​Future of Amsterdam or Herengracht without parking spaces Fo | Amsterdammer in English

​Future of Amsterdam or Herengracht without parking spaces

For several years now, the municipality of Amsterdam has been discussing the subject of freeing central canals from parking spots. The public has recently been presented with what the Herengracht could look like without them, but the question of what to do with the freed space is just as concerning as where to put all those vehicles: there is no solution for the 500 cars that park there every day.

To determine what would happen if all parking spaces were removed from the city's most prestigious canal, a research was conducted. The Herengracht was chosen because it is shorter than the Keizersgracht, while the neighbouring Prinsengracht is an important transport artery. It is emphasised that the research is only an 'inspirational' example, providing a glimpse of a city of the future that will look very different from what it looks like now.

The plan is to allow cars to pass but no longer park on the Herengracht. Naturally, the municipality does not intend to eliminate all parking spaces at once. But it's important to note here that it wasn't until the 1960s, when car ownership significantly increased, that leaving the car right in front of your door became the norm, and that canals were no longer used for transport. One of the consequences has been an increase in the average distance between trees planted along embankments from 7 to 12-15 metres, so that exactly two cars fit between them. So, getting rid of the vehicles will provide an opportunity to restore justice and plant more trees on the canals again.

Now, so far, three ways of redecorating Herengracht have been devised. The easiest and cheapest one (as shown in the left picture) is to create recreational areas with benches, bike racks or flowerbeds without changing the pavement. The disadvantage will be that the sidewalk will still remain narrow. It would be much better to completely redesign the canal, removing not only the parking spaces but also the separation between the pedestrian pavement and the street, as the canals looked like before the car came along. But the most ideal (and understandably expensive) option is to move the trees away from the edge of the embankment and create a continuous promenade along the water (as in the right picture). An additional benefit is that the trees finally get more space, which will affect their growth and overall visual perception of the canal. A significant disadvantage of this option though is that all pipes and cables hidden by the pavement would have to be re-laid.

Alderman De Vries, who introduced the project, acknowledges that removing parking spaces could lead to new traffic, more illegal parking and, of course, high expenses. "At the same time, these questions should not stop us from thinking carefully about what we want the canals to look like in the future," he says.

FYI, since 2019 Amsterdam has been eliminating parking spaces. By 2025 there should be at least 10,000 fewer of them, and last year almost 2,500 spaces were already taken down.