MOVING – by dlandstudio and .FABRIC

The way in which people are ‘Moving’ through the city will continue to evolve, according to both teams addressing this issue within the framework of “Glimpses of New York and Amsterdam in 2040”. The advantages will be technological, with new types of fuel, new engines and renewable sources. But their proposals look beyond technological innovation. For dlandstudio, the future is determined in part by the rise of sea levels, and the challenges that brings to the city of New York. And .Fabric’s key position is that the advantages of the transportation of the last half century have essentially turned the orientation of the city a 180 degrees. Its traditional orientation toward the IJ waterfront is replaced by a focus on the South Axis and its international connectivity.

The glimpse by dlandstudio turns out to be the most ‘urbanistic project’ of the ten glimpses. The team notes that the water edge at Hunters Point, Queens will be inundated in 40 years. This creates the opportunity to utilize an intertidal canal to create inland ferry access. That makes it possible to propose a new intermodal civic and transport center that synthetically integrates ferry, bus, train, automobile, bicycle and pedestrian circulation. The glimpse image shows the new transportation hub. All of the transportation ‘loose ends’ of Hunters point will be integrated into one transportation hub – the HUB, or Hybrid Urban Base.

Fabric’s glimpse shows how Amsterdam’s South Axis is set to become the place where the local and the global connect. The team’s glimpse turns the classical perspective on Amsterdam –from the IJ waterfront, from the North- to what it sees as the new ‘front door’ of the city, from the South, with the South Axis as its international entry point. Fabric introduces the term ‘transportation footprint’. In order to keep the transportation footprint of the Amsterdam residents at bay, Fabric suggests that the city will have to mix and intensify to make transportation footprints sustainable. The result is an intensification of the South Axis, with more scope for residents, and a more intense mix of working, living and playing. Fabric suggest that the transportation of the future will be more intelligent, with collision-self-avoiding capacity, non-polluting engines, and more individual in character, allowing for seamless shift between modes. This allows the team to imagine the public space of the South Axis as an open, park-like space with free moving individual vehicles in a lush, green setting.

Both glimpses combined raise key questions on the future of transportation. Will individual or collective modes transport become dominant? And how will the transition between modes of transport be facilitated. Will technology drive the innovation, or are we simply making biking easier. And what level of development intensity and urban mix the Hybrid Urban Bases of the future can support.

These are questions that have intrigued Ton Venhoeven for a long time. In his current role as government advisor on infrastructure, Ton is advising the government on how to develop intense urban nodes. For that perspective he will reflect on the two “Moving” glimpses. Suzannah Drake of dlandstudio and Eric Frijters of Fabric will join Ton Venhoeven for a discussion.

This will take place as part of the symposium 'Planning the future of Amsterdam & New York' at ARCAM on July 5th, 2011.

See for more information and subscription: ARCAM

Luc Vrolijks