Smart cities series: Letter from Amsterdam
In this series, three Primafila Correspondents report on what makes Singapore, New York, and Amsterdam smart. Read the third and final personal letter from Amsterdam here.
Last year, 55 percent of all people worldwide lived in cities, and it is estimated that this figure will rise to 70 percent by 2050, as the summer issue of the American Express member magazines Platinum and Centurion reveal. Intelligent solutions are needed in order to deal with this growth along with the challenges global climate change presents. Enter the “smart city”, which combines the highest possible quality of life with the least possible resource consumption by using the latest technologies.
In this series of letters, first published in Platinum and Centurion, three Primafila Correspondents report on their smart cities from Singapore, New York, and Amsterdam.
Hey,
I am writing to you from the Horta Botanicus in Leiden, The Netherland’s oldest botanical garden and, as an oasis of quiet in the urban jungle, one of Amsterdam’s best kept secrets. I admire this metropolis for its swanky galleries, its local creative economy, and its historic center, buzzing with around 180 different nationalities. Yet above all, because it’s a smart city.
Here roofs turn green to purify the atmosphere and capture clean water. In about 75 percent of the city, rainwater flows via storm drains through a separate pipe system, the rainwater sewer, to the closest body of surface water. Waste water is treated, and the remaining silt is converted into natural gas. The Amsterdam Electricity Company converts waste into electricity, urban heating, and construction materials, generating 900 kWh per 1000 kg of waste.
In the near future every citizen will have a solar panel. That’s a promise the city has made to its inhabitants. People in Amsterdam can already adjust the street lighting on cycle paths with an app on their smartphone. Once the biker has passed, the light dims again.
The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA) aims to be one of the top three innovative regions in Europe by 2025. Amsterdam will then be celebrating its 750thanniversary. The goal is a smart, healthy, and green region, and thus the city is focusing on five urban challenges: Circular Economy, Digital Connectivity, Jobs of the Future, Health and Mobility.
This integrated approach of the Amsterdam municipality, fueled by a broad variety of people, both citizens and tourists, will certainly lead to a blissful and connected ecosystem, and a sustainable future for the city.
Erika Claessens has contributed as a journalist and editor to numerous print and online publications in both Belgium and the Netherlands. Her principal topics are entrepreneurial innovation, technology, and sustainability. She works from Antwerp, Belgium.
