Exploring Everyday Streets
Chapter 9:
Spatial-structural qualities of mixed-use main streets: two case studies from the Amsterdam metropolitan region
Birgit Hausleitner and Mae-Ling Stuyt
Streets are where the needs and values of different users and activities come together. Main streets in the Netherlands were either planned in major urban expansions or developed over time in the shape of ribbons upon dykes – ‘long lines’ of continuously active streets. This chapter presents two cases from the Amsterdam metropolitan region: vanWoustraat-Rijnstraat, a main street planned as part of an urban expansion, and Westzijde, a main street that developed over time as part of a long line. While vanWoustraat- Rijnstraat is tightly organised and coherent in both appearance and function, Westzijde is characterised by a multitude of different buildings and functions. This study visualises the spatial-structuralqualities that facilitate the evolving economic activities of these two streets. It explores the variation between them by morphological differentiation and determines several spatial characteristics that enable the mix: modularity of the urban plan, complementary ‘front’ and ‘back’ sides, structural coherence and territorial depth – the sequence of spaces between the urban ‘front’ and ‘back’ sides of buildings, blocks and neighbourhoods.
About Birgit Hausleitner
Birgit Hausleitner is an architect and urbanist, lecturer and researcher in the Urban Design section in the Department of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology. Her research comprises work on urban diversity and mixed-use cities, focusing on the multi-scalar and configurational aspects of urban conditions that facilitate, introduce or improve combinations of living and working.
About Mae-Ling Stuyt
Mae-Ling Stuyt graduated with a Masters in Urbanism from Delft University of Technology in 2020. She aims to create places that enable and balance the diverse lives of people in cities, while leaving room for flexibility in the future. Since graduating she has been working on several inner-city transformation projects at Urhahn Urban Design and Strategy.