The gentrification of Amsterdam - VPRO documentary - 2017

Large cities in the world like Amsterdam have become a magnet for newcomers, tourists, expats and laptop nomads. The pressure is also increasing in our capital Amsterdam that is becoming more and more gentrified. Over the next fifteen years, Amsterdam must grow to the magical number of 1 million inhabitants. Is Amsterdam going to follow London or Paris, where the middle class disappears and gentrification is the rule? What does that do to Amsterdam and is there something to do against it?

During the credit crisis there was not sufficient construction done in cities, as a result of which the pressure on the housing market is now enormous and a bubble is threatening. Residents no longer have the idea that the center of the city belongs to them: it has become something more of a Disneyland for adults. And that's valid for the city center as much as for the decentralized old neighborhoods, which are becoming popular items for investors. More and more city dwellers feel excluded. But there is hardly any room for the many new residents.

The super-de-luxe apartments that are currently being built around the Amsterdam Dam and on the Amstel and IJ banks illustrate how the center is too expensive for most people to be able to live there. This creates a waterbed effect for surrounding neighborhoods.

The Indische Buurt is such a neighborhood where the change of the city is clearly visible. Where, for example, the Javastraat was still ruined seven years ago and call shops and criminal practices clearly visible on the streets, has changed now into a hipand trending street of Amsterdam. Except for a few vegetable stores left, this street is completely gentrified.

Residents, retailers, property developers and urban planners analyze what the pressure on the city means in practice. The average square meter price for a owner-occupied home is approaching € 5,000 and in the free rental sector amounts of € 1500 for an apartment are quite normal. In addition, the waiting list for social rented housing is enormous. Cities from which middle-class families are displaced and where expats, tourists and students rule. Will the city still be attractive and liveable in ten years' time or has it become a sort of instagram decor and at best a machine for real estate developers?

Can we still save the soul of the city? Who owns the city of the future?

Originally broadcasted by VPRO in 2017.
© VPRO Backlight November 2017

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Credits:
Directed by: Geert Rozinga
English, French and Spanish subtitles: Ericsson.
French and Spanish subtitles are co-funded by European Union.

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