Forensen

September 17, 2009 21:57

Its been a few days since i've had a spare second to blog- the first days in Amsterdam have been packed with experiences.

So, back at it.  I guess its not a surprise that as an architect, I am interested in Khoi's daily commute to work.  Commuting can tell a lot about the livability & quality of life in a city.  Analyizing and understanding daily activities and routines as they unfold in the urban realm is an obsessive compulsion of architects I suppose.  Khoi lent me his cycle and we both cycled from the hotel to his office on Tuesday morning (for more on our cycling in Amsterdam, see Khoi's post from the Schipol news).

After a 15 minute ride from our hotel, a fairy took us to the docklands area where his office is located.  I wasn't able to ride my bike often last week in New York, so it felt great to get on a bike again.  The streets of Amsterdam are a far cry from the gridded and numbered world of streets in New York.  In Amsterdam, the city grid is organized in a radial pattern of concentric circles which follow the major canals.  Navigating our path would have taken me a day or possible two, but Khoi knew the shortest distance between 2 points and soon enough we were at the fairy dock.



We then had a relaxing and brisk 10 minute fairy ride to the docklands, where the boat dropped us meters from the building that houses Urban Symboise.

The commute was almost a substitute for my second cup of morning coffee.

Amsterdam is a city that is built around water and the waterways determine its urban pattern.  New York is also a city built around water, but somehow not as connected to water as a way of life or a shaper of the city.  It would make New York a more enjoyable and livable place if I could fairy across the East River for instance from Brooklyn to Manhattan, instead of standing cheek to jowel in a crowded subway car crossing deep under the river in a dark tunnel.

That is cause for three cups of morning coffee.

The Job Swap is an initiative of the Henry Hudson 400 Foundation and BKB, in cooperation with the NY400. The Wildcard contest is organized together with newspapers Het Parool (Amsterdam) and AM New York (New York).