Earlier this month former State Architect Floris Alkemade and me spoke on the urgent matter of how to make space for work in urban development. Floris spoke about he historical background of how cities function, and the past separation of work, housing and infrastucture in cities, which has proven to be wrong. He elaborated on current plans bij himself in e.g. Almere of Paris, on how to bring the different uses together again in cities.
I was honoured to reflect upon, and frankly to affirm, the well researched theses of the former State Architect. Also, i was happy to realize that our Urban Development Plan for Zaanstad is a vision that leads us into the right direction!
At the end of the afternoon the organizers of De Maatschappij rightfully stated that the audience of primarily entrepreneurs from the Zaanstad region had a truly inspiring event, with both larger context and concrete spatial strategies for their own city.
The local newspaper ‘Orkaan’ wrote a comprehensive article about the afternoon here. Copyright of the photographs by Marijn Kerkhoven.