Onverklaarbaar bewoonde woning, Boersma

Photobook publisher 'De Verbeelding' produced this book "Onverklaarbaar bewoonde woning" about the rise of new suburbs in Amsterdam and the related demise of neighbourhoods in the old center and the 19th century city girdle. It shows how functionalist economic and urban planning ideas of the sixties and seventies of last century were confronted by a fierce opposition of citizens movements. The main focus of the book is the new satellite town Bijlmer and the old inner town neighbourhood Nieuwmarkt, linked by the first subway line of Amsterdam (build in the period 1970-1982). The construction method of this 'underground' line, in the old city center, made it necessary to demolish everything above ground first. For the historical Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood this meant massive demolition of houses. An inner city highway borderd with office buildings was planned as replacement after the completion of the subway works. The housing function of this part of the inner town would thus dramatically be deminished. These plans met a growing opposition which coincided with the rise of the Amsterdam squatters movement born as a reaction on a structural housing shortage in the Netherlands.