Land as a Scarce Resource, Work and Workspaces as a Common. The Case of the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam

Borra, Bernadina and Urhahn, Gert (2020) Land as a Scarce Resource, Work and Workspaces as a Common. The Case of the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam. SHAPING URBAN CHANGE – Livable City Regions for the 21st Century. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2020, 25th International Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 541-551. ISSN 2521-3938

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Abstract

“The city needs work, work needs the city” (Bobbe, CEO Housing Corporation De Key, Amsterdam 2018). One could argue that since urban designers took a critical stance towards modernism and functional zoning, mixed use became one of the most advocated success factors for thriving urban developments. Yet, how to approach mixed use at different scales of the city and its metropolitan region is still a challenge for all actors of the quadruple helix. This is the case, for instance, for several recent Dutch urban developments. Since 2014 the Dutch economy ranks among the fast-growing economies in Western Europe, driven by a sturdy consumer trust and steady growing domestic expenditures (Statistics Netherlands CBS). Around 2016, the housing market started expelling work activities from city boundaries as if it were a hinder to its growing demand for room. Our urge to counteract was driven by two main assumptions. On the one hand, urban livelihood cannot solely rely on housing - workspace is essential just as much; on the other hand, “work landscapes” are currently changing at incredible speed and there is lack of vision about future spatial impact. This led to a design research MensenWerk (People’s Work) focused on the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam (MRA), carried out through qualitative methodology, based on archiving, interviews, study ofbest practises, and workshops on site. The claim of the research is that the current transition of work is not only of social and economic relevance, but also an urban spatial matter, strictly entwined between scarcity of room, land use efficiency and complementarity of urban activities. First, we analysed current situations and next possible developments. Then, we sought for urban strategies, tools and typologies to keep and integrate most of the working activities (production as well as services) in the city in order to contribute its urban resilience. It all revolved around the question: how do we now create urban frameworks for future mixed used living environments? As a provisional epilogue and opening of anew phase of the research we would like to introduce a new understanding of work and workspaces as a Commons.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Mixed Use Urban Development, Housing Market vs Work Activities, Transition of Work, Metropolitan Region
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform N Fine Arts > NA Architecture
Depositing User:	REAL CORP Administrator
Date Deposited:	01 Feb 2021 10:27
Last Modified:	01 Feb 2021 10:27
URI:	http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/630

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