Conference 'The Art of Building Cities' - Back to the Human Scale

How do we build today the city of tomorrow?

To mark Amsterdam's 750th anniversary, the Association of Friends of the Amsterdam City Center (VVAB) and the Netherlands chapter of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU) organize an international conference on the historic city as a source

of inspiration for innovation in urban planning.

Once, great plans – such as the Canal Belt, Plan Zuid or the General Expansion Plan (AUP) — created a structured and humane environment, but nowadays a diverse patchwork of isolated buildings is emerging. In the rapidly growing residential areas of Amsterdam-Noord (North) for example, the city is in danger of losing its cohesion, as we see everywhere else in the Netherlands. The new neighbourhoods follow the road grid of the former harbour and industrial areas and are being developed plot by plot. This industrial landscape was never intended as a residential area;…