In my lecture at Museum Het Schip Amsterdam I will elaborate on the need to combine social and green when designing cities.

City dwellers should also make this quality their own, in order to increase the (public) greenery in the city – especially on a small scale, which is more important than ever.

Lecture
Friday, June 6, 15.00 o’clock
Oostzaanstraat 45, 1013 WG Amsterdam

In the lecture, I will introduce the Geuzen neighborhood in Amsterdam-West, where the young Mien Ruys (1904-1999) designed not only the Geuzenhof gardens (1934/1939) but also the public green space (1958). In addition, I zoom in on the Geuzenhof as a mini garden city, where some 800 residents live together.

Mien Ruys is now considered one of the most important garden architects of the twentieth century. Like no other, she saw gardens as places for social cohesion. In the city, she preferred communal, open gardens, accessible to many city residents. The Geuzenhof housing complex in Amsterdam-West was her first garden project for a social housing development.

What was her social vision of green and community living? How has the social aspect of the Geuzenhof changed in 90 years? And what balance between social green space and urban development is needed to make the city more livable and green in the future?

If you want to know more about the history and future of Social Green follow my research here or on Instagram.