and encourages the involvement of the lower-income and disabled residents. Despite the seemingly exclusionary structure of the group, each project has a champion that is able and willing to see it through.

Integration of communities through the schools has also been a successful. Every so often,  residents of Ijburg have been invited to share their cultural background with students. The hope is that encouraging acceptance amongst young people will translate into more tolerance between the adults.

Ijburg in the Future

It’s clear that if Ijburg follows through with phase two of the development, the organization of housing units will need to be modified. Currently, the plan is to continue mixing incomes within each block, but to separate housing types by building so that home owners and renters are only sharing the internal common areas with residents of a similar status. 


There will also be an expansion of the social services and community programs provided. However, it’s widely accepted that mixing incomes on this scale is a very challenging task. The City of Amsterdam has not given up on their vision, but they are still working out the best plan for the future. As Spight explains, one thing planners must recognize is that “you can’t just plan for the hardware; you need the software as well.”

Castle Garden: A pocket of tranquility in the heart of a city

It has been two weeks since we have started our travels through Northern Europe. So far, we have traveled through Stockholmand Malmö, Sweden and Copenhagen and Odense, Denmark. Throughout the  trip, we have learned so much and have been inspired extremely. One memorable place that we went to in Malmo was Castle Garden. A wonderful example of placing a tranquil space within a heart of a city.

Castle Garden:

During our bike tour one of our last stops was The Castle Garden. The Castle garden is a charming organically managed garden that is comprises several smaller gardens with different styles as well as different functions. 

The nursery is where most of the plants for the garden are cultivated. There is also a pleasant café located on conveniently on site. The café has a fully organic range of baked goods, foods and drinks. There is also a greenhouse that you can enjoy your meal in. It is home to a numerous variety of vegetables you can add to your plate.

A Bit of Background. Castle garden was created by a group of Malmö residents, with no professional background in gardening. They wanted an organic garden that would be created and open to everyone. It was officially opened in 1998.

Upon arrival, we were pleasantly greeted by John Taylor. Taylor moved from England to Malmo in 1992 and become the master gardener for Castle garden.  He had a charmingly playful demeanor especially when he jokingly poked fun at Landscape Architects. 

What we did gather from him was that green space and gardens “help solve the worlds problems”. His love for planting and enthusiasm for nature was infectious. He encouraged us future designers to integrate as much green in our design as possible. 

      

After his brief talk with us, we walked through the 

gardens that were filled with beautiful perennial plants and vegetables and trellis' laced with vines. After about an hour we left Castle Garden, waving goodbye to John Taylor as he continued merrily along with his lawn mower. 
















Kristina Jesena and Elaine Palacios

Livability, Sustainability, and Resilience

During our time in Copenhagen, urban designers Regitze Hess and Jeff Risom presented lectures to the class. Hess works for the Center for Public Space Research, a non profit that provides grants to projects in Denmark that are innovating urban design. Risom works for Jan Gehl Architects, a firm that designs public spaces around the world by following the principles from Ghel's books Life Between the Buildings and Cities for People. Both lecturers stressed the principle of designing cities to be livable, sustainable, and resilient, which was championed by Ghel in his books. Livability is how effective a place is here and now. Sustainability is the success of a place in the long-term and widespread sense. Resilience refers how well the city adapts during time between the present and future. In other words, one needs to design cities for extremes and build capacity for rapid change. 

Hess refers to these three ideas in simple terms:
Sustainability = carrying capacity
Livability = comfort capacity
Resilience = coping capacity


After hearing both lectures and exploring the inner city of Copenhagen, we noticed ways in which the city incorporates these principles into their urban design.


Livability
We would consider Copenhagen's city center to be a very livable area, which is reflected in its bustling downtown area.

• Public spaces contain shops, exhibits, and entertainment, making the space between the buildings inviting and inhabited.
• Many of the streets are 'complete streets', meaning they are designed with equal access for pedestrians, cyclists, cars, and buses. Each mode of transit has its own distinct space that provides a safe area and sense of security.

Complete street cross-section

• Residents make use of public spaces and seem to take pleasure in the design of their city.

Rosenborg Palace Garden

Sustainability
Sustainability is at the forefront of the city's agenda thus many elements of sustainability are incorporated throughout the city.

• A majority of Copenhagen's energy comes from renewable sources. Numerous wind turbines are visible from the city center. Waste incineration plants are used to convert the city's trash into heat for district heating and electricity generation.

Wind turbines on the perimeter of the city

• The city focuses on getting people out of their cars. This effort has resulted in an extensive public transit system and cycling infrastructure. Since 1947 the city has been organized using a five finger system to condense development along transit lines. 35% of inhabitants get to work or school by bicycle because it is faster and easier than traveling by car. 

The original finger plan

• Inner-city Copenhagen is high density with 60-80 building units per acre compared to 6-8 building units per acre that is characteristic of a city like Davis, CA. Many old industrial buildings have been reused to create architecturally interesting  high density mixed-use and residential areas.

Grain silos which have been converted into apartment buildings

Resilience
Both the infrastructure and residents of Copenhagen cope with constant construction taking place throughout the city. However, unanticipated events have the potential to overwhelm the city. 

• The city works hard to ensure construction does not impact the  day-to-day routines of residents. Bike paths and pedestrian walkways are rerouted around construction using signs and temporary ramps.

Signage for temporary pathways during construction near Copenhagen's busiest intersection 

Protected bike lane remains intact during road construction

• Buildings constructed in the city are designed with high quality materials and require little maintenance.  
• One week before we arrived in Copenhagen, a cloud-burst dropped 6 inches of water in one hour on the city. The 100-year storm event inundated the city's sewer system, flooding the city  and cutting electricity and hot water delivery to tens of thousands of residents for days. This shows a lack of planning for infrequent disasters.

Copenhagen is a great example of designing a city to be livable, sustainable, and resilient. The United States could realistically follow Copenhagen's example by creating more complete streets, expanding renewable energy sources, and ensuring construction makes accommodations to maintain residents' day-to-day routines.


by: Jessie Lett and Daniel Sheeter, UC Davis

Bioswales, canals, and drainage, oh my!

Hej hej from Malmö, Sweden!

While exploring a city, do you ever think, "Where does the water go?" Next time you're walking down the street, take a look around you. Hopefully you'll notice some cool drains, like the ones we noticed while exploring Malmö's most famous eco-neighborhoods, Augustenborg and Bo01 Western Harbour. While the drainage in both neighborhoods is functional, their design and aesthetic values differ significantly. These two neighborhoods provided a great point of comparison, as Augustenborg is a retrofitted neighborhood originally constructed in the late 1940s while Bo01 is only a decade old. The timing of the retrofitting of Augustenborg and the construction of Bo01 coincided, thus allowing similar sustainable planning principles to be applied. While the timing may be the same, the final results differ significantly. Below we describe the systems implemented in each neighborhood.

Augustenborg

The process:

1. Green roofs catch approximately 30% of rainwater; the remaining rainwater trickles into a traditional gutter.

2. Rainwater caught in gutters drains down. Rather than draining directly onto the sidewalk or into a storm drain, the rainwater drains into a bioswale or sloped divet instead.

3. In the case of the bioswale

a. Rainwater is diverted into vegetation that takes up the excess water.

b. Ideally, there is no standing water as there is enough vegetation to absorb the rainwater. When standing water does develop, it continues into a larger canal or body of water.

When the bioswale is oversaturated, it overflows into a canal

c. Absorption by vegetation cleanses the water and recharges the groundwater.

4. In the case of the sloped divet

a. Rainwater moves down a canal with rocks that divert and swirl the water. This movement gives the water a chance to evaporate and the swirling motion collects leaves and other debris for easy removal.

b. At the end of the canal, the remaining water in this case enters the stream to the large body of water.

Bo01 Western Harbour

The process:

1. Rainwater is caught from the roof and trickles down a pipe into a small, open canal.

Instead of having a traditional drain, water trickles through rocks into a pipe into the canal

2. The canal catches leaves and debris while the water slowly evaporates. This evaporation process is aided by having the canal open for the majority of its length.

3. The water then goes to either

a. A bioswale where vegetation takes up the water and cleanses it or

Each bioswale can be designed to create a space with a water feature and vegetation

b. A larger canal which travels underneath pathways before entering the North Sea.

Looking at these two neighborhoods’ drainage, many similarities exist. For instance, in both designs the drainage process is generally visible, serving three main purposes. First, this open canal system allows for evaporation, limiting the rainwater that enters the storm drainage system. Second, this system allows people to view how storm water travels through drainage systems and thus people can see how their actions affect their water resources. Third, open canal systems allow for water features and vegetation as opposed to large concrete expanses. Aesthetically, both neighborhoods have pros and cons. In our opinion, Bo01 Western Harbour is more aesthetically pleasing due to the lack of constraints the planners faced when designing the system. This allowed for medieval style streets where open canals could be integrated into the design process for the entire neighborhood. In Augustenborg the buildings were retrofitted for sustainability, leading to more constraints on the placement of open canals and bioswales. This dictated the scale of the canal system in Augustenborg. Both are functional and pleasing to the eye, but Bo01 created a more subtle and seamlessly integrated system.

Special attention should be given to drainage systems in the planning process. The success of Bo01 proves that sustainable drainage can be implemented in both a functional and aesthetically pleasing manner.

-Alyssa Black and Amy Martin, UC Davis

P.S. Drainage rules!

Stockholm is the largest city in Scandinavia and capital of Sweden with a population around 850,000 (2010) and growing. Located on Sweden’s south-central, eastern coast, the city is the meeting point of the largest lake in Sweden (Lake Mularen) and the Baltic Sea. Stockholm is composed of 14 islands that offer quick relief from the crowded streets by having an incorporated system of 30% waterways and 30% green space.

Stockholm is a great example of an active urban city that flaunts their appreciation for water and nature.
This sustainable city provides an array of activities and accomdations from museums to amusement parks to skateparks and children play areas while allowing almost all inhabitants to enjoy quick access to open parks, walkways, swimming areas, hilltop views and historical plazas. These easily accessable activities allow people to escape the vibrant city lifestyle without having to drive in an automobile or even leave their own neighborhoods. Just ask IIona Lindbald, a professional sea kayaker who moved here from Malmo because of the vast and scenic waterways. Thomas Astrom and Calle Roose moved back from England because of their love for the many parks and open spaces that allow for picnics and socializing. Hanna Hellstrom, born and raised in Stockholm and a practicing musician loves using the green space to practice with friends or gain inspiration for songwriting from the beautiful, scenic waterways. Fregquently used by old, young, couples and independents, the blue and green of Stockholm is something this city greatly appreciates no matter what your purpose may be. While touring through the city you may notice people are happy to enjoy the simple things in life and will understand while this sustainable city is a role model for our big urban centers of the world to reduce environmental degradation to the planet. While having a large and growing population Stockholm will remain to capture the esscense and tranquility of the things many people enjoy most; our blue waterways and natural green spaces.

Stockholm: well-planned density.

Greetings from Stockholm!

We are the 2011 class of Sustainable Cities of Northern Europe with the University of California, Davis Summer Abroad program. We landed in Stockholm, Sweden almost one week ago but we are just getting started. Stockholm is just the first stop on our month tour. Through this trip, we will be observing the planning, urban design, architecture, and policies of each of our destinations as they relate to sustainability. From our time in Stockholm, one of the key characteristics of the city that we have noticed is density

But what exactly is density?

Urban density is a term used in urban planning and urban design to refer to the number of people inhabiting a given urbanized area. Urban density is considered an important factor in understanding how cities function. Research related to urban density takes places across diverse areas, including economics, health, psychology, geography, and of course sustainability.

It is commonly asserted that higher density cities are more sustainable than low-density cities, this is greatly linked to the fact that low-density, dispersed cities are automobile dependent.

Surprisingly enough, Los Angeles is one of the densest cities in the United States when considering the entire metropolitan area in terms of person per acre (LA is actually denser than New York or San Francisco), yet its dependence on the automobile makes it a very unsustainable city. LA’s density does not really “work” and should not be the type of density that cities strive for. Los Angeles is known worldwide as the poster child of urban sprawl. Stockholm, on the other hand, is much more dense and that density is very well-planned. Everything in Stockholm is closer together, making urban life functional and attractive. Comprehensive public transportation, pedestrian and bike paths are the backbone of this city’s near-sustainable urban fabric. Residents of Stockholm have a broad range of choices of how to get around the city, including driving cars. This makes it an inclusive and vibrant city.

An admirable characteristic of Stockholm, and perhaps Sweden as a whole, is its citizens’ ability to think and plan for the long term future. Here, people understand the necessity to plan with foresight and flexibility for environmental, social, and economic changes. In this course, we have learned that the expansion of Swedish urban areas has closely tracked urban population growth. Stockholm, as well as other European cities, has grown more compactly, at higher densities, and with greater emphasis on the redevelopment and reuse of land within its existing urbanized spaces, this is also referred to as infill development.

One example of such infill development would be the Hammarby Sjöstad district. We recently visited Hammarby and the entire class was rather impressed. Hammarby is basically a collection of medium-density apartment buildings clustered together with public parks and mixed-use streets. The area is transit-oriented and very walkable. The density of the units is relieved by the public spaces around them often frequented by children and their parents. Most of the residents are actually families who consider Hammarby a great, safe place to raise children. This is an interesting comparison to the prevailing attitude in the U.S. that suburbs are the best place to raise kids.

The reason that we find Stockholm’s density so fascinating and inspiring is because we see density as a great way to speed up our process towards sustainability in the U.S. Well planned density goes hand in hand with having transportation choices such as public transit, walkable and bikeable paths, as well as car and pedestrian friendly streets. Although most Americans are not yet interested in compact, dense living environments, Stockholm shows us how density can be functional, attractive, and economically desirable. Hopefully, we can learn to think about the long term future of our cities, their place in our planet, and their relation to natural resources. We have plenty of opportunities to retrofit and revitalize our communities through well planned density and comprehensive transportation systems. To the future!!!

Alejandra Cano, UC Berkeley

Thomas Muchnick, UC Berkeley