The city of Amsterdam constitutes one of the most unique methods of urban planning seen in any city
across the globe. Besides the Dutch architecture, the capital is prominently known for its extensive
system of canals running throughout the city. These waterways are commonly conceived as the
city’s prominent physical feature, standing out from many other cities across the globe.
Amsterdam’s canals are an ingenious method of urban planning that sets it apart from other
methods of city planning. Let's take a look at the city from above to better understand how these
canals actually work. The city has 4 separate canal rings that make up the interior belt as you
can see from this aerial imagery. The Singel, The Herengracht, The Keizensgracth and the Prisengract
surround the city, and run on a diagonal line, making a curve every few thousand feet. This
entire section of the city is referred to as the canal ring. The ring holds a total of 165
different canals separated by more than a thousand bridges. Amsterdam is located in the Netherlands,
which borders the North Sea. West of the city lies the north sea canal. This canal stretches
from west to east going directly through the city, supplying the smaller channels with water.
These canals or channels of water as you could call them range between two
and 3 meters deep. They are 31 meters wide allowing boats to be parked on both sides
and leaving room for traveling down the center. The water level in the canals maintains a daily
consistent height, not at risk of overflowing and putting the buildings that surround them at risk.
The architecture of the canals is unique because of their unusual street layout
compared to other cities. While most cities have either a grid or radial based design,
Amsterdam has neither. Most canal cities also have a rectangular shape, while Amsterdam's three main
channels consist of five kinked straights. The complexity in the city’s design makes it
stand out all across the globe. Together, these canals form a semicircle around the city center.
The Buildings in between the canals serve as residential and commercial uses.
Amsterdam does have streets for cars but the majority of transportation throughout the city
is by using canal boats. Only 19% of the city’s population uses cars on a daily basis.
Across the entire capital there are over 100 kilometers of canals,
which are prominently used for residential transportation
and transporting trade merchandise from one end of the city to another. According to estimates,
thousands of boats travel through these canals each year, transporting residents from one end
of the city to another. But besides the uses of the canals in the 21st century,
the reason they were constructed dates back to a problem the city faced more than 300 years ago.
In the 17th century, Amsterdam was in its golden age both economically and politically.
The city experienced rapid growth in population and a major expansion was desperately needed
to accommodate all the new residents and prepare for more in the future. Therefore,
the city council drew up an expansion plan that would make the city nearly 5 times larger than it
was at the time. This all began in the year 1613, when the canal belt expansion began.
In this year, the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengrach canals were built. At the time, the
singel canal had already been in place for a long period of time and these new canals were serving
as an expansion to the previous one. The original uses for these canals were for water management
and defense, and it worked out very successfully. After time, the canals worked so well that they
had lost their original function. But after time they were able to acquire a new, important one:
Serving as a form of transportation. While cities across the globe designed themselves
around automobiles, Amsterdam saw an opportunity to use the canals as a form of transportation.
Canal boats became one of the best ways to get around the capital, using all 4 belts that
surrounded the city. But a city designed without cars in mind would eventually spark disagreement
between preserving the historical elements of the city and the arrival of the automobile era.
The 20th century needed space for cars and other land traffic.
Many of the city's canals were filled in to make space for streets and parking spaces.
The controversial Jokinen Plan in 1955 aimed to fill in the Singelgracht canal and build
a six lane highway. This drew large amounts of controversy and the plan was eventually dissolved.
Even after the canals transformed the city, Amsterdam’s city council approved
a new urban development plan called the Comprehensive Vision Amsterdam 2050.
The bold plan is focused around Urban Development, and continuing to grow the city sustainably.
Part of this plan aims to make space for 150,000 new dwellings and develop a new
sustainable district in the city. The plan explains that Amsterdam is out of balance.
Everything is directed towards a single city center, and we can see this from the canals. All
4 of the canal belts surround one center point, and the council wants to change that. By creating
a second district, the city can accommodate more people, without overdeveloping Amsterdam-Centrum.
But as you're probably thinking, where do they plan to develop this new district? The plan is
envisioned to transform business areas such as Haven-Stad into urban districts. This is referred
to as a polycentric development. These types of developments have the ability to reshape regions
to add transportation, housing, and other elements a new district would need. By creating additional
districts outside of Amsterdam, The Netherlands can expand the city without overpopulating
Amsterdam itself. But even as the city council has approved bold plans for expansion,
there is one factor that will determine the plan’s outcome within the next few decades.
An important part of Amsterdam’s Comprehensive Vision plan is growth within limits.
The plan states that the new expansion project will be subject to conditions the
city council must approve before moving forward. In simple terms,
Amsterdam only wants to expand within its planetary boundaries. These boundaries are
thresholds the city must stay within to avoid becoming overpopulated or too congested.
One of the most interesting approaches to building these new districts is to expand the availability
of biking infrastructure. The plan states that the council will be cautious as to how they develop
certain green spaces in these new districts, as new areas for cyclists is a top priority.
This makes a lot of sense and allows the city to accommodate another key form of transportation
besides automobiles and canal boats. The capital city’s elaborate network of bike paths has made
Amsterdam the bike capital of the world, and the council plans to continue expanding the
network even more within the next few decades. By 2050, these business districts will be completely
transformed into residential zoning and make room for another 250,000 residents. This will be done
by constructing an additional 150,000 dwellings in the districts. This is just another example
of how the amsterdam city council develops and plan’s the city’s expansion in an ingenious way.
Every aspect of Amsterdam has been cohesively planned to work together with
other parts of the city, making it stand out as one of the best designed cities in the world.
Today, Amsterdam’s canals stand out as one of the most unique methods of urban planning all
across the globe. In hindsight, they were a great method to protect the city against
floods and help with water management. Today, their use is much different but
it has contributed to an efficient and sustainable method of urban planning
allowing the city to function seamlessly. As the city council approves more urban
development plans, they will continue to expand the city without exceeding its limit. Hundred
of years after they were first constructed, Amsterdam’s canals turned out to be one of the
most unique urban development projects in history, setting the framework for the city we see today.
Thank you for watching and please subscribe if you enjoyed the video.