In brief: How Amsterdam residents use outdoor benches and street furniture to blur the line between public and private space. A small urban detail that reveals how people create community, safety, and vibrancy in their streets.
Hello dear reader!
Welcome to another issue of this newsletter. This week I want to talk about how people use the public space in Amsterdam. To break up the text, I’ll include some photos of benches in the city.
In this issue:
- Urbanism & living the city
- Photos around Amsterdam
I guess it has to do with my background as an architect and being passionate about cities, but seeing furniture in the public open space makes my internal urbanite happy.
In Amsterdam, it is quite common to see people enjoying the outdoor space when the weather is right. There’s a big culture of terraces, BBQs, and picnics as soon as the weather allows it (not anytime soon). And part of that culture includes having furniture outside the houses and apartments. Not only on the balconies or terraces, but also directly on the sidewalk. A bench, some chairs and a table. Something to enjoy being outside.
I find this way to enjoy the city and city life fascinating. A well-known urban concept, developed by Jane Jacobs, highlights that as more eyes are on the street, the safer it is, as people using the public space create a form of natural surveillance. For me, seeing this furniture along the city is a clear indication that the street is lived, not only used as a transit space between places. The street is a place by itself.
During autumn and winter, seeing the benches is a good reminder of the good weather to come (still, in a few months) and they even serve as decoration for the street. Once again, they blur the frontier between private and public space.
That’s it for today! If you enjoyed this issue, share it with a friend! Know someone interested in cities or photography? Send it their way, they might like reading it too.
Luis
