lewism

I love Amsterdam. I lived there for two years, and fell in love there. The city is a fantastic backdrop to life which contains wonders for anyone and everyone, from the cross eyed French teenagers stumbling out of their coffee shops we sometimes bumped into outside our front door to rich retired couples shopping for culture. Quite apart from being a perfect base for checking out some great Architecture, Amsterdam had many urban strengths when we were there, it had an amazing social and cultural mix, and behind its faux liberalism also a hidden conservatism. Its public housing rules and the Dutch ‘gaming’ of those rules and renting arrangements meant that very low income families do live right beside expat types on massively different salaries. But is some of that social richness being eaten away in the name of ‘progress’? The city has recently rebranded as ‘I amsterdam‘ and is gentrifying at a fast pace but it may have a negative effect on the city in the long term. See These excellent articles online extreme makeover and photos of the wild frontier of Amsterdam from mute magazine.