Author: Zef Hemel
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The real blind spot
Read in ‘Blind spot’ (2016) of Vereniging Deltametropool: Got a free copy of ‘Blind spot’, a Dutch glossy on metropolitan landscapes. Huge pictures, huge maps, huge volume. The well designed publication “aims to illustrate the quality of a metropolitan landscape contributing to the economic success of the region by analyzing and drawing comparison from…
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Where will the Chinese tourists go?
Read in ‘Aerotropolis’ (2011) of John Kasarda and Greg Lindsay: Last Thursday I met Wade Shepard, author of ‘Ghost Cities of China’ (2015) in Amsterdam. It was his first time in the Low Countries. Wade, who is from Buffalo USA, is living in China for a long time now. I showed him around in Volksvlijt,…
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De reus is ontwaakt
Gehoord op 25 april 2016 in de OBA te Amsterdam: De Amsterdamlezing van Rens Vliegenthart, hoogleraar Communicatiewetenschappen aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, stond gisteravond in het teken van Europa. Hoe berichten de media over Europa en worden wij burgers door die berichtgeving beïnvloed? Vliegenthart begon met op te merken dat liefst 80 procent van…
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15 Years of Amsterdam School
Seen on 24 April 2016 in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: Great exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam on interior design of the Amsterdam School artists De Klerk, Kramer, Krop and Van der Mey. On the top floor of the museum, over 500 objects are on show in some fifteen rooms, each one with its…
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Unsustainable Urban Delta
Read in Het Parool of 15 April 2016: Last week they forced me to move to another lecture hall at the University of Amsterdam. They told me the Dutch prime-minister Mr. Rutte was expected to come. He would give a lecture on ‘How the Netherlands is functioning’, and he needed my room. So I…
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Keesmaat will win
Heard on 21 April 2016 at the University of Amsterdam: Burton Hamfelt, Canadian architect, gave a great guest lecture on Toronto in the Cities in Transition Programme at the University of Amsterdam. It was a tale of two Toronto’s: one suburban (the Ford Nation), one urban, one poor, one rich, one neglected, one mediatised. Over…
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Angst, sensatiezucht en idealisme
Gehoord op 18 april 2016 in de OBA te Amsterdam: Christianne Smit, universitair hoofddocent Politieke geschiedenis aan de Universiteit Utrecht, vertelde afgelopen maandagavond een prachtig verhaal over de tweede Gouden Eeuw van Amsterdam in een volgepakte theaterzaal van de OBA, tijdelijk omgetoverd in het Paleis voor Volksvlijt. Het was de eerste Amsterdamlezing van dit…
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Beyond Big Plans
Read in ‘Beyond Seun-Sangga (2015): Last Thursday Hyeri Park, an urban planner from South-Korea who’s living in the Netherlands, gave a great lecture at the University of Amsterdam on ‘Seoul Mutations. Another Story after Fast Urban Growth in Asia’. Mrs. Park told the students about the ‘Miracle on the Han river’, which took place in…
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Dream your own future
To be visited from 12 April till 3 July 2016 in the Public Library Amsterdam: On Tuesday 12 April 2016, the People’s Industry Palace (Paleis voor Volksvlijt) in the Public Library of Amsterdam will open its doors. Twelve weeks long, citizens, young and old, from different backgrounds, from all neigborhoods and neighboring cities, can visit…