rXa Amsterdam, an impression by Roberto Montezuma and Luiz Vieira

The rXa project, with the rich presentations and discussions between the Amsterdam and the Recife teams, improved our perception of both cities, particularly the relationship between water, heritage and mobility. 
We both have been sometimes in Amsterdam along the last two decades.At that time we were both impressed by the architectural and urban landscape,  its channels and fillings, and the multitude fo people moving thorugh the channels or simply biking or simply strolling, but we did not perceive the intricacy of these systems in the Amsterdam urban planning.

The experience of exploring Amsterdam through differents spaces, places, pathways, waterfronts, channels and buildings provided a better understanding of the interconnection of these elements and their role as inseparable parts of a system which has a proper urban image. The hierarchy of public, semi-public, semi-private and private spaces resulted provided spaces in which unique identities in many parts of the city, such as in Java, KNSM and Sporenburg islands. At the same time, experiencing the city either by walking or biking offers unexpected views of the city and its people making their way through it. The green and blue spaces, discussed in the video-conferences, appear very clearly in the urban landscape as we moved by different ways of transportation such as boats, trams, trains, subways and taxis, all of them connected by an  internodal central station.Channel borders and waterfronts structure an unique urban pattern that permeate the territory resulting in different ways of facing the water such as housing, recreation, locomotion and urban water nature.
In our point of view, Amsterdam heritage is the result of a unique and complex relation among hardscape, water, nature and people.

Roberto Montezuma and Luiz Vieira

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco