I go back and forth with periods of writer’s block for this blog / microblog / whatever this is. But I think I’m back again. This time, my focus is going to (mostly) be on life outside of the digital world.
The Dutch just had elections, and the party that won wants to build cities. Not just houses. Cities. And in true Dutch fashion, this would mean reclaiming vast amounts of land from the former Zuiderzee.
I live on IJburg, one such reclaimed island. I like the frontier feel of it, the vibe of a quiet neighbourhood, modern infrastructure, and being only a 20-minute tram ride to Amsterdam Centraal. But the drawbacks are also real. There’s a palpable lack of soul and charm here. It’s monotonous. Some older trees and not so straight lines would go a long way toward making this…
I go back and forth with periods of writer’s block for this blog / microblog / whatever this is. But I think I’m back again. This time, my focus is going to (mostly) be on life outside of the digital world.
The Dutch just had elections, and the party that won wants to build cities. Not just houses. Cities. And in true Dutch fashion, this would mean reclaiming vast amounts of land from the former Zuiderzee.
I live on IJburg, one such reclaimed island. I like the frontier feel of it, the vibe of a quiet neighbourhood, modern infrastructure, and being only a 20-minute tram ride to Amsterdam Centraal. But the drawbacks are also real. There’s a palpable lack of soul and charm here. It’s monotonous. Some older trees and not so straight lines would go a long way toward making this all feel more human. But there’s still something I like about it, and I see few places within an hour of Amsterdam that, on the whole, I’d rather live in.
Tom Forth’s write up on Lelystad chronicles a similar such place in the Netherlands. It’s a nice read. I’ve also compared such projects in the Netherlands to the American West, where I grew up.